ShowLED Animation user manual 1
Table of Content Chapter 1: Installing the software ............................................................................ 3 Safety instructions .......................................................................................................... 3 How to replace the fuses........................................................................................................................... 3 System overview – typical setup.......................................................................
Chapter 1: Installing the software Safety instructions WARNING To avoid electric shock the power cord protective grounding must be connected to ground. Make sure you understand the function of each connection before you connect it. See that all connections are made correctly before turning on the controller. Always disconnect the controller from the mains supply when connecting the signal leads, the power cord should be connected last. Do not apply voltage higher than 250 Vac to the controller.
System overview – typical setup 4
Description of the components (1a) Midi controller. Not supplied with ShowLED Animation starcloth. (1b) Lighting desk with DMX out signal. Not supplied with ShowLED Animation starcloth. (2) Portable computer with Arkaos VJ DMX Version 3.6 software and ShowLED Animation projector and designer software installed. All software needed to control the ShowLED Animation curtain is included in the purchase price. More information on Arkaos software and a trial version can be downloaded at www.arkaos.net .
(7) Extension cables The controllers can be connected to the curtains by optional custom made extension cables. ShowLED Animation starcloths The “standard” ShowLED Animation starcloths have a dimension of 4m x 9m, 12m x 3m and 5m x 7m. These curtains have 1024 LED’s in total so each curtain needs to be connected to a single controller.
Connect curtain to controller and PC - Curtain and controller are transported in blue ShowLED flight cases. - The controller is likewise built in a special designed storage case. When removing front and back lid of the controller flight case, you will notice that there is a truss clamp for easy attachment of controller to truss or tube. Alternatively, the controller can be placed on the ground. - It’s also possible that the controllers are installed in a 19’ touring rack.
Technical Specifications Input ‐ Supply voltage: 90 .. 250 Vac ‐ Line frequency: 50 .. 60 Hz ‐ Input current: 4.4 A (@115Vac) / 2.4 A (@230Vac) ‐ Input power: 450 Watt ‐ Fuses, slow blow, 6.3A, 20x5mm ‐ Mains input: standardized IEC power inlet ‐ PFC (Power Factor Correction) circuit present LED Outputs ( 8 XLRs in total, each output can drive 128 LEDs) ‐ Output Voltage: 24 V ‐ Total Output Power: 400 Watt Data Ports ‐ Ethernet port 10/100 Mbps Environmental ‐ Operating temperature, humidity*: 0°C ..
Installing Arkaos & the ShowLED software We provide an Arkaos serial number for 1 PC, please only install it on the computer that will control the curtain. The curtain always needs to be controlled from this laptop/desktop computer who has all the software (Arkaos + ShowLEDitor, ShowLED designer & LED filter application) installed on it. You'll need a performant PC to run the curtain, preferably one with following specifications (No apple pc!). We advise to use a laptop running on Windows XP, not Vista.
Edit => Preferences => Registration. Here you’ll find a seven digit number that is your machine ID. Please send your machine ID to info@showled.com or to your contact at ShowLED. Then a serial number will be generated and send to you by email. When you enter this serial number in the registration section the software will be unlocked. The ShowLED software will be delivered to you on a CD accompanying the starcloths.
Declaration of conformity We, Amelia NV Eugeen Meeusstraat 89, 2170 Merksem – Belgium Declare that the product ShowLED Animation System 1 is in conformity with the essential requirements of the following directives and standards: Low Voltage Directive (73/23/EEC) IEC 60065, 12‐2005 (Edition 7.
Configuring the PC’s IP address (Windows XP) 1. Make sure your laptop or PC has a fixed IP address. Here is how you can do this.
• • Click on the Properties button and you get: Look for Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) in the list, doubleclick on the item, and you will get: • Enter the following data into the screen: 13
• • The IP address must be in the range of 10. 0 . 0 . x Click OK and close all windows. This may take some time. Restart your laptop or PC.
Configuring the PC’s IP address (Windows Vista) Double click on the Internet connection icon located in the bottom right corner of your desktop and click on “Network and Sharing Centre”. . The following window will open. Please click on “Manage network connections” in the far left corner.
