BlenderDMX

Blender addon to design and render DMX lighting

A DMX visualization tool designed to offer a free, easy, and fully packed solution for Lighting Designers.

Device definition is based on GDTF Specification, utilizing the Fixture library on GDTF Share.

BlenderDMX is built on strong foundation of Blender, which runs equally well on Linux, Windows, and Macintosh computers. Its interface uses OpenGL to provide a consistent experience.

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Motivation

As a Lighting Designer myself, I have always wanted a free DMX Visualizer capable of raytracing. The real-time results of commercial visualizers are cool for programming the dynamics, however there's usually no option to make it photorealistic. BlenderDMX offers both possibilities: Eevee real time renderer offers the dynamics, while Cycles offers stunning photorealistic results.

Advanced Networking

  • External DMX signal from sACN or Art-Net can be used for controlling and be recorded as keyframes into Blender.
  • OpenSoundControl can send fixture selection to external DMX consoles.
  • GDTF Share and format integration provides source of fixture data.
  • MVR-xchange protocol offers seamless MVR workflow.

Open Source

The source code is completely open source under the GPLv3 license and openly available on GitHub. Feel free to inspect, share, and contribute!

BlenderDMX is using General Device Type Format (GDTF) and My Virtual Rig (MVR) - open-source file formats that let you share anything with anyone.

The Project

BlenderDMX BlenderDMX allows using lighting fixture's definitions from GDTF and also loading of complete scenes from MVR. Fixture's manipulation can be done internally in Blender or externally via DMX like ArtNet or sACN. External DMX or internal Programmer state can be recorded into Blender's timeline via Keyframes recording. BlenderDMX also offers dedicated DMX driver for Blender to control any Blender property via external DMX signal.

Beautiful Renders

Blender can achieve very eye pleasing photorealistic renders thanks to it's raytracing rendering method called Cycles. The Cycles renderer as well as the OpenImageDenoise can run on GPU on supported hardware. Image by 21 Production. See more examples in the Gallery.

How to Get Started

Our Getting Started Guide walks you through the steps of downloading and Installing BlenderDMX.

Detailed usage documentation is available in the User Guide. Also head over to our Documentation & FAQ page for more information.

Recent Blog Posts

BlenderDMX 1.4.2 Released

By vanous
Posted on  in Releases
Workflow improvements based on feedback of dryHeat from Discord Many small and big workflow improvements have been implemented, from improved keyframe storing (indicate fixtures with modified state, save only fixtures with changed data, allow saving only selected fixtured), through indication of DMX patching collision, manual pushing of Programing Panel when render is paused for improved speed, new tool to reset Targets to different axis, deselection by choosing a group… possibility to export/import custom data, to prevent data loss during addon updates, and lots more, see changelog below for full details.

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BlenderDMX 1.4.1 Released

By vanous
Posted on  in Releases
Initial support for Color Wheels Color Wheels (GDTF attributes Color1, Color2 and ColorMacro1) are now supported. If CMY/RGB color is used together with a ColorWheel, these colors will be added together.

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