garageCube

I would like to ask everyone for their advice for how to setup madmapper to (besides using projection at the same time) program the led strips used for a stage production (so there will be multiple led strips placed along the contours of the scenery). I already created the fixtures and got everything up and running, I just want to know how to best program the led strips.

I am seeing that you are supposed to select a media and then overlap the fixture (led strip) onto that media and the fixture will sample whatever color is underneath and output that over ArtNet. But what I would like is the opposite. Just like how projection is handled: you have a projection area that stays the same size and location and whatever media you put in that area will be outputted (and you can change the media and fade from cue to cue). The production hasn't started yet, so correct me if I'm wrong, but I expect that this is a much most intuitive way to program the led strips instead (keeping the led strips constant and changing the media).

Maybe it's this way because the media is supposed to come from a different program running at the same time and MadMapper only maps the media to the leds in ArtNet? Programming and fading would then be done in that other program?

Currently, I have found a workaround: make a seperate 'projector' per led strip (led strip is 60 leds, so projector is 600x100, because 60x1 requires too much zooming in) and layout the projectors in the way that the led strips are laid out. Then, output each 'projector' to Spout and then use the Spout inputs as the sample media for their respective led strips in the MadLight tab. The advantage of this is that if you are programming in the first (Surfaces) tab, the the led strips stay still and you can see the led strips as the projectors' outline and put any media over the 'projectors' and it will work as expected. When you do Ctrl+U every led strip projector gets its own window, but you can just close all of them using Alt+Tab and only keep the real projector output window.

So my question is: is there a better way to program led strips? And if not, is there a way to more efficiently set up what I've found a workaround for (because I don't think this is how multiple projector outputs are meant to be used)?

I actually figured out a better way: make a template image in some sketch program that has a hollow rectangle for each led strip (it's just a sketch), the rectangles may have to be spaced out for led strips that shouldn't sample from each other's quads. Then in Madmapper, you only have to use one extra projector which outputs via Spout. In the projection tab, a full screen quad showing the template image should be added over the 'projector' (as the bottom layer in the hierarchy). All led strips should then be configured to sample from the Spout output from the 'projector' and should be placed on their real-life position on the template image. Now the leds' outline shows in the projection tab, but since the rectangles are hollow and the led strips/fixtures sample from the middle, the template won't affect the led strips.

If there's something I've missed, I would be glad to hear about it. Also, any tips about programming led strips using Madmapper are welcome.