Artnet is an open-source standard from Artistic Licence. It is designed primarily for the transport of DMX based lighting data over Ethernet.

The standard allows a lighting signal to be sent over ethernet topology (using hubs, fibre cables and star-wired Cat 5 installations) and has been adopted by many of the major lighting manufacturers including Zero88, ADB, and Robe.

Artnet enables the sending of multiple (sometimes as many as 16) universes of DMX down a single set of ethernet cables. This data can then be sent directly to the fixtures and dimmers, if they support it, or turned back into standard DMX using an interface box.

Consoles which support Artnet include the Frog 2, PHOENIX, MENTOR, GrandMA and Maxxyz.

Comparable standards include a commercial solution in the USA, known as Pathport and Artnet also shares some characteristics with RDM.

The Standard

The full document can be found here (PDF file).

See Also

• Pathport
• Ethernet
• DMX
• Rock Solid Ethernet - Wayne Howell