Hello!
As I go down the path of putting my VP studio together, I'm wondering if it's possible to have the lights in my Unreal scene through Aximmetry control my practical lights. For example if the sun moves from left to right in my Unreal scene, my practical lights mimic that automatically.
I've read what I can find about it here and in the documentation, but as I'm new to DMX lighting, it's still a bit confusing to me.
I have some DMX capable LED lights but what else do I need? A hardware controller? Would this work?
Thanks for any insight.
Hi,
What you have to do is simultaneosly control the following two from Aximmetry:
a) the lights in the Unreal scene by exposing the light parameters towards Aximmetry
b) you physical lights via DMX output.
a) You have to add a blueprint that can modify the light parameters in your Unreal project, then exposing these parameters via Get Aximmetry XXXX nodes, which will appear in Aximmetry as input pins. On this please consult:
https://aximmetry.com/wiki/index.php?title=How_to_install_and_work_with_the_Unreal_Engine_based_DE_edition#Passing_data_from_Aximmetry_to_Unreal
https://my.aximmetry.com/post/676-how-to-pass-spotlight-color-from-aximmetr
https://aximmetry.com/wiki/index.php?title=Passing_Transformation_from_the_Unreal_Scene
(The latter is for passing transformation)
Please do not forget to set you light actor to movable.
b) Please consult:
https://aximmetry.com/wiki/index.php?title=Control_lighting_equipment_via_DMX_ArtNet
Please note that you can only use DMX via ArtNet from Aximmetry. If your lighting equipment is not capable of ArtNet by themselves then you have to obtain some kind of ArtNet to DMX device or software,
Regarding the controlling:
If you need manual control then yes, you have to obtain a device similar to the one you linked. But it also has to be ArtNet capable.
For this case please consult:
https://aximmetry.com/wiki/index.php?title=Using_DMX_Artnet_to_control_a_scene
BUT: please note that any MIDI controller that has a bunch of faders and knobs is perfectly up to the task and it is a way cheaper solution.
You can also simply use a tablet or smartphone for control via softwares like TouchOSC which provide a custom control interface and can send either OSC or MIDI commands (both are supported in Aximmetry).
If you do not need manual control, then you can simply use Sequencer module in Aximmetry to automate transitions both for the Unreal lights and the DMX outputs.