manualshive.com logo in svg

Martin LIGHTING DIRECTOR, User Manual, Page: 13 / 105

Share
Download
Martin LIGHTING DIRECTOR User Manual Download Page 13

CHAPTER 1 - PC Installation

If the Martin Lighting Director card and software have been pre-installed onto your PC
you may skip this chapter. 

IMPORTANT NOTE: this chapter assumes that you are familiar with certain basic
terminology and methods required when installing new hardware and software on a PC.
If you do not feel comfortable performing the installation yourself please ask your
Martin dealer or distributor to do it for you.

PC HARDWARE INSTALLATION

Two PC cards may be necessary to use the Martin Lighting Director:
1) the MLD card, which occupies an 8-bit ISA slot, and
2) an optional Roland MPU-401 card to use MIDI with the MLD.

MLD Card Installation

Make sure the PC is turned off and its power cord is unplugged from the wall. Remove
the PC chassis cover as discussed in your PC owner’s manual. Locate an ISA bus card
slot and insert the MLD card in it, making sure that the card is nestled all the way into
the slot. Secure the card by screwing the card’s bracket to the computer chassis.

Side note: The MLD card is very sensitive to electrostatic charges. When it is not in the PC
keep the card in the anti-static bag provided.

Please note that rarely, depending on your hardware configuration, the MLD card may
need to be set to a different base memory address. The default address for the MLD
card is D000h. If you are aware that other hardware in the PC is using the MLD default
address, or if you are experiencing unexpected system crashes, please refer to
Appendix B for instructions on how to change the address of the MLD card.

MIDI card installation (optional)

The Martin Lighting Director supports Roland’s MPU 401 AT cards. These are small
inexpensive cards that occasionally come with a small break-out box which houses the
connectors. Please refer to your MIDI card’s installation guide for instructions. 

Side note: The MLD may not work with cards that claim to be “MPU-401 compatible” or
“Uart Mode Compatible with the MPU-401”, only the actual cards by Roland are supported.

Once the cards have been installed, the computer chassis can be closed and the PC
power cord can be reconnected.

 MLD manual 1.1 

Page 13

Summary of Contents for LIGHTING DIRECTOR

Page 1: ...M A R T I N L I G H T I N G D I R E C T O R Performer activated show control system USER MANUAL Version 1 1...

Page 2: ...ered trademarks of other companies The information in this manual is furnished for informational use only is subject to change without notice and should not be construed as a commitment by Martin Prof...

Page 3: ...r 19 2 Mount your speakers 20 3 Connect your speakers 21 4 Connect the trackers radio receivers 21 a If you are using modified Samson wireless microphone systems from Martin 21 a If you are using your...

Page 4: ...control 52 Automated followspot control 53 Static look control 53 Dynamic control 55 Grouping 55 DEFINING LAYER MEDIA BEHAVIOUR HOW 56 MAPS WHO and WHEN 61 Assigning trackers to maps 61 Map control 61...

Page 5: ...ker and fixture maintenance 86 APPENDIX A Frequently Asked Questions 87 APPENDIX B MLD card jumper settings 89 APPENDIX C MIDI Hexadecimal table 90 APPENDIX D MLD fixture library 92 APPENDIX E Serial...

Page 6: ...Page 6 MLD manual 1 1...

Page 7: ...that you need to tackle even the most ambitious show control projects Even though the prospect of reading this manual may be intimidating be assured that experienced users of the MLD can set up the t...

Page 8: ...r basic automated followspot functionality Chapter 5 covers how to use the MLD software to define relationships between lighting and the movement of trackers on the stage Chapter 6 describes the real...

Page 9: ...s iris intensity dimmer focus pan tilt pre set cues etc Your lighting console may retain control of whatever DMX parameters you choose and cue new MLD maps dynamically Follow spot functionality allows...

Page 10: ...LD software then takes this positional information and directs DMX MIDI or serial data to the appropriate media according to behaviours defined by the user 11111 11111 11111 00000 00000 00000 11 11 00...

Page 11: ...lter This comes standard with the MLD package and you can order additional assemblies from Martin order 850066 2 A wireless microphone system radio transmitter and radio receiver modified to work with...

Page 12: ...ector runs on a dedicated PC compatible computer Requirements for a minimal system are as follows Processor Pentium 133 series chip or better RAM Memory 4MB or more Hard Drive A fast hard drive is rec...

