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Luminair iPad app


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I just used the Luminair/iPad/enttec wifi set up on a job and loved it. Some of my other gaffer buddies have built cool kits with this gear. Do any of you gaffers/DPs out there use this stuff? Do you have a cool way of storing it conveniently?

 

Drew Valenti

Gaffer

Los Angeles

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I used it briefly and paid a lot for the experiment but found the interface way too slow and clunky for any real work. It's a very cool proof of concept, and a simple way (once set) to hand off the "board" to someone with no experience and let them punch-up looks you made. But it's far too slow to do any serious programming, and the limitations of the way it deals with high-channel count fixtures are immediately apparent. It did, however, turn me on to the possibilities of automated lighting, RGBW led fixtures, etc - and using a more robust controller, I'm doing a lot of the same stuff now but a lot easier and more reliably. Chamsys Magicq - awesome software, excellent hardware, great support and their head personality files are updated daily. Initially, with Luminair I was trying to use something I already had and gaff-tape solutions to it to make it work (metaphorically and literally). When I stepped to MagicQ, I did it backwards - the goal was lighting control, using this software, needing both USB and WIFI to link to artnet or the Chamsys wing - now what hardware device gets me there? After a lot of trial and error, I ended up with a Lenovo Tablet 2 - full size usb, touch screen with digitizer, and plenty powerful to run MagicQ with or without the fader wing. It looks and feels like an iPad, but MagicQ is infinitely faster and more powerful (and also expandable...and also cheaper). Worth looking into - because you can use it like Luminair (and using the same Enttec ODE box), or you can use it with a PC Wing for real faders and encoders - and it's the same software that runs their full desks so there's no learning curve. I haven't touched Luminair since discovering MagicQ - its just better in every single way.

 

After that shill, storing it conveniently... I velcro'd the airport express and the ODE power supply to the top of the ODE, and made a little zip-wire stinger that connects the two on one plug. Literally - plug it in, WIFI DMX is available. All fits in a tiny pelican, but with the velcro - it's a nice compact and robust little package.... though you get some TERRIFIED looks from people when you pull it out - looks pretty sketchy... wouldn't wanna go through TSA with it.

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