Set Up Art-Net and sACN Output

Wire the network and set an IPCopy Anchor Link

Connect your computer and every Art-Net or sACN node to the same Ethernet switch, then power the nodes on. For stable output, use wired Ethernet instead of Wi-Fi.

Put the machine and the nodes on the same subnet. Lighting networks commonly use a flat range such as 2.x.x.x or 10.x.x.x with a wide netmask:

1. Open System Settings > Network and select your Ethernet interface.
2. Set Configure IPv4 to Manually.
3. Enter an address such as 2.0.0.1 and a subnet mask of 255.0.0.0.
4. Apply the change.
5. In each node's own configuration tool, give the node an address in the same range.

Add or select an outputCopy Anchor Link

Open Edit > Outputs. A new project ships with one Art-Net output enabled, so a node on the same network is often all you need. To add another, click Art-Net or sACN at the top of the output list. Each entry sends one protocol. Several entries can run at once. A rig can then use two protocols in parallel or feed a primary and a backup path.

Select the output in the list to edit it on the right. If you run more than one output, give each a recognizable Name.

Bind the network interfaceCopy Anchor Link

Set Network Interface to the card that reaches your lights. If you leave it on Default (System), the operating system chooses. That works on a machine with one interface but is unreliable when several networks are present. On a machine with several interfaces, pick the exact interface. Output then leaves the right card, and Art-Net broadcast uses that card's subnet.

If the chosen interface is offline, the output waits and starts sending once the interface reconnects.

Choose how the output reaches the networkCopy Anchor Link

Art-Net offers two delivery modes under Network Mode. sACN has no mode selector. It always uses multicast.

• Unicast (the Art-Net default) sends each universe only to the fixtures that need it. This keeps a busy or shared network from flooding every device.
• Broadcast sends one burst per frame to every device on the subnet. It needs no per-fixture addressing and suits a small, dedicated lighting network.

You set unicast destinations per fixture. Each fixture carries its own Target IP in the Fixtures panel, and Spectralite sends a universe only to the fixtures that asked for it. A fixture with no target set receives nothing in unicast mode. The target field suggests the nodes found by the Art-Net Nodes panel, so you can fill it from one.

Send a frame and confirmCopy Anchor Link

1. Patch a fixture at the universe and address that the node expects.
2. Add an effect layer.
3. Raise its opacity.

The fixture should respond. If it stays dark, confirm that the fixture's master dimmer is up (many moving heads default their dimmer to 0). Then work through Troubleshooting.

To watch for Spectralite's own nodes on the network, open the Spectralite Controllers panel. Discovered nodes appear there. For third-party Art-Net nodes, the Art-Net Nodes panel lists what answered discovery.