The Maxxyz allows a lighting designer to set up and program the lighting and special effects for an entire performance through a variety of controls including sliders, touchscreen displays, "jog dials," "trackbelts," hard and soft keys, and a trackball. A performance is structured as a collection of "groups," "presets," and "cues" involving lights and special effects devices, known as "fixtures." The groups, presets, and cues are recorded by the console for playback during the performance.
3D Visualizer
(Click for larger image)The console incorporates two LCD touchscreens -- one primarily for programming, the other for playback. Two VGA monitors can connected externally, for additional display capability. Martin also offers a CAD-based software package that supports the creation of 3D models of a stage and its associated lighting. These models can be loaded into the Maxxyz so that the designer can test his program on the model.
About DMXKnown officially as "DMX512 Digital Data Transmission Standard for Dimmers and Controllers," the DMX protocol is touted as the world's most widely used entertainment lighting control standard. DMX uses EIA-485 differential signaling of asynchronous serial data at 250 kbps. EIA-485 accomodates up to 32 receiver loads. The DMX protocol supports up to 512 channels on one cable, known as a DMX "universe." Additional channels are accommodated by adding more universes. So, for example, the Maxxyz supports eight universes representing 4096 channels, expandable to 32. A data "packet" consists of one byte of data for each of up to 512 channels with channel 1 sent first. A break signal of at least two bytes duration serves as synchronization for the start of the packet. Each dimmer or multi-channel "dimmer pack" has a way to set a channel address. It then simply counts off the corresponding number of bytes until its data appears.
More information on DMX512 is available at the USITT (United States Institute for Theatre Technology)
website.
The Maxxyz allows a lighting designer to set up and program the lighting and special effects for an entire performance through a variety of controls including sliders, touchscreen displays, "jog dials," "trackbelts," hard and soft keys, and a trackball. A performance is structured as a collection of "groups," "presets," and "cues" involving lights and special effects devices, known as "fixtures." The groups, presets, and cues are recorded by the console for playback during the performance.
