Controlling video, lasers, lights, etc.

[f150trk21]

So I wanted to a halloween show where laser, fog and light effects are synced to a video source. Not sure where to start. I have Quickshow and Light-o-rama software. I started looking into dmx software also. Maybe the easiest thing to do is just hit PLAY on the video source and the laser show at the same time? A point in the right direction would be great.

thanks
Jason

[djeric68]

So I wanted to a halloween show where laser, fog and light effects are synced to a video source. Not sure where to start. I have Quickshow and Light-o-rama software. I started looking into dmx software also. Maybe the easiest thing to do is just hit PLAY on the video source and the laser show at the same time? A point in the right direction would be great.

thanks
Jason

Jason,

You can do everything you want to do with quickshow. First buy an Enttec USB DMX PRO dongle. The timeline in quickshow will allow you to insert a video as the media file (for the music & video). Save your video to your pc as avi, mpeg, etc and hook your lcd projector to your pc. Then you can create cue's for each lighting effect in the quickshow dmx editor. Next, drop the DMX cue's onto the timeline in the appropriate places where you want the DMX effect to sync with the video. When you playback the laser show in quickshow, it will output the laser to the FB3, output the video on the lcd projector, and send the DMX cue's to the Enttec DMX dongle to trigger your lights, fog, etc.

Easy!

I have been doing this for a few years now with Beyond and it works perfectly.

[f150trk21]

Great, thanks Eric. I didnt know quickshow could do all that.


jason

[Stuka]

I ran some Christmas shows using Beyond for the lasers, D-Pro for the DMX, and Light-O-Rama (LOR) for the Christmas lights several years in a row.
The PITA in all of it was LOR, since it wasn't designed to actually sync to any other control signal.
LOR could send basic DMX and MIDI, but not sync to or be directly controlled by either.

(Note that I use Beyond for my shows, but as long as all your external gear is DMX-triggered, QuickShow should work fine.)

Workaround (assuming the LOR software still won't sync externally - I haven't upgraded in a couple of years)-
Setup a bunch of LOR segments to playback in Interactive mode -
In this mode, the LOR segments can be preloaded and triggered to play using an external switch trigger.
Note that LOR does not let you select a specific show from a playlist with external triggers -
you can only trigger the playback of whatever show is next in the queue.

To use with Beyond, you would want to use a DMX or MIDI-controlled relay connected to the show computer (Beyond speaks DMX and MIDI quite well, thankfully!).
The switch output of the DMX/MIDI relay will be connected to the interactive switch inputs on your LOR controller box.
Drop a DMX/MIDI cue on the timeline to trigger the relay at the appropriate time, and you have LOR sequences triggered by Beyond.
And, it actually works quite well, with a couple of things to keep in mind: -

1. Even when running all the show control software on the same PC, timing code difference between the software packages and the devices they're controlling could mean that timing may not stay in sync between software packages without a timecode signal, even if show sequences are started at precisely the same time. To plan for this, it's best to keep individual sequences in the "slaved" software fairly short, so timing differences are less obvious. For example, if my show was built in Beyond for lasers, but would use add-on LOR sequences, I would individually trigger a lot of individual short LOR sequences from the timeline, rather try to keep a full-length Beyond and LOR show in sync. If the show were built around LOR with laser effects added, I would still trigger the show from the start of the Beyond timeline, then adjust the laser cues as needed to fit the playback timing of the LOR show. PITA, but it works.

2. The computer setup is stupidly complex to make this work (and this is the simplest variant of a setup I've used!!):
So assuming you want to run Beyond (lasers and DMX lighting) and LOR on the same computer (and it does work!), you would have FB3's, DMX dongle, and LOR dongle all connected by USB to your show computer (and hopefully two monitors). Beyond would be running the lasers and DMX lighting, as well as sending commands to a DMX relay (assuming you're using a DMX relay and not MIDI).
Meanwhile LOR is also running with sequences queued up in interactive mode, and communicating with the LOR lighting controller via Cat5 from the LOR USB dongle.

SO, when the DMX LOR cue is active on the Beyond timeline ,it would trigger the DMX relay, which closes the interactive circuit on the LOR lighting controller. This sends a command back thru the CAT5 cable to the LOR USB dongle, which tells the LOR software to start the next song in the LOR interactive playlist - which is running on the same computer that is already running Beyond!!

(Of course, given that the two software packages can't directly communicate, no reason this method wouldn't work with Beyond and LOR running on separate computers.

PITA and tedious to setup, but it DOES work.
Until the folks at LOR enable their software for direct MIDI or DMX triggers, I don't think there's another way to get this to work.

SO, if you're planning this for Halloween -
Don't wait to long to get started in the programming!!

Randy

PS -

You're probably aware that the LOR controllers can also be used as basic 8 or 16-channel dimmer packs.
So, you "could" simplify the LOR use quite a bit by just using the LOR controllers and attached lights as simple single-channel DMX dimmers.
But, that would completely bypass the features of the LOR software that makes it so cool to use for animated holiday light shows.

It really is too bad that the LOR system won't truly sync with other timeline-based software...

[f150trk21]

Awesome, thanks for the detailed reply Randy

[Stuka]

No problem, Jason.
Feel free to shoot me a PM if you have any specific details you want to address.

I'll be the first to admit that although LOR integration is a PITA to setup (and unfortunately time-prohibitive for me these days),
the end mix of lasers, DMX fixtures, and LOR Christmas light animation is VERY cool when everything is working in sync!!

Randy

[f150trk21]

Thanks Randy

Looks like I'll be doing the show next year, so I got time to program. Im planning on using a video projector, 2 laser projectors, 2 ADJ fog ferry jetts, 2 dmx flame throwers and LOR rgb flood lights.

[mixedgas]

SMPTE time code is also your friend. I use an Aquila by East Coast Control Systems.. Pangolin also makes a decoder. Mine "Talks" to Pangolin's show time, and you record the time code on one audio track of the video. Not sure if the Quickshow system supports it.,
~
Its the old way, but it works.,......

Steve

[f150trk21]

Looks like I can't add a video file to the timeline in Quickshow, guess I'll have to upgrade to Beyond.