Jinx!

– LED Matrix Control

User Manual
Version 2.4

© 2013-2016 Sven Karschewski http://www.live-leds.de

Table of Contents
Features..........................................................................................................................................................4
Quick start.......................................................................................................................................................6
Matrix Options.............................................................................................................................................6
 Jinx! – LED Matrix Control
Output Devices............................................................................................................................................6
Patch Matrix................................................................................................................................................7
Start Output................................................................................................................................................8
Main Window..................................................................................................................................................9
Effect Generators.......................................................................................................................................10
Effect Regions............................................................................................................................................10
Copy and Paste Effects...............................................................................................................................10
Mixing Effects............................................................................................................................................11
Channel and Main Preview........................................................................................................................12
Mixing Channels........................................................................................................................................12
Controlling Master Output........................................................................................................................13
Main Window Buttons...............................................................................................................................13
Working with Scenes.....................................................................................................................................14
Manage and Playing Scenes......................................................................................................................14
Auto Scene Fade (half scenes)...................................................................................................................15
Scene Fade (full scenes).............................................................................................................................15
Working with Chases.....................................................................................................................................16
Creating a new Chase................................................................................................................................17
Starting and Stopping a Chase...................................................................................................................19
Manage Chases..........................................................................................................................................19
The Jinx! File Recorder..................................................................................................................................19
The Show Mode............................................................................................................................................20
Setup Matrix Size and Options......................................................................................................................21
Configure Output Devices.............................................................................................................................22
Add and Edit Output Devices.....................................................................................................................22
Patch Matrix..................................................................................................................................................25
Fast Patch..................................................................................................................................................26
Starting Output.............................................................................................................................................27
Remote Control.............................................................................................................................................27
Network Options...........................................................................................................................................30
Audio based Effects.......................................................................................................................................30
Auto Gain Control......................................................................................................................................30
Audio Trigger Setup...................................................................................................................................31
The Color Picker............................................................................................................................................31
The DVI Output Window...............................................................................................................................32

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GUI Options...................................................................................................................................................33
Saving and Loading your Show......................................................................................................................34
Importing a Show......................................................................................................................................34
Auto save and load....................................................................................................................................34
The Jinx! Options File....................................................................................................................................34
Command Line Options.................................................................................................................................35
Loading Files over the Command line........................................................................................................35
Auto start a scene......................................................................................................................................35
Auto start a chase......................................................................................................................................35
Invoke the show mode at Startup..............................................................................................................35
Limit output frame rate to 20fps...............................................................................................................35
Keyboard Shortcuts.......................................................................................................................................36
The Jinx! Effect Engines.................................................................................................................................37
Simple Color..............................................................................................................................................37
Color Scroll................................................................................................................................................37
Plasma.......................................................................................................................................................37
Fire............................................................................................................................................................37
Metaballs...................................................................................................................................................38
Expanding Shapes......................................................................................................................................38
Raindrops..................................................................................................................................................39
Falling Rain................................................................................................................................................39
Radar/Scan Lines.......................................................................................................................................39
Scrolling Text..............................................................................................................................................40
Image Viewer.............................................................................................................................................41
Starfield.....................................................................................................................................................41
Fading Pixels..............................................................................................................................................42
Simple Lines...............................................................................................................................................42
Sine Lines...................................................................................................................................................42
Strobe........................................................................................................................................................42
Spectrum Analyzer....................................................................................................................................43
Audio VU Meter.........................................................................................................................................44
AVI Player..................................................................................................................................................45
Capture Screen..........................................................................................................................................46
Capture Webcam.......................................................................................................................................46

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Jinx! File Player..........................................................................................................................................47
Jinx!Script..................................................................................................................................................47
Jinx!Script Reference.....................................................................................................................................48
Introduction...............................................................................................................................................48
Variables....................................................................................................................................................49
Arrays........................................................................................................................................................49
Expressions and Math functions................................................................................................................49
Relational and Logical Operators...............................................................................................................50
Labels, Subroutines and Jumps..................................................................................................................50
If / Else Conditions.....................................................................................................................................51
While / Wend Loop....................................................................................................................................52
For / Next Loop..........................................................................................................................................52
Controlling Loops with Break / Continue...................................................................................................53
The Pset command....................................................................................................................................53
The Pget Command...................................................................................................................................54
The Line Command....................................................................................................................................54
The Rect Command...................................................................................................................................54
The Circle Command.................................................................................................................................54
The Text command....................................................................................................................................55
The Clear Command..................................................................................................................................55
The Fade command...................................................................................................................................55
The Scroll command..................................................................................................................................55
The HSV2RGB and HSL2RGB Commands...................................................................................................56
The Config Command................................................................................................................................56
System Variables........................................................................................................................................57
Comments inside the Source Code............................................................................................................58
Additional Coding Rules and Notes...........................................................................................................58
Jinx!Script Command Chart...........................................................................................................................59

Features
Jinx! is a standalone controlling software for led matrices, it has a powerful set of features to get the most
out of your matrix.

