Home

USER MANUAL

1. 7 Play Media Play 0 255 127 0 100 play speed Speed Speed 1 127 1 100 play speed 128 255 100 1000 play speed Hi X X Axis 0 65535 32767 0 16383 auto rotate ACW 0 fast 16383 stop Rotation Rotation of 16384 32767 manual rotate ACW Media 32768 49150 manual rotate CW 49151 65535 auto rotate CW 49150 stop 65535 fast Lo X Rotation 10 Hi Y Y Axis 0 65535 32767 0 16383 auto rotate ACW 0 fast 16383 stop Rotation Rotation of 16384 32767 manual rotate ACW Media 32768 49150 manual rotate CW 49151 65535 auto rotate CW 49150 stop 65535 fast Lo Y Rotation 12 Hi Z Z Axis 0 65535 a 0 16383 auto rotate ACW 0 fast 16383 stop Rotation Rotation of 16384 32767 manual rotate ACW Media 32768 49150 manual rotate CW 49151 65535 auto rotate CW 49150 stop 65535 fast eee ee eee notation 0 32767 0 very small 32767 normal size mace Media 32768 65535 32678 normal size 65535 very large size 15 ce Size 16 Hi X X Axis Position 0 65535 32767 0 32767 0 far left 32767 centre Position of Media 32768 65535 32678 centre 65535 far right Di 30 ION IO IS ION Position 18 Hi Y Y Axis Position 0 65535 32767 0 32767 0 far bottom 32767 centre Position of Media 32768 65535 32678 centre 65535 far top Pee LL Le Position 20 Aspect Aspect Ratio 0 299 0 127 0 normal 127 Ratio of Media squash vertical 127 255 128 squa
2. 230 Diamond Diamond02 Hven Vven 231 Keyboard and Mouse Shortcuts Performance Page e shift click and drag on stage visualisation to rotate around stage e alt click and drag on stage visualisation to pan around stage e shift F7 or F8 or F9 to store stage visualisation view point e F or F8 or F9 to jump to stored stage visualisation view point e F11 interpolate between stored stage visualisation view points e mouse scroll wheel to zoom in and out of stage visualisation e Alt click and drag on media tile or group selection to move them around e F4 open tap widget e F6 toggle roller or sphere display e Tab store scene trigger e ctrl B buddy selected clips e ctrl click on clip to lock to selected fixture group e ctrl U un lock and un buddy clip e ctrl M midi learn on selected clip e ctrl clip info displays the Artnet channel e lt gt adjust speed up and down or also do the same thing e ctrl T timecode trigger offset learn e home toggles display of clip midi timecode trigger offset e page up page down when triggers are not visible master video offset midi timecode adjust if video is ahead push up if behind push down e page up page down when triggers are visible adjust per clip midi timecode trigger e shift page up page down master lighting offset adjust midi timecode adjust e ctrl F displays filenames for all clips e space bar to go to next media tile
3. With the Modular LED Fixture we use a CSV sheet to store references to each pixel we want to sample and a destination DMX channel and universe for this data to be sent to Working this way may initially seem strange but when working with large numbers of fixtures it becomes much more easy to access and update data quickly using this format 11 The following example shows how Al s coordinate system works The grey area is our total texture size We measure this with a value scale of 0 to 1 on both the X and Y axis 0 0 being the top left and 1 1 being the bottom right The sampled pixel is then represented within this value range so for instance the top left squares sampled pixel can be found at 0 25 0 25 and the bottom right squares sampled pixel can be found at 0 75 0 75 0 0 25 0 75 1 POL IS 1 once our coordinates have been determined we enter those into columns 3 and 4 of our sheet which just leaves us to assign the channels and universes for each of the fixtures referenced within the sheet which will give us something that looks like the following Channel Universe X Coordinate Y Coordinate 0 0 0 25 0 25 3 O 0 75 0 25 6 O 0 25 0 75 4 O 0 75 0 75 Many people prefer to make CSV sheets manually however Ai now has the ability to create a CSV data sheet for you taking much of the hard work out of the equation To do so import your 3D model into a standard screen fixture go to the Canvas Editor page and press t
4. ccooccccoocnccocnccocnoconncconnononoononnonannonnnnnnnnnnnnnonanonanennnnanennnnanes 158 LIVE AU O rr SS E DEAR LL DR 158 ANS o A a A te Tee 159 Media Dl e de ae Oe 159 Media Pla VO oia E haute d dia ane eeuaien TA N 159 Media Player FF Selector File and Folder oocococcccocnocccncoccncococoncccncancnnnnnnos 160 o bach n deans aneasaeaetesesendestoessenseaea ees 160 TOO S aes eta tata an nsec eerste A ale dicameeeuteren 160 AY A 0 210 ml ct gt eee ee Rear ee oc EE A eee ee eee 160 ICY DO Units ii 161 A A e 161 Matic alas 162 A cots In O O asuteenees 162 A A A oan ee mr 162 POUM A teen etree r tc ewe te teat te oe ate heen cde ha ead act tate 162 A A O E CE et 162 F FOICCION IO GANON sissies acetate a e cdas 163 A NC PAPA E E mind saaanecuseneduaatcenensnceceaiaee 163 Vector ae 15 0 0 a PAPA ME AO oc tn a A ere 163 VECINO Messer rodas otto crcecaaces dacandeSoasanedenseauaissestal eanceendscenc E a 164 O 164 A O A 164 NECIOS PI ecc 164 MO iii 165 o E Een a rene CR Tae 165 AYA TS Gal p E ee eee mene er EEE ve aR we E E T EEEN oY wee ene ee ar eer Rw eT ate 165 MdG COU cane peerer a O mee Roe ara wee Sm TEE edo 165 NIOL Devi o o eee 165 NIG KEY IN orea ES 166 MIAK EV OUT secs ica tind e OE OE a a a a N 166 WITGE AA es le Co IPPO E Ao the daeecsancatcatease wacsneued 166 MIRLOS VICO veses pss oia oe cde tadashi 166 MOON CONIO ninia oda 167 A e O o nanan eaeraaneasaiee 167 NOW oie 168 ANMETIAPUtL g
5. Co ar Mode arGrid Trigger 156 Import 3D Model Licence level Anjuna 30 Model TexCoords 305 Opens a local 3ds file and outputs the model 3D Morph Model Ai 3D Morph Model Licence level Miami 30 Morph Model a Posikion AAG Position AAA Biss a Scale 106 Scale 106 Scale 1066 A Aokakion A A T Rotation AAG 2 Rotation AAG Morph Control Texture Qk Interpolates between the chosen 3d models All models must have the same number of vertices The Ai Variant adds some additional functionality such as compatibility with the Morph Model Output Module which allows separation of the location of the output from the module to a different patch location Al Vector Art Licence level Bondi AL Vector Art Normalize All Render Order BackToFronk Detail Smoot Smooth Imports an Adobe Illustrator vector art file and outputs it to the GL stream 157 Al Vector Font Licence level Bondi AI Yector Font Font Stroke i Fill iha Imports an Adobe Illustrator vector font file and outputs it to the GL stream Layer Texture Reference Licence level Anjuna Layer Texture R Layer Index Fixkure Index Texture Quek Provides a texture from the specified Layer and Fixture Live Audio Licence level Anjuna Live Audio Lett Right Sparad Mode Level Bars Y Display Mode Microphone Cirrus L Device Frequency Texture
6. If using Active Fixture on the Ai System Settings menu click CITP initialise wait the Ai server should then be visible on the lighting console as an active fixture if not you may need to restart the Ai software or the lighting desk for further assistance please contact Avolites Media support team On Avolites consoles the Ai Server is then controlled using the Attribute Editor window ArtNet parameters For a complete list of ArtNet Channel definitions please see page 117 In summary the parameters are Folder file selections may be numeric alphanumeric or ID numbers In out points Play mode speed Rotation xyz Image size position aspect Movement speed smoothing Intensity RGB multiply values e g O remove all red 255 full red 63 Strobe Colour fx sets blend mode Visual fx selects SVFX extra user effects may be stored in Distrib modules svfx 2 parameters FX opacity must be up to show fx Keystone The 80 channel mode adds the following controls Additional 14 params for fx1 Fx2 effect and 16 params MTC set timecode offset for trigger Xfade period mode sets xfade for layer Aspect mode old aspect mode from v5 software 100 channel mode adds the following Hue saturation contrast Colour adjust sets how RGB works if O works as above If 1 multiplies up to 50 then adds colour in above that ie O no red 50 100 red in media 100 add red By expanding the ArtNet window to
7. Layer lock each clip in the clip properties if you wish to TC trigger to a certain layer Set each clip to MTC play mode if you wish to lock the clip to the MTC clock in the clip properties Set your Timecode Trigger times in the clip properties Buddy all of your clips which you wish to trigger simultaneously together shift click to multi select and then ctrl B or enter manually in clip properties Make sure your System Settings Midi timecode options are set appropriately Once you have gone through the relevant process you can then show the timecode widget activate it and then once timecode is sent to your machine your clips will playback at the appropriate times 46 Sapphire Media Controller A unique industry first the Sapphire Media console offers video operators an intuitive live hands on show control surface enabling seamless integration of all visual elements The Sapphire Media control surface connects to Ai Media servers and highlights include 2 generous wide screens touch surfaces for easy access to the User Interface and Salvation Engine control Additionally 4 switchable and assignable touch preview monitors are available to the system operator These preview monitors may be mapped to any inputs outputs or video layers The system also features e 15 motorised faders for live control e Smooth T Bar for traditional vision mixing e Direct access buttons pre assigned to popular features and functions
8. 80 channel 100 channel Each layer has its own settings for Artnet So it is possible to configure each layer independently a channel paronan y Ea Selects Media 0 255 D both Folder and File to 0 System Folder Sub Folder will clear all content on layers Settings Triggering Method sets whether this parameter selects Numeric Folder Alpha Numeric Folder or Roller Cue selects Library Selects Media 0 255 Setting both Folder and File to 0 File File will clear all content on layers Settings Triggering Method sets whether this parameter selects Numeric File Alpha Numeric File or Roller Cue selects Media from roller cue 2 Hi In In Point of 0 65535 Frame no of in point in media file IN MTC PLAY MODE Point Media in becomes backward A pq A in frames Point Point Media in becomes forward offset MA in Eo o cerl Point Play O PLAY_ A IN_FRAME Mode 1 PLAY_MODE_OUT FRAME 2 PLAY MODE LOOP_FORWARD 3 PLAY MODE LOOP REVERSE 4 PLAY MODE ONCE FORWARD 5 PLAY MODE ONCE REVERSE 6 PLAY MODE STOP 7 PLAY MODE PAUSE PLAY MODE BOUNCE PLAY MODE _SWITCH_ON_FRAME 10 PLAY MODE LOOP_FORWARD_IGO 11 PLAY MODE LOOP REVERSE _IG0 12 PLAY MODE ONCE FORWARD IGO 13 PLAY_MODE_ONCE_REVERSE_1IGO 15 PLAY MODE BOUNCE _IGO 20 PLAY MODE_MTC 40 PLAY MODE LOOP_FORWARD_RTIGO 41 PLAY MODE LOOP REVERSE RTIGO 42 PLAY MODE_ONCE_FORWARD_RTIGO 43 PLAY MODE_ONCE_REVERSE_RTIGO 45 PLAY MODE BOUNCE_RTIGO 117
9. A 3d model does not contain information about the shape of the model or faces themselves it defines the positions of the vertex points which form the corners of the objects and places a skin between these points The model file also contains the UV mapping information UV mapping is the process of applying a texture to the faces of your object which in turn generates coordinate data that tells the software which pixel needs of the graphics to be on which face by using a relative scale of O to 1 for the coordinates A relative scale is used instead of absolute pixel values so that flexibility in terms of altering resolutions may be maintained instead of needing to remake the model for each different size of texture U and V are used to describe the horizontal and vertical position within the coordinate range you might expect X and Y to be used instead of U and V but as they are traditionally used in relation to the physical position of the object U and V are used to avoid any confusion In Ai terms there are two major benefits to using 3d models vertex editing as only the vertex point locations are stored within the model the faces are calculated in real time which means that the points can be moved to adjust the placement of corners and edges and the software will always make sure the faces are complete whether untouched or altered UV Mapping as the texture uses a relative coordinate system instead of absolute pixel values an
10. E A fot Hs 3 y es yer yo exiled rr ms i VERSION 8 6 18 DEVELOPED BY AYOLITES MEDIA LTD POWERED BY SALVATION CTM HARRISON DIGITAL MEDIA INC DRIVEN BY DAYE GREEN TREY HARRISON STEVE WARREN 76 CIARAN ABRAMS SELWIN COOPER ARRAN ROTHWELL ETRE SIMON GRAHAM MART PRADS GREG 404M OLIE ALL AT AVOLITES AND YOU SPECIAL THANKS MARE CALVERT LETS ROCK USER MANUAL VERSION 8 X By Arran Rothwell Eyre December 2014 with Additions by Dave Green amp Ciaran Abrams Table of Contents Al Quick Start Guide ccoocconcoccconcconcccnconcconccnnconnnonncnnronnrnnrnnrnnrnnrnnrnnranencnnnnn 12 the USEF NGC IMAC G crinca 13 Stage CONStUCHON Page iii 13 ON 14 FO ecliOrn FITO ies near E a E O a toate cnisaeae on 14 MOGUIA LED EN taa 15 LESA ION IAS coses 15 MUNTaN and Structure FIXINGS usaras decantaci n 16 Surtace Modelling Page ii e o do 17 Canvas editor Page 20 Performance Pag ua a 22 Scene INTE O eer 25 Hime Pauta cdta 26 OPUS a a 29 OUIDUT Page S Creen FXT marnes a Es 30 Region mapper OO acre aN 30 MASKING A 31 DAVE amp Load MEOIONS AM E O A si aset nase ayaeceaon 31 SAPO TOPUN Stan 31 Output Page FrojectOr FIX sans a 32 MAD T A E 32 Somtedge Dendin essa iii is 33 Output Page Modular LED Fixture oocccoccccoccccccnccococoncnocncnncocncnnonononononnncanonnonons 34 TNE PICHING Pages Queries dvedeteotsieussaotinwuauis 36 The Project BroWS eiii ii 38 A A E IO e
11. Latch In Our Trigger When triggered latches and stores the input value always outputting the most recently latched value 131 LFO Licence level Anjuna LFo 1 46 Min Speed 1060 Max Phase Sin mi ae Bars yn Outputs an oscillating control signal in the shape of a sin saw triangle or square wave Monitor Licence level Anjuna Monitor In Che 5 Displays the value of the control signal received at the input Ramp Licence level Bondi Ramp Trigger Time Curve Linear When triggered outputs a linear or smooth ramp from 0 0 to 1 0 over a specified period of time Sequence Licence level Miami Sequence Write Input In Looping Loop Start Loop Length Dut Edit Captures a sequence of data from the input and replays it through the output according to the specified loop start and stop options 132 Smooth Licence level Bondi Smooth In E5 Duk Sm Time Smooths a control signal to prevent rapid changes or discontinuities Switch Licence level Anjuna Selects one of the control signals and passes it through to the output Vector Licence level Anjuna Vector aC yee yar We yo Outputs a vector containing 4 user defined components Vector Smooth Licence level Bondi veckor Smooth Time ale Pa i y Le l In Duk Smooths each component of the input vector to avoid rapid changes or discontinuit
12. Licence level Anjuna Read Patch Constant Enter Param Path Allows you to read from a specific patch numeric variable when no port is available to read the value The path would normally look like this subPatchOne ControlName Value This module should only be used as a last resort as it is much less efficient than using a standard port Read Patch String Licence level Anjuna Read Patch String Enter Param Fath Allows you to read from a specific patch text string variable when no port Is available to read the text The path would normally look like this subPatchOne ControlName Text This module should only be used as a last resort as it is much less efficient than using a standard port Shared Constants Input Licence level Bondi Shared Canskanks Input In Al In 1 In Sends control signals between patches 179 Shared Constants Output Licence level Bondi Shared Constants Qukpuk Out El Out 1 Out 2 Opt 3 Out 4 Out 5 Out 6 Out Receives control signals from other patches UI Lock Licence level Bondi LIT L m f k Lock UI Prevents changes to the patch layout Write Patch Constant Licence level Anjuna Write Pakch Constant Enter Param Fath Link Y Allows you to write to a specific patch numeric variable when no port is available to write the value The path would normally look like this subPatchOne ControlName Value This module should only be used
13. Live Cam Override Also See Live Cam Override uyvy Example patchs which can be dropped into the stage patch directly and merged with the output of the mixer to create a live camera override which will draw over the top of the mixer output This can be a much more efficient way to merge capture with your show 215 Effects The effects system used in Ai known as SVFX is based around patches made using the Salvation Node based programming tools This approach allows unparalleled flexibility and performance For further information on the SVFX format see page 83 For details of how to control the effects from Artnet please the ArtNET DMX channel definitions on page 117 Descriptions amp Example images The following pages contain an example image showing the result of each effect when applied as well as a guide to which parameters are available for each effect Blur Parameters 1 Horizontal Amount 2 Vertical Amount Parameters 1 Left 2 Right 3 Up 4 Down 216 Edge Detect Parameters 1 Threshold Hue Rotate Parameters 1 Hue Shift 2 Saturation 3 Value Invert Parameters 1 Opacity Levels Parameters 1 Min In 2 Max In 3 Min Out 4 Max Out 5 Mid Point 217 Luma Key Parameters 1 Threshold 2 Opacity 3 Luma Value Mirror Adjust Parameters AAA EA 1 Horizontal Distance 2 Vertical Distance 3 Horizontal Offset 4 Vertical Offset 5
14. Blue and Alpha transparency components of a colour RGB Color Curves Licence level Anjuna RGE Color Curves Preset Input Preset Save New Presek Texture In Texkure eset Curve Takes a Texture input and applys color curves to it Also allows you to store and recall presets The presets are stored in the following location Distrib Modules Color RGBColorCurves DefaultPresets bin If you wish to transfer your presets to another system you can simply copy this file into the same location on any other Ai system 127 Controller Ai Controller Licence level Anjuna AiController AiControllera AiControllerl AiController2 E 1 Fader a Preview Input F1 E 1 Fader a Fixkure Group Input EE E 1 Fader A Media Erowser Input E 1 Fader A Hex Cluster Input E 1 Fader A Eq Selector Input E 1 Fader A Tap Widget Input nn amp fF fo y E 1 Fader 7 AF A Info Widget Input E 1 Fader E AS la E Scene View Input E 1 Fader 3 A Mokion Time Line Input Bi Fader 1 DO record B 1 Fader O i Controller Output Bi Fader 12 A 4rknek Remote Input B 1 Fader 13 Bi Fader 12 E 1 Fader 15 T Bar A series of hardware specific modules for the Al range of controllers allowing for connection within the Salvation engine Auto Select Licence level Anjuna Soto Selec In 1 Out In In 3 Automatically chooses an input and passes it through to the output according to the last value received 128 Bu
15. Cut Pro Premier After Effects etc Within your software load your movie s and then choose to export render using the AiM codec There are two choices using this codec Quality or Performance Quality gives you a full 24bit render while Performance is a 16bit render that is equivalent to the DXV codec You can also choose to discard or preserve the Alpha channel on your clips Which screen resolutions can use Ai is very flexible with screen resolutions they can be user defined up to the maximum limit of your software licence level Anjuna license will give a maximum resolution of 1920 x 1080 a Bondi license allows for a maximum resolution of 2560 x 1536 and a Miami license will give a maximum resolution of 8192 x 4096 What format effects can be used in Ai Ai makes use of FreeFrameGL effects an open source effects standard freely available from many sources across the internet They can be added to Ai by installing them to Distrib Modules Effects FreeFrameGL I ve installed Ai but when I click on the icon it doesn t seem to run Ai needs to be run as an administrator Right click the program shortcut choose properties and then in the compatibility tab tick the box labelled run this program as an administrator 111 When I run Ai the program starts but the user interface is black This generally happens when Ai is run on a system which does not meet the required specification for the graphics c
16. Cy Value 7 Parami4 alue Parami5 Cy Value Y Parami6 ANA Undefined o When creating your own blendmodes and SVFX there are a few things to remember e Both SVFX and blendmodes need to have a number before the name such as 001 Alpha or 016 AiRGBMultiply this allows for remote selection via ArtNet of effects and integration with existing SVFX or blendmodes e Inthe SVFX patches the names entered into the parameter boxes are the ones which will show within the effects engines e Within distrib modules effects there are folders for SVFX and blendmodes this is where any user generated effects or blendmodes should be placed e You can find template patches in both the blendmode and SVFX folders e if youd like to learn a bit more about shader code the majority of our included effects are shader code so can form a great set of examples to learn from or alternatively a couple of good websites to start looking at are htto www openal ora documentation glsl http www wikipedia org wiki OpenGL Shading Language_ 84 Auto blend As of version 8 we are have launched Auto blend a new camera based warp and blend feature to add to the Ai tool kit Quite simply a camera based warp and blend allows you to setup your projectors then aim a webcam at the projection target then the software will project and analyse a series of test patterns and from this information it will generate warp and blend files to automatically
17. Horizontal Flip 6 Vertical Flip i Pixelate Parameters 1 Pixelation Parameters SO E EE EE EE E EEEE EENI 1 X Spacing JENNA 2 Y Spacing 3 X Size 4 Y Size 218 Posterize Parameters eee 1 Gamma i me 2 Colours RGB Multiply Parameters 1 Red Channel 2 Green Channel 3 Blue Channel Parameters 1 Ripple Sepia Parameters 1 Opacity 219 lt D e eb Parameters RX Translate RY Translate RX Rotate RY Rotate RZ Rotate GX Translate G Y Translate G X Rotate 0 Y 0 01 E ON Parameters 1 Width 2 Height 3 Scale Parameters Mid Point Low Red Low Green Low Blue High Red High Green High Blue NOOR WD Parameters 1 X Position 2 Y Position 3 Size 4 Softness 9 G Y Rotate 10 G Z Rotate 11 B X Translate 12 B Y Translate 13 B X Rotate 14 B Y Rotate 15 B Z Rotate Chroma Key Channel Blur D i P Pi O o O w D 5 o Parameters 1 Threshold 2 Opacity 3 Red Value 4 Green Value 5 Blue Value Parameters 1 Horizontal Amount 2 Vertical Amount Parameters 1 Tile X 2 Tile Y Parameters 1 Red Blend 2 Green Bend 3 Blue Blend Colourise Parameters 1 Hue 2 Saturation 3 Brightness Bloom Parameters 1 Intensity 2 Blur Strength Desaturate Parameters No Adjustable Paramete
18. The editor itself is the standard mapping editor included with the build but using it in conjunction with the output page allows you to make use of a separately navigable mapping editor window on the left side of the Output Page Using the standard navigation controls in the left window shift left drag to rotate alt left drag to pan and the mouse wheel to zoom it becomes simple and trouble free to view your 3d model from precisely the angle that you want making it very easy to select exactly the vertices you wish to edit In order to adjust your model with the mapping editor you must remember to first press the button marked Edit Mesh which can be found at the top of the editor module itself In situations where you have an accurate 3d model which represents your projection target it can be possible to make use of Auto Map to accurately align and dramatically reduce your set up time To make use of Automap press the relevant button at the top of the mapping editor and you can now see the familiar interface allowing you to choose 4 points from your model and specify where you would like them to be placed within your output 32 Soft edge blending Within the output page windows that are shown for the projector fixture it is now possible to control soft edge blending The window gives you two sets of adjustable borders the green is the inside of your blend and the red is the outside and the falloff of the gamma curve on each edge
19. down adjusts frames e shift page up down adjusts seconds e alt up down adjusts minutes e shift alt page up down adjusts hours Alternatively if you d rather enter your chosen timecode value with a keyboard right click a specific tile and halfway down the Cell Properties panel on the left there is a value box that you can use either the mouse or the keyboard to adjust 43 Arenek ID 1 Media Speed A E Thumb Frame Play Mode Buddy Group Midi Trigger Noke Time Code Trigger In Frame Quek Frame Transition Period Transition Mode Fixture Lock s Once timecode triggers have been assigned to media it is necessary to then make a few decisions as to how your timecode will be operating within Ai Open up the System Settings window the second section is devoted to Midi and is where we can make any system changes related to midi timecode such as the method source and running mode here we can see the different options given by the buttons both unchecked and checked Master Device AiMidi Master Device AiMidi Show Time Code Widget Show Time Code Widget Time Code Active Disabled Time Code Active Use LTC era Usina MTC Use LTC TimeCode Free Wheel Time Code Disabled Free Wheel Time Code Use System Clock as TC Use System Clock as TC Time Code Base Rake 25 Time Code Base Rate Advanced Midi Mode Advanced Midi Mode e Master Device select the master midi device for timecode e Show Time Code Widget h
20. e Shift Y Select all vertices that share the same X value as the selection i e they are vertically even If multiple co ordinates are selected then it will apply this to each co ordinate e Ctrl X Align the selected co ordinates X value This will take the average of the selected co ordinates and snap them all to that value e Ctrl Y Align the selected co ordinates Y value This will take the average of the selected co ordinates and snap them all to that value 235 Output Page e arrow keys in screen fixture mode move selected output region e arrow keys ctrl in screen fixture mode move selected canvas region e arrow keys in projector mode move selected vertices according to the specified amount e shift arrow keys move selection in 10 unit steps e Ctrl c copy selected region e Ctrl v paste selected region horizontally e Ctrl shift v paste selected region vertically e tab next region vertex e shift tab previous region vertex 236 Salvation Node Based Programming Patches e Space left click drag scroll window contents e Ctrl q quit e Ctrl w close window e Ctrl tab switch windows e Ctrl o open patch e Ctrl z undo e Ctrl shft z redo e ctrl x cut e ctrl v paste e ctrl a select all e ctrl d deselect all e Ctrl zoom in out e Ctrl g group modules into subpatch e delete delete selected modules patche
21. select the fixture icon at the bottom of the screen with the mouse and press delete Delete the fixtures from right to left Add a screen fixture thats the third icon from the left at the top of the screen In the fixture properties box on the right the grey box enter 1 6 in scale width 0 9 in scale height 1920 in CanvasResX and 1080 in CanvasResY Now go to the performance page the piano icon in the bottom right Now create a new bank of media by clicking on the plus sign at the bottom of the media banks on the right and enter a name next drag some media in from the windows browser into the middle area of the Ai interface Select the screen fixture icon at the bottom to see the layer widget on the left and make sure that the top layer is selected by using the left mouse button the selected layer has flashing blue handles now left click one of your media tiles to play that content on the selected layer Select layer 2 and trigger a different piece of media to that layer on layer one select Additive from the blend mode drop down menu on layer one and then adjust the layer intensity value either numerically or with the vertical fader Right click on the layer to see the quick layer properties and add an AiColourise effect and adjust it with the parameter controls go to the output page the coaxial connector icon at the bottom left Select the screen fixture the press the number 2 to send video to output 2 in th
22. 400 pixels whereas an image with twice the width and height has 2 073 600 pixels this equates to 4 times as much work for the computer to do 0 960 1920 540 1080 An images quality cannot be increased by playing it back at a higher resolution it will need to be re encoded from source so playing back media at a higher resolution than its rendered size is not of benefit to the video all it will do is increase the size of the pixels within the video Media Storage 4 Hard Disk Drives 2 Local Disk C e XX W 23 4 GB free of 55 7 GE Storing your media on a separate drive to the one which your operating system is installed on will greatly reduce the time needed to read or write your media files to and from the drive In the case of windows it regularly writes to a system file stored on the primary hard drive whilst its in use If this happens whilst trying to read or write a media file the potential bandwidth is potentially halved as twice as many read write operations need to be carried out on that drive at that moment in time 94 Texture memory canvas size when an area of computer memory is used for computer graphics the size of the area reserved in memory is always rounded up to the nearest multiple of 2 With lower resolutions the impact is minimal but when dealing with higher resolutions this can substantially increase the required system performance for your show For inst
23. 8 onwards we use the Surface Modelling page within the Stage Construction Page for building your own stage models You can also use an external 3d program such as 3d Studio Max Blender Maya etc Which 3d model formats can I use in Ai The safest formats to use are 3ds Max 3ds or Wavefront obj files We also support Collada dae Blender 3D blend Stanford Polygon Library ply LightWave Iwo Can use audio in Ai Currently Ai can play back stereo audio in WAV format embedded in a quicktime Movie If your video clips contain audio we recommend re encoding them with the AiM codec We are looking into the permissibility of incorporating other audio formats What is the best audio format for Ai For the best results we recommend using our own AiM codec with audio embedded Alternatively WAV files can be added to the timeline along with videos and then the result exported as a single timeline cue 115 Where Can get further information Check the forum which can be found via the www avolitesmedia com website in the Support section Weekly training sessions are being offered at Avolites HQ in London and we can also offer phone support and online GoToMeeting sessions And our support team at support avolitesmedia com are waiting for you to get in touch 116 ArtNET DMX Channel Definitions An Ai server has three modes of operation on Artnet DMX 40 channel compatible with Catalyst
24. AAA CG 1 ES AT OOOO OUR O E O PO OO ited ga nana Re eet IC 110 Which VIdSO Tormals Can ADV sinsentido Rass 110 What IS Re AIIVE COGS Ci srt Mamta 110 How do achieve the optimum performance from the Aim codec o coo o o 111 How do encode my media files using the AIM Codec oocccoccncccnccccccncocncnnnoninonons 111 Which screen resolutions Can USC rriren a aA 111 What format effects can be used IN Al oocccoocccccnccoccccocccocncoonccanoconocanonnoncnnrnnncanannnns 111 I ve installed Ai but when I click on the icon it doesn t seem to run o o o 111 When I run Ai the program starts but the user interface is black 112 POW CO get IVE vided iNO All satarct ninia 112 Is the software and OS on 64 bit cooccconncccncconccocncccnnconccorcnonnonanonronnnoncnononncnnnnns 112 Is the system still based on the DXV Codec used by UVA and Resolume and is it an Intraframe codec or an Mpeg based COdEC ccccecccceeccceeeeseeeseeeeeeeesseeesaeeeeeeaees 112 Are the Freeframe plugins still implemented and can they be used on the live input dida 112 Can 3d objects be imported and textured o ooccconcccncccocncccncocnconconnonconconnonnnanonnnnnos 112 Can use external controllers with Al cccccececececcccececcccccaceccacececuecueaescesnesuears 113 Do have to use an Avolites console to Control Al 2 0 0 0 cccccccecceeceeeeeeeeteseeeeee
25. Ai a patch for making use of values created like this this can be found in System Patches 2 x 8bit Receive extracting data from a UDP based network message using Insert Module Network Ethernet Receive With a highly rehearsed show it is possible to work without real time feedback and use well programmed cues and chases from a console or sequencer this approach can be problematic if the projection targets have much scope for deviation from the planned movement Key points to remember e All models loaded within an instance of 3d Morph Model must have the same amount of vertex points e Every 3d Morph Model will need at least 2 differently positioned models loaded at the same time otherwise it will appear to do nothing e 3d Morph Model s can have more than 2 models loaded at the same time The total amount of files loaded are always spread across a value range of O to 1 and will be interpolated between in a linear progression 78 Try to model as accurately as possible correctly sized screens in real world positions all set in metres can be very easily dealt with out of scale models can still work but it can be become very difficult to find the right values Make sure that metres is your chosen unit when exporting your 3d models from your modeller of choice How you UV map your different models can open up creative results when morphing between them 19 Soft Edge Blending From Version 8 of Ai onwards most users w
26. Attenuates the master level of the system s audio signal Sync Offset Licence level Anjuna Sync OF Fsek aa Sync Offset Configures the global offset between Audio output and video output Measured by Delay 124 Capture Active Silicon Phoenix Licence level Miami Ackive Silicon Phoenix Configure Channel a Board Mo 1 Video Qukpuk O Allows for configuration of and output from an Active Silicon Phoenix HD SDI single or dual channel video input card Dalsa Genie Camera Licence level Anjuna Calsa Genie Camera Configure Project S0KsSapera Video Qukpuk La Allows for configuration of and output from a Dalsa Genie Camera 125 Color HSBA Licence level Bondi HSB C Hue A Saburabion C Brightness C alpha Outputs a vector containing the Hue Saturation Brightness and Alpha transparency components of a colour Hue Rotate Matrix Licence level Bondi Hue Rotate y Makris Angle Outputs a vector containing the hue component of a colour Image Color Licence level Miami Image Color A Position T Position Ln ar Outputs a vector containing a colour value based on the chosen X and Y location within a specified image 126 RGBA Licence level Anjuna RGBAZ RGBA RGBA L AGEAZ AL aC JEC yar AC yar yer yar yo i G BBH IC JR C 7 Pe aa CEE CIC JE i Pm T ke We JA Outputs a vector containing the Red Green
27. E Provides access to the Al timecode widget This module is used internally within the Ai Ul and should not normally be used by the user 192 Video Sampler Licence level Miami Sampler Video In ed Video Out Record Play Scrub Speed Restart Samples stores and replays a video signal received at the input Switch Licence level Miami Swikch Video El Outputs one of the input video signals based on the value of the Select input 193 Vision Binary Pattern Read Licence level Miami Pr cy Cl Oo a E D nsition Threshold Threshold amj e Gl hal lay A A E al Gi LE a em a eo Lal ka a a A Wiggle a Video Output 7 F Qukpuk Yalue video Input Module for interpreting data presented by Binary Patterns to the video input and outputting the resulting value as control data Color Tracker Licence level Miami Color Tracker Ball Position a Video In o Video Out Accuracy Calibrate Position Hue Accuracy Saburatbion Accuracy Brightness Accuracy Allows for tracking based on colour for the signal received at the video input and then outputs the resulting information as control data 194 Greyscale Sample Licence level Miami Gl Ll A i I hon 1 i 1 k i A D El I al i ml El gt 2 ml 4 41 4 41 iT N Se fF fo O eae es es i z gen I tal I Ia Tr
