Visual Productions B -STATION1 Manual
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Visual Productions B -STATION1 Manual

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B -S TATI ON 1
MAN UAL
©
V I S U A L P R O D U C T I O N S B V
W W W . V I S U A L P R O D U C T I O N S . N L

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Summary of Contents for Visual Productions B -STATION1

  • Page 1 B -S TATI ON 1 MAN UAL © V I S U A L P R O D U C T I O N S B V W W W . V I S U A L P R O D U C T I O N S . N L...
  • Page 2 Revision History Revision Date Author(s) Description 02.03.2016 Update. 27.11.2017 Added: API appendix added. placed VisualTouch info by Kiosc. 07.06.2018 Updated vManager chapter to reflect app-store distribution. Moved major- ity of Kiosc information to a dedicated Kiosc manual. Added API feedback. 08.07.2020 Superseded by B-Station2.

  • Page 3: Table Of Contents

    Contents 1 Introduction 2 Protocols 3 Quickstart 4 Setting up 5 Network 6 Patch 7 Cuelist 8 Show Control 9 Monitors 10 Settings 11 vManager 12 Kiosc Appendices A Trigger Types B Task Types C Templates D API...
  • Page 4 2020 Visual Productions BV. All rights reserved. No parts of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any means - graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or infor- mation storage and retrieval systems - without the written permission of the publisher.
  • Page 5 Declaration of Conformity We, manufacturer Visual Productions BV, herby declare under sole responsibility, that the following device: B-Station Is in conformity with the following EC Directives, including all amendments: EMC Directive 2004/108/EG And the following harmonized standards have been applied:...

  • Page 6: Introduction

    Chapter 1 Introduction Thank you for choosing the B-Station1. The B-Station1 is a solid-state con- troller designed for two purposes. Firstly, for remote-controlling a lighting system like CueCore or CueluxPro. The buttons can be freely assigned to any function in the lighting controller, e.g. select a cue or start/stop a show.
  • Page 7 Figure 1.1: B-Station1 Patching fixtures (discussed in chapter 6) Creating cues (discussed in chapter 7) Assigning buttons to trigger the cues (discussed in chapter 8) Features The feature set of the B-Station1 includes: 6 user-assignable push-buttons PWM controlled white LEDs Ethernet based, supporting protocols like UDP, OSC and Art-Net DMX-512 output Web-based user-interface for programming...
  • Page 8 B-Station1 4 label sheets Figure 1.2: B-Station1 box contents Saving data to memory This manual will describe how to configure the B-Station1 and program cuelists, action, etc. The unit’s web-interface is used for editing these kinds of elements. When changes are made, these changes are directly stored in the RAM memory of the B-Station1 and the programming will directly influence the behaviour of the unit.

  • Page 9: Protocols

    Further- more, a DMX-512 cable should not be longer than 300 meters. The DIN Rail RdmSplitter from Visual Productions (See figure 2.1) helps tackle those inconvenient limitations. The Splitter takes a DMX signal and sends it out again on its 6 DMX output ports for scaling group topology.
  • Page 10 OSC uses the network to send and receive messages, it can contain various information. There are apps available for creating custom-made user interfaces on iOS (iPod, iPhone, iPad) and Android. These tools allow to program fool-proof user- interfaces for controlling the device. E.g. Kiosc from Visual Productions.
  • Page 11 There are two ways how to have the B-Station1 respond to incoming OSC messages. Firstly, the API (see page 60) makes typical B-Station1 functions available through OSC. Secondly, custom messages can be programmed in the Show Control page (see page 26).

  • Page 12: Quickstart

    Chapter 3 Quickstart This chapter provides step by step tutorials on how to program your B-Station1 for some typical tasks: Remote control the playbacks in a CueCore 2 Standalone control of a RGB fixture Remote control the playbacks in CueCore2 This tutorial shows how to use the B-Station1 to remote the CueCore2.
  • Page 13 3. Prepare the CueCore2 Make sure the CueCore2 has six cues inside playback 1. Each cues should refer to a track with a certain lighting scene. Also, its OSC ’In port’ should be set to 8000. Please refer to the CueCore2’s manual for more information.
  • Page 14 Standalone control of a RGB fixture This example will patch one RGB fixture, create a cuelist with three cues and assign buttons to those cues. Please take the following steps: 1. Setup power and network Connect the B-Station1 and the computer to a PoE capable network switch.
  • Page 15 3. Prepare cuelist Go to the Cuelist page and select the first cuelist. Enable the checkbox on fixture 1. Make sure the cuelist has three cues. 4. Program cues Press the Go+ button to activate the cuelist. Select cue 1. Select fixture 1.
  • Page 16 5. Assign buttons Go to the ’Show control’ page. Add the ’Buttons - 6 Cues’ template. Pressing the buttons 1 till 3 will now activate cues 1 till 3. The button’s LEDs will indicate which cue is active.