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• simple, intuitive and fully resizable user interface
• 4 effect channels with 2 independent generators each
• 23 effect generators with lots of variations and sub effects including audio based effects like strobe
and spectrum analyzer as well as image viewer with animated gif support, avi player and webcam
support

• Create your own effects with Jinx!Script – a small but powerful basic like programming language to
write effects on your own

• every generator can use its own assignable region which can be freely placed inside the matrix
• switchable auto gain control for audio capturing
• generators can be merged with a lot of different modes
• both effect channels can be merged and crossfaded
• simple master control for main brightness and gamma
• additional master strobe effect
• scene store to quickly save and access a composed effect
• inside the scenes all 8 generators can be saved, as well as half scenes with only 4 generators which
can be assigned to the left or right side of Jinx! to crossfade the scenes directly

• powerful chase engine to build your own chases with stored scenes
• touchscreen friendly show mode for playing scenes and chases with auto scene fade mode
• all preview panels configurable, channel preview panels switchable to single generators
• copy and paste single generators to another channel or scene
• record effects to a file which can be played in a single effect generator and combined with other
effects to get an endless number of effect combinations

• various and flexible output options, supporting Art-Net, sACN (E1.31), tpm2.net, tpm2, Glediator
protocol and MiniDMX as well as real DMX ( Enttec OpenDMX USB and Enttec USB DMX Pro
compatible interfaces)

• switchable borderless DVI output window, which will stay on top and wipes out the mouse cursor
and also can be freely zoomed and used full screen for example to emulate a matrix on a beamer

• all output protocols can be redirected to a file to create animation files for standalone controllers
• additional Bitmap Export to save the created animation as series of Windows Bitmap files
• create Glediator 2 / Solderlab UIB compatible recorder files
• multiple output devices can be handled to drive a serial matrix with more than one port
• flexible pixel to output device patching

• remote control support via DMX (Enttec USB DMX Pro compatible interfaces), Art-Net, sACN
(E1.31), MIDI, tpm2.net and tpm2 to control scene and chase changes, the main crossfader
including the crossfade mode, master brightness and master strobe remotely over a hardware or
software based light desk

• complete ArtPoll support for Art-Net input and output

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• complete user manual integrated as context sensitive help
• auto load show files and auto start scenes/chases and invoke the show mode via command line
• choose customized controls which can be freely colored or classic windows control as gui
• small, fast and native windows application, doesn’t need any additional runtimes

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Quick start
If you can’t wait to see something on your LED matrix, here are the basic steps to configure your matrix.

Matrix Options
In the first step you should define your matrix size. To do this simply go to Setup -> Matrix Options and tell
Jinx! your matrix dimensions.

Output Devices
After setting your matrix resolution, you should define your output devices. This will be found in the Setup
-> Output Devices dialog.

Here you can manage your devices and even scan for Art-Net devices inside your network. Simply add one
or multiple devices and give it the correct parameters.

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Patch Matrix
When you successfully defined your devices, you should patch the matrix pixels to your corresponding
output devices. This will be done in the Setup -> Output Patch dialog.

In this window you can see every single pixel of your matrix. Unpatched pixels are indicated red, patched
pixels will appear in green. You can click on a single pixel and patch it to the corresponding device and
channels on the right side.

To complete this job quickly, you can use the Fast Patch dialog.

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The Fast Patch starts with the actually marked pixel. Now you have to set the dimension of the block you
want to patch, choose the correct output device, the pixel order and the first device channel. To do the
patch you simply have to click the OK button.

Start Output
After patching your matrix you can start the output by activating Setup -> Start Output. If everything went
well and you choose any effect it should be displayed on your matrix.

Main Window
The resizable Main Window is divided into 3 sections. There are 2 sides with 2 effect channels each.
Channel one and two is placed at the left side and channel three and four at the ride side. In between these
effect channels resides the master section, where you can control the output.

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Every effect channel is divided into 2 identical effect generators with a crossfade/mix section at the bottom
where you can mix the animations that are generated by the independent generators.

In between the channels on every side there is another crossfade/mix section where you can mix the two
channels together.

The master section has another crossfade/mix section which is responsible to mix the two sides together.
The lower control group in the master section will control the main brightness (Master), the global gamma
correction (Gamma) and the master strobe, which can be used as additional effect after mixing all channels
together.

The main window is fully resizable and the size and position will be saved inside the show independent
options file when closing Jinx!.

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Effect Generators
Every single effect generator has 5 controls to choose and control the animation.

The most important control is the dropdown list on the top, here you can choose the effect that will be
generated. The second control is to change the generator speed.
The Edit button will invoke the effect configure window, where you can change a lot of parameters for your
chosen effect.

The small checkbox underneath will invert the colors of the whole generated picture/animation.