Page 13: ...ard s bracket to the computer chassis Side note The MLD card is very sensitive to electrostatic charges When it is not in the PC keep the card in the anti static bag provided Please note that rarely d...

Page 14: ...rd drive and makes all the modifications necessary to run the system You are ready to go Please see the Manual Installation section below if you would like to see a detailed discussions of all the mod...

Page 15: ...make sure to tell the installer NOT to modify your config sys file If you receive the hardware at a later time you can re install the software into the same directory This will make the necessary cha...

Page 16: ...lowing line DEVICE C DOS EMM386 EXE X D000 D3FF or if you are using QEMM DEVICE C DOS QEMM386 EXE X D000 D3FF For other memory settings for the MLD hardware card please consult Appendix B 4 Remove fro...

Page 17: ...nd then on the Advanced button you will be able to specify the MS DOS mode Make sure that the program is set to MS DOS Mode and Use current MS DOS configuration Run the MLD software from MS DOS Change...

Page 18: ...Page 18 MLD manual 1 1...

Page 19: ...public the centre of your stage upstage far from the public and the centre of the stage s right and left wings as you stand on the stage facing the public Public Downstage Upstage Stage Left centre st...

Page 20: ...1111111111 11111111111111111111 11111111111111111111 11111111111111111111 11111111111111111111 11111111111111111111 11111111111111111111 11111111111111111111 11111111111111111111 11111111111111111111...

Page 21: ...tput of each tracker s radio receiver should be plugged into one of the four female 1 4 6 35 mm jacks on the MLD box As with the speaker output jacks the 1 4 radio input jacks on the MLD box are numbe...

Page 22: ...ox since this is the default tracker used for designing maps 5 Power up the system and start the software IMPORTANT NOTE the MLD box can take 115 or 230 V please set the switch at the back to the appr...

Page 23: ...nd the mini XLR connector into each radio transmitter Make sure you place a fresh 9V battery in the tracker s Turn the tracker s on and set mute to off The small ultrasonic microphone is in fact the p...

Page 24: ...ts that the MLD will use centimetres or inches by clicking in the appropriate radio button in the Set up screen Now click on the Speaker Set up button There are three ways to calibrate the tracking sy...

Page 25: ...w at their relative positions The four calibration points are numbered from 1 to 4 as in the set up screen You will see an interactive perimeter surrounding the stagemarks this rectangle defines the a...

Page 26: ...ues towards downstage Z is the stage height with positive values above the stage floor Downstage Upstage Stage Left Figure 9 MLD coordinate system Stage Right Y Y X X Once you have entered all twelve...

Page 27: ...ht of approximately 1 80 m 6 ft making sure the small microphone has a clear line of sight to the four speakers In the MLD software click on the Set up option On the screen that appears click on the t...

Page 28: ...Page 28 MLD manual 1 1...

Page 29: ...s is a stand alone configuration which lets the MLD control fixtures without the need of any other controller sequencer or console In this configuration there can be 4 maps loaded simultaneously and n...

Page 30: ...nload MLD maps to change the behaviour of the tracking system or to override it This is ideal for performance situations in which the lighting designer wants to integrate the MLD system into a sophist...

Page 31: ...and the CASE have handy drivers for each other that facilitate interconnection and programming MLD box Figure 14 MLD connected directly to the Martin 3032 controller DMX 512 out in 11 00 11 00 Martin...

Page 32: ...ol lights that are not directly connected to it Also the console may load and unload MLD maps using MIDI This set up is convenient when all DMX channels are being used for lighting control Usually MID...

Page 33: ...n the Lights Available zone You can associate any of these buttons to any light but it is advisable for reference s sake to choose adjacent buttons for lights that are close together on a truss that h...

Page 34: ...Set up screen You may then define additional lights or return to the main screen Choosing Base Channels Different lights have different number of required DMX channels For example if you choose a PAL...

Page 35: ...anual measurements of light position and orientation click on calibration response enabled and point your light to the four calibration points by either capturing pan and tilt from a console external...

Page 36: ...n value to a high enough value to let you see the light beam typically 255 this is the default value Now there are two options to point the light Either i Use the MLD controller Click on the Point to...