  • Page 17: Setting Up

    Chapter 4 Setting up This chapter discusses how to set up the B-Station1. Mounting The B-Station is wall-mount, it is compatible with European and American gang boxes. If no gang box is available then the B-Station can also be surface mounted.
  • Page 18 Figure 4.1: Label dimensions...

  • Page 19: Network

    Chapter 5 Network The B-Station1 is a network capable device. A network connection between between a computer and the unit is required to configure and program the B-Station1, however, once the device is programmed then it is not necessary anymore for the B-Station1 to be connected to an Ethernet network. There are multiple arrangements possible for connecting the computer and the B-Station1.
  • Page 20 IP Address The B-Station1 only supports static IP addresses. By default, the B-Station1 is set to 192.168.1.10. There are three ways to change the IP address setting of the B-Station1. vManager can be used to detect a B-Station1 on the network. Once found, the vManager software (figure ??) allows for changing the IP ad- dress and subnet mask.
  • Page 21 forwarding is not secure, since anybody could access the B-Station1 this way. Accessing via a Virtual Private Network (VPN) tunnel requires more setup efforts, also the router needs to support the VPN feature. Once set up, this is a very secure way to communicate with the B-Station1. A VPN is a network technology that creates a secure network connection over a public network such as the Internet or a private network owned by a service provider.

  • Page 22: Patch

    Chapter 6 Patch The Patch page (see figure 6.1) allows you to setup the fixtures that you will be controlling in the standalone mode. Figure 6.1: Patch page There are 32 fixture slots available. For each fixture you can set a ’personal- ity’...
  • Page 23 Intensity Green Blue Amber White Special To keep a fixture slot empty, set it to the ’Not used’ personality. Virtual Dimmer Personalities with RGB but without Intensity will automatically be given an virtual dimmer. This means that the B-Station1 will act as if the fixture has an intensity channel and allows for RGB and intensity to be programmed sep- arately, however, it will modulate the intensity on the RGB values.

  • Page 24: Cuelist

    Chapter 7 Cuelist Cuelists are only needed for standalone operation. After patching the fixtures the next step is to program the cuelists. There are six cuelists and each cuelist can have up to 128 cues. The cuelist web-page (see figure 7.1) shows the content of the selected cue.
  • Page 25 Zones For each cuelist you can define which fixtures are present in that cuelist. When you have the cuelist selected, you can alter the fixture’s checkboxes to include them in the cuelist. This way you can create six different zones: you spread the fixtures over different cuelists.

  • Page 26: Show Control

    Chapter 8 Show Control The B-Station1 can interact with the outside world; it can receive messages and values through various protocols and it can send out many protocols. It is possible to automate the B-Station1 by having it respond automatically to incoming signals.
  • Page 27 The Show Control page presents a system of ’actions’. A signal that the B- Station1 needs to respond to or perhaps convert into some other signal, needs to be expressed in an actions. Before programming actions please consider the Show Control structure in figure 8.2. Figure 8.2: Show Control structure The B-Station1 is capable of listening to various protocols.
  • Page 28 Source Description Art-Net Art-Net DMX data Button Button movements Cuelist 1-6 Events generated by the cuelists Fixture Events generated by the fixtures OSC network message System Events such as ’Power on’ Touch Screen Triggers from Kiosc. For each Action various controls can be chosen such as buttons and sliders, colour picker etc.
  • Page 29 trigger-value could be set to ’channel 1’ or ’channel 2’. In some action-lists actions do also need to specify the trigger-flank. The flank further specifies the value that the signal should have before triggering the action. For example, when an action is triggered from a Touch Screen list and it is linked to a button in the Kiosc software, the flank will determine whether to trigger only when the button goes down or only when it goes up.
  • Page 30 Variables Variables are internal memories that can hold a value; a number in the range of [0,255]. There are 8 variables and they are typically used for advanced show control programming. In the B-Station1, the content of the variable is not stored between power cycles.

  • Page 31: Monitors

    Chapter 9 Monitors This page allows the user to inspect the incoming and outgoing data, both DMX-type data (See figure 9.1) as well as control messages (See figure 9.2). Monitoring incoming and outgoing data can help the user troubleshoot during programming.
  • Page 32 Figure 9.1: DMX Monitor page Figure 9.2: UDP Monitor page...