28. It is worth baring in mind that the use of Blacktrax and Optitrack will require a reasonable understanding of 3d modelling and working within a 3d environment as each of the systems will involve calibration based on 3d position and will generally need to be reset to a repeatable centre point where as due to kinesys being used for 2d movement on the whole it requires less complex calibration and centering e Blacktraxx is very fast to setup and is the most suited towards a touring production 88 where time for alignment and calibration may be limited e Optitrack is capable of very complex tracking but does need to be properly calibrated which can take some time and maybe even some project modification for each new venue e Kinesys is great for controlling stage elements and objects which will move along a set path and for these types of object it is very quick to setup and will only really require recalibration if the trim heights have been changed since the last show e We would advise that for any tracking project to avoid specifying the wrong system and taking a less efficient approach to get in contact with us so that we can talk you through your options and work out the solution which is best for your show 89 Further Concepts An Introduction To 3D modelling Many users are not familiar with the concepts involved with 3d modelling and in turn are therefore not aware of the benefits that using them can bring to your workflow
29. N Ports ca Channels KIMET Output O For the setup and configuration of a KINET network NatNet Client Licence level Miami EA Clienk Connect Rigid Body Index Lu x pos y Pot TAN Ll Pos Pos zPoz a ee St Lt Lt q da Fitch pos rot Roll A5 H i 6 8 A ENE Epos x rok rr Render Ou This module receives data from a specified Nat Net source 176 Peer Asset Manager Licence level Anjuna PEER ASSET SHARE FOLDER temp 4i4ssekShare PEER CIRECT 1 PeerExample PEER LIST 4 Examplel xamplez xample3 sample i i a E e e Ttt mmm m in Allows Distribution of Project and Cluster data for version 6 projects not yet compatible with version 7 177 Patch Patch Clock Licence level Anjuna Patch Clock adjust Time Restart 44621 Bars Controls the time clock of a patch via tap tempo tempo adjust and clock restart Patch lO Licence level Anjuna Allows data to be passed between patches Patch Short Cut Licence level Anjuna Patch Short Cut Jump s Pisel ddict UL S kagePatch Mixer _8 FixtureFs FF GLiIker ator FFGL Array Specifies a short cut to a window within the patch system Port Pack Unpack Licence level Anjuna Pork Pack O Pack Output Pork Unpack de Pack Input work in progress for possible future use 178 Read Patch Constant
30. Note lets you set a note value that will also trigger the clip great for more standard midi controllers and keyboards or music sequencers when time code isn t an option If Time code is required then a trigger time can be set in this next box the format is hours minutes seconds frames a safe time of 24 00 00 00 can be set as a 24 hour clock never reaches this number so anything set to that value will not trigger if a time code trigger is set it is important to remember to set the play mode to MTC The in and out frames determine the start and end frame from which the video will be played back alternatively you can drag the in out points on the play head bar just below the main preview Ai can perform a fade on the layer as standard the default time for which can be set in the system settings see page 20 however the Transition Period box allows you to specify an alternative amount of time to the system default cross fade period when its set to 1 it will use the system value set in the system settings otherwise it uses the value set here in seconds and Transition Mode lets you set a specific blend type for that clip to use when cross fading on the layer Fixture lock lets you tell a media tile to only playback on a certain fixture when triggered regardless of which fixture is selected very useful to make sure certain clips always go to the right place in your mix Follow On Actions allows you to cr
31. O 183 SNG COMDNO een ene me acter oi 183 SMPO COMPA oe ne eee ee mene ne eee eee ern ee eee eee ee ee eee eer ee 184 1161 116 Hl gs 919 Caeener eee ne ene tee cE nn ND ee tretinoin nee eer er ee ee ene ee 184 SUMING GMO UN icone tate Grace aaa adres oat ot ease ses eee acre nae ted eat andes tel 184 A o isaneemiaaasoosaaseencmannaeanseeenent 184 A A A 185 o aa 185 SUING TOXU rr iii 185 dale le aeaa aorta seat eect gee aaata la abode en aeea aa teasamaeoie 185 Syd ae hal A A tc tee ene Oe 186 SUID SMN arca ap eels 186 A lla y PPP on O 187 o ne E eet tose nate EE 187 andado CU Decision tetas iio Do 187 101811018 210 ita ato 187 MECO AA no Hascmanzeeuiisientsensa EER 187 A A tate ohtees keaee Slat a a tometer ehseet aka 188 TimeCode MaS ed doe noo 188 Timecode MINION rior ES 189 Timeline Day SCA UI o terete 189 Vale TEMS ONY pe ae 189 WU acces tn A ii iii 190 AIX SNES TIO ds a e 190 PUA GUNS UNG OC osetia t torches ais 191 o ar teiaee aden axed bastions ct eueh dati ne aiaatahsede anaes iain oe 191 o a cused enon ad annua bate Aeneece a ceate muerte 192 ANNE COGS VVIGO Cl ssn pada dndoanmsen aller 192 VideO cira aduadontaesauad estauanweuretan ct auiatenstenennahasncadamanaenvuiesiecarsaenauert 193 Sam aa oa 193 oo o e EE ER OEP 193 VISIO rancio rot orro iaa 194 Binary Faten Realia da 194 Ala eo aan erent teeter nnn A enh en eee tare renee Meena me eh 194 Gey aeS anl spent A A A 195 e eee tere ra ee ge ee ore ror 195 U
32. Visual FX2 Parameter 1 FX 2 P01 P01 58 Visual Visual FX 2 0 255 Visual FX2 Parameter 2 FX 2 P02 P02 Visual Visual FX 2 0 255 Visual FX2 Parameter 3 FX 2 P03 P03 Visual Visual FX 2 0255 Visual FX2 Parameter 4 FX 2 P04 P04 Visual Visual FX 2 0 255 Visual FX2 Parameter 5 FX 2 P05 P05 Visual Visual FX 2 0 255 Visual FX2 Parameter 6 FX 2 P06 P06 Visual Visual FX 2 0 255 Visual FX2 Parameter 7 FX 2 PO7 PO7 64 Visual Visual FX 2 0 255 Visual FX2 Parameter 8 FX 2 P08 P08 65 Visual Visual FX 2 0 255 Visual FX2 Parameter 9 FX 2 P09 P09 Visual Visual FX 2 0 255 Visual FX2 Parameter 10 FX 2 P10 P10 120 Visual Visual FX 2 0 255 Visual FX2 Parameter 11 FX 2 P11 P11 Visual Visual FX 2 0 255 Visual FX2 Parameter 12 P12 Visual FX 2 0 255 Visual FX2 Parameter 13 P13 Visual FX 2 0 255 Visual FX2 Parameter 14 P14 Visual FX 2 0 255 Visual FX2 Parameter 15 P15 Visual FX 2 0 255 aa Visual FX2 Parameter 16 aS P16 fie eee PP argo Hour Media Start el il LA caia TE Minute Media Start Pee NO E ome Second Media Start Reese Frame a a a ae Midi Time ote A Frame Offset to Frame Media Start Cross ao Fade 0 255 Cross Fade on a single layer Fade ao Period in 10 s of a second Period Cross Fade 0 255 O Flat RGB Adjust Mode 1 Alpha HSC on RGB Params 2 Alpha Blend 3 Alpha Blend 4 N A M Non additive Mix 5 Luma 6 Lighten 7 Additive 8 Difference like photoshop 9 Wipe 10 Multipl
33. Y Texture Draws a textured quad region in 2d pixel space using the specified RGBA colour also drawing from a sampled connected texture according to the specified sample texture region in pixel space onto the connected GL output Texture Res X and Res Y must match the resolution of the incoming texture A system patch is provided Sample Texture Region scb which is designed to simplify the use of the above module 139 DSC Texture Receive Licence level Anjuna Texture Receive Source System Name Enter System Wane Stream Name Enter Skream Name Texture This module uses the DSC protocol to Receive Textures from the specified Source System Name using the Stream Name as the Identifier Texture Send Licence level Anjuna Texture Send Stream Name Enter Skream Ire Output Texture Ackive Input Whilst the Active Input port has a value of 1 0 this module uses the DSC protocol to Send the Texture connected to the Texture port The Source System Name is automatically generated using the computer name and Application Process ID The Stream Name should be specified by the user This module should be merged with an active Render chain in order to be activated 140 Effects FreeFrame Licence level Anjuna FreeFrame Plugin Path O modules Et tects FreefFrame Plugin Select Bagra Wone gt bl Copy nn i oo lo fe gi le Processes the input video frame using CPU p
34. a MulkiTexkure Input Texture Output hd Lm T E ures Texture Select Inpuk Splits the incoming multi texture stream and outputs the texture specified at the Texture Select Input Render Counter Licence level Anjuna Render Counter Render Input Render Output Counter Oukput Outputs a constant value which is equal to the number of render cycles performed so far on the system 148 Render Delay Licence level Anjuna Render Delay A Num Frames Mem Usage Render Input Render Qukpuk Num Frames Input Allows the user to add a configurable number of frames delay in a Render chain The render chain is rendered and stored into an uncompressed circular buffer on the GPU Render Display List Licence level Miami Render Display List Renders a display list Render Merge Licence level Anjuna Render Merge Render Merge Render Mergel la Link prepa a4i23 Link Out Select Ouk o a Renders each of the GL inputs in order or alternatively renders a single specified input if the Select input is connected acting like a render switch in the latter case Render Resolution Licence level Anjuna Render Resolution Render Inpuk Render Output A Res T Aes Outputs an X and Y constant value which is equal to the resolution which is currently being passed through the input and output render port 149 Render Target Licence level Miami Render Target Si
35. adjust your projection to match the target This has been successfully used on planetariums very large projections using multiple servers and traditionally challenging mapping projects First of all position your projectors and remove any projector based warping keystoning so that your projection is as flat and aligned as possible and then position your webcam so that as much of its view is filled with the projection area as possible It is not necessary to use a specialised webcam for this process although the higher the resolution the better as the test pattern analysis will give much more accurate results preferably it will be an HD webcam Next after running Ai go to your patching window and for each output that you wish to address add an Auto blend system patch Each of these system patches needs to receive a texture from the canvas out port on the screen fixture and then have its yellow GL output connected to a video out module When these connections have been made click on the configure button on any of the Autoblend patches which should open up the calibration tool Look for the Calibrate button towards the bottom left of the calibration tool software and give that a press Keep pressing next until you get to the Camera Adjustment window and press the options button and then using the available controls you need to adjust your image settings so that your black and whites are clearly visible generally this will involve adju
36. along the specified lines and outputs the peak locations RGB To Grey Licence level Miami RGE To Grey a Video Input E video Output Takes the RGB signal received at the input and converts it to greyscale Raw Buff Read Licence level Miami Raw Buff Read e Wi d eo OWE pu E Sends the raw buffer data 196 Raw Buff Save Licence level Miami et e Butt Save Video Input Video Output Saves the raw buffer data Texture Histogram Licence level Miami Texture Histogram aL Output Texture Selection Index uktput R Output G ukput B ukput 4 Creates a histogram of occurences of the specified colour value within the Texture connected to the Texture input port 197 Te xture Sam ple Lice nce level Mi Miami Eur Lire GLO Dut tput Eur Lure GL Jut tput GL 5 Juk tput on sabe Spon hhh JUDO Sooo a add coc oc a g on Sid de cog iz onr pa con z oe m Ll 5 E oo o 4 apaa me o 4 E a dades a cor coc SS mmm os dd E me o BoBo a lalala a oor D000 0009 ri Aid 7 a La AT I ia Do es q Gi E o EN ia El Gl o Cl a Gl a am mE El a Gi pa Gi T fm I a Gl ae peni Gl Gl E Gi y a Gi at Gi a Gi Gl a Gi di ia a Gi a par Gi 4 Cl e hal E or Cl TE a Gl El fkm ae q Gi ma Gi El Gl 1a Tl a Gi me
37. and application of the controller Blend Mode Buttons Performance Page These can be used to change the blend mode on the current layer allowing for different visual styles with other media playing There is a choice of Alpha N A M Luma Lighten Add Difference Wipe Multiply Darken Screen Subtract amp Custom 92 Layer Select Buttons Performance Page These allow us to choose which layer we want to work on Simply hit the layer you require and you can then use other modes on your chosen layer such as the Blend Mode Buttons or FX Buttons 53 Connecting the custom buttons faders This section will describe advanced functionality for users who wish to customize the operation of their Sapphire Media Console It is intended for Ai Experts only To connect the assignable faders to the software you need to first determine what it is you want to control For example you may wish to use fader 1 to control intensity opacity on your first layer with fader 2 controlling the speed of the playback media This can be achieved with a few simple connections which we shall describe below Note with Salvation there can sometimes be a number of different ways of accessing required modules We will show you the simplest route to achieve what you need Access the Performance Page in Ai Select layer 1 on the left hand side and right click to enlarge the area Then double left click in the large preview area This will open up
38. are able to communicate using ArtNET Auto Blend Input e Dukput Warp Qukpuk Select el ee Blend Output Select H BEE Resolution Rakia Source Output TT ka This patch should be inserted whenever you wish to use the new Auto Blend feature of Ai Version 8 For a full description of how to use Auto Blend please refer to page 85 Auto Map Projector Input Fa Projector Output Cont igure Using this patch was the main method to use the Ai Auto Map feature in Ai before it was added to the output page mapping editor in Ai V8 For further info see page 32 202 Beyer Conversion rm Leo mkt Ber STO Co d EQer pur LS O 1920 ReSolubion s 1434 Resolukion T Input Output This patch uses a pixel shader to peform a Beyer conversion on a raw camera image which should be connected in the form of a Texture to the Input port The Beyer converted image is then provided on the Output port The resolution of the texture must be provided by the user Bezier Edge Mask Edge Top Segments iA Translate Amount 5H _ Disable Texture Canvas In Render Out This patch allows you to apply a mask to the texture provided on the Canvas In port The mask uses bezier curves to draw a smooth curved mask The masked output is provided on the Render Out port Use the Index value to select which control point you wish to adjust and the other controls to position the selected control point Fade Output Region Inpu
39. as a last resort as it is much less efficient than using a standard port The value will be written whenever the Write button is pressed or if the render port is connected then it will be written every frame 180 Scripting Javascript Licence level Miami Javascript E Compie Inputs Output Las Input 6 Output 6 Allows for the use of Javascript within Salvation 181 System Ai System Control Licence level Miami Ai System Control Mode Trigger Performs the action designated by the mode port when the trigger port is sent a value of 1 0 Valid modes are as follows 0 Shut down Ai 1 Restart Al 2 Shut down computer 3 Restart computer Run Batch File Licence level Anjuna Run Batch File Not Running Status Batch File Run Silent Run Input Runs a user specified windows batch file whenever the run button is pressed or when the run input port changes from 0 to 1 The silent toggle button allows the batch file to run in hidden mode The status reports the status of the running batch file process 182 Text Convert To String Licence level Bondi Convert To Skring Mytnput String oul Takes the input signal and converts it to string data GPU Vendor Licence level Anjuna GPU Vendor Ls String Out Provides the name of the manufacturer of your graphics sub system Notepad Licence level Anjuna Notepad Outputs a string con
40. at the specified x y location using the specified colour This can be very useful when performing complex pixel mapping as it is often useful to illuminate a specific pixel or location with a known colour value to aid in the mapping process 208 Quad Mapping Wad Mapping sco Input Dutkput This patch allows the user to apply a quad warp to the source texture The TopLeft TopRight BottomLeft amp BottomRight controls inside the patch allow the user to adjust the corner points Quadrant Select Video In Output This patch places the input texture into the specified quadrant of the Output The full res Output button bypasses the quadrant processing and draws the Input texture filling the Output Sample Texture Region Flex LED Texture In Qukpuk E Sec Resolution 2640 2048 Output Pixels 7S 1 OuEBUE Fos 106 40 Sample Stare oo 1421 Sample End 537 1154 Orientation Top To Bokk This patch takes the texture provided on the Texture In port and draws a sample region from within the texture into the specified location on the output This variant of the Sample Texture Region patches has been tweaked for usage in single pixel strip products 209 Sample Texture Region Simple Rotate None Texture In OuEpue Sec Resolution 1928 1455 pax Pos Output px Size px Pos Texture 5 5 px Size 1925 1455 This patch takes the texture provided on the Texture In port and draws a sample region from
41. benefit of being frame locked for playback To set this for a layers playback mode choose MTC from the playback modes list Within the layer personality it is also possible to find some ArtNet controls related to timecode When using Ai in file and folder mode clip playing mode channel 73 adjusts the offset in hours 74 adjusts minutes 5 adjusts seconds and 76 and adjusts frames Ai needs to be set in 80 or 100 channel mode for this to function Now that we have had a look at all of the related features lets have a look over what is involved in making use of timecode triggering within Ai Whether you want to trigger a single piece of media to one screen or several pieces at the same time to multiple fixtures the process is fairly simple Procedure for triggering clips with timecode 1 Layer lock each clip in the clip properties right click on media tile if you wish to Timecode trigger to a certain layer 2 Set each clip to MTC play mode if you wish to lock the clip to the MTC clock in the clip properties right click on media tile 3 Set your Timecode Trigger times in the clip properties right click on media tile 4 Make sure your System Settings Midi timecode options are set appropriately 45 Procedure for triggering to multiple fixtures simultaneously with timecode O 6 Fixture lock each clip you wish to trigger with timecode to the relevant fixture select fixture select clip then ctrl click clip
42. button both will start stop playback of timeline Patch Windows CLEAR button deletes currently selected patch The Ai button works like the Shift key on your computer s keyboard The A1 to A8 buttons require patching in to be used as custom buttons This can be done using the Ai Controller Module Alternate Skin A1 A8 See Connecting The Custom Buttons Faders section Fader Pages Performance Page The Page buttons allow you to move up and down through the media banks 61 FX Buttons 1 to 8 These buttons are assignable and designed to be used to trigger effects Connecting the custom buttons faders To connect the assignable faders to the software you need to first determine what it is you want to control For example you may wish to use faders 1 and 2 to control opacity on your first two layers with faders 3 and 4 controlling the speed of the playback media This can be achieved with a few simple connections which we shall describe below Note with Salvation there can sometimes be a number of different ways of accessing required modules We will show you the simplest route to achieve what you need Access the Performance Page in Ai Select layer 1 on the left hand side and right click to enlarge the area Then double left click in the large area This will open up a patch from Salvation called Layer 1 This patch window shows us the Artnet personality for layer 1 and is where we can make our connections Laye
43. can be adjusted by dragging within the small square window next to the edge 33 Output Page Modular LED Fixture Working with Modular LED Fixtures in version 8 has is a much simplified and more visual approach compared to previous Ai releases No longer do you need to work with a complicated set of external models and CSV sheets now you can completely work out of the Ai interface using a simple system of drag and click placement The available tools are the same as those provided for the screen fixture with the region tool being the most commonly used one with the led mapper Dragging a region across the canvas side of the output page determines the area you wish to sample and convert to ArtNet The amount of sampling point within that region is specified by adjusting the value in the horizontal rows and vertical rows section of the PixelMapper Sample info box below the left panel Using this box you can also fine tune the position and size of the sampling area as well as specify the fixture type you wish to address such as Mono RGB RGBA CMY or RGBW and based on this selection Ai will determine how many channels are used to send the data for each sampling point Once these values have been chosen you can then select the universe you wish to output to in the grid at the top right and then left click in the channel grid to choose a starting channel again these values can be fine tuned using the Pixel Mapper Personality bo
44. connected in the right order from the graphics card There are four slots on the graphics card and screen 1 is the second input from the bottom screen 2 is at the bottom screen 3 is second from the top and screen 4 is the top slot This order is then the same for the second graphics card e g screen 5 is second from the bottom 113 Hardware What are the minimum requirements to run the Ai software Graphics e A computer Windows or Mac with an Intel CPU with at least 4 cores preferably 17 e 1 or 2 matching Nvidia graphics cards with at least 512mb of RAM purchased after 2009 e or 1 AMD Firepro Graphics Card purchased after 2011 e on board Intel graphics will not work Storage e 7200 rpm hard drive for 2x layers of 1080p e or single SSD drive for 3x layers of 1080p e or X2 SSD RAID 0 drives for up to 6x 1080p or 1x 4k resolution e or x4 SSD RAID 0 drives for up to 8x 1080p or 2x 4k resolution Optional Capture Cards e Blackmagic Decklink Intensity e or Active Silicon Phoenix HD SDI e or Datapath Vision SD4 1 DVI plus 4 SD For mobile use e g laptop we recommend an Intel based Macbook Pro Retina or Mac Tower Ai will not run on Macbook Mac Mini or iMac For best performance we recommend your computer should have an Nvidia Geforce 650 or AMD Firepro graphics card What are the delays on the BMD or LFG cards We support the following input capture cards a DVI Datapath Vision SD4 1 PCIE latency ar
45. contains the string on the input 2 port Outputs 1 0 if it finds the string and 0 0 if not String Switch Licence level Bondi String Switch string amp l string 1 uk a string 2 r string 3 Select Outputs one of the input strings based on the value of the Select input String Texture Licence level Bondi String Texture a String A a EE Font Size Texkure Size olo F Que Uses the input string data to draw text with any font registered within the operating system String Ticker Licence level Miami String Ticker o String Quek Las String In Tick Period Resulk Length Creates a scrolling string from String In of the length specified on the Result Length port The resulting scrolling string is output on the String Out port Uses Tick Period in seconds 185 String To Number Licence level Miami String To Number A input 1 Result Converts the string on the input 1 port into a numeric value and outputs it on the result port Sub String Licence level Anjuna Sub Skring e String Que A String In Skark Index End Index Creates a sub string from the string on the String In port using the specified start and end index 186 Time Clock Tick Licence level Bondi Clack Tick Clack Tick Outputs a clock tick based on the system clock Random Scrub Licence level Anjuna Random Scrub Scrub OuEpue FPS Total Frames Speed
46. faces it can and cannot see this isn t essential for all projects but can make things much easier if you have overlapping projectors and removes the need for extra blends Select the left projector and then when you press the edit mesh button in the control panel on the left you can see which object is selected and swap between them by using the next object and remove object buttons found at the bottom of the mapping editor Now on the left projector remove panels 3 6 7 and 9 and then with the right projector remove panels 1 2 4 5 and 8 so that each projector can only see some of the faces of the model If your model is an accurate representation of the real word target then you can make use of automap by clicking the button found at the top of the mapping editor which says open automap and in the window you are presented with you can select 4 of the vertex points from the model by dragging a box around each of them in a clockwise order and then pointing to the real world position for each of them To make this easier you will see crosshairs on your output to help you get everything properly aligned If at any point you make a mistake or need to adjust values the automap controls on the left will allow you to go back to any step of the process By using a combination of the drop down menu to specify which of the points to edit and the buttons to choose whether you are adjusting the selection or the output or you can use the directi
47. flat cylindrical or soherical mapping to your object By right clicking these buttons it allows you to change the axis of the unwrapping The fourth button remap from projector will automatically map the object from the point of view of a selected projector This allows for the creation of perspective illusion mapping from the sweet spot point of view generally the audience This function is particularly useful if you cannot put the projector in exactly the same place for each show meaning that your content doesn t need to be re rendered each time The button with the camera icon allows you to export the current layout as an image file which can then be provided to content makers as a template so that they know where the different elements of their work will fall on the model Next we have the CSV export option which can look at the geometry of your screen model and based on its UV coordinates generate a list of values which can be used for advanced programming with the modular led fixture and finally we have the save button which lets you export the modified screen and layout data New in version 8 when using your screen models with projectors any changes that you make on the canvas editor will be automatically updated on your projectors It is important to note though that the model will have to be saved before you quit and start Ai again otherwise your changes will be lost When saving the model Ai will automatically load the new model and ad
48. from the template projects menu in the Project Browser Page LED Output with Position and Scale Input Crop T cry Image Size Hea LED Image s Pos a ED 720 CED Dx 44 LED DY This patch is a legacy patch which was used to draw a region of a specific size and position to outputs 1 2 3 or 4 before we added the output page in version 8 0 of Al 204 Mapping Editor QE put 4 41 Pos a Pos T The mapping editor is now a feature of the Output Page on Projector Fixtures see page 32 Prior to V8 the mapping editor was used as a system patch hence its presence here 205 Mask Texture 5 m Pareit PEA TEFAF iz ae Sr ees os Ure pm E i Input Texture Output Texture This patch lets you apply an image file as a mask texture the specified image file is multiplied with the source texture on the Input Texture port using a pixel shader operation and the output texture is provided on the Output Texture port Media Container Media Player Wideo Texkure oom a ik TECATE Pos 4 or TELAT Stretch Size Pos TB 0 TSlue Texture In Rokake Son mn Le OrET Black Level Paz Pos e 7 Na We E E Rotate Peak Level BlackLevel A PeakLeel Hue Hue oe Value Satburabior Saturation Brightness value Texture Dut Brightness pe g E a im jus LOUL Coa Mele i 1 Mi d m i A This is a protected system patch which lives in the Distrib Patches System folder but is hidden from the Inser
49. language but does give the greatest amount of access to the core functionality of both Ai and OpenGL itself This next image shows us a typical SVFX patch On the left we see the main window for the SVFX its much like the media container used on the timeline in that our effect runs within the patch and lets us standardise the way in which the SVFX communicate with Ai The smaller window on the right is the shader code found within this particular effect but 83 as with blendmodes you can use standard Salvation modules instead of or even together with the shader code it really comes down to how deep you wish to go A a Color Depth RenderToTexture EEJ A 1680 Height SizeMode SizeInput a Size Input thle Vector Join tion Avi yout oh V2 j GLSLHixerShader ss Opacit LA hs Letterbox v Fd ON TEUD y unit or mplerzD A a Value Y Texture AO W redchannel A color C Walue I Redchannel greenChannel Param2 g Par mez _ W blueChannel value Y sa AP Param3 og TE ty vale v Blue nne o Param4 Par i gt Walde uae Din mnan e BindTexture N A bluechannel Param ParamName6 TEXO a greenChannel Cy Value o Undefined o opac Param LN M redchannel ENE defined Params ParamNameS cy value Lo Y nd e f ine d o Param9 ParamilameS gt Walue Undefined ParamiB ParamNamei Cy ed Un d e fi ned Le Paramil ParamNameii A A Undefined Parami2 ParamMlamel2 CN Une ed Ln Parami3 i
50. level module 144 BindTexture Licence level Anjuna BindTexkure TEX TEX1 TEX2 TEX3 Binds the input video textures to the input GL render signal BlendMode Licence level Anjuna BlendMode Py GL_SAC_ALPHA Emel Silpha GL_1 SAC_A4LPHA w DEEI Applies the specified blend modes to the input GL render signal Camera Licence level Bondi Camer ab Cameraz 100 WeSr Eye I Target 0 Renders the input GL render from the point of view of the input camera Clear Licence level Anjuna oe saia Depth ML Clears the GL view port and depth buffers and then renders any input primitives Crossfade Licence level Miami Crossfade In Ini FaderIn 145 Allows cross fading between 2 input textures and outputs from the resulting GL render DepthTest Licence level Miami DepkhTesk Func GL_LESS 2 gt Applies the specified depth testing modes to input GL primitives Desktop Texture Licence level Miami Desktop Texkure Monitor h Max Refresh Rake 1A Mipmaps Bilinear Provides a screen capture of the specified windows output The user can specify the frame rate to improve or reduce the performance impact of the large uncompressed texture capturing on less powerful systems DisplayList Licence level Miami DisplayList Stores model geometry data on the graphics card and uses this until the data changes thereby reducing p
51. mE PRA MN D cd There are many times when it becomes important to exactly reproduce a show from venue to venue it could be that there are highly choreographed sections which require precise timing or simply because the performer wants to be able to deliver the same performance to all crowds across every show of a tour This is where the timeline page can become a very useful tool allowing you to create precise and measured shows which can be highly accurate to the frame Anyone familiar with the use of video editors or audio sequencers should find the approach familiar and understandable the timeline is a sequentially ordered set of events running from the top of the screen to the bottom or from left to right depending on your chosen layout configurable within the system settings see page 39 with the option to display up to 4 layers per timeline pressing and will add or take away layers and within those layers the ability to place media and control points which in turn control the parameters associated with the media Once created a timeline file can be exported which can then either be triggered manually or locked to timecode to ensure frame accurate reproduction of any playback and automation you have created Lets take a closer look at the timeline window and the tools found on the page 26 As you can see the main work area for the timeline which is where we place the media and control changes runs either dow
52. make sure that we have the correct amount of channels allocated per fixture Next we have the resolution boxes which allow us to setup our work area in 3 dimensions even when working on a single 2d set of fixtures you must still have a minimum z resolution of 1 we then have translation and rotation options which allow you to control positioning within the work area Extrude Extrusion Type and Max Extrusion are all related and control the amount to extrude by what kind of analysis the extrusion is based on luma chroma saturation Alpha R G B or RGB average and the maximum limit the the extrusion amount Now lets add an ArtNet Sample Grid module to the patch This module needs to receive the prepared data from the structure module so make a connection between the Structure Output port on the Structure module and the Structure Input port on the grid module We also need to send texture data to the Structure module so connect the Canvas out port from the PatchlO to the texture port on the Structure module We also have a yellow GL port on the module and as a Yellow port must ALWAYS be connected for the GL chain to function we can add a render merge module in between the screen fixture and the relevant mixer and then connect the Structure module to the remaining port on the Render Merge Our initial connections have now been made so this would be a good time to setup the workspace for our array In the ArtNet Structure module enter
53. mouse and where you release your click Next is the rotate tool right clicking this icon changes the axis of rotation Furthermore scale mirror on x axis mirror on y axis mirror on z axis invert selection and draw method The draw method changes the way that the objects are displayed vertex points solids wireframe bounding boxes or textured objects For numerical entries you can shift click on the translate rotate scale icons Along the top of the screen we have several more new icons which allow us to generate a plane generate a cube create duplicates along a straight line create duplicates along a curve and finally a button to save the newly edited model as an obj file any updates to your screen model are only applied once it has been saved If multiple fixtures are selected when modelling the saved model will have all the geometry from the selected fixtures and will load the newly saved model into the first selected fixture You will have to delete the according fixtures on the stage construction page The linear repeat function allows you to set the amount of duplicates you wish to generate and specify the spacing between them whereas the curved repeat lets you set a centre 18 point to curve around specify the end angle of the final duplicate and set how many are within that range The interface itself can be switched between a four way view as traditionally seen in most 3d modelling packages and a single full
54. screen fixture and apply it to the moving scenery components Insert the first 3d Morph Model right click and choose Insert Module Import 3d Morph Model Place the module and connect the Canvas Out port on the Patch IO to the Texture port on the 3d Morph Model Then add a controller for now we will use a vertical fader right click Insert Module Controller Constant place the module right click it choose Load Alternate Skin and select Vslider connect this to the Morph Control port on the 3d Morph Model Select both the 3d Morph Model and the vertical fader and duplicate them as many times as needed to allow for every moving component in your project Press the Load button on the first module and navigate to your saved models and multi select the first pair of models by holding CTRL and left clicking and then press Open Here we can see three 3d Morph Model modules within the patch each with a different value on the vertical fader so that we can see the lower mid and upper positions of the 3 projection targets 19 Canvas Out 3D Morph Model 3D Morph Modela 3D Morph Modeli S Position 50 Position aa x Position Y Position aa Y Position an Y Position 2 Position aa 2 Position a 2 Position x Scale 15 x Scale 16 x Scale Y Scale 15 Y Scale 15 Y Scale Z Scale 10 Y zZ Scale 10 2 Scale Rotation an Rotation an Rotation a Y Rotation A Y Rotation ao Y Rotation 68 Constant Z Rotation ac Const
55. screened view this can be done using the F button on the keyboard Its worth paying attention to the position of your pointer when changing screen modes as whichever window the mouse pointer is sat within when the F button is pressed will become the view that is maximised Press F again in a maximised window to return to the four way view Additionally the interface of a selected view can be locked by pressing the L button This will disable panning rotating but will still allow the selection of vertices and the manipulation of geometry This is a useful feature if you navigate to a useful viewpoint and don t want to accidentally change that The view that is locked is dependent on where the mouse is in the same regards as full screening views For information on Keyboard shortcuts which can be useful whilst surface modelling please see page 234 19 Canvas editor page Decide how your media should be mapped onto your Stage When making use of a 3D model for a screen there are two important parts to the process the 3D geometry of the model itself and also how your image is applied to this geometry also know as the UV Map UV mapping is a term used to describe the process of placing your screen shape within a defined texture area and generating coordinates for it based on this information The U and V are used to mean horizontal and vertical as X and Y are already used for referring to position The advantage of using this app
