Purpose
Moog Animatics Class 5 SmartMotor™ DMX Guide, Rev. C
Page 6 of 46
Purpose
This manual explains the Moog Animatics Class 5 SmartMotor™ support for the Digital
MultipleX (DMX) communications protocol. It describes the major concepts that must be
understood to integrate a SmartMotor as a DMX slave device. However, it only minimally
covers the low-level details of the DMX protocol.
NOTE:
The Remote Device Management (RDM) bidirectional communication
extension of the DMX protocol is not supported.
The feature set described in this version of the manual refers to firmware in the 5.x.4.y
series, where x = 0, 16, 32, 97 or 98, and y=3 or greater. Versions 5.0.4, 5.16.4, and 5.32.4
are specific to D-style motors, and versions 5.97.4 and 5.98.4 are specific to M-style motors.
Refer to the following lists.
NOTE:
The SmartMotor firmware must be one of the listed versions.
For D-style motors:
l
5.0.4.y (where y is 3 or greater)
l
5.16.4.y (where y is 3 or greater)
l
5.32.4.y (where y is 3 or greater)
For M-style motors:
l
5.97.4.y (where y is 3 or greater)
l
5.98.4.y (where y is 3 or greater)
This manual is intended for programmers or system developers who have read and
understand the Engineering Commission of United States Institute for Theatre Technology
(USITT) DMX512-A standard. Therefore, this manual is not a tutorial on that standard or the
DMX protocol. Instead, it should be used to understand the specific implementation details for
the Moog Animatics Class 5 SmartMotor. Additionally, code examples are provided to assist
the programmer with the SmartMotor integration.
The Command Reference section of this manual includes details about the specific DMX
commands available in the SmartMotor through the DMX firmware. For details, see
DMX Commands on page 27.
Combitronic Technology
The most unique feature of the SmartMotor is its ability to communicate with other
SmartMotors and share resources using Moog Animatics’ Combitronic™ technology.
Combitronic is a protocol that operates over a standard CAN interface. It may coexist with
CANopen and other protocols. It requires no single dedicated master to operate. Each
SmartMotor connected to the same network communicates on an equal footing, sharing all
information, and therefore, sharing all processing resources.
While the Combitronic protocol can be used in parallel with a DMX network, there are certain
restrictions:
l
The DMX wiring does not carry the Combitronic signal. Therefore, additional cabling
(available from Moog Animatics) must be used to build the Combitronic network.
