What's better than fireworks? Even bigger fireworks, obviously.
And thanks to recent advances in pyrotechnics, organised displays are getting flashier and ever more explosive. This year, expect to be dazzled by previously impossible feats of skywriting and intricate patterns perfectly timed to music. Bring on the oohs and aahs.
Firing System
Connected to a central computer -- or multiple computers for really big displays -- this is the brain of the show, using multiconductor cables to regulate the mortar-firing, enabling the timed set-pieces.
Sky-etching comets
Fireworks by Grucci has developed the first pyrotechnics to skywrite strings of characters. A steel-mortar system fires the golf-ball-sized comets in precisely controlled patterns.
Pixelburst shells
Each firework shell is one dot in the larger, choreographed design; the payload packs a microchip that triggers combustion within a millisecond of a specific musical note being sounded.
Tailored Salvo
The cannon-like components that shoot shells or comets are designed for particular fireworks. Grucci's Pixelbursts, for example, use high-density, snug-fitting fibreglass tubes.
Software Input
Some technicians use simulation software such as ShowSim or Finale Fireworks to plan shows, co-ordinate music, effects and type of shell.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