56. storage requirements Has suitable flight cases been arranged for transport to and from venue and or setup rehearsal sites Has the content team produced a suitable test clip for full res full system hardware testing Have all required outputs been tested from all systems simultaneously Has content been run on all systems simultaneously at FULL resolution If none is available make some test content The following items must be confirmed at least 2 weeks prior to the show Has the Ai Project file been created Has ALL equipment been connected together and tested as it will be on the day of the show The following items must be confirmed at least 1 week prior to the show Has a provisional show running order been obtained from the client Have you practiced the transitions and cues required in the show on the full system in preparation for the event Has the content been completed and copied to media drives Remember the golden rule is Never assume anything And if you re unsure ask 99 Tutorials Tutorial 1 Working with Regions From Version 8 of Ai onwards most users will choose to use the Output Page in Ai to perform the following functionality But there is also a wealth of functionality within the node based programming part of Ai which can be a very powerful and flexible way to configure your system lt is not for novice users though as a basic understanding of node based programming is assumed For many s
57. ted sce Ear aaie 39 CONTO Acre 42 Timecode TRIG GENIN unitarias 43 Procedure for triggering clips with tiMecode ooccconccconccccnnccccnnconnncononanoncnanoncnonnnos 45 Procedure for triggering to multiple fixtures simultaneously with timecode 46 Sapphire Media Controller aiii 47 Connecting The Sapphire Media Controller to your Al Server occcooccoccoccconconconcnno 47 Connecting the main touch screen MoONItOFS coooccccccnconcncoccncconoconnnonnnnnncncnnnnnnnononos 47 Connecting the preview SCreenS occccoccccocnococnncncnocannonannnnnnnonannnnannonanonnnnanonancanennnnons 48 Connecting Sapphire Media Console to Ai Server via USB occooccccccccccconcccoccconcnoo 48 Calibrating the Touch Screens for Sapphire Media Console ooccoccoccoccconconconcos 48 sapphire Media F UNCON alivian ale 49 Optical ENCOUO Sii 49 Scene VIEW BUON Satin ne n 49 Transpor Control BUMONS caia a ela 50 NU o A crlene nt teem tet Tent Mer ner ee Rier ney a teeny weenie 50 Fe Pil A A aera pete de eeatonst 51 FASBUIONS AMO ada 51 Bani EE E 51 Trackball amp Mouse COMMONS risista a entide 51 A A O 52 Main Faders amp BUON Sind a ots 52 Preview Monitor Buttons Preview Menu BuUttOnsS ooccooccoccoccoccccnocnconconcnnnos 52 Pre mapped Interface InstructiONS ooccooncconccocncconoconnnonnnooncnanocanncnrnnnnnnanonnnono 52 BIEN Mode BUON Syria 52 Layer Select BUNONS tt dto 53 Connecting
58. the performance units indicator is in the green area like this Then your system is performing well and you should not see any problems with video playback However if your performance units indicator is in the red area like this Then you may start to see performance issues such as frame drops latency and slow triggering You should consider the possibility that you may be expecting too much of your system and you should consider reducing the load on the system Below is a list of the impact each additional function in the system will have on your performance units indicator e Each active video output uses 1 performance unit e Each active video input uses 1 performance unit e 1 Layer of 1024 x 1024 25fps 1 Performance Unit e 1 Layer of 1920 x 1080 25fps 2 Performance Units e 1 Layer of 3840 x 2160 25fps 8 Performance Units e 1 Layer of 7680 x 1080 25fps 8 Performance Units e Each video effect uses performance units n units of layer Each Ai server system has a specific capacity of performance units e Infinity EX4 EX8 S4 S6 4 S8 Series Systems capacity of 32 Performance Units e T and Infinity Series Systems capacity of 16 Performance Units e 2 Series Systems capacity of 8 Performance Units It is also possible to set the capability expectation of your system manually The standard Ai installation sets the performance units indicator to only 16 units This was set at the point of release for Ai version 8 to sui
59. the right you can link ArtNet channels to other Ai parameters using the blue nodes to enable further controls You can also insert a module into the Node Based windows such as Network Artnet Input Small which will allow you to route custom parameters from your lighting console to any control parameter of Ai 64 MIDI any of the parameters or controls found within the Salvation patching engine can be mapped to midi but often the most commonly used place is the ArtNet layer window Within the window alongside each of the layer parameters is an on screen controller right clicking on one and choosing Edit MidiMap opens a window where you can select a midi device and channel use midi learn to assign channels or key ranges and an output range option should you ever need to work with custom ranges Another option for MIDI control is to use the modules found in the MIDI section and patch them directly in to ports in Salvation there are modules for keys and cc s for both inputs and outputs allowing you to create complex MIDI patches and operations Controlling by MIDI You can use MIDI input to control almost any parameter of Ai The simplest control is to use MIDI notes and controllers to trigger buttons and faders but using the stage patch window even numerical fields can be controlled Example Controlling a layer intensity by MIDI Open the Mixer_0 window double click from the stage patch Right click the parameter of Layer 1 you
60. the total screen resolution Your choice here depends on the amount of overlap you have specified when designing your setup We can see that some of the percentage buttons have a minus in front of them and these ones are quite simply a blend going in the opposite direction which means we can use the same patch whether we are using it on our left or right projector The Blend Position slider allows us to change the placing of the blend on our texture Lastly we have one slider per blending band dragged all the way to the left it makes the image darker and all the way to the right makes the image brighter A oe pe as ee e Instruction A Resolution Y Resolution 3546 6 1636 4 Use khe following controls ko create a sott edge blend on your texture Highlight i ee i pc poza PCy mls pc 4 18 pe 4 E Spc 5 7 E P A ot Ho Hp A ee 4a Hp a Ho oot eee 20 Hp Should you ever need to you can actually chain multiple soft edge blend patches together to create complex blend shapes Simply pass the canvas out from the screen fixture into the first blend patch then instead of connecting the output directly to the projector fixture connect it to the input of the next soft edge blend You can chain as many as required but must always remember to connect the final blend to the texture port on the projector fixture 82 User Effects And Blendmodes As of version 8 of Ai we have created a system which allows the user to d
61. to enter a new name this is to make sure that you don t overwrite the original template If you need to you can add your own template projects to the folder you just need to make the project as normal and then save it to the Projects Templates folder If you wish to save a thumbnail image for your project whilst in the main interface simply right click the disk icon to save instead of using the left button as you usually would Alternatively there may be occasions when you wish to save a file with an alternative name in which case you must first click on the top level window and then from the menu bar select save as navigate to the location to save too and enter your chosen project name 38 System Settings Configure your system Artnet Adaptor lee 77 25 2159 CITF Adaptor LISTEN Artnet Control type UI Control Skage Visualisation Enabled gt Slave Disabled Media Control er Arknek Universe 5 AA Disabled abl daster Slave Artnet Channel 5 Video Stream Disabled Enabled CITP Connection Disabled Triggering Method Roller Cue ka AMES SS aH SACH 1m8cH Tn A ion Media Fold lobal Source Folder Destination Folder Idle mn ue des Hisor Eat Enter Source Enter Deskinakion 1a Folder ath Folder Path Widi Enter Source Enter Des Eination f 14 a Folder Path Folder Path Master Device None bs ter Source Enter Destination 14 older Pak older Pak show Tine Code Widget okie a Enter Source Enter Destination f 16 Time Co
62. together e Green is GL Texture Shares image data stored as OpenGL textures between modules Typically this is seen by the user as a 2 dimensional image file jpg tga png etc or a video file mov The Fixture Output node of a module contains geometry mapping information in addition to the media The Canvas Output just contains the raw media as an open GL texture This can be used when 36 the media itself needs to be modified for example in a soft edge effect where two projectors overlap e Yellow is GL Render Routes rendering streams from one module to another The drawing commands represented by a graphics stream are not executed unless the stream is connected to an on screen window e Blue is Control Value Vector Routes control data between modules using 64 bit floating point values A control value port is commonly used to route a single numerical value from one module to another Such as rotation angles brightness and contrast Vectors can also be passed through the control value port A vector is a group of control values stored as an ordered list of numerical values which can be sent from one module to another such as XYZW location in space or RGBA colour information The ports themselves are shaped like triangles which either point up an input or down an output To connect two ports left click and drag from one port and drop the cable into a second port Just before you drop it in your pointer will
63. using the node based engine 7 a Re ce PP Model Centre_LED_ w Clear Model Wings_Demo_ v Clear WINGS CENTRE igh Scale Depth X Rotation Y Rotation 2 Rotation Canvas Res X Canvas Res Y Canvas Scale X Canvas Scale Y Canvas Move X Canvas Move Y 00 Publish as YNF Screen Fixture Output Canvas Out Mix Return E N Brightness W Mix Output Tag Name X Position Scale Height Scale Depth X Rotation Y Rotation Z Rotation Canvas Res X Canvas Res Y Canvas Scale X Canvas Scale Y Canvas IS Canvas Move Y 6 6 Screen Fixture Output Canvas Out Mix Return l Tag ES X Position Y Position Z Position Scale Width Scale Height Scale Depth X Rotation Y Rotation Z Rotation Canvas Res X Canvas Res Y Canvas Scale X Canvas Scale Y Canvas Move X 0 0 Canvas Move Y 6 6 ire Frame show Canvas Publish as VNF Screen Fixture Output Canvas Out Mix Return rightness W Mix output TIRES nnn RATS peee eg m COLE AAN Clear Lens Ratio Lens Shift X Lens Shift Y y Use All Fixtures 4 Screen Fixture Input 4 Screen Fixture Input 1 Screen Fixture Input 2 Texture Output X Position 3 6 Y Position 4 0 Z Position 17 000400543 X Rotation 6 6 Y Rotation z Rotation 0 0 Aspect Ratio 17777777778 Lens Ratio 1 2 Lens Shift X 0 0 Lens Shift Y 0 0 A screen Fixture Input 0 4 Screen Fixture Input 1 A Screen Fixture Input 2 Texture Output Aspect Ratio 17777777778 L
64. which is lined up with the green central highlight or focal row the n th column of the roller cue will be triggered You can also use this module to automate the selection of the Media Bank and Automate the selection of the layers Clear Layer Licence level Anjuna Clear Layer Fixture ID i Layer 1D Simply clears the specified Layer on the Specified Fixture when the value on the input controller port equals 1 0 or the clear layer button is pressed 191 HexTrigger Licence level Anjuna Hex Trigger Render aT lt a p a a lt i i a Duk Eal mom amp fa E J wr oo i DO wi 1 I 4 FE W ws I W k E wi 1 7 mo wok eo ee Ta Maa Ta El 1 wo ee ee mw 0 1 wm DO CA m ol Ta i k Tt tt tT Gt tt Tt tb tT rt f DD Y m t Y 0 mw out A Y D FE hu fi fi Mm 1 Ta This module can be used in the stage patch once merged with an active render path to trigger clips from the v6 hex cluster When the values on the Trigger n ports go from O to 1 then n th clip in the hex cluster will be triggered ctrl will tell you which clip in the cluster is which You can also use this module to automate the selection of the Clusters and Automate the selection of the layers Time Code Widget Licence level Anjuna Time Code Widget 5 Hex Cluster Input A E 1 LT
65. 8 16 18 E i6 MEME mM elf alpha 0 alpha Ei Uni 1 Uni 1 Uni 1 Cha 161 Cha 261 Cha 361 Fld A Fld 5 Fld 5 Fld 5 File 4 File 4 File e File 4 Multiple Graphics cards when using multiple graphics cards it is important that they are correctly synchronised In the case of the Fire Pro series which feature in Ai servers we use the S400 sync card which can be accessed via Catalyst Control Centre When cards are not correctly synchronised to a master they can reduce system performance destabilise the playback timing of media across multiple video outputs and lead to a low playback rate 96 Software and Drivers Upto date drivers can be very important for good graphics performance so keep an eye on your manufacturers website unless a specific driver is required The drivers supplied with Ai servers have been optimised for use with Ai so they are always the best ones to use lts always worth checking the latest version of Ai as we regularly introducing program optimisations the latest version can be always be found on the download page in the support section of www Avolitesmedia com 97 Performance Units In the top left corner of the Main User Interface window you should see the performance units indicator This bar measures the amount of resources the system is currently using As you add layers fixture groups trigger media amp connect video outputs you will see the performance units indicator gradually reduce If
66. BIN cost ti 134 Model Moron OP basica 134 Template General a e ES 135 VEO UIT eA E 135 Draw mo FrMIIVOS iia a 136 PRG e E T A 136 A A E a a a E 136 A A A 137 Mit A a 137 Repeated Line Generator ooccconccocccocncccnccocnconnnoonccnnncnnnoncnnnonnnnrnnnrnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnennnnnos 137 Ranco STO empire iod 138 a oC E Oe Pe Dr 138 Textured Quad REGION sms intentona 139 DSi cs 140 TEO A T Unealue ara cova eile HG eaeaaanealenctoaesat 140 LEXUS SON la a 140 A A ee ste a2acecameup anne cemetansedoasessins 141 A o OPE un Rahat cane seo ees 141 Free rFraMe G ernan an 141 A DI CAC eosa a a cian aaaananaGaaaeeauarnes 141 Radial pre ains a a 142 SOME AAA ASA A 142 FIE IO E neo hace aguatneestaeeuiaiieaa as nanieca te sag aeaas A T 143 GSV PINCH IR PP A 143 A A O e A rearset 143 e O y vat E sells a bites E ote fuses A A E E 144 PAW AVON IVC RO PAE PO A A 144 A A A eee re 144 ArSONNPUC a E 144 A MOU U aa E ined maniacs atonGerane 144 BING TE XIU tesina 145 BIENAMOd Eurasia 145 A see nndeaaaannatateaeietaltpadentanatndemiiiantadcts 145 TS EN E east ameter te Geeta nares A Acne tee 145 OS E santas saneena rans encnans tains inaeaecesenuaa E em nane site eeeetanicas 145 A arn oP ere ne ae en ene ere oe 146 DESK IO U atea 146 DIS OMENS Essential ociosa 146 E arte eee sea etd tpn eet ase oes en ee eee ee 146 GLSL Program SMAGEE sensata eel 147 GLSLProOgram OWING O ae 147 Sl SOL V OC ION sisas tod ts lodo ae nO 147 CO A E E RR ON E
67. El BA en En Gi E a Gi Gi E Gi i Gi a an E kn a aI kn E kn pa 1 E au a kn pes a kn E a kn Allow S shoul ei s plin sho gt g of pixel ie th adjac pd als E ina ie Ne nt pert mo me 3 T n aci sts nected t render pat rh the Tex g ci ge cat rscan our inf be c os ormati a ie ion wi PEAN dinx ill be rte outpu aa ton na the 198 Video Average Licence level Miami Live Influence Anc Video Input video Duk pu E Averages the input video signal based on the value specified at the live influence parameter Video Blob Tracker Licence level Miami Blob Threshold Min Blob Size px 4 Max Blob Size px Maximum Blobs A Video Input Y video Output a Blob OuEpue Allows for tracking according to user specified parameters Video Replay Licence level Miami Video Replay Duration AA AE Skart Finish Speed Decimate E Video Input Las Video Qukpuk O a e l pan 5 5 5 Gl alo Allows for sampling and playback of a video source Video Subtract Licence level Miami Video Subkrack Oy Video Input 1 Ay video Input 2 O iden Dukput Subtracts the value of one video signal from another and outputs the result 199 Video Temporal Displacement Licence level Miami Video Temporal Displacement a ideo In pu E My Hap Input O iden Output Adjusts the temporal play back of th
68. Frequency Levels Peak Fall Speed Amplitude Min Amplitude Max Frequency Min Frequency Max hum Bars Bar Color Outputs a visual representation of a live audio connection from any selected audio device The audio can be represented as bars or a line graph or as a vector which can be indexed into to obtain a specific frequency The control values for frequency and amplitude should be provided as normalised 0 0 1 0 values A simple example of this module in use can be seen here Distrib Patches Audio Basic_EQ scb 158 Live Video Licence level Anjuna Live video Device Chicony USE source Progressive Video Performance Mode Low Latency Outputs live video from any attached video device which supports the basic OS capture interface such as Black Magic Capture cards etc Media Bin Licence level Bondi Media Bin ager Ma Me On Clip E Scrub Clip i ie Clip End Maintains a collection of videos and images Output is determined by user selection auto advance or control signal Media Player Licence level Anjuna Media Player Enable Audio Video Texkure Plays back a specified video file and puts it on the GPU as a texture 159 Media Player FF Selector File and Folder Licence level Anjuna MediaFlayerFF Selector Media Media Player 5 1 39 aL Out A fundamental Ai system module which selects a specified media file from a numeric file and f
69. Generates light rays according to the received control inputs and outputs the result to the GL stream Quad Mapping Licence level Anjuna Quad Mapping Edit Active sta mete apr Whole Colum ge ee Whole Row Prs E store Wire rame SEE Rows Columns WD edit Output Reset Adjustment GL Output Top Left Top Right Bokktom Left Bottom Right Edik Vertex Amount Edik Yerkex Index Allows for simple mapping of a video signal by adjusting the 4 corner points along the X and Y axis This is similar to keystone correction but offers a greater amount of precision 154 Rectangle Licence level Anjuna Reckanglel Size Lekkerbox Texture Co oF Renders a rectangle to the GL output using either the input texture or any texture currently applied via GL BindTexture Text Licence level Anjuna Text Stroke Color Fill Color A Font A Text Input eD Type Renders the input string to the GL output Texture Warp Licence level Bondi Texture Warp HPhase C HFreq T C p Phase 4 L Detail amp Tex Deforms the texture received at the Texture input along the X and Y axis according to the frequency amount and detail settings specified and outputs it to the GLRender stream Tunnel Licence level Bondi Tunnel Tex oa i Ah y o Color Speed Det il Generates a tunnel based on user specified parameters 155 Wave Pool Licence level Bondi Wave Pool Tex
70. LN LN il AA a O x a al Ia I Ia i mi a 2 a mi Allows sampling of a greyscale video image connected to the Video Input port Up to 64 Locations can be specified in X and Y pixel coordinates and the corresponding value will be output on the adjacent controller port Human Tracker Licence level Miami Tracking Screen Width Tracking Screen Depth GL Output Radius p Texbure Tracks an input based on area selection and texture tracking Levels Adjust Licence level Miami A Video Input O Video l utp ut Adjusts the level of the input video signal Motion Detector Licence level Miami A y i g Tm In E LL E Le Motion Detector 195 Allows for motion detection within the incoming video signal Peak Colour Finder Licence level Miami Peak Colour Finder GL Output Texture arch Line Hi Index arch Line H2 Index earch Line V1 Index earch Line Y2 Index arch Hi Colour A arch H1 Colour G arch Hi Colour B arch H2 Colour A iD m T lu T lu iD uu wm rch He Colour G arch H2 Colour B rch V1 Colour A arch 1 Colour G RE ch WiC ole iE E iD iD iD m D iD iD m m tu arch V2 Colour A iD arch V2 Colour G iD ari ch We alg A ak Colour Hi Location Colour H2 Location 7 l i wom TU i fu ak Colour Vi Location TU il i f k Colour We Location 7 mi AT Finds peak colours in the input Texture
71. List Clicking this shows you what can be controlled and choosing one of these options then allows you to manually enter automation points by right clicking within the timeline area covered by the media file itself Its worth remembering that the value range for keyframes is from 1 to 1 The reason for this is that some parameters such as rotation or position require a negative value as well as a positive one compared to some values such as intensity or hue which will work within a O to 1 range For this reason regardless of the parameter selected a value of 0 is always in the middle of the timeline Once keyframes have been placed they can then be selected and moved by either left clicking a single keyframe or by holding shift and dragging a box around multiple keyframes and then dragging them to their new position When a keyframe is selected or moved its current value is displayed next to it to allow you to precisely alter the value 2 The tools menu to the right side of the timeline window gives you some options to control the playback both inside of the timeline page and when triggering timelines from the performance page Working from the top down we have the play and pause buttons which control the playback within the timeline page Following those we have the system clock option which allows you to use the current time on your system clock instead of waiting for a timecode signal this is very usefull for permanent installs th
72. O VEIS AUS daa 195 MOTOR Detecta iis 195 Peak Colour FIN dea dc abated 196 AE TO O APM o on o A es 196 Raw BUI ES nic I eed earn eae 196 RaW BUIS aVE ii 197 TEXO PISO a Maea E E E seasons 197 Texture IMP arran a DO 198 VISO AVEO sai AS A a 199 VIGCOB OO FACE 199 A 199 ACIS OF DUDE 6 01 AN ZP A 199 Video Temporal Displacement eemist 200 System Patches aspirina dr len iia 201 2X SIDING ROGCCIVG isaac esac sea ieee cedar peau ea eeiete escent eiss pocaeen edema 201 LICONSA 201 PAE AUG OUMU ori 201 ANECT SION ran E O 202 AUto GIN Geos sissies DTS 202 AWO IM AD carr 202 Beyer Conversio Mosesa ir r e Ra 203 BezIerEdge MaSKiusianiadan iia 203 Fade Output REGION acia 203 Hue Saturation Contrast AdjUSt oooccccncccnnncccnniocnneccnconcnnonnnncnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnrnarennrnnrnnnnnnos 204 Layer Comaneci eae ner ene at ane 204 LED Output with Position and ICA lO iii 204 Mapping Edo Einicio 205 Mask OKT UG cors 206 Media Contain iissa de cda 206 MESM WarDE dorian A aie a omen eee 207 M ltpily Nader pi a aei EN 207 MUINTEXxture Selectas 207 MUNIVIOW aia i 208 A A 208 Quad Mapoteca 209 Quadrant Seleclasansanassana iaa 209 Sample Texture Region Flex LED o ocooccconnccocncioccccccnconccnonannonnnnnnrnnrnnnonarnnnrnarennnnnnos 209 10 Sample Texture Region Simple Rotate oooccocccocncconccocncccnnconccnnccnnncnnnrnannenanennrnnnnns 210 Sample Texture Region SIM DIC uan 210 Sample TEXTURE REGION iaa iii 211 SDNQUIDU Erica aaa
73. Random Period Outputs a random value used internally in the layer processing for connection to the media player module when using the random play mode Scheduled Quit Licence level Bondi Scheduled Quit Han Ome Aue 4468 Quit Minuke HAG OME Second Automatically quits the Al system on the user specified hour minute and second TimeCode Licence level Anjuna TimeCode TC Hours TC Minutes TC Seconds TC Frames Total Seconds Total Frames Oy hidi 187 Outputs MTC Timecode data from the connected Midi Device as Hours Minutes Seconds amp Frames It also outputs a value for the total number of seconds and the total number of frames If the timecode stops being received by the midi device the total seconds and total frames values will carry on incrementing until the next time code value is received at which point it will immediately re engage with the timecode at the specified point TimeCode LTC Licence level Anjuna TimeCode LTC TE Hours TC Minutes TC Seconds TC Frames Tokal Seconds Total Frames Pause Time Code Outputs Timecode data from the LTC SMPTE input port on the back of some Ai Servers as Hours Minutes Seconds amp Frames lt also outputs a value for the total number of seconds and the total number of frames For further information on how to use timecode triggering through the main Ai user interface please see page 43 TimeCode Master Licence level Anjuna TimeCo
74. X Listener within the Stagepatch otherwise the values can end up conflicting with the default Ai settings and result in unexpected behaviour e The channels and universes chosen must differ to those already assigned within Al often it is quicker and easier assuming no programming has been done to just adjust your layer assignments in Al by going into Stagepatch Mixer e The 3d model used on the Modular LED Fixture is for visualisation purposes only the fixture itself draws its data directly from the texture as dictated by the accompanying CSV sheet which determines the pixels to be analysed and converted to DMX value as well as the universe and channel to send this resulting data to Whilst the model used is largely irrelevant to the software itself we would recommend using a model made of multiple small sections one for each LED as this helps to get a greater feeling for how it will look and makes it much easier to discern between standard screen and Modular LED fixtures within Ai Before we start working on the project lets take a quick look at an important component when using the Modular LED Fixture CSV data sheets The use of CSV comma separated values sheets within Ai allows us to have real time access to large amounts of reference data Many people are already used to working with CSV data sheets and the benefits they bring but for those who are new to them don t be put off they become very intuitive after a while
75. Y 9 ET 147 BATON O PPAnn ae ware Nice la tel Sanhanate 148 O LANE y y A N A 148 Multi Texture LD emniDE o E e erat eae 148 Render Couto a ii io dia reia 148 Render taa 149 Render DIS DIA LIS a ios bia 149 Render Merg O sisirin Aa sane ceeaaee ae neeawuaeeaoe 149 Render ESO ION nase 149 Render Tarde iia cana 150 Render TO TextUre Pacer lena raised Oe tne ene eee E one ee 150 o A O E Oey rye we eT 150 A 150 SS uoaseamsacarde rE OE 151 MS o A PO ROO ERE OO A 151 VOX SCAIC A A Seba steed tate lsh tn ate a dich des ual EA 151 ESC TEA A A ae tac eee ANA 151 Bs 400 oui A E A Tree A 151 TEXTE SW a a On dea Boot do 152 A O a ee sae ea ahs 152 Vector FONC SW ILC cise secs eo Do ele e e elas 152 VIdeo TOXU A Oe Oe ee ee ee ee ee ee 152 UN IEA Po 3 5 Pro ape net a ea he caren ae eae 153 O51 g if 6 Gane ne ee ae ee 154 CSS sae seeders sacacessessee nse E atroces op carecen 154 HONS RAVS eai ae daateet ss Moneee tae ene eee iek cetera toaehin ates 154 Quad MapN sarena astantseas 154 FRO CLAN O iria di 155 E T ie wero ag he he RSs Ae ea toh Sone Pe tater Aen 155 O AEE 155 o O MTA ea ee eee 155 WAVE PO e Daa alt ates neh teen cate ill al dat tate erase la 156 IMPON aiii catia neuen cawlee a 157 SN essere che caer crests O 157 3D Morph Model Ai 3D Morph Model ocoocccoccccccccocccocccoccconcccncccoccnoconcnonnonnnonnns 157 a ETE EO E A EEEE REE AN TEA E EAEE AE EET 157 Al WESC COIN FON NP NA e e A a A 158 Layer Texture ReferenCe
76. a gt i ne gt sw ome ROS y Se d A Screen mode takes the values of the pixels The value of one layer is taken from the in the two layers inverts multiplys and other layer The resulting number is then then inverts them again used for the colour value 014 Inv Luma Luma excludes areas of the image based on the luminosity of the pixels and the specified threshold 228 Transitions Ai ships with a selection of transition modes Transition modes can be selected either by using the layer widget on the performance page or through the layer personality using channel 28 Further transitions can be added by placing your own JPEG images into the Distrib Transitions folder When adding new transitions to the folder you will need to place a 3 digit number at the start of the file name so that it can be added to the current list in a logical order and selected via ArtNet All user added transitions will show after the blend modes at the bottom of the drop down list For details of how to select blend modes and transitions from Artnet please the ArtNET DMX channel definitions on page 117 Descriptions amp Example images The following pages contain an example image showing the result of each blend mode when applied as well as a brief description Left To Right 01 Left To Right 02 Top To Bottom 01 Top To Bottom 01 229 Diagonal 01 Diagonal 02 Diagonal 03 Diagonal 04 Circle 01 Circle 02
77. a choice of Alpha N A M Luma Lighten Add Difference Wipe Multiply Darken Screen Subtract amp Custom 59 Layer Select Buttons Performance Page These allow us to choose which layer we want to work on Simply hit the layer you require and you can then use other modes on your chosen layer such as the Blend Mode Buttons or FX Buttons Scene View Buttons All Pages The view buttons jump to 3 stored viewpoints in the 3d space You can choose the custom viewpoints by moving the 3d space then holding the Ai button on the numeric keypad and pressing either View 1 2 or 3 Once stored you can use the buttons to flick between the viewpoints The PAN VIEW button interpolates between the 3 stored viewpoints in a fluid motion 16 Interface Function Buttons The function buttons allow us quick access to some commonly used functions within Al Rotate Scene Using this button in conjunction with the mouse will allow you to rotate the 3d world Move Scene Holding this button while using the mouse allows you to move pan the 3d world Move Hex This feature is specific to version 6 and allows you to move the hexagons within a cluster bank Tap Widget Brings up the Tap Tempo widget To set the tempo either use the tap button transport controls or use the mouse to click in the area marked Tap Layer Info this is a feature from version 6 that allowed you to bring up information about the layer Thi
78. a patch from Salvation called Layer 1 This patch window shows us the Artnet personality for layer 1 and is where we can make our connections Layer 1 Personality Screen We can extend this screen by grabbing the right hand side of the window and dragging This will show a number of new modules and connections Press the Up Arrow key on your computer keyboard repeatedly to create space at the top of the patch window Here we are going to add a couple of patches that will get our faders controlling what we want Right click in the empty area and choose Insert Module Controller AiController This will give us a yellow outline that we then left click into place This patch contains the 15 assignable faders and the T Bar of the Sapphire Media Also right click in a blank area and select nsert Module Controller Auto Select and place this to the right of the Ai Controller module For our example we want to connect Fader 1 to the opacity of the media On the ArtNet Inputs module locate the Intensity parameter by default this is numbered 22 and hover your mouse over the blue out port This will show where the current connections are going to As we can see in the picture below the Intensity of the ArtNet inputs is being sent to the Intensity on the Media Player module and the Intensity of the Strobe module We need to connect the Fader 1 output of the AiController module to the In 1 on the Auto select module Next we need to take the output of th
79. according to user specified column and rows and outputs the value String Present Licence level Miami String Present Lal String Out A inpuk 1 ra inpuk 2 Result Searches for the presence of the String on input port 2 in the String on input port 1 and outputs the result 143 GL Ai Layer Mixer Licence level Anjuna Fundamental Ai System component responsible for the mixing of Layers within the Mixer Ai Layer Output Licence level Anjuna Fundamental Ai System component responsible for outputting a layers properties to the Mixer Ai SDI Input Licence level Anjuna 41 SDI Input Enable Use AukoCirculake Resolution Framerate Exkended Wdea Levels 4 Frames Dropped Color Space al GPU 4 Num Buffers a SDI Board 1 SBT Pore Output Resolution Qukpuk This module will provide an SDI input from the AJA Kona boards fitted within the Ai servers with the optional SDI Input Output board s The intention is that the general user should use the SDI Input System Patch rather than this low level module Ai SDI Output Licence level Anjuna 47 SDT Output Input E Resolukion 5340 x 2166 Framerate 25 GPU i F SHI Board This module will provide an SDI output through the AJA Kona boards fitted within the Ai servers with the optional SDI Input Output board s The intention is that the general user should use the SDI Output System Patch rather than this low
80. ag the mouse to draw a region containing sample points which by default is a grid of 5 by 5 On the right side in the channel grid you can see 25 of the boxes are now flashing and depending on your viewing options will be showing data levels colour and channel numbers By clicking on a channel number within the grid you are defining the start channel for that group of sampling points and Ai will number the rest according to the chosen Colour mode Now lets make a vertical strip with five sampling points and then generate channel data based on an RGB colour mode Choose the selection tool from the tools bar on the left and click on your region and then 108 enter the following values in the Pixel Mapper Sample box below the texture window e Colour Mode RGB e Horizontal Rows 1 e Vertical Rows 5 e Start X 20 e Start Y 0 e EndX 30 e EndY 288 Once the first strip is placed you can quickly create duplicates and position them as required by using e ctri C V copy paste e arrow keys move region e tab next region If you wish to work on another universe either select your regions and alter the universe in the Pixel Mapper personality box or click on the universe grid at the top and add new regions Working with multi celled fixtures is just as easy with a little thought Generally the contro channels come first before the colour channels For instance in the case of a fixture which has 10 control channels and a total of 25
81. ake creative and interesting setups as well as allowing you to get a greater quantity of screen addressed from each video output After starting a new project we first add a screen fixture For this tutorial we are going to use the model called Multi Unit LED Config 3ds which can be found in the Distrib Models folder of your Ai installation For this process to work your screen model must be a multi sectioned model as Ai will use the different sections to address the LED panels After importing the model we need to set the resolution for the screen in the canvas X and canvas Y boxes as follows e Canvas Res X 1920 Canvas Res Y 1080 We can leave the Scale Width and Height both set to a value of 1 as this model has already been made to the correct proportions o Ai Interface anvas Move 66 Now import the template for this screen Multi Unit LED Config Template 01 jpg and trigger it to the fixture so that each panel is a single colour Next go to the stagepatch to add the Multi Unit LED Config modules to the project Right click in an empty area of the Stagepatch choose Insert Module Display Video Out Then after placing the module right click choose Load Alternate Skin and choose Multi Unit LED Config from the pop up list To connect the module left click and drag a link between the Canvas Out on the screen Fixture and the Fixture Texture Input on the Multi Unit LED Config and also between the Screen Fix
