Worldwide entertainment lighting manufacturer High End Systems (HES; Austin, TX) is today launching and shipping its newest automated luminaire, the SHOWGUN^TM.

SHOWGUN is in essence a larger than normal  automated light that can project images, change and mix dichroic colors, and switch from hard-edge to soft-edge all within a compact system.  Adding an extra bit of flash is the LED Tracking System, which forms a circle around the lens.

SHOWGUN's main output uses a 2000-watt short arc metal halide lamp, designed as a joint venture between Philips and High End Systems. The new MSR 2000SA Gold lamp uses a novel fast fit socket design that allows for a more compact reflector combination. Combining the high-performance lamp, advanced reflector and revolutionary optical design, SHOWGUN produces more than 100,000 lumens of output.

The LED Tracking System is a homogenously mixed RGB LED circular array, which allows the user to either match the color of the main output beam, or to project a complementary color by mixing RGB values. The LED Tracking System alone produces more than 5,000 lumens of output. It can be switched on and off via a DMX lighting controller, depending on the desired look.

At the forefront of the fixture is a new patent-pending optical design. This optical design incorporates a proprietary, optically accurate polymer microfresnel lens allowing SHOWGUN to produce a focused hard-edge or a soft-edge beam combination, without the need for two separate fixtures. The hard-edge beam allows SHOWGUN to project HES glass LithoPattern^TM images and texturized Art Glass for effects, while the soft-edge produces a washlight beam.

HES CTO/Co-Founder Richard Belliveau says SHOWGUN is shaping the future of lighting design using a current method of "radical rethinking."