Artnet Lighting Driver. V2.0

This driver allows you to control a room of up to thirty lighting fixtures of various types using Art-Net.

The driver has been tested using a Chauvet DMX-AN2 Art-Net Node but should work with any Art-Net node that conforms to the Art-Net standard.

Art-Net is designed by and Copyright Artistic License.

Warning!!!

This driver will cause high CPU usage if not setup correctly.

Art-Net requires that a constant stream of Art-Net packets is sent between the XP processor and the Art-Net node. This takes CPU time to calculate the value for each channel, build the packets and send them over the network. If we keep the packets as compact as possible then there won’t be any issues with CPU usage.

To do this, keep your fittings as close together as possible starting from address 1. If you only had one single channel fitting but put it at address 510, this could cause CPU usage issues. Using 100 channels on an XP-8s processor will use about 14% CPU according to XP Diagnostics. Newer processors will be better but check with XP or online diagnostics if using an XP3 or wall panel as a processor.

Examine the example file and documentation with this driver for how to setup a typical DMX system and set addresses in an efficient way.

Configuration:

General Settings:

Licence key: Enter the licence key that matches the Mac address of your XP processor. The driver will function fully for two hours from each reboot of the processor to allow for testing and evaluation of the driver. Licence keys can be obtained from johnmarshav.com or j.marsh@johnmarshav.com

Room Fade Time: This is the fade time for all the fittings in the room in milliseconds. This can be changed by adding a step to a macro using the ‘room Fade time’ function.

Art-Net Node Settings:

IP Address: This is the IP address of the Art-Net node you are going to be using. This must be on the same network as you RTI processor. If you set the address to 255, such as 192.168.1.255, then the driver will broadcast the Art-Net packets, and they will be received by all Art-Net Nodes or by other software on the same network. This can be useful if you need to have more than one Art-Net node running your lights.

Art-Net Universe: This is the Art-Net universe that your node is set to. The default is 1 and this will work for most situations. You may need to use the web interface of the Art-Net node to set the correct IP address and universe. The Chauvet DMX-AN2 has two outputs, if you set both outputs to universe 1 you then have two duplicated outputs that you can use.

Fitting setup:

Each lighting fixture is added using the ‘Add Workspace Item’. The driver is designed with a master level control that can controls all the fixtures together, this is ideal for a single room such as a cinema room or garden. Locate the driver and add the first instance to your room. Repeat his process for each additional fixture.

Fitting Name: Give each fitting a descriptive name to help identify it as you progress your design. The fitting names are used to create a list that can be used with the inbuilt layer switch for easy selection of the fitting the user wants to change. ID11 seems to like lists!

Fitting Type: Each fixture can be one of 5 types.

Single Channel Dimmable, 1 DMX Channel: This fitting would be something like a downlight that is controlled from either a mains voltage dimmer or a low voltage DMX LED driver.

Red, Green, Blue (RGB) 3 DMX Channels: This fitting can be anything that has three channels identified as red, green & blue. RGB tape is a good example or RBG stage lighting like LED PAR cans.

Red, Green, Blue, White (RGBW) 4 DMX Channels: This type of fitting uses 4 channels specified as red, green, blue & white and is suited to RGBW tape.

Switched. 1 DMX Channel: This type is for something that cannot be dimmed. Some low voltage lights with inductive loads or switch mode power supplies may not be dimmable. A DMX relay could be used to switch the supply. The level of this channel can only be 0 or 255. The level will go to zero when the Room Master is set to zero.

Warm White/Cool White CCT: 2 DMX Channels: This is for LED tape or downlights that have two colour channels, Warm White and Cool White. The temperature of the tape can be tuned using the ‘Kelvin’ function. Two additional configuration options will appear when you choose a CCT fixture. Enter the warm and cool temperatures for the CCT tape you are using, this will be in the manufacturers information. The lower value is the warm temperature. These values are used to calculate the approximate Kelvin temperature of the tape. For best results try to make sure your LED tape driver has a linear dimming curve, or this approximation will be inaccurate.

Fitting DMX Address: This is the base address that the DMX controlled fitting is set to. The base address for an RGB fitting is the address that the Red channel is on. Green and Blue are than on consecutive channels. So if the base address is 5, Red is on 5, Green on 6 and Blue on 7. Make sure you do not address any other fittings to use addresses 5, 6 or 7 as this will cause a conflict and strange things will happen.

Room Fade Time: This is the default fade time in milliseconds for all the fittings in the room. This can be changed later using the ‘Room Fade Time’ function.

Functions:

Room Functions:

Master Level: Tag “Master Level”.

This function sets the master level globally for the whole room. The levels of all the other lights in the driver are calculated using this level. If you are getting no output from any fittings, make sure you have the master level turned up.

Master Level Up: Tag “Master Level Up”.

Increases the value of the Room Master in 10% steps.

Master Level Down: Tag “Master Level Down”.

Decreases the value of the Room Master in 10% steps.

Master Level On: Tag “Master Level On”.

Sets the room master level to the maximum.

Master Level Off: Tag “Master Level Off”.

Sets the room master level to zero or off.

Room Fade Time: Sets the room fade time in Milliseconds. When you change any values the current fade time will be used. If the fade time is very long ( > 10 seconds) then user experience may not be what they expect as the channels take 10s to catch up. Longer fade times are good for storing into presets but not so good for normal use.