Effect Regions
With the R button you can start the region control window, where the effect will be placed inside your
matrix. The R button will stay pressed if any region is active.

You can set the size of the effect and the top left starting point
inside your matrix. Pressing the Reset button will set your region
back to the size of your matrix. While adjusting the region you can
see the active region as white area on the main preview and on
your matrix (if the output is running), if you activate the show
region on matrix setting.

Additionally you can save region templates inside this dialog. So if

use the same regions again and again, you can save the settings
with a given name to quickly recall this settings if you need them
again, without typing or adjusting the coordinates again. You can
simply save a template by typing the Name inside the text box and
pressing the Add button. The template will immediately appear
inside the template list. With the Delete button you can remove
the active template from the list and with the Rename button you
can give it a new name. Just write the new name into the text box
and press the Rename button.

You can save an unlimitied amount of region templates in the list.

The templates will be saved and reloaded within your .jnx show
file.

Copy and Paste Effects

You can copy an already configured effect generator into the internal clipboard by right clicking your mouse
over the Edit button. You can paste it back to any effect generator by using the right click menu over any
Edit button again.

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Mixing Effects
If you activated both effect generators in one channel, the animations will be mixed together. The way the
mixing or crossfading will take place can be controlled by the mix section.

On the top left you can use the dropdown list to choose the mix mode. There are several modes available:

• Progressive
Will do a simple crossfade of the two effects, where every effect reaches 100% in the middle of the
mix fader.

• Linear
A classic cross fader where every effect will reach 100% at the opposite end of the fader.

• Upper/Lower Shape
With these mix modes the shape of one animation is colored with the second animation. For
example, when you have some expanding squares on the upper channel, a plasma animation on
the lower effect and use Upper Shape as mode you will get the expanding squares in plasma color.

• Upper/Lower Intensity
Nearly the same as Upper/Lower Shape, but instead of the shape the color intensity will be used.
So for example a fading or antialiasing will not get lost when coloring with another effect.

• Upper/Lower Overlay
Will simply do what the name says. This will overlay one effect over the other. Every black pixel
from the overlaying effect will be treated as transparent.

• Upper/Lower Overlay (Border)

Same as Upper/Lower Overlay, but a small border will be drawn on the overlaying effect. So for
example you can set a text with outline border over a screen filling effect like plasma or fire.

The fader on the right side of the mix section will do the cross fade. The left position corresponds to the left
effect, the right position to the right effect.
There is also a helper button for the fader in the middle of the section. With this buttons you can quickly
move the fader to the middle position.

The mix sections in between the channels have two additional buttons, where you can easily move the
fader to the left or right position. The left position corresponds to the upper effect channel, the right
position to the lower channel.

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Channel and Main Preview

On the top of each channel you will find a matrix preview window. Here you can see the result of your
mixed effects. To do an easy edit of one single effect inside a channel you can switch this channel preview to
a specific effect generator by right clicking inside the preview itself.

You can also configure the preview to show a grid or to stretch pixel. With the “Send to all Previews” option,
you can set all previews (including main and showmode) to the same grid/stretch settings. The Stretch Pixel
and Show Grid options are also available on the main preview.

If your matrix is too big to display a grid within the small preview window, Jinx! will disable the grid on its
own and will also downscale the preview if you matrix contains more pixel than the actual size of the
preview window.

Mixing Channels
Inside the master section you will have another mix area to mix the two sides together. This main mix will
work the same way as the channel mixes, except the fader position buttons. These buttons will do a smooth
auto fade to the selected position, instead of jumping directly like in the channel mix sections. If you want
them jump directly to the position without auto fading, you can invoke them with a double click. You can
adjust the auto fading speed with the Auto Speed control.

Additionally you have 2 additional mix modes for the main mix section:

• Move Left/Right
With this transition you can move the picture of one side horizontally out of the matrix and will
move in the second side in the same step.

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• Move Up/Down
The same as Left/Right, but it will move the pictures vertically.

Controlling Master Output

After mixing everything together you can take even more control over the finished animation within the
master controls in the main section.

The most important fader is the Master fader at the bottom of this section. This will control the main
brightness. So if your matrix is too bright into a small room you can use this fader to dim it down to an
eyefriendly level. If you double click on the label, the fader will jump to 0% brightness.

If your matrix didn’t have any hardware gamma correction, you can use the second fader in this section to
reach matching colors on your matrix. You can set the fader back to value 1.0 if you do a double click on the
label.

The top most fader in this section resides to the master strobe, which can be used as additional effect. You
can set the strobe time from fast (left position) to slow (right position). To invoke the master strobe you
have to push the right top Strobe button. The button will stay pushed until you click it again.

Main Window Buttons

In the middle of the main window there are three more buttons.

With the Scenes button you will open the scenes window where you can
store and manage your scenes, the second button will open the chase
window where you can manage your chases. To switch Jinx! into the show
mode, you have to press the third button.

