DMX Cameras basics

[Tomas Lohin]

Hello,

I'm struggling with basic understanding how Cameras in Vision work. I Can't find any settings for cameras in Vision. Only thing I can do is to set DMX Controls and patch cameras, but I have no idea how to have them in my file in the first place.

Thanks

[bbudzon]

Cameras have two forms of control. One is your basic settings like Exposure, Brightness, Contrast, FOV, etc. I don't think this is what you are asking about. The second is camera position and orientation via DMX. I think this is what you'd like more information on.

 

My suggestion is that you ignore the relative cameras. I never liked how they worked, it is hard to explain, and they just take a lot of work to understand. They were kept for legacy reasons. Although you might argue they are better at certain things, these are advanced topics that you should only tackle once the other DMX camera controls are better understood.

 

I would suggest you learn and use the absolute DMX camera. There is some documentation here which also shows how the profile needs to be setup on the console. Each feature is 24bits (ie; 3 channels, one for coarse, one for fine, and one for ultra fine control).

https://app-help.vectorworks.net/2023/Vision/2023_Vision/Vision/DMX_control_of_the_Absolute_camera.htm

 

The absolute camera is quite straight forward in my opinion. Once it is patched, it takes over all camera controls in Vision (ie; you can no longer use navigation tools). It allows the camera to move in a bounding cube that is +/- 1000 meters in any direction. So, a DMX value of 0% on the X axis will place the camera at -1000m X, a DMX value of 50% on the X axis will place the camera at the X origin, and a value of 100% on the X axis will place the camera at +1000m X. You can combine X, Y, and Z movement to get the camera positioned where ever you like. DMX values of 50% for X, Y, and Z position will place the camera at the origin, which should be your starting point. Because this is all handled via DMX, you can save and recall cues on your console to "jump" to different positions in the scene. This camera mode also allows the camera to pan/tilt from -720 to +720 degrees via DMX, and you can even control FOV through DMX with this mode.

 

I hope this helps!

[Tomas Lohin]

This helps!

There is just weird behaviour of MA. When I set Pan/Tilt values and then adjust XYZ, P/T immediately returns to its default values. I believe it is not Vectorworks issue.

 

thank you

[bbudzon]

13 hours ago, Tomas Lohin said:

This helps!

There is just weird behaviour of MA. When I set Pan/Tilt values and then adjust XYZ, P/T immediately returns to its default values. I believe it is not Vectorworks issue.

 

thank you

There are a lot of MA users on our forums, I believe. Hopefully, someone can chime in and maybe help you figure this issue out!