DMX Out

In DMX Out Window, you can visualize and send DMX data to the network. Here, you can also scan for DMX nodes on the network, which are the final endpoints DMX Data is sent to.

DMX Out window can be found under Tools -> DMX Out, in the DMX section.

DMX Out Setup

The send data through DMX Out window, you have to follow a couple of steps:

1. Insert a Node.

2. Send Data.

1. Insert a Node

The Nodes section is where all the added ArtNet and sACN nodes will be listed. These nodes represent the final endpoints to which DMX Data will be sent.

To choose an endpoint, you have to add it as a node. Click on Add manual button and select the desired protocol name.

If you are using Art-Net protocol, you can also click on Scan ArtNet nodes and LightAct will list out all available nodes for you after a 10-second timeout has passed.

Once you have added a node, you can customize its parameters based on your setup. In Configure column of the Nodes section, you can adjust how many ports you will be sending DMX Data to. Next, you can determine which universe you would like to send to which port.

In our case, we have manually added an Art-Net node, and we have set it up so that it sends DMX Data to two Ports. Universe 0 is being sent to port 0 and universe 1 is being sent to port 1.

Please note that sACN forbids universe 0, so universes for this protocol start from 1.

Good to know: If you Scan for ArtNet nodes, instead of adding them manually, LightAct will automatically receive information about how many ports there are and which universe node expects for each port. This means that in most cases, you will not need to make any additional changes to the Configuration of scanned Art-Net nodes.

Good to know: If your physical device supports the option to configure each port to a different protocol (e.g. port 1 is Art-Net and port 2 is sACN), then you will need to Add two separate nodes in the DMX Out window, one for Art-Net and one for sACN.

2. Send Data

So far, we have configured our DMX Out setup. Now it is time to actually send some DMX Data to our endpoints. Under the DMX section, you will notice a grid of 512 squares, each representing a different channel from a DMX Universe.

Good to know: You can toggle between different DMX universes by clicking on the + and - icons of the Universe property. LightAct supports up to 65,536 universes.

By default, all channel values are set to 0. You can populate a DMX Universe with the desired channel values, in two different ways:

1. Create a Fixture and then Output to DMX Fixture.
2. Set DMX in Layer Layouts.

Once you have assigned the correct values to the correct DMX channels, enable the Send DMX checkbox.

You can also send LightAct's Sequence timecode by enabling Send Art-Net Timecode checkbox. A dropdown menu will appear, in which you can choose which Timeline would you like to send TC from.

Once you hit Play on the chosen Timeline, the timecode should be outputted, as well.