Controlling lights with your own computer

Controlling light with your own laptop

(Under construction by Daan)

This is a tutorial about how to control lights on the go, using your own laptop, outside of the blackbox. In this tutorial, we will use a device called a DMX interface to communicate with an LED light or dimmerpak, using the free software called QLC+. We will need to download a driver for the DMX interface, and install a fixture profile for the light you wish to use. I will guide you through these simple steps

1. Materials

We will need a couple of ingredients for this to work. You should be able to find all of these in one of HKU’s uitleens. 
- Working laptop or computer
- If you’re on Mac, a usb-c dongle to connect the USB device
- DMX interface (ENTTEC USB Pro MK1 or 2)
- DMX cable
- LED light with DMX input (or a dimmerpak with DMX input, and a halogen light)

2. DMX interface & driver

Before connecting the DMX interface, we need to install the driver for it. The company that makes the interface is called ENTTEC, and they also make their own light control software. We need to install this software so our computer can communicate with the interface. The software is called EMU, you can download it here: https://www.enttec.co.uk/downloademu185639027/?hashkey=d06b6e3f3133252b94a06fe0277e7d76
You need to make an account to download the file (any email will work, no verification needed). If you a re opposed to this, a blackbox employee can give you the file if you want.

We can now start connecting the interface through USB with our computer, and the DMX output on the interface to the DMX input on the light using our DMX cable. Like this: (foto toevoegen)

3. QLC+

The software we use to control lights in the blackbox is QLC+ (among other softwares, for different use cases). Download it here: https://www.qlcplus.org/download

When you open QLC, this window will pop up: