DMX Lighting Control on iPad Round 2
11/02/11 14:34
Recently, I discussed the benefits of a particular DMX controller app for iPad and iPhone. While it is still an excellent product, it does have its limitations. I have recently become acquainted with, and used, a new app called Luminaire. This DMX lighting app works much like the Alcorn-McBride Lighting app, but rather than just controlling individual channels of DMX you can set up groups and control intelligent lighting, including RGB LED lights.
The app is much more expensive than the Alcorn-McBride app. But if you consider the cost of a light board that is equally capable, you will see the value. At a recent Christmas program at our church, we used the device for the entire program. We were able to use one person to activate each preset and control a spotlight from a remote position. Because it is designed for iPad, you can use several options to activate queues. You can even snap a photo of your lighting preset and then use it as an icon in the app itself, making it very easy to know just what you are about to activate.
Luminaire uses the same hardware as the Alcorn-McBride app, in this case the Entec ethernet device. Once you have the device on the same network as your wireless router, Luminaire connects to it automatically each time the app is started and you are ready to go.
Setup of intelligent lights is a little complicated, but no more than for any other lighting board or software program. If you are familiar with DMX controllers you wont have much problem figuring this app out. The freedom to make changes to your queues on the fly and do it all wirelessly comes at a fairly low price. This is definitely worth a look if you need or are looking into DMX control with iPad.
0 Comments
DMX Lighting Control on the iPad or iPhone
12/12/10 16:22
Lighting control has always been a little bit of a thorn in my side. When it comes to DMX hardware and software controllers, the range of products and prices is almost too much. When it comes to working with no or few intelligent lights (such as moving head spots and scanners) you can save a lot of money by staying away from the high end lighting consoles, but you still have to choose from desks that cost from $100 to $10,000. Personally I have always preferred the software approach, which consists of software with a USB controller that connects to your DMX port. Most are fairly similar, but require a little knowledge of how your lighting is set up and how to patch fixtures and on and on. Once you have everything set up then you can start creating scenes. Unfortunately this is often overkill. Many commercial buildings, not just churches, use DMX controlled architectural lighting. YOu simply need a few set scenes most of the time, but you want the ability to occasionally make some new scenes and add time based transitions. This week I installed a solution that is working great, is incredibly easy to use, and is very cost efficient. Enter the ENNTEC DMX to Ethernet controller and Alcorn McBride LightingPad software for you iPad or other iOS device.
Setup is as straight forward as it gets. Once the controller is plugged into you DMX port and you set up the IP address to work with your local network (make sure your wireless DHCP addresses are on the same subnet) then it works without fail. You can pretty much get a complete set up for less than $300. As long as you have wireless signal with your device, you can adjust the lights by channel, set up new scenes (including fade times) and change your current scene or go to blackout. Its incredibly handy, works great, and doesnt cost much. Plus it works great for setting up stage lighting for cameras!