  • Page 33: Settings

    Chapter 10 Settings The B-Station1’s settings are organised into sections, see the Settings page figure 10.1. This chapter will discuss each section. Figure 10.1: Settings page 10.1 General You can change the B-Station1’s label. This label can be used to distinguish the unit in a set-up with multiple devices.
  • Page 34 Figure 10.2: General Settings 10.2 The IP fields are for setting up the IP address and subnet mask of the B- Station1. The ’Router’ field is only required when Port Forwarding is used. Figure 10.3: IP Settings 10.3 External equipment sending OSC messages to the B-Station1 need to be aware of the number specified in the ’Port’...
  • Page 35 Figure 10.4: OSC Settings dress:port’ format in these fields, e.g. ”192.168.1.11:9000”. If a field should not be used that it can be filled with IP 0.0.0.0:0. It is possible to enter a broadcast IP address like 192.168.1.255 in order to reach more than four recipients. 10.4 Defines the listening ports for UDP messages.
  • Page 36 10.5 Art-Net The B-Station1 supports sending out 1 universe or and receiving 1 universe of Art-Net. These universes can be mapped to any of the 256 available universes in the Art-Net protocol. The universe is entered in the ’subnet.universe’ format, i.e.

  • Page 37: Vmanager

    Chapter 11 vManager A free-of-charge software tool called vManager has been developed to manage the devices. vManager allows for: Setup the IP address, subnet mask, router and DHCP Backup and restore the device’s internal data and settings Perform firmware upgrades Identify a specific device (in a multi device set-up) by blinking its LED Revert to factory defaults Figure 11.1: vManager...
  • Page 38 11.1 Backup Backups of all the programming data inside the device can be made. This backup file (an XML) is saved on the computer’s hard-disk and can be easily transferred via e-mail or USB stick. The data of the backup can be restored via the Restore button.
  • Page 39 The computer’s date and time can be quickly copied to the unit by selecting a device and clicking the Set Date & Time button. Not all Visual Productions devices feature an internal real-time clock. The B-Station1 does not have such a RTC.
  • Page 40 11.7.2 Android vManager can be found on the Google Play store at https://play.google. com/store/apps/details?id=org.visualproductions.manager. Android 5.0 or higher is required. 11.7.3 Windows Visit the Microsoft store at https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/vmanager/ 9nblggh4s758. Windows 10 is required. 11.7.4 macOS Visit the Apple macOS app store at https://apps.apple.com/us/app/vmanager/ id1074004019.

  • Page 41: Kiosc

    Kiosc Kiosc is an application for creating custom touch screen user-interfaces for the range of lighting controllers from Visual Productions. Kiosc is designed to have no editing capability, making it a fool-proof interface that can safely be presented to non-technical operators.
  • Page 42 Kiosc is available as software app and as a physical product. The hardware version of Kiosc is a wall-mount 7” touch screen with Kiosc pre-installed. It is powered by PoE and requires only a RJ-45 connection. Figure 12.2: Kiosc Please read the Kiosc manual, available from http://www.visualproductions. nl/downloads for more details.

  • Page 43: Appendices

    Appendices...

  • Page 44: A Trigger Types

    Appendix A Trigger Types The following tables list the different types of triggers that can be used in the B-Station1. The different types are accompanied with values and flanks. Art-Net Trigger Type Trigger Value Flank Description Channel DMX address Change Channel changes Channel DMX address...
  • Page 45 Button Trigger Type Trigger Value Flank Description Button Button number Change Button state changes Button Button number Down Button is depressed Button Button number Button is released Toggle Button number Down Internal latching state of button becomes ’on’. Toggle Button number Internal latching state of button becomes ’off’.
  • Page 46 Cuelist 1-6 Trigger Type Trigger Value Flank Description Active Change Cuelist active state changes Active Down Cuelist became active Active Cuelist was released Cue index Change Cue active state changes Cue index Down Cue became active Cue index Cue exited CueIndex Notifies the cue index number Intensity...
  • Page 47 When editing the Touch Screen actionlist it will be possible to add different kind of actions such as Button, Fader and Colour Picker. These elements will be displayed in the Kiosc software which is available from Visual Productions. Trigger Type...
  • Page 48 Variable Trigger Type Trigger Value Flank Description Channel Variable Index The specified variable changes Variable 1 Number [0,255] Change Variable 1 becomes = or # to the value Variable 1 Number [0,255] Down Variable 1 becomes = to the value Variable 1 Number [0,255] Variable 1 becomes # to the value...
  • Page 49 A.10 Timer Trigger Type Trigger Value Flank Description Timer Index Change The timer starts or stops Timer Index Stop The timer stops Timer Index Start The timer starts A.11 User List (1-4) User lists have no triggers. Actions inside user lists can only be activated by other actions through ’Action’...

