Open Lighting Architecture

Link: http://www.openlighting.org/ola/
{{ #if: yes | }}{{ #if: yes | }}{{ #if: yes | }}{{ #if: yes | }}{{ #if: yes | }}{{ #if: yes | }}{{ #if: yes | }}{{ #if: | }}{{ #if: yes | }}

Universe Settings

RDM Devices Page

Drag & Drop RDM Patching

Mobile UI

The Open Lighting Architecture (OLA) is part of the Open Lighting Project and provides applications with a mechanism to send and receive DMX512 & RDM commands using hardware devices and DMX over IP protocols. This enables software lighting controllers to communicate with hardware either via Ethernet or traditional DMX512 networks.

OLA can also convert DMX512 data sent using DMX over IP protocols from one format to another, allowing devices from different manufacturers to interact with one another. For example a Strand Lighting Console using ShowNet can send DMX512 to an Enttec EtherGate. When combined with a physical DMX interface such as the DMX USB Pro, OLA can send and receive data from wired DMX512 networks.

Supported Protocols

Protocol	Linux	Mac OS X	FreeBSD	Windows
ArtNet, ArtNet 2, ArtNet 3
E1.31 / ACN				Not yet
ESP Net
KiNET
OSC (Open Sound Control)			?
Pathport
Sandnet
ShowNet

Supported Devices

Device	Linux	Mac OS X	FreeBSD	Windows
Anyma uDMX			?	no
Arduino RGB Mixer			?	no
DMX 4 Linux			?	no
DMX USB Pro				no
DMX USB Pro MkII				no
DMX-TRI				no
DMXking USB DMX512-A			?	no
DMXter4 RDM / MiniDMXter			?	no
Eurolite USB DMX512 PRO			?	no
KarateLight			?	no
KMtronic DMX Adapter			?	no
Open DMX USB			?	no
Milford Instruments 1-463		?	?	no
Packetheads USB_DMX Dongle			?	no
RDM USB Pro			?	no
RDM-TRI				no
Renard Serial Protocol (Renard SS24, SS8, etc)		?	?	no
Robe Universal Interface			?	no
RUNIT WTX			?	no
SPI control of LED pixels		?	?	no
StageProfi		(Ethernet version only)	?	no
uDMX_asp			?	no
ultraDMX Pro			?	no
ultraDMX Micro			?	no
USBDMX2			?	no
USB-DMX512			?	no
Velleman K8062			?	no
VX8062			?	no

Getting Started

Start here if you've never used OLA before and read these in order.

• Download & Install OLA
• Using OLA - A basic introduction
• OLA Command Line Tools - Documentation for the tools in ola-examples
• OLA Device Specific Configuration
• OLA Tips & Tricks
• RDM with OLA

Tutorials

• OLA on Windows with VMWare
• OLA Live CD, instructions on how to use the Live CD
• OLA Raspberry Pi
• OLA on Beaglebone
• OLAGuruPlug - Running OLA on a GuruPlug
• OLA RDM Responder Testing
• OLA LED Pixels - Using OLA and a Pi to drive SPI LED tape
• OlaOutput Max External - Setup OlaOutput on Mac OS X to send DMX messages from Max/MSP/Jitter
• OlaLED - control RGB LED via HTTP

Advanced Topics

• OLA Merging Algorithms
• OLA DiffServ support (QOS settings)
• OLA DMX Trigger - Using OLA and DMX to trigger events on a computer
• OLA Patch persistency

Developer Documentation

The developer documentation is in the process of being re-written as doxygen comments in the src tarball. The latest generated copy of the docs is hosted at http://docs.openlighting.org/doc/latest/ versions for specific releases are hosted at http://docs.openlighting.org/doc/.

• OLA developer info - about the source code and structure
• OLA Doxygen Docs - Generated Doxygen docs aimed at developers creating clients.
  • See here for info on generating Doxygen docs locally.
• Walkthrough of the OSC plugin code - good for people wanting to create new plugins
• OLA APIs
  • Protobufs Based
    • OLA Client API - the C++ API, (also older examples)
    • OLA Python API - easy DMX programming
    • Java - currently a work in progress (see an example using it here)
  • Alternatives
    • JSON - Browse to /help on your OLA webserver to see the available commands (append ?help=1 to the end of a command for more info in newer versions of OLA)
    • OSC - Not technically an API, but not strictly a lighting protocol either, enable the OSC plugin and use it to communicate with OLA from a variety of software
• Build OLA Mac Packages - notes for building the .dmg images
• Building OLA for Windows - Notes on Windows support (in progress)
• Cross Compiling OLA
• Buildbot - For continuous build and testing
• Using OLA with Xcode - on a Mac, in Objective-C++
• Writing RDM Responder Tests
• Port Throttling
• RDM PID Definitions
• OLA Performance Stats
• OLA TimeCode
• RPC Protocol (or "How do I talk to OLA in a different language")

Old Tutorials

These refer to the previous release but parts of them are still relevant.

• LLA Sandnet Tutorial - Setup Horizon using Sandnet and LLA
• LLA and Q Light Controller Ubuntu Tutorial - Setup LLA on Ubuntu/Debian-type distro with QLC
• LLA and Q Light Controller OSX Tutorial - Setup LLA on Mac OS X with QLC