Problems connecting MA onPC to Capture Polar

[Firewood1]

Problems once again connecting software! It seems only Hog and Magic Q can do this easily!!

 

I'm trying to connect MA onPC (MA1) which is running on Windows XP, to Capture Polar which is running on a Mac. I have tested my network and the two computers can "talk."

 

I am not familiar with Grand MA, and the purpose of connecting to Capture is so I can learn the console prior to a forthcoming job. The manual references only to connecting to WYSIWYG.

 

Currently I have configured the network within MA onPC and attempted to output DMX via ethernet using Artnet, but I'm really not sure if this the correct way to interact with Capture as I doubt MA onPC is enabled to output DMX.

 

Any assistance from those in the know would be gratefully received. With Magic Q and Hog the universes just pop up as soon as you set the IP address....why is it not that simple?!!

 

Cheers

[mac.calder]

The grandMA will not output DMX without an MA output node or processor on the network. You can use MA-3D because they communicate in MA-NET speak. I don't think there are built in allowances for other visualisers.

[Firewood1]

Capture say it is possible, but also say follow the instructions in the manual....of which there are none!

[Joe Bleasdale]

Capture CAN connect with MA 1 and 2. I havnt found any console hard to connect to Capture. I have connected Vector and Eos recently. You may have to mess around with the IP addresses and the stuff in the connectivity window.

 

Thanks.

[grandMA_the_2nd]

If you are using ONPC then you cannot output Artnet without any nodes or NSP's on the network - this is to stop users essentially having a free console - though it can connect to wyg without any nodes on the system. If you have a physical console then yes no problem artnet away... If you need a node or NSP then give us a ring at grandPA...

 

Cheers Tim

[Firewood1]

Capture CAN connect with MA 1 and 2. I havnt found any console hard to connect to Capture. I have connected Vector and Eos recently. You may have to mess around with the IP addresses and the stuff in the connectivity window.

 

Thanks.

 

Hi Joe,

 

Can you confirm that Capture will connect with MA onPC, rather than simply (albeit expensively!) connecting to an actual console?

 

Can this be done with a network switch and a couple of lengths of Cat5? ie - without any nodes?

 

If you have done this, are you able to go into any more detail? What part of the MA onPC setup needs configuring as there are many output possibilities. Do I even need to configure DMX outputs, or should simply creating a network be enough for Capture to see the MA universes?

 

Cheers

 

Colin

[Joe Bleasdale]

Capture is very good at "seeing" things with very little configuration. Im not sure whether you need a console, but I reckon a PC with Capture and another PC with MA on would work. There are more connectivity options for MA than any other desk in Capture.

 

I don't know about MA specific stuff... But if your going to try this. Only have one network adapter active, ie just your LAN card and no wireless. Have them in the same range and use a crossover cable. Make sure you have Capture enabled for MA-NET. Universe mapping can be done once the systems are seeing each other.

 

I'm going to alert Lars Wernlund from Capture about this thread and hopefully he will stick his nose in and answer things diffinitivly for you.

 

Thanks.

[deejaybaze]

As a lot of other people say in this post.

You MUST have a GrandMA node (2port, nsp, npu) in the same network to activate Artnet out from MAOnPC.

MA OnPC does'nt send artnet out as default. Why? Because otherwise you can download MA OnPC and buy a showtech node for $100 and have a fully working MA.

 

/Baze.

[Wernlund]

Hi guys,

 

Let's sort things out.. Capture on a PC supports MA-net natively, but Capture on a Mac does not. You can use ArtNet on both platforms, but as mentioned that's not available for free.

 

Just as Joe wrote, we try hard to make sure Capture "sees" things automatically so that you don't have to configure anything. MA-net is actually the only exception as it requires a manual connection. Simply right button click in the External universes list of the Universes tab to open the MA-Net configuration dialog where things should be self explanatory. If you want/need to override the IP address Capture uses you can do this in Capture's options.