Page 37: ...d to be automatically calibrated following the steps indicated above their corresponding boxes in the Lights available zone will appear with the red bounding box c Find the location of the points The...

Page 38: ...e changes and return to the main screen e Test and troubleshoot Test that all the lights you want to use as followspots have been calibrated correctly by creating a map that uses all of them and then...

Page 39: ...what is selected that the fixture s marking on the floor is left or right from the centre stage marking made during the speaker calibration process If the marking is towards stage left then the dista...

Page 40: ...111 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 1 0 1 1 0 0 Direction of positive motion ceiling floor Lighting fixture shown from the side At this position the tilt is zero degrees Figure 22 Conventions for manual entr...

Page 41: ...00000 00000 11 00 11 11 00 00 Direction of positive motion ceiling floor Lighting fixture shown from the side At this position the tilt is zero degrees Figure 23 Conventions for manual entry of orien...

Page 42: ...MX triggers which allow a remote device such as a DMX console a MIDI sequencer or a PC controller to start and stop the tracking system when it is in real time mode This is useful because it provides...

Page 43: ...u must ask the system to send you the data every time you need it The tracker sends position and velocity values for all four trackers in ASCII codes These can be used to drive multimedia special cont...

Page 44: ...mld cfg IMPORTANT NOTE The mld cfg file contains information about the tracking system and the lighting configuration that is specific to the situation at the time of calibration If you move one or m...

Page 45: ...ed in chapter 1 2 Calibrate the tracking system as described in chapter 2 3 Calibrate your moving lights as described in chapter 3 4 On the main screen make sure the Tracker 1 check box is enabled 5 D...

Page 46: ...een of the software click to enable the Tracker 2 check box and disable the Tracker 1 check box 13 Draw a large rectangle over the whole map editor with the Region tool 14 Click on the Layer Media opt...

Page 47: ...iour enabled and who will control the map The following figure shows the main screen of the MLD Figure 26 Main MLD screen showing a region being moved and all 8 layers being used interactive perimeter...

Page 48: ...wards downstage it shows negative values The map editor has a grid to help you define and align your active areas By selecting Snap to grid the rectangular regions that you draw will automatically ali...

Page 49: ...ordinates You have now created a region If you want to move the region to a different location within the map editor you may choose the Selection tool represented by the hand icon With this tool you c...

Page 50: ...er that will be associated to control specific lights or MIDI instruments Layers are listed on the top right corner of the MLD main screen they are labeled by default as layer 1 layer 2 layer 3 up to...

Page 51: ...u can define applicable heights Roll your mouse pointer towards the back wall and drag it while pressing the left mouse button You will see a red region appearing If you drag over the red region again...

Page 52: ...ameters for that light Light control screens differ from light to light depending on their functionality A sophisticated fixture will allow you to control colour wheels gobos zooming etcetera while a...

Page 53: ...t cue that gets triggered whenever the performer walks into the area of the stage that you specified with the current layer To start by default all DMX parameters are set to be controlled by the light...

Page 54: ...y necessary to draw a different layer if you want to define a different area of the stage or if you want to have more than one DMX channel under dynamic control The Capture lights button in the Edit m...

Page 55: ...the Edit media screen Note that up to now you have specified which parameter of which fixture you would like to be controlled dynamically but you have not told the MLD how you want the movement of you...

Page 56: ...tage right to stage left Here you can enter DMX values to define a simple linear relationship If you type From stage right 50 to stage left 255 your light intensity will start off with a dimmer value...

Page 57: ...c control curve DMX values will start off at zero at stage right and then increase exponentially until they reach 255 as the performer moves to stage left To draw a curve place your cursor at the star...

Page 58: ...control curve The DMX channel will be steady at 200 at stage right and then decrease gradually to a minimum of 80 at stage left When you release the mouse after drawing a curve or line you will see t...

Page 59: ...o mark ie if you re going with a stage right stage left dynamic curve this mark is the editor s stage centre between stage left and right Under the graph you will see a radio button for position the d...

Page 60: ...a single layer you can associate several lights lighting parameters to be controlled dynamically as described by that curve You may for example choose for the Dimmer channel to be controlled by the cu...

Page 61: ...need to define one map for one tracker and another for the other However you can assign two or more trackers to have MIDI control in the same map Map control A good thing about maps is that when you...

