DMX Controller for DIY Softlights

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Nathan Solomon

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Aug 12, 2018, 3:48:33 PM8/12/18
to Philadelphia Area Production Association
I’m building a special purpose softlight and using an array of DMX-controllable LEDs. My problem is that I need to control them for simple dimming and color, but the DMX hardware and software I find all seems directed at controlling a bunch of different lights, doing a bunch of different things. Is there anything like a freestanding DMX controller specifically for production lights? -preferably with an iPhone app associated.

Thanks,
Nathan

Bill Haley

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Aug 13, 2018, 6:29:39 AM8/13/18
to Nathan Solomon, Philadelphia Area Production Association

Bill Haley | President

Allied Pixel
www.alliedpixel.com
77 W. Baltimore Pike
Media, PA 19063
610.892.7970 x102


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Bruce F. Byker James

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Aug 13, 2018, 10:34:31 AM8/13/18
to Bill Haley, nathanso...@gmail.com, Philadelphia Area Production Association
Not totally in my wheelhouse, either, but here's the little bit I know about DMX and what you want to do:

I'm assuming what you want here is to control all of the lights in the same way, right?  Like, you want to make all the individual lights 3200K or 5600K or red or whatever at the same time.  DMX uses separate channels to control different parameters.  In your case, the parameters are likely Dim, Red, Green, and Blue, so you'd need four channels for each light.  That means you're looking for hardware/software that will control 4 x (number of LEDs you have) channels.  You also want it to be able to control each of those separate parameters separately.  This could mean you need something with the ability to control four "scenes," or maybe there's some other way you link like parameters for different fixtures.

I imagine there's software that takes care of the color calculations for you, so if you want 3200K, it spits out the numbers for that.  Or, there's probably some kind of cookbook for RGB numbers and you can make some presets yourself.  And, yeah, the theatrical lighting community is the place to look for those answers.

- Bruce

On Mon, Aug 13, 2018 at 6:29 AM Bill Haley <bill....@alliedpixel.com> wrote:

Bill Haley | President

Allied Pixel
www.alliedpixel.com
77 W. Baltimore Pike
Media, PA 19063
610.892.7970 x102

On Sun, Aug 12, 2018 at 3:48 PM, Nathan Solomon <nathanso...@gmail.com> wrote:
I’m building a special purpose softlight and using an array of DMX-controllable LEDs. My problem is that I need to control them for simple dimming and color, but the DMX hardware and software I find all seems directed at controlling a bunch of different lights, doing a bunch of different things. Is there anything like a freestanding DMX controller specifically for production lights? -preferably with an iPhone app associated.

Thanks,
Nathan

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The Philadelphia Area Production Association (PAPA)is a place where video production professionals can ask questions, get answers and generally become more awesome. Dues are zero, there are no mandatory meetings and we don't even have a secret handshake. Have a question? Ask your PAPA!
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The Philadelphia Area Production Association (PAPA)is a place where video production professionals can ask questions, get answers and generally become more awesome. Dues are zero, there are no mandatory meetings and we don't even have a secret handshake. Have a question? Ask your PAPA!
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Nathan Solomon

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Aug 13, 2018, 11:03:35 AM8/13/18
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Thanks for your replies. What I’m looking for is something that would take the place of the control hardware and software in a Cineo, which is a similarly DMX-based device. I know the technologies used in theatres, and this is a different sort of thing.

It’s looking like the most likely solution is Arduino if nothing appropriate turns up.

-Nathan
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