Room Presets: room presets act like scenes and can be recalled at any time. Presets store the room master, room fade time and all the settings of each fitting as a snapshot. Presets are stored in persistent memory so are maintained after a power cycle or reboot. There are 8 presets available.

Recall Scene n: Tag “Scene n”.

Will recall the scene with the number n. example “Scene 1”.

Store Scene n: Tag “Scene n Store”.

Stores the current lighting settings to scene n. Example “Scene 1 Store”.

Fitting Functions:

Light Level: Tag “Light Level”.

Every fitting has a fitting dimmer level. The output of each channel associated to the fitting is calculated using the fitting dimmer and the room dimmer. If the fitting level is set to 50% and the master level is set to 50% then the actual output of the fitting will be 0.5 x 0.5 = 0.25 or 25%.

Light Level Up: Tag “Light Level Up”.

Increases the value of the fitting level in 10% steps.

Light Level Down: Tag “Light Level Down”.

Decreases the value of the fitting level in 10% steps.

Light Level On: Tag “Light Level On”.

Sets the fittings light level to maximum.

Light Level Off: Tag “Light Level Off”.

Sets the fittings light level to off or zero.

For RGB and RGBW fittings there are functions to control the colours of the fixtures.

Red Level: Tag “Light Red Level”.

Sets the red level for an RGB or RGBW fixture. The actual output is a function of the colour level, fitting light level and the master light level. So, if the master is set to 50% and the fitting is set to 50% and the colour level is set to 50% then the output of the red channel will be 0.5 x 0.5 x 0.5 = 0.125 or 12.5%. This is true for RGB fixtures but for RGBW fixtures the output level will use the above formula, minus the amount of white calculated in the RGB values.

Green Level: Tag “Light Green Level”.

Blue Level: Tag “Light Blue Level”.

There is no white level for RGBW fixtures. The white value is calculated from the values of the RGB levels by the driver.

Preset colours: There are thirteen preset colours with the following tags:

Colour/TagRed Value %Green Value %Blue Value %

White100100100
Red10000
Orange100500
Yellow1001000
Spring Green501000
Green01000
Turquoise010050
Cyan0100100
Ocean050100
Blue00100
Violet500100
Magenta1000100
Raspberry100050
Toggle Switch: Tag “Toggle”. (Switched fittings only) This turns a switched fitting to the opposite of its current state.

Colour Temperature: Tag “Kelvin”. (WW/CW fittings only) This allows you to tune the colour temperature from warm to cool white. The value goes from 0 to 100 to work with a slider.

Colour Temperature Text: Tag “Kelvin Text” This is an approximate value of the temperature of the CCT tape calculated using the warm and cool values entered in the configuration.

Preset Temperatures. There are 8 preset colour temperatures tagged as follows. If the temperatures you entered were 1800 – 7000K in the configuration this would result in the following Kelvin values.

Temperature/TagKelvin

Candlelight1800
Soft White2700
Warm White3000
Whitelight3500
Cool White4000
Bright White5000
Daylight6000
Blue Sky7000
Test For DMX Conflicts: Tag “DMX Test”. Used to check your DMX channel addresses for any conflicts. The output of the test can be seen in the log output of the XP Diagnostics server of the XP processor.

Variables:

Master Level: Tag “Master Level”. (Integer) Value of the room master level as a percentage.

Fitting Name: Tag “Fitting Name”. (String) The name of the fitting from the configuration.

Fitting Dimmer: Tag “Light Level”. (Integer) Value if the fitting dimmer as a percentage.

Red: Tag “Light Red Level”. (Integer) Value of the fittings red channel as a percentage.

Green: Tag “Light Green Level”. (Integer) Value of the fittings green channel as a percentage.

Blue: Tag “Light Blue Level”. (Integer) Value of the fittings blue channel as a percentage.

On/Off: Tag “Toggle”. (Boolean) True if a switched fitting is on.

Temperature: Tag “Kelvin”. (Integer) Value of the Colour Temperature of Warm/Cool CCT fittings.0-100

Temperature as Text: Tag “Kelvin Text”. (Integer) the approximate temperature of the CCT strip in kelvin calculated using the warm and cool values entered for the specific tape in the configuration.

Layer Switch: (Boolean) Each fitting had a ‘Selected’ variable that can be used to switch layer.

Fitting List: Tag “Fitting List”. (List) A list built using the fitting names entered in the configuration settings. Use names that the user will understand rather than names that may be obvious to the programmer. “Ceiling Downlights” rather than “Dimmable Fitting 3 on driver box 4”. The list can be used as a Layer Switch to turn on and off layers. Only one fixture can be selected at a time.

Revision History:

Version 1.1 26/1/2024:

Found updated firmware in Chauvet DMX AN2 caused intermittent DMX output with the driver. Changes made to pad out the full DMX package to 512 bytes rather than just the number of bytes required for the fittings used. Also added a sequence byte so that Art-Net packets can be correctly played out on slow networks, or if there are network issues.

Version 1.2 28/1/2024

Increased number of presets from 4 to 8.

Version 2.0 29/4/25

Major update. Fixtures are now added as separate devices.

Expanded to allow up to 30 fittings.

All functions and variables are now tagged and match as closely as possible the default tags in the generic lighting page in RTI.

On/Off functions added for all channels and the master level.

Colour temperature presets added.

CCT values for warm and cool channels added to calculate the approximate colour temperature.