More information about scenes, chases and the show mode will be found
within the next chapters.

Working with Scenes

Because it is not very comfortable to design every animation mix manually
when you need it, it is possible to store a complete animation setup into a
scene. There are half and full scenes you can store.

The following things get stored inside a full scene:

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• all 8 effect generators with all effect specific options

• the effect, channel and main mixes

Inside a half scene only one side (4 effect generators) will be saved including the effect and channel mix,
without the main mix. You can assign half scenes to every side in Jinx! on restoring, so you can easily mix
your scenes live with the cross fader.

The master controls (Master, Gamma, Master Strobe) will not be saved and will operate independently from
any scene. So you can adjust the main brightness and gamma to your setup or room and don’t have to
adjust it every time a new scene will be activated.

The amount of scenes which can be stored is not limited. To save, activate and manage scenes you have to
go to the scene window. This can be opened over the Scenes button in the master section of the main
screen or you can use the main menu. Choose View -> Scenelist to activate the window over the menu.
Additionally you can use the F2 shortcut to open or close the window.

The scene window is divided into 3 sections. The first and top most section is the scene list, it will display all
stored scenes. The second area is called Control and will let you enable and adjust the scene fade when you
activate another stored scene. The Manage Scene section will let you add, replace/rename, move and
delete your scenes.

The scene window is also fully resizable, the size and position gets saved into the Jinx! show independent
options file when closing Jinx!.

Manage and Playing Scenes

When you successfully created your first animation you can store it into your scene memory with two easy
steps.

First of all you have to give the scene a name. Just write it into the text field which will be found in between
the buttons in the Manage Scenes section. To store into the scene list you simply have to click the Add
button afterwards and all small popup will appear where you can choose if you want to save the left or the
right side of Jinx! as half scene or if you want to store a full scene with all effect generators. The scene will
immediately appear inside the scene list. Full scenes will get marked with a [F] in front of the scene name.
Now you can setup another animation and store it with another name.
To recall the stored scene you simply have to use the list entry in the first section of the scene window. If it’s
a half scene and you want to assign it to the left side of Jinx! simply click the scene name with the left
mouse button. If you click it with the right mouse button, the scene will be assigned to the right side. If it’s a
full scene, it doesn’t matter if you use a left or right click, the scene will be assigned to all generators.

Tip: Create always a Blackout scene with no active effect generators, so you can switch off any animation or
matrix output quickly by recalling this scene.

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If you want to edit a scene and change some parameters you can restore the scene by clicking it in the list,
change your parameters and click the Replace button. The active scene will be overwritten with the new
settings. Furthermore you can use the Replace button to rename a scene. After activating the scene you can
type in a new name in the text field and scene will be overwritten with the active settings and the new
name by clicking the replace button.

To copy scenes you have to activate it and use the add button after a new name was typed into the text
field.

The Up, Down and Delete buttons will exactly do what you expect. With Up/Down the activated scene will
move inside the scene list and Delete will remove the scene from the store. Be carefully, the scene will be
deleted without any confirmation.

Auto Scene Fade (half scenes)

The Auto Scene Fade option will place the scenes automatically to the left or right side of Jinx! and starts an
auto fader to make a cross fade to the new scene. So you don’t have to worry about the sides you want to
restore and simply play scenes with crossfading by clicking on them.

To activate the Auto Scene Fade you simply have to click on the Auto button underneath the scene list. The
button will stay pressed as long as the option is activated. Simply click again to deactivate the Auto Scene
Fade. The buttons Left and Right will show you the position, where the last scene had been restored. This
position is linked to the active restore position inside the show mode (see The Show Mode chapter for more
info). As long as the Auto Scene Fade is active, it doesn’t matter if you use a left or right click inside the
scene list, half scenes will always get restored to the next auto position.

Scene Fade (full scenes)

Inside the Control section you can activate and adjust the scene fading on changing full scenes, the scene
fade will not take place if you restore a half scene. To fade over half scenes you can use both sides inside
Jinx! and crossfade between them.

If you activate the Fade Out checkbox the last picture from the previously running scene will be faded out
while a new selected scene is already running. So you can create smooth scene changes instead of hardly
switched effects. The duration of the fade out can be adjusted with the fader control beneath the checkbox
from fast (left position) to slow (right position).

Tip: The scene window can be docked to the main window, you can activate it inside the main menu with
View -> Dock Scenewindow. It will be undocked automatically if you move the scene window directly. You
can also re-dock the window over the system menu you will get by right clicking the title bar of the scene
window. The scene window is also fully resizable, the window size and position will get saved inside the Jinx!
options independently from the Jinx! show files when you close Jinx!.

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Working with Chases

In addition to the scene store, Jinx! has also a powerful chase engine
integrated to get even more flexibility.

A chase is a well-known feature within common lightning desks and it is able

to playback scenes automatically. This means you can program complete
shows and generate extended animations with a few easy steps.

