Terminology
A description of some of the most commonly used terms in LightAct
A layer is an entity that exists in a Sequence and has a beginning and an end (determined by the Duration parameter). A layer can perform a variety of functions such as content processing & playback, video/image/image sequence/Notch block reading and playback or just some logic.
A canvas is an entity that holds one texture. The texture can be of an arbitrary resolution. Content is pushed to a canvas with Render to Canvas nodes. There can be several Render to Canvas nodes rendering onto the same canvas at the same time. In a typical workflow, content from canvases is pushed to video screens, 3D models or some other LightAct object, however, it is also possible to push it directly to a video output.
A video screen is a virtual representation of a physical video screen.
A thrower is a helper virtual object that facilitates mapping of content onto various viewport objects by taking into account their position in the 3D scene of the viewport.
A 3D model is a virtual representation of a physical object. 3D models are usually imported as an .obj or .fbx assets.
A primitive is a simple 3D model of a cube, a plane, a sphere or a cone
A null object is an ‘empty’ object that can be used as a container of other objects.
It allows you to group objects
A sequence marker indicates a position in a sequence.
A viewport marker indicates a 3D position in the Viewport window.
Asset is an external resource that LightAct uses in a specific project. Examples include: images, image sequences, video files, Notch blocks, 3D models or Unreal Engine projects. At the time of writing this document, LightAct supports the following asset formats:
- 3D models: obj, fbx, dae
- Notch blocks: dfxdll
Image and video formats & codecs are described on the page below:
Video output is a virtual representation of a physical output on the system’s GPU.
DMX stands for DMX512, which is a communication standard commonly used to control lighting and effects.
Art-Net is a UDP based protocol used to transmit DMX data over Ethernet. It was developed by Artistic License.
sACN is a UDP based protocol used to transmit DMX data over Ethernet. It was developed by ESTA. In many aspects it is comparable with Art-Net.
Fixture refers to a DMX light fixture, i.e. a light fixture controlled by DMX.
A LightAct variable is a container holding information. The information can be a number (integer or float), color, texture or something else.
There are 2 types of variables:
- Layer variables are available only within one layer
- Global variables can be accessed from any layer.