Sockpuppet

Sockpuppet fully implements DMX, OSC and HTTP controls into Designer. This feature enables the user to fully control all layers and their parameters from a lighting desk or OSC/HTTP application. As a result, the operator is no longer restricted to timeline based sequencing, but can now program their project using the lighting desk’s cue stack, or a combination of both; by having certain layers controlled from the lighting desk and others controlled from the Timeline. In short, Sockpuppet works by treating all of the layer types as fixture personalities.

Compatibility

Sockpuppet is fully compatible with any lighting desk capable of outputting Art-Net or sACN, as well as any OSC/HTTP platform capable of sending OSC/HTTP control strings.

Additionally, for added usability XML personalities can be exported from Designer and imported into any XML compatible console.

Synchronisation Across Machines

Prior to Designer r30.8, frame accurate sync across multiple machines cannot be guaranteed. From r30.8 onwards, the director now receives control data and distributes it synchronously to machines across the session, rather than have each machine process DMX data locally.

Network setup - console

First ensure the lighting desk and server are networked together and able to ping each other. You will need to assign the IP address and Subnet mask on both the lighting desk’s Art-Net port and the server’s Art-Net port. These will normally be addressed as shown below:

server - DMX port - 2.0.0.x - 255.0.0.0
lighting desk - Art-Net port - 2.0.0.x - 255.0.0.0

Network setup - OSC

First ensure the OSC app and disguise server are networked together and able to ping each other. You will need to assign the IP address and Subnet mask (ensuring they are both set to the same IP and Subnet range) on the system hosting the OSC application and the server’s network port that is receiving the data. For OSC sockpuppet, ensure the following are configured correctly:

OSC application send IP
OSC application receive IP
OSC application outgoing port
OSC application incoming port
Designer OSC device send IP
Designer OSC device receive IP
OSC Designer outgoing port
OSC Designer incoming port

Network setup - HTTP

HTTP sockpuppet network configuration is setup in Manager > Machine Settings > Advanced Network Configuration > API http port.

Confirm the connection

To check the two devices can communicate with each other, a command line called ping should be used.

Setup

Once network connectivity has been confirmed between the server and the lighting desk, the next step is to create a DMX or OSC device in Designer. For HTTP sockpuppet please see this page for details on how to set it up.