A chase in Jinx! can use the following features:

• scene changes for full and half scenes with adjustable scene fade(full
scenes) for every step with fixed or randomized scenes

• control main mix cross fader with smooth auto fade or a direct jump
to the wanted position

• control main mix cross fader mode

• control master strobe on/off and speed

• adjustable duration/time for every step

• unlimited amount of steps inside a chase

• the chase can be set to an endless loop

The amount of storable chases is not limited as well. The chase window can be opened over the Chases
button in the main window or by choosing
View -> Chaselist in the main menu. You can also use the F3 shortcut to open or close the window.

The window looks roughly like the scene window. We have the chase list at the top, a control section to
start and stop chases as well as the Manage Chases section to add, edit, move and delete a single chase.

It is also resizable and postion and size will gets saved inside the Jinx! show independent options file when
closing Jinx!.

Creating a new Chase

To create a new chase you have to click the Add button inside the chase window. A new empty chase will be
created and it will be opened automatically within the chase editor.

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The chase editor is clearly structured. On the left side you see the step list with the well-known Up, Down
and Delete buttons below it. On the right top you can change the name of the chase and set the chase to an
infinite loop, which means the chase will never stop and automatically start the first step after reaching the
last.

The right section underneath the name and loop control shows the actual step and can be used to create or
edit any step. To get your first step into the chase you have to click the Insert New Step button. A new step
will appear on the left side and the step edit section will display the default settings for the new step. First
of all you can set the step type. There are three different types possible:

• Scene Left/Right
This will start a new scene on the corresponding side of Jinx! and will fade out the last picture, if it’s
a full scene, with the value you can adjust with the Scenefade fader. To switch of fading you have to
move the fader to the left position, there is no checkbox to switch it off like inside the scene
window.

• Random Scene Left/Right

Nearly the same as Scene, but the scene itself will be chosen by a random generator. So you can
quickly make a chase with only one step that will randomly loop thru all your stored scenes for
example. Within the Random Scene step, only half scenes will be chosen, so you can always do a
crossfading between the sides like in the demo chase which is included in the Jinx! Demo file.

• Masterstrobe
The Masterstrobe event will control the master strobe. You only have one fader to do this, if you
move the fader to the most left position the strobe will be switched off. The strobe speed goes from
fast (left position) to slow (right position).
Remember: when you switch on the strobe it will reside active until you switch it off with another
Masterstrobe event. Other events in between will not change the strobe state.

• Crossfade
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The Crossfade event can control your main mix cross fader within a scene. You can set the cross
fader directly to a position, this position will be set without any delay when this event takes place.
You also can switch on auto fade with the Enable Autofade checkbox. If auto fade is active the fader
only knows 3 positions: left, middle, right. When such an event starts the cross fader will fade
smooth from the actual position to the given position inside the event. Additionally you can choose
the crossfade mode.
Remember: A new full scene will set the cross fader to the value which is stored inside the full scene,
so the Crossfade event only makes sense after setting a Scene event, or if you are using half scenes.

After setting the type and the parameters for the chosen event type you have to set the duration for this
step. This is done in seconds, but you can use a decimal operator to get smaller steps (0.1). It doesn’t
matter if you use decimal point or a decimal comma.
Remember: The time you adjust is the duration of the step, or in other words the time when the next step
will take place.

All changed values take directly place in Jinx! and you can see a preview of the step on the main window. To
edit an already saved step you can simply click on it in the step list. The controls which are not useable by
the chosen step type will get greyed out.
You can use the Manage Steps section to resort or delete steps. When you are finished with editing your
chase you can leave the window by pressing the close button. All steps and changes will be saved
automatically.

Tip: You can also set the duration time to a zero value. This means the next step will start immediately. For
example you can add a scene step with a zero duration followed by a master strobe event and you will get
the scene starting with a strobe effect.

Remember: To avoid extreme loops, a chase will not start when the complete runtime is less than 2 seconds.

Attention: Scenes which are in use by a chase cannot be deleted anymore, you first have to delete the scene
inside the chase or delete the corresponding chase. Resorting scenes inside the scene list will not break any
chase.

Starting and Stopping a Chase

To start the playback of a stored chase press the Play button inside the chase list after selecting the wanted
chase. The play button will get locked and the chase will run. To stop the chase you can use the Stop button
or just start any other chase or scene.

Tip: You can also start a chase by using a double click inside the chase list.

Remember: A chase will automatically be stopped if you start or manage another chase or scene or another
edit/configure action will take place (e.g. pressing effect edit, entering setup menus).

Manage Chases
Within the Manage Chases section you can also move, edit or delete the already stored chases. You can also
edit a chase with a simple right click inside the chase list.

Tip: The chase window can be docked to the main window over the menu View -> Dock Chasewindow or the
system context menu by a right click on the title bar.

