A fiber optic system is made up of:
luminaires (miniature lights)
+ fiber to light the luminaires
+ a projector (the light bulb is in the projector).

NoUVIR manufactures a complete line of lights. You can choose a number of different mounts from something as simple as screwing down a bracket or snapping a light into a track to mounting an automatically-sealing light through a hole.

You can also pick different control. Every luminaire will change its beam size. Every luminaire!

You can zoom the beam. The light is even from edge-to-edge with no holes or irregularities. The edge of the beam is a perfect cut-off. No stray light is outside the beam. There are no haloes or rings. Floods have a wide range.

Spots are the workhorse of these fiber optic systems. They can light just about anything. And pinspots can zoom down to beams so tight the beam can frame a jewel, light something tightly on the floor of a room-sized case or reach across a space to light a painting.

One projector will hold 32 fibers which in turn powers 32 lights.

Because the lights are small and are 1/32nd of a light bulb, more than one light can be used to light an object. A single luminaire can light a document, mineral specimen, skull, hat, weapon, music box, military drum, rare doll, Roman sheath and dagger, mounted squirrel, etc.

For exhibit design, often two lights work better. For example, a large book uses one luminaire for each side of the book in a cradle. The book is cross-lit to remove shadows created by the cradle mount. Or a mounted beaver, named “Baldy”, is lit from both sides; so all of the head with ears, both shoulders and the tail are lit. Or a Civil War saddle is lit at two angles to show the tacks details. Cross-lighting is not a rule. For example, a museum beautifully lit a Bald Eagle on top of a large, furniture case with a pinspot mounted on the top of another large case full of woodland mammals, lighting the eagle across the room.

Eight lights is the average for a full-length, Hollywood gown. Guns tend to use one to two lights. Historic motorcycles use 12 to 16 lights. Paintings range in too many sizes for a rule of thumb. One or two lights easily light a small watercolor. Large, full-wall battlefield paintings can take all 32 lights (one projector) and even 64.

Lighting design can be very detailed. Why not? Often museums and even private collectors carefully plan where every object is placed and the description for every artifact. Use the same layouts and determine lights for the objects.

But NoUVIR is also very flexible. Generic case and room designs have enough control over aim and focus (beam size) that lighting design becomes optional. Pick a flexible, but generic design using 32 lights. A favorite “quick design” is 10 floods, 20 spots and 2 pinspots.

Many museums have success with 32 spots. Several museums have been very pleased with a “quick design” of 16 floods and 16 spots. A few museums have specified all pinspots for ultimate tight control as a pinspot has all the zoom of a spot, but its bigger size lets the tightest spot beam tighten further from 15° to 5°. Fund raising can come in as donors are handed a lit fiber optic pinspot, play with the stone-cold light, change the beam size over and over again and get excited about the technology. That hands-on experience turns into checks to support the new exhibit and its lighting.

Don’t want to have to deal in design details? Pick a “quick design”. See YOU CREATE on the Home page. There are immediate Bill of Materials depending upon the artifact types.

Looking for a catalog? Go to the end of this page. Several pdf files of key sections of NoUVIR’s 130-page print catalog are available.

Need ideas? Want to see projects? See the Presentation ARTIFACT LIST on the home page.