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Related Manuals for Elation DMX 101
Summary of Contents for Elation DMX 101
- Page 1 DMX 101: A DMX 512 HANDBOOK...
- Page 2 DMX 101: A DMX 512 Handbook Handbook Revision: May 2008 Elation Professional ®...
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Page 3: Table Of Contents
Table of Contents Introduction to DMX ............................4 Industry Standards ............................5 USITT ..............................5 ESTA ..............................5 ANSI ............................... 6 EIA/TIA ..............................6 References............................... 6 Theory of Operation............................7 The Cable TV Analogy........................... 8 DMX Communications......................... 11 Summary ............................... 13 Protocol Specifications .......................... -
Page 4: Introduction To Dmx
512 available channels. Many professional control consoles (such as the 3 universe, 1536 channel Elation Show Designer 3) support multiple universes, allowing for thousands of control channels. The topics this handbook will cover are: • Industry Standards • Theory of Operation • Protocol Specifications • Sample Applications Elation Professional ®... -
Page 5: Industry Standards
2. Industry Standards About 20 years ago, most manufacturers used their own, proprietary control protocols. This forced system designers to use only fixtures and control consoles from the same manufacturer. There was no control standard to allow the use of different products. A standard is a set of widely agreed-upon guidelines for interoperability at both communications and mechanical levels. -
Page 6: Ansi
The EIA is composed of several subgroups including the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA). The EIA/TIA-485 standard is the communication basis for DMX 512. 2.5 References For more information on any of these organizations or standards, visit their websites: • www.usitt.org • www.esta.org • www.ansi.org • www.eia.org Elation Professional ®... -
Page 7: Theory Of Operation
3. Theory of Operation DMX 512 is an asynchronous serial digital data protocol. While that might mean something to an engineer, most people are not familiar with how all this techno-gibberish actually accomplishes lighting control. This section will attempt to explain how DMX operates in a simplified and easy-to-understand manner. The topics this section will cover are: •... -
Page 8: The Cable Tv Analogy
Decoder, usually a cable TV box or similar device. The Decoder is able to separate all the channels from one mixed signal, and send only the desired channel to the TV (channel 001, in this example), ignoring the rest. Elation Professional ®... - Page 9 Now imagine a simple DMX system (Figure 2), where: • The Cable TV Company is the DMX Control Console • The Cable is the DMX Cable • The Decoder is the DMX Decoder (built into a Dimmer) • The TV is the Lighting Fixture Figure 2 The DMX Control Console will broadcast up to 512 channels over one DMX Cable.
- Page 10 Light Fixture (channel 005, in this example). The remaining Light Fixtures will be controlled by the next three sequential control channels. The DMX Decoder knows it needs only these four control channels, and will ignore the rest. Figure 3 Elation Professional ®...
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Page 11: Dmx Communications
3.2 DMX Communications In the world of digital communications, information is sent using precise electrical voltage pulses. A positive voltage pulse represents a 1. A zero voltage pulse (or no voltage) represents a 0. Systems using 1’s and 0’s to encode information are called binary systems. - Page 12 Elation Opto Branch 4) typically use optical isolation to protect each segment from electrical faults on other branches. These can be used to increase the number of devices on one network beyond the limit of 32. Each branch of a splitter/repeater can support up to 32 devices. Elation Professional ®...
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Page 13: Summary
3.3 Summary So how does all this information relate to controlling a light fixture? Think of it in terms of the simple DMX Controller Console (Figure 4). The console may have up to 512 control faders on it (8 in this example). Each fader controls the intensity of one light (using one DMX Channel). -
Page 14: Protocol Specifications
It is also important to understand the logic behind the data that is transmitted. Data is sent in a specific manner so that the receiver can correctly translate it into action. The topics this section will cover are: • Connectors • Cabling • Data Elation Professional ®... -
Page 15: Connectors
4.1 Connectors The DMX standard specifies 5-pin XLR connectors (Figure 5). The name comes from the original manufacturer (Cannon X connector, with a Latch and Rubber guard). Only three of these pins have standardized use however, leading many companies to make use of inexpensive and readily available 3-pin XLR connectors (Figure 6). The remaining two pins are in place for future use, such as allowing connected devices to communicate information back to the controller (lamp hours, operating temperatures, etc.). -
Page 16: Cabling
Audio cable cannot support the signal rate required by the high speed DMX protocol. While the signal may pass over short distances, it is highly susceptible to interference and degradation, causing unpredictable results (such as blinking lights, confused intelligent fixtures, etc.). Elation Professional ®... -
Page 17: Data
4.3 Data DMX 512 data is transmitted at 250 kiloHertz (kHz), meaning that 250,000 1’s and 0’s (at a maximum) can be sent each second. Each bit is measured in 4 microsecond (µs) intervals. In order for the receiving device to correctly interpret the data, it must be sent in a particular sequence. -
Page 18: Sample Applications
Fixture Profile. In order to use a particular fixture with a controller, a current profile must be loaded. Most controllers (such as Elation’s CompuLive software) come pre-loaded with thousands of fixture profiles from many different manufacturers. Elation Professional ®... -
Page 19: Dimmer Control
5.1 Dimmer Control www.elationlighting.com... -
Page 20: Intelligent Fixture Control
DMX 101: A DMX 512 Handbook 5.2 Intelligent Fixture Control Elation Professional ®... -
Page 21: Dimmer & Intelligent Fixture Control
5.3 Dimmer & Intelligent Fixture Control www.elationlighting.com... -
Page 22: Distributed Control
DMX 101: A DMX 512 Handbook 5.4 Distributed Control Elation Professional ®... - Page 23 www.elationlighting.com...
- Page 24 Elation Professional ® A Division of the American DJ Group of Companies 6122 S. Eastern Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90040 USA Tel: 866-245-6726 Fax: 323-832-9142 Web: www.elationlighting.com E-mail: info@elationlighting.com...