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The Jinx! File Recorder

Within Jinx! you can also record your created animations into single files. This is mainly used to get more
possible effect combinations. For example you can record a full animation which uses all 4 effect generators
inside a file. After recording it, you can use this file with the Jinx! File Player engine inside one effect
generator and can combine it now with other effect generators. In that way you can combine an endless
number of effects.

To open the Jinx! File Recorder you have to go to the main menu and choose View -> File Recorder. You can
also use the F4 shortcut to open or close the window, the file recorder can even be started inside the show
mode by pressing F4.

To start a recording you have to click on the Record button and a File Save window will open and ask you
for the filename you want to record into. After hitting the save button the recording will start immediately.
The Record button will lock and stay pressed as long as the recording is active. To end the recording, simply
click on the stop button.

The Jinx! File Recorder records the main output in the background. This means that everything you will
change while a recording is active will get recorded, for example scene changes or a chase playback. Even
adjusting effects or adjusting the master brightness will affect the recording.

You can playback the recorded .jnr files with the Jinx! File Player engine. You can start a player engine on
every effect channel. You will find more about the player inside “The Jinx! Effect Engines“ chapter.

The Show Mode

After storing and programming all your scenes and chases you can use the show mode to operate Jinx! with
an easy to use interface without all unneeded controls for playback scenes and chases. The show mode can
be started with the Show Mode button inside the main window, over the main menu by choosing View ->
Show Mode or by pressing the F11 shortcut.

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With the show mode window you have a touch screen friendly screen to control all the stored scenes and
chases which will be shown as buttons. The show mode window is fully resizable and the buttons get
automatically placed and ordered, starting with all chases and followed by the scenes. The size of the
buttons can also be adjusted with the small – and + buttons inside the top menu. The first pair will control
the width and the second pair the height of all buttons.

With the Left/Right buttons you can choose on which side of Jinx! the next (half) scene will get restored.
With the Auto Button you can activate the Auto Scene Fade option, which will place the scenes
automatically to the left or right side of Jinx! and starts an auto fader to make a cross fade to the new
scene. See chapter Working with Scenes / Auto Scene Fade (half scenes) for more information.

With the main mix you can adjust the fade mode and the main cross fade. The three position buttons will
start a smooth auto fade to the position, to jump directly to the position you can do a double click on these
buttons. The auto fade speed can be adjusted with the Auto Speed control.
Additionally there is a master preview window, the already known master controls for main brightness and
master strobe, as well as the scene fade control for full scenes.

You can start any chase or scene by simply clicking the corresponding button. The button will reside pressed
until another scene or chase is chosen.

The master preview can be configured by the context menu you get by a right click on the preview itself.
You can set the pixel stretch and grid as well as clone these settings to the other previews.

Close the show mode with the windows system menu (icon), the close window button inside the title bar or
the F11 shortcut and you will get back to the normal mode.

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Tip: The button size, window position and window size will be saved when leaving the show mode and
recalled the next time you start the show mode. Switching between show and normal mode will not
interrupt any animation, scene or chase.

Setup Matrix Size and Options

The first step to configure Jinx! for your matrix would be to set the resolution your matrix has. This would
be done in the Matrix Options dialog. You can access it over the main menu with Setup -> Matrix Options.

In the first section you can set the width and height of your matrix in pixel. At the moment Jinx! supports
any matrix dimension between 4 pixels and 480 pixels, with a total pixel count of 48000. This means you
can choose any width and height between 4 and 480 pixel, but width x height cannot exceed 48000 pixel.
For Example, if your matrix width is 320 pixels your matrix height cannot exceed 150 pixels (320x150 =
48000). You can use any resolution within the 48000 pixel limit. The actual pixel count will be displayed for
your information, if your given matrix resolution is too large, Jinx! will correct it automatically.

In the lower section there are additional options to set. Because many of the effect generators are on a
pixel based speed, they can get very slow if you drive big matrixes with Jinx!. To speed up those effects, you
can raise the pixel step up to 4 pixel changes per frame.

The next options adjusting the matrix previews in the user interface. You can choose the width of the grid
you can display in the previews (switching on off via the context menu on the previews) as well as the color
of the grid and background. With the last option you can reset those preview options for all previews
(including main and show mode) in one step. If your matrix is too big to display a grid within the small
preview window, Jinx! will disable the grid on its own.

When your matrix has a custom shape instead of a normal square you can set your preview windows to the
same shape of your matrix patch with the “Use Patch State for Pixel drawing” option. So you can create
custom shapes by only patching the needed pixels inside the patch window. This will also draw
monochrome patched pixel with grey values inside the previews.

Configure Output Devices

Jinx! supports various output protocols to drive your matrix. You can use multiple output devices and split
your matrix over more than one interface, for example multiple Art-Net nodes or even multiple serial
devices to keep the frame rate up on big matrices which uses daisy chain.

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To configure your ports and protocols you have to use the main menu with Setup -> Output Devices to
open the Output Devices window.

