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Quicktime triggered automation
This is probably not the right forum but I’m stumped where I might find this so please re-direct me if there is a better one.
A client wants me to shoot a video clip of an actor for a museum. The quicktime movie would be played back on a monitor in the museum and as the actor hits key words in the script, they want to trigger lights turning on to historical objects around the monitor.
They video part is easy, I have no idea if the other part is possible. Are there usb controllers or midi sequencers that might do this type of thing?
I’m assuming that markers in the timeline would help the process but don’t know if they can trigger lights as opposed to URL’s.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Jim McNally
The Commercial Factory
http://www.commercialfactory.com -
8 Replies
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I will say maybe with ableton Live, running a similar timecode …. midi interface going out of the computer to trigger some lights. Find a ligth guy who can direct you towards a ligthing console that could be automate with a computer, i m sure it exist, there may be also some application virtualizing that. Then Live or Max/msp to send the midi signal to this special interface. I ve never done that , i m just brainstorming as i write. May be a more direct solution … ?
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What you’re looking to do is called “show control,” and there are a couple different ways to do this.
You could have your lighting controller fire off timecode, and have your playback device follow the timecode, or you could have a playback system fire off the lighting cues. Either way, the idea is to synchronize the lighting cues and the media to a common timecode. Theatrical lighting systems use a protocol called DMX, so if you choose the latter option, your playback system must interface with DMX.
More complicated systems use software like Medialon to synchronize and control multiple subsystems.
Dataton’s Watchout is pretty common in installs like this, since Dataton has been doing automation like this for years. There are other options, too, like Wings or a media server.
Some important considerations might be what playback systems the museum already has familiarity with, and what lighting systems they already own. You might consider hiring a professional lighting designer to help with the lighting and automation.
Walter Soyka, Principal
Keen Live, Inc.
Presentation, Motion Graphics & Widescreen Design
RenderBreak: A Blog on Innovation in Production -
Thank you for the suggestions, I’ll look into these further.
Jim McNally
The Commercial Factory
http://www.commercialfactory.com -
exactly- I normally stripe a layer as my cue in Watchout 3 and using timecode, spit it out to the lighting console (using a grand ma) to chase. All the cues are then written to specific times. I use a MAudio Uno to go from USB to midi for the console connection.
With Watchout 4, you can spit commands out via artnet making this even easier.
Medialon would make it much more flexible but adds a layer of complexity and additional costs.
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These are great suggestions for larger scale lighting plans. This installation is for a museum and for a portion of the exhibit. The lights would be low wattage bulbs inside shadow boxes which would illuminate the object inside. Is there anything that would work for something of this nature?
Jim McNally
The Commercial Factory
http://www.commercialfactory.com -
sure, you could take midi control off of the unit playing back the quicktime file and use the midi signals to control the lights. The low voltage stuff could be run from “DJ” style or architectural control products. or you could choose to use usb to dmx and do the same…really gets down to just how you want to engineer the product and how much money you want to spend.
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Hi Jim,
Suggest that you re-ask your question at Show-Control Group
where the manufacturers, designers and boffins of Show Control and some lighting people are gathered. One or more of them may have something for you off the shelf and not expensive, or they can whip up something to your requirements.Thomas Leong
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