Macbook as a lighting controller

[Crossman92]

Hey, I am a lighting technician at a church in Louisiana and I want to use my MacBook as a lighting controller. Now, I've heard you can use ethernet but I can't find anything on the internet. Can anyone help me by showing me how to do it and wat softare and equipment I need.

 

Much Much Thanks,

Ryan ""Sid"

 

Moderation: More meaningful title applied

[Bobbsy]

If you use the Blue Room search function with the terms +computer +lighting +control you'll get almost 80 previous threads on this topic. It's probably worth having a read through the previous discussions then coming back with any specific queries you may have.

 

The one problem I anticipate is that the bulk of the solutions I skimmed through appear to be PC based, not Mac. My specialty is sound, not lighting, so I could easily have missed something. In any case, I suggest some reading then getting back to us!

 

Bob

[Ike]

A search for lanbox either on here or the web should also come up trumps.

[ChrisBogg]

You can use Chamsys magic Q on a mac and output art net. all you will need is the free magic Q soft ware www.chamsys.co.uk and an antnet box ether from chamsys or luminex or someone like that

 

chris

[Congo]

one other soloution would be jands vista http://www.jandsvista.com/ have a look on there forum as there is already a few churches in the states using jands vista

 

I would recomend which ever route you take though that you look at you look at a fader wing or at least add a second touch screen

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/10-4-VGA-TOUCH-SCREE...1QQcmdZViewItem

 

for example to make life a lot easier

 

Mark

[Crossman92]

I currently have a Chavet DMX controller. I just want to rrun it trough my mac If that is what you mean.

[Tomo]

I currently have a Chavet DMX controller. I just want to rrun it trough my mac If that is what you mean.

Well, that makes the answer very easy:

Nope.

 

I don't believe Chauvet make a single DMX controller that has an ethernet port, let alone one that has software suitable for running on a Mac.

[smalljoshua]

ALL models are only USB, plus the software only works in windows.

 

But I will seccond the reccomendation of Magic Q.

 

Josh

[BigKool]

I found that the Magic Q is the only viable solution if you want to use your mac laptop as a light console. it's powerful and free ) cheers to guys at chamsys !!!

[Neil Vann]

As Congo says, the Jands Vista will run natively in Mac OSX on any Intel Mac. The software will output over Ethernet on either ArtNet or Pathport, or you can buy a USB to DMX cable that will give you DMX straight out of your Mac.

 

The Mac demo software is free to download at www.jandsvista.com.

 

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact either myself, or alternatively Darryl Ross who looks after Vista for North America at darryl.ross@aclighting.com, and we will be able to help you.

 

Best Regards,

 

Neil

 

Neil Vann

AC Lighting.

 

neil.vann@aclighting.com

[Spawn]

Hi

 

I've used my mac book pro running parallels with Hog2/Hog3 PC. With usb programming/playback wings, widgets and super widgets. All works fine.

 

Spawn

[dbuckley]

Given that the Windows toolset I use is reported to run fine on a Mac using Virtual PC, USB driver and all, I'd wager that many of the PC packages are available to you also. However... a Windows based product has a totally different feel to a Mac product, so it wont feel at all "Mac native". Then again, any of the console emulators don't feel much like a Mac either

[Soundie]

Take a look at usbdmx.com and in particular Chamelon. I use this with an Enttec Pro interface on my Powerbook. It works fairly well, it is still under development, but can do pretty basic stuff well. It doesn't do any moving heads or other intelligent lights properly at the moment, but I believe that is coming fairly soon in the development.

 

I tried using Chamsys MagicQ, but found it confusing to learn how to use, not particularly intuitive and particularly buggy too, I really don't think I would trust it to run a show. I will add that this is just my opinion, and I am really a sound engineer playing at lights.

[ben.suffolk]

Take a look at usbdmx.com and in particular Chamelon. I use this with an Enttec Pro interface on my Powerbook. It works fairly well, it is still under development, but can do pretty basic stuff well. It doesn't do any moving heads or other intelligent lights properly at the moment, but I believe that is coming fairly soon in the development.

 

Since its has been mentioned, Ill just add to this by saying if anybody, preferably a mac owner :) , is interested in helping to shape the future of Chameleon, and especially around controlling moving lights I'd be interested in hearing from you. I'm not looking for a software engineer, or anybody who can even program a little. What I want is a lighting professional who would like to help create a new, easy to use, interface. I don't want to just copy what already there, but clearly don't want to create something different for the sake of being different either. I want what going to be the most logical and simple experience for users.

 

I have been working on fixture support, and have some of it implemented in the background, but don't want to jump in to the user interface without fully understanding the requirements, and how people like to work, otherwise I fear I might start down one route, and find that I actually end up making it a lot more complex for the user than it needs to be. At the end of the day this is an application for an Apple Mac, so I want it to be as user friendly and simple to use as one would expect.

 

P.M me if your interested.

 

Regards

 

Ben

[gareth]

I tried using Chamsys MagicQ, but found it confusing to learn how to use, not particularly intuitive

Perhaps you should've spent more than ten minutes with it, then. While not perfect, it's actually a very easy piece of software to find your way around. Anyone who's familiar with programming a lighting desk (particularly a Hog-syntax one) will be able, as I did, to jump onto MagicQ and program basic stuff with virtually no learning curve. The more intricate stuff is pretty easy to get your head around, too, and the 'on-line' help is invaluable.

 

particularly buggy too, I really don't think I would trust it to run a show

With respect, I think this is probably your unfamiliarity with the software rather than problems with the software itself. I've been using MagicQ for quite some time, including unreleased beta versions, and I can count the number of crashes that I've experience on one hand (and the majority of those have been due to USB driver issues for my PC Wing, rather than problems with the software itself).

 

I will add that this is just my opinion, and I am really a sound engineer playing at lights.

Again with all due respect, perhaps that's the problem. I'm very much a lighting technician rather than a sound tech, and the first time I got behind one of our DM2000s I really didn't like it at all and thought it was really unintuitive and difficult to navigate. But once I spent a few days running a show on one, and had a chance to spend a lot of time really getting under its skin, I realised what a great desk it was.

 

Why not give the MagicQ a chance by spending some time getting to know how to operate it properly?