User Manual

Figure 2.1: DMX example
How many channels a lighting fixture uses will always depend on the manufac-
turer/model. Often a light can have different operating modes. For example, a
simple RGB light can have a 3-channel mode where it uses 3 channels for red,
green and blue. But it might have a 4 channel mode for red, green, blue and
intensity. Maybe it even has a 5-channel mode, adding a channel for strobe. In-
formation about DMX and operating modes can usually be found in the manual
of the lighting fixture.
It is advised to use a shielded twisted pair cable for DMX cabling. The cable
should be terminated with an 120 Ohm resistor.
DMX-512 is a very successful protocol with, however, a few limitations. The
maximum number of attached devices is limited to 32 and they all have to be
connected in bus-topology having one cable running via each device. Further-
more, a DMX-512 cable should not be longer than 300 meters.
2.2 Art-Net
The Art-Net protocol primarily transfers DMX-512 data over Ethernet. The
high bandwidth of an Ethernet connection allows Art-Net to transfer up to 256
universes.
The data sent out for Art-Net does put a certain load on the network, therefore
it is recommended to disable Art-Net when not in use.
Art-Net output can be enabled or disabled in the Options menu, see section 5.1.
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