Resolume Forum

I use Luminair (DMX over ArtNet) to control my compositions. Typically, I only use DMX channel 5 to control column triggering but on this upcoming show, I need to control transition times and blend modes for each cue (column trigger).

Unfortunately, the default value in Luminair when you set up a channel is 0 which is [Add] in transition blend mode since the blend modes are in alphabetical order. This forces me to reset these channels in every cue to get [Alpha] which is the default blend mode in Arena 4.

Is there a way to switch the order [Add] & [Alpha] in the list so that [Alpha] can be 0 and [Add] be 1?

The transition dropdown is populated alphabetically, based on the plugin names.

So there is no way to swap two plugins, not without rebuilding the plugins from source with a different name.

If you can live without Add for this project, you could just move the .dll / .bundle file out of the plugin directory. Then Alpha would be the first in the list.

Thanks Joris,

I guess if I can live without the Add blending mode, I can also start the DMX numbering at 1 instead of 0 in Luminair.

Is there a way to transfer a custom DMX map to another comp?

No, there's no easy way to do that.

Maybe you could put on your daring shoes and hack the .avc files and copy over the relevant parts of the XML?

Thanks Joris,

Daring shoes are on!

I made a couple of test .avc files and successfully transferred one channel of DMX from composition A (No DMX Test) to B (DMX Test) but I want to make sure I'm not missing anything.

The composition without DMX channel read:

<composition>
<settings name="No DMX Test" desc="">
<direction value="-1"/>
</settings>
<videoEngine/>
</composition>

And the composition with a DMX channel (DMX 5 assigned to Column Trigger) read:

<composition>
<settings name="DMX Test" desc="">
<connectTrack value="-1">
<dmxShortcut isContextual="0" path="" type="1" optionIndex="-1" loop="0" channel="4"
numChannels="1" universe="0" invertValue="0"/>
</connectTrack>
</settings>
<videoEngine/>
</composition>

And I replaced

<direction value="-1"/>

with

<connectTrack value="-1">
<dmxShortcut isContextual="0" path="" type="1" optionIndex="-1" loop="0" channel="4"
numChannels="1" universe="0" invertValue="0"/>

I'm looking at some of the more complex compositions I have in my archives and there seems to be one more line after <direction value>

<direction value="-1"/>
<speed curValue="1" defaultValue="1" startValue="0" stopValue="10"/>

I did remove these two lines before inserting:

<connectTrack value="-1">
<dmxShortcut isContextual="0" path="" type="1" optionIndex="-1" loop="0" channel="4"
numChannels="1" universe="0" invertValue="0"/>

and it seems to be working fine as well.

Is that the way?

Frederic

Almost
...this is the complete code that you should copy for the DMX shortcut. Notice the closing tag </connectTrack> on the end. From the top of my head, this is the shortcut for triggering column 1.

I would not remove any other entries, since those are saved in your comp for a reason. They will not interfere with your DMX map, as long as you make sure there are no double entries.

Thanks Joris,

So what you're saying is I don't even need to remove
but instead just add at the end
Is that right?

Yup.

Just make sure you don't have an entry for any of the already saved values in the block of DMX shortcuts that you're copying ( in your case <direction> and <speed> )

Then you should replace them with the version that has the DMX info.

So for instance if I assign a DMX channel to <direction> & <speed> then I'd remove these lines as well to avoid conflicts, right?

Correct-a-mundo