82. al feedback When using the screen or projector fixture the numbers near the top right of the screen represent the system outputs simply select the fixture of choice then select the output number for the screen fixture you can then just start drawing regions on the source canvas and then onto your selected output For the projector fixture you must click within the output area once you have selected the projector you wish to route to the chosen output The following pages will discuss the functionality of each of the fixture types on the output page in more detail 29 Output Page Screen Fixture Lets look a little closer at those fixture types and which tools are available to each of them Firstly we will look at using the Screen Fixture Working directly with this fixture type is like using many of the more traditional video systems the geometry of the 3d model is not used on the output instead you work directly with the 2d texture itself its the same as working with the green ports within the Salvation patching environment On the left we can see the main set of tools for using with this fixture Starting from the top we have the selection tool the region mapper translate selected regions rotate region 90 degrees free rotate region flip horizontally flip vertically and masking Most of these make are self explanatory but a couple of these options are worth looking at a little more Region mapper tool In
83. allows the user to send a yellow render chain out to an SDI output The module is designed to work with the AJA Kona board that is included internally in Ai server systems purchased with the SDI In Output option The module always works in 4k modes The 4k image is then divided into quadrants and sent to each of the 4 SDI outputs this guarantees perfect synchronisation across the 4 outputs If the user wishes to send a 1080p source to a single descreet output then the user should use either the Multi View System Patch in 2x2 mode or the Quadrant Select System Patch 211 Shared Constants Input Param 1 C Value Param 2 C value Param 3 C Walue Param 4 Ci value Param E gt Male Param 6 C value Param T C Walue Param a Value Input Qukpuk Texture i E Output B Texture This patch works in conjunction with the Shared Constants Output module to provide the capability to route any of the 8 values connected inside the Shared Constants input patch to be routed to the outputs of the Shared Constants Output module The modules do not even need to be in the same project file they can be running in separate instances or process s because the data is shared via a shared memory connection It should be noted that the Output port of the Shared Constants Input patch should be merged into an active render chain in order for the patch to function correctly 212 Soft Edge Adjustments Canvas In Canvas Out PA Canvas In Ca
84. an led marker which strobes and using the result of the strobe it can determine the area to track This system is really quick to setup but can lack some of the finer control required to do complex multi object tracking and morphing Optitrack is a multi point tracking device capable of tracking complex point systems and multiple objects such as skeletons or jointed objects Optitrack gives a very high level of control and detail but can have a more complicated and indepth setup process to get it functioning correctly Kinesys is a motor control system generally used to control truss position but is often used for hanging screens or even to control lateral motion When the motor is used a data signal is also sent so that the whatever is tracking the movement can adjust its position in real time to match the motors output Kinesys is most suited to lifting and pulling Whether you control a single fixture or multiple 3d objects really comes down to the project itself and its requirements for multiple objects it is best practice to make use of sub patches and separately controlled 3d models all of which are independently connected to your tracking system Regardless of the chosen approach if controlling fixtures you are likely to use the Dynamic Adjustments skin for the screen fixture as this gives access to all of the translation rotation and scale parameters needed although a similar set of ports can also be exposed on the Morph Model module
85. ance an image with a width of 4090 pixels falls within the 4096 buffer size where as an image with a width of 5000 pixels would need to be calculated in the next sized buffer one of 8192 those extra 10 pixels have effectively doubled the required workload With this in mind some sensibly thought out UV mapping of your model can reduce the processing requirements of your machine considerably The following image gives a visual indication of the the increase in size of progressively larger texture memory buffers 912 1024 2048 4096 8192 GPU accelerated playback Whilst Ai supports playback of many standard codecs the best performance will be given by codecs which support hardware acceleration on the GPU such as AiM and DXV In the case of these 2 formats the graphics processor is used to boost processing and share the load of decoding rather than relying purely on the CPU as is the case with codecs such as PhotoJPEG or Animation codec The benefit to this is that generally a graphics card is able to carry out more simultaneous calculations than a CPU due to a large amount of Pixel Pipelines compared to the number of cores found on a Processor and also leaves the CPU to do other important system tasks Suitable codecs In an ideal world everything you playback in the Ai software will be encoded in AiM format If you do need to make use of a codec which isn t GPU accelerated there are still some considerations to be made t
86. and a lens ratio of 1 8 Then after adding a second projector select the first press ctrl c to copy the values reselect the second projector and press ctrl v to paste the values and take the minus off of the second projector This gives us two projectors in mirrored positions as shown in the following image Now we need to connect everything together in the Stagepatch and add our edge blending patches Open the Stagepatch and drag connections from the Screen Fixture output on the screen fixture to the Screen Fixture input on both of the projectors We will also add a Video Out module for each projector Insert Module Display Video Out and also a preview window for both Insert Module GL Window These need to be connected to the 80 Output port for the respective projector Finally we need to add the edge blend patches again one for each projector in the project Ai has several different Edge Blending patches available and the type you choose depends on your setup The blends can either be horizontal or vertical one sided or two sided or the Free Edges version which has four sides and has the option to alter the angle of the blend this is ideal for creating wedges more suited to domes and non standard screen shapes Some of the blends also have a number in the name either 5 or 10 a blend for one side has 5 bands of adjustment so if the number 5 is in the name it is a one sided blend and if the number 10 is in the name it
87. ane 90 An Introduction To 3D modelling ccccceeeceeseceeeeseeeceeeceeeceneseneseneseneseesensneoeeneeees 90 Media Pl DAL AON nica 92 LISIIG TING AIG COEN ta 92 Transparency Discard Alpha Channel Include Alpha Channel cc0000e 92 Optimize For Quality Performance SuperstreaM occcoccccccccocnconnncnnnconononncanonons 92 AUTO SADA 93 Optimising Files To Reduce SIZE srira ionii e a EA 93 System ODtImMIS lO M seraa cli 94 RESINA N 94 WIC Cla e e e dae 94 Texture Memory Canvas SIZE ssor nz 95 GPU accelerated playback ssi a r adn 95 SaD COGS Co PENR OO OO oUUO O ST 95 F ICUS A O Un eee 96 AMOUR ECO MAS o r Ue 96 WIITIDIE Graphics CANO S ii nad testenedtatantatnnseasynisantun 96 Sotware and DIVET Sannan a a E nea ean eae 97 Performance UMSS roda 98 Pre Production Check LiSLoioniisiia aida 99 TULOTASO 100 Tutorial 1 Working with RegioONS ocoocccoccconocconccoconocanonaconanonannonarenanenancnnnrenanenarnnnnnns 100 Tutorial 2 Widescreen Projection and Blending cocccoccccnnoccnonnconconanoncnancnnnanos 102 Tutorial 3 working with LED ScreenS ooncconcconncoconocononccoocnnonanenanennncnnnnonarennrnnaronnnnrs 104 Tutorial 4 The Mapping Editor cocccoccconcocncocccocccnnconaconnconoconconaronnnnaronrnnrnarnnenanans 106 Tutorials MOGUI ar LED FIX FO aria 108 10 PE e satan cae tcaeet ech baae tae cedacsel Goctee poacices one naa ee eeaeciee cee 110 OO WV Ad Cadac T 110
88. ant Z Rotation 50 Constanti Z Rotation gaa a Morph Control a Morph Control A Morph Control Y Texture Out y Texture Y Our 7 Texture Out This view of the Stage Construction Page shows the models again showing their lower mid and upper positions Note that the projector has been positioned so that the full range of the interpolated movement always falls within the projectors beam Ai Interface N ee When a change in value is received at the Morph Control port the model can be seen to move within the Stage Construction and Performance pages the result cannot however be seen on any of you system outputs yet Normally a fixture would be connected directly to the projector using the Screen Fixture Output Input ports but as we have worked outside of the fixture we do not have these ports available to us In order to resolve this we need to tell the projector where to look within our project to find the models it needs to show In the Stagepatch right click on the projector fixture choose Load Alternate Skin and choose SubPatches The SubPatches skin allows us to specify the name of a patch that can be found within the Stagepatch so that the projector can then see the models inside of it In the first box enter the name defined earlier models lts important to remember that the naming in these boxes is case sensitive The Stagepatch should now look something like this 76 AddickFixture_ amp Addi
89. ard often this will be due to an Intel graphics chip with shared memory unfortunately these are not supported in Ai as they lack some of the higher functions required of the GPU that Ai makes use of Please refer to the minimum required specs for further information How do get live video into Ai Live video can be dropped into the roller que to select as a source by selecting one of the patches named LiveVideo in Distrib Patches You can select additional patches from the same patches folder for SDI inputs and for Active Silicon Phoenix cards which are named accordingly Is the software and OS on 64 bit OS is 64 bit software is 32 bit at the moment there are no immediate plans to convert to 64 bit the software is fast enough as it is We may decide to do this conversion in the future if it seems necessary Is the system still based on the DXV Codec used by UVA and Resolume and is it an Intraframe codec or an Mpeg based codec The system can play back DXV movies but we have our own new codec called AiM which is similar in some respects to DXV but it has some significant quality improvements Colour reproduction is much better than DXV which suffers with banding in smooth gradients due to the format using 16 bit RGB colour where our codec uses 24 bit RGB The trade off is that files are 30 bigger than DXV although there are 2 options in the quicktime settings one for optimise for performance which produces simi
90. ase see the Keyboard Shortcuts Section See Page Error Reference source not found 28 Output Page Configure your outputs E E o de LA Pa Em m El EE AA o Em TE pele i am a E MIMI A i EIE c P EJE aaa e at st a AA aa Amame o K A The output page in version 8 of Ai gives you an easy but powerful way to address your outputs regardless of the fixture type chosen Depending on the selected fixture type a different set of options will be made available to you giving you quick and easy access to the relevant tools for that fixture type Whether working with Screens Projectors or Modular LED fixtures the interface has some basic similarities The main window is split into two sections the left side always shows your source canvas and the right hand side shows your output allowing you to easily keep track of every stage of your working process This can be resized if required by dragging the middle bar left or right and can then be reset by simply right clicking on that bar Along the bottom of the screen we can see all fixture types that can be edited and controlled from the Output Page and in the top right we can see our output assignment section which varies a little depending on whether you are outputting video or Modular LED data over Artnet or similar but essentially allows you a simple way to assign to the required system video output or ArtNet universe with simple a to understand system of visu
91. at may have regular times to display advertising or to let people know the exhibition ends in 30 minutes but don t have the requirement for true timecode Following that we have the embed timecode option if you are going to playback your timeline under timecode control then this option needs to be chosen The fifth button down returns your playhead to 00 00 00 00 on the timeline the timeline will remember the position of the playhead when it is exported for most applications it makes sense to save your timeline at 00 00 00 00 The trash can icon will delete the selected media or keyframes and the icon after that will set how the media performs after the timeline has passed whether the media stops playing at the end of the programming or keeps looping the last file until a further command is received The very last icon on the list is used to export the timeline so that it can be imported as a single trigger onto the performance page remember to set the playhead to 00 00 00 00 and to activate timecode if required Once saved and imported into the performance page a timeline trigger can be treated in the same way as media with the same trigger and control options available It is also worth noting that whichever timeline is selected on the performance page determines the one which is shown on the timeline which means that you can easily go back edit and resave a timeline with minimum effort For a full list of keyboard shortcuts ple
92. ata 168 Artnet Input Large Licence level Anjuna 0 Server Input Receives data from a connected Artnet device and converts it into Control Value data 169 Artnet Remote Control Licence level Anjuna chor Input A Fixture Group Input a Addick Controller Input Internal system module used by Al for Artnet communication Artnet Remote Master Licence level Anjuna Internal system module used by Al for Artnet communication 170 Artnet Sample Grid Licence level Anjuna 4rknek Sample Grid Gl Universe pam Ll Starting Channel p al Channel Offset me a p Lal a l l End Pos End Pos End Z Pos a Pos Offs I Pos Z Pos T 151 e l kA al a Lal kA h pe ka pei i coll Gl i Input fa ture Input A KiNET Input gy rua Grid Layout Horizontal Specifies a start and end point inside the 3d structure defined by the Artnet Structure module see below Interpolation is performed between these points linearly based on the amount of pixels specified A sample is then taken of the intersecting pixel which defines a colour based on the pixel voxel stored in the 3d structure The appropriate colour data is then sent to the output based on the personality chosen over artnet kiNet 171 Artnet Server Licence level Anjuna Wireless LAN S 2 11n PCI E NIC CEE Gl Channel Assign amp Gl C
93. ation Repeat the process as above to calibrate the second screen Once completed your touch screens should be calibrated and working correctly 48 Sapphire Media Functionality Out of the box the Sapphire Media Controller will communicate with the Ai software giving you a large amount of control over various parameters In the next section we will describe the function and application of the controller Optical Encoders Stage Construction Page The ultra smooth optical encoders allow us to move our fixtures around in the 3d space without having to use the mouse or trackpad of your computer laptop The three encoders relate to the X Y and Z planes of our 3d space and can allow us to move position or rotate our fixture smoothly and accurately Simply select the fixture you wish to move in Al and turn the optical encoder to see the changes in realtime To rotate the fixture simply click the Pos Rotate button once next to the encoder now the encoder will rotate the fixture in 3d space Press the Pos Rotate button twice and this will allow you to change the position of the fixture If you hold the Pos Rotate button this will change the size of the fixture Sensitivity of the movements can be adjusted using the Sensitivity buttons This can allow for a finer degree of control Pressing the Sensitivity Up once will allow increments of 0 1 pressing Sensitivity Up twice will move in 0 01 increments Blend Mode Buttons Performanc
94. attached ArtNet devices If you cant already see the DMX listener simply stretch out your Stagepatch window a little and look below your primary fixture 13 faddickFixture_ amp Personeshky RGE Fixture Tag Name a Position 4 4 T Positio A A Z Position A A x Pokakto A A y rotatio A A rokskion 515 Scale Width 15 Scale Height 14 Scale Depth 15 Canvas Scale 16 Canwas Scale Y 15 Canvas Move s A A Canvas Moye T A A DHMH Base Channel 1 DMs Universe 5 Canvas Res A 123 Canvas Res Y 125 e INET Input Canvas Ouk i DMS Send O Mix Send Mix Reburn A Mixer A 7 A Erig hkness Hiss Output MultiMoritorOut N EER TO ba DHMH Send Once setup you can treat this fixture as though it was a normal screen fixture applying media transitions and effects as you would to any other fixture within Al 74 Mapping Moving Scenic Elements With a little preparation and accuracy complex video mapping of moving scenery can be quickly and easily achieved from within Ai a good example of Ai doing this is can be seen on Bon Jovi s 2013 Because We Can tour For each element of moving scenery we have in the project we use a module called 3d Morph Model This module lets you load multiple models at the same time and then use a controller or system of your choice to interpolate between the models within a 16 bit O to 1 range If the models used are saved with different positions or XYZ coordinates the resulting inter
95. bility to generate primitive geometry within Ai and modify existing model files as well as carrying out some simple functions like cloning and duplication Whilst we still recognise the advantages of a dedicated modelling package we decided to give the user access to a set of common functions appertaining specifically to our industry allowing every Ai user to have greater control over the screen models they use and to be able to generate new and modified geometry when required The modelling page itself is a sub window of the Stage Construction page to access it first click on the truss icon Stage Construction page and then look to the top right of the interface for the icon that looks like a square with one corner cut out and give it a click Many of the functions and icons on the surface modelling page are carried across from other areas of Ai so will seem familiar or obvious but just to be sure lets run through them all By default the surface Modelling page is set up in a four way split view with default camera positions already located for each view These are set up with 3 orthographic viewpoints viewing the front side and top respectively Add in one perspective view and that gives us our four windows The views are treated in the same way that the stage construction page is Where shift click dragging will rotate your view and alt click dragging will pan it Defaulted viewpoints have been integrated into the surface model
96. butes into the new projector All that is left to do is then the X Position value from 0 7 to 0 7 Now that we have the projectors in place we can head to the output page where will will set the projectors to different outputs and apply our soft edge blends Once on the output page select the first projector select the number 2 for the second output and click in the output area to assign the projector to that output you should now see half of the screen Repeat this process with the second projector but this time assign it to output three As we have now set and confirmed our outputs all that is left is for us to apply the soft edge blending With the mouse on the right side somewhere inside the output section slowly move your mouse towards the edge of the area and eventually you should see some green line with a square handle in the middle and a representation of a fall off curve 102 next to it Drag the green line towards the middle of the image which should leave a red line at the outside these two coloured lines represent the area covered by your blend Then adjust the fall off curve by dragging it to the left or right until your area where the projectors overlap has an even amount of brightness across the screen A blend should be applied to each edge of a projector which overlaps onto another so in this case we had 2 projectors and therefore two blends 1 on each but if we had three projectors we would use a total of 4 blend
97. can right click on most objects to MIDI control them On the context menu click Edit Midi Map Choose MIDI device to be used and the MIDI channel to listen on Select Learn CC then operate a controller on the midi device to link the fader to the controller Example trigger a clip from a midi note first select your Master MIDI device in the System settings In Performance page select clip to be controlled Press Ctrl M The clip turns pink send the desired MIDI note The clip turns green You can also place a MIDI module on the Stage Patch screen to enable different control functions 65 Advanced Use Multi Unit LED Config From Version 8 of Ai onwards most users will choose to use the Output Page in Ai to perform the following functionality But there is also a wealth of functionality within the node based programming part of Ai which can be a very powerful and flexible way to configure your system It is not for novice users though as a basic understanding of node based programming is assumed Traditionally it is normal practice to send your full video output to your LED processing unit and inside that environment you would remap the sections of the output to be shown on individual panels within your LED screen Ai removes the need for complicated re mapping to be done from the processor by sending just the pixels that should be shown on the panels and leaving out any gaps found within the model making it much more easy to m
98. cells each of those being RGBW running from channel 10 to 109 arrange your 5 x 5 sampling grid and when allocating channels forget about the control channels and patch in from channel 10 If you need to patch more make sure you leave the gap of 10 so the next fixtures colour channels are patched at 120 onwards 109 FAQ Software What is Ai The Ai software is a powerful media server that delivers fast intuitive easy control featuring market leading media playback quality a fully customisable node based system Salvation Engine suited to the requirements of your individual performance Ai Media Servers facilitate the future of live entertainment lighting and video and are designed for professional show designers content producers and artists enabling seamless delivery of multi media video projects at any scale or venue Which video formats can Ai play Ai is QuickTime based which means that most files which play in QT should play within Ai However non linear forms of compression will reduce playback performance For this reason we would always recommend using AiM codec as your first choice as this will give the very best results What is the AiM codec The smooth playback is down to our revolutionary AiM codec a cross platform Quicktime codec and the use of the latest GPU technology bred for the gaming industry but now re developed with the support of AMD and Nvidia exclusively for Ai This allows for mu
99. ch better playback performance and can easily handle media of 4k resolution and above To encode your media using the AiM codec first download it from http www avolites com ai AIM_Codec zip To install the codec OSX To install the AIM codec on OSX copy AiMCodec component to Library Quicktime Windows To install the AIM codec on Windows XP 7 copy AiMWin32 qtx to C Program Files QuickTime QTSystem on 32bit systems or C Program Files x86 QuickTime QTSystem on 64bit systems 110 How do I achieve the optimum performance from the Aim codec It is usually recommend that media is created with a width which is divisible by 16 The AiM codec is much happier that way It might work fine on many systems with a media width which is not divisible by 16 but it would not be recommended because on some systems we have seen problems when the media is created at a width which is not divisible by 16 would suggest adding a couple of pixels into the void areas between the screens to pad the width out to a number which is divisible by 16 or perhaps remove a few pixels from the void areas whichever has least impact You re also welcome to ignore this advice if you re able to test every system involved in the playback systems and content creation thoroughly its a GPU OS dependent issue How do encode my media files using the AiM codec To encode your media with the AiM codec you need to use video software such as Final
100. change into an arrow good connection or show a no entry sign invalid connection You can also see what is being passed through a specific connector by holding the mouse over it to see a moving preview of the video or data in real time which can be very useful for troubleshooting or chasing your signal through the system e Arrow keys move window contents e Ctrl zoom in out e Ctrl G group modules into sub patch 3 The Project Browser Open previously stored project files iad A Ae A IAS o 4 p 1j e Y if ET E a 4 o el The Ai project browser gives you quick access to all of the projects stored on your system Within the page you can see three sections smaller rows at the top and bottom and a larger row in the middle The largest row of icons in the middle of the screen are all of the projects on your system You can navigate them by either using the left and right arrows either side of the main area by swiping the main area left or right or by entering the first letter of the project name the projects are in alphabetical order The row at the bottom is your recently saved projects and the top row is a selection of template projects Template projects give you a useful starting point when you are working regularly in the same venue or touring a show which might not be identical from venue to venue but uses a common base When you select one of the template projects Ai will ask you
101. complete the output for this screen Simply copy and past the Multi Unit LED Config module 4 times so that we have 5 of them in total and then adjust the values for Output X Y so that each row is drawn under the previous one We chose a height of 100 pixels for each panel so we need to add 100 pixels to the Output Y value for each successive row This now looks like 68 ES DENS ee Our 5 rows are all now showing on the output but at the moment they are all showing the same image we need to adjust the Model Unit Offset for rows 2 3 4 and 5 if we number the panels starting from O going left to right on row 1 left to right on the second row and and so on we can see that rows contain the following panels Row 1 4 panels 0 3 Row 2 5 panels 4 8 Row 3 4 panels 9 12 Row 4 5 panels 13 17 Row 5 4 panels 18 21 With this information we can now set the model unit offset for each of the modules so that each module chooses the correct panel to start drawing from Our modules should look like this Video Out video o Duti ee Screen Fixture Input te Screen Fixture Input h Fiskure Texture Input k Model Unik OF fsek Hodel Unik Offset Mo Rokatio Mo Rotatio Screens 5 I OWE RUE HE E JHA T Dutpi uk Y T Abe Unik px 26A Unik ox Screens A DuEput 23 al Output Y iini EEE Unit ie 266 nik UY TEoB Lkof Enea Stel els L to A T to Ble L to R T to E 69 a Fixkure Texture Input LA D Fixk
102. ctFixkure_ 1 Mode det ault_scre ASEE Tag Name Tag Name 6 4 A Position x Position 66 5 cb Y Position Y Position AA 25 861 2 Position Z Position 6 8 HE a Rotation Scale width 16 A T Rotation Scale Height E Ae Z Rotation Scale Depth La RE ARO Aspect fabio A Aokakio ALG i OD E Lens Ratio Y Rotation 4 8 ans Shift 2 Rotation El e Canvas Bes Y 1350 Lens Shift Y ee O a L Pr a ai Canvas Res Y El models AUR Aena Canvas Scale La Canvas Scale Y 14 i ff oa Sub Patch 2 Canvas Move Y A A Mire Frame Show Canvas i O Screen Fixture Output TNO Canvas Out B canvas But Sub Patch 4 O Mix Send Hix Reburn Texture a Brightness Mix Dutpue Wid 20 Our Inpuk Fundamentally the project is now setup and ready to work by using the vertical faders assigned to the 3d Morph Models however much better results can be made by using an external control system to send a value to the Morph Control port to ensure a higher level of synchronisation of movement between the projection target and the projection itself Systems such as Kinesys or Navigator are designed for tasks such as these they are essentially motor systems used to move stage elements which also give out digital values so that it becomes possible to know very accurately just how much movement has been made and on which axes then feedback this information to Ai so that its own output reflects those changes in real time A major benefit these systems have is a 16 Bi
103. ctor Math Licence level Anjuna vector Math 41 A d d 1 YE Performs one of several common math functions on the two input vectors and outputs the result Vector Select Licence level Anjuna Vector Select Yeckor Size Input Index Input vector Input QUEUE Selects a component of a vector based on the Size and Index parameters Vector Split Licence level Anjuna Examines the input vector and outputs each of the first four components individually 164 Midi ExtClock In Licence level Anjuna ExkClock In Device None Tempo Specifies which device to use for External Midi clock Midi CC In Licence level Anjuna Midi CC In Device More Channel Cc Number Ouk al E C Omnin E Cj Outputs continuous controller CC values received from an attached MIDI device Midi CC Out Licence level Bondi Midi CC Ouk Device None In Channel cCc A Sends continuous controller to an attached MIDI device CC based on control values received at the inputs Midi In Device Licence level Anjuna Midi In Device None Device mmi Channel Specifies the Midi input device 165 Midi Key In Licence level Anjuna Midi Key In Device None Channel Keg Number Gate Yelociky Ommi H m 3 1 Orar H m Cj Specifies a Midi key input device and outputs the gate and velocity value Midi Key Out Licence level B
104. d already be pre mapped to the software meaning you can use it straight out of the box However some functions such as the faders will need mapping manually This will require accessing Salvation and creating a few basic connections Salvation is the powerful node based programming system that allows full customisation of the Ai software Calibrating the Touch Screens for Sapphire Media Console With the Sapphire Media console attached to the computer go to the start menu in Windows click on All Programs and click on Pen Mount Universal Driver then Utility and choose Pen Mount Control Panel Click on the multiple monitors tab and check the box marked Multiple Monitor Support then press Map Touch Screens It will inform you to touch the panels as indicated on the following screens then click OK Press the indicated screen on your Sapphire then the next one Press the S key on your computer keyboard for any screens connected that do not have touch support e g the top preview screens Then go to the device panel double click the first icon on the left and then click Standard Calibration Simply touch and hold as prompted on the right screen of your Sapphire it will ask you to touch and hold in each corner of the screen Finally it will ask you to touch in the indicated area in the middle of the screen Back in the device panel click ok and then double click the second screen the icon on the right and choose Standard Calibr
105. d it to the list of the chosen fixture A nice way to make use of canvas layouts especially when using a modular screen set up made of multiple sections can be to have several models with differing UV maps which can be used to develop a show by swapping between them during the performance instead of sticking with one static look throughout the event this can add interest and a real feeling of development to the overall performance 21 Performance Page Trigger your media and control your show iva The performance page itself is roughly split into 5 main areas On the left hand side we have the Layer Widget this gives us an easy way to choose how our images are mixed whether they have effects adjust position and size and control many other functions In the lower middle area you will see groups of rectangular boxes known as Media Tiles these are individual pieces of media Video Live Input Generative Patch that can be dragged in and laid out as required and can have unique settings which will override the layer settings when played back At the bottom we have the fixture icons here you can select which of the fixtures you are working with and in turn which set of layers are displayed in the layer widget you can select more than one fixture by dragging your mouse across multiple fixtures with the left button held down On the right hand side we see the Media Banks each of these is a unique collec
106. de Master Use Local Clack TC Hours TC Minutes TE Seconds TC Frames Tokal Seconds Tokal Frames hy midi Pause Time Code Use Input Time Hour Inout Minuke Input Second Input Frame Input Outputs MTC Timecode data from the Midi input port as Hours Minutes Seconds amp Frames It also outputs a value for the total number of seconds and the total number of frames Acts as the master source for any TimeCode Minion modules configured to look at this module For further information on how to use timecode triggering through the main Ai user interface please see page 43 188 TimeCode Minion Licence level Anjuna TimeCode Minion r Fixel ddict UI System Settings dhidi TimeCode Haster TC Hours TC Minutes TC Seconds TC Frames Tokal Seconds Total Frames Pause Time Code Outputs Timecode data from the Specified TimeCode Master Module as Hours Minutes Seconds amp Frames It also outputs a value for the total number of seconds and the total number of frames For further information on how to use timecode triggering through the main Ai user interface please see page 43 Timeline Day Scheduler Licence level Miami Timeline Day Selector HAR E Allows for date values to be used to schedule activities Value History Licence level Anjuna Value History value In Value ue Read Index Keeps a rolling buffer of values input on the value in port for every rendered frame up to 1024 va
107. de ao Disabled Folder Path Folder Path Enke e Enker beskinati 14 A A sing MTL Folder Path rd Free Wheel Time Code Disabled Enter Source Enter Destination f 18 Folder Path Folder Path Use System Clock as TC Disabled eras E e Time Code Base Rake 25 Folder Path Folder Path nee Enter Source Enter Des Eination 14 Advanced Midi Mode Folder Path Folder Path Enter Source Enter Destination 18 LT Folder Path Folder Path Enter Source Enter Beskinakio 14 Default Cross Fade Period 24 ee SEN e Par id dj Stage Page Grid Brightness Enter Source Enter Destination 18 Layer Preview Made Follow Layer Folder Esl Folder Path Enter Source Enter Destination 18 Layer Render Top To Bottom Folder Path Folder Fath Video Playback Optimisation Use glFinish Enter Source Enter Destination 16 laos aback Disabled Folder Path Folder Path cl Ja atl aS Enter Source Enter Des kinakion 18 Last Frame Behaviour Folder Path Folder Path A e eS eae Enter Source Enter Destination 18 mE a Hop pinnad Folder Path Folder Path GA Sequence Framerate 20 8 rarer E eee see ES ai Enter Source Enter Destination 16 Sync Offset a6 Folder Path Folder Path Continuous Sync Additional Parameters Show Mouse on 1E User Interface GPU NIN Editor y Edge Colours Timeline ee Yartices Colours Interface Style VERTICAL f za s pe Jumerical Coordinate Eqikina Open UD ED EDE Numerical Coordinate Editing Open i The system settings window in Ai al
108. de generator can be very useful in a situation where you wish to have timed events but a time code generator is not available or appropriate to run a show For instance in a bar you might always know that at 8pm you want to advertise drinks offers and can therefore just use the system clock regardless of the time it is started instead of making sure your time code generator starts at the same time each day The time code base rate needs to be set at the same value as that which is being received in the time code a mismatch can result in missed triggers and unexpected behaviour For more information on using time code in Ai please see page 43 The general section is focussed more on how the system works The default cross fade period is the value used by all clips when fading on the layer unless an alternative value has been set for that clip in the right click properties and the Stage Page Grid brightness allows you to adjust the visibility of the background grid in the stage construction page Layer preview mode either enables an always on preview in the layer preview regardless of the intensity value of the layer it is worth remembering that having this active will use a little more system power as Al will always be rendering those outputs Layer Render Order lets you choose whether the top layer in your stack is shown above or below the following layers this is to make the working order more familiar to people used to working from the bo
