DMX Lanbox osc light is freezing and no chance for fades

Poellmann

Hello everyone,

I am Sebastian and quite new in this forum.

I am using isadora to control a live theater production.

I am using a Mac Book pro i7 16GB RAM (2012)

There are three video projectors connected via Matrox tripple head,
one live Camera connected via Blackmagic some sounds and all the DMX
sent out via a lanbox LCX. The Lanbox is erased and no scenes are
stored.

To set up and control all this I programmed a TouchOSC surface.

All is working fine but it seams there are problems with DMX. Sometimes it works for hours, but then all the lights are freezed.

I also realized that there is no possibility to set some DMX fade times form one to the other scene in isadora.

After reading lots of comments in the forum I got the idea that
there has to be a permanent DMX scene and using some Matrix Value
Receive/send actors. But can not understand how they really work.

I attached the actor setup I made for the show in hope that someone could help me with my light - lanbox - fade scene - crash problem

thank you very much for helping me out.Poellmann request for help.izz

gunther

Hi Sebastian,

I've worked for years with the Lanbox in conjunction with Isadora. I also experimented with the built-in Lanbox actors (Lanbox Channels actor). I made the same experience: It works for hours, but somehow it stops after some time.

I came to the conclusion to make my own Lanbox actors, which use TCP. Mainly I use the Lanbox connect actor and the Lanbox go actor. In order to use this actor you need to make a cuelist in the Lanbox, by using LcEdit. Here I make all cues, which I use in the theatre or performance, including fade times etc.

This method works well, but I must say that I switched to a different DMX hardware in the meantime: Although the Lanbox is super stable, I don't like the fact that LcEdit is not further developed an therefore stays on a freezed status since 10 years. I switched to Chamsys, where you get an actual software for programming a show, the latest version has OSC support, which means an easy access for Isadora.

To the Lanbox: I posted my Lanbox actors in the Isadora forum: https://community.troikatronix...

Here is a basic example for setting up a show with the Lanbox: show-basic lanbox.izz

I hope this is somehow helpful for you.

Gunther

jhoepffner

@gunther @Poellmann

Yes, it seems lanbox is sleeping, new website but no software download etc.

But I still use my lanbox in 2 ways:

First using TCP/IP, I mix use of old LCedit and homemade Isadora lanbox commands (cue list, changing values etc.), very reliable and during the show all the light computation is outside my computer, leaving computer time to Video. A fade in / fade out between 2 complicated cues is very demanding for processor and network.

Sometime I use the lanbox as artNet interface, with ArtNetProxy doing translation from Isadora OSC to LanBox artNet.

Jacques

Poellmann

@jhoepffner @gunther

Dear Jacques,

with translating osc to artNet you can tigger lecedit via osc? So I could set all DMX values in Lcdit via Ipad and ToucOSC?

Have you got an example of your settings in Lcedit?

best Sebastian

Poellmann

@gunther

Hi Gunther, thanks a lot for your answer. How did you manage to set bigger light shows in lcedit? Did you use just this 8 fader interface?

Have you any experince with things like this, i found in the forum?

Enttec%20Lanbox%20MATRIX.izz

best Sebastian

gunther

@Poellmann

Hi Sebastian,

yes, with that interface I ran a lot of shows. Usually my theatre pieces use between 40 an 80 DMX channels and about 30 to 70 light cues. Before I connect the Lanbox to Isadora, I completely set up the light environment in Lcedit, all DMX values and all fade times. This is usually one cuelist for the show and some cues in an extra list for house light, rehearsal light and applause. I use my interface as channel fader and playback fader, and I use the Go button for the main cuelist.

I also tested the matrix value send/receive actors with the Enttec Pro, but not with the Lanbox. @gapworks made a lightdesk patch in Isadora for the Enttec, you'll find a download link in this post: https://community.troikatronix... In my opinion, the approach with matrix send/receive actors is useful for projects, where light demands are rather reduced. Furthermore, in my tests I experienced a serious drop of the frame rate in Isadora.

best, Gunther

Poellmann

@gunther

Hi Gunther,

so I am doing the same like you. Thank you very much for your lanbox-set-up for izzy. I stored all my lights in the lanbox. Till now now crashes but there are problems with layers. More and more layers are getting added automatically. The results are layer conflicts. Did you program some special control cues in a different layer, or have you been fine with just one layer.

Do i really need to trigger the control cue in each new scene in izzy?

I attached my changes to your control-setup. Maybe you could have a quick look if that would be ok that way.

Start Veränderung.izz

thanks a lot

Sebastian

gunther

@Poellmann

Hi Sebastian,

the reason for the "automatic" added layers: unfortunately the Lanbox doesn't have the concept of playbacks like other light desks. That means, a collection of DMX values that can be added at a percentage value with a fader (0 to 100%), and different playbacks add HTP (highest takes precedence) to the overall DMX values. In my effort to add this feature to the lanbox, I had this idea: I create a new layer, for example Layer AA, set layer property to HTP. I read DMX values from a cue, for example cuelist 10, cuestep 1. Then I have a fader, in my show-basic example "Scene fader 1". The calculation goes as follows: I take the fader level (a number between 0 and 1) and multiply it with each of the DMX values of the cue, and send these values to the layer AA. So I get a fade of the cue, when I slide the fader from 0 to 100%. This is a bit complicated in calculation (observe fader changes, observe cue changes in the Lanbox, recalculate and output the values to the layer whenever the fader moves). When you disconnect from the Lanbox, the automatically created layer is being deleted.

A permanent connection between Isadora and the Lanbox is essential. The Lanbox quits the connection after some time of communication pause. Therefore the Lanbox connect actor sends requests automatically every 60 seconds. It is important that you have this actor alive all the time, I did it with Enter scene trigger - Activate scene "connect". You should do this in your patch as well.

I hope these explanations help you in understanding my Isadory patch and/or give you hints for your own programming.

best, gunther

jhoepffner

@Poellmann

You cannot trigger lcedit via OSC, because lcedit is just an interface to program the lanbox, with only some basic keystroke to run some things, like go next / go last.

Via Osc/artNet, you can send artNet values directly to the lanbox (if you say to the lanbox to receive artNet…) and manage all your light inside Isadora, but I dont think it's good way for a real big light design,only with a minimal set.

But with the TCP/IP command, you can do the same think as lcedit, programming cue, visualize it and play it. But it's quite complicated, I began on the task and I stopped midway because I had another tasks but it's feasible and can interest people.

If I find the project in my archive, I can send it to you. Some belgium people tried to do it with java (http://lassi.be) but is not reliable and others made it with Max/Msp (in the lcedit folder)

I am in the way to do it with Touch Designer because the TCP/IP programming is more explicit than in Isadora…

Voilà,

Jacques

Poellmann

@gunther

Hi Gunther,

thanks a lot. It is all fine now. I am using your lanbox light setup, a we bit modified, but it looks like there are no dmx crashes and no additional layers.

For my next project I will try to find out how you organized all your lights just with 8 faders of your korg control interface. Can you link the fader to multiple DMX adresses?

thanks a lot for all your help

best wishes

Sebastian