Networking - Synk - ArtNet - Help

[Gian]

THANKS,...

With the movies already PRE LOADED in Sync ID, but in INFRAME... Then Just go to PLAY AUDIO on a second Cue... Worked GREAT--- THANKS

[SourceChild]

For the Sync and Artnet issues. Here are some thoughts.


My own configurations are as follows:

Port #1: 10.x.x.x
Subnet: 255.0.0.0

Port #2: 192.168.x.x
Subnet: 255.255.255.240


Please note that on port 1 I use a 255.0.0.0. This is because Artnet will yell at all the addresses in the 10.x which is where most Artnet nodes reside.

The larger this number though the tighter the network. Tighter is good when you want more concise data.

Tighter is how I configure the second port.

Note and this is most critical that on port 2, I use 240 as the last octet. This is very specific for exactly 15 computers. This is not necessary, most people use 0 instead of 240. However, it confines the network traffic and prevents as many packet collisions.

In this configuration though you must be aware that all of your computers Must be between 1 and 15 in the forth octet of their IP address.


In Catalyst on a Mac Pro, I always assign Port 1 as the 10.x "ArtNet" port. This is because the OS always defaults to allowing Catalyst to listen here for Artnet.

You are welcome to try differently but every time I have done something different than this, I have had to screw with things which I don't care to do.

To date, I have had as many as 12 Catalyst Mac Pros Wired together for Artnet input and Output. Yes I had errors. Most were in the remote, none were in the Artnet. All my sync assignments worked but were sometimes finicky and with some frame delay across servers.

The total system was:

10.x.x.x Subnet
2 Hog DP-8000s (32 Universes of DMX in)
3 Hog DP-2000s (10 Universe of ArtNet to DMX Out)
12 Catalysts

192.168.x.x Subnet
12 Catalysts
2 Mac Pros (Render Machines)
1 Mac Pro (Remote Desktop and File Management)

I found that using an external timecode source which I triggered from SAM was the best way to sync everything. I fed the sync in as SMPTE through the audio port.