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Thread: lyt-or showlaser

  1. #1
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    Default lyt-or showlaser

    hi, i recently got a showlaser without any manual. i am very new to this. the name is: lyt-or, athena 4, cartoon laser.

    there is a usb graphic interface card. i plugged it to the pc with a usb-wire. i plugged the graphics signal out (from the interface) to the lasser (pc in, d-sub 9pin).

    on the interface there is another port: motorhead signal out (XLR). on the laser there are XLR ports as well: in - DMX - out. and a 25 pin ILDA DB 25F connector.

    the software that comes with the laser is called i.top (iTopMovingEn and iTopEn).

    so my problem is, as i'm absolutely new to showlaser-performance: how can bring the graphics/frames from the software to the laser? as i told above i plugged the wires. but i think something is missing as no wire goes to the ilda connector.

    maybe i should go from the "motorhead signal out" (from interface) to the 25pin ilda connector (at laser-box)? but is there a wire from XLR to 25pin??

    hope i could write it down quite understandable. if anybody has some hints i am thankful.

  2. #2
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    If the output from the computer is 3 pin XLR, it's DMX, and cannot be converted to ILDA. A pic would help...

  3. #3
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    DMX or DMX 512 A is the control protocol used in almost every intelligent lighting fixture out there (I havent met one that doesnt) it works by sending a continous stream of numbers, 512 numbers (channels) each ranging between 0-255. The specification requires the 5 pin cables and connectors but the data is only communicated across 3 pins (hot cold and ground if you know about balanced signals) What you have is a 3 pin adapter on your laser that can take the DMX input.

    Imagine this is as like 512 sound cables running to a speaker or 512 light switches. You can use the DMX protocol to control every aspect of your laser that it is set up to take but the protocol only runs one way, you can tell your laser what you want it to do, but cant have it read back information to you, ie like finding out how hot they are.

    Lets take a step back and try and apply this to your setup. You have a 9 pin connector, DMX in and out and 25 pin. I dont have any experience with lasers (this forum is just fun to read) so I dont know about the 9 pin particularly so I stand by to be corrected. Heres how I see it, the 25 pin ilda gives you full two way connection to the laser and allows to plug a computer in to control the laser with the software for doing things like fine tuning and setting up the laser frames and other pratical type stuff.

    When it comes to the actual show you then take the DMX out of your control hardware and plug it into the DMX in of your laser, the DMX out can then run to any other DMX controlled object you like (Intelligent Lights/Dimmers/LED fixtures....) (note it wouldnt matter what order you plugged them into so long as they form a chain)

    Then to make the actual laser work you then use the control hardware to make the laser work, how this actually affects the laser would be down to how to the softwareis setup/you set it up. I can imagine you would control such things as Intensity/Red/Blue/Green/Size/Shape/Shape/shape etc, Lets say you wanted a nice large pattern that you setup up earilier in Purple. You would need to move the Intensity channel (one of those 512 numbers) all the way up to 255, and then you could select a shape by pushing up one of the shape channels so that the laser actually projects something, then you can play with the shape and size so that you get a feel for how the DMX works. Then the next set is to 'program' which is to use the lighting the soft/hardware to program in such a way that you can produce nice flashy well put together shows....


    Thats all I have time to type today, but im sure many others will pick me up on things and correct me but I hope the gist of the issue is there.

    Silent

  4. #4
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    Also, now I think about it could you get a link to the actual product?

  5. #5
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    Cool

    Quote Originally Posted by SilentShaddow View Post
    the 25 pin ilda gives you full two way connection to the laser
    Actually, that's not true. There is no feedback loop built-in to the 25-pin ILDA connector. All the signals are sent to the projector. None of them are returned to the computer. (The 2 interlock lines are nothing more than an electrical loop inside the controller - there are no inputs to the card from those two pins.)

    The real difference between DMX and ILDA is that DMX is a digital protocol, whereas the ILDA connection is passing ANALOG signals.

    As for Blazey's projector, I suspect that the 9 pin connector contains the essential signals (X+, Y+, R+, G+, B+, Shutter, I-lock A, I-lock B, and ground) wired to the cheapest 9 pin connector they could find. Obviously, this means that they're all using a common ground, which is not strictly kosher when it comes to projectors. However, the use of a common ground is quite common with budget-priced projectors. (In fact, the old F2000 units used to use an 8-pin RJ-45 ethernet connection! They omitted the I-lock A and I-lock B pins.)

    It apears that the projector also has a 25-pin ILDA port. The only problem is that with the common ground connections required by that 9 pin plug, the ILDA port is not wired correctly. (X-, Y-, R-, G-, and B- are all supposed to be separate circuits, not all tied together.) It will probably still function if you plugged it into an ILDA-standard controller, but with the grounds tied together like that you might get some cross-talk (mild interference).

    Adam
    Last edited by buffo; 07-22-2008 at 13:05.

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    All intelligent lights have DMX, otherwise they wouldnt be intelligent :P

    But yea, You can basically run the WHOLE show over ILDA, you dont need to switch to DMX. DMX is just another semi-control protocol.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Things View Post
    All intelligent lights have DMX, otherwise they wouldnt be intelligent :P

    But yea, You can basically run the WHOLE show over ILDA, you dont need to switch to DMX. DMX is just another semi-control protocol.
    I do believe that some lights did run on PMX for a while? but this brings me to the end of the scope of my knowledge...

  8. #8
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    soforene is offline The Troll formerly known as Herbert Von Poople-Futtocks
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    The lazershop may be able to offer some guidance (maybe even a manual if you ask nicely and cross their palm with silver).

  9. #9
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    dmx is nothing more than a modified rs232 signal.. where pmx a strict rs485 signal.

  10. #10
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    Heh, DMX512 seems to be everywhere nowadays, I dont think its gonna be replaced in lighting for quite some time. DMX512 was not designed for lasers, thats for sure, but those tricky chinese/japanese found some way to implement it ;p

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