The following instructions are to help you control Screen Monkey from the ChamSys MagicQ lighting console via DMX. It is assumed that the following pre-requisites are satisfied.

 

·         You have a ChamSys MagicQ console or the PC edition installed.

·         The ChamSys software is up to date.

·         You have the latest edition of Screen Monkey installed.

·         You have a valid network between the ChamSys MagicQ console and the PC running Screen Monkey.

·         You have activated the Pro edition of Screen Monkey.

 

For this tutorial we are going to assume that the consoles IP address is 2.0.0.1 and the PC running Screen Monkey is 2.0.0.2.

 

You will need to run both the Screen Monkey software and the ChamSys software.

 

Start New Show

 

We will start from a new show so the first step is to wipe the existing show. Press SETUP and then NEW SHOW.

 

You also need to add some media to Screen Monkey if you have not already done so.

 

Patching

 

Before you can do anything you need to patch the media server so select PATCH and then CHOOSE MEDIA SV. You should see ScreenMonkey in the list.

 

 

Now you need to select the version, at the time of writing v3.6 is the latest so select [3-6].

 

You will now see a master layer, 4 video layers and the colour schemes patched in the ChamSys console.

 

Setup DMX Outputs

 

The final step to controlling Screen Monkey is enabling the ArtNet outputs from the Chamsys console. You only need 1 universe.

 

Select SETUP and then VIEW DMX I/O. You will see a list of ArtNet universes. In the "Status" column select "Enabled" on the first row by double clicking and the choosing [Enabled].

 

If everything has worked correctly you should now see green status indicators in the Screen Monkey ArtNet settings for ArtNet and DMX In. If the status lights are still red then you probably have a problem with the network and you will need to check all the settings.

 

Controlling Screen Monkey

 

So you have gone to the trouble of setting up ArtNet control but you actually want to make something happen. The easiest way to check it is all happy is to open the layers dashboard in Screen Monkey. This will show the layer opacity faders which should move when controlled from the console.

 

Now we can see if anything changes we move back to the console and select MEDIA. This opens the area specific to controlling media servers. You should see ScreenMonkey listed as one of the servers. Make sure it is selected by clicking on it. The controls for the server will be assigned to the wheels. They are split into seperate banks Int, Pos, Col, Media, FX1, FX2, Cont, Frame. Selecting a different bank will assign different controls within Screen Monkey to the wheels. So start by selecting the intensity tab. You should see "Layer Opacity" assigned to wheel X.

 

Now when you click on wheel X the layer opacity should change and you will also see the layer opacity fader moving within Screen Monkey.

 

To play a clip we select the media tab and then choose the clip from the list presented or select the clip from wheel X.

 

Live Thumbnails

 

So we have got to the point where you can control Screen Monkey but you want to also see the clip thumbnails within the ChamSys console to make it easy to select the right clip. Well you are in lluck as there is a protocol called CITP which can make this happen.

 

Before CITP will work you need to enable it in the Chamsys software and point it to the IP address of the Screen Monkey PC.

 

Press SETUP followed by VIEW SYSTEM and then finally VIEW MEDIA. You should see a list of media servers which Screen Monkey is the top item.

 

In the IP Address column you need to enter the IP Address of the Screen Monkey PC which in this article is "2.0.0.2". To enter the IP address you just double click on the cell.

 

Now we need to enable CITP by double clicking in the "Status" column and selecting [Enabled].

 

The final step is to enable live previews by setting Live prev to [yes]. When you are finished it should look like the picture below. Older versions of MagicQ may have an Autothumbs column, if so leave this set to no. When you have set this up, click GET THUMBS button at the top to grab the media thiumbnail images.

 

You can check in Screen Monkey that it is working by going to the CITP settings. You should see the MSEX indicator go green and the IP Address of the ChamSys console in the list of CITP devices. Do not worry that it says "{waiting for name}". This is simply because the ChamSys console does not support this part of the CITP protocol.

 

Now if you go back to the MEDIA window area you and select the media tab bank you will see all the clips along with there thumbnails.

 

 

You are now ready to start programming your show.