Page 62: ...bilities with each other The example above for instance has two maps that assign the same 30 fixtures to become followspots for two different trackers If you load both maps in the real time mode only...

Page 63: ...ose it In addition you may print the notes to have a hard copy WORKING OFFLINE It is not necessary to have the MLD hardware installed on the PC to design maps It is possible for example to define all...

Page 64: ...Page 64 MLD manual 1 1...

Page 65: ...witch off you will see a little dot on the map editor screen As the tracker moves in space so does the dot You will also see one of the four columns on the top right graphically showing the height of...

Page 66: ...en and red flashes unsteady tracking Check chapter 8 Tips to Optimize System performance You may enable or disable tracking for any tracker by clicking on its enabling box which is the numbered box at...

Page 67: ...asonic echoes which might degrade performance Cymbal rejection This parameter allow you to set how much filtering to apply to eliminate background ultrasonic noise sources such as cymbals The default...

Page 68: ...so on Alternatively press a number between 1 and 4 on your keyboard to choose which tracker to simulate To exit Mouse test mode press the right mouse button or press Stop During mouse test all map fun...

Page 69: ...d resume it from a console or controller by using the tracking remote control triggers described in chapter 3 If while tracking is in progress you want to override a certain MLD map from the lighting...

Page 70: ...Page 70 MLD manual 1 1...

Page 71: ...D software will automatically enable the MIDI control zone of the layer media screen Figure 41 Portion of the Layer Media screen related to MIDI MIDI enabling box toggles on off layer defaults dynamic...

Page 72: ...9x yy zz where x is the channel number minus one from 0 to F decimal 0 to 15 yy is the actual note number from 00 to 7F 0 to 127 decimal and zz is the key velocity from 00 to 7F 0 to 127 decimal So yo...

Page 73: ...does not have a static value The final byte boxes would look like this BB 07 7F Notice that the dynamic control mark the V hat has been placed on top of the last byte box this is because you want to...

Page 74: ...ontrol number 00 to 3F zz control value 00 to 7F Consult MIDI instrument manual Bx yy zz Control Change switches On Off x channel 1 yy control number 40 to 5F zz control value 00 to 7F Consult MIDI in...

Page 75: ...ive flag F8 Timing clock F9 Undefined Part of MIDI time code FA Start FB Continue FC Stop FD Undefined FG Active Sensing FF System Reset IMPORTANT NOTE MIDI running status is not supported all MIDI co...

Page 76: ...l 1 Side note different layers invoke different short cuts by default but you may click on the radio buttons to override this automatic selection The default settings are as follows From left to right...

Page 77: ...acker must be considered also Speaker area the area defined by the speakers on the floor when they are seen from on top from a bird s eye view The speaker area may or may not surround the interactive...

Page 78: ...ss this imaginary plane plus you would probably have problems related to issues 1 and 4 above When the plane is crossed the tracking system is turned inside out and erratic behaviour is observed 7 Whi...

Page 79: ...11111111111 11111111111111 00000000000000 00000000000000 00000000000000 00000000000000 00000000000000 00000000000000 00000000000000 00000000000000 00000000000000 00000000000000 00000000000000 00000000...

Page 80: ...1 111111111 111111111 111111111 111111111 111111111 111111111 111111111 000000000 000000000 000000000 000000000 000000000 000000000 000000000 000000000 Something like this might work However note that...

Page 81: ...anomalies such as sudden shifts in apparent position may occur when using these higher sampling rates Users must experiment to find what tradeoff of sampling rate number of samples averaged and track...

Page 82: ...5 Ensure that the tracking system can give enough samples per second Here are the minimum sample rates for different activities 10 samples per second are OK for walking 15 samples per second are OK f...

Page 83: ...erators how can the public load their own maps without touching the MLD PC 4 How can I control a laser video disk from the MLD 5 I am setting up an MLD system in a roman theatre and they won t let me...

Page 84: ...his or her lapel Also this speaker situation means that if the performer turns his back on the public tracking will stop Another option is to place the speakers on the floor but be aware that there m...

Page 85: ...tracker consists of a belt pack and a small ultrasonic microphone connected to the belt pack by a thin black cable The belt pack may be hidden from view and worn on the performer s costume attached t...

Page 86: ...LD you do not need any further calibrations if you have set your speakers and fixtures in stable fixed positions However if you are operating the MLD in a setting with movable trusses or where people...

