I was thinking of using the Arduino with the DMX shield which allows me the receive the DMX signal and then using PWM output to drive several LEDs.
I have been searching online but have not been getting much useful information.. Can someone give me some example projects/guidiance? I will be very much appreciated.
Maybe start here for details on how to drive a RGB strip using Arduino or buy one of the several RGB modules like this or this.
Once you have your RGB strip controller designed/selected then adding/building a DMX shield and programming it will be quick and easy.
engineer_abc:
I do not need to control a RGB strip... I only need to light up several RGB/near infrared LEDs via PWM.
How is that different? "lighting up" in a way you specify == controlling!
And there are multiple DMX libraries you can use. First Google hit. But don't expect to make something without at least learning the basics of programming
engineer_abc:
I do not need to control a RGB strip... I only need to light up several RGB/near infrared LEDs via PWM.
Will all the RGB LED's be set to the same levels or will they all have different levels?
How many LED's are you talking about?
Are the IR LED's also RGB?
engineer_abc:
I am more interested in selecting a DMX shield, how to receive DMX signal and output as PWM to the LEDs.
Depending on your skill levels and what DMX equipment your connecting too you could either build your own with opto isolation or buy a cheap (non isolated) RS485 to USART converter or go for a shield (something like this)
From there it's just a case of picking one of the many DMX libraries for your Arduino and writing a bit of code that you may find several examples of on the net already or ask here for help.
Check out Mats Hertels' DMXSerial library. He's got a whole host of info about DMX, DMX shields, RS-485, and his example code controls LEDs via pwm through DMX. Google 'DMX Shield with isolation' and then go to the page that comes up on Mats Hertels website. It will tell you lots of great stuff.