Vixen 3.0 Enttec Open DMX Output Module

[chilloutdocdoc]

Just put the finishing touches on a very crude Enttec Open DMX Output Module for Vixen 3.0. The module expects you to have the FTDI 2XX driver installed on your computer, and may or may not report an error if you don't have it (haven't bothered to uninstall it myself and see what happens.

I would like to see some others test it out and see where it needs to be improved. Feel free to respond in this thread, or modify the code yourself.

To Use:
1) Extract Zip Contents
2) Copy VixenOpenDMX.dll to the folder filedir/Vixen3.0/Modules/Output/
3) Start Vixen 3.0

Notes if you plan on modifiying/building from source. You will need to change the output directory of the .dll as it is setup on my computer to go right to the vixen modules folder. Yours may or may not be in the same location.

No license on the source, do with it what you will, just please give back to the community if you provide any updates or useful features.

Josh

NOTE/WARNING: This module may or may not be show ready, just like Vixen 3.0. Please test accordingly

Changelog:
V1.0
- Initial Creation
V1.1
- Fixed output value scaling from 0-100 to 0-255
- Fixed memory leak with each write function
- Fixed channels staying at previous value after effect ends

 

[budude]

So - - previously if you used the Enttec Open Plug-In you also needed to run the DMX Add-In as well so the computer would continuously feed the stream out (this was not necessary with the Pro Plug-In/dongles) - is that no longer required now?

 

[chilloutdocdoc]

Well. From what I found, as long as Vixen 3.0 is running, the output is feeding. Unless stop the execution engine (System->Execution Engine->Start/Stop). As soon as it starts up, the data is getting spit out. No new thread necessary. (Unless I'm missing how the code is intended to be written)

 

[bobkeyes]

Glad to see someone is working on output modules. I wish I had the knowledge to help. I also wish someone would work on an E1.31???

Thanks for your work.

 

[chilloutdocdoc]

Thanks Bob

Updating the first post with a bit more "use" information. Just a reminder this module may or may not be show ready. PLEASE test it if you have the appropriate hardware.

Josh

 

[chilloutdocdoc]

Updated .zip. Forgot to output start code of 0.

 

[jpb]

To Use:
1) Extract Zip Contents
2) Copy VixenOpenDMX.dll to the folder filedir/Vixen3.0/Modules/Output/
3) Start Vixen 3.0

Notes if you plan on modifiying/building from source. You will need to change the output directory of the .dll as it is setup on my computer to go right to the vixen modules folder. Yours may or may not be in the same location.

Josh, where should the VixenOpenDMX folder reside?
I am trying this with one of RPM's USB-DMX converters and while the software allows me to program channels I get no actual output. I know my computer setup is okay because the DMX is working okay on Vixen 2.5.

regards, Jon

 

[ctmal]

Josh, where should the VixenOpenDMX folder reside?
I am trying this with one of RPM's USB-DMX converters and while the software allows me to program channels I get no actual output. I know my computer setup is okay because the DMX is working okay on Vixen 2.5.

regards, Jon

I haven't worked with this Output Modules but in general you need to copy the .dll file to the Vixen3.0/Modules/Output folder. It won't work if you copy the entire folder to that folder.

 

[rokkett]

Josh's code is for the Enttec Open. RPM's USB2DMX device is an Enttec Pro clone. We will need a slightly different module to drive that...

 

[jpb]

Josh's code is for the Enttec Open. RPM's USB2DMX device is an Enttec Pro clone. We will need a slightly different module to drive that...

I understand, I thought it might be the wrong module, thanks for that.

Jon

 

[budude]

So - - I gave this a try today. I have a Ren64 with the channel LEDs with an Enttec Open DMX adaptor. Initially I set up Vixen 2.1 with the Open Plug-in and DMX Add-in and ran some basic sequences to ensure all the HW was working properly. I then installed a fresh Vixen 3.0/B0, .NET 4, and your plug-in into the directory you indicated. This is on XP SP3.

I added all 64 channels and created eight groups of eight channels each (ChanG1 = channels 1-8, ChanG2 = 9-16, etc). I then placed an effect on each group in sequential order. So CG1 has a chase for 2 seconds, then CG2, etc and then did same for the Pulse, Spin and Twinkle effects for each group.

What I found was that the last effect value on the group would be left on. In other words for the chase on CG1, it would properly chase channels 1-8 but channel 8 would be left on when the effect started on CG2 (9-16) and then channel 16 would be left on and so on. This was true for all the effects and all the groups. Essentially it is not turning off the last setting for the group as a whole. I assume this is not normal - that I do not need to add a specific setValue to 0 type of operation to turn things off.

Anyway - first time I've actually run V3 with real HW so not sure if this is a Vixen issue or an Open DMX module problem. Not sure if the sequence will help but attaching it...

edit - sounds like this is a possible known issue - VX-114 will track this. This is pretty important to fix.

 

[chilloutdocdoc]

Budude: Known issue, got a solution for it, will be fixing it hopefully this week, (or next week depending on how much homework my professors give).

It was also brought to my attention that there is a somewhat significant memory leak. It could cause some slow-down after a bit of playback, that will also be fixed (stupid error on my part.)

Stay tuned

 

[chilloutdocdoc]

Updated plugin, see first post for .zip

V1.1
- Fixed output value scaling from 0-100 to 0-255
- Fixed memory leak with each write function
- Fixed channels staying at previous value after effect ends

 

[budude]

OK - tried Version 1.1 with the same sequence as before. The original issue is fine but now there's a different one. Again, I'm using a Ren64 and going by the channel LEDs as my "lights". When I run the sequence it runs great for channels 1-32 but then starts stuttering a bit on channels 33-64 (Groups 5-8) - the seventh and eighth (channels 49-64) group in particular is very bad - sometimes nothing shows up for them or just one or two channels in the group.

I'm going to try the E1.31 module to see how that goes.

 

[chilloutdocdoc]

hmmh, that's odd.. I'm going to have to hook up more hardware and see if I can reproduce that issue this week.

 

[budude]

hmmh, that's odd.. I'm going to have to hook up more hardware and see if I can reproduce that issue this week.

The new j1sys E1.31 module worked perfectly with the same sequence (just to clarify it's not a HW issue) and looked very smooth. As I indicated, it looks OK up to about 32 channels but after that it starts acting up.

 

[joej85]

Does this work (or does anybody know how to make this work) with Vixen 3.0.3?

I added the dll file to the Vixen 3.0.3 controllers directory, but it didnt show up in the controllers list in vixen

 

[kychristmas]

Does this work (or does anybody know how to make this work) with Vixen 3.0.3?

I added the dll file to the Vixen 3.0.3 controllers directory, but it didnt show up in the controllers list in vixen

Likely Not. The plugin architecture was significantly changed since this was created. Not sure if there is an updated one though. I see an Entec Pro in the GitHub project.

 

[sallz0r]

Likely Not. The plugin architecture was significantly changed since this was created. Not sure if there is an updated one though. I see an Entec Pro in the GitHub project.

That's correct. The one written in this thread (above) was from last year; we've made changes to the architecture since then, but haven't been able to update it. We're looking for a volunteer to help update the code and test it with hardware, which is something we're unable to do. :-(

We do have some code in the github project; not sure on the history of it at the moment though.

 

[piense]

I took a look at the code and updated the plugin for the changes to the Vixen architecture. The plugin now loads and seems to function but I don't have the hardware so I can't do any real testing. I also tried to address the stuttering that people were reporting with higher channel counts. Attached is the DLL, let me know how things go.