LEAP 2025 – Immersive DMX & Falling Star Lighting
For LEAP 2025 in Riyadh we built an immersive lighting environment using two complementary layers. The first was solid DMX lights, used for precise, dynamic effects that could be synchronised and controlled with tight accuracy across the space. The second was falling star LED lights, a distinct technology chosen specifically for its cascading, star-like effect. Together they created an atmosphere that felt crafted to the event's theme rather than applied to it — and the combination gave the room both control and magic.
Leap 2025We incorporated Solid DMX Lights to create precise, dynamic lighting effects. This advanced technology allowed us to synchronize and control the lights seamlessly, enabling us to craft immersive and captivating atmospheres tailored to the event's theme.
Leap 2025In addition, we utilized Falling Star LED Lights, a distinct technology known for its cascading, star-like effects. This added a magical and ethereal quality to the overall lighting design, further enhancing the visual experience and leaving the audience in awe.
Project Overview
- Client
- LEAP 2025
- Location
- Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
- Year
- 2025
- Event Type
- Technology Conference & Expo
- Industry
- Technology & Innovation
- Application
- Immersive event lighting for LEAP 2025 in Riyadh, combining solid DMX fixtures for precise synchronised effects with falling star LED lights for cascading, ethereal atmosphere.
- Solution
- A two-layer immersive lighting design pairing precisely controlled solid DMX fixtures with falling star LED lights, synchronised to the event's visual theme.
- Technology
- DMX Lighting Control, Solid State Event Lighting, Falling Star LED Lights, Lighting Design & Programming, Show Synchronisation
The Challenge & Objective
A major technology conference in Riyadh has to work for two very different audiences in the same space: seated delegates in a hall, and a high-volume audience moving through an expo floor. One lighting design rarely serves both, so the brief was to create an immersive atmosphere that held up in both conditions.
- Precision where it mattered. The solid fixtures had to deliver synchronised, accurate effects that could be cued precisely rather than just adding general brightness.
- Atmosphere beyond technical control. Tightly controlled light can feel clinical, so something was needed to add the sense of wonder a technology audience expects.
- Works for a seated audience and a walking audience. A design that only looks right from a fixed seat fails completely on an expo floor.
- Synchronised across the whole space. Effects had to run as one system rather than as a set of independent zones that happened to be in the same room.
- Reliable operation across a multi-day conference schedule, with scene changes driven by a live programme.
Our Solution
We designed in layers rather than picking a single look, because the two layers solved two different problems.
Solid DMX lights for precise, dynamic control
Solid state fixtures provided the control layer. Because they respond quickly and predictably over DMX, they can be cued to the exact beat of a moment — a reveal, a transition, a change of section — rather than fading in a general way. That precision is what allows the lighting to feel authored and synchronised with the event programme instead of simply being present.
Falling star LED lights for atmosphere
The falling star fixtures were chosen for a specific effect: a cascading, star-like fall that has no equivalent in conventional stage lighting. Layered over the precise fixtures, they introduced a sense of depth and movement that read as almost ethereal. Where the DMX layer was about accuracy, this layer was about feeling — and the two together are more effective than either would be alone.
One synchronised system across the space
Both layers were integrated under a single control system on a shared timing reference, so the fall effects and the solid fixtures moved as one composition. The room changed character as a whole rather than zone by zone, which is what makes the effect feel designed at an event of this scale.
Scenes built for the live programme
The lighting was programmed into scenes that the show team could trigger as the conference schedule moved through its agenda — plenary, break, expo, closing. That means the atmosphere always matched what was actually happening in the room, and a last-minute programme change could be handled by triggering a different scene rather than re-lighting the venue.
Technology & Implementation
A layered lighting build combining solid state fixtures, programmable falling star units and integrated show programming.
Solid state fixtures and DMX control
Solid state lighting was specified for its response speed and control precision rather than for raw output. Being fully digital, it takes cues cleanly and repeats them consistently, which matters when a lighting state has to match a programme cue exactly. This is the same control discipline we apply to our [audio-visual and lighting](/services/audio-visual-lighting/) work across the region.
Falling star LED light units
The falling star units were positioned to be visible across the venue, including from angles where a seated audience would see the cascade against the ceiling and where a walking audience would see it overhead. Placement was planned against the actual sightlines of both the plenary space and the expo floor, not just the room's dimensions.
Programming and show synchronisation
All effects were programmed into scenes with timing locked to the conference programme and synchronised between the two lighting layers. This allowed the technical team to operate the room from a single control position, with our engineers on site for the live show days.
Installation and operation in Riyadh
The rig was installed, focused and levelled in Riyadh across both the hall and the expo areas, then rehearsed against the programme before doors opened. We delivered technical operation for the live event, which is standard for shows of this scale where lighting is being cued to a running agenda.
Results & Impact
The design delivered an atmosphere that changed with the programme and worked from every position in the venue.
- The two-layer approach gave the room both precision and atmosphere, which a single lighting approach could not have achieved.
- Scenes aligned to the live programme meant the lighting always matched the moment without last-minute adjustments.
- Effects designed for sightlines worked for seated delegates and for visitors moving through the expo floor.
- The combination of controlled DMX fixtures with falling star units is now a proven format for large technology events in Saudi Arabia.
Services Used on This Project
Event Technology by Location
Related Projects
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about this LEAP 2025 project and how Ultratec4D delivers similar event technology.
What is the difference between solid DMX lighting and falling star LED lights?
Solid DMX fixtures are about control — they respond quickly and predictably, which makes them ideal for synchronised, precisely cued effects. Falling star LED lights are about atmosphere — they produce a cascading, star-like fall that conventional fixtures cannot replicate. Used together, the first gives a room accuracy and the second gives it character, which is the approach we took for LEAP 2025 in Riyadh.
How do you synchronise two different lighting systems?
Both layers run under one control system on a shared timing reference, so the fall effects and the solid fixtures execute as a single composition. Effects are then programmed into scenes that can be triggered against the live event programme, which means the lighting always matches what is happening in the room without manual re-cueing.
Can you design lighting for both a conference hall and an expo floor?
Yes, and it requires planning against sightlines rather than just room dimensions. On LEAP 2025 we positioned the fixtures to read correctly both for a seated delegate looking forward and for a visitor walking the floor, because an effect designed only for one viewpoint often disappears in the other. Tell us your floor plan and programme and we will design to both conditions.
Do you provide lighting design and operation for conferences in Riyadh?
Yes. We deliver lighting design, programming and on-site technical operation for conferences and expos across Riyadh, Jeddah and the wider GCC as well as the UAE, including full rig, control and live show operation.
Planning a conference that needs a room full of atmosphere?
Send us your venue plan and programme. We will come back with a lighting concept, a scene structure and a technical crew plan for Riyadh, Dubai or anywhere in the GCC.
Serving Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Riyadh, Jeddah and the wider GCC