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CTB16PCg3 in DMX mode shimmer


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Posted

With the shimmer effect work correctly using a ctb16pcg3 in dmx mode? I thought I had read that in the past but couldn't find the answer. Thanks,

Eric 

Posted

It should at least sort of work.  Remember, DMX only knows one command - current level for this channel is this value (0 to 255).  So to send a shimmer, the show controller has to send a value of 0 for one frame, and then whatever lit value you want for the next frame; then keep repeating (for example: 255, 0, 240, 0, 225, 0, 210, 0, 195, 0, 180, 0, 165, 0, 150, 0, 135, 0, 120, 0, 105, 0, 90, 0, 75, 0, 60, 0, 45, 0, 30, 0, 15, 0 would produce a shimmer that started bright and ramped down to dark in about 3/4 second).  Because of the refresh rate for DMX, the max you can get is just under 23 pulses per second.  As I understand it, a LOR AC controller does the shimmer in sync with the 60 cycle AC power and is A ) a faster shimmer than DMX can accomplish, and B ) all the controllers would flash in sync with each other because they are all syncing to the same power timing - something else that DMX can't do.

BTW, I have 8,000 channels of DMX that on a couple songs make extensive use of shimmer, and it looks just fine.  Note that this is E1.31, not DMX over RS-485, but the result should be the same.  I also have shimmer on LOR DC controllers which of course can't shimmer in sync with the AC power.  I never use shimmer on any of my AC channels except occasionally one segment of a singing face (when JR sequenced it that way).

 

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