Page 87: ...ecting trackers that operate at different frequencies or channels than other existing equipment If you would like the trackers to use a specific frequency most wireless microphones can be modified to...

Page 88: ...fference between the terminology stage interactive area and speaker area The stage is the area where the performance takes place The interactive area is the area where MLD tracking takes place The int...

Page 89: ...EXE X C800 CBFF 3 4 6 CC00h DEVICE C DOS EMM386 EXE X CC00 CFFF 3 5 D000h Default DEVICE C DOS EMM386 EXE X D000 D3FF 3 4 5 D400h DEVICE C DOS EMM386 EXE X D400 D7FF 3 5 6 D800h DEVICE C DOS EMM386 EX...

Page 90: ...B 75 4B 107 6B 12 0C 44 2C 76 4C 108 6C 13 0D 45 2D 77 4D 109 6D 14 0E 46 2E 78 4E 110 6E 15 0F 47 2F 79 4F 111 6F 16 10 48 30 80 50 112 70 17 11 49 31 81 51 113 71 18 12 50 32 82 52 114 72 19 13 51 3...

Page 91: ...35 EB 140 8C 172 AC 204 CC 236 EC 141 8D 173 AD 205 CD 237 ED 142 8E 174 AE 206 CE 238 EE 143 8F 175 AF 207 CF 239 EF 144 90 176 B0 208 D0 240 F0 145 91 177 B1 209 D1 241 F1 146 92 178 B2 210 D2 242 F...

Page 92: ...dressing modes Imagescan 2 addressing modes Martin Magnum Pro2000 smoke machine 1 addressing mode Martin 3032 DMX remote 1 addressing mode Martin Case board in Slave Mode 1 addressing mode Side note c...

Page 93: ...nd Z vel the packets are separated by an ASCII comma The ASCII character E identifies the end of the data record If continuous mode is enabled the MLD will stream data records at approximately the sam...

Page 94: ...ne 8 bit ISA slot Breakout box 19 Rackmount Connects to the ISA card via a supplied 26 pin cable Includes 4 speaker outputs 4 tracker inputs 4 DC power supply connectors for the tracker radio receiver...

Page 95: ...ker utility included with DOS to optimize your PC s memory usage and for example load onto high memory drivers for the mouse the CD ROM etc See the section Manual Installation for experts of troublesh...

Page 96: ...ep affair i e send one dmx value wait for a while then send another value For proper and reliable operation of these lights select the MISC channel for static control in all cases the MLD chooses the...

Page 97: ...some other numbers it may be because the sampling rate is too fast for the room or the speaker geometry Too high a sampling rate will produce echoes that jam the operation of the MLD resulting in eit...

Page 98: ...Page 98 MLD manual 1 1...

Page 99: ...switch The tricky thing is we have to bypass a 15k current limiting resistor Normally the schematic is like this Radio Connector Connector Filter 9v switch pin 2 15k Resistor Ground pin 1 Signal In pi...

Page 100: ...the battery It should read about 9v when the transmitter s power switch is on and zero when it is off That s it IMPORTANT NOTE once you have removed the resistor you might need to fine tune the radio...

Page 101: ...0000000000000 0000000000000000000 0000000000000000000 0000000000000000000 0000000000000000000 Public Speaker A Speaker D Speaker B Speaker C Downstage Upstage Stage Left Stage Right Cal Point 1 X1 Cal...

Page 102: ...ept Repeat this for points 2 3 and 4 iii Press Use Automatic and OK 7 Hang fixtures set their base channel and addressing mode and connect them directly to the MLD DMX out 8 Lighting set up Choose a l...

Page 103: ...84 performance 82 87 quick start 45 regions 50 selecting for calibration 38 tips and techniques 81 with colour mixing 84 Grouping lights 55 Interactive perimeter 25 88 area 19 77 changing 26 48 63 def...

Page 104: ...ntrol 72 tracking remote control 42 troubleshooting 97 MLD microphone assembly adapting wireless microphone systems 11 connecting 23 order number 11 wiring 99 PC for MLD memory adress for MLD card 89...

Page 105: ...67 assignment to maps 61 attachment to performers 85 battery 23 95 97 calibrating 27 cymbal interference 84 defining more than one media relation 50 display in real time screen 65 distance to radio r...

Reviews:

No comments