Control Freak: A Real World Guide to DMX512 and Remote Device Management

In this book Wayne Howell explains the subject of control protocols in words and language that make the complex topics he deals with clear and understandable. In his preface, Mike Wood says: Clarity is important. If there s one thing we need right now with lighting control it s clarity. The world of entertainment lighting is in a period of significant change; moving lights have become ubiquitous and we have two simultaneous disruptive technologies the introduction of LEDs as truly viable light sources and the slow inexorable merger of video and lighting. The consequence is that new and improved control standards have become essentials rather than nice-to-haves. Those standards have issued but just because a piece of paper with standard written on it exists doesn t mean that anything will actually happen. It needs developers to adopt those standards and incorporate them into products; it needs users to connect those products together in a rig and make them work; and finally it needs everything to come together in a show that achieves the designer s artistic vision. Control protocols are an essential enabling technology to help achieve that artistic vision that s what it s all about and why we are all so passionate about this industry. The author says: Control Freak is intended to provide a more in depth discussion of the subject than simple protocol standards guidance booklets. It is intended to prove useful to both users and product designers whilst also offering an introduction to those who simply require an overview of the subject.