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Channel letters are custom-made metal or plastic letters commonly used in exterior signage on public and commercial buildings, and often internally illuminated. Unlit three dimensional letters that are applied to sign panels or monuments are usually referred to as dimensional letters.
A standard channel letter is a three-dimensional graphic sign element. Its channel is fabricated from sheet metal, most often aluminum since it will not rust. A flat sheet of aluminum is typically cut on a table by a computer-controlled router, laser, or water jet, based on a vector-based art file (.cdr, .eps, .ai, .scv, .sci, or .fs). This creates the back of the channel and is the basis for the letter shape. The sides of the channel letter, called the returns, are then formed by bending a 3–6 in-wide (80–150 mm) strip of aluminum sheet around the aluminum back. This return can be welded at the seam or flanged and riveted or, with a metal stitcher, can be fastened with galvanized or stainless wire to the back to create a solid can in the shape of the letter. The letter can is painted and fitted with any lighting components necessary such as neon gas tubes or light-emitting diode (LED) modules. A translucent plastic face usually of 3⁄16 in (5 mm) thick sheet acrylic fiber or polycarbonate is cut to fit the open face of the letter can. A trim cap border is applied to its edges which gives the letter face a finished appearance and creates a fastening surface to attach it to the letter can. When illuminated at night, channel letters draw the eye of passers-by.
The face can also be applied with black perforated vinyl, so the letters appear black in the daytime and white when lit at night. For the best effect, face colors are usually matched with their closest corresponding LED color. A warm white LED is best used with a yellow or orange face. [1] Since the advent of LED lighting technology, channel letters have become thinner in depth, decreasing to as shallow as 2–3 in (50–80 mm) from 5–6 in (130–150 mm), a trend which began in Europe, and is seen increasingly in the United States. [2]
These are standard channel letters, but the neon is covered with a clear acrylic face to keep birds from making a nest as well as to protect the exposed neon from outside elements, i.e., weather, etc. This allows for the exposed neon to be seen, as well as the inside of the channel letter interior itself to add to the dimensional look.
Formed channel letters feature a molded plastic backer with a raised lip. A plastic molded cover snaps over the base. The cover, or face, can be flat, round or "prismatic" (faceted face) and is made from translucent light-diffusing colored plastic. Light is emitted from both the face and the sides of the letter. Cut vinyl can also be applied to the face to create various colored light effects, or to produce a halo effect. The plastic face can also be made with a translucent chrome finish so the letters appear chrome by day, but still light up at night. [3]
Back-lit channel letters are also called "reverse-lit" or "halo letters." The face of the letter is constructed from aluminum and the lighting is directed to the back. This light floods the wall that the letter is mounted to and creates a negative space at night. It is usually the most expensive form to manufacture. LEDs are installed to the inside back of the can, and the back is often fitted with a clear or translucent plastic back to diffuse the light and protect the lighting elements and wiring. The letters are typically mounted 1-1/2" from the wall so they are set off from the façade of the building. The inside of the can is often painted white to reflect light. The effect of the halo lighting allows for a variety of creative effects depending on the color, sheen, and texture of the building surface. Light-colored building surfaces with a matte finish produce the best halo effect; dark mirror-like finishes the worst. [4]
These letters combine the features of a face and back-lit letter. The inside of the can is usually not painted white. [5]
You can see channel letter Signs and similar kinds of signs in: 1. Shopping malls 2. Plazas Bars and boutiques 3. Restaurants and hospitals 4. Coffee shops and hotels
Channel letters may be flush mounted (attached directly to the building facade), or they may be mounted on a raceway or wireway. A raceway is a rectangular mounting structure which serves as both a container for the sign's electrical components (such as a power supply) and a mounting structure.
A wireway also serves as a mounting structure but typically contains only wiring. It is thinner and broader than a raceway, and may also be used as a backer panel for the channel letter set.
Face-lit letters may also be mounted so they rest on the top the building surface with a bottom and top rail supported by metal arms.
