I'm working on an installation to make live 3D visuals. The installation will consist of 2 dc motors, a DMX LED lighting rig, and analogue controls for human interaction.
I am currently hoping to use the arduino as the middle man... specifically using this shield to connect the DMX lighting rig to the arduino.
Now I am a little bit unsure as to how the arduino handles DMX data, specifically when it comes to DMX protocol. Apparantly a DMX byte is 44us long, and with my lighting rig having 4 channels, so based on my math it would take 308 us to send the DMX data stream for my light's.
Am I right to assume that while the DMX data stream is being sent that my arduino is incapable of processing any other data? What exactly does the RS485 chip do on the shield? Is it responsible for sending data streams, or does it just make the connection?
My other concern is if the arduino is the device sending the data stream to the DMX rig, am I going to be able to control my DC motors using PWM and a transistor???
Ok... lots of questions I know... so I'll reiterate very simply...
- Is the arduino going to be unable to perform any calculations while streaming data to DMX
- Can I use the arduino to stream DMX and control motors using PWM at the same time
- Can I poll user interaction while DMX stream is being sent
- Should I be looking into a multi-core micro-controller such as the propeller for this project?