Jump to content

DMX Camera Troubles


Recommended Posts

I've been playing around with the DMX cameras, particularly the new Absolute Camera and have run into some issues.  The major one, and it's currently making the absolute camera unusable for me, is that slow movement appears really "steppy."  I'm attaching a video showing a 30 second complex camera movement (slow dolly in, pan down, tilt up) and the camera appers to be "bouncing."  I suspect that this is being caused by the DMX parameters for the absolute camera being 32-bit parameters, which my console (ETC Eos) does not support.  I think the only lighting console at the moment that supports 32-bit parameters is the MA3.

 

 

So I'm back to using the relative camera for now, which is a hugely laborious process to program since it involves a ton of trial and error to get the camera to land where you want it to when doing complex maneuvers.

 

I've also noticed some inaccuracies in the Vision help file regarding relative cameras.

  1. Speaking of the Eos, the fixture profile for the Vision relative camera is functionally useless.  I don't know if you guys built the profile or if ETC did, but relegating the camera activation to a Control parameter means that I can't activate a camera with a cue without using a macro.  The ranges are also pretty far off and don't have an easy way of getting to the "dead" zone at the middle of each parameter (49-51%).  The parameters all home to 100%, so you have to go through the entire upper range at high movement to get to the dead zone in between.  Not ideal.  Also, camera orbit should not be in the Shutter encoder group.  I opted to build my own profile and in the process, discovered some things.
  2. When listing ranges, especially for 16-bit parameters, you should list the actual DMX output rather than the percentage.  For example, the documentation for Pan Vert lists ranges 1-48 to be Pan Down.  Actual movement occurs at DMX 31680, which is 48.34%.  It may seem small, but that means that if you set the parameter to a straight 48% (DMX 31456) as the documentation states, you're well into a pan move already rather than on the cusp of one.
  3. The ranges listed for Pan Left and Pan Right are backward.  1-48 pans right, 51-99 pans left.
  4. The ranges listed for Orbit Up and Orbit down are backward (assuming we're talking about orbiting the camera downward.  If we're talking about orbiting the view, then Orbit Left and Orbit Right are backward).
  5. The ranges listed for Zoom In and Zoom Out are backward.  1-48 zooms out, 52-99 zooms in.
Link to comment
  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee
On 4/10/2021 at 5:59 PM, Jesse Cogswell said:

I've been playing around with the DMX cameras, particularly the new Absolute Camera and have run into some issues.  The major one, and it's currently making the absolute camera unusable for me, is that slow movement appears really "steppy."  I'm attaching a video showing a 30 second complex camera movement (slow dolly in, pan down, tilt up) and the camera appers to be "bouncing."  I suspect that this is being caused by the DMX parameters for the absolute camera being 32-bit parameters, which my console (ETC Eos) does not support.

Just to be clear, the parameters are 24bit (coarse/fine/ultra), not 32bit (coarse/fine/ultra/uber). It may very well be that this misunderstanding is what is causing the "steppy"ness. I feel our absolute cameras are much more "granular" than our relative ones, fwiw.

 

On 4/10/2021 at 5:59 PM, Jesse Cogswell said:

So I'm back to using the relative camera for now, which is a hugely laborious process to program since it involves a ton of trial and error to get the camera to land where you want it to when doing complex maneuvers.

Yea, I hope we can get the absolute cameras working for you! The are a big improvement.

 

On 4/10/2021 at 5:59 PM, Jesse Cogswell said:

I've also noticed some inaccuracies in the Vision help file regarding relative cameras.

And thank you for all of your feedback regarding the relative cameras! I will work with our team on correcting any issues with the DMX Sheet and discuss adding additional columns for the reasons you have provided. If you wanted to share your profile, we could take a look at how you did things!

Link to comment
  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

We did not make the fixture profiles for EOS. Not sure who did.

I pulled up the profile, it looks like an old profile because there is not "Dead" space at the bottom or middle of the range.

The ETC profile lists only 3 ranges from 0-31794 (0 to -270), 31795-64886 (0 to 270)  and 64886-65535 (Off)

(Zoom looks right but all the other ones look incorrect.)

 

There should be 5 ranges:

0-0288h

0289h-7C32h (0 to -270)

7C33h-83CCh

83CDh-FD78h (0 to 270)

FD77h-FFFFh;

If you edit the profile you should be able to use the relative camera.

(You should be able to copy the range values from the zoom parameter.)

 

EOS is limited to a 16bit parameter. It's more work but to get the control you need you can just use 3-8bit parameters or 1-8bit and 1-16bit. This will give you full control. Depending on the size of your scene and the level of control you need may determine if the 16bit parameters need the be the MSB or the LSB.

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...