XangleCs documentation

On our photogrammetry system, we’re trying to give the best experience possible for the talent by giving them clear signal and keeping them in bright light for as long as possible, meaning, not letting then in the dark for more than a fraction of a second. You can automate the same from Xangle by using the “Action” panel (fire icon on the dashboard).

The workflow looks like this

• Idle (white lights)
• Countdown (blue lights)
• Trigger (lights off & flash firing)
• Processing

Demo - slow motion

Demo - normal speed

Requirements

• Xangle Camera Server Pro license
• XangleBoards + LED strips
• At least 3 cameras (last one is a “sacrifice”) - Canon or Sony only
• Flash trigger on the last camera
• At least one flash

Hardware instructions

• Install your XangleBoard on one Raspberry Pi (as many as you need)
• Mount your wireless flash trigger on the hotshoe of your last camera (based on the numbering within Xangle). This last camera is called the “sactifice” one, meaning it is not going to be used to take a picture, but only to automatically send the flash trigger at the right timing based on your exposure time (we calculate everything through Xangle). Try to stick to the same camera model to avoid any timing issues
• Set your camera shutter speed to 1/20s (on some models, you can go as fast as 1/60s, but on some slower ones, you’ll need to do 1/4s). If you get any black frames, slow down your exposure time. A good way to troubleshoot this is to use a 1s exposure and see if the flash is fired half way during the exposure (at about 0.5s)

Software instructions

1- Activate the light component

From Settings / General / Trigger action components, activate the lights

2- Light presets

Create your Light presets from the Lights module. Create your presets for Idle (usually 100% white), Countdown and Processing. The countdown lights are going to be displayed during countdown, and the processing lights are going to be displayed while your files are getting transferred. If you haven’t done this yet, you’ll need to create at least one group for your lights (”manage groups” button)

3- Add a delay (for the countdown) and activate “accuracy compensation”

From the Trigger mode menu, make sure you are set to “single” mode, and add a delay (usually 2 seconds, which is 2000ms)

Also activate Accuracy compensation (strobe at half time) which will ensure that the flash signal is sent half way through the exposure (on your sacrifice camera)

4- Assign your trigger actions

Navigate to Actions (fire icon on the dashboard), and set your light preset for each action (idle, countdown, iteration1 and processing. No additional delays are required