Elements to a rig

[strandman]

Hi

I'm a newcomer to the lighting world, but have experience on a Strand 550i, Hog 3, Zero 88 jester and a very old XL so I just wanted to know what makes up a rig and if anyone has a diagram would be great coss all I know is a control console and dimmers

 

Please Read my other topic at http://www.blue-room.org.uk/index.php?showtopic=28630

[benscrawford]

On the most basic level a rig would consist of: your fixtures (in this instance - a lantern), being powered by a dimmer, which is controlled by a control console; in this day and age via DMX (do a quick search for DMX if you are unware of what this is...)

 

You can then get more complex by introducing more DMX fixtures such as moving lights (some of which are powered via dimmers, others of which are powered by hard power [13A, etc]), smoke machines, the list goes on; which are again controlled by a control console.

 

I hope this gives you an idea of the elements to a rig.

 

N.B. Clearly I haven't gone into detail of what types of cable and accessories are used; which in turn are all elements of a rig, but I shall leave that up to you to look into!

 

HTH

[strandman]

Ok but a desk usually only has 1 DMX input where do all the cables go to before the desk???

[benscrawford]

A lot of desks now often have more than one DMX input or "universe". 500 series for example have around 5, just off the top of my head.

You can also do what is called "daisy chaining" where you link the fixtures together using the DMX in/out, as long as they have different DMX addresses.

[grizzly]

A lot of desks now often have more than one DMX input or "universe".

 

[pedant]

 

A lighting desk would more likely be described as having DMX outputs (although, granted, DMX inputs to desks are possible).

 

[/pedant]

[pritch]

DMX input or output? If you're talking about the desk spitting out DMX to control dimmers / fixtures etc, then you're talking about the output. Some desks have an input, but by no means all.

 

To add further confusion, whilst a desk may have one socket per universe, some desks (Fat Frog being one) output just one universe, but have two sockets to output the data from.

 

Perhaps the diagram on this page will be of help?

http://people.bath.ac.uk/su2bc/infoguides/...mxcabling.shtml

[benscrawford]

Yes, sorry, my mistake! I meant outputs, not inputs!

Sorry for the confusion!

[grizzly]

To add further confusion, whilst a desk may have one socket per universe, some desks (Fat Frog being one) output just one universe, but have two sockets to output the data from.

 

And to add even more confusion, some desks output 2 universes on the same 5 pin XLR (Pearl 2000 springs to mind)!

 

Perhaps the diagram on this page will be of help?

http://people.bath.ac.uk/su2bc/infoguides/...mxcabling.shtml

 

This link doesn't appear to work. I just get a '404 Not Found' message.

 

Edit: if you change the 'DMX' in the URL to lowercase, it does work! (BR insists on always putting DMX in caps, regardless of how you type it.)

[iamchristuffin]

I followed the link back, and what came out is this

 

http://people.bath.ac.uk/su2bc/infoguides/...mxcabling.shtml

 

EDIT: Grizzly, I think "DMX" is one of those auto-format words on this forum, so that it is always in captials

 

EDIT2 - Yep, it converts it, as shown below (as best I can)

 

DMX - this was written in capitals

DMX - this was written in small characters.

[JDP]

Hmm. Not all desks directly output DMX, the Hog III for example. Also, when you need 'more' DMX, desks like the MA output DMX and for extras Artnet or MAnet...

 

Theres also a selection of other signals ran all over the place, wireless DMX, DMX over wirless network (yes there is a difference), Artnet, Hognet, MAnet, ETCnet, Strandnet.

 

http://www.malighting.com/113.html?&L=0&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=720&tx_ttnews[pS]=1213997282&tx_ttnews[backPid]=112&cHash=9490d33977 Somewhere attached to that press story is a PDF that will show you the diagrams involved with the data distribution.

[matt-hayes]

Hallo,

 

In case you didn't manage to get to the BTS site (I couldn't work out if you did or not) you can get to a higher level of the lighting infoguide here.

 

Thanks

[LeeStoddart]

Elements of a rig - in very simple terms...

 

A lighting console (input is 13A mains to run it) outputs DMX via a (5pin) cable to a dimmer pack

 

A dimmer pack (input some sort of mains power) control signal input is DMX from the console, control signal is also passed out to the next DMX device or terminated if this is the last device. Also output is a controlled form of mains (the level being determined by the signal sent from the console). The controlled mains is generally passed through TRS cable with 15A connectors

 

Then we have a lantern (luminaire) which has input controlled mains and output light (and heat)

 

 

Of course this is highly simplified. Most dimmer packs output several independently controlled forms of mains - many small packs have 6 controlled outputs. Each of these would be controlled by different channels on the console. More than one lantern can be connected to the same dimmer - up to the maximum current rating of the dimmer. And other DMX devices can be connected to the chain - smoke machines, scroller power supplies, LED controllers, and moving lights to name but a few.

[JDP]

Elements of a rig - in very simple terms...

 

A lighting console (input is 13A mains to run it) outputs DMX via a (5pin) cable to a dimmer pack

 

Says who, our desks are all on 16A. Can't think of anything worse than a 13A on anything. Oh, not quite, mostly, our desks go into a FOH Multi, which goes back to dimmer land, into a Mission Control rack, then buffered, then linked out to dimmers and movers. We have 100M Multicore, usually from FOH to dimmer land (not to be confused with the actual dimmers), because of the length, its usually wise to buffer a 100M run.

 

From our end of business it goes:

 

 

For DMX

 

Lighting Desk >> Network Kit/DP2Ks or NSPs, Cat 5 buffers etc >> DMX >> 100M FOH Multi >> Data Rack with buffers >> Buffers >> Racks, Movers etc

 

 

For Artnet

 

Lighting Desk >> NSP/DP2K, Cat5 buffers etc >> Luminex Box (DMX - Artnet) >> 100M Cat 5 FOH Multi >> Data Rack with Luminex Box (Artnet - DMX) >> Buffers >> Movers.

 

Sometimes, for this set up, we use truss Luminex boxes, and run Cat5 up to the truss, rather than DMX. We can configure or 'patch' the outputs to anything on Luminex boxes, we can say have universes 1,10, 43, 22 etc outputting on the boxes, making it easier than patching DMX racks stupidly.

 

Usually speaking in our FOH multis, we have 2 16A for desk power (ran the opposite way round), and XLR3 for comms etc.

[LeeStoddart]

@JDP

 

I did say "in very simple terms" and "of course this is highly simplified"

 

The idea was to indicate that there is some power going in to the console :D Depending on the facilities available, size of venue, profile of event etc etc you may have different requirements for what quality of power you need. In a "simple" small scale venue 13A might be perfectly acceptable. On a Rolling Stones world tour probably not.