A Flexible Companion Tool For Your Lighting System
XLERATE incorporates RDM based Rig-management, laser previsualization, and laser content management, into one piece of software! Allowing designers to manage their rig, while customizing their lasers all in one place. See what this free download can do for you.
Previsualization Support
Lighting designers often use previsualization for concept development, pitching ideas to customers, and even pre-programming. With XLERATE, you can now incorporate lasers into your previsualization as easily as any other lighting fixture. In a few clicks you can set up a virtual laser rig in XLERATE that receives Art-Net data from your control system, emulates the unrivaled control of X-Laser’s unique Mercury-equipped laser projectors, and sends laser previsualization data to Capture, Realizzer, Depence, or WYSIWYG in real time. Once set up, XLERATE stays out of your way so you can focus on programming.
Standalone Previews
XLERATE also has a built-in preview feature that can be used without an external visualizer. These 2D previews are simpler than a full 3D visualization, and are great for familiarizing yourself with the Mercury Laser control system, building up effects on the go when you don’t have a full visualizer available, or even programming effects on-the-fly in blind mode. The pop-out preview windows can be set to display over top of other windows for easy programming on the go with a single screen.
Content Management
Our Mercury-equipped laser systems include over 400 built-in patterns. With XLERATE’s content tools, you can review and curate the built-in content. Need more patterns? Import your own ILDA files into XLERATE and create a new content pack--or take advantage of our content creation service and have our experienced professionals create and optimize custom laser content for you. Contact us at sales@x-laser.com for more information.
Rig Management
Manage, edit, and control all of the devices on your rig directly from XLERATE. The newest feature in XLERATE enables E1.20 RDM (Remote Device Management) based lighting rig management of X-Laser systems as well as any fixture that supports RDM. Because we’ve used open standards as much as possible, the tool we created to allow our users to remotely access advanced configuration options for our laser systems can also manage any other RDM compliant fixtures as well.
For any RDM-compliant fixture, XLERATE can configure defined RDM parameters including DMX address, personality, device label, and many manufacturer-specific parameters. For Mercury-equipped laser projectors, XLERATE’s rig manager also provides access to our new advanced mesh zoning controls, test modes, and master zoning, with more exciting features on the horizon.
Ready For Your show?
Great! You don’t need XLERATE any more. You can run your Mercury-equipped lasers directly from your console, so you can close your laptop and get it out of your way. Or, you can keep XLERATE running alongside your console and use it for live previews of what your laser systems are doing; the choice is yours.
What Do I Need For Visualization?
Lighting Console or Software
Any console or software that can emit Art-Net data will work, but some systems are better able to support Mercury fixtures than others. We recommend Avolites Titan, Grand MA, Chamsys, or Onyx. Make sure you have the latest Mercury profile for your console.
(Optional) Visualization Software
Visualization software like Capture, Realizzer/Depence, or WYSIWYG allows the creation of a full 3D environment of your real-life environment with your real lighting rig--or the lighting rig of your dreams!
XLERATE connects to your visualizer using standard protocols, and allows you to seamlessly integrate X-Laser Laser projectors into your virtual lighting rig.
Please note that some popular visualizers, including MA3D, Vision, MagicViz, and limited versions of Capture included with lighting consoles, do not support laser visualization and we are therefore unable to support them.
Without a Visualizer
We’ve included preview windows in XLERATE that you can use to get a basic idea of what laser effects will look like. All you need is a computer to run XLERATE and some sort of console or control software that can send Art-Net data to XLERATE.
What Do I Need for Rig Management?
RDM-Capable Art-Net Infrastructure
XLERATE currently uses RDM via Art-Net for Rig Management. In order to access RDM fixtures on the network, those fixtures need to either have a direct Art-Net connection with support for ArtRDM, or they need to be connected to an Art-Net to DMX node that supports ArtRDM. Note that Pathway Pathport DMX nodes do not support ArtRDM and will not work with XLERATE.
We will be adding support for E1.33 RDMNet in the future as more compatible equipment becomes available.
A Computer on the Lighting Network
Your computer running XLERATE must be able to communicate with other devices on your lighting network. In many cases this is as simple as plugging your computer into the same network switch as your console. For an introduction to networking for lighting systems, check out our videos.
X-Laser projectors equipped with our Mercury control system natively support RDM via both 5-pin DMX ports and natively via ArtRDM. If you are already controlling your lasers via Art-Net or sACN, you only need to have them on the same network as your computer running XLERATE. If you are using 5-pin DMX to control your lasers, you will need to make sure they are connected via a network DMX node that supports RDM and can transport RDM messages using standard Art-Net RDM messages.
Computer Requirements
Exact requirements vary with visualization complexity, but at a minimum:
- PC running Windows 10
- Intel i3 or equivalent or better
- 4GB RAM
XLERATE Download
To get access, just complete the form below and we’ll send you a getting started package.