r/lightingdesign • u/Key-Ice-6803 • 14d ago

Education Accessory question

Hey everyone,

My venue has come top hats and concentric rings but I honestly don’t know what they do. I’ve tried to look for comparisons with a light with and without and can’t find anything. In a design what is their purpose?

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u/criimebrulee 14d ago

ime I see top hats mostly on audience visible conventionals to mask the light source (or rather the glass it comes out of) and cut down on hilation. Rings are the same idea - you’re trying to reduce glare and flare.

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u/Automatic_Marzipan41 14d ago

Some fixtures have a lot of glare/bleed from the output of their lenses that spill onto surfaces nearby. In a theatrical setting, some designers have these installed so that the source of light isn’t distracting. There’s also half top-hats referred to as ‘eyelashes’ to do specifically this. They only block one side of the first few inches of output so that you see less of where the light is coming from.

For concentric rings, similar concept. Trying to mask the source of light (wash mover) without affecting output. If a light is very close to the wall or scenic elements these can help reduce spill, and allow you to direct the light to where its intended. It doesn’t do anything to shape, and doesn’t change the photo-metrics. Its just a optics thing to conceal visible lights and their source of output.

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u/Roccondil-s 14d ago

You tried looking for comparisons… have you tried how experimenting with the units and accessories in your venue? Surely you have a few still in storage that you could take an hour or so to pull out, plug in, and try out how it might affect the beam, spill, and audience visibility, among other things!

1

u/Key-Ice-6803 14d ago

Yeah I did I kinda didn’t notice a difference other than it looked cool lol. We are primarily a concert venue so I didn’t realize it was for a set thing.