109. deo Oukz2 ant LED LED Y LED Di LED D r Snap To 4 LEF Snap To Y LEF Sub Recks 4P Video Ouk3 de Screen Fixture Input A Fixkure Texture Input A Gl Output A Umit sps Cl y coo El a Gh E a Unit Tps El LE p sA A al R E Umit RC Qukpuk Step Umit Sork Type UY LEoR BkoT Unik Constraint Alignment Unik Constrain Lett Unik Draw Scheme Lett ko Right Sample Rotation No Rokakion Unit Sample Pos Unik Yerkes Order 1234 Takes the video input signal and allows the user to specify its output destination Alternate skins allow access to LED config Live Map and also to Multiple Unit Modular LED configuration options 135 Drawing Primitives Arc Licence Level Miami UL LELLE US m Position T Position 2 Fosition AA a a e E O mA RL WA Day Io Ls LS LS i mi mi Radius width Divisions Arc Begin Arc Length U Begin U End Y Begin Y End kal Ken ken Fai En ee m l E aa Wot Mt a a 5 ia Gl m 1 ml This module allows the user to draw an Arc onto the specified Output using the specified geometry data It will be texture mapped with the Texture connected to the Texture port Binary Circle Licence level Miami Binary Circle GL QuEpuk Radius iip Radius 20px Bik Depth 4 Position Green Blue Generates a binary circle for use with pattern readers based on the parameters r
110. ders e 16 fader pages e 4 easy access Layer Select buttons e 8 Blend Mode select buttons e 7 Transport Control buttons e 8 assignable custom buttons e 16 interface function buttons e 8FX buttons e 4 quick access Scene View buttons e Numeric keypad e 4 DMX in out ports e MIDI in port e USB interface Unit is bus powered Setting up MSC 1 with Ai server After connecting the MSC 1 to the server using the provided USB cable you can monitor the communications between the MSC 1 Console and the Ai Server by running the USB Expert program This can be found in Program Files x86 Avolites UsbExpert UsbExpertConsole 58 Click on the Tools menu and choose Acw Service and Start After a moment the connection should be made This can be verified by moving a fader or pressing a button values should then appear in the middle pane You can now close the UsbExpert software The ACW service will be automatically run by the Ai server program so this step is not a requirement for general operation With the connection made you can now load Ai and your MSC 1 should be connected A number of the MSC 1 s functions should already be pre mapped to the software meaning you can use it straight out of the box However some functions such as the faders will need mapping manually This will require accessing Salvation and creating a few basic connections Salvation is the powerful node based programming system that allows full customisation
111. e All consoles may be user configured to produce fully customised functionality Connecting The Sapphire Media Controller to your Ai Server Connect the video preview monitors the touch screens and the USB cable to the Ai media server Connecting the main touch screen monitors To connect the main touch screen monitors on the Sapphire connect your Output 1 and 2 from your server to Input Left 1 and Right 2 on the Sapphire 47 Connecting the preview screens To connect the preview monitors on the Sapphire connect your Outputs 3 4 5 6 7 and 8 from your server to Inputs 1 2 3 4 5 Connecting Sapphire Media Console to Ai Server via USB After connecting the Sapphire Media to the server using the provided USB cable you can monitor the communications between the Sapphire Media Console and the Ai Server by running the USB Expert program This can be found in Program Files x86 Avolites UsbExpert UsbExpertConsole Click on the Tools menu and choose Acw Service and Start After a moment the connection should be made This can be verified by moving a fader or pressing a button values should then appear in the middle pane You can now close the UsbExpert software The ACW service will be automatically run by the Ai server program so this step is not a requirement for general operation With the connection made you can now load Ai and your Sapphire Media should be connected A number of the Sapphire Media s functions shoul
112. e Intensity from the ArtNet module and connect that to the In 2 of the Auto Select module With these in place we then need to connect the Out of the Auto Select to the Intensity of the Media Player module and the Intensity of the Strobe module see picture below This now means Fader 1 on the Sapphire Media is now connected to the Intensity Opacity of Layer 1 in Ai Trigger some media in Ai and move the fader you should now see the media change with the fader movements Note currently the layer preview window s Opacity slider does not update with fader movements To setup fader 2 to control the speed of the media we need to make the following connections With the Layer 1 properties page open add an Auto Select module as before Then locate the Play Speed parameter on the ArtNet Inputs module numbered 7 by default 54 Connect the Fader 2 output of the AiController module to the In 1 on the Auto Select module Next we need to take the output of the Play Speed from the ArtNet module and connect that to the In 2 of the Auto Select module With these in place we then need to connect the Out of the Auto Select to the DMX Speed of the Speed Params module see picture below 55 Troubleshooting If your Sapphire Media Console screens seem to not work correctly when connected to the Ai server Connect the Sapphire Media console via USB and ensure the outputs from your Ai media server are set up as follows Output 1 Outpu
113. e Page These can be used to change the blend mode on the current layer allowing for different visual styles with other media playing There is a choice of Alpha N A M Luma Lighten Add Difference Wipe Multiply Darken Screen Subtract amp Custom Layer Select Buttons Performance Page These allow us to choose which layer we want to work on Simply hit the layer you require and you can then use other modes on your chosen layer such as the Blend Mode Buttons or FX Buttons Scene View Buttons All Pages The view buttons jump to 3 stored viewpoints in the 3d space You can choose the custom viewpoints by moving the 3d space then holding the Ai button on the numeric keypad and pressing either View 1 2 or 3 Once stored you can use the buttons to flick between the viewpoints The PAN VIEW button interpolates between the 3 stored viewpoints in a 49 fluid motion 16 Interface Function Buttons The function buttons allow us quick access to some commonly used functions within Ai Rotate Scene Using this button in conjunction with the mouse will allow you to rotate the 3d world Move Scene Holding this button while using the mouse allows you to move pan the 3d world Move Hex This feature is specific to version 6 and allows you to move the hexagons within a cluster bank Tap Widget Brings up the Tap Tempo widget To set the tempo either use the tap button transport controls or use the mouse
114. e arrow keys to navigate around media tiles e hide media tiles e hide layer widget and banks e ctrl R reload selected media tiles from designated folder e ctrl C copy selected media tiles e ctrl X cut selected media tiles e ctrl V paste selected media tiles e ctrl delete delete selected media tiles e esc leave full screen window e f1 open manual e f2 go to avolites media forum 232 Timeline Page e drag wav file from explorer onto timeline to insert waveform display e click drag timeline to navigate timeline e shift click and drag to multi select media or keyframes e ctrl click to multi select media or keyframes e alt click and drag to move media e alt click and drag bracket to change length of media loop cut not timestretch e add or remove layers to selected fixture group timeline e ctrl e clear timeline e insert key add marker remove marker at current cursor pos e ctrl c copy selected clipnodes or keyframes e ctrl v paste clipnodes keyframes e m move selected media e jump to beginning end of selected media or first last clip if nothing selected e delete to remove selected keyframes e return play stop from current cursor position e space bar play stop from original cursor position e up arrow navigate timeline upwards per frame e down arrow navigate timeline downwards per frame e ctrl R remove media patch and play media directly f
115. e tools bar on the left choose the second option down the region tool in the left window drag a region and then double click it to expand it to cover the full canvas In the right hand window draw a region and then hold shift click it to to convert it to a triangle based region Select the transform tool from the left hand bar and in the right window click and drag the corner points to apply keystoning to your image You should now see the combined effected layers being played on your outputs 12 The User Interface Stage Construction Page Build your Stage On this page we can choose the fixture types to use in the project We can also enter the correct positions and relationships for each fixture to create a representation of the real world installation Along the top of the screen we can see the icons which give us our different fixture types From the left to the right we have LED lighting LED battens Screen fixture Moving Head lights Projector fixture the Modular LED fixture used for pixel mapping a human character to give an idea of scale and a stage model to put the components in context Regardless of the model type used the fixture itself offers options to independently adjust the position scale and rotation of the used model on all three axes as well as being able to set the texture resolution the texture scale and the texture position and also gives options to display the screen in wireframe mode and the op
116. e very nice effects can be achieved by adjusting position and rotation values in real time a very simple texture can be turned into complex organic swarming effects with the minimum of fuss or you can create very solid 3d looking visuals by using a greater extrusion value 8 Motion Tracking Ai can make use of several different types of tracking data straight out of the box via dedicated modules in the Salvation environment Tracking systems such as Blacktrax Kinesys or Optitrack generally give out data which relates the current position or movement to a set of coordinates within3d space generally as an offset from a starting or neutral point which in turn can be connected to fixtures or models in Ai so that the position and rotation are adjusted accordingly If you are connecting your tracking data to a single fixture the first thing to do is to change the skin of the screen fixture to the one named Dynamic Adjustment this will expose all of the ports needed to control the position rotation and scale of the screen in three dimensions The next step would be to choose your motion tracking type and add the relevant module into the Stagepatch the Blacktrax module can be found in the Network section the Kinesys module can be found in the motion control section and the Optitrack module can be found in the network section listed as NatNet Client Each of these three systems has its own benefits Blacktrax uses a single unit with
117. e video received at the input and outputs the resulting video signal 200 System Patches System Patches are patches stored in Distrib Patches System which can be easily inserted into your project patches by right clicking the patch background and selecting Insert System Patch They are a collection of patches which can be useful for a myriad of different tasks The next pages give a description of the system patches available in Ai V8 0 2 x 8bit Receive Takes two normalised inputs representing two 8 bit control values such as the control values received from an ArtNET input module and converts them into one normalised value with 16 bit precision 2 x 8bit Send Takes one normalised input control value and converts it into two normalised output control values with 8 bit precision Ai Patch Output gt Input Output Texture This patch can be dropped into any patch and connected to the Patch IO module and an output render chain in order to make the patch work when dragged and dropped onto the main Ai user interface to me triggered from a Media Tile as a generative content source 201 ArtNet Tester Nokepad Instructions Monitor Off each machine in network 4ArkNek Adaptor Uni conflicks Uni Adjust khe colour and numerical values ko changes on the recievi Colour Controls patch E ox JA JG JE This patch can be used as a diagnostic tool to verify that the system and its peers
118. eate a sequence of clips within the performance page without the need to use a timeline Each clip can have an action assigned to it that it will perform after it has played the clip through such as first last up down left right random or goto XXX where XXX is the ArtNet channel set to trigger that clip when using follow On Actions the play mode needs to be set to play once play mode 4 Playing On Layers is purely for visual feedback and will tell you which layers and fixtures the clip is currently playing on Trigger on Layer lets you give a clip a specific layer as its destination regardless of the layer selected when used in conjunction with buddy groups and fixture lock you can do some very powerful assignments for multiple clips which can all be triggered with a single click 24 Scene Triggers A powerful feature within the performance page of Ai is the ability to memorise your current state save it as a single Scene Trigger and then return to this look at any point simply by activating the Scene Trigger a scene trigger has all the standard triggering options of normal media To save a State simply press the tab button at any point This will create a media tile with an icon that looks like a sun which will be added to your current media bank A scene Trigger will remember all of the layer properties such as blend mode position and effects as well as the media being played but if for some reason you wish to only r
119. ecall certain properties you can right click on the scene trigger to open its control panel and then choose which of the parameters are enabled will be recalled when triggered or Disabled will not be recalled when triggered the following image shows an example of the editable functions of a scene trigger with some of the options enabled and some disabled WisualEf feck Scene Trigger Name Intensity None Enabled FxOpacity BlendHode a i ij 1 Alpha Paramif aa if PlayHode Paranz E LoopForward Params HE A E MET T ji je Paramd AA 4 A A g i Paranti A e Ee T TnFoint A Cy Disabled Contrast o 5 o O a a ain Params 6 8 EE WA Disable a aa tastier y dai diaa Disabled AE EERE z PS i Ein 66 Playspeed os E Saturation Pieper a Th s F arame FA A Position AS E shla Enspieg z UDarekin gt ik Cll GA esol GEE enabled a aaah oC y pe wee Paraml i E i EE ELE ite k SOSSSSSCESS EED 66 Enable EEH REE P Disabled Param 9 HE Susi da ee hlad Para Rotation debido i Rotation Paramll EE Paramil aa jC ZRokation Param2 En Paramic AE Farani ma fe Farami4l 66 A j p E AS el AI Params ga h Parami3f Ag EEE 66 Parami5 AA all Fixture Parameters Aspect Ratio 4 Disable aa Enabled dowement Speed Strobe Paraml TE Y Enabled Parami l ua C 25 Timeline Page Pre Sequence your show E w A A AF da ma
120. eceived at the input 136 Circle Licence level Bondi Circle GL Output Radius px A Position T Position Thickness px Steps ver draw Generates a circle based on control data received at the parameter inputs Line Generator Licence level Anjuna Line Generator GL Output Generates a line based on user selected parameters Repeated Line Generator Licence level Bondi GL Output Generates horizontal or vertical lines based on user selected parameters 137 Particle System Licence level Miami article System Cal Gl Gl Maximum Parkicles La sa IA a mm Lat km a la WT AI IIA Read Index e KI e a Fi In Val F1 In Mod Pi Output F2 In Val P2 In Mod F2 Output F3 In Val P3 In Mod F3 Qukpuk F4 In val P4 In Mod F4 OuEpue Generates control data which can be used to create a particle system Quad Generator Licence level Anjuna Quad Gene GL Oukpuk papim os oe pm Pa tell a Pa ed Draws a quad 2 connected triangular polygons in 2d pixel space using the specified RGBA colour onto the connected GL output 138 Textured Quad Region Licence level Anjuna Textured Quad Region GL Output xl Texture gl Texture x2 Texture We Texture x3 Texture ya Texture x4 Texkure y4 Texture x1 QuEpuk A x2 Oukpuk ye ukpuk x Oukpuk y3 Output x4 ukpuk y4 ukpuk i Texture Res A Texture Res
121. eeeeees 113 My screen outputs come up in the wrong order how can fix this 113 HardWare ee cic tsa Bice eset coset a 114 What are the minimum requirements to run the Ai software cenere 114 SAP MES SA AAA 114 SO IGE AAA ESE ERE EOI O 114 What are the delays on the BMD or LFG CardS7 occccocncccccccccnconicncconncononnnnanoncnnns 114 The software works with OpenGL will cards like Quadro FX 6000 5000 help the performance In other words will a customized very heavy system be worth the money We noticed in Fusion that a double Quadro 600 setup could be limiting 114 Will CUDA be implemented for certain effects7 ooccococcconconconconnonncononncancnnnnos 115 What are the ways of controlling the server besides the Avolites consoles is it all DMX and MIDI miggerable 2 sep ciate sins iain ae ets 115 How do make new Screen SHAPES cceeccceeceeeeeeseeceeseeeteeeseneeceeteetneeeneenseess 115 Which 3d model formats can USE IN Al ooocococcoccncoconcnconcncononcnncncncnoncnnncnncnonenononn 115 Call useaudio IMA eiii idad 115 What is the best audio format for Al oo eee ceceeceececeeeeeeeeeceeeeceeaesesaeseeaeseeneeneaenens 115 Where Can get further informati0n oocccoccccccnccccnccnonccocnnnnonicnnnnonocanonnncanoncnnos 116 ArtNET DMX Channel DefinitiONS oooconcncncccococonononocnono narco 117 A0 Channel personal anar dada 117 80 channel mode additional C
122. efine their own blend modes and effects Known as SVFX Both systems still retain the option to use the node based modular approach seen across the board in Ai and have access to the full range of Salvation functions and features which means that wether you are new to patching or very experienced in more complex elements such as shader code there is a way to work with custom blend modes and effects that will suit you This first image shows us two windows in this case 2 separate blend mode patches a Toa ini Ing E GL_SRC_ALPHA ag a Sipe GL_1 SFIC_ALFHA BStel Paramli vse Rectan aii GLSLMixerShader Size m Letter Bba us ls Inputi Input 2 A out put a uniformsampler2D TEX n Color l P Texture uniformsampler 2D TEXB Hix uniform Floak misval E A Size Input cies size Input aa 1 vog maint i 4 vecd colf hkexkurezD TEXG ql Texte Sees st vecdcoli texture2D TEx1 9l_TexCoord 1 st 4A col col col6 coll mist al Frag Co or c o om We can see from these windows two different approaches to creating your own blendmodes the upper one is made by purely using existing Salvation modules to determine the functions and the order in which they occur where as the lower window has an example which uses shadercode inside the GLSL program module This secondary approach does require a greater knowledge of coding itself specificly GLSL shader
123. ence point for positioning media or parameter automation the most common way to use this is to playback the timeline with the audio file and whilst it is playing give the home key a press at points you wish to have important changes such as verse chorus and once complete use these points as your placement markers Once marker points have been placed if required and media has been dragged onto the timeline one of the first thing you might want to do is change the position of the media or how long it loops for Firstly click on the media on the timeline and the ends of the clip should change to a lighter blue colour to confirm it is selected Now press M move on the keyboard and the clip becomes locked to the mouse letting you to move it to the position you require and then place it by pressing the left mouse button If you have any marker points you will find that the media will snap into these locations once it gets within a few frames of the marker To change the amount of time that the media loops for hold the Alt button and then drag the end using the left mouse button until it is in the place you require Once you are happy with the positions of the clips along the timeline you may want to automate some of the parameters which control that piece of media To access the available parameters left click the media on the timeline and the to the left or above in horizontal mode you should see a drop down menu with the word Parameter
124. ens Ratio 1 2 Lens Shift X 0 0 Lens Shift Y 0 0 Use All Fixtures A Screen Fixture Input 4 Screen Fixture Input 1 4 Screen Fixture Input 2 Texture Output A Ma Lindow clic Li fal 3 4 re Bonn A Color i P CRI OUTPUTS Enable AI Output Config Mapping Editor Under the hood of the main Ai interface is the node based programming system known as Salvation This gives you access to a wide range of inter connectible modules each of which represent a different function or feature You have the opportunity to create precisely the result you want whether that s a generative content patch a new set of layer functions or an output system that s just too complex for the output page The Patch Configuration Page gives you a way to access the inner workings of the Salvation engine without needing to leave the Ai interface To navigate around the patches use the arrow keys zoom in and out using ctrl and ctrl and open up a module by double left clicking on it If at any time you want to return back to the fixtures just press the page button in the corner In Salvation we talk about modules and patches a module is a single grey box used for a specific command and a patch is a group of these to collectively create a new function or perform a task A module will have a blue header bar and a patch will have a grey header bar On the modules and patches there are coloured ports with cables connecting some of them
125. es window enter the following values e X Position 3 2 e Y Position 7 9 e Z Position 19 0 X Rotation 19 0 e Y Rotation 11 e Aspect Ratio 16 9 e Lens Ratio 1 8 The aspect ratio of the projector determines the shape of our output in this case we are choosing a 16 9 ratio widescreen and the lens ratio is something specific to each lens it tells us how far we need to project to get a certain sized screen in the case of a lens with a ratio of 1 8 for a screen with a measurement of 1 metre we would need to project from a distance of 1 8 metres Now we need a second projector to cover the other faces so add a new projector fixture then select the first press CTRL C select the new projector and press CTRL V this will copy the attributes from the first to the second projector which just need a small adjustment to make it a mirrored projector e X Position 3 2 e Y Rotation 11 Our fixtures are now in place but to help us there is also an image file Cubes Template jpg designed for this model which should be imported and triggered to the fixture Once this is done we can go over to the output page and start to adjust our output When you select the projector fixture on the output page you will see that the tools 106 available change and become focused around projection mapping in this case it gives us access to the mapping editor and automap First of all we need to tell each projector which
126. etes a fixture group Performance Page ENTER button will pause all playing media on all layers CLEAR button will delete currently selected media on Roller Cue SET button will pause all playing media on all layers Timeline Page ENTER amp SET button both will start stop playback of timeline Patch Windows CLEAR button deletes currently selected patch The Ai button works like the Shift key on your computer s keyboard The A1 to A8 buttons require patching in to be used as custom buttons This can be done using the Ai Controller Module Alternate Skin A1 A8 See Connecting The Custom Buttons Faders section Fader Pages Performance Page The Page buttons allow you to move up and down through the media banks FX Buttons 1 to 8 These buttons are assignable and designed to be used to trigger effects T Bar The T Bar allows for ultra smooth traditional vision mixing By default the T Bar is set up to fade to black but it can be custom mapped to any parameter you wish to control See Connecting The Custom Buttons Faders section Trackball 8 Mouse Controls The trackball and mouse controls allow the user to navigate Ai without the need for an external mouse To activate the trackball simply press and hold the Assign key then press the Left mouse button 91 Tap Button The Tap button is used in conjunction with the Tap Tempo feature within Ai Turn on the Tap Tempo widget in Ai either from within the soft
127. exible way to configure your system lt is not for novice users though as a basic understanding of node based programming is assumed A regular projection task that many people come across is to create a widescreen projection with multiple projectors When using more than one projector there will usually be an area of overlap which becomes brighter than the rest of the image The act of smoothing this out to create a clean even projection and to hide the joins is known as edge blending In the stage construction page delete any existing fixtures and then add a new screen fixture select Default Screen from the drop down in the fixture properties and enter the following values Scale Width 3 04 scale Height 0 9 Canvas Res X 3648 Canvas Res Y 1080 You might notice that the numbers for the width and X resolution look a little odd the X resolution is slightly less than two full hd screens this is because we have calculated an overlap of 10 where the beams of the projectors cross to create our blending area Next we have to add our projectors to the project First of all add one and set the following parameters within the projector fixture properties e XPosition 0 7 e ZPosition e Aspect Ratio 16 9 e LensRatio 1 8 Then add a second projector but instead of setting the parameters separately select the first press CTRL C copy then select the second and press CTRL V paste this will paste the existing attri
128. f your show to ensure show critical playback occurs at just the right time giving a tighter more dynamic feel as well as a show that can be reproduced perfectly every time When using Timecode in Ai it can either be run fully locked to the master timecode signal in which case if the clock signal is interrupted or stopped then the playback of the video will stop Alternatively it can be run in freewheel mode which means that the master clock controls the playback of the media but if it is interrupted or stops then the clip will switch to the internal clock and keep playing until it then receives the master signal again Timecode itself is represented by a series of numbers for instance 02 34 17 03 which when read from left to right reads as 2 hours 34 minutes 17 seconds and 3 frames To assign a timecode trigger to a specific clip you can either enter the value directly in the performance page or from within the right click properties of a specific media in your media banks Here we can see media tiles on the Performance page showing their assigned timecode trigger values i S258 ee ET A ie in et R 01010402 jos poa M Pa E e y E 0008 53 55 1 A EN N Z sl The Z When on the performance page pressing the Home key will show each media tiles assigned timecode trigger An individual tiles timecode value can easily be adjusted by using the following keyboard shortcuts e page up
129. ffer Select Licence level Miami Ep D it l rr Buffer 5 Inpuk ws Lal Input Input Input Input Input T Oo amp OF 1 E Inpuk Input Input amp Input Input 16 Input Input 12 Input 13 Input 1 Input 15 Allows the user to temporarily store a number of Input Controller values and outputs the most recently changed value Calender Trigger Licence level Anjuna Calendar Trigger DO WH TYYT HH Mihi SS Trigger Dake Time 1 i 1 i 1 Local Dak A A A a A Trigger Week OF Day Week OF Month This module can be used to create a trigger in the form of a controller value which will fire at the specified time and date When 1 is entered the field will be ignored which allows you to create repeating triggers The module is also able to output the day of the week as a number and the week of the month The module needs to be merged into an active render chain to be activated 129 Camera Licence level Miami Camera Cameral E Frame ey Add Key Frame Time Cam 100 Me ar Defines a 3D camera position and view using video game style WASD mouse control also supports keyframe storage and interpolation Constant Licence level Anjuna Constant Constant C Value Outputs a user defined numeric value according to the value range and control type selected The number value is stored internally as a 64 bit floating point number Constant With Text Licence
130. gn DMX button will then apply these ranges to all fixtures by giving them sequential addresses If you need to alter any of the position or rotation amounts you can either use the group options to affect all or the fixture options to alter just the selected fixture When using these fixtures it is better to run at a resolution close to reality otherwise Ai will be performing a lot of unnecessary work if for instance you specify a 1920 x 1080 canvas then Ai will have to convert 2073600 pixels to ArtNet every single frame but in reality you are exceptionally unlikely to see an array of 2 million physical fixtures Ai will downscale your image to fit the resolution that you specify so you don t need to worry about a resolution mismatch between the media and the fixture values 15 Human and Structure Fixtures Both of these fixture types are used for visualisation purposes the human character is great for putting things into an understandable scale and the structure fixture allows you to load a model of your stage or venue to give a greater concept if how the project will look in situe both are very helpful when trying to get a client to understand how the show will look The real benefit to both of these is that they don t carry the usual facilities to playback media which means that they have much less strain on the system 16 Surface Modelling Page We have for some time been able to see the need for our own 3D editor with the a
131. hannel Assign 1 Gl Channel Assign 2 Gi Channel Assign 3 Gi Channel Assign 4 Gi Channel Assign 5 a Gi Channel Assign 6 mm Gi Channel Assign 7 Gi Channel Assign S Gl Channel Assign 3 Gl Channel Assign 14 km Channel Assign 11 Gl Channel Assign 12 km Channel Assign 13 Cl Channel Assign 14 Cl Channel Assign 15 Cl Channel Assign 16 Cl Channel Assign 17 Cl Channel Assign 18 Gl Channel Assign 19 Gl Channel Assign 28 Gl Channel Assign 21 Gl Channel Assign 22 Gl Channel Assign 23 Converts incoming control data into Artnet data and sends it to the selected channel universe and Artnet adaptor Artnet Video Licence level Bondi ArkWek Wide 4 width Ed Height DAH Skart Dae Univers Rows e Pixel Oy Artie Send GL Input GL Render O Debug video Quk Allows for the transmission of video to Artnet fixtures 172 Artnet Sample Strip Licence level Anjuna 4rknek Sample Strip Start Pos Start Y Pos Start z Pos End Pos End Y Pos End Z Pos Pixel Count Starting Channel Channel Offset Universe DM Sender Input gM SEruckure Input de KiNET Input g Specifies a start and end point inside the 3d structure defined by the Artnet Structure module see below Interpolation is performed between these points linearly based on the amo
132. hannels ococcncococcncncanononcncaracnononononarararararannnnnans 120 100 channel mode additional Channel s cccccceeeeseceeeeeeceeeeeeeeueveuaeanecueneeeeaeanans 122 Module DeTMItONS ico 123 AUNO assesses ew eairais hoses saceon a a eaten secu qudeudeceaneuaecanansesaeniete 124 Master V OMI NS AU LS Uveitis cate es nals aide 124 SVC ONSE teas ec hat esac aparece toes cette sn ater nal k ker ie ennde ereeeton 124 CaPlUCi desk docenneannaaaameaneen nea aeeaanan eee eGaeadene 125 ACUVESSHICON MOC NI oea ne tec a cudnt ice eaceutes 125 Dalisa Gene Camelid ei a a aN REE 125 GOl keane a il o a e nes aetaeheee 126 o BAe E EE E E EE 126 Hue TR OLAS Mala E a E 126 o E E 126 ROBA oae a a a A ee 127 RGB COlIOr GUES snae a AAE Ea 127 CONE QIN iia A a ETa 128 ALCON TOII veritas tat patch O a tontecig ate ameent 128 SS e A a E seed 128 BUI Fo S10 aa Nana 129 Calender VIG GCP esaera S 129 a e O OO EE 130 A o A ean err ncaa atte eae eon baaeaneeae 130 CONSTANT VV EXC alta an aanseiel nies 130 SI Y AS 130 DTO WISE ni a 131 DINAR IO IO coria 131 AEN E Sia 131 E e a E E A cause pat Aetna me oenaotee 131 LF COM A EN 132 A a a 132 A e COCA o TE 132 SEQUE CO SRA tenancies cheese RAR ete 132 I OO lil satnucaateactata nasties eMatesae canteusn cad ntaa sate A 133 AN ov ae nasi atau tosh cen ease cate pasion na one asa uaa ay emcee 133 WSC id 133 VECO SOMO Miri 133 DIS Pl Vai iaa ina 134 PAV CUI Renders po aramid 134 EASy
133. has blending on two opposing sides To add a blend to the project right click in an empty area of the Stagepatch and choose Insert System Patch Soft Edge Vertical 5 and then place it using the left mouse button The blending patch has 2 ports which need to be connected to both the screen fixture and the projector fixture drag a connection from the screen fixture Canvas Out port to the Canvas In port of the Soft Edge patch and then drag a second connection from the Canvas Out of the Soft Edge patch to the Texture port on the projector This should now look like the following AddictFixture_ AddictFixkture_1 e_2 Model def aulk_scre Cle Tag Name Tag Name E Position 8 7 Position Tag Name Y Position 6 6 Y Position X Positi y agate z Position 3 Z Position 6 8 2 Position aa 6 8 X Rotation 6 8 s Rotation Scale Width 32 8 8 Y Rotation 8 8 Y Rotation Scale Height 2 Rotation 6 8 2 Rotation Scale Depth E EE 73 Aspect Ratio 7 3 Aspect Ratio 4 Rotation 6 6 3 Lens Ratio 8 Lens Ratio Y Rotation 6 8 6 6 Lens Shift X 6 6 Lens Shift X 2 Rotation 6 8 6 8 Lens Shift 6 0 Lens Shift Y Canvas Res X 384 El A Screen Fixture Input A he Screen Fixture Input Canvas Res Y Se Canvas Scale Xx a Screen Fixture Input 1 Screen Fixture Input 1 Canvas Scale Y a Screen Fixture Input 2 Screen Fixture Input 2 Canvas Move X a8 a Screen Fixture Input 3 on Screen Fixture Input 3 iia Texture Dutput Texture Output gt P screen Fixture Out
134. he User Interface GPU Mode allows you to block textures which are currently being sent to the 2 GPU from being shown in the main UI window This can offer significant performance improvements in projects where large textures are being sent to outputs 4 8 on the 2 GPU with the compromise of having the UI window not show the textures routed to the 2 GPU This option basically reduces the amount of data being transferred around the PCle bus to the minimum required to service the systems outputs appropriately The timeline box only has a couple of options here the first allows us to choose either a horizontal or vertical layout for the timeline to suit the approach that you prefer and the second section allows you to assign the allocated layers programmed within a timeline routing them to the appropriate layers within your mixer The number shown in the box is the layer that will playback the respective channel from the timeline this can be really useful if you have programmed a complicated timeline but still need to manually override or busk a section of your show The Distributed Show Control section gives you full control over which parameters and visualiser components are shared between machines making use of the Virtual Network Fixture function whether they are being sent or received and also gives you options to choose the network adaptor in use as well entering security passwords to make sure that only approved machines can sha
135. he Eric Prydz Cubic show with the template applied to the 3d model and also laid out flat 91 Media Preparation Ai supports many different formats found within the overall Quicktime engine however for the best performance it is advisable to make use of our own AiM codec as this has been programmed specificly with Ai in mind An understanding of the features and settings of the codec can help you to get the best performance from your system depending on your project requirements Using the AiM codec Ali s own specialised GPU accelerated codec will give the best playback performance within Ai as the hardware acceleration makes use of the graphics processor to decode the file instead of using the main computer processor as many of the more standard codecs do When encoding a media clip to AiM format regardless of the encoder used you are presented with a few basic options The following image shows the standard codec options for AiM as presented in Adobe After Effects Whilst the presentation of the control panel may differ in other software the codec options themselves will be the same in any Quicktime based encoding software Transparency Preserve Alpha Channel Preserve Preserve Alpha Channel Channel Optimize For Quality ad Cancel 3 AIM Preferences Transparency Discard Alpha Channel Include Alpha Channel An alpha channel is a special layer within video which marks an area as transparent Its a little
