Week September 17-23
- Downloaded and started messing with Fritzing. It's awesome!
- Lots of research on components for the physical interface of a lightboard. Definitely needs an Arduino Mega, with at least one shield, and possibly an additional custom PCB.
- Assembled a project list of Mouser with slide potentiometers, PMI LEDS, driver chips, connectors, etc.
- Talked with Aaron briefly about processing. Need to get links for the Processing tutorial he is using.
- Researched Arduino/USB connectivity. Considering having the Arduino read a USB numeric keypad rather than having one built in. USB Host Shield. That seems to be more trouble/expense than it's worth. Also looked into have Arduino emulate at USB keyboard.
Right now, it the big decision seems to be where the processing and cue storage takes place. There are three options:
1. Primary control takes place on the Arduino Mega. Once programmed, the project could be self-contained, without a computer connection and would be very similar to older commercially made lightboards, like the ETC Express. It would probably have a built-in serial LCD display and it might use an SD card to store cues. It could also be connected to a computer and could use a Processing-based interface to display additional information and provide extra controls, like virtual sliders.
2. Primary control is provided by the computer, in a Processing program. The external light board would simply be an input to control an array of sliders on screen. Writing cues could be accomplished on screen with keyboard shortcutsand would be stored on the computer. DMX levels would then be sent back to the Arduino, which would output to the driver chip.
3. I could use create a piece of hardware that could interface with an existing "virtual lightboard" program like
MiniStage Console. These programs are designed to output to
this gadget, which is essentially fancy case with the DMX driver chip I've been using, coupled directly to an FTDI chip. The main downside to these programs is that they require lots of onscreen manipulation of sliders and buttons, which is slow and cumbersome. However, they usually support keyboard shortcuts and input from MIDI devices. This means I could potentially emulate USB and MIDI devices with an Arduino in order to interact with the program.
It might also be possible to create a piece of hardware that could work for all of these approaches. The third option would almost definitely be the fastest to get working, but in the long run, writing my own program would give me much more flexibility.
