hal
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Jun 3, 2008, 4:15 PM
Post #3 of 5
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Re: [Matthieu] USB remote control
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So reading that it looks like that remote controller is not really using any USB messaging, it's just happens to be using the USB connector on the camera, probably just to save space and connections. Like shoving anolog audio connections onto the USB connector on phones.
So the process of setting this up all the way back to that master switch box is going to be the same, then what you want to do is control those switches with a micro-controller instead of your finger. That should be pretty easy since switches are just digital outputs.
But you still have to choose a micro-controller and learn to wire it up, and program it.
Wiring it will be no more complex than the physical switch box, and programing it is not that bad either, there are several micro-controler / interface board / software packages that make this pretty easy.
If you like MIDI then the MidiTron http://www.eroktronix.com/
should do you just fine.
Or also very popular, cheap, and easy is Arduino http://www.arduino.cc/, which I hear can be hacked to send MIDI. But you could just send Serial from Isadora.
So not only is the Arduino itself cheaper, it's also cheaper to interface with your computer since it's USB/Serial.
If you want to trigger all the cameras together then you could do this with just one digital out. (though if the number of cameras is high enough you might need to hook that output to a relay and then a bit more voltage through that to trigger the cameras.
But if you want to try going a step further and trigger the cameras independently or say in a sequence then you will need a digital out for each camera.
The MidiTron can be set up with 20 outputs I believe.
The Arduino only has 14 digital outputs. Arduino has a "big" brother board called Wiring that uses the same programing, and has more outs, though I don't know how many, but costs more.
Depending on what else you end up needing to do you may have to use some of those outputs for something else too, so if you need more cameras the simplest thing to do would be to use multiple interface boards.
--
Hal Eagar - Media Effects Artist http://haleagar.com
Director - Digital Performance Institute http://digitalperformance.org
DPI-office 646 442 4435 | Hal-cell 917 257 8440
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