Controlling your laser projector with Mercury
Master and builders
The Mercury laser control system built into your Skywriter HPX M-5 was developed from the ground up
as a new and uniquely powerful way to control laser projectors with DMX or Art-Net. With this novel
design, there’s a new concept of how to set up the laser. We’ve broken up the laser control into parts we
call the master and builders.
The
Master
is a block of six channels that control the overall projecAon area, intensity and mode
(fixture disabled, external input, builders enabled). The external ILDA input and all builder-generated
content is subject to the Master’s size, posiAon, and intensity controls, and once these controls are set
nothing can go beyond them. Most users set up the Master when zoning their projectors, then park or
freeze the Master fixture so that it cannot be modified during the show.
Builders are used to “build” up laser effects from a basic shape and several layers of available
modifiers, including intensity, size, posiAon, color effects, gobos, prisms, wave effects and moAon effects.
We have two different types of builders exposing different levels of complexity.
The
Basic Builder
is 28 channels and the type most users will want to start with. The basic
builder provides control over:
1. Intensity
2. Gobos
3. Preset color macros
4. RGB1 and RGB2 for the color macros
5. Prisms with X/Y spacing and rotaAon
6. Geometric Post Group (see Geo Pre/Post for further explanaAon) which is similar
to zoom, Pan/Alt and gobo rotaAon on a mover
7. MoAon macros with speed and size, similar to an animaAon wheel
While the basic builder seems more limited than the advanced builder, its simplicity allows for
an easier learning curve and faster programming, so it’s a worthwhile place to start even for
users who may eventually move to the advanced builders. Its simplicity makes it a very close
analog to a moving light, and so the same programming concepts are easily applied.
AddiAonally, it requires only a fracAon of the DMX channels that the advanced builder
consumes, and so is a good choice in situaAons where the number of available control
parameters is limited. The basic builder is supported on all DMX consoles.
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