Bruce - Although LCNC could be made to do "work", as a theatrical lighting designer by trade, I'd lean towards using DMX control technologies - and there are plenty of hackable devices out there that can work. True, a custom PIC solution would be quite satisfactory, but then the asset would be strictly tuned for that production. Some years ago it would have been rather difficult to do this at all at the high school level, (price prohibitive), but you can probably do this now within a very reasonable budget. Budget $$$ of course depend on what you're willing to trade for time and development - if your engineer is discounting his dev time, that may be the less costly.
But here's a thought (for discussion, it's certainly not the only one!) - if you don't have a lighting console already for your stage lighting, there are "openDMX" compatible devices for <$100 you can use open/low/no-cost software on a laptop or recycled PC to drive. This can get you a [very capable] lighting console, even if it just runs the effects cues. (As an "old-school" designer, unless you have a top-shelf console, I'd recommend keeping effects separate from main stage lighting, anyway). Regardless, you program and execute sequences of cues on the PC, it spits out a DMX signal, and you then run it to the chandelier, either across 3-pin mic cable (easy) or even wireless if you wish. Check out http://www.chamsys.co.uk and enttec.com for inspiration - I actually use a ChamSys MagicQ system on my laptop in live production, it's quite pro-level capable, not just a toy! (I also use GrandMA's and Hogs, but that's another discussion entirely). On the set piece, you mention LED pods, spark emitters and the shake table. And a 12v battery. Do you plan on keeping the power on-board the set piece? Growing up in Toronto, I'm rather familiar with the use of the chand in Phantom, (it had only occasional use) so you may get away with something smaller than a car battery on board, but your run time will be limited. If you want the lighting to be "often on" you may be looking at either stage-side power or more batteries on board. There are plenty of purpose-built and aftermarket DMX-LED drivers or DMX-Relay drivers out there - these would easily take care of the lighting and sparkers. The only "safe" sparkers that come to mind were carbide wheels; these are small motors with a carbide wheel and a flint attached - akin to the sparking mech on a lighter, but bigger - and I cannot for the life of me remember who used to make them commercially. I do recall they took 6-24vdc input natively and it was just a set-and-forget kind of thing. A jacobs or kelvin-type sparker (high voltage based) may not be "approved" by your school board. :-( A google search may turn up plans or inspiration to make some. Being Halloween season, it may be an opportunity...look for fun house / haunted house supplies... You don't mention where you're based, but here's two companies I deal with on a regular basis: http://www.northlightdmx.com/ and http://www.bpesolutions.com/dmxproduct.html (some of their products actually overlap). If you do a search for "DMX decoder" on aliexpress.com you will find all sorts of asian-based suppliers you can purchase similar items from rather inexpensively and in low quantities. The tradeoff is typically shipping time. (I like Ray Wu / Shenzhen Rita Tech, but there's lots of good suppliers). Your engineering support may be best utilized in developing the mech to operate the shake table on the chand; speed and mass together usually demand higher energies, so you will likely have to get creative with how you generate that action; while a linear actuator or heavy duty r/c servo may be mechanically simpler, it may not get you the action you need. You may have to develop a dc motor with a cam/arm assembly to "make it believable". (I noted these three devices specifically as there are DMX-"these things" drivers commercially available off-the-shelf.) IF you need the wireless experience, the cost of 2.4ghz wireless DMX "icicles" has come down to very reasonable levels - and in your environment, I'd have no problem [using] wireless for automation control (it's described as a known non-human-interaction space, and you can have additional channels or even a car-remote deadman switch for the automation if you want to get creative, so a robust safety protocol could be implemented very easily). The devices I use on a regular basis are these: http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-shipping-global-free-license-2-4GHz-frequency-band-Wireless-DMX-Controller-LED-Lighting-Transmitter-Receiver/942073006.html Here is where I do responsibly recommend going at this automation task with safety, safety, safety in mind. I'll even do pyro over DMX, but it's not just a "fire" channel - typically there's a prefire sequence, an arming enable and then the fire - if any of these get missed, the device does not fire. In many cases it's like a combination lock; two channels need to be on with one off, then the arming channel is turned on, then the fire channel is engaged. That's 5 channels, but it's the best use of channels I've had when more intelligent pyro controllers are not available. On easier things like confetti cannons, for instance, an arming and a fire channel are really all that's necessary - only when both channels are on does something happen - they don't need to be consecutive, just kept mentally separate (example with the confetti cannon: the fire was an r/c servo on a cam to engage the trigger, but the arm channel was actually a relay that controlled the power to the servo. If "fire" was triggered nothing would happen. Arm and fire had to happen for it to go off.) These methods typically preclude an operator from accidentally triggering a device by mis-programming or being in the wrong mode, as well as lost or noisy signals generating false control data, and to act as a hands-off when techs are preparing or loading the devices. It is amazing how often a single effect channel (like fog) accidentally gets included in a cue or a chase due to a typo.... Regardless of which path you take, it will be important to set time aside to "play" - whether that be learning a lighting console, or debugging timing on your PIC device. Consider the amount of time or need to implement cue changes - a PC on the ground may be more comfortable to make late changes or experiments with than having to break out the PIC programmer.... As one last sell point, the DMX modules you'd get would be rather generic - that means you have a generic asset that could be used in the future. I don't want to undersell the potential experience of the students getting involved in the electronics of developing on a PIC, but you may get better response from the budget folks if you can develop and teach a theatre-centric technology experience. Regards, Ted. On 10/15/2013 10:32 PM, emc-users-requ...@lists.sourceforge.net wrote: > Subject: [Emc-users] OT, Pic controller? needed for high school play > To: "Enhanced Machine Controller \(EMC\)" > <emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net> > Message-ID: > <1381876486.79370.yahoomailba...@web140506.mail.bf1.yahoo.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > > I need help > > First let me say i know zero about controllers. > > I am building the chandelier for the high schools performance of Phantom of > the Opera. > I need to remotely control the lights, two actuators and some spark emitters. > The chandelier will sit on the stage all crumpled up as the play starts it > will slowly raise and the lights will flicker and all come to life as the > chandelier reaches is apex. > Later in the play we will lower the chandelier a few feet and shake it with > the actuators, flicker some of the lights and set off the spark emitters. > > Everything need to run off a 12 volt battery. > There are: > 48 LED globes. > Some types of spark emitters, not sure what I am using yet, don't want to set > of the smoke alarms > Some type of linear actuator to pull two tiers of the chandelier together to > shake it. Open to suggestions. > Run everything but the winch, remotely. > > I'm told I need a pic controller for this and the engineer where I work says > he'll put it all together and program it, but I need to find it and buy it > first. > > Any help I can get on this will be greatly appreciated. > Bruce > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ October Webinars: Code for Performance Free Intel webinars can help you accelerate application performance. Explore tips for MPI, OpenMP, advanced profiling, and more. Get the most from the latest Intel processors and coprocessors. See abstracts and register > http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=60135031&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
