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Developer(s) | ArKaos s.a. |
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Stable release | 3.6.5 |
Operating system | Mac OS X, Windows |
Type | live visual performance |
License | Proprietary |
Website | www![]() |
ArKaos is an application for live visual performance, [1] conceived as a visual sampler for video loops [2] that can be triggered from the computer, or through a hardware interface. The application is available in two versions: ArKaos VJ MIDI, conceived as a live video performance instrument, often used in conjunction with a MIDI keyboard, and ArKaos VJ DMX (a "media server software"), which can be controlled with a DMX console (DMX512 is a communication standard used for stage lighting devices).
ArKaos is also known for use in the Daftendirektour, a tour led by the band Daft Punk. [3]
In 2011, ArKaos introduced the Kling-Net protocol, used for lighting control and Remote Device Management (RDM). [4] It aims to provide video professionals the ability to distribute real-time video data to LED strips, LED panels and other remote devices over ethernet. Together with Art-Net, it is one of the most commonly used lighting control and Remote Device Management (RDM) protocols.
Kling-Net automatically configures and connects display devices to a computer, media server or console. This means that “intelligence” is added to LED devices, enabling them to talk directly to the server or console, without the user's input. [5]
The main benefit of this approach is that it eliminates the complexity of networking and control issues, thereby reducing the need for technical knowledge of the user. It also allows the creation of an heterogenic network of display devices from different manufacturers, which can all be controlled from one computer. [6]
The autoconfiguration capabilities of Kling-Net ensure that many different devices can be controlled by the same media server. This avoids creating and matching the profiles of media server and individual device. [7]
Kling-Net automatically detects and configures LED devices when initiated and sends the devices' resolution and pixel formats to the media server, which reads and changes the device parameters where necessary. Once registered to the media server, the device will start to receive the real-time video data as it is mapped onto the media server screen by the user, clipping and transforming the image to the correct pixel formats and minimising the need for user input. [8]
Furthermore, because most of the work is done by the media server, the video easily reaches 60 FPS.
Kling-Net was developed to function with nearly all manufacturers’ LED products, using a source code that adds an intelligence to LED devices, which allows control and integration.
DMX512 is a standard for digital communication networks that are commonly used to control lighting and effects. It was originally intended as a standardized method for controlling stage lighting dimmers, which, prior to DMX512, had employed various incompatible proprietary protocols. It quickly became the primary method for linking controllers to dimmers and special effects devices such as fog machines and intelligent lights.
Open Sound Control (OSC) is a protocol for networking sound synthesizers, computers, and other multimedia devices for purposes such as musical performance or show control. OSC's advantages include interoperability, accuracy, flexibility and enhanced organization and documentation. Its disadvantages include inefficient coding of information, increased load on embedded processors, and lack of standardized messages/interoperability. The first specification was released in March 2002.
A dimmer is a device connected to a light fixture and used to lower the brightness of the light. By changing the voltage waveform applied to the lamp, it is possible to lower the intensity of the light output. Although variable-voltage devices are used for various purposes, the term dimmer is generally reserved for those intended to control light output from resistive incandescent, halogen, and compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) and light-emitting diodes (LEDs). More specialized equipment is needed to dim fluorescent, mercury-vapor, solid-state, and other arc lighting.
A lighting control console is an electronic device used in theatrical lighting design to control multiple stage lights at once. They are used throughout the entertainment industry and are normally placed at the front of house (FOH) position or in a control booth.
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Show control is the use of automation technology to link together and operate multiple entertainment control systems in a coordinated manner. It is distinguished from an entertainment control system, which is specific to a single theatrical department, system or effect, one which coordinates elements within a single entertainment discipline such as lighting, sound, video, rigging, or pyrotechnics. A typical entertainment control system would be a lighting control console. An example of show control would be linking a video segment with a number of lighting cues, or having a sound cue trigger animatronic movements, or all of these combined. Shows with or without live actors can almost invariably incorporate entertainment control technology and usually benefit from show control to operate these subsystems independently, simultaneously, or in rapid succession.
Remote Device Management(RDM) is an addition to the DMX512 control protocol for stage lighting equipment, introduced in 2006. DMX512 was developed in the late 1980s as a standard protocol for lighting consoles to communicate with dimmers, but has since been used for more complex applications, including the control of intelligent lighting fixtures. The addition of RDM addresses many of the shortcomings of DMX512, which is unidirectional with no support for metadata.
Intelligent lighting refers to lighting that has automated or mechanical abilities beyond those of traditional, stationary illumination. Although the most advanced intelligent lights can produce extraordinarily complex effects, the intelligence lies with the human lighting designer, control system programmer(For example, Chamsys and Avolites), or the lighting operator, rather than the fixture itself. For this reason, intelligent lighting (ILS) is also known as automated lighting, moving lights, moving heads, or simply movers.
A media server is a computer appliance or an application software that stores digital media and makes it available over a network.
The Lemur was a highly customizable multi-touch device from French company JazzMutant founded by Yoann Gantch, Pascal Joguet, Guillaume Largillier and Julien Olivier in 2002, which served as a controller for musical devices such as synthesizers and mixing consoles, as well as for other media applications such as video performances. As an audio tool, the Lemur's role was equivalent to that of a MIDI controller in a MIDI studio setup, except that the Lemur used the Open Sound Control (OSC) protocol, a high-speed networking replacement for MIDI. The controller was especially well-suited for use with Reaktor and Max/MSP, tools for building custom software synthesizers.
A colour scroller or colour changer is an electro-mechanical lighting accessory used in theater, film, dance and concerts to change the colour projected by stage lighting instruments without the need of a person to be in the vicinity of the light. A colour scroller moves plastic "gel" colour gel [actually dyed polyester and/or other base materials coated with dyes] into the beam of the light. It is generally attached to the gel frame holder at the transmitting end of a lighting fixture, so colour is introduced after the beam characteristics have been defined by the optics of the lighting instrument. Most scrollers are controlled via DMX512 protocol, but some models also utilize the RDM protocol. When colour scrollers were first introduced around 1980, a number of companies produced them, including: Avolites, GAM Products, Morpheus Lights, Rainbow, Rosco Laboratories and Wybron Inc. Now the main manufacturers are: A.C. Lighting, Apollo, Morpheus Lights and Rainbow.
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