In the signage industry, neon signs are electric signs lighted by long luminous gas-discharge tubes that contain rarefied neon or other gases. They are the most common use for neon lighting, which was first demonstrated in a modern form in December 1910 by Georges Claude at the Paris Motor Show. While they are used worldwide, neon signs were popular in the United States from about the 1920s to 1950s. The installations in Times Square, many originally designed by Douglas Leigh, were famed, and there were nearly 2,000 small shops producing neon signs by 1940. In addition to signage, neon lighting is used frequently by artists and architects, and in plasma display panels and televisions. The signage industry has declined in the past several decades, and cities are now concerned with preserving and restoring their antique neon signs.
In the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, grips are camera support equipment technicians in the filmmaking and video production industries. They constitute their own department on a film set and are directed by a key grip. Grips have two main functions: The first is to work closely with the camera department to provide camera support, especially if the camera is mounted to a dolly, crane, or in an unusual position, such as the top of a ladder. Some grips may specialize in operating camera dollies or camera cranes. The second function is to work closely with the electrical department to create lighting set-ups necessary for a shot under the direction of the director of photography.
Grips' responsibility is to build and maintain all the equipment that supports cameras. This equipment, which includes tripods, dollies, tracks, jibs, cranes, and static rigs, is constructed of delicate yet heavy duty parts requiring a high level of experience to operate and move. Every scene in a feature film is shot using one or more cameras, each mounted on highly complex, extremely expensive, heavy duty equipment. Grips assemble this equipment according to meticulous specifications and push, pull, mount or hang it from a variety of settings. The equipment can be as basic as a tripod standing on a studio floor, to hazardous operations such as mounting a camera on a 100 ft crane, or hanging it from a helicopter swooping above a mountain range.
Good Grips perform a crucial role in ensuring that the artifice of film is maintained, and that camera moves are as seamless as possible. Grips are usually requested by the DoP or the camera operator. Although the work is physically demanding and the hours are long, the work can be very rewarding. Many Grips work on both commercials and features.
A gas-filled tube, also commonly known as a discharge tube or formerly as a Plücker tube, is an arrangement of electrodes in a gas within an insulating, temperature-resistant envelope. Gas-filled tubes exploit phenomena related to electric discharge in gases, and operate by ionizing the gas with an applied voltage sufficient to cause electrical conduction by the underlying phenomena of the Townsend discharge. A gas-discharge lamp is an electric light using a gas-filled tube; these include fluorescent lamps, metal-halide lamps, sodium-vapor lamps, and neon lights. Specialized gas-filled tubes such as krytrons, thyratrons, and ignitrons are used as switching devices in electric devices.
A curtain wall is an exterior covering of a building in which the outer walls are non-structural, instead serving to protect the interior of the building from the elements. Because the curtain wall façade carries no structural load beyond its own dead load weight, it can be made of lightweight materials. The wall transfers lateral wind loads upon it to the main building structure through connections at floors or columns of the building.
A gobo is an object placed inside or in front of a light source to control the shape of the emitted light and its shadow.
In theater and film, a cyclorama is a large curtain or wall, often concave, positioned at the back of the apse. It often encircles or partially encloses the stage to form a background. It was popularized in the German theater of the 19th century and continues in common usage today in theaters throughout the world. It can be made of unbleached canvas or muslin, filled scrim, or seamless translucent plastic. Traditionally it is hung at 0% fullness (flat). When possible, it is stretched on the sides and weighted on the bottom to create a flat and even surface. As seams tend to interrupt the smooth surface of the cyclorama, it is usually constructed from extra-wide material.
Neon lighting consists of brightly glowing, electrified glass tubes or bulbs that contain rarefied neon or other gases. Neon lights are a type of cold cathode gas-discharge light. A neon tube is a sealed glass tube with a metal electrode at each end, filled with one of a number of gases at low pressure. A high potential of several thousand volts applied to the electrodes ionizes the gas in the tube, causing it to emit colored light. The color of the light depends on the gas in the tube. Neon lights were named for neon, a noble gas which gives off a popular orange light, but other gases and chemicals are used to produce other colors, such as hydrogen (purple-red), helium, carbon dioxide (white), and mercury (blue). Neon tubes can be fabricated in curving artistic shapes, to form letters or pictures. They are mainly used to make dramatic, multicolored glowing signage for advertising, called neon signs, which were popular from the 1920s to 1960s and again in the 1980s.
Lite-Brite is a toy that was originally marketed in 1967. It consists of a light box with small colored plastic pegs that fit into a panel and illuminate to create a lit picture, by either using one of the included templates or creating a "freeform" image on a blank sheet of black paper.
A stanchion usually is a sturdy upright fixture that provides support for some other object. It can be a permanent fixture.
A light fixture, light fitting, lamp, or luminaire is an electrical device containing an electrical component called a lamp that provides illumination. All light fixtures have a fixture body and one or more lamps. The lamps may be in sockets for easy replacement—or, in the case of some LED fixtures, hard-wired in place.
In lighting design, backlighting is the process of illuminating the subject from the back. In other words, the lighting instrument and the viewer face each other, with the subject in between. This creates a glowing effect on the edges of the subject, while other areas are darker. The backlight can be a natural or artificial source of light. When artificial, the back light is usually placed directly behind the subject in a 4-point lighting setup. A back light, which lights foreground elements from the rear, is not to be confused with a background light, which lights background elements.
Signage is the design or use of signs and symbols to communicate a message. A signage also means signs collectively or being considered as a group. The term signage is documented to have been popularized in 1975 to 1980.
In optics, a diffuser is any material that diffuses or scatters light in some manner to transmit soft light. Diffused light can be easily obtained by reflecting light from a white surface, while more compact diffusers may use translucent material, including ground glass, teflon, opal glass, and greyed glass.
Perforated metal, also known as perforated sheet, perforated plate, or perforated screen, is sheet metal that has been manually or mechanically stamped or punched using CNC technology or in some cases laser cutting to create different holes sizes, shapes and patterns. Materials used to manufacture perforated metal sheets include stainless steel, cold rolled steel, galvanized steel, brass, aluminum, tinplate, copper, Monel, Inconel, titanium, plastic, and more.
Drafting tools may be used for measurement and layout of drawings, or to improve the consistency and speed of creation of standard drawing elements. Tools such as pens and pencils mark the drawing medium. Other tools such as straight edges, assist the operator in drawing straight lines, or assist the operator in drawing complicated shapes repeatedly. Various scales and the protractor are used to measure the lengths of lines and angles, allowing accurate scale drawing to be carried out. The compass is used to draw arcs and circles. A drawing board was used to hold the drawing media in place; later boards included drafting machines that sped the layout of straight lines and angles. Tools such as templates and lettering guides assisted in the drawing of repetitive elements such as circles, ellipses, schematic symbols and text. Other auxiliary tools were used for special drawing purposes or for functions related to the preparation and revision of drawings. The tools used for manual technical drawing have been displaced by the advent of computer-aided drawing, drafting and design (CADD).
Architecture of the night or nocturnal architecture, also referred to as illuminated architecture and, particularly in German, light architecture, is architecture designed to maximize the effect of night lighting, which may include lights from within the building, lights on the facade or outlining elements of it, illuminated advertising, and floodlighting.
A skylight is a light-permitting structure or window, usually made of transparent or translucent glass, that forms all or part of the roof space of a building for daylighting and ventilation purposes.
An electrical conduit is a tube used to protect and route electrical wiring in a building or structure. Electrical conduit may be made of metal, plastic, fiber, or fired clay. Most conduit is rigid, but flexible conduit is used for some purposes.
An LED strip, tape, or ribbon light is a flexible circuit board populated by surface-mount light-emitting diodes and other components that usually comes with an adhesive backing. Traditionally, strip lights had been used solely in accent lighting, backlighting, task lighting, and decorative lighting applications, such as cove lighting.
An exit sign is a pictogram or short text in a public facility denoting the location of the closest emergency exit to be used in case of fire or other emergency that requires rapid evacuation. Most relevant codes require exit signs to be permanently lit at all times.