 

For future reference I can recommend page 20 in the reference manual! ;-)

 

 

Cheers,

 

Lars Wernlund

Technical Director, Capture Sweden

[Firewood1]

Thanks Lars and Joe,

 

I have to confess I didn't look at the manual because in the past with the likes of Hog 3 and Magic Q it has always been so simple, so I figured the universes would just pop into view with MA in the same way. When they did not, I thought I'd turn to the forum here rather than bother you guys once again for something that was probably a quick fix!

 

As is also the case with Hog 3 (it was me who posted on the Capture forum about this the other day)it is a great shame that this does not work with the Mac version of Capture (I fully appreciate this is a Hog 3 issue and not under your control). I was running my Mac version....hence my trouble! I hope very much that by using Windows XP running in Bootcamp on my Mac that this will once again open the door to me using Capture with a decent console OS!

 

I will report back if this does not clear things up but in the meantime, thankyou very much for your help. I hate to admit it but life was a little simpler before I changed one of my systems to a Mac...I hope MA support for Capture on Mac will be in the pipeline!!

 

Cheers guys

 

Colin

[grandMA_the_2nd]

Ah so it works over MA-NET like wyg, and not over ART-NET which would not work on ONPC... Nice cheap solution...

[Joe Bleasdale]

Slightly OT... but we all know Art-Net is dying. I hate it to be honest. And Captures way of doing it direct with a ton of manufacturers protocols is much nicer IMHO!

 

Thanks :)

[grandMA_the_2nd]

Sorry did you just say Artnet is dying? Artnet 3 just launched and now able to control kilo universes of data...

[indyld]

Slightly OT... but we all know Art-Net is dying. I hate it to be honest. And Captures way of doing it direct with a ton of manufacturers protocols is much nicer IMHO!

 

Thanks :)

 

Have to say Joe, I think that Art-Net is dying a bit premature seeing as we don't have any decent standard to move into and the idea that dealing with a ton of protocols is a GOOD thing for development is the wrong way round. (don't mention ACN, seriously, how long..? DMX itself is still a new technology to some theatres and as an industry still we can't even fit connectors with the right number of pins...)

 

Capture does a good job of dealing with all those silly proprietary protocols that manufacturers like to dream up to solve their immediate needs but that isn't the solution for industry wide development.

 

The good thing about Art-Net is that at some level, most devices will have a way of dealing with it. OK, so maybe manufacturer X has decided that CITP is the way to go for them, but others choose differently, others have their own Net protocol and so on until there are silly numbers of ways a visualiser has to work. But they all do DMX.

 

All relevant kit will deal with DMX and often over a network connection (or possible with a little additional hardware) - so interfacing with visualisers works with most combinations. OK, so bi-directional communication is out but that is no different to the majority of real world lighting rigs. If we are going to have a protocol for visualisers to enable all this goodness, let's have one, not 1000s.

 

Careful what you wish for, Joe, or we'll soon be faced with BehringerNet and ADJEther to add to the list ;-)

Edited August 9, 2011 by indyld

[timmeh2]

Slightly OT... but we all know Art-Net is dying. I hate it to be honest. And Captures way of doing it direct with a ton of manufacturers protocols is much nicer IMHO!

 

Thanks :)

 

Huh?

 

So you'd prefer Tower of Babel scenarios where different bits of kit can't talk to each other because they're incompatible?

 

Art-net is great because it is universal. And it's open source. And free. As a C++ developer I can easily and quickly write applications that can read, translate and decode an artnet network and do anything I want with it. I couldn't do that with sACN or MA-Net unless I cared to pay money for it.

 

Art-Net has been, and always will be, the default protocol for DMX over IP, You don't see video walls for sale that will only work with one console or media server, they all talk Art-Net.

 

People talk about a new protocol - be it CITP or some other reinvention of the wheel. Yes, it would be nice to have all these media server and visualiser extensions so I can see what effect parameters from server X are running on console Y, and then watch them in real time on Visualiser Z.

 

But I don't have to wait for this, I have it already. All my thumbnails appear in my console. I know exactly what effects are running, because my desk tells me.

 

And like others have said, now Art-Net 3 is about, which is faster and more powerful than all the other protocols, I suspect that the big console manufacturers will update their products to work with this as well, rather than ignore it.

 

All the best

Timmeh