Software To run Controllers

dmoore said:
I wish someone would spend as much time writing software to take advantage of all these new pixels. Does the world have enough controllers already? Give us some great software! :)

I seriously agree David, we need more software options. There are plenty of pixel controllers already....we need software options to run thousands of channels.
 
David_AVD said:
But how much are people willing to pay for the software?

I have 50 cents, a paper clip and a ball of lint in my pocket right now. That should be enough.

Seriously, we are to some extent pushing beyond amateur displays and getting into the commercial zone wiht our channels numbers. That kind of support requires serious development....serious development which costs money. You have to pay to play for that kind of support. You spending thousands on lights and controllers, is dropping a few hundred for software really that out of reach.

Look at the Wombat protection system......serious development with a serious price Tag. Everyone should have one.
 
The reason I ask is that hardware is relatively easy and fast to design (for non-amateurs) compared to software. There are plenty of people who could probably write the software, but the returns can be low when you look at the hours put in. Piracy (sharing) would also be a problem unless a reasonable licensing was used.
 
David_AVD said:
There are plenty of people who could probably write the software, but the returns can be low when you look at the hours put in. Piracy (sharing) would also be a problem unless a reasonable licensing was used.

Exactly...we all want it to be free, but in reality, it needs to have pirce tag to cover those hours of not only initial development, but the hours required to support the product and allow for growth of the software. I could see a $300 price tag and say $20 a year subscription fee for support and development.
 
David_AVD said:
The reason I ask is that hardware is relatively easy and fast to design (for non-amateurs) compared to software. There are plenty of people who could probably write the software, but the returns can be low when you look at the hours put in. Piracy (sharing) would also be a problem unless a reasonable licensing was used.

Do what is hard, not what is easy. Easy has been done. We don't need another Ren controller and the likes - we need good software. Sure, not as fun as cranking out a prop controller in a few weeks...this requires serious time investment but we'll have to make it at some point becuase we'll have a bunch of SPI controllers without anything to run them with. They can control piracy - have you seen copies of LSP or S2 on bittorrent? Or... if all these people that make and giveaway the hardware could focus their efforts we could get something free.

And I'm in complete agreement with Chris on the WPS - something needs to be done with that.
 
chrisl1976 said:
Exactly...we all want it to be free, but in reality, it needs to have pirce tag to cover those hours of not only initial development, but the hours required to support the product and allow for growth of the software. I could see a $300 price tag and say $20 a year subscription fee for support and development.

I'm good with the yearly subscription cost also.
 
Software like LSP does need development effort to support our growing needs and the kind of licensing that stops piracy is expensive for a developer to implement (look at Madrix and the Wibu-Key solution)

I would expect software like this to be feature enabled so that the basic software can be got out to the masses at a reasonable cost (not free) and the added features being activated by license keys. take for example the Arkaos products, they charge E$700 for the led mapper on top of the base package. Yes these commercial prices are out of scope for the average Christmas lights enthusiast who is not in it for making money, but there still should be some skin in the game from the ones that do want to take their hobby to the nxt level.


chrisl1976 said:
David_AVD said:
There are plenty of people who could probably write the software, but the returns can be low when you look at the hours put in. Piracy (sharing) would also be a problem unless a reasonable licensing was used.

Exactly...we all want it to be free, but in reality, it needs to have pirce tag to cover those hours of not only initial development, but the hours required to support the product and allow for growth of the software. I could see a $300 price tag and say $20 a year subscription fee for support and development.
 
This is a bit like a chicken and egg thing. Once good hardware is available, the software will follow. But it doesn't have to be all or none. Controlling segments of pixels rather than individual pixels can still provide some very slick effects with minimal channel counts. With a single DMX input, my controller will allow you to have a 16-strip mega-tree (bellagio fountains, etc) with 10 segments per strip. And when more high-channel software becomes available that same controller will support up to 4 DMX inputs for full pixel-by-pixel control of 16 42-pixel strings, allowing for graphics, etc.
 
Jon

I explicitely split this thread away from your request because the guys had sent it off topic.

Seriously your controller is doing nothing more than the TP3212 is in terms of grouping etc, except you implemented a few more outputs. The four outputs on the TP3212 can drive 1000's of pixels if you grouped them.
Also with a single RJ45 we now support in association with the EthConGateway products, four full universes.
As for E1.31, the new TigerEth328 will support 8 universes, and that is just the base design.

I say well done for what you have acheived but lets keep topics on track.

The good hardware has been around for a while, 1000+ channel counts are not that rare... software however has not caught up as the large counts are not mainstream.

I lot of the active members here are already in the 3000+ channel count arena and will only go higher, we have blown past the practical ability of todays christmas sequencing software.

Phil
 
jstjohnz said:
With a single DMX input, my controller will allow you to have a 16-strip mega-tree (bellagio fountains, etc) with 10 segments per strip.

If someone is going to be doing that (strip level control instead of pixel level) - it's much cheaper to just get RGB strip and a DC controller (tiger48, LOR DC). Just sayin....
 
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