Gilderfluke&Co 'Dumb' Brick Animation Control System - Manual (Page 8)

- Inputs and Outputs -
Each Micro MACs Brick can control up to four 8 bit channels. These can be used as
thirty-two on/off ÔdigitalÕ controls, as four eight bit wide analog channels, or as any combi-
nation of the two. If one Micro MACs Brick doesnÕt have enough outputs, you simply add
more, stacking them until you have enough outputs to do your job. Analog resolutions
greater than eight bits can easily be achieved by combining the outputs from more than
a single channel.
Each Micro MACs Brick features four optically isolated inputs and one optically isolated
status output. The four inputs are used as follows. The colors correspond to those found in
six conductor ÔmodularÕ telephone wire:
A) Green ÔStartÕ Input
B) Red ÔStopÕ Input
C) White ÔResetÕ Input
D) Blue ÔExternal ClockÕ or ÔDouble ShowÕ Input
The Yellow ÔRunning StatusÕ output is active whenever the Brick has been Started. These
Inputs and Outputs can be configured to use the same power supply as the rest of the
Brick, or an external power supply can be used.
- DMX-512 Input -
The DMX-512 standard was developed by the United States Institute for Theatrical
Technology (USITT) for a high speed (250 KBaud asynchronous) serial link. Although it was
originally designed for controlling light dimmers, it is now supported by hundreds of sup-
pliers throughout the world for controlling all kinds of theatrical equipment.
Playback-only Micro MACs Bricks are available which will receive DMX-512 data direct-
ly. This is the high speed serial data that PC¥MACs outputs. This allows data from a
PC¥MACs system to be sent directly to a Micro MACs Brick System. Typically Bricks with the
DMX-512 capability are used only during programming. They are replaced by other
bricks once programming is completed.
Even though the DMX-512 standard calls for 512 channels of data, the DMX transmis-
sion from PC¥MACs is limited to 256 eight bit wide channels. You can address DMX -
capable Micro MACs Brick to respond to any address between 0 and 255. Addresses
above the 256th are used in PC¥MACs for transmitting a checksum. All Gilderfluke &
Company DMX-512 compatible equipment can use this to verify that the data received
from PC¥MACs has no transmission errors in it. If you address a light dimmer or other DMX-
512 device to addresses 256 or 257, you will see this verification data displayed as a flick-
ering pattern.
- Time Bases -
Micro MACs Bricks can run from their own onboard crystal controlled time base at 15,
16, 30, or 32 frames per second 1 . If different frame rates are required, an external clock
can be fed to Micro MACs Bricks. The Micro MACs Bricks will accept external clock rates
from zero to approximately 1000 frames per second.
G ILDERFLUKE & C O . ¥ 205 S OUTH F LOWER S T . ¥ B URBANK , C ALIF . 91502-2102 ¥ 818/840-9484 ¥ FAX 818/840-9485
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1 Other frame rates are available as special orders.