/dist/images/branding/favicon

Reading Iris Wheel State from Movi Controller

Discussion in 'MōVI Pro API' started by Dominik Lenk, Sep 24, 2018.

  1. Dominik Lenk

    Dominik Lenk New Member

    Joined:
    Aug 13, 2018
    Messages:
    5
    Likes Received:
    1
    We are using a photo lens on a Blackmagic Ursa on the Movi Pro. Since the photo lens does not have an iris ring, we are using an external Arduino to control iris via the camera electronics.

    Is it possible to either read the position of the iris wheel via the Aux Data Out port on the Movi Controller? Or even better, is it possible to read the iris state from the Movi COM port and pass it to the camera via the Arduino (even without a motor hooked up to the Movi)?

    Does anyone have any experience with this?
     
  2. Dominik Lenk

    Dominik Lenk New Member

    Joined:
    Aug 13, 2018
    Messages:
    5
    Likes Received:
    1
    Apparently the API is not meant for the Movi Controller, at least according to my latest contact with Freefly Support. (Support for the COM ports on the Movi or the Mimic only—"The API documentation does not list the MoVI Controller")

    However, the AUX Data Port can explicitly be configured for "API Access" using the menu on the Movi Controller. Also, third party products like the 1A wheels are already interfacing with the Movi Controller via the Aux Data Port.

    Does anyone have any information on what sort of connection the port uses. I suspect that it is some kind of serial connection, but cannot quite figure out how to use it?
     
    Rob Weidner likes this.
  3. Jon Krosby

    Jon Krosby New Member

    Joined:
    Apr 5, 2017
    Messages:
    2
    Likes Received:
    0
    We are also having a similar need, were we need to control the internal zoom of a broadcast camera. Same thing: either via the MoVI COM port or from the MoVI Controller Aux Data port.
    We need to translate the Zoom state from the gimbal or directly from the Controller to VISCA protocol through an Arduino.

    Dominik: were you able to read the wheel state from the COM port, or Iris motor port? And could you get any info on the Aux Data Port?
     
  4. Dominik Lenk

    Dominik Lenk New Member

    Joined:
    Aug 13, 2018
    Messages:
    5
    Likes Received:
    1
    @Jon I am afraid I couldn't get any more info and kind of left the idea behind. If it would work, this feature would be very nice, but I simply could find any solid info and don't have the time to reverse engineer the data coming out of the port. If someone has the time and an oscilloscope, maybe that's something for the holidays ;)
     
  5. Rob Weidner

    Rob Weidner New Member

    Joined:
    May 13, 2017
    Messages:
    29
    Likes Received:
    4
    Dominik, what info were you able to get via AUX on the Movi Controller? I was also wondering if I might be able to USB serial read via the controller to get gimbal information such as positions, motor info, etc onto a board of some sort.
     

Share This Page