On the left side you can see already configured devices with its main parameters, on the right side you get
the control buttons to add, edit or delete a new device. Additionally you can use the Scan button to search
within your network for Art-Net nodes. Any found and useable Art-Net node will automatically be
configured and added to the list.

Add and Edit Output Devices

To add a new device simply click the add button and you will get the Add/Edit
Device dialog.

This dialog has various options which are not all useable by every device type.
In the first section you can choose the device type you want to configure, the
next section will help you to address the device if it’s a network based
protocol.

The Data section will give you control over protocol specific options and
includes the number of channels as well as the block size for some protocols.
The next section will configure the serial port and the baud rate if it is a serial
or usb (e.g. FTDI) based device and the last section will let you redirect the
protocol output into a file. This would be useful to create animation files,
which you can play on a standalone controller. After selecting the Redirect
Output to File option you have to choose the file to record into with the select
button. Recording starts on activating output and stops on closing output.

Firstly you have to choose the correct type of your device to see and set the
needed parameters. The following protocols are supported by Jinx!

 Art-Net
Art-Net is a network based protocol, so first of all you have to set the IP address of the Art-Net
node, the udp port is fixed and displayed as read only. Art-Net also needs a direct addressing inside
the Art-Net network. Jinx! supports Art-Net 3, which means Net, Subnet and Universe as address
parameters. If your node only supports Art-Net 2 you should use 0 as the Net address and only give
the correct Subnet and Universe values.
Additionally you can inactivate the sending of sequence numbers within the artnet protocol, for
some special devices.
You also can set the amount of channels to be transmitted. Art-Net, as DMX based protocol,
supports maximal 512 channels per node. If you set the Channels value greater than 512 it will be

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corrected to 512 on saving. The Art-Net specification allows sending less than 512 channels, so you
can choose lower values. The channel count must be dividable by 2.
Remember: If your Art-Net node supports ArtPoll, you can simply use the Art-Net scan in the Output
Device dialog to find and add the nodes automatically instead of adding and configuring manually.

• sACN / E1.31 (streaming ACN)

E1.31 or streaming ACN is a network based protocol to transmit DMX data like Art-Net. The protocol
has been drafted and specified by the ESTA to get the new standard, replacing protocols like Art-
Net. First of all you have to set the IP address of your receiver. Because the protocol was also
designed for broadcasting, there is an additional address setting inside the protocol called universe.
You should set the universe to fit the settings on your receiver, allowed are the universes 1-63999.
Like with Art-Net, you can also specify the amount of channels you want to transmit, because it is
based on DMX data, you have a limit of 512 channels. So the choose able range is 1512 channels.

• tpm2.net
tpm2.net is a network based protocol designed and specified by the ledstyles.de community. It’s a
simple and clear structured protocol with variable frame size and based on tpm2 which will get
used on serial lines.
As its network based, you have to set the receivers IP address, the udp port is fixed and displayed
read only. As tpm2.net support a variable frame size you can set the channel size freely to the size
your device needs. Additionally a tpm2.net frame can be split into multiple blocks, so if your device
needs a special block size you should set the Chan/Block value. The amount of blocks will be
calculated automatically.

• tpm2
The serial based version of the tpm2.net protocol with a smaller header size. As it’s a serial based
protocol you only have to set the frame size and the correct serial port and baud rate.

• Glediator
The Glediator protocol was invented and introduced by Solderlab (http://www.solderlab.de). It’s a
very simple serial based protocol which will be used by the Solderlab Matrix Controller Board. Some
other devices use this protocol as well.
You have to set the amount of channels you want to transmit over the serial line. You also have to
choose the corresponding serial port and set the baud rate to fit the settings of your device.

• MiniDMX
The serial based MiniDMX protocol is widely used and supported by many devices. You will have to
set the channel count to 96, 256, 512, 768, 1536 or 3072. If you choose any other channel count, it
will get corrected automatically. As its serial based, you will also have to set the serial port and the
needed baud rate.

• Enttec Open DMX USB (and compatible)

You can use Jinx! to produce real DMX data with the help of this interface. The Enttec Open DMX
USB driver inside Jinx! uses the FTDI D2XX Interface, so be sure to install the D2XX or the CDM
driver. The only option you can set is the interface of your OpenDMX USB, you will get all FTDI
D2XX interfaces listed which are found on your computer. The Enttec Open DMX USB will always
receive a fixed channel size of 512 (full DMX universe).

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• Enttec DMX USB Pro (and compatible)

Like the Enttec Open DMX, the DMX USB Pro is a USB to DMX Interface. For this output driver the
FTDI VCP (Virtual Com Port) driver is needed, be sure to get it installed (CDM driver will include the
VCP as well). Many DMX USB Pro compatible interfaces only uses Virtual Com Ports (e.g. EUROLITE
USB_DMX512-PRO), so that’s why we didn’t use the D2XX driver model.
As with the Enttec Open DMX USB you simply have to choose the right interface port (serial port).
The channel count will always be set to 512 (full DMX universe).