136. he module by pressing the button at the top then select screen 2 so that we can see an output Next we need to set the panel resolution for this example am going to use dimensions of 100 for the X resolution and 100 for the Y resolution We then need to decide how many panels we want each module to address we will use 5 modules one per row to address all 22 panels so first row the module needs to draw 4 panels enter 4 into Output Unit Count 67 We should now see the following Ee ef sadi DB N We now have 4 panels all of which have the correct dimensions but the order in which they are displayed is mixed up This is where the Unit Sort Type comes in useful Depending on how the panels have been cabled up will determine the order which you choose but for most jobs we find that the 4th option in the drop down list TtoB LtoR top to bottom left to right works well If that one doesn t suit how your screens have been cabled just flick through the other options and one of them will work for you With TtoB LtoR selected we should have something like this we can start to see the module doing as it should and only drawing the image that should be shown on the panel this is most obvious if you follow the circle on the test pattern we can see that Ai has not drawn the pixels which fall within the gaps of the screen model Now that we have the first row set we just need adjust the other 4 rows to
137. he sixth button along the top the one with CSV on it Ai will then ask you for a save name and location for the new sheet All you need to then do is assign the channels and universes Now lets move on to getting the project working Firstly start a new project and then add a Modular Led Fixture to the project that s the icon with 3 hexagons found at the top of the Stage Construction Page 12 Ai Interface Before we do anything else we need to make sure that the channels and universes within our CSV sheet do not conflict with the assigned control channels and universes used by the layer engine within Ai We can see here that have just offset them within Stagepatch Mixer but it could also be done with a bit of sensible pre planning and setting your external fixtures to use values which are outside of the normal range of Ai control settings 3 alpha ha j Alpha ha i Alpha ha 1 Alpha ha COn ise Uri 1 Uni Cha 2 Fld File i ml Cha 1 Cha i il PP n a Gi Cl Gl a Gl ae Fi Gl Fld 5 Fld File a File Gl a Gl Once the offsets have been made we can drag our 3d model onto the Modular LED Fixture icon on the Stage Construction page followed by our CSV sheet With our assets now included in the project all that is left to do is connect the Modular LED Fixture to the DMX Listener within the Stagepatch this forms our connection between the fixture itself and any
138. hows which use television screens led panels or non complex projection working within a 2d environment is perfectly fine The best working approach for these it to make use of the screen fixture on the output page and use the region tool First of all go to the Stage Construction page and delete all the existing fixtures in your current project by selecting them one by one at the bottom of the screen and pressing the delete button Next add a new screen fixture by clicking the third icon at the top of the screen We can see that the new screen uses the default screen ratio of 1 1 and has a texture size of 1024 x 1024 so lets change it into something a little more useful In the fixture properties window on the right the grey box enter the following values to make our screen full hd Scale Width 1 6 Scale Height 0 9 Canvas Res X 1920 Canvas Res Y 1080 Now head to the Output page On the left we see our available texture and on the right we can see the area we use for our outputs click on the number 2 at the top of the screen so that we can work with our second output Select the region tool from the bar on the left the second button down and first drag a rectangle within the canvas area on the left and secondly in the window area on the right for now we don t need to be accurate Double left click within the rectangle you have drawn on the left to make it expand to hold the full texture and then do the same on the
139. ides or displays the timecode widget within the Ai interface e Time Code Active allows timecode to function within Ai e Use LTC Timecode disabled MTC is clock source active LTC port is clock source Free Wheel Time Code disabled exclusively use master clock for playback active switch to internal clock when master clock is interrupted e Use System Clock As Tc uses the onboard system clock as the timecode master e Time Code Base Rate Set the base rate at which your timecode system is running The following image shows the timecode widget as seen in the Ai interface on the left we see the widget when it is deactivated recognised by the red border and on the the right the active widget recognisable by the blue border Both show the current value of timecode below them as well as visually in rings making up the widget itself which build up as time increases 44 MAIC TIMECODE Ep pes s E yk AA rin 4 Phani yt oe ye TILA 4 en he oe rn he Fi N sl Fi MTC 19 22 26 Az MTC 1S 32 53 13 VO HEAR YO HAHAHAHA LO LO H Ha HAHA The timecode widget can be activated either by selecting the option from within the system settings window or by using the mouse to click on the widget itself in the main Ai interface Timecode can also be selected as a playmode for layers allowing you to playback any media without needing a predetermined trigger but still receive the
140. ies and outputs the result 133 Display Ai Output Renderer Licence level Anjuna 41 Output o Output This module is used to output the regions specified on the Output Page Easy Blend Licence level Miami Easy Blend Select Mesh h Render Input EP GL Duk puk This module can be used to display the warp and blend files generated by Scalable Display Technologies The configure button will open their configuration tool if installed in the correct location C Program Files Scalable Display release ScalableControlPanel exe Please note The functionality contained in this module has been superseded by Auto Blend See page 85 for further information The module is included in the build for legacy compatibility Model Morph Output Licence level Miami Model Morph Output Morph Module Path ukput Output Y Ontpuot E Output D r Aum Faces Face Offset GL Output This module can be used in conjunction with the Ai 3D Morph Model Module to output interpolated geometry It allows separation between the position of the Ai 3D Morph Model Module and the actual output from the GL Output port 134 Template Generator Licence level Anjuna Template Generator E GL Output Displays an alignment template at the resolution of the connected GL output Video Out Licence level Anjuna Video Duki a Input Las el EE 7s a EEE Video uk a Input BEE Vi
141. ill choose to use the Output Page in Ai to perform the following functionality But there is also a wealth of functionality within the node based programming part of Ai which can be a very powerful and flexible way to configure your system lt is not for novice users though as a basic understanding of node based programming is assumed When using multiple projectors to produce an ultrawide screen one of the common problems encountered is the area of overlap between the projectors When overlaid on top of each other the light from the projectors is added together creating an area which is brighter than the rest of the image The solution to this problem is known as edge blending To put it simply edge blending is the act of balancing the brightness of the overlapping areas so that the total brightness is never greater than that of the rest of the image Ai has several patches available to allow you to perform edge blending regardless of the screen shape of type For this example have first created a screen using the default Ai screen which is the total size of my projection target both in pixels and scale in this case a scale width of 3 2 and a scale height of 0 9 and an X canvas resolution of 3840 and a Y canvas resolution of 1080 The next step is to add the projectors to the project First of all add one projector and find the correct position for it have used settings of 0 7 for X position 3 4 for Z position an aspect ratio of 16 9
142. ith a few additional functions such as the Modulus function mod a b and the addition of vector component access in the Vector Formula module Noise Licence level Bondi Outputs a random value within the specified range 162 Projector Locator Licence level Anjuna Projector Locator Update GL Output Projector s Position Projector Y Position Projector 2 Position rojector 4 Rotation e T Rotation rojector 2 Rotation A fundamental Ai system module for calculating projector positions automatically based on 4 selected vertices and 4 corresponding locations on the projected image output This module can be used by inserting an Auto Map patch from system patches into your stage patch and connecting it in line between a projector output and the output module Trig Licence level Miami Outputs the cosine sine and tangent of the input angle Vector Formula Licence level Anjuna Vector Formula Compile Formula Input 4 Input E Inpuk C Input E Applies a user defined formula to the inputs and outputs the value on the Out port The formula syntax follows the mu parser format as specifed here http muparser beltoforion de with the addition of vector component access in the Vector Formula module Vector components are accessed using the A 0 B O syntax 163 Vector Join Licence level Anjuna merges the control values received at the inputs and outputs them as a vector Ve
143. its basic form the region tool allows you take rectangular sections from anywhere within your texture and place them anywhere on your outputs These regions can be manually drawn using the region tool and if needed they can then be adjusted using the info box below the left section to adjust the sampled section or the info box below the right section to adjust the output section This operates much like the Livemap module does within Salvation If you right click the region mapper tool icon it changes from a rectangular image to a multi sided shape this will now allow you to individually specify each point of your region and use as many points as you require to create any shaped region Once a region has been created it is possible to adjust its position in the output as well as alter which part of the texture is being sampled simply select the translation tool then click on one of the corner points which will turn green when selected and drag it to its new position 30 or using either the canvas properties or region properties data box If you wish to change a rectangular region into a more flexible triangle based region you just need to hold down shift and then left click on one of the corner points for the region Once you have set up your regions duplicating them becomes very easy by using the standard key commands for copy ctrl c paste horizontally ctrl v and paste vertically shift ctrl v the regions can then be ma
144. lar results to DXV with some minor colour improvements but with matching file sizes and a 2nd option to optimise for quality which gives the 24 bit RGB colour and 30 larger file sizes Are the Freeframe plugins still implemented and can they be used on the live input Yes Can 3d objects be imported and textured Yes 112 Can use external controllers with Ai Yes Ai can be controlled using industry standard MIDI DMX or ArtNet controllers or from our own range of dedicated control surfaces We recommend using the MSC 1 Tiger Touch or the Sapphire Media Console for excellent integration and functionality with the Ai software Do have to use an Avolites console to control Al Ai integrates well with Avolites lighting consoles however it is not locked solely to them and can be controlled by whichever desk you are most familiar with via the ArtNet output My screen outputs come up in the wrong order how can fix this Occasionally the screen outputs can come up in the wrong order when connected to the system This can easily be rectified by first going into the Windows Display Settings and reordering your screens in the correct order e g 1 2 3 4 etc It is then a good idea to go into your graphics card s display settings and also changing the order here as well In most cases this will rectify the issue With our multiple output machines Infinity T8 T4 etc it is important to ensure you have the screens
145. level Anjuna Constant Constant ConskantWithT Ti A oo A ae JE A ae JE Outputs a user defined numeric value The number value is stored internally as a 64 bit floating point number It can also be passed through and over written by the control Knob The user can select to display the value as normalised or in 8 bit 0 255 CV To Clock Licence level Anjuna CY Toa Clack In O out This module converts a controller value in Seconds into a clock signal that can be connected to a media player to control the play head of the loaded media 130 Drop down Store Licence level Anjuna PropDBownsSkore lpha Stores the last value received at the input and passes it through to the output The value is stored in a drop down list and will display the selectd list item by index 0 1 2 3 and so on Dynamic Store Licence level Bondi Cuynamicstore Ba Male In Wal Out Wal Stores the last value received at the input and passes it through to the output When Al quits out and restarts the last value is recalled Store Values Licence Level Anjuna Store Values Store Trigger O q FA e e em AA A AA I This module allows you to store 8 input values whenever the Store Trigger Input is set to 1 0 Those values can then be read out on the output ports The module must be merged into an active render chain in order to be activated Latch Licence level Bondi
146. like luma or chroma keying but instead of removing a specific colour or range of luminosity from the media it removes a predefined section of the image An alpha channel can only be defined when the video is created or can be added at a later point by editing and re saving the video it does however need to be done externally of Ai Not including an alpha channel will reduce the size of the file to a certain extent but not greatly so Optimize For Quality Performance Superstream This setting has the greatest effect on both quality and file size Quality is a 24 bit encoding with good colour reproduction which stands up very well against the uncompressed original of the clip it is encoded from The size of the resulting 92 clip is dependant on the content being compressed Quality is the option chosen by most people when encoding to AiM Performance reduces the encoding to 16 bit thereby reducing the file size and data rate of the final clip lts results are very comparable to the DXV codec which means that for very graphic content its great but due to the reduced bandwidth banding artefacts can often be seen in elements such as lighting or real world scenes The size of the resulting clip is dependant on the content being compressed Superstream is the final option in this box and offers the best quality and guaranteed playback performance it is most suited towards very high resolution playback as it does all image decompressi
147. ling page and by pressing the number keys 1 through to 6 will automatically interpolate the camera to the desired position The positions are as follows 1 Front 2 Back 3 Left 4 Right 5 Top 6 Bottom In order to change between orthographic and perspective the number 0 key will toggle between the different projection views 17 Using the mouse to click and drag will create a selection rectangle that will allow you to select vertices Whilst selecting vertices A will append to the current selection Whilst C will remove clear from the current selection The surface modelling page will show you the geometry of the current fixture selected and supports multiple fixtures If multiple fixtures are selected then you will be able to edit the models accordingly and it will allow you to save the multiple models into one The surface modelling page does not update on the outputs live nor does it retain information about models Changing between fixtures in the surface modelling page will re load the geometry and therefore any changes that you have made and not saved will be lost You can not work independently on multiples of fixtures The left hand column of icons gives us tools to manipulate our selection The first icon that looks like a mouse pointer is our selection tool This will allow us to select deselect vertices within the 3D model Below this is the translate tool This will translate based on where you first click the
148. lows you access to many of the underlying settings which don t need to be controlled during a live show but may need to be setup differently for each project When we open the system settings window we can see that its split up into 7 main sections The first set of options relate to ArtNet control and allow us to set an ArtNet and CITP adaptor separately specify the ArtNet control type the v6 profiles are for backwards compatibility all modern projects will use v7 control choose whether the current machine runs as master or slave and then set the universe and channel to transmit and receive master slave control data The initialise button is used at the appropriate time when first connecting your Ai server system to a lighting console allowing for the requisite data to be shared via the CITP protocol The triggering method determines whether media is selected and triggered from the Ai interface or via the file and folder system used on many lighting consoles The three personality options are set as a system wide option depending on the level of control you require for your layers and show When using the file and folder 39 triggering method it is possible to specify an alternative folder instead of the media folder by locating your chosen destination using the set global mixer path button The second section of options relates to MIDI and MIDI time code The drop down menu allows you to select your master midi device for midi control i
149. lues deep The values can be read out on the Value out port using a read index of O to get the current value and 1 for the previous frame and so on up to 1024 values deep 189 UI AiHexSphereTrigger Licence level Anjuna 4iHexSphere Trigger Render Ouk Media Bank Seleck Layer Seleck Trigger l Trigger Trigger 2 Trigger 3 Trigger Trigger E Trigger amp Trigger Trigger Trigger S Trigger 16 Trigger Trigger 12 Trigger 13 Trigger 1s This module can be used in the stage patch once merged with an active render path to trigger clips from the roller cue When the values on the Trigger n ports go from 0 to 1 then the clip which is lined up with the green central highlight or focal row the n th column of the roller cue will be triggered You can also use this module to automate the selection of the Media Bank and Automate the selection of the layers 190 AiMediatTile Trigger Licence level Anjuna AiMediaTileTrigger Render Ouk Media Bank Seleck Layer Select Trigger amp Trigger 1 Trigger 2 Trigger 3 Trigger Trigger 5 Trigger 6 Trigger 7 Trigger 3 Trigger 9 Trigger 14 Trigger 11 Trigger 12 Trigger 13 Trigger 14 This module can be used in the stage patch once merged with an active render path to trigger clips from the Bottom bar You can drag Media tiles onto the bottom bar along the bottom of the screen When the values on the Trigger n ports go from 0 to 1 then the clip
150. mple images The following pages contain an example image showing the result of each blend mode when applied as well as a brief description 001 Alpha RGB 002 Alpha HSC Alpha allows the use of transparent areas Alpha allows the use of transparent areas which need to be specified when created which need to be specified when created 003 Alpha Blend 004 Alpha Blend Alpha allows the use of transparent areas Alpha allows the use of transparent areas which need to be specified when created which need to be specified when created 226 005 Non Additive Mixing 005 Luma Non Additive Mixing shows the brightest Luma excludes areas of the image based pixel of the layers on the luminosity of the pixels and the specified threshold 006 Lighten 007 Additive O et ae A Mens h Lighten shows the highest of each colour Add combines the values of the pixels component used across the layers creating a blended image 008 Difference 009 Wipe Transition Difference subtracts one colour value from Wipe horizontally wipes between the the other and uses the result as the pixel images colour to display 227 010 Multiply 011 Darken Multiply takes the values of the images Darken looks for the lowest pixel value in multiplys them together and returns the the layers and displays that as the colour resulting value 012 Screen 013 Subtract w Boal SN y Bis Py P 4 Po We AS S sra oa
151. mplify your model making it less complicated to use in the mapping process UV unwrapping can often give results which are spread across your texture leaving a lot of unused areas This is less than ideal in terms of both resolution lots of the pixels are unused and texture size running a larger canvas size than necessary Whether you want to use all the pixels or reduce your canvas size it makes sense to place the faces within your UV map as close to each other as possible whilst respecting any faces or edges which need to stay connected for animation purposes The following image shows three examples of the uv layout for a cube the first is just unwrapped and unoptimised the second uses the same size faces but can be drawn in texture a quarter of the size and the third uses the same overall texture size but maximising the faces to increase the pixel resolution available to each To make things easier for everyone involved in the project it makes sense to give out a template of how your texture is applied to your screen model it can be a valuable tool both for those making content for the screens and whoever does the final mapping Whilst everyone has a personal preference to creating a template its generally common practice to try to use visibly different colours on adjacent faces and to add some kind of naming convention to make it easier to refer to specific components In the following example we can see an example of t
152. n towards to the fixture icon when on vertical mode or across to the fixture on horizontal mode this makes it easy to tell which fixture the timeline belongs too If we have more than one fixture we can multi select them to display all timelines at the same time or we can select just one and it will use all of the space provided by the fixture icons using some dummy fixtures can be a good way to expand your working area if required just remember to delete them once you are done programming In most cases it is preferable to edit on a timeline which in timecode terms starts at 00 00 00 00 and then trigger the timeline at the required time instead of trying to work out the precise timeline position to program and then all of the relevant offsets in this way of working the values in the timeline are essentially offsets from your original trigger time Media and patches can be dragged into the main section of the timeline from either the built in Ai browser or from the windows browser itself and audio files can be dragged into the smaller section either next to or below the timeline depending on the timeline orientation Being able to import a WAV file and work to that means that you can very easily create frame accurate video accompaniments for your show To make this even easier you can input marker points by pressing the home either when the timeline is playing or static The marker point which is created can then be used as a refer
153. ng scenery based projects we will use a dummy fixture to supply the texture that is to say that the array is created by modules in Salvation so they themselves have no fixture icon but we will use a standard fixture to playback the media then pass this texture to the array modules whilst pushing the dummy fixture to one side so that it is out of view Whilst we will look at using the grid module in this project the strip module works in the same way but just addresses a single line of fixtures at a time You can of course combine the use of Strip and Grid modules within a single project Once a standard screen fixture has been added to the project go to your patching window and add an empty patch drag a connection from the screen fixture s canvas out port to the empty patch and also from the DMX Send port on the PatchlO to the empty patch Within the new patch firstly add a Patch IO and then an ArtNet Structure module which can be found in the network section This module allows you to take the existing texture analyse it and then apply it to a user defined selection of grids and strips which in turn send out the relative ArtNet values for the pixel in question The grid can be defined in 3 dimensions you can work in 2d as well but the new LED Output page may be easiest for more standard work First of all we shall take a quick look at the module We have the option to define the personality in use mono RGB RGBA and CMY this will
154. nput or MIDI time code input Then we have several buttons which appertain to MIDI time code specifically the first button reveals the time code widget in the main interface This widget has numerical values below it to show the current frame and any offset that has been applied to the timing Inside the widget there are a series of 4 bands each of which related to frames seconds minutes and hours which fill up as time progresses Next we have the Time code Active button which activates the widget red is inactive blue is active An alternative way to activate the widget is to click on the widget itself once it is exposed within the main interface If your machine has an LTC port as found on the Infinity 8 and EX models then pressing the Use LTC button makes your system listen to that port regardless of the one specified in the drop down Enabling or disabling Freewheel time code gives you two methods for the clips to synchronise with Time code When enabled time code serves purely as a trigger for the media once a certain time is reached the clip is triggered and will play on regardless of the time code When this option is disabled the clip will listen for time code at all times and will only play as long as time code is being received if the time code stops so does the playback Both of these approaches have pros and cons depending on the environment you wish to use them in the option to use the system clock as the time co
155. nualy adjusted using the tool the data box or by using a combination of the following keys Arrow keys moves the region on the right 1 pixel Arrow keys shift moves the region on the right 10 pixels Arrow keys ctrl key moves the left region 1 pixel Arrow keys shift ctrl moves the region on the left 10 pixels Masking tool There is often a need to mask led screens to give the feel of a non square panel For this reason we have included a selection of mask shapes which can be individually applied to each square region you make use of Currently we offer triangles pentagons hexagons octagons and circles in different orientations where applicable Save amp Load regions Once you get yourself into a position that you are happy with your regions and their positions within your output and any masking you can save the layout to use in any project by using the icon at the top with the downwards pointing arrow The next icon with the upwards pointing arrow allows you to load a previously saved set of regions The third icon opens up the Region File Selector which allows you to have multiple region layouts available and dynamically switch between them in real time by either pressing the button for the layout you require or even assigning ArtNet or MIDI to trigger your choice When entering the name for a region file it is important to remember to enter the name followed by the extension air Ai regions 3d import options The four
156. nvas Out Canvas In m Canvas Out PA Canvas In Canvas Out Canvas In Canvas Out Canvas In Canvas Out The Soft edge Patches were the main method for adding soft edge blending into your project prior to the Output page being added in V8 They are included because there are some occasions where they may still be useful They can be connected inline before they are connected to the texture port of the projector fixture module in the stage patch They perform the soft edge blends on the texture which is being drawn on the geometry the projector is looking at so using this approach it is possible to add soft edges onto complex objects such as curved 3d objects The Output Page soft edge blends are much easier to use and will be more appropriate for most general applications More detail on Soft Edge Blending with the Output Page can be found on page 33 Text Patch Atetin Texkure This patch can be used to draw some simple dynamically generated text into the Texture provided on the Texture Output port Inside the patch you will find controls allowing you to set the size and position of the text If you look further into the patch you should find controls to set the colour and font of the text The fonts available in the system can be found in this folder Distrib System Fonts along with some simple instructions on how to convert your fonts into the correct format to use them within Al 213 TextureCoordsEditor A Sc
157. o ensure optimal performance and control Ideally the less compression the better as any decompressing will need to be done on the fly and therefore increases system strain It is also worth noting that some formats such as MPEG based codecs can be less suited to live manipulation due to the way the frames are compressed and stored this in turn increases the system load when manipulating them live 95 Fixture load As well as the power required for each layer in your project there is a certain amount of processing overhead involved in the running of a fixture For this reason it may be possible to decrease system load by reducing the amount of fixtures within the project and increase the amount of layers on the remaining fixtures and then use pan and zoom on the layer to ensure that specific media ends up in its required position on your outputs It is also worth noting that any 3d transformation or rotation applied to layers will also increase the load on the fixture as the graphics system needs to process a 3dimensional area instead of a 2 dimensional space Amount of layers The amount of layers in use can have an impact on system performance especially when multiplied across several fixtures Ai allows you to fade on the layer which can greatly reduce your need for complicated multi layer setups Unnecessary layers can be easily removed from a project by going into the mixer for the relevant fixture and deleting the chosen layer I 1
158. of the Ai software Pre mapped Interface Instructions Out of the box the MSC 1 will communicate with the Ai software giving you a large amount of control over various parameters In the next section we will describe the function and application of the controller Optical Encoders Stage Construction Page The ultra smooth optical encoders allow us to move our fixtures around in the 3d space without having to use the mouse or trackpad of your computer laptop The three encoders relate to the X Y and Z planes of our 3d space and can allow us to move position or rotate our fixture smoothly and accurately Simply select the fixture you wish to move in Ai and turn the optical encoder to see the changes in realtime To rotate the fixture simply click the Pos Rotate button once next to the encoder now the encoder will rotate the fixture in 3d space Press the Pos Rotate button twice and this will allow you to change the position of the fixture If you hold the Pos Rotate button this will change the size of the fixture Sensitivity of the movements can be adjusted using the Sensitivity buttons This can allow for a finer degree of control Pressing the Sensitivity Up once will allow increments of 0 1 pressing Sensitivity Up twice will move in 0 01 increments Blend Mode Buttons Performance Page These can be used to change the blend mode on the current layer allowing for different visual styles with other media playing There is
159. older location at the specified location and looks for media players in the Media Players sub patch and assigns the media file to those players Texture Licence level Anjuna Texture wrap Embed D Tarigek Opens a local image file and outputs a GPU texture containing the image TextureList Licence level Anjuna TexbureList Media Gobo Texture Index Textkture Out Opens a specified local image file from a folder and outputs a GPU texture containing the image Video File Licence level Anjuna Video File Loop M de Speed Restart e EE rub Clip Outputs video from a local file 160 Keyboard Key Detect Licence level Bondi y KeyCode 1 None Key l Cut 1 Out Ok 3 Out 4 Detects when a user specified key is pressed and outputs the data 161 Math Const Diff Licence level Bondi Const Bit t In Val Diff Out Detects the movement of a control value whilst the value is changing Counter Licence level Bondi Counter Stark Value Els Reset Skep Amount Step Trigger Counts and displays events received at the control input Formula Licence level Anjuna Formula Formulae Compile Formula Input 4 Input E Input C Input Applies a user defined formula to the inputs and outputs the value on the Out port The formula syntax follows the mu parser format as specifed here http muparser beltoforion de w
160. on on the GPU Unlike quality and performance modes superstream will produce files of a calculable size it offers a compression ratio of 4 8 1 Superstream is most suited to high resolution footage where very good image reproduction and smooth playback is essential Audio The AiM codec supports audio playback you can either choose to include or not include the audio within your encoding If using audio you should make sure it is encoded at 16 bit 44 1 kHz The audio rate is important in Ai any clip which contains audio as well as video uses the audio to determine the playback speed so any deviation from those settings will result in your media being played to fast or too slow Optimising Files To Reduce Size Many people concentrate on the final size of their rendered file as the most important thing this is generally at the expense of image quality and is false economy Whilst system playback performance obviously has a high consideration the most important thing should be the final image quality not whether it uses another 2gb of storage space storage space can be upgraded image quality can not 93 System Optimisation When building a show in Ai it can help to have an understanding of some of the ways to optimise your project and use your computer to maximise the performance of both and how these changes can affect performance Resolution In the following picture we can see an image of 960 x 540 has a total of 518
161. onal buttons at the bottom to nudge your points around to find the perfect position You might well find that this gives you the perfect alignment in which case great However you may need to tweak it further or your model just might not be suitable for automap and may require a more manual approach to mapping which is where the mapping editor comes into play Press the button at the top of the automap module to get back to the mapping editor and then click on the edit mesh button When in edit mesh mode you can drag a selection box around any of the vertex points and then using the controls within the mapping editor module you can move scale and rotate them to your desired position whilst using the numerical box above each section to adjust the amount of movement per button click When edit mesh is turned off you can fully adjust the position of your editor view in the left hand window which can make it much easier to edit complex models and select precisely the vertices you want You can also use the standard viewport controls in Ai e mouse wheel ZOOM e shift left mouse drag rotate e alt left mouse drag pan 107 Tutorial 5 Modular LED Fixture From Version 8 of Ai onwards most users will choose to use the Output Page in Ai to perform the following functionality But there is also a wealth of functionality within the node based programming part of Ai which can be a very powerful and flexible way to configure your
