Advice needed

[stevenb]

Hi,
I'm not sure if I'm posting in the right section, but I need some advice.
I am at present looking after the lighting on a building with 413 rgb lights over the 4 sides of the building, there are 4 DMX universe boxes, and 3 dmx controllers (SLESA-ip1). At present I am using ESA pro to produce my light shows, This, although very easy to use can be very time consuming, even to do the simplest light setup can take a couple of hours with animations taking a lot longer. I was wondering, with the setup I have if it was possible to use any of the other software on this site to speed the process up.

I would also like the option to simulate a graphic equaliser on the sides of the building, by playing an audio track on the controller pc and outputting it to the lights, I'm not sure if this is possible with the system I have though.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Engineering.jpg (87.55 KiB) Viewed 15518 times

Thanks

Steven

[simonB]

Hi Steven

It depends what your "4 dmx universe boxes" are and if you are running the system as a stand alone show or live with a computer. Sunlite Suite 2 is compatible with the IP box as long as you have a Suite2-FC box connected. This is a very powerful software package and will allow you to program more specific effects and program more quickly (once you're used to the software).

Regarding the "sound levels" effect. It is not possible to follow the sound velocity. An idea would be to make an effect where the lights go up and down and to trigger this effect from the beat of the music, it won't follow the velocity but I don't really see this as a problem on a building.

If you really want to achieve this effect, you could use another piece of software to calculate this and send over something like a MIDI message.

We have a new audio analysis tool coming next spring which may have this feature, but I can't give you a definite answer yet.

p.s....where is this?

[stevenb]

Thanks Simon,

The Dmx universe boxes are SIT-LL-DMX_BOOSTER (according to the schematic I have). I can run the system in stand alone or live with a computer. Would Sunlite Suite 2 be able to control this setup. I can email you a schematic of the setup if that will help.

The building is the Active learning lab in the Engineering Department at the University of Liverpool, if you do a google image search for active learning lab Liverpool, you should see some of the light setups we have.

I'm always looking for interesting things to do with our setup, if anyone have any nice ideas, I'll have a go at putting them on.

Thanks

Steven

[stevenb]

Thanks Simon.

The building is the Department of Engineering at the University of Liverpool.
Our system consists of 3 SIT-SLESA-IP1 DMX controllers, connected to 5 SIT-LL-DMX_Boosters, which are then connected to the 413 RGB lights.
The system can be either computer controlled or stand alone.

Are the Suite2 FC boxes a replacement for the SLESA units?

Would it be possible to use the Sunlite software with this setup?

I have quite a few light setups that I can run, but am always looking for ideas, if anyone has any please feel free to make suggestions and I'll see what I can do.

Steven

[simonB]

Hi Steven

The SLESA-IP1's are only compatible with ESA, not ESAPRO. How are you managing to use ESAPRO with the SLESA-IP?

Sunlite Suite 2
-To use Sunlite Suite 2, you need either a Sunlite Suite 2 DMX interface or a STICK.
-There are no Sunlite Suite 2 IP interfaces, only USB.
-If you have a Sunlite Suite 2 FC box connected, it unlocks certain features of the software, one of which is the possibility to use the SLESA-IP interface.
-You can also output up to 4 art-net universes out of your computers ethernet socket and an additional 3 DMX universes out of the Sunlite Suite 2 box.
-You can download Sunlite Suite 2 for free and have a play around with it. There are also video tutorials at http://www.nicolaudie.com/nicolaudietv

I'm from Manchester (but live in Brighton now). I may come and visit at some point..we are always looking for new videos and images of projects, especially with a new website around the corner. If you have any other photo's video's and wouldn't mind sending them over, I'll put them up with a link to a website if you have one.

Let me know if you have any other questions

[stevenb]

Hi Simon
My mistake, I use Easy Stand Alone with the system.
I have a few photo's and videos I could send you. What is the best way to get them to you, by email?

If you fancy a trip up to Liverpool, let me know, winter time is best as it's dark by 4:30pm. On quite a few occasions last summer I had to drive back into work at 10:00pm to see what the lights looked like after making a new lighting arrangement.


Steven

[simonB]

Hi Steven

Anything less than 5MB can be sent to me by e-mail. If it is more it will need to be sent with something like yousendit. This is free and allows you to send up to 100mb I think.