Remote Accessible Kitteh Entertainment System for My Students

JohnHuntington

Well-Known Member
http://controlgeek.net/blog/2020/5/...tertainment-system-show-control-class-project

From the blog:

One of my favorite classes I teach at City Tech’s Entertainment Technology department is Show Control. Show Control, as I define in my book, Show Networks and Control Systems, is connecting two or more entertainment control systems (lighting, sound, video, machinery, etc) together. I’ve worked with this integration technology since the 80’s and have taught this class for many years at City Tech almost entirely hands on. Students start out with QLab, and then move onto programming our Gravesend Inn™ animatronic character via its control system based in Weigl/Conductor. The second half of the semester is based in network-centric Medialon Manager. Fortunately, when the pandemic hit, we had completed the first two hands on subjects, and since Medialon has a free demo mode, students are able to work at home on a PC. However, a big part of the class is controlling real systems such as lighting consoles, video servers and other similar devices, and this wasn’t possible while the school was closed down for COVID-19. But I figured out that with some gear I had, and grabbing a couple small items from school on my way out, I could set up a system in my tiny Brooklyn spare room and let the students remote access it via Team Viewer. Medialon generously sent me a software license key and as I had an hour here or there over the last few weeks I built up the system around an extra Lenovo laptop and a PetSafe Train ‘n Praise Dog Treat Dispenser.
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How cool! I love the idea that you use the haunted house as part of your curriculum.
 
is your cat getting obese yet?
 
Actually the Gravesend Inn is now our major production and also funding source. Sadly, it looks like we won't be able to do it this year :-(
Are ghosts, goblins, spirits, et al subject to social distancing?
Toodleoo!
Ron (Posting from within our FULLY LOCKED DOWN retirement home) Hebbard
 
Actually the Gravesend Inn is now our major production and also funding source. Sadly, it looks like we won't be able to do it this year :-(
Bummer. Is there a way to do something virtual? I know it would be a completely different experience, but if you could do something that could use VR (showing something that is filmed live?), that would be amazing. I'm thinking that if you had a camera array that could show 180 degree view, was on a track that would advance through a physical space, but somehow allow the user to interact with components (so it isn't completely playback), then you could still be teaching a lot of the automation principles. There are obviously a lot of challenges to this, but I think it would be amazing.
 
Bummer. Is there a way to do something virtual? I know it would be a completely different experience, but if you could do something that could use VR (showing something that is filmed live?), that would be amazing. I'm thinking that if you had a camera array that could show 180 degree view, was on a track that would advance through a physical space, but somehow allow the user to interact with components (so it isn't completely playback), then you could still be teaching a lot of the automation principles. There are obviously a lot of challenges to this, but I think it would be amazing.

Of course all good ideas but the amount of work to do that is way, way beyond what we have time to do.

We were devastated by endless budget cuts before this disaster and the Gravesend Inn had become one of our primary funding sources, which now, obviously, is gone. We have had many full time faculty not replaced over the last few years and I've barely been keeping my head above water since we closed down and I--and my students--can not wait until next week when this hellish semester is finally over.

John
 
I completely understand. It is very sad indeed.
 

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