162. ondi Midi Key Out Device None leal Chan 1 A Ht amp vel 6 Outputs gate and velocity values for to any attached MIDI device Midi Key Range In Licence level Anjuna Midi Key Range In Device None hal Channel Omni Lower Key 46 Out Upper Key 72 Specifies a Midi key input device its upper and lower limit and then outputs the value Midi Out Device Licence level Anjuna Midi Quk Device More O Device Dut Specifies the Midi output device 166 Motion Control Kinesys Listener Licence level Miami BKinesys Listener Wireless LAN S 2 11n PCI E WIC 192 165 2 6 w Conskruck ID Facket Data Value 11 am T wn in wn a ll am l 11 A Min T y im Gl Value i q al g f E 4 i T Hin T y im Gl Z Value al l al a f E Lal Ll Z Min Ll Sle La q al Hin mm T nn on mn on a a oe eee ee ee Eru A in E 5 Gl ml l nn a rl El l Gl Gl T Value E Ll EJ Min RH pa pap ee IA rl a wn 5 Gl mi l Hin R Value Gl Gl ka TT mn nn Allows for control inputs from Kinesys motion control products 167 Network Artnet Input Small Licence level Anjuna ArkWek Input Adaptar 19216826 Channel Duk Universe A 5 z A Receives data from a connected Artnet device and converts it into Control Value d
163. ons The first two boxes tell you the name of the clip and the location in which Ai last accessed the clip Below this we have 2 buttons one to open the folder containing the media and one to open the media in an external player such as Quicktime both of these can be really useful if you need to confirm your media plays ok or need to locate it to pass on to someone else The label box allows you to enter a name which will show on the media tile itself which makes it easier to tell which clip to use if you have several with very similar thumbnails The ArtNet ID allows you to specify a channel which can be used to trigger the clip remotely from a console The media speed slider lets you set an alternate speed which will override the layer speed when triggered Thumb Frame lets you manually set which frame is used as the thumbnail for the media tile by default this is set to the 25 frame of the video and Playmode allows you to set a clip specific playback mode which will also override the layer playmode the playmode can also be selected from the list at the bottom of the cell properties window Buddy Group is a very useful feature it lets you assign several media tiles to the same group and when one of them is triggered all clips in that group will trigger to their pre 23 allocated layers and fixture fantastic for times when you need several clips triggered at the same time without the use of a console or sequencer MIDI trigger
164. ound 1 or 2 frames b SDI Active Silicon Phoenix HD SDI Dual Channel PCIE latency around 1 or 2 frames c Multi Format Black Magic Intensity latency around 3 4 frames d Multi Format BlackM agicDeckLinkStudioHD Extreme latencyaround2or3 frames The software works with OpenGL will cards like Quadro FX 6000 5000 help the performance In other words will a customized very heavy system be worth the money We noticed in Fusion that a double Quadro 600 setup could be limiting We have used the quadro series in the past and they are very good cards Performance is not a lot better than standard Nvidia Gaming cards though in our application What they do excel at though is long term reliability These cards will last much longer than the gaming cards which can burn out after a year or two of continuous usage 114 Will CUDA be implemented for certain effects We don t use CUDA at the moment We do use a lot of GPU based processing but it is mostly done with shaders and DXT texture compression What are the ways of controlling the server besides the Avolites consoles is it all DMX and MIDI triggerable Artnet Midi Ethernet How do make new screen shapes As of version 7 Ai has the ability to create complex screen layouts using our model merge feature and vary how the texture is applied to them using our unique canvas editor For previous versions of Ai it is best to use an external modelling application From Version
165. owered FreeFrame effects and outputs the result as video data Freeframe video effects should be stored in the distrib modules effects freeframe folder FreeFrameGL Licence level Anjuna FreePramebL Plugin Path modules ETT ecks FreeFrameGl Plugin Select hores Parameters C Ci a k l Processes the input texture using GPU powered FreeFrameGL effects and outputs the result as GLRender data FreeframeGL video effects should be stored in the distrib modules effects freeframeGL folder Linear Spread Licence level Bondi LinearSpread Num I Em E Spread T a s Direction Repeats the input GL primitives along a line through 3d space 141 Radial Spread Licence level Bondi RadialSpread r I Mum gt VRadius oe Direction Repeats the input GL primitives around a centre point in a circular pattern in 3d space SVFX Licence level Anjuna SVP FR Folder modules Ebtects SYF Pakch In 1 Dut Select r Opacity Ai Res In 1 C Sz Mode k inl 4 0 a ir f Es te l This module loads an SVFX Effect patch from the specified FX Folder For a full description of the SVFX format and further details on the functionality please see page 83 142 File lO CSV File Reader Licence level Miami CSV File Reader Sek File File 2d m Columns O String Out Column Index Row Index Allows a comma separated value file CSV file to be read
166. panel by superimposing one of the masks on the top it s really good for escaping the inevitable perpendicular lines which seem to rule the design of led screen setups 105 Tutorial 4 The Mapping Editor From Version 8 of Ai onwards most users will choose to use the Output Page in Ai to perform the following functionality But there is also a wealth of functionality within the node based programming part of Ai which can be a very powerful and flexible way to configure your system lt is not for novice users though as a basic understanding of node based programming is assumed There are times when despite your best efforts your projection just wont match up with your target Fortunately Ai has a system that can help you adapt to each situation with relative ease Lets start off by going to the Stage Construction page deleting any existing fixtures then adding a screen fixture and dragging Cubes 3ds onto the fixture icon from the browser We don t need to make any alterations to this fixtures settings as the model was created to the correct proportions and the texture resolution used for UV mapping was 1024 x 1024 To do any sort of 3d transformation or model editing we need a projector within our project so click the projector fixture icon at the top of the screen The projector needs to have some settings entered to get it reflecting the real world position and setup as much as possible so within the Projector Fixture properti
167. pi a Gi Ea pa Gi Z an ae ee E ae I Gi pa al Gl hon a Gi e al Gi a Gi Gi a a E Gi aa ia al Gi n ni Gi SE a E fa E Te al Gi Gal a Gi a al R Gi a oy Gi 1 m 1 y Gl El Ai Gi lor Lig oo i a E pani a Gi i ho E Gi Go ka ka mi mi Ga A E e tl Gl a Gi A rm Gl lla pi E fica E or Pa LP L uw E DJ J Mi hon a Gi Cl Gi Gl E E s pan Gi aS Il E E Gl E Gi a E El E rm Gl aS El TE ho rl wi Pa ae al Gl Let E rl Gl ml Lo Gi rn aa E El E rm Gi aD ol TE rm El E Gi aX Ga E Gl ia H a k a pa Gi Gi Ap peni E am GI E Gi a Ga Gi ia Gi l Gi Gi nv q Gi GI E Gi ua Ga a Gi SE pi 1 Gi an pa E Gi Gi AF pni a Gi GI a Gi a Gi a Gi pi i Gi E pa E Gi Gi ae al E Gi al E Gi aa Gi a Gi En El sa Gi pa al Ed Gi Gi ai al aes Gi peni E Gl a Lio Gr a P El E rm ea z ol ho al ho n Gl P rn pi i ea El ar rm E 7 ol ho El Pia aa Gl Gl an ml E aes El Pio ka ii El Pia ag ji GL utput Gl P a tl E ho s Gl P nl al Gi Gi a3
168. polation will give a smooth movement between the different positions Working with modules instead of using an independent fixture for each component allows us to work with a higher amount of moving components provides much better system performance and becomes much easier to perform live playback control First of all we add a screen fixture to our project The way we construct this project means that we don t get a fixture icon for the moving components within Ai so we use the screen fixture itself to supply the texture and retain the benefits of the media tiles and layers and then send the resulting video to our components Once the correct size and resolution has been set for the screen fixture we can just push it off to the side a value of 100 on X should be adequate its still within the project we just don t need to see it We also need to add a projector to the project and set its values according to the specification of your real world projector Now open the Stagepatch firstly we need to create an empty patch do this by right clicking the mouse in an empty area and choosing Insert Empty Patch Once placed rename this new patch to something more memorable such as models then drag a connection from the canvas out of the main screen fixture onto models Next expand the patch and within the new window right click and choose Insert Patch IO This will allow us to take the texture directly from the
169. put Canwas Out Soft Edga Vertica O nix Send Mix Return Canvas In Canvas Out dl A a Soft Edge Vertica Q Brightness Mix Output Canvas In Canvas Out What we are doing here is sending the model data between the screen fixture output and input and independently adjusting the brightness of the texture itself in the Soft Edge patch and then recombining them inside of the projector Working like this makes it much easier as we are working on a flat texture instead of a 3d object making it much more simple to make precise alterations and adjustments for the blending The next step is to get the correct values into our Soft Edge patches Firstly open up your preview windows and you should notice the image is a little squashed and then open the Soft Edge by either double left clicking or right clicking and choosing Expand Patch At the top of the newly opened window we can see a resolution by default it is set to a value of 1920 x 1080 this needs to be set to the same values as the resolution we have specified on our screen fixture in this case 3840 x 1080 The image we see in our preview windows should now be the correct ratio and no longer be squashed 81 Underneath the resolution boxes we can see a highlight bar this makes our blending bands disappear once we have settings we are happy with The Blend Width can be altered by using either the manual slider or by using the number boxes just below which are in percentages of
170. q pA Gi E Gi E a Gi aa Gi EE Gi a ql Gi Gi Gi D a Gi nS Gi HE Gi ql EE Gi E Gi Gi Gi lt Gi Gi ai E Gi ho EE Gl ati El TE Gl E Gl Gi Ez Gl Gl ml calf ho Pi is i a Gi Ga EE Gl ay El Gl ho Gl Ta Gi Ez Gl Gl ml Gl mn ho Ez Pi As i Ez Gi Cl EE rm a E TE El 5 a E za Gi EE E E ri E Gl 1 EE ho zo Gi EE Gl ho En Pi au El m AE m Gi rt mH o ml m r EE Pio 0 ho ml Gl E Po i Gi a Gi En Gi E Gi ka PE panj Gl a Gl I a Gi Ga Gi a a sz Gi E kaj za Gi EE Gi Gi Gi am an Gi Gi hon Gi q Gi HE Gi Ez Gi Gi Gi pao T clot Gl E Sl Gi hon Ez km aa Cl Gi a Gi En Gi A Gi Gi as E Gi a Gi a Gi ho A Gi D a Gi aa Gi al Gi Gi ka q E Gi a Gi au E T Gi ho E Gl En tl Gl Gl El Gl f al E as Cho Gl Pi i Gi E Pio ho rm tl EE ho Gl za pen E en N fen E rl P El rm Gi llo ho BE rl El E Gl EE ha za pani BA Gl Gl a Gl al mt io E ri pia o m r Ga E Gi AER q Gi me Gi za
171. r 1 Personality Screen We can extend this screen by grabbing the right hand side of the window and dragging This will show a number of new modules and connections 62 Lighting Console Control The interface to your Lighting Console is configured through the System Settings menu click the System Settings button in the top level menu window ArtNet Adaptor select which physical network adaptors we are using for the ArtNet inputs and outputs The system IP address in windows needs to be set to a valid ArtNet range usually 2 0 0 x where x is a unique number for each system in the network CITP Adaptor select which physical network adaptors we are using to send commands to and from a CITP compatible lighting console to Ai CITP is used to pass media thumbnail images back to the lighting console ArtNet control type Lighting desk use a standard desk Al remote now called V7 UI Control select when using multiple servers in a master slave configuration Master or Slave mode Master mode allows you to control multiple servers together from this server one server will control all of the others Slave mode is used when this server is to be controlled by another server the Master ArtNet DMX control Setting up a lighting console to control Ai The console will need a personality for the Ai server you can patch as an active fixture uses CITP to retrieve thumbnails of the media clips or a normal fixture no thumbnails
172. rce For more information on BlackTrax goto http www cast soft com blacktrax 174 CITP Licence level Anjuna CITF r Initialise Advanced protocol for sharing of video thumbnail information and remote control operations and functions via a lighting desk E Mail Sender Licence level Miami E Mail Sender Automated E Mail Sender using smkp qmail com J Mail To se destination deskinakion com Subject Subject Texk Body Body Text This module allows you to send an automated e mail It is possible to configure the contents of the e mail using the provided string ports and the modules in the Text category Ethernet Command Licence level Bondi thernek Command Fee Gl Gl IF i Adaptor IP 2 IP 3 IP 4 152 PR Send Command p Lal s l Message B fed 1 fo i en Sends commands to an external device connected via Ethernet either when loaded or when the Send Command button is pressed 175 Ethernet receive Licence level Bondi rr E Wir Si q isl aw a l I Adaptor ho a ra ml Message La k D J Aa a kal fkn Aa a E Lil in Mi Begin Listening Listens for commands from an external unit connected via Ethernet either when loaded or when the Begin Listening button is pressed KINET Server Licence level Anjuna EMNRET Server Realtek RTLS191SE Wireless LAN 602 1in PCI E NIC 192 1658 2 6 N Devices E 5 A 5
173. re and receive The remote folder synchronisation section is to allocate and setup up to sixteen source and destination folders and when activated can look for media which is either present or missing from these folders and distribute the content accordingly The last set of options in the system settings panel are for Canvas Editor control allowing you to alter the colours used for edges and vertices as well as a control panel to allow you to alter your canvas properties numerically instead of by using the mouse as you usually would 41 Controlling Al In addition to using the graphical user interface with a keyboard and mouse there are several further options for controlling Ai externally Timecode Triggering of media by specifying hours minutes seconds frames Sapphire Media and MSC1 controllers giving unrivalled flexibility in assignment and integration with Ai making use of multi touch screens faders buttons and rotary controls Lighting Console Control all of Ai s controls are open to every console just use the current personality for your platform MIDI control easily assign functions in Ai to your favourite MIDI controllers Follow on actions setup sequences of media without using the timeline The following pages will go through each of these triggering methods in detail 42 Timecode Triggering Timecode triggering and playback within Ai allows you to have frame accurate playback of the video elements o
174. reen Fixkure Input This patch is included for legacy support reasons Prior to Version 7 of Ai and the introduction of the Canvas Editor Page this was the only way to edit the coordinates of your model geometry 214 Capture Patches The capture patches are stored in Distrib Patches They can be copied into any location you wish to use them from or they can be simply dragged into the Performance Page to create a media tile They allow you to capture live video from a variety of sources They are named as follows LiveVideo A generic capture patch which can be used to capture from any WDM compliant source such as the Black Magic series of capture cards Live VideoASPhoenixWithAdjustments A Capture Patch designed specifically for use with the Active Silicon Phoenix capture cards LiveVideoDatapathDVI Also see LiveVideoDatapathDVIInterlaced Capture Patches designed to work with the Datapath DVI Capture Boards LiveVideoDatapathSDI CH1_Interlaced Also See LiveVideoDatapathSDI_CH1_ Interlaced optimised LiveVideoDatapathSDI_CH1_Progressive LiveVideoDatapathSDI_CH2_ Interlaced LiveVideoDatapathSDI_CH2_ Interlaced optimised LiveVideoDatapathSDI_CH2_ Progressive LiveVideoDatapathSDI_CH3_ Interlaced LiveVideoDatapathSDI_CH3_ Progressive LiveVideoDatapathSDl_CH4_Interlaced LiveVideoDatapathSDI_CH4 Progressive Designed to work with the Datapath SDI capture boards Channel 3 and 4 will typically be loaded from a second board
175. represent the value with a high bar being a high value solid squares with a brighter square representing a high value and coloured squares The first two options individually display each of the values being sent to each channel where as the coloured squares show the resulting colour being sent by the combined channels so in the case of an RGB fixture each of the 3 boxes will show the same colour The following image shows the different display methods seen when using the LED Mapper output page we can see individual levels solid squares colour samples and channels legend overlays HH HEH HH H F Ca 3 y Mr 3 y the last 2 options in the right hand tools menu are to help with viewing multiple universes and fixtures to make it easier to prevent any channel clashes or double assignments The third icon that looks like a lighting fixture allows you to view multiple fixtures at the same time you can do this by dragging across both fixtures and clicking this icon so that it shows three fixtures instead of one and the fourth icon allows you to show all regions in all universes at the same time within the canvas area of the page with one globe showing the current universe and three globes showing all universes 35 The Patching Page Customize your system
176. right to make sure our output slice also becomes full screen This approach is great for flat outputs such as television screens or projection when the projector itself is doing the warping However lets imagine that our output needs some keystone adjustment to compensate for an off axis projector To do this we need to convert our rectangular region to a multi point one as that allows us to independently control the positions of the corner points All you need to do to perform this conversion is hold down the shift button and click on one of the corner points You should now see your region divided into triangles and once you have selected the transformation tool you will be able to move the corner points individually to wherever you 100 need to ensure your final projection is properly aligned To take this a step further if you right click on the region tool button it should change from a four sided shape to a five sided shape known as the trianglular region tool With this tool you can individually place as many points as required for each region allowing you to create very irregularly shaped regions and be ready for any shape at all 101 Tutorial 2 Widescreen Projection and Blending From Version 8 of Ai onwards most users will choose to use the Output Page in Ai to perform the following functionality But there is also a wealth of functionality within the node based programming part of Ai which can be a very powerful and fl
177. rl P Gl Er E aa al Gl Gl rl pun E Gl Gl Gi rl a Gi ae q EE Gl E Ga Gi El Gl a a Gi a mE Gi pani EE Gl a Ga Gi Gy Er Gi a a Gi Ga a Gi ae Gl En Gi Gl E Gi a El Gi Gi fa Gi Gi me Gi ay q En Gi Gi Gi e El E Gi Gi Gi Gi oa E Gi EZ a Gi a a ae Gi al me Gi E Gi Es m E calf Gal Gi qe pao E Gi Gl Gi I E Gi Gi Gl Gi Gal P pe pa ho a Ga a P Let ho ho hon P OE Ha H TAS Tal tl al Gl tl ral tl Gl I Gl pa Gl Gl lt Gl a Pica El Gl kal Gl Cl pa Gr E Do Ez Gi Gi E uA Gi FEE ia Gi I E Gi El m i Gl E Do ae pani aT e mi e a a Gi z a a Gi Gl Ez Gi El Gl Gl Gi af q E Gi aa Sl Gi Gi Gi I E Gi Qu Gi rm Gl mF Gi Gi Gi a Gi pao Gl on EH QU EE Gi E Gl Gi Ga E Ga am al 7 z Gi i a a Gi q Gi kn E ka Cu Gi a Sa Sample3 Eur E EL O Duk tput ada a pane a 2000 pone AT COUN Aah Ahi Ande AAAS Add eee C000 Ahh Ade AAA Gl a Gi ans a T Gi a Ga a Gi es
178. roach is that it allows you to have absolute control over which part of your image falls on which surface of your screen model which in turn allows for a much greater level of accuracy and placement when creating content leaving your team more time to focus on making beautiful content and less on trying to make it work The main uses for the Canvas Editor will usually be in a situation where you are working on site and an update needs to be made to your mapping due to either a change in plan or a new update from your team but it is also commonly used when generating a new screen model from the Surface Modelling page as any newly generated screen will most likely not have the appropriate UV map layout for your requirements On the left side of the screen we have the tool bar for modifying how your canvas is applied to the model allowing you to translate rotate scale flip horizontally or vertically invert your selection or revert to the last saved state and on the right side of the screen we have the selection methods which allow you to work with either vertex points edges polygons faces and toggle object mode When in object mode the two arrows let you 20 select which mesh you are working with and the toggle button swaps the screen focus between your canvas layout and your 3d preview of how the canvas will appear The bar at the top of the screen offers some useful and interesting layout options The first 3 buttons let you apply either a
179. rocessing time and power consumption GLGetVector Licence level Miami GLGek ector flere y E ofr Oo L E Takes the vector value from the incoming GL signal s name variable 146 GLSL Program Shader Licence level Anjuna GLSLProgram GLSLProgrambompiler Cue pue GLSetveckor Name YectorIn Dirraocode firraotode Orvtxcode Ar vtxcode Takes the video input passes it through a user specified GLSL shader and outputs the resulting video signal GLSL Program Switch Licence level Anjuna GLSLProgramSwitch Mec Al Mee Ae Select TE In Vou Brink out Allows for switching between up to 4 GLSL shaders It is also possible to link these modules together using the Link In and Link Out ports GLSetVector Licence level Miami NENE WectorIn Binds a vector value to the incoming GL Signal variable specified by the name Iterator Licence level Anjuna GL Out Num Iterations A special patch into which you can insert modules which will render into the GL Output a number of iterations specified by the Num Iterations port 147 Light Licence level Miami Light Light Applies directional or spot lighting to the input GL primitives MultMatrix Licence level Miami MultMatrix Matrix Input Render Input Render Output Multiplies the current model view matrix with the one specified MultiTexture Demux Licence level Miami MultiTexkure Demux
180. rom timeline 233 Stage Construction Page Stage Modelling shift click and drag on stage visualisation to rotate around stage alt click and drag on stage visualisation to pan around stage shift F7 or F8 or F9 to store stage visualisation view point F7 or F8 or F9 to jump to stored stage visualisation view point F11 interpolate between stored stage visualisation view points mouse scroll wheel to zoom in and out of stage visualisation g toggle grid visibility Surface Modelling F switches between single and four way window mode L Lock Unlock the current window 1 6 Default camera views O Toggle between orthographic and perspective views T translate R rotate S scale Escape Stop translating rotating scaling Delete Backspace Remove selected objects Arrow keys move selected vertices by 0 1 units Arrow keys shift move selected vertices by 1 unit Whilst translating rotating or scaling X lock to X axis Y lock to Y axis Z lock to Z axis Whilst Selecting Vertices Hold A Append vertices to the selection Hold C Clear Remove vertices from the selection 234 Canvas Editor Page e T Select the translate tool e R Select the rotate tool e S Select the scale tool e invert selection e Shift X Select all vertices that share the same Y value as the selection i e they are horizontally even If multiple co ordinates are selected then it will apply this to each co ordinate
181. rs Exposure Parameters 1 Exposure 2 Offset 3 Gamma 222 Psychedelic Paint Infra Vision Infinity Zoom Dot Grid Grid sai 2020808088 eono o rorrorrorrorrorrorrorrorto OOOO III Pro roorrorrrrrrrorrror Perro orrrorrrorrrrrr r rr rorrorrrorrrorrro gt Pr ror orrrorrrorrr o 000990909090999 99O00000000000006 ER hd 223 Parameters 1 Colour Shift Parameters No Adjustable Parameters Parameters No Adjustable Parameters Parameters 1 Amount 2 Dot Size Kaleidescope Parameters 1 Auto 2 X Position 3 Y Position 4 Angle 5 Divisions 6 In Angle 7 Zoom Parameters 1 Mask Select 2 Scale Radial Blur Parameters 1 Blur 2 Bright 3 X Origin 4 Y Origin 5 Size Tunnel Parameters 1 Speed 2 Detail 3 Rotation 224 Feedback Parameters 1 Amount 2 Scale 225 Blend Modes Blend modes can be selected via the layer widget on the performance page or through the layer personality using channel 28 User blend modes can be added to Distrib Modules Effects BlendModes When adding new transitions to the folder it is good practice to place a 3 digit number at the start of the file name so that it can be selected via ArtNet For further information on the SVFX format see page 83 For details of how to control the effects from Artnet please the ArtNET DMX channel definitions on page 117 Descriptions amp Exa
182. s one on the left projector two on the middle and one on the right 103 Tutorial 3 working with LED screens From Version 8 of Ai onwards most users will choose to use the Output Page in Ai to perform the following functionality But there is also a wealth of functionality within the node based programming part of Ai which can be a very powerful and flexible way to configure your system lt is not for novice users though as a basic understanding of node based programming is assumed LED screens have been a mainstay of events for several years but now people are pushing beyond the standard screen layout to make more creative designs and layouts Ai can offer several ways of working with LED panels which should all make life much easier for the operator The approach depends on one key thing whether you are using a specialist model in Ai which truly represents your LED panel layout or if alternatively you are using a standard screen shape and wish to extract elements to display on the panels Firstly lets look at a great new Ai feature which relies upon a representative 3d model being used within the visualiser Start by going to the Stage Construction page deleting any existing fixtures then adding a screen fixture icon and Multi Unit_LED Config 3ds onto the fixture icon from the browser We don t need to adjust the fixture scale options as the model has been made to the correct proportions but we do need to alter the resolu
183. s components e Ctrl left click on module patch select components on modules or patches e ctrl left click drag on module patch multi select component on modules or patches 237 Credits This Manual was written by Arran Rothwell Eyre with additions by Dave Green and Ciaran Abrams It was completed in December 2014 to coincide with the full release of Ai V8 0 Many thanks to everyone in the Ai Team for their contributions to the project See you at the show 238
184. s 200 220 Colour Curves 29 Visual Visual FX 0 255 0 Off FX 1 Infinite Black border 2 Soft Edge Shutters 3 Blur 4 4 Point Warp 5 255 FFGL Effects Dl E FS eee FX P01 Parameter 1 tie ee e A eoe S FX P02 Parameter 2 31 32 Keyston Keystone 0 255 Keystone Crop X1 Crop Crop X1 33 a Keystone 0 255 Keystone Crop Y 1 7 y Crop Crop Y1 34 ea Keystone 0 255 Keystone Crop X2 A Crop Crop X2 35 or Keystone 0 255 Keystone Crop Y2 3 a Crop Crop Y2 36 e Keystone 0 255 Keystone Crop X3 Crop Crop X3 37 Keyeton Keystone 0 255 Keystone Crop Y3 E Crop Crop Y3 38 a Keystone 0 255 Keystone Crop X4 a Crop Crop X4 39 A Keystone 0 255 Keystone Crop Y4 E Crop Crop Y4 119 80 channel mode additional channels a Visual FX 0 255 FX Opacity 0 100 Opacity Opa 1255 SEE FX Parameter 3 FX PO3 eg earn eo frente FX P04 E SSPE s p po FX P05 RRR ORE fe loci UN FX P06 ie SST s O oe FX P07 Dal sted hss bce FX P08 aces SSNS ae p poe FX PO9 allan ill A hd IRM FX P10 lace SRE p e e FX P11 Ka el O ic FX P12 ace RS wa fo enna FX P13 FX P14 FX P15 FX P16 55 Visual Visual FX 2 0 255 FX 2 MES Visual FX 2 0 255 FX2 Opacity 0 100 FX 2 Opacity ME O el 1 Infinite Black border 2 Soft Edge Shutters 3 Blur 4 4 Point Warp 5 255 SVFX Effects see page 216 57 Visual Visual FX 2 0 255
185. s is not required in version 7 as the layer information is now in the front end of the GUI Cluster Zoom Motion Page amp Performance Page This button changes the Roller Cue to a Hex Ball and back again EQ Trigger Performance Page This button brings up an orange EQ display that reacts to an audio input such as your computer s microphone This feature is not currently implemented but will be coming soon Stage Patch Brings up the Stage Patch if not already visible F1 F8 The remaining 8 buttons require patching in to be used as custom buttons This can be done by using the Ai Controller Module Alternate Skin F1 F 8 60 Transport Control Buttons STOP button stops media on currently selected layer PLAY button plays media on currently selected layer FF button sets the play mode to forwards REW button sets the play mode to reverse PAUSE button pauses media on currently selected layer REC button this should be called the Go button and it will scroll through and play the media on the currently selected layer Numeric Keypad All number boxes Enter numerical values using the keypad Stage Construction Page CLEAR button deletes a fixture group Performance Page ENTER button will pause all playing media on all layers CLEAR button will delete currently selected media on Roller Cue SET button will pause all playing media on all layers Timeline Page ENTER amp SET
186. sh horizontal 255 normal Moveme 0 255 1 10ths of a second for smoothing of movement parameters such as position X amp Y Image Size amp Aspect Ratio 22 Intensity Layer intensity 0 255 255 Adjusts layer Intensity 23 Red Red Colour 0 255 255 0 255 Multiply media Red If Colour Adjust Mode Param Adjust channel by 0 100 is set to 1 then this changes functionality so that 0 127 multiply by 0 100 amp 128 255 adds colour into the channel Green Colour 0 255 255 0 255 Multiply media Green If Colour Adjust Mode Adjust channel by 0 100 is set to 1 then this changes functionality so that 0 127 multiply by 0 100 amp 128 255 adds colour into the channel Blue Colour 255 0 255 Multiply media Blue If Colour Adjust Mode Adjust channel by 0 100 is set to 1 then this changes functionality so that 0 127 multiply by 0 100 amp 128 255 adds colour into the channel 118 Strobe Strobe 0 255 0 63 Square wave adjustable period 64 127 Single Frame adjustable period 128 191 Random adjustable probablity 192 255 Random adjustable sustain CET ae Co K A 28 Colour Colour Effect 0 220 O Flat RGB Adjust FX Blend Mode 1 Alpha HSC onR GB Params 2 Alpha Blend 3 Alpha Blend 4 N A M Non additive Mix 5 Luma 6 Lighten 7 Additive 8 Difference like photoshop 9 Wipe 10 Multiply 11 Darken 12 Screen 13 Subtract 14 200 Transition
187. sting the frame rate so that there is sufficient exposure in each frame although the exposure control can also help with this Once this is done if you already have an existing mask then it can be applied via the Load Mask button Press the next button when requested and take the calibration tool through the test pattern projection and analysis steps until you get to the final window which allows you to adjust how your image is applied to your screen and once you are happy with the results find the option to Save Settings And Export select a name and accept and then choose Export Calibration From the display list that appears choose Display Compound make sure that Generic Export Format is selected export your files and then close the Vioso interface Back in Ai on the first Autoblend system patch select the button corresponding to which output this module needs to represent Repeat this process for each Autoblend patch Once this has been done you should now be able to turn on all of the output modules connected to the Autoblend patches and start mixing media to see the fully warped and blended results 85 Volumetric Arrays Using the ArtNet Structure Strip and Grid modules found within the Salvation environment it becomes very easy to setup complex systems and even to take 2d content and treat it as 3d by transforming scaling rotating and extruding in different ways within the specified space As with the movi
188. system lt is not for novice users though as a basic understanding of node based programming is assumed Combining video and lighting control can offer up some interesting new ways of working and can give a much tighter more unified feel to your shows by sharing texture colour and movement across multiple fixture types When controlling external fixtures make sure to adjust your colour profile to one suited to your fixture type and ensure the correct ArtNet adaptor is selected in the system settings When using the modular led fixture via the output page no further patching is required as Ai will automatically make any required connections for you Go to the stage construction page delete any existing fixtures and then add a modular led fixture the icon with three hexagons In the fixture properties window on the right enter the following values Scale Width 1 6 Scale Height 0 9 Canvas Res X 512 Canvas Res Y 288 These values will make our default screen model into a 16 9 ratio and set a complimentary resolution You can import your own 3d model if required although the model in this fixture is purely for Ai s 3D visualiser On the performance page trigger Modular LED Fixture jpg to your modular led fixture Select the Output page and choose the modular led fixture In the tools menu on the left select the region tool second icon down In the left hand window the one which shows the texture left click and dr
189. t Ma luso adidas 168 PTI TIO UEC o PM o O E AE 169 NA AAA A hate A NT 170 Artnet Remote WAS LC lessees tr a o lo o bd ade iets 170 ARNES AMD Saca 171 FAN di Go fates 2 A ny te OO Se aeRO a Pt Ue Tw a ee 172 AO An T E td oak pics metas E OE 172 Armetsample SUD errn aaa ES 173 Sn E E a ERA 174 A n A ante get gealanecss 174 PP ENIE TEET TEEN EEA IEEE AT 175 SA A a a eg eed T 175 Ethernet command ensanse ert ina deter nt cated a EE 175 Ethernet CO CEN O rr rrrn rarnana n rran rarnana erann arrr dota 176 PUNTER VST socra ee este ne ee eee 176 O A E 176 FeerAssel Managers Da 177 e e Oi O II A 178 o A r S ees 178 FU ashe rete et A A A A ae ce cee 178 Palch MON UL eretia a a dia lodos teeta eo cid hes 178 POM PAG Unai ero 178 Read a CAICOS td lees nio adas 179 REJC PACM INO tieetaetc S el adeicacde eee ania oaths a ieeieaet ace rnacacesais 179 Shared Constante NPU lt a ita 179 Shared Constante OUD cars 180 WO A tear etna ain eal ete eatin o elt eates dail 180 Write Patch Constant ooocccccnnccocnccccncconnnconnncannonanononnnonannnnnnnonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnannenons 180 SCHPUNG ti iii 181 A E Po E aaigy Palettes 181 No 182 ALSyStem CONTO cesta 182 A A a ease ayusucncen teu ene caguet ae eusimashis 182 a A 183 CONVENT TO SUMING esoe vaccaueierseanias 183 eg 0 IY 910 9 pace ee meen era en a gee ee ae mr nvcne oe oT oR nee Tee ee eed eee eee 183 IN OWS A EAEE E TE ALTE TEP EEEE ETE AEEA TT TEE T 183 SIPING CAFS e
190. t 2 Output 3 Output 4 Output 5 Output 6 Output 7 Output 8 Infinity to Left input Sapphire Infinity to Right input Sapphire Infinity to 1 input Sapphire Infinity to 2 input Sapphire Infinity to 3 input Sapphire Infinity to 4 input Sapphire Infinity to 5 input Sapphire Infinity to 6 input Sapphire AU AUR AR ARQ AR IR AR AR Open USB Expert Click on the Tools menu ACW Service Start Wait a moment and the controller should then be connected Test this by moving a fader or pressing a button you should then see values appear in the central panel In the right hand panel you should see Inifinity Edid Panel 1 click on this and then the panel on the right hand side should change Select the Edid tab on the panel See picture below From the drop down menu on the right hand side select EDID 1 then click on the Upload button This should open a Windows dialog If you navigate to C Drive Master Edid you should find some bin files If you have a first generation console with 1366 x 768 screens then you need to load up either the LWR_1366x 768 50was1364 bin for 50Hz mode or 1366x768 60Hzaidefault bin for 60Hz mode If you have a 2 generation console with 1920 x 1080 screens then you should use the EDID files located here Ai Install dir Distrib System EDID Manager EDID Pool 1920 x 1080 1920x1080 50p bin or the 60p variant if you prefer see notes below This should give you the correct resolution for
