Which Software To Use?

[igarrettjR]

I'm building a Holiday Show in a Projection Dome.  It's a 36' Geo Dome with a projection liner.  I'm planning to incorporate Lasers, Dmx Lighting, and smart Pixel lights(mega trees, etc.).  I'm not very familiar with any of the popular Christmas lighting software on the market, but I know of a few options like Showtime, Xlights, vixen, etc...  I was intending to build my laser and possibly dmx outputting with Pangolin Beyond Laser software.  It has basic timeline editing with laser cues, as well as the option to add audio files, and simple dmx/artnet controls of up to 4 universes.  'Beyond' supports timecode in/out, and plays well with other software.  As I understand, most of these Christmas light softwares are more standalone, and I know that most of them dont have any sort of timecode features, or dmx/artnet input control.  If i have to, i can actually save the laser cues to an SD card and trigger scenes with artnet (bypassing the laser software).  I prefer to work with some kind of timeline editing suite for maximum control.  My question is, what do you guys recommend as far as controlling all these elements together for a show.  Preferably not something too complicated, with as few computers as possible.  I've used Madrix for pixel control, and I know that it can be triggered with artnet, but A. Madrix is expensive, and B. it seems to be more of a 'scene' based software, and not so much for programming synchronized shows to music.   I have heard of Jinx, and I understand that it works much like Madrix, but is free, which is good, so i could take that route.  I would really like to incorporate one of these "christmas" lighting softwares like Showtime, but I don't want to start diving in to learning one specific software until i know it can do what i need it to do.  Any help, or recommendations would be amazing.  Thanks!

[k6ccc]

Well, you are asking on the Light O Rama forum, so expect a recommendation to use the LOR software.  The LOR Showtime software can drive DMX (either via RS-485 cable or  E1.31 which is DMX over Ethernet).  It is specifically designed for playing lights synchronized to music.  The only thing you did not tell us was what is needed to drive the lasers?  Is that DMX or something else?  The rest of it can be handled with the LOR Showtime software.  Do ask questions and there are lots of us that can help answer.  There are also a few people here that run and / or design professional shows and may be able to help as well.

 

[igarrettjR]

The Lasers "can" be driven with artnet (which is also a DMX over ethernet protocol), and also standard DMX, but I prefer to control them with Laser specific software.  Controlling them with standard DMX would require me to purchase additional hardware that I won't be able to afford.  I guess one of my questions is, can any of the holiday lighting softwares be triggered to start playing a show sequence using timecode, or artnet/dmx?  That way i can control my lasers with my laser software, and trigger Showtime, or Xlights, or whatever to play?  Is there a better forum to ask these questions in, not so specific to just LOR?

[k6ccc]

I don't know about Xlights (I don't use it), but the LOR software can be triggered by an input - a contact closure is the easiest to deal with.