Topics covered:

 MA networking basic (Console to MA3d)

This documentation is intended to re-enforce that training provided. Other training resources on
these topics and others are available via the ConsoleTraining.com website.

MA3d Networking Local:

To connect MA3d and MAonPC2 you need to first set the IP address settings appropriate to your
setup. If you are simply connecting the two applications running on the same computer

Begin by opening MAonPC, loading your showfile and clicking on setup, MA network control
You will then be presented with a screen that looks like this. In this window we can see a few
different bits of information.

Session ID: By default this is set to 1 and in most situations you will only ever have one stage or
session running. Sessions are useful when you have more than one stage or show running. For
example in a festival environment session 1 might be used for show and session 2 might be used for
pre vis or another show element such as vision. Each session can have its own hardware assigned
such as consoles, visualisers (MA3d) or VPU’s (MA’s own media server system)

Session Name: Just an easy way of knowing what session is what. For example Pre Vis, or Show

Session Password: Each session can be passworded to stop other consoles or systems entering your
session and looking or modifying your showfile. This function becomes especially helpful when
working in an environment where people may want to steal or modify your showfile without your
permission.

Station IP: This is the IP address of your current system (Console or PC) This is where we tell MA
which IP address to use to talk to MA3d or a console.

Station Name: A friendly way of naming things such as consoles. Most people stick with the default
name of grandMA2 but others prefer to call their consoles primary, backup or moe larry and curly.

Station Priory: In the event of a disconnection this determines which console will become master in
the event the master console crashes. By default leaving this as normal is best practise.

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Before we continue, what the actual heck is an IP address?

This number is an exclusive number all information technology devices (printers, routers, modems, et
al) use which identifies and allows them the ability to communicate with each other on a computer
network.

There is a standard of communication which is called an Internet Protocol standard (IP). In laymans
terms it is the same as your home address. In order for you to receive snail mail at home the sending
party must have your correct mailing address (IP address) in your town (network) or you do not
receive bills, pizza coupons or your tax refund. The same is true for all equipment on the internet.
Without this specific address, information cannot be received. Each device must have its own IP
address in order to receive and transmit data. Using the neighbourhood approach to it the way to
make sure devices can talk to each other is to ensure the second last number range is the same on all
devices. For example, a normal MA setup may look like this:

Console: 192.168.0.2

MAonPC Backup: 192.168.0.3

MA3d system: 192.168.0.4

The important thing to note is the second last section has to be the same. Another way of thinking of
it is breaking it up like a DMX universe address. Lets take another fairly standard set of IP addresses

192.168.1.x

If we make sure we match the first two set of numbers (192.168) then we can treat the other two
sets of numbers like a DMX address. 192.168.1.1

If we ignore the first set of numbers and focus on the last two we have basically a DMX address with
the fixture starting on channel 1 of universe one. Applying this methodology each IP pool or universe
can have 254 devices which means you can use any device in the range of 192.168.1.1 right through
to 192.168.1.254.

Normally we try to avoid the IP addresses of .1 and .254 as other hardware such as a network router
may use this addresses

Returning back to our window of many options (MA network control) to get the two applications
talking we need to set the IP to what is called the localhost or loopback IP address. Which is ALWAYS

127.0.0.1 by using this IP address we are instructing MA to talk only within its own self. (pretty deep
and meaningful)

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To do this we need to make sure the session is stopped. To do that we need to click on the button at
the bottom of the screen labelled “Leave Session”

After clicking on this the station IP field will now be selectable. Click on the station IP box to the right
of the station IP writing and you will be presented with a similar box to this one

In our case we want to select the IP address 127.0.0.1 (The one with the red box in our screenshot)

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You will then be prompted to restart the application

Click ok and before quitting the application click the create session button

You may now close the application and re open it. Then open up MA3d.

Once you open up MA3d you will have a window that looks similar to this

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To bring up the network tab click on Connection State text.

In this tab we have a few options such as Invite and user. These are left over options from grandMA1
and early grandMA2 versions. Click on Own-IP address to select the IP address for MA3d.

Click on the green text next to MA-Net IP Address and select 127.0.0.1 Loopback

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Then restart MA3d. Open up MA2 if you’ve closed it and make sure both applications are now set to
127.0.0.1. Then click on setup MA Network Configuration in MAonPC2 and click on the 3D tab

Then click Add present and your MA3d should appear like this

If it does not close this tab and open MA Network config and ensure there is a session running.

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If it has appeared. Right click in the session member box and the applications should connect and the
MA3d line should go green like this which indicates its connected.

You have now successfully connected MAonPC2 and MA3d on your local computer. Throw a party,
crack a beverage and enjoy.

MA3d Networking External (Console to 3D or MAonPC2):

The process is very similar to the local version but instead of setting an IP address on the desk we
check what IP address it has and we match its range. In our example we are using an onPC session
to demonstrate but the process is identical on a console.

First connect a network cable to the back of the console on port 1 (MA-net and CITP is on port 1 and
streaming protocols such as sACN, Artnet, etc are on port 2)

Then click on setup, MA network control and take note of the station IP

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In this example we can see the station IP is 192.168.1.203. Which means we can use any IP address
in the 192.168.1.x range. We are going to select 192.168.1.55 in this example.

The first thing we need to do is set a static IP address on our MAPC. To do that we need to right click
on the little network icon that is in the bottom right hand corner of the screen in windows

Click on “Open network and sharing centre”

Then click on Ethernet. In our case its called Ethernet as we have 4 ethernet cards.

Click on properties in the popup screen and then locate internet protocol version 4 (TCP/IPv4)

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Double click on it and click use the following IP address and then enter the information for your
system

Here you can see we have entered the IP address in the range of our “desk” after entering the IP
address press the tab key and it will enter the subnet mask information for you like so.

After that click on ok and then open MA3d or MA2onPC and in the same way we selected the local IP
address you should now see this IP as an option. If you don’t restart MA2/MA3d.

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Once you have selected the IP address restart the application and follow the first guide on adding
the 3d session. If you are using MAonPC as a backup to a console all you need to do is
join the session the console is running via MA-Net control and it will start as a tracking
backup.

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