charic Posted July 20, 2017 Share Posted July 20, 2017 Any way to do this? Basically I want to see if I can plan out the lighting show before buying the lights somehow, thinking of controlling it all through Ableton live lite along with a backing track Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
la bam Posted July 20, 2017 Share Posted July 20, 2017 There's a visualizer in mydmx by adj. The software is free, but not sure if you need the dongle to activate the visualizer part. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted July 20, 2017 Share Posted July 20, 2017 Making some notes would be a good start. It's not going to be easy to program it without the lights. You'll need to look in the respective manuals to find the exact configuration to do that. Having a plan of what you'd like to achieve would be a good start though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charic Posted July 20, 2017 Author Share Posted July 20, 2017 [quote name='Norris' timestamp='1500536736' post='3338469'] Making some notes would be a good start. It's not going to be easy to program it without the lights. You'll need to look in the respective manuals to find the exact configuration to do that. Having a plan of what you'd like to achieve would be a good start though [/quote] I'm not trying to program it yet, just visualise the changes and as I'm planning on sending all of the messages instead of using preset modes (not planning on using inbuilt chases etc) I figured there must be a tool for it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charic Posted July 20, 2017 Author Share Posted July 20, 2017 I'm getting tempted to mock it up in some simple animation software Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whizzzy Posted July 20, 2017 Share Posted July 20, 2017 There is software called WYSIWYG - [url="http://cast-soft.com/wysiwyg-lighting-design/"]http://cast-soft.com/wysiwyg-lighting-design/[/url] but you're going to need some deep pockets. In reality you are probably far better off just buying one or two lights and setting them up so that you can see what is going on during programming. One thing that is not so easy to comprehend without the lights being activated is colour mixing. With RGBW LED units, trying to program the actual colour you would like without physically seeing it is very difficult unless you just want to dial in basic primary colours but then it is a lost opportunity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charic Posted July 20, 2017 Author Share Posted July 20, 2017 [quote name='whizzzy' timestamp='1500540628' post='3338526'] There is software called WYSIWYG - [url="http://cast-soft.com/wysiwyg-lighting-design/"]http://cast-soft.com...ighting-design/[/url] but you're going to need some deep pockets. In reality you are probably far better off just buying one or two lights and setting them up so that you can see what is going on during programming. One thing that is not so easy to comprehend without the lights being activated is colour mixing. With RGBW LED units, trying to program the actual colour you would like without physically seeing it is very difficult unless you just want to dial in basic primary colours but then it is a lost opportunity. [/quote] That's the basic plan once I've got some pennies Thinking https://www.thomann.de/gb/enttec_dmx_usb_pro_interface.htm?ref=search_rslt_usb+to+dmx_245896_0 and https://www.thomann.de/gb/stairville_clb2.4_compact_led_par_system.htm?ref=search_rslt_stairville+compact_349574_0 to start out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whizzzy Posted July 20, 2017 Share Posted July 20, 2017 The Enttec unit is great, that's the same one I use and can recommend it. The LED lights I would do a bit more research on as 10mm LED technology is a bit dated and you will achieve far better results with heads containing 7 x 7W or 8W LEDS. Also I would plumb for RGBW or RGBA units as the white light you get from RGB heads is very anemic. There is a useful thread here on BC [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/305912-small-lighting-set-up-for-pub-band/"]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/305912-small-lighting-set-up-for-pub-band/[/url] and there are a number of suggestions for LED heads. Everyone has their own preference and you'll likely to get lots of different suggestions. My preference is the [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]LEDJ 7Q5 but there are alternatives out there. I would also suggest to buy individual heads and mount them on a T bar rather than buying a 4 head system but that will entail a little bit of wiring.[/font][/color] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad3353 Posted July 20, 2017 Share Posted July 20, 2017 [quote name='charic' timestamp='1500526890' post='3338417'] Any way to do this?... [/quote] Yes, using 'Sunlite', see here ... [url="https://www.nicolaudie.com/en/suite1.htm"]Sunlite Suite ...[/url] ... which has a very good 3D visualiser. I used this stuff for several years with Kiemsa, a punk/rock/ska group, programming their lights at home, then spending the week-end with them doing the show with a laptop. There's now a more sophisticated version; both are free to download and use fully; they need the dedicated DMX box to do the real controlling, but work perfectly well for simulation, including stage layout and props. Worth a look..? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gottastopbuyinggear Posted July 20, 2017 Share Posted July 20, 2017 I think QLC+ is supposed to support this in the Activity Monitor - 2D View, though I haven't been able to get this working on my Mac - it may work okay on Windows, and I think I've seen it in demos/tutorials on YouTube. It's free so if you're using Windows it might be worth downloading it and giving it a try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charic Posted July 20, 2017 Author Share Posted July 20, 2017 [quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1500547880' post='3338595'] Yes, using 'Sunlite', see here ... [url="https://www.nicolaudie.com/en/suite1.htm"]Sunlite Suite ...[/url] ... which has a very good 3D visualiser. I used this stuff for several years with Kiemsa, a punk/rock/ska group, programming their lights at home, then spending the week-end with them doing the show with a laptop. There's now a more sophisticated version; both are free to download and use fully; they need the dedicated DMX box to do the real controlling, but work perfectly well for simulation, including stage layout and props. Worth a look..? [/quote] I'll have a look! Can it simulate what a stage would look like too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charic Posted July 20, 2017 Author Share Posted July 20, 2017 [quote name='Gottastopbuyinggear' timestamp='1500550409' post='3338622'] I think QLC+ is supposed to support this in the Activity Monitor - 2D View, though I haven't been able to get this working on my Mac - it may work okay on Windows, and I think I've seen it in demos/tutorials on YouTube. It's free so if you're using Windows it might be worth downloading it and giving it a try. [/quote] Looks promising! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad3353 Posted July 20, 2017 Share Posted July 20, 2017 [quote name='charic' timestamp='1500552221' post='3338643'] I'll have a look! Can it simulate what a stage would look like too? [/quote] Indeed you can, with structures, drum risers and more. The fixtures (lights...) can be placed anywhere, on flying trusses, or side-lit, footlights, balcony spots etc. There's quite a few pics on the Sunlite site that will give some idea. I found it easy enough to use (and I'm a dummy..! ), although it takes a bit of practise to 'tweak' the results once one arrives at the real venue (setting the Dmx channels, correcting tilt/pan angles, retouching gobos and colours...), but we did some mighty fine shows with the stuff, far better than I could have done on an unfamiliar manual console at the time. Fun, too..! Towards the end, I had a lot of the show on semi-automatic, and could allow the software to run, adding manual touches on top. Happy daze. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charic Posted July 20, 2017 Author Share Posted July 20, 2017 [quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1500556386' post='3338680'] Indeed you can, with structures, drum risers and more. The fixtures (lights...) can be placed anywhere, on flying trusses, or side-lit, footlights, balcony spots etc. There's quite a few pics on the Sunlite site that will give some idea. I found it easy enough to use (and I'm a dummy..! ), although it takes a bit of practise to 'tweak' the results once one arrives at the real venue (setting the Dmx channels, correcting tilt/pan angles, retouching gobos and colours...), but we did some mighty fine shows with the stuff, far better than I could have done on an unfamiliar manual console at the time. Fun, too..! Towards the end, I had a lot of the show on semi-automatic, and could allow the software to run, adding manual touches on top. Happy daze. [/quote] I'll have a play, cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad3353 Posted July 20, 2017 Share Posted July 20, 2017 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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