This will open following window. Right click on “Local Area Connection” and select “properties”.
Select “Internet Protocol Version 4” and click on “properties” 17
In the properties window you need to tick the box in front of “use following IP address” and you need to fill in the value 10.0.0.2 . The subnet mask value will be set automatically to 255. 0 . 0 . 0 . Click ok and restart your PC.
Chapter 2: Using the software ShowLEDitor software. Start the file C:\program files\showled\showleditor.exe and this is what you’ll see. In this example 3 x 4m x 9m ShowLED Animation starcloths are connected to the PC. The software automatically detects these backdrops and they are listed in the “Cloth store” view. The starcloths that are connected to the PC will light up and will be devided in red and green squares. You can easily select the curtains by clicking on them in the “cloth store” view.
Once all the starcloths are rotated in the correct way you can move them down to the “configuration preview” by pressing the “move down” button. Make sure that you move the ShowLED Animation starcloth down from left to right. So the first starcloth at the left side should be the first cloth to be moved down.
If this is your final configuration you can save it by pressing the “save configuration” button. If you have a configuration with multiple lines of curtains (e.g. a total setup of 10m x 28m made out of 5m x 7m starcloths) you can easily add a new row by pressing the “set width” button. Please note that you can easily undo your last move by pressing the “undo” button. Empty spaces You also have the possibility to insert “empty spaces”.
You can also use the empty space function when you have Animation curtains of different sizes you want to use as a whole (e.g. if you join a 4m x 9m curtain and a 5m x 7m curtains you can add an empty space on top of the 4m x 9m curtain so it becomes virtually 5m x 9m). The software regards the empty spaces as extra curtains, this way animations will run very smoothly over different curtains instead of jumping from one to the other.
When you’re done just save the configuration file. If you have to starcloths of a different dimension for example a 5m x 7m Animation backdrop and a 4m x 9m Animation cloth that are ^placed next to each other you don’t need to add an empty space. The software will detect the empty space automatically when you save the configuration. Error notices This means that the designer software cannot detect the controllers. There are different reasons possible for this error. - The controllers are not switched on.
- The LAN cable is not plugged in correctly. The Lan cable is damaged. The IP address of your PC is not configured correctly.
ShowLED projector software When you have made the configuration file (.slc file) you can open the Arkaos software and the ShowLED projector software. First click on the CFG icon at the right of the window, next to the play button. Open the slc file you just created (e.g. C:\projector\rotation4x9.slc). Click PLAY on the projector (nothing happens visually) and minimize the projector.
ShowLED projector Error notices You get this error notice when you’ve already opened the ShowLED projector software. Please close all the applications, log out of your Windows session, login again and restart the Arkaos and ShowLED projector software. . These errors appear when you don’t have a valid ShowLED license.
You have closed Arkaos and restarted it without restarting the ShowLED projector software.
Resizing the projection area. The ShowLED Animation projector has a function that allows the user to resize the projection area on the Animation starcloth. This way the projected image can remain fully visible when part of the curtain is hidden by a stage, other curtains, trussing,… First of all you need to make the configuration with the ShowLED Animation designer software and load the .slc file in the Animation projector software.
You can change the position of the altered projection area on the X (left‐right) and the Y (up‐down) axis. All the values you enter in the boxes must be in cm..
The LED filter We developed an “LED filter” application to source the LEDs logical address. This way an Animation curtain can be configured manually by turning turn off/on a LED, plug or an entire curtain (in a multiple curtain setup). This is interesting when part of a curtain is covered (e.g. by a projection screen) and the LEDs behind the object should be turned off.
To minimize searching time, the LED Filter application has been set up like Windows explorer with tree control so you can select an entire curtain, a plug (128 LEDs), a string (64 LEDs) and last a LED. You can select a curtain, plug, LED by using the keyboard cursors. When you have selected a LED, plug or entire curtain you can turn it off/on by pressing spacebar. Each LED has a unique number, this is the logical address or the position of the LED on the LED string.
