toytown Posted February 5, 2004 Share Posted February 5, 2004 Ok so I have used ShowCad from the early DOS days and have been beta testing ShowCad Artist for nearly 4 years. This system is very powerful and from an installer point of view can be locked down for idiots (in a club situation read DJs) as well. It is very expandable with the ability to run via touchscreens, DMX input, midi, keyboard, RS232 etc. The BIG bonus is therefore to be able to automate just about anything connected to a rig be it video controllers, laser desks, even video recorders. The DMX outputs are modular :- need an extra 512 channels just plug another USB box in….. (I think they have had about 5000 channels working so far with no problems) (Also new Ethernet boxes are available so it is possible to run all DMX fixtures over TCP/IP therefore wireless network boxes mean lighting desk moves closer to the bar!!!!) People who have had problems with Showcad demos make sure that you have dx9 and win2k makes it the most stable. However I am running in win98 with and old Showcad ISA DMX Card with no problems. If you are still having problems version 1.1.35.144 is available for download, which I run as my backup version. The only moan for me is no visualiser for offline programming which is not a huge problem at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
back_stage_bob Posted February 5, 2004 Share Posted February 5, 2004 :huh: Nice to see the two bits of software being compared!!! I must say as a guy that runs a production company artist is probably my favorite controller, I even prefer to take it out over the pearl!!. The main reason is it will do anything!! I can set up a conference or exhibition put in the start and finish times etc and artist will take care of the lot!, For stage shows you can use any midi controller with sliders which gives you the controllability of a traditional desk but with the power of artist. and for dance and club events two clicks and you have added as many moving heads as you want. As far as stability goes just as long as your windows install is sound and no crappy bits of software loaded then it is 100% rock solid. I programmed a system for one of the big national club chains and EVERY single lamp in the building was controlled by artist even the toilet lights!!! show me a farmyard full of hogs that could do that!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ziggyP Posted February 6, 2004 Share Posted February 6, 2004 The one thing that Showcad Artist / Martin Light jock / show magic / sunlite have in common (those ones I have used) as well as the HogPc and the new Avo off linePC program (which I haven't) is that you have to pay for both the software and the hardware interface, in many cases serious money. If you want a low cost full spec, up to 6 universe system try out the free Chamsys download metioned a couple of posts ago. At least with this the Artistic License dongle can be used with loads of other software. For free software it's amazing that it is the most stable of the lot with no crashs or lock ups.If you shop around you can get second hand dongles for £100-150 (try Ebay). Compared to the first four packages above the ease of use overall is as good with the moving light pogramming being by far the best. Ziggy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gareth Posted February 6, 2004 Share Posted February 6, 2004 The one thing that Showcad Artist / Martin Light jock / show magic / sunlite have in common (those ones I have used) as well as the HogPc and the new Avo off linePC program (which I haven't) is that you have to pay for both the software and the hardware interface, in many cases serious money.Not so. I don't know about Artist, Show Magic and Sunlite, but HogPC, LightJockey and Avo Offline can be downloaded from here, here and here respectively. Regarding hardware, you can get a DMX Widget for HogPC for under a grand. Likewise, you can pick up the LightJockey output hardware for way less than a grand if you buy second-hand. Hardly "serious money" in the overall scheme of things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ziggyP Posted February 7, 2004 Share Posted February 7, 2004 Not so. I don't know about Artist, Show Magic and Sunlite, but HogPC, LightJockey and Avo Offline can be downloaded from here, here and here respectively The point I was making was that the download does not mean you have to use their hardware to run the software and output some form of DMX. These packages are only sampler software (unless you have a console and use them as off line editors) and cannot be used without their hardware. This is different to software released as public under GNU type licence. The Artistic dongle is from one company but ethernet to DMX boxes that support artnet can be obtained from at least 5 manufacturers. For the many 100's of school and amateur theatre groups "weel under a £1000 pounds" is a lot of money Ziggy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinw Posted February 7, 2004 Share Posted February 7, 2004 This is different to software released as public under GNU type licenceAs far as I know, there is no credible lighting control software available under this licence at the moment. There are a few projects on Sourceforge, such as Openlight, which probably has the most intelligent approach. The problem is, that while many people/groups start out on open source projects with the best intentions, only a few actually get to something that works. Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaareolai Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 Martinw: As far as I know, there is no credible lighting control software available under this licence at the moment. There are a few projects on Sourceforge, such as Openlight, which probably has the most intelligent approach. The problem is, that while many people/groups start out on open source projects with the best intentions, only a few actually get to something that works. There is infact a project that might be working ... in a while. It is at least useful to control light at the moment, last time I downloaded a snapshot. I also know the original developer. Link to QLC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mush Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 For Hog PC, there is the plug in Half Hog http://www.visualies.dk In opensource there is also the recentish looking Freestyler; http://users.telenet.be/freestylerdmx/indexen.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gareth Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 For Hog PC, there is the plug in Half Hog http://www.visualies.dkIt's worth mentioning, though, that this product is only of very limited use with more recent builds of HogPC. Build 168 onwards only supports control of 8 faders via Midi, so your fancy 28-fader wing isn't going to be much use to you. To get the ful use out of this product, you need to downgrade quite considerably to build 162 or earlier of HogPC (the current release is build 177). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinw Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 In opensource there is also the recentish looking Freestyler;http://users.telenet.be/freestylerdmx/indexen.htmlThis doesn't appear to be open source. Whilst there is a free .exe to run, I can find any source code on the site. When it comes to free closed source programs with a working DMX output, Chamsys MagicQ looks to be the best bet with full hog/pearl style moving light capabilites and 3000 channels. Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaareolai Posted March 18, 2004 Share Posted March 18, 2004 martinw: This doesn't appear to be open source. Whilst there is a free .exe to run, I can find any source code on the site. When it comes to free closed source programs with a working DMX output, Chamsys MagicQ looks to be the best bet with full hog/pearl style moving light capabilites and 3000 channels. It is mentioned something about the free? sourcecode in the manuals/readme's regarding the Freestyler, but I can't find the files neither. I have a dmx2lpr DMX-dongle, so I will try the application with DMX-control output later. First impression is ok, although there was a bug in it regarding MS win98. I had to recopy the windows\system\winmm.dll, which were owerwritten by a newer one, which requested a newer ntdll.dll than on win98. It worked even with the normal winmm.dll. The manual states MS win98 as a possibility, but the online help about only mention MS win2k/XP, so it works probably better there. But I don't want to deal with MS-stuff more than necessary, as I am more of an Unix/Linux person. On the other hand, I downloaded both versions of Chamsys MagicQ. I then found out that version 1.1.5 had files there were missing in 1.1.6, namely the \header\xxx.hed-files, so I copied them over, with good results. The impression is _very_ good, especially on my touch LCD-screen (Still on win98SE). I even managed to verify that the Artnet was fully functional, by testing with Ethereal (Artnet compliant).Regrettfully I have no Artnet Ethernet to DMX box, at least yet. But as I only have an Artistic License DMX-dongle II, I wanted to try that, as this is mentioned here to be working. But I can't make it work, even though I have toggled the Control->View DMX I/O->Out Type (Universe 1) to Parallel, and even tried different values of Control->View Settings->Parallel port adress. But it would be nice to try the software out with some real light and wigglers, socan someone give a clue here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mush Posted March 18, 2004 Share Posted March 18, 2004 Build 168 onwards only supports control of 8 faders via Midi, so your fancy 28-fader wing isn't going to be much use to you. Thanks for that, somehow thought it would be USB or someat, in MIDI there are a number of `knob box ` options that might be applicable or adaptable. Didn`t notice the source code was not available for Freestyler, still looks an interesting concept though as does the Chamsys MagicQ. Notice one of the supported output devices for Freestyler is listed as `monacor 60/120` woonder if this is the same DMX box that CPC are currently retailing. No ones mentioned the Linux Lighting Group yet: http://llg.cubic.org/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryson Posted March 18, 2004 Share Posted March 18, 2004 Chamsys.co.uk/support is now a 403 - permission denied. Guess they meant it when they said you can only download it if invited... That or we've sucked up all thier bandwidth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinw Posted March 18, 2004 Share Posted March 18, 2004 Chamsys.co.uk/support is now a 403 - permission denied.You need to go to /support.html not /support - Try the link - its working at the moment. Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinw Posted March 18, 2004 Share Posted March 18, 2004 No ones mentioned the Linux Lighting Group yet: http://llg.cubic.org/Nothing much there apart from a few linux drivers for some very obscure DMX interfaces. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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