Control/Dimming DMX Lighting software for Mac

T

the1rmdman

Member
Not a question but FYI for Mac theater geeks

I know there are several posts about the many different lighting software options out there but there is very little in way of doing so with a Mac. I bought a Mac to be able to use Qlab for sound. I then discovered that there is really nothing that is simple and easy to use for lights on the Mac.

The only program I found so far was Mini stage Console, a free program that is a bit unstable and only has 24 channels. It does work well with midi so I could use Qlab to run it.

I can run my lights with my iphone thanks to Synthefx's Luminair app which works great as a remote focus unit and 2.0 is going to allow it be as close to a lighting console as you can get and carry it in your pocket. Having the faster processor of the 3GS helps a lot. But I would like something that I can run on my laptop and have Qlab running together for a simple booth setup.

If you have a very complicated show do not run lights and sound from same computer, you are just asking to crash in the middle of a big number.

I came across a program called D::light.
D::Light
It is made by some french company and so was not able to read the manual or the user forum due to my lack of speaking french. I was frustrated because I could not select channels and there were no faders. I went back to their site and used Google Translate and they now have an english manual and found that when you select a channel or the Grand Master you can scroll on the trackpad or with a scroll mouse and it acts like a fader.

It can use a enttec dmx to usb pro or Artnet (so will work with my iphone setup) to send DMX signal and is multi platform. It has midi capability and I can use Qlab to control it or use my Korg kontrol board. It will send out a full 512 universe and has 10 books of subs with 25 pages per book and 10 subs per page giving a very large 2500 library of sub masters at your control. It can also do cues, groups, sequences, and effects.

I'm going to be testing it out in my theater this week. Hopefully it will be what I'm looking for.

It takes a little getting used to but so far not a bad little program.
 
I've looked at MagicQ and I can't quite wrap my head around it. It takes me awhile to finally break through some learning curves. MagicQ is still not relenting to me. It took me a long time to figure out D::Light. I had actually tried it before but could not do anything with it and decided it was not worth the time. When I google translated the web site I found how much I can do with the program. Maybe down the road MagicQ will click in my brain and all will be great. Thanks for the input
 
Hi the1rmdman,

I'am using MagicQ on my Macbook with OSX 10.6.2 with a Enttec DMX Usb interface and we are very, very happy with it.
At the moment we are doing 4 different shows similtanius the last few month's with this set-up and we never had any failure. Just change show 1 to show 4 and go for it. This is a really nice program, but as with all new things you have to study a little bit to get the most out of it. We are now working to trigger MagicQ with QLab, when we solve this then the we can go for the stars.

GuruRo
 
The Jands Vista line of consoles has a dongle/usb to DMX version that works well off of a Mac. It is the same software that the larger boards (T2, T4) use and gives you a full universe of DMX out and 128 channels.
 
As I reread your post, there is one thing that is of concern to me. I would discourage you from trying to use the same computer to run both sound and lights. Sure the machine might handle it, but things somehow tend to work better when you have a dedicated system for each operation.

If you accept this philosophy - there is no reason to prefer a Mac lighting system, unless you have another mac box you are trying to use.

My experience has been that if you want to use a standard computer to control lights, or sound, or whatever - then you should devote that computer to that function and not try to do anything else with it. Things are just a lot more stable if you take that approach.
 
Hi the1rmdman,

We've just brought our Chameleon lighting control software for Mac OSX out of Beta: you can download a release candidate from our web site:
Professional Lighting Control. Now on OSX. (Chameleon : Mac Lighting Software).
If you send a mail to sales [at] vanilla [dot] net, we'll send you an activation key to allow it to output DMX.
It's been over three years in development, and we *think* it's the only lighting control software designed for OSX from the ground up, making use of native OSX interface controls etc. It would be great to hear what you think about it.

Nigel
 
igsanchez said:
How is Chameleon working for you?
Click to expand...

I downloaded it and am playing with it. Currently my biggest complaint it not being able to map keys. As well as the different windows reverting to their defaults whenever you change from playback to record even though I set their sizes. Though it looks promising. After having to run a show off of a Smartfade I am desperately looking for an alternative I can bring with me to theatre gigs.
 
johanvelthuis said:
I released Lightning DmxControl for Mac recently. ... You can download it on Lightning DmxControl for Mac/OSX for free ...
Click to expand...
From the site cited:
You can create presets by rightclicking a preset fader and choose 'Channels to Preset' from the context menu.
Click to expand...
  • Since the typical Mac mouse only has one button, by "rightclicking" do you mean [ctrl][click], [option][click], [command][click], [shift][click], or other?
  • Can the program be used for lighting effects also, or will it only do lightning effects?


__________
ControlBooth is a Spam-Free zone.​
​

proxy.php
 
derekleffew said:
From the site cited:

  • Since the typical Mac mouse only has one button, by "rightclicking" do you mean [ctrl][click], [option][click], [command][click], [shift][click], or other?
  • Can the program be used for lighting effects also, or will it only do lightning effects?


__________
ControlBooth is a Spam-Free zone.​
​

proxy.php
Click to expand...

Not sure what you're on about, the mouse attached to my Mac has not 1 not 2, but 5 buttons. Even if I had to use the built in trackpad I'd still have two. Furthermore, there's only one way to right click on a 1-button mouse, that would be Control+Click.
 
cpf said:
Not sure what you're on about, the mouse attached to my Mac has not 1 not 2, but 5 buttons. Even if I had to use the built in trackpad I'd still have two. Furthermore, there's only one way to right click on a 1-button mouse, that would be Control+Click.
Click to expand...

Most current Apple computers (and mice) have the ability to right click. It is just off by default in system preferences. Even with trackpads there is a way to enable right clicking.
 
Hello Derek,

if you use a mouse with one button, I think [ctrl]click is the way to go. But on my 2011 MacbookPro I can just click in the lower right corner and so does my magic mouse (my previous mighty mouse also). You can also hold two fingers on the trackpad.

I'm sorry that the name of the software caused confusion. LightNing is just a play upon words. So to answer your question: Lightning DmxControl is just another light controller. It's actually pretty similar to a simple hardware dmx desk. It's not ment to do lightNing effects, unless you connect a dmx stroboscope to it.

If I can find sometime next week, I will do a video tutorial with some conventional and LED-lights to show what it can do.
I will also translate the videotutorial that is on the website to english.

If you have any more questions I am happy to answer them for you.

Greetings Johan Velthuis
 
avkid said:
Does this program only work on OSX Lion?
Click to expand...

Hello avkid,

I made it on Snow Leopard and that works.
I just tried it on a Lion Mac Mini from 2010, and that works too.
Couldn't you get it to work?
 
Last edited:
I can't get it to work to with OSX 10.6.8.
"You can’t open the application “jvLightning” because it’s not supported on this type of Mac."
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Mads07
Controlling laser through DMX in chamsys
Replies
6
Views
630
Mads07
Mads07
Andri_2005
I don't find the Driver, can you help me? - USAVE DRIVER SOFTWARE
Replies
3
Views
493
Mac Hosehead
Mac Hosehead
B
Open 4/12, dmx decoder/LED tape works from board not stage.
Replies
7
Views
511
almorton
A
C
Control/Dimming MIDI Controller for lighting
Replies
0
Views
1K
cxhawk
C
AshleyB
DMXKing Micro from USBc?
Replies
3
Views
870
StradivariusBone
StradivariusBone

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 1 (members: 0, guests: 1)
Back