Thread: track skull and Skulltronix

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I tried this a while ago.
Back then it couldnt work in real tmie for the puppeting type of control.

I saw they have a newer version.
wondered if they ever addressed that.
I e mailed them.
i got this reponse:
I believe the latest version of TrackSkull should work, if you select
'DMX 16bit'. Give it a shot and let me know if you have trouble.

Since I have this thing packed away most of the year. I thought I'd post here to see if anyone here was able to get track skull to control a skulltronix in real time.

I am also interested in finding out if this will work.

Yes indeed, it works great for me! Before I did a realtime run in TrackSkull, I set things up in VSA and determined what servo positions would work best. Maximum, minimum and default. Then I went to TrackSkull and entered those parameters for each servo. Set TrackSkull for DMX 16bit servos and Entec, activated and clicked record. I had full control of the skull.

And this worked for real time control to puppet the skull?
what version did you use?
Cause when I used track skull about 1-yrs ago.
it could only be used to record a routine not real time control.
unless I missed something. But then again I remember back then asking the guy who made it and he had confirmed it.
I was hoping this was resolved in the future versions.

We just got our Skulltronix skull maybe a month ago. After I got it working in VSA, I wanted to see what it looked like in real time. So I fired up TrackSkull, entered the servo settings and addresses and etc. and hit the record button. I played around with it for probably 10 or 15 minutes and never did anything with the information that TrackSkull recorded. The version of TrackSkull I was using I think was the one that was released in September last year. To get TrackSkull to actually create the file that can be imported into VSA, you have to click export and name the file. I'm thinking that though TrackSkull was intended to be used to create files for VSA, you could use it to effectively have real time control.

Im not positive but I'm pretty sure you have to "record" to get control, but while it is "recording" you have real time control. So, I'd think that the only problem there might be with using TrackSkull for real time control is that there may be a limit to the size of the "recording" From the way TrackSkull works, I'd assume that it records you movements to the computer's memory. So if the size of the file is not limited to a particular file size, I'd guess it might be limited to your computer's available memory or available hard disk space.

I should make sure that you are not trying to use TrackSkull without using VSA. You don't need VSA to have real time control of your prop but I strongly recommend that you FIRST set the servo movement limits in VSA, one servo at a time and once you have those settings figured out, go to TrackSkull and enter those settings. If you are trying to use TrackSkull without using VSA to determine the values for your servo movement limits you could, as TrackSkull will warn you, cause damage to your servos and linkages and such.

a little confused.
I remember going into vsa to find the servo limits. and setting them in trackskull.
the servo limits were already set in vsa from skulltronix. after that vsa was shut down. then track skull was opened.

the only way to see what was going on was to record something and play it back in vsa.
The skull didnt move during the recording process.

I did end up haveing a servo burn out. I was assured by Jerry that the servo limits were set in either vsa or I think he said a chipp in the skull itself, and you couldnt exceed them.
thats why I am skepitcal to try again. unless there has been a specific improvement in trackskull. which I see there is a newer version. as mentioned in my first post. I did ask specifically if the real time problem still existed. But he didnt see to know.
got this reponse:
I believe the latest version of TrackSkull should work, if you select
'DMX 16bit'. Give it a shot and let me know if you have trouble.
did you select 16 bit?
dont really feel like burning another servo. the repairs are expensive.

Ahhh, the plot thickens. I'll fire up our Skulltronix this morning with TrackSkull and see if I can figure out what might be going on.

At first I couldn't get it to work. I sent Nelson an email with some screen shots and he replied right away. He had told me this before but I didn't remember, TrackSkull doesn't work with Enttec Pro. I swapped in the Enttec Open and everything worked great. Plus, I was wrong about having to "record". It works totally in "puppet mode" (real time) without having to record.

Here's the screenshots I sent him. The one thing that you may have missed in TracSkull is in the lower left hand corner of the box with all of the servo settings. You need to check this box and enter the VSA track number where the servo power relay is. This would likely be one track number lower than your Jaw servo.

when you say:
I swapped in the Enttec Open and everything worked great
do you mean you changed the enttec device itself or just changed the setting in vsa?

I changed the device. I have two Enttec boxes, an Open and a Pro. TrackSkull has to have the Enttec Open. If you are trying to use it with an Enttec Pro, that would be the issue.