191. t Applied se OuEpue Erightnes iY Pos This patch allows the user to define a region to fade in or out using the control value on the brightness port The other controls allow the user to position scale and rotate the fading region 203 Hue Saturation Contrast Adjust Hue Saturakion Contrast Input Texkure Output Texkure O Output This patch allows you to adjust the Hue Saturation and Contrast in the texture connected to the Output Texture port The patch must be linked into an active render chain in order to become active The adjusted texture is provided on the Output Texture port Layer Container I 1 5 ABS Alp Uni o Chal 1 G Fie H Input Output a This is a protected system patch which lives in the Distrib Patches System folder but is hidden from the Insert System Patch menu It is the patch which is used to create layers within the mixer when the user adds a layer within the main Ai user interface If the patch is edited and saved then it will alter the template for all new layers added to the system If you wish to alter the template for all new layers added to the system then you should also consider editing Distrib Patches MultiLayerMixer_Al scb this is the mixer patch which will be used whenever a new screen is added to a project You could also consider editing Distrib Projects Templates BlankProject scb which is the template project file which is used whenever the user selects Blank Project
192. t System Patch menu It is the patch which is used whenever a media file is dropped onto the timeline within the Timeline Page of the main user interface window If the patch is edited and saved then it will alter the template for all new media dropped onto the timeline 206 Mesh Warper Texkure Input Output TopRight VYerkex Select vertex Adjustment Quad Mapping 134 5 Next 2 100 37 e 13 9 BokkomRight rame Rows Columns This patch allows the user to apply a mesh warp to the source texture The TopLeft TopRight BottomLeft amp BottomRight controls allow the user to adjust the corner points with the mouse Itis also possible to adjust individual control points within the specified grid using the Vertex adjustment control Multiply Shader Input Mask Output This patch combines the texture connected to the Input port with the Texture connected to the Mask port using a multiplication pixel shader MultiTexture Select hy A TC DN r x e L Ar T s me This patch allows the user to select a texture from a MultiTexture input port This was used in the mixer of version 6 projects and is included only for legacy support 207 MultiView Hulki Duk This patch can create a tiled arrangement of input ports The user can select either 2 x 2 3x3or4x 4 arrangement The tiled output is shown on the Multi Out port Pixel Checker D Output This patch is used to draw a single pixel or cross hair
193. t the majority of systems in the field To set this field manually open this file C Program Files Avolites Ai Distrib System PerformanceUnits PerformanceUnits txt Then set the value contained in this file to either 8 16 24 or 32 98 Pre Production Check List This page has been created as a set of guidelines to give advice to those involved with event production many of which are based on years of experience and regularly encountered issues of many users operators designers and production managers The following items must be confirmed at the time of confirmation of your involvement in the show Are sufficient Ai systems available and have they been booked onto the job Have staff operators been confirmed for the show Has Transport been allocated for site personnel amp all hardware Has Accommodation been arranged for site staff The following items must be confirmed at least 4 weeks prior to the show Has the content creation template been finalised Has an output template been issued to the LED supplier to confirm suitability Has a projection plan been issued to the projectionist s suppliers to confirm suitability Has all required additional equipment been ordered And equally importantly do you know when this equipment will be delivered Has the Clients video input control signals been finalised and tested Considering the duration of the event and the resolution of the media is the system prepared for the
194. t value ranges 0 65535 unlike the 8 Bit range of DMX 0 255 or 7 Bit MIDI 0 127 in terms of smoothly moving projection mapping the higher the Bit value of the controller the better A Bit depth which is too low will make the projection stutter as the distance between steps is greater and much more obvious to the eye and you have far less accuracy in terms of precise placement of your projections This project specific and really comes down to the distance over which the movement will make some projects will require a more fluid control especially when dealing with large scale projections or curved movement paths Tf Patch 16 Canvas Quek Mirad rar A Position 6 0 TP Ba Position sa EX Z Fo EE 2Position of 16 4 Scale 16 A Scale La 15 Y Scale 1 8 Y Scale 10 Ms Z Scale 15 z Scale 14 8 8 4 Rokatio Aa A Rotation Aa a4 T Rotatio ae Y Rotation aa 2 Rotation GA GA 2 Rotation aa Morph Control i Morph Conkral Morph Control Texture GP Out Texkure uk Texture Y Out kinesys Listener Broadcom 62 110 Network Adapter 2 2 6 6 13 46 Conseeuck Ip Packet Daba 8 8 A Min B5535 6 Max 6 68 7 Min B5535 6 i Max 8 8 2 Min 655355 2 Max 6 8 P Min BS535 8 F Mase 8 8 T Min 65535 8 M Max 8 8 R Min 655356 R M x ArtHet Input Small 2 x Bbik Recie Adaptor ka Hi Lo _ Channel Out 1 Universe ok Other control options could be combining 2 streams of DMX to create a 16 Bit value range to send to
195. taining the text from the text field also useful for leaving notes in a patch String CAPS Licence level Anjuna String CAFS A String In La SEring Quek Capitalises String In and outputs the new string on the String Out port String Combine Licence level Anjuna String Combine A String 1 Or string 2 Takes the signals received at both inputs and combines them into a single string 183 String Compare Licence level Bondi string Compare SEring 1 Oi string 2 Compare Out Compares the signals received at both inputs and outputs the result String Finder Licence level Miami String Finder A input 1 start String A End Character a String Out Searches the String on the input port for Start String then outputs the string beginning immediately after Start String and terminating immediately before End Character on the String Out port String Length Licence level Anjuna String Length A input 1 Result Outputs the length of the String on the input port on the Result port String Parser Licence level Bondi String Farser a String In Token Index Token Count o String Quek Selects a component of the incoming string based on the value received at the Token Index input 184 String Present Licence level Miami String Present o String Quek a input 1 A input Result Analyses the string on the input 1 port to see if it
196. ter the real world projector values such as aspect ratio and lens ratio to ensure that the images generated from Ai have the correct amount of distortion that will be seen on the real world lenses used for the project When your real world and virtual settings match up everything can fall into place very easily for you Modular LED Fixture The Modular LED fixture allows you to perform pixel mapping within Ai In previous versions of Ai it has been necessary to import both a 3d model and a CSV sheet to make full use of Ai s pixel mapping facilities Whilst this functionality still exists for the more advanced users who require the ultimate precision given by this approach it is now possible to work with this fixture purely inside Ai without the need for the accompanying files by just using the Output page s new LED mapper options As well as the standard attributes available to all fixtures the Modular Led fixture also has options to offset the starting universe and channel Led Lighting Fixtures The Light fixture LED Batten and Moving Head fixture all share a very similar working method Essentially by using the fixture quantity and fixture spacing options you can create a grid of fixtures then you can specify how many channels the device has by using the channel per fixture option and if required you can offset the colour channels base universe and base channels Once you have set the ranges for a single fixture pressing the Auto Assi
197. th icon on this upper strip allows you perform a special task with a prepared 3ds or obj file Using your preffered 3d modelling package it is possible to create geometry where 1 unit in x amp y 1 pixel with respect to your output Each pixel can then be uv mapped with an appropriate uv coordinate or range or coordinates This is a very powerful feature especially useful when pixel mapping very complex structures Scripting languages can also be used within your 3d package of choice in order to create the uv mapped geometry in an automated manner The fifth and final button which looks like a Screen Fixture icon allows you to import your model directly from the fixture itself and automatically convert the separate pieces of geometry into individual regions which can then be manipulated and adjusted as required this can be a great time saver 31 Output Page Projector Fixture Next we shall take a look at how the output page is laid out for the the Projector Fixture The first and most obvious thing is that we are presented with a different set of tools by choosing a projector fixture Ai has given us the most relevant tools for tasks associated with projectors on the left there is the Mapping Editor and Automap and in our right hand window we have easy access to soft edge blending TiS Y Ane AE wt Fea n E AA sata 1 p diz A S A LI wn IN i i 21080 pa EE ES Ema aS Mapping editor
198. the 2 main display screens on the Sapphire Media Console Special Considerations 50Hz Operation For productions which use cameras synced at 25 frames per second it is often desired to run the media server at 50Hz therefore on the server all EDID data needs to be loaded as 56 50Hz The server has dedicated EDID files for the 1366 x 768 screens both at 50 and 60Hz Preview Screens The four preview screens can display up to 1920 x 1200 at 50 and 60Hz The preview screens have a scaler built in that detects the supplied resolution and scales it to the native 800 x 480 resolution of the screen If a resolution is not supported the preview screen will turn black with the screen menu visible and the detected resolution in the bottom This may be O x O pixels if the scaler can not determine the resolution Power Supply PSU is auto ranging and can operate from 120 240V AC The unit earth connection must be made at all times The console will power up when connected to the server via USB For testing purposes the console can be connected to a PC or laptop with USB Expert to power it up For any other problems please contact support avolitesmedia com 57 MSC1 The MSC 1 Ai Media Server Controller provides hands on live control in a compact user friendly interface Connecting directly to any Ai system the MSC 1 gives access to effects layers and clips e 3 Axis control using smooth optical encoders e 10 assignable fa
199. the custom buttons faders oocccocnccocnccocnccnonocunnncannnnnnnonanonoannonanonanes 54 TRO UID IS S NOU Ness tao pitt cta dede 56 OFZ Oe AHO a PTEE AEE EE E EE ALE TEE EEE arate 56 PFEVIEW SCI CNS sxtivanedsiratvanssenivadaminnvnnswentiveienedeameiondainddioennoacandtinmaneiabieinan 57 OWED SUDDIN aiii 57 MSG data oi 58 Setting up MSC 1 with Ai ServVer ooocccoccccccnccccnccocnconcnoconncnnnnonannnnnnnnnarnnnannonannonannnnnns 58 Pre mapped Interface Instructions A NR 59 Optical Encoders coa aaa 59 Blend Mode Buttons sfc alae ca aes ite at eae secre O ese eG 59 Layer SEIECE BUM del dd 60 Scene VIeW BUtONS toaicadmiaadiae da 60 Transport CONWOMBUNONS 2 O 61 Ni 0 2 a Bete eee eee renee cree en eet een meen EE eee eee 61 Fade Fragen iia ie pci eT eee eee 61 FA BONS AMES 62 Lighting Console CONTO urnini a a aaa sete 63 ANNEVDMX CON MO 63 PATTING TU para Mei Sai 63 Milos tata italia 65 PROV AIG OG US Coin 66 Multi Unit LEE DC ONIG ness aaa idad 66 Mapping the output from the Modular LED Fixture in the Stage Patch 71 Mapping Moving Scenic ElementS ooccocccconnccccnccncnccncnnoncnccnnnnonannnnnnnnnannnnnnrnnnrnnnanenas 75 SOM Edge BION dIN O acid aras 80 User Edfects ANG BICNGIMOCES ii cissiaess ccsancdaa stant ndecweced sua a 83 AULO DIN 85 VoOlUMEt ICA FIS ia e 86 MOON TRAGK ING oir dai rider 88 Further CONGCCIUS irasias cesiesassicaaennnsscannssecaenncateaacsesecscecacesnnsaskeansausceneazeaaacesn
200. the following values e Resolution X 10 e Resolution Y 10 86 e Resolution Z 10 now on the grid module we need to define the pixels in use within this 10 x 10 x 10 area we do this separately for each grid or strip Remembering that we start counting from zero we need to enter the following values into the Grid module e Start X Pos 0 e Start Y Pos 0 e End X Pos 9 e End Y Pos 9 The pixel count is how many pixels are being referenced in total by this module not the total work area so as we have defined a 10 x 10 grid we need to enter the following e Pixel Count 100 If we wish to push this into three dimensions we need to add more Grid modules one for each extra plane we want within the 3d array The easiest way to do this is to duplicate one of the existing Grid modules and simply adjust its Z coordinates accordingly so our second plane will have e Start Z Pos 1 e End Z Pos 1 It is important to make sure the channels and universes for each module are setup before making any DMX connections to avoid any conflicts with layer or fixture controls so once applicable values have been chosen for each of the grid modules you can then make a connection between each of the grid modules DMX Sender Input ports and the DMX send port which can now be found on the Patch IO With all connections now made all that remains is to choose the Extrusion type you want to use for the array trigger some media and enjoy the show Som
201. the selected layer The widget itself can be scrolled up and down by dragging it whilst holding the left mouse button Right clicking on the layer preview shows the Layer Controller double left click the layer to expand and collapse the preview which allows for further control of whichever fixtures are currently selected and includes access to the 2 effects units on each layer which make use of Ai s own SVFX format see page 83 further layer controls and buttons to reset the layer parameters or open the mixer ArtNet layer the central hub for assigning ArtNet or midi to the full layer parameter set and colour curves window These settings can easily be stored and recalled using editable scene triggers which are created by pressing the Tab button on the keyboard see page 25 Right clicking any of our media tiles brings up the properties window for that specific instance In the centre of the window you can see a large preview of the clip or patch and below that a play head with manually adjustable in and out points and some reference information which tells you the current position the clip name resolution and format and also the total clip length The right side of the window allows you to adjust clip specific parameters such as brightness contrast gain colour position size cropping and per clip soft edging all of which can be quickly reset by using the button at the bottom On the left side you can see the control and triggering opti
202. tia 211 Shared Constants INpPUb ani 212 SOM Edge AUS TING US os cscs e les 213 TORA sins aus cats de aecranle a ea ermine ts arene scetetncab eaehaele eaten eedneneea Nese neeeneeaneN 213 TOXTUFECOOFGS Edito anta ici 214 capture Patones nia 215 LINE VICO AE 215 LiveVideoASPhoenixWithAdjuUStMenNt S coonccocccocccoccconaccnnncnnnnonnncnnccnnronannnnronrnnnnnnnnas 215 LIVE VIGEOD ALAN AUD V iia do 215 LiveVideoDatapathSDI_CH1_Interlaced ooccocncocncccnccccccocccoccconnccnancnnnrnancnaronrnnnnnrs 215 Live Cam OVe leia 215 EMO Sia 216 Descriptions s Example Mage Sia 216 BICA WN OCS ai 226 Descriptions 8 Example iIMages cconccccccocccocccconcconcconncnnnncnncconcnnnncnanrnnnrrnnrnnrnnrnnnnanes 226 TAansiIOA Said 229 Descriptions amp Example Images comia aid 229 Keyboard and Mouse ShortCutS ccocccoccccccocccoccconconnnncncnaroncnanonrnnrnnennnanns 232 Performance Pad OS 232 Tim n Padron nadas 233 Stage Construction Page usina iii adi ecco 234 Stage Modeling sera oi 234 SUNCE Modelin eee ene eee ent Re otk eee ota ptos die tem ee 234 CahVas Editor Pag Outta rial titi 235 a A O LE O a aaa 236 Salvation Node Based Programming Patches ccssseesseeesseseeeeeseeseneeeesenees 237 FO O 238 11 Al uick Start Guide Make sure all video or controller connections are made before running the software Start Ai then on the stage construction page the truss icon in the top right delete all existing fixtures
203. tion of media which includes all of the media tile specific settings and can be saved and imported into any project just by dragging it into the list making it quick to share an existing media library across projects Towards the top of the screen you will usually see your 3d stage visualisation this gives you a real time 3d representation of your show allowing you to know exactly 22 what s happening at all times from any angle which is really useful whether you are pre programming at home or running a full show in front of a big crowd At the top of the screen we are presented with some information such as the Performance Units Meter which allows you to have a good grasp of the power available to use in your project You can also see a memory readout which tells you how much of your graphics memory is in use the more red the number becomes the less free graphics memory you have Many of the commonly used layer controls can be found on the layer widget Using the dedicated controls you can choose the play mode adjust the layer intensity via a number alter the speed between 0 and 1000 100 is the original speed of the media choose the blend mode from a drop down list or control the layer intensity with a fader The X icon clears the layer and the colour wheel allows you to adjust the hue of the layer At the bottom of the widget are two icons a plus which adds a layer to the selected fixture and a trash can which deletes
204. tion to always show the fixtures texture when selected Whilst the majority of the functionality is shared across the fixture types there are some properties which are specific to certain fixtures 13 Screen Fixture This is the most commonly used fixture type and is used as the starting point for projection mapping led screens and more traditional video output You can either use the default screen model and deform it as needed which for most jobs is fine or you can import a 3d model simply by dragging it onto the fixture icon at the bottom allowing you to work with highly complex projection targets such as cars buildings and very organic curved surfaces which would be otherwise very difficult to work with using more traditional methods The benefits of this approach are many fold but primarily the use of 3d models allows for very flexible and editable screen designs and the use of UV maps ensures reliability in terms of accurate reproduction of video content onto stage technology Currently Ai supports the use of several 3d model formats 3ds obj blend lwo Iws Ixo Of these 3ds and obj are the most regularly used as they are supported by the majority of 3d software s regardless of the platform in use Projector Fixture This fixture should be used when you want to do video mapping or vertex editing using a 3d model In order for Ai to produce something that is as close to the real world as possible it is very important to en
205. tion to give us a full HD canvas so enter the following values in the screen fixture properties e CanvasResX 1920 e CanvasResY 1080 After importing and triggering Multi Unit LED Config Template jpg to the fixture on the Performance page go to the Output page select the fixture and then find the Fixture Import button at the top of the screen Clicking on this option will automatically import the 3d model geometry currently in use on the screen fixture convert it to regions and place the results in your output section If you need to make any adjustments to the positions of any of the regions you can use the translation tool found in the tool bar on the left or for pixel perfect control you can use e arrow keys move output region 1 pixel e arrow keys shift move output region 10 pixels e ctrl arrow keys move sample region 1 pixel e Ctrl shift arrows move sample region 10 pixels If for some reason you don t have an available screen model and are just using a standard screen you can still make use of the region tool to select samples and set the positions in the output window You can use the keyboard shortcuts shown above to manipulate them but it is also worth knowing that e ctrl c COPy 104 e ctrit v paste horizontally e ctri shift v paste vertically It is also possible that you may find the bottom option in the tool bar useful the masking tool It can be used to change the shape of the selected
206. to click in the area marked Tap Layer Info this is a feature from version 6 that allowed you to bring up information about the layer This is not required in version 7 as the layer information is now in the front end of the GUI Cluster Zoom Motion Page amp Performance Page This button changes the Roller Cue to a Hex Ball and back again EQ Trigger Performance Page This button brings up an orange EQ display that reacts to an audio input such as your computer s microphone This feature is not currently implemented but will be coming soon Stage Patch Brings up the Stage Patch if not already visible F1 F8 The remaining 8 buttons require patching in to be used as custom buttons This can be done by using the Ai Controller Module Alternate Skin F1 F8 For connecting custom buttons and faders please see the Connecting The Custom Buttons Faders section Transport Control Buttons STOP button stops media on currently selected layer PLAY button plays media on currently selected layer FF button sets the play mode to forwards REW button sets the play mode to reverse PAUSE button pauses media on currently selected layer REC button this should be called the Go button and it will scroll through and play the media on the currently selected layer Numeric Keypad All number entry boxes Enter numerical values using the keypad 90 Stage Construction Page CLEAR button del
207. ttom up instead of from the top down The Use Gl Finish option will alter the way Open GL is rendered and in some situations can give a noticeable performance improvement when selected Optimal 1 0 speed playback changes the way video playback clocks are calculated to trust output monitor refresh rate when clip speed equals 1 0 or to use the system clock as the trusted clock source Last frame behaviour has two options black and hold last frame which allow you to choose how the last frame is held when using a relevant playback mode TGA Sequence Memory Path is a useful option when using TGA image sequences it determines whether Ai uses a section of GPU memory to store the sequence which can 40 improve efficiency when using a compatible AMD card The next two options relate to using TGA image sequences in Ai TGA Sequence Memory Path and TGA Sequence Frame rate allows you to specify how many of these frames are played back per second sync offset and continuous sync are two options for files which contain audio as well as video When enabled continuous sync allows the system to adjust the video forwards or backwards to maintain synchronisation with the clock in the embedded audio stream sync Offset sets an offset between the Audio playback and the video playback to allow for any delay between audio playback and video playback The Show Mouse On option allows the user to select which screens the mouse should be shown on And finally t
208. ture Output and the Screen Fixture Input This should now look like the following AddickFixkure_ amp Video Out Model demo_screen Clear _Hulti Unit LED Config Tag Name de Screen Fixture Input A Position 6 8 B Fixture Texture Input Y Position A A Position AA Scale Width LA a Model Unik OF fsek 1 Output Unik Count Scale Height 14 TAFT Scale Depth L Hesbe reo lt eA 20 6 Screens A Qubkpuk s O ao hoCaACIOM A i al WWE a pias gue ee E eae Unit px TEE El 486 Unit Ypx ze UY Leah EtoT L 8 8 L to R T to EY Wire Frame Show Canvas Screen Fixture Output Canvas Ouk O Mix Send B Mix Return A Erightness L Mix Output Before we go any further lets have a look at the different parameters of the module Multi Unit LED Config button at the top activates the module Output Unit Count allows us to specify how many panels we wish to address with the module Model Unit Offset lets us decide from which section of the model we start to draw panels Rotation lets us adjust the output angle for the panels Screens 1 9 lets us choose which of our video outputs we are sending video data to Output X Y is used to specify the starting point for drawing our panels Unit X Y lets us specify the size or amount of pixels for each panel Unit Sort Type determines the order in which Ai addresses the panels Unit Draw Order changes the direction the panels are drawn on the screen First of all activate t
209. unt of pixels specified A sample is then taken of the intersecting pixel which defines a colour based on the pixel voxel stored in the 3d structure The appropriate colour data is then sent to the output based on the personality chosen over artnet kiNet 173 Artnet Structure Licence level Anjuna Arnet Skreuckure Personantyg AGE Fixture o Gi Resolution Lo Gi Resolution ls fi T T T T T T 1 l al 1 Il al T I a Gi ExErusion Type User Defined Max Extrusion Enable Visualiser a Skruckure Duk m Texture GL OQukpuk Sets up a 3d environment within which a volumetric light array can exist based on the specified x y z resolution in pixel space It then takes a 2d texture and allows you to draw it within the space and extrude it to create the illusion of depth and finally it allows you to rotate and translate inside the 3d structure Black Trax Licence level Miami BlackTrax al al TA l f _ LI y al al PT Taws Pitch Roll 1 Taw Pitch Roll 2 Taw Pitch Roll 3 Taw Pitch Roll 4 Gi Gl 5 l A TL mi Gl Gi iI l me l l p al gt E Tes mM py M ful z et ha z f fi i mi a o A et ha et ha tl 5 ao ri 5 a Va sl a a Er Ta al Ist a Ist a amp E E a i ti J 5 2 El p Gl Er i This module outputs data from a specified Black Trax sou
210. ure Bank Licence level Miami Texture Bank I File List Input MultiTexture Output Ey Num Textures Qukpuk Outputs Multitexture and control data according to the specified file list input 151 Texture Switch Licence level Anjuna Texture Switch Texture amp Texture 1 Select Texkure Out Outputs the selected input texture based on the control value chosen at the select input Translate Licence level Anjuna Translate ia mi NA ed aa AA oo o Adjusts the position of input GL primitives in 2D or 3D space Vector Font Switch Licence level Miami Yector Font Switch a Font Al A Font 1 Font 2 A Font 3 Select O Font Output A Link In O Link Duk Outputs a specified Vector font based on the control value received at the select input Video Texture Licence level Anjuna video Texture Streams video to the GPU and outputs a GPU texture containing the current video frame 152 Window Licence level Anjuna Window Window Color Y Depth Colo pr Dep h Creates and maintains a windowed full screen or multi screen OpenGL display 153 Generator Cubes Licence level Bondi Cubes Tex Mode CubesInCubes w C Speed C Detail O Generates wireframe cubes and spheres according to user specified parameters Lights Rays Licence level Bondi Light Rays Position Color One pue Radius 4 Angle Y Angle
211. ure Texture Input Dutput Unik Count vs a Output Unik Counk ES a Output Unit Count Video Out 2 ie Screen Fixture Input 16 Model Unik Offset Wo Rokakion SCreens a Out put 7 446 Odkpak fala ysis 166 Uni px Jefa 268 Unik Ypx UY ThkoB Leo Y L to R T to Ble Our final output should look like this Ga GE So BRIO ARE o Simson E a a 70 Mapping the output from the Modular LED Fixture in the Stage Patch From Version 8 of Ai onwards most users will choose to use the Output Page in Ai to perform the following functionality But there is also a wealth of functionality within the node based programming part of Ai which can be a very powerful and flexible way to configure your system lt is not for novice users though as a basic understanding of node based programming is assumed The Modular LED fixture is designed to take a lot of the hard work out of interfacing with and controlling large amounts of led fixtures Ai can analyse a specific pixel s colour value and determine its equivalent DMX value and send that to an attached fixture allowing you to share the same colour movement and feel across both your video and lighting fixtures which in turn brings together all of your different elements to give a tighter and more integrated feel to your show A few important points to remember e All connections layer adjustments and channel universe reassignments should be performed before making the connection to the DM
212. ware or using the Tap Widget function button on the Sapphire then hit the Tap button four times to set the tempo you wish to work with Main Faders amp Buttons Using the Avolites Controller Template Project found in the project browser of Ai the Sapphire s 15 faders refer to the currently active row on the Roller Cue and allow the user to trigger and fade in media on the selected layer and fixture With the fader set to zero the blue buttons act as a momentary trigger starting the media clip and setting the intensity to full The grey buttons work similarly but in reverse e g with the fader set to maximum the button will stop the clip and set the intensity to zero To custom map the faders and buttons please refer to the Connecting The Custom Buttons Faders section of this manual Preview Monitor Buttons amp Preview Menu Buttons The preview monitor buttons allow you to switch between the connected inputs For example the first preview screen addresses inputs 1 and 5 so using the button the user can easily switch between their input sources The preview menu buttons allow the user to change the monitor settings and include features such as Colour Image Settings Position OSD Menu and Language Pre mapped Interface Instructions Out of the box the Sapphire Media Controller will communicate with the Ai software giving you a large amount of control over various parameters In the next section we will describe the function
213. within the texture into the specified location on the output This variant of the Sample Texture Region patches has been tweaked to add a drop down list box specifying the rotation in 90 steps This can be useful in a scenario where you are not sure which orientation the LED screen panels on your stage have been mounted in Sample Texture Region Simple Texture In Output Sec Resolution 1928 1485 px Pos Output A px Size 1230 px Pos Texture 4 E pa Size a l This patch takes the texture provided on the Texture In port and draws a sample region from within the texture into the specified location on the output This variant of the Sample Texture Region patches has been tweaked to reduce the parameters to a simple set of basic parameters suitable for many rectangular LED tile applications 210 Sample Texture Region Texture In Output Sec Resolution 1924 P1 uE pue A PE DU PaE 1256 PS OUEBUE 1256 F4 Qukpuk El Fi Texture H A 15928 PS Texture 1926 F4 Texture A 1454 Sub Recks A This patch takes the texture provided on the Texture In port and draws a sample region from within the texture into the specified location on the output This variant of the Sample Texture Region patches has been tweaked to expose all parameters for more complex rectangular LED tile applications SDi Output Input e Resol 2246 2166 Framerake Sune Source FreeRun Hideo Levels Extended SOI Board GPL This patch
214. x below the right pane of the output page This box also allows you to set the order in which the sampling points are read by Ai such as Horizontal left right Vertical top to bottom Snake left right and several other configurations The universe that this selection will go to is determined by what universe is selected in the top right hand corner Here there are 256 boxes that relate to the available universes Alternatively there is a text box that you can enter the number in automatically The current universe that you are in will make the associated box a solid colour whereas universes with data in will pulse to let you know they are active If you find yourself with many selections on one universe it can be difficult to know which selections go to which channels You can shift click on the artnet channels and this will automatically select the 34 corresponding placements It is important to note that Ai does not support wrapping of multiple universes for one selection If your selection would take up more than 512 channels then on the channel visualisation page it will flash red and will not output The data itself can be displayed in several ways in the LED Mapper with the options for these display methods being found in the right hand tool section The first option allows us to show or hide the channel numbers on the individual squares the second option lets you choose between 3 different ways to display the data vertical bars which
215. y 11 Darken 12 Screen 13 Subtract 14 200 Transitions 200 220 Colour Curves Aspect Aspect Mode O Letterbox 1 Crop 2 Mode Stretch 121 100 channel mode additional channels H Hue Adjust 0 255 Adjust Media Col ith H e e ae eee nnn 81 Saturati Saturation 0 255 0 127 Grey through to full on Adjust colour Adjust 128 255 full colour through to over saturated Contrast Contrast 0 127 low contrast through to Adjust Adjust no contrast adjust 128 255 no contrast adjust through to heavy contrast Colour Adjust gt 0 R G B Params 0 255 Multiply media Red channel by 0 100 1 R G B Params 0 127 multiply by 0 100 amp 128 255 adds colour into the channel 00 N 00 oO z E esm esm o OP S esm Custom o OO 97 esm esm o OP esm esm p CN IN s esm CN OPCS 91 92 EM EM EM EM EM le OO 122 Module Definitions This section lists the modules available in the Stage Patch screen or in any patch window within Ai These modules allow you to configure Ai to do just about anything you require The diagram on the next page categorises the modules which are available then the modules are each described in order The following is a list of Salvation modules organised by the category title as seen in the right click insert module menu 123 Audio Master Volume Adjust Licence level Anjuna Master volume djust 400 Volume Lewel
216. y modification of the model structure itself will not result in the loss of image integrity or placement of pixels the correct part of the image will stay on the correct face at all times 90 These two key properties of 3d models allow Ai to make use of realtime adjustment in the model without destroying the hard work of the content creators and can even allow for processes like morphing between models to be used particularly useful when working on projects which require moving stage elements to change shape or position during a show Once a model has been created and UV mapped it is generally possible to export what is known as a UV template quite simply this is a map of the screen shape laid flat across our texture area which gives an outline of all faces in use and can be passed onto content creators to then use this as a guide to where to place the graphics they are working on which can allow them to carry out complex image creation techniques such as perspective illusion and create impressive shows When creating your 3d screen model its worth considering a couple of things which can make your workflow easier and your project function more smoothly On the model itself its generally a good idea to delete any faces which will not be used For instance it is only possible for a person to see three sides of a cube and depending on your stage placement this could be true for a whole audience removing these unwanted faces will si
217. ze 64 64 I Format AGEA_ Wes T ex jie Mipmaps F Provides an off screen frame buffer for rendering GL primitives and outputs the result as a texture Must be merged into an active GL render path in order for processing to be perfomed Render To Texture Licence level Anjuna RenderToTexkure 256 Wager 256 Height In Size Mode Size Inpuk Duk Size Input Converts a Yellow render port into a green texture port On the GPU the render pipeline is rendered into a texture at the specified width and height or alternatively the dimensions can be set automatically by the dimensions of the incoming render by selecting the Auto Size mode option Rotate Licence level Anjuna Adjusts the rotation angle of the input GL primitives Scale Licence level Anjuna Scale Os Menez E Adjusts the scale zoom magnification of input GL primitives 150 TexMode Licence level Bondi Configures the mipmap bilinear and wrap modes of the input GPU texture TexRotate Licence level Bondi TexRok ake Mod Angle Adjusts the rotation of the input GPU texture TexScale Licence level Bondi Adjusts the scale zoom magnification of the input GPU texture TexTranslate Licence level Bondi TexTranslake TexTransla TexTranslakel 4 aT Sa Sa Sl o i o aoe YectorIn E Baa Ll Adjusts the position of the input GPU texture in 2D texture coordinate space Text

USER MANUAL

Contents

Download Pdf Manuals

Related Search

Related Contents