Isadora connection with Blacktrax

Jamie Nesbitt

I spoke with them and they said they can send dmx. Would that work?

Woland

If it can send DMX, maybe you could convert the DMX data to MIDI notes or MIDI Show Control via an intermediary piece of software or hardware.

Just a thought, I'm not familiar with Blacktrax.

Best wishes,

Woland

mark

@jamie-nesbitt said:

I spoke with them and they said they can send dmx. Would that work?

With a DMX input device like the ENTTEC DMX USB Pro, yes.

Does it send Art Net? We'll have ArtNet actors for v2.6 which will come out very soon.

Best Wishes,
Mark

Skulpture

The official protocol is:

https://rttrp.github.io/RTTrP-...

But I think it can send out artnet. I can double check.

DusX

The only problem I see with either DMX or ArtNet is the resolution.
With only 256 values, it may not be as exact as you would like.
Once in Isadora you have much finer numerical control, so if you are for example controlling the placement of some Izzy map elements, you will be able to do this very smoothly.
It is just the measures received from Black Trax will be 'steppy', so you will likely want to smooth / filter them out.

Fred

Blacktrax is a pretty pricey system, I would guess there are some high expectations for a project that can afford it. I would seriously look at using a media system that has the protocol integrated, there is even a touch designer addon for blacktrax. Apart from the steppy motion you will get losing resolution by using DMX, Isadora does not have the best set of 3d tools, which you would need to do tracking and mapping on moving objects. Once you do have a 3d viewport where you can manipulate objects and images, setting the FOV of the virtual camera correctly is not really possible in Isadora. Isadora is great for many things, but every software has its downfalls and it may be more sensible to use something more capable in this case.

Jamie Nesbitt

@mark How difficult (programming wise) would it be for Isadora to receive their protocol ?

Jamie Nesbitt

@fred If Isadora could receive their protocol would it be less steppy?

Fred

@jamie-nesbitt

In the protocol they use a long for most of the variables, but a float for acceleration and velocity:

double has 52 mantissa bits + 1 hidden bit: log(2⁵³)÷log(10) = 15.95 digits

float has 23 mantissa bits + 1 hidden bit: log(2²⁴)÷log(10) = 7.22 digits

DMX has 7 bit values, so yes it would be less steppy, but I believe that is only half your problem.

Jamie Nesbitt

@fredThanks for the help!