 Setting up the parameters
The fixture control mode offers different options:
First, you have to select in ArKaos the same DMX fixture as you have selected in your DMX console (“ArKaos Tiny” or “ArKaos Full”). These fixtures are available to download at the bottom of this page for various DMX consoles.
Then, there are three other options that you have to decide: the number of layers that you want to access from your DMX console, the number of the first DMX channel to be used and the priority mode.
Channel functions for each of fixtures are described on the “ArKaos Tiny” and “ArKaos Full” fixture pages on this web site as well as in the Release Notes document that comes with ArKaos VJ (into your software box or as a PDF, also available here).
- Number of layers
- The number of layers must correspond to the number of fixtures created in your controller. For example, if you defined 4 layers in ArKaos, you have to create 4 ArKaos fixtures in your console.
- First Channel
- The number to define for the fisrt channel depends on how your ArKaos fixtures are patched in your DMX controller. For example if you are using the same DMX output on your console for your lights & ArKaos, and the lights are patched on the first 30 DMX channels, then you can set ArKaos to use channels from 31. To do so, enter “31” in the “First Channel” field of the DMX setup dialog.
- If you are working with ArtNet, most of the time, you will have an ArtNet output dedicated to ArKaos and you will Patch ArKaos fixtures from DMX channel 1.
- Priority mode: HTP or LTP
- The default value is HTP, which mean Highest Takes Precedence. That means that layer 1 will always be behind layer 2, which will be behind layer 3 etc. The order in which you start ArKaos layers has no effect on the result.
- LTP (Latest Takes Precedence) means that when you start an ArKaos Layer, it starts over the layers already running. The advantage is that, even if you have a visual running on your highest layer, you can start another video layer over that one. The drawback is that if you take a snapshot of parameters and recall them, the visual result may not be what you had when storing because it depends on the order in which you started the layers.
Important:
All DMX channels assigned for ArKaos must be contiguous. It means that the second layer must be patched to the DMX channel that follows the last DMX channel used by the first layer. For example, if you use the “ArKaos Full” (43 channels) and you want to control 4 layers: if you patch the first ArKaos layer on channel 65, the second layer have to be patched on channel 65 + 43 = 108, the third on channel 151 and the fourth on channel 194. As the fourth layer ends on channel 237, DMX channels 237 to 512 will not used by ArKaos.
Checking your setup
A few simple steps to check that your DMX setup is working:
You must have a file opened in ArKaos. In Fixture Control Mode, everything is controlled from the DMX console, except monitor settings and resolution (cf User Manual).
Create a new file and drag & drop some visuals from your file browser to the Visuals Database.
When a file with visuals is opened, follow these steps on your DMX console to get a media to appear on the screen:
- Set the visual category channel to movie (DMX value between 32 & 64)
- Set the visual index: the default value is 0 which means that no visual is selected on the layer. Setting the “Visual Index” channel to 1 will select the first visual in the selected category. Since we just selected the movie category, the first movie that you have imported in ArKos should now be selected on the layer 1.
- Set the Dimmer channel to 100% and the first movie will appear !
Fixtures downloads
You can download the ArKaos Fixtures for your DMX console from the table below:
If you have any question, remark, request or idea about how to use these Fixtures or how they can be improved, please post it on our Users Discussion Forum into the Hardware / DMX topic. |
