Ken Coker Posted January 21, 2018 Share Posted January 21, 2018 Doesn't Freestyler support gaming joysticks?. Not an approach I'd take myself, but... (Oh, my Isadora guru tells me that there is a virtual Art-Net module/plug-in for it.) KC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theatretechie Posted February 22, 2019 Share Posted February 22, 2019 Wybron created the Autopilot system. The Autopilot was very special, unless the planets were aligned it was a bugger to get right. Then they updated to the Autopilot 2 with a windows interface to set it up. And it was 100 times better than the autopilot 1. This was discontinued in 2008 (I think that is the right year). I still have stock of them. Several brains, packs, radiator, sensors etc. Not used in some time, I thought I'd give it a go on a small show I lit in January. Fixture profiles are in XML format. I wrote them for the Chauvet Rogue R2 spots and Washes. 10 spots and 12 washes. Little speed adjustment needed but is worked flawlessly. I was very impressed it still worked and even more pleased with the end result. 4 targets no issues. So if you can get hold of an old system its worth having a play with. The other option is ShowCockpit software. Has a Joy stick plugin among other options and works quite well too. (I have Showcockpit but I am not linked to the company in any way). https://showcockpit.com/site/home/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GridGirl Posted February 22, 2019 Share Posted February 22, 2019 I’m guessing that the original poster’s show is long over, given that the thread was created well over a year ago! Having said that, in the last year I’ve seen ZacTrack in action (it got cut and replaced by human followspot ops before opening night) and BlackTrax in action (better but still there’s barely a show report without a BlackTrax problem on it). I don’t think the technology is there yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart91 Posted February 23, 2019 Share Posted February 23, 2019 I don’t think the technology is there yet. The technical capability is certainly there - it's probably more of a case of distilling that down into a useful product. If you look at what Muse (amongst others) have been doing on the video side, using infra-red emitters to track people, a followspot should be simple in comparison. Possibly the problem with a follow spot is that people can move in two or even three dimensions on stage, but the processing and algorithms required must be far less taxing than rendering HD video around them in real time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gyro_gearloose Posted February 23, 2019 Share Posted February 23, 2019 You can track people on stage using infra red emitters fairly easily and cheaply. I created an effects system using the vvvv software, a cheap webcam, some torches fitted with IR LEDs, and a projector. My setup could track the emitters and then project smoke trails which would follow the performers around stage. The performers needed to stay reasonably close to the screen for the effect to work well, but it was really just a proof-of-concept that I created just to see if I could make it work. I don't imagine that it would be too hard to use the tracking information from my system to control a moving head and have it work as a follow spot. Might have to try it some time.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timsabre Posted February 23, 2019 Share Posted February 23, 2019 The principle is not complicated but in real life I think the problem is the amount of setup required... and the number of things to go wrong Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indyld Posted February 24, 2019 Share Posted February 24, 2019 The principle is not complicated but in real life I think the problem is the amount of setup required... and the number of things to go wrong ... in contrast to saying "There's the spot. There's the stage. Follow something and don't spray spill all over the masking." That takes an awful lot of setup in Autopilot. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timmeh2 Posted February 24, 2019 Share Posted February 24, 2019 Hi We attempted to use AutoPilot on some Carnival ships but it turned out to be such a disaster it was quickly abandoned. As a side note its possible newer technology will be better/cheaper than the old stuff which was based on radio triangulation. GPS was never accurate enough to register changes smaller than a few metres and back in the day when the signals were being wobbled by SA, accuracy was about 50-100m on a good day with civilian receivers. Perhaps something with machine vision would be a good start. Some IR sensitive cameras and a small source worn by the target would probably be an avenue to explore. All the bestTimmeh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gyro_gearloose Posted February 24, 2019 Share Posted February 24, 2019 The only major issue with machine vision is what do you do when the cameras can’t see your infra red markers. The good news is that the hardware can be very cheap, so experimenting need not break the bank. For example, my system used a PS3 camera with a new lens and a couple of bits of red gel attached to cut out visible light. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timmeh2 Posted February 25, 2019 Share Posted February 25, 2019 Sounded like an interesting little experiment. That's when the software has to be able to jump between point-and-shoot to object tracking with a fair degree of success. I might give that a go when I'm not so busy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judge Posted February 26, 2019 Share Posted February 26, 2019 ~100$ solution Hahahaa!.Oh, you were serious? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judge Posted February 27, 2019 Share Posted February 27, 2019 Wybron Autopilot seemed like a great idea. Have performer wear a transmitter - get that to send XY coordinates to light. I never used it, or saw it in action as far as I know. It seemed way ahead of its time and certainly very much predated the ubiquitous use of moving lights that we have now.But even if the following part was accurate, which seems in doubt, there are other variables and offsets that need to be calculated. The software needs to know the height of the performer and the angle of the beam in relation to them.But thats just trigonometry really. These days lighting desks are actually working as 3D spaces so it must be doable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timmeh2 Posted February 27, 2019 Share Posted February 27, 2019 Wybron Autopilot seemed like a great idea... Except that it wasn't. Version 2 was slightly easier to set up but inevitably unless you had hyper-accurate surveys of your stage the damned thing would never work properly. It wasn't just a case of telling it where the aerials where, you had to give it all sorts of dimensions including the positions of the fixtures you wanted it to control relative to the stage as well. Even being a couple of mm out in one of the parameters would result it errors that could be measured in feet. That said, when done properly it could work quite well, although a venue would typically have to pay a huge amount of money for an expert to come in and set it all up, and maintain it as the accuracy would start to drift over time. The other problem was fixture maintenance; if the unit was taken down to be repaired, or it broke and you needed to get the system to use another unit instead, you had re-do all the surveying and calibrating again. On the ships it wasn't useful. When docked the system would perform quite well, as soon as you went out to sea the accuracy went to pot. We presumed it was because ship vibrations were causing issues with doppler shift; if the target stood still on the stage, you'd see the slaved fixtures oscillate around it rather than pointing in the right place. All the bestTimmeh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indyld Posted February 27, 2019 Share Posted February 27, 2019 Wybron Autopilot seemed like a great idea... Except that it wasn't... And let's not even mention the admin and integration with the show's lighting desk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marvelmind Posted April 3, 2019 Share Posted April 3, 2019 There is an alternative for precise light tracking: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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