Playing Content

Lets move away from the hardware for now and start talking about playing video.

We can break down the entire system into the following functions:

Video/Animation

Any media file that Resolume can play. This can be a movie file, gif, shader, effect etc...

Pixel Map

A virtual representation of the physical layout of your pixels. In Resolume this is made using the Advanced Output, specifically by combining Fixtures. This creates a virtual map that allows your media to be projected onto the physical layout of your pixels. This map is overlaid onto your media, like a mask in Photoshop, to allow it to render what it covers.

Art-Net Data

The pixel map is then turned into a series of data blocks using the Art-Net protocol.

Art-Net is a modern implementation of DMX512, adapted to work on wired and wireless Ethernet networks. The protocol uses blocks of 512 channels, each channel being 1 byte/8 bits. These bytes can be utilised by our pixels. The Pixel Map maps what channel is used for what pixel and creates an ordered stream of Art-Net packets that are sent to the pixel driver. For example, 1 Art-Net universe can address 170 RGB pixels (with 2 channels left over)

Pixel Driver

A device that can receive Art-Net Data (over a wired or wireless network), translate it to the communications protocol of the pixel you wish to drive and send that data to the Pixels.

Pixels

The array of pixels you plan to use.