  • Page 50: B Task Types

    Appendix B Task Types Tasks allow you to automate the functionality in the B-Station1. All this func- tionality is categorized in task-types. This appendix provides a listing of the various task-types. The tables present an overview of all available features and functions per task-type.
  • Page 51 Button Force the Button actions to be triggered. Feature Function Parameter 1 Parameter 2 Refresh Cuelist 1-6 Manipulate one of the six cuelists. Feature Function Parameter 1 Parameter 2 Jump Cue [1,128] Jump Control Intensity Percentage [0%,100%] Intensity Control Intensity Decrement Delta [1,255] Intensity...
  • Page 52 Feature Function Parameter 1 Parameter 2 Jump Cue [1,128] Jump Control Intensity Percentage [0%,100%] Intensity Control Intensity Decrement Delta [1,255] Intensity Increment Delta [1,255] Intensity Continuous decrement Delta [1,255] Intensity Continuous increment Delta [1,255] Intensity Stop continuous Release Playstate On or off Playstate Toggle Playstate...
  • Page 53 Manipulate the DMX levels. These are the levels that can also be send out via Art-Net. Feature Function Parameter 1 Parameter 2 Set Value Channel [1,512] Value [0,255] Set Value Toggle Channel [1,512] Set Value Control Channel [1,512] Set Value Inverted Control Channel [1,512] Set Value...
  • Page 54 Feature Function Parameter 1 Parameter 2 Intensity Fixture [1,32] Percentage [0%,100%] Intensity Control Fixture [1,32] Intensity Decrement Fixture [1,32] Delta [1,255] Intensity Increment Fixture [1,32] Delta [1,255] Colour Fixture [1,32] Colour Colour Control Fixture [1,32] White Fixture [1,32] Percentage [0%,100%] White Control Fixture [1,32]...
  • Page 55 Feature Function Parameter 1 Parameter 2 Intensity LED [1,6] Percentage [0%,100%] Intensity Toggle LED [1,6] Intensity Control LED [1,6] Intensity Decrement LED [1,6] Delta [1,255] Intensity Increment LED [1,6] Delta [1,255] Intensity Fade in 0.3s LED [1,6] Percentage [0%,100%] Intensity Fade in 1s LED [1,6] Percentage [0%,100%]...
  • Page 56 Feature Function Parameter 1 Parameter 2 Send floating point number Send Control Send Float floating point number Send Float Control Send Unsigned positive number Send Unsigned Control Send Bool true or false Send Bool Control Send String String of characters Send String Control Colour...
  • Page 57 When the Send String Hex feature is set to ’control’ function then it will send the string plus the control value. The control value will be represented as a hex string. The Send Bytes features allows for sending ASCII codes. For example, in order to send the string ’Visual’...

  • Page 58: C Templates

    Appendix C Templates This appendix discusses the templates provided in the Show Control page.
  • Page 59 Template Description Buttons - 6 Cues Each button will jump one of the first six cues inside playback 1. The LEDs will indicate which cue is active. Playback 1 should contain at least six cues. Buttons - 1 Cuelist All buttons are used to control playback 1. There are buttons for Go+, Go-, Release, Intensity++, Intensity–, etc.

  • Page 60: D Api

    Appendix D The B-Station1 is pre-programmed to make its internal functionality available via OSC, TCP, UDP and HTTP. There is a simple API implemented for each protocol. Notwithstanding these API’s, it is possible to create your own OSC, TCP and UDP implementation in the Show Control page. The following table uses playback #1 as an example.
  • Page 61 Parameter Description /core/tm/1/start Start timer #1 /core/tm/1/stop Stop timer #1 /core/tm/1/restart Restart timer #1 /core/tm/1/pause Pause timer #1 /core/tm/1/set time-string Set timer #1 at the time-string The following table uses variable #1 as an example. The number ’1’ can be replaced by any number in the range of [1,8].
  • Page 62 String Description core-pb-1-go+ Jump to the next cue in playback #1 core-pb-1-go- Jump to the previous cue in playback #1 core-pb-1-release Release the playback core-pb-1-intensity= float Set the playback’s intensity core-pb-release Release all playbacks The following table uses actionlist #1 as an example. The number ’1’ can be replaced by any number in the range of [1,8].
  • Page 63 Index vManager, 36, 37 Kiosc, 28, 41, 47 16-Bit, 23 Label, 23 Action, 27, 28 Loop, 25 Action list, 27 LTP, 25 Actionlist, 27 macOS, 40 Address, 23 Memory, 8 Android, 40 Monitor, 31 API, 60 Art-Net, 10, 36 OSC, 10, 34, 46, 60 Auto-sensing, 19 Patch, 22 Backup, 38...
  • Page 64 Tutorial, 12 Ubuntu, 40 UDP, 10, 35, 47, 61 URI, 46 User List, 28, 49 Variable, 48 Variables, 30, 57 Virtual Dimmer, 23 VPN, 20 Windows, 40 Zones, 25...

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