That giant sound you heard coming from Europe last month was the falling expectation that the world would come to an end when they started the Large Hardon Collider near Geneva, Switzerland. It turns out that fears of the collider destroying the world through the production of microscopic black holes never materialized. What did materialize was an anticlimactic flip of the switch that started the collider — not that you would have noticed had the press not been there. In the long term, what is learned from these particle collisions could change the way we view the world. In the short term… yawn… stretch… yawn.
Another event in Europe took place with much less fanfare but with much more potential for moving the needle on the give-a-damn-ometer. It was the official launch of the first batch of fixtures with true RDM implementation. At least four companies — Robe, Martin, PR Lighting and High End — launched new products at PLASA with bi-directional communication using the two-year-old standard. Up until now, a lot of devices claimed to be “RDM-ready” — meaning they had the hardware — but with no actual implementation — meaning they had no software using the features. That has now changed.
What, exactly, does that mean to you, the coolest lighting guy on the planet? It means that any function you can perform from the menu display on a device can now be performed remotely. For example, the Robe RDM software allows you to remotely retrieve information about a fixture, including:
- RDM protocol software version
- Manufacturer label, device model, description, and device label (a name you give the fixture such as DigitalSpot 3000)
- Product category and software version
- DMX512 footprint (how many channels the device uses), start address, and mode
- Lamp hours, lamp strikes, lamp state (on or off), and lamp mode
- Device hours
- Display invert and intensity level
- Pan and/or tilt invert
- Subdevices count – the number of controlled devices connected to the device (probably for RDM hubs and splitters)
- Sensor count
You can also change the settings remotely, at least the ones that are settable. In this case, the DreamBox allows you to change the DMX512 start address, device label, mode, display settings, and it lets you turn the lamp on and off and reset the fixture. It also lets you decide whether you want the fixture to ID itself on command so you can figure out on which fixture you’re changing the DMX512 address.
For the time being, “remotely” probably means from another device like a laptop. In Robe’s case, they have a small externally connected device called the DreamBox that has to be interconnected between the console and the first RDM fixture. It has a USB port that connects to a laptop and the laptop has to be loaded with the DreamBox software. All of the commands are executed through the computer. Someday that job will be taken over by the console.
Kudos to the fixture manufacturers for implementing RDM in the fixtures. Now it’s time for the console manufacturers to implement RDM in consoles so we can free the FOH from its dependence on yet another external box and another laptop. Just how long it takes for this to happen depends on you. No, no one expects you to write the software code for the console, but the manufacturers will not devote the resources to writing the code into the console unless they perceive that there’s a benefit to doing so. The benefit has to be that you, the end user, will spec and use their products because of this feature. You have to be proactive and demand it from the manufacturers or Slippery Rock will win the BCS championship before we’ll see RDM in lighting consoles.
To be fair, there are some console manufacturers, I’m told, who are working feverishly to implement RDM in their products…er, make that one manufacturer that I know of, and that’s Compulite. I’m sure there are others…uh, make that pretty sure…
Implementing RDM in consoles is just the first step in the centralized management of devices over a network. Sure, it’s nice to be able to remotely address a fixture from the console or a laptop, but there’s so much more that can be done. Take, for example, when you start a new lighting design project. The first thing that happens after you decide which devices and instruments you will use is to go on a hunt. You hunt for information about each device in the system; its DMX512 protocol, photometric data, its physical characteristics like the size, weight, etc. You also need to find or create a CAD symbol or block to use when you create a plot or a model. As of right now, it’s incumbent upon the designer or programmer to gather all of this information, and it usually translates into hours and hours of pre-pre-production.
But here’s the thing; the manufacturers already have all of this information. They aren’t always forthcoming with it, but they created the device and they couldn’t do so without having drawings and information about it. So why isn’t it incumbent upon the manufacturers to supply all of this information? In fact, all of this information should be loaded into the memory of the device and it should also be available on the manufacturer’s Web site. We should be able to download all of this information in a standardized format so that third party programs like WYSIWYG, LD Assistant, Vectorworks and Capture can access and make use of it.
Since RDM essentially rides on top of DMX512, it’s still transferring data at the 250K baud — not exactly Michael Phelps-like speed. Transferring larger files like video content and 3D CAD blocks requires much higher speeds. But the technology to do this is available today. ACN can do it; it’s available, complete, and ready to go. But it doesn’t matter how this is accomplished as long as it is done (although using a proprietary protocol would be a giant step backwards). You don’t have to know anything about RDM or ACN to understand the implications involved. So go, right now, and ask the manufacturers to make it so. Talk to anyone remotely involved in console product development and make it clear that you think this is a high priority.
No, the world won’t come to an end if this doesn’t happen. But just think about how it could change the industry when it does happen. It just might be the start of a revolution.
