Standing By 2020
As the final hurdle in my Bachelor in Fine Arts (Technical Production), I was able to showcase who I was as a production artist at the annual Technical Production showcase, Standing By 2020.
I've always enjoyed programming lighting for shows and feel most comfortable behind a lighting console. I wanted to use this showcase as an opportunity to explore and learn how lighting control software work and what it takes to build one of my own. So, for my exhibition, I decided that I would try to develop my own lighting software.
The software can control different types of fixtures based on various fixture profiles. It can also create and recall cues as well as output DMX to different fixtures using and ENTTEC Open DMX USB.
For the actual exhibit, I styled my exhibition table to look like where I feel most at home, at a lighting production desk. Surrounded my cables, tools and rolls of gaff along with the desk lamp to round out the look.
I also collaborated with another member of the cohort, Michelle Hair. I worked with her to create a lighting design for her exhibit and then programmed the lighting for her exhibit using my own software.
Throughout the exhibition, audience members were able to interact with the software through a custom keyboard that I have used to teach myself different lighting control software such as ETC EOS and MA2.
Having used this software as a learning opportunity for myself, I always wanted to share what I have created with the world. While it may not be pretty and sometimes crashes, it has taught me a lot about how lighting software and DMX talk to each other. Below there are download links to my software. If you are feeling curious, please download it and have a play around with it yourself use it as the basis for your own projects or just pull it apart and see how it works.