Blitface

Note, this is experimental software, requiring final testing & docs before release and production usage.

Blitface is a unified, configurable interface for LED and light control. It is designed to be an adapter between various inputs and outputs and javascript. The following protocols are supported:

- Art-Net input and output of DMX over IP.
- E1.31 sACN input.
- ENTTEC DMX output to DMX serial devices.
- FadeCandy output with automatic management and configuration of server.
- Open Pixel Control input and output.
- Pixel Pusher output.
- xterm True Colour output for debugging.

Examples

Javascript

`` js
const Blitface = require('blitface')

let config = {
output: {
// Fake output to 40 columns of terminal.
terminal: {
length: 120
}
},
input: {
// Fake input, starting 9 addresses in,
// representing 3 RGB pixels.
rainbow: {
offset: 3,
length: 111
}
},
}

let root = new Blitface( config )

root.open()
.then( function () {
// Blit Red, Green and Blue to first 3 pixels of output.
root.blit('ff0000 00ff00 0000ff')
})
`

Command Line

` sh

Install module globally

npm install -g blitface

Load configuration file

blitface config.yaml

Configuration straight from command line

blitface --input.rainbow true --output.fadecandy.path ../fadecandy
`

Configuration

Common

` yaml
input:
foo:
name: foo
type: rainbow
offset: 0
length: 0

output:
bar:
name:
`

Art-Net

- Lengths longer than universeSize are sent to incrementing universes.
- Tested with MadMapper 3.6.2. universeSize should be set to 510 in most cases.

` yaml
input:
artnet:
port: 6454
universe: 0
physical: 0
universeSize: 512


output:
artnet:
host: localhost
length: 512
universe: 0
physical: 0
port: 6454
universeSize: 512
`

Fade Candy

- You must clone or download the Fade Candy server to use this subsystem.

` yaml
output:
fadecandy:
# Required! Path to root directory of fadecandy install
path: ''

# Useful server config
pinsPerDevice: 8
pixelsPerPin: 64
interpolate: false
dither: false
order: 'rgb'

#
# Everything below is pretty pedantic
#
binary: fcserver-osx
searchPath: ['.','bin']
keepOpen: true
retry: 500

# Log server output to console
verbose: true
# Set host to 0.0.0.0 to allow outside use.
public: false
host: localhost
port: 7980
led: true
tmp: /tmp
file: ''
keepFile: false

`

OPC

- OPC output may be used when a Fade Candy server is created elsewhere.
- OPC input server only accepts raw OPC pixel data. It does not emulate a real Fade Candy server instance, and as such is incompatible with many OPC implementations.

Pixel Pusher

` yaml
output:
pixelpusher:

strips: 8
pixels: 60
controllers:
- d8:80:xx:xx:xx:xx
- 1
`

Terminal

terminal outputs RGB data straight to the console. Useful for debugging.

- For best results with iTerm2, turn down 'Minimum contrast' in Preferences / Profiles / Colors.

` yaml
output:
terminal:
# Width of display. Defaults to console width on startup.
width: 0
char: "◉ "
channels: 3
``

Similar Projects

- Open Lighting Architecture is a very powerful, mature project.
- PixelNode seems to be a similar project, with a variety of interfaces and features such as filters. It is still under development.

Acknowledgements

Development of this module is supported by HFour Studio.

Pixel Pusher code adapted from heroic-pixel-pusher by ajones.