• Bitmap Export
With the Bitmap Export driver you can save the animations as a series of bitmap images. This driver
can be used additionally to any other patched output and doesn’t need to be patched. If this driver
is active you have to choose the destination directory with the select button at the bottom of the
dialog. After starting the Output every frame (25 frames per second) will be saved to this directory
as Windows Bitmap file with an ascending number as filename. Be sure to have enough disk space
available.
You can use external software like bmp2avi or something similar to create video/animation files out
of the bmp series.

• Glediator File Recorder

This driver can produce Glediator2 / Solderlab UIB compatible recording files. These files can be
played inside Glediator2 or used within the upcoming Solderlab UIB Board. After choosing the out
file you can start/stop the recording by activating/deactivating the output. There is no patching
needed for this device type and so you can use it, like the Bitmap Export, additionally to any other
active output patch.

Tip: Jinx! support broadcasting for the Art-Net and multicasting for the sACN/E1.31 protocol. So if you have
a small network and your Art-Net or sACN/E1.31 nodes are configured well, you can set activate the
Broadcast/Multicast option and don’t have to take care about any IP parameters.

Patch Matrix
When you added and configured your output devices, it is time to patch the single pixels to the
corresponding devices and channels. Jinx! give you control over every single pixel and you can patch it to
any defined output device.

The patching takes place in the Output Patch window, which can be opened through the main menu over
Setup -> Output Patch.

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Inside this window you can see and scroll through every single pixel of your defined matrix. Every pixel will
show you its actual state. If it’s marked red its unpatched, means no output device and channel is assigned,
if it’s already patched it will be marked green.

You can see and edit the actual pixel assignment on the right side of the window. If you click on any pixel
you will see the position in coordinates as well as the assigned output device and channels for the three
colors red, green and blue.

After activating a pixel, you can edit the device and channel assignment and it will be stored immediately. To
get this work done more comfortably, than editing every single pixel, you can invoke the Fast Patch window.

Tip: Jinx! also supports monochrome matrices. You simply has to set all three colors (r,g,b) to the same
output channel. Jinx! will automatically calculate the greyscale value when the output is running. You can
also use the “Mono” color order inside the Fast Patch dialog to patch a monochrome matrix.

Fast Patch
The fast patch dialog will help you to patch your matrix in a very short time. To open the dialog, use the Fast
Patch button on the right side.

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The fast patch will assign ascending channel numbers within a device to the next pixel, corresponding to
your matrix controller and setup you can patch the whole matrix at once or single areas.

On the top of the fast patch window you will see your starting point, this will be chosen by the activated
pixel in the output patch window. You also have to tell Jinx! the size of the area you want to patch. For
example the complete matrix size, or if your matrix is assembled with single boards the size of a single
board.

The section Patch Mode will define how your pixels are latched together, you can choose all common
modes with the drop down list. You also have to set your color order inside a single pixel and the starting
channel on the corresponding output device as well as the output device itself.

As soon as you press the OK button, Jinx! will enumerate your pixels to the output device and channels in
the selected order and will return you to the output patch window.

If everything is done you can use the Close button to leave the output patch window.

Tip: The fast patch area always is defined from the top left and will cover the area to the right and to the
bottom with the given size, even if you choose a patch mode which will start at the bottom.

Attention: If you change your output devices, the patch will be corrected if necessary. So if you need to edit
your output devices after patching, take a look at your patch again to be sure that everything is assigned

correctly.

Starting Output
After configuring the complete output section, you will have to start the output devices to get the
animations transferred to your matrix. You can simply start the output with the main menu entry Setup
-> Start Output.

Attention: Jinx! will always produce 25fps. So be sure that your output device is able to handle it (e.g. serial
line with a too small baud rate), otherwise a frame skip will appear.

Remote Control
Jinx! can be controlled remotely by various protocols, so you can seamlessly
integrate it into any lightning installation. The remote control feature can be
enabled and configured over the main menu with Setup -> Remote Control.

The remote control supports four different controls and will receive and
interpret 8 bit values on every channel. The following controls are available:

• Scene Select Left

Jinx! will map every received number to the corresponding scene in
the scene list and recall it on the left side (Channel 1/2) of Jinx!. The
value 0 will be ignored. For example, if the received value is 1 the first
scene would be activated. You can choose any scene between 1 and
255.

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Additionally you can limit the scenes to 32. In that case the values 1-7 will activate the first scene, 8-
15 the second scene and so on. The value 0 gets ignored in that mode as well.

• Scene Select Right

Same as Scene Select Left, but half scenes will get restored on the right side (Channel 3/4).

• Chase Select
The chase select will operate the same way as the scene select. You can choose and start any
chase between 1 and 255. The 0 values will get ignored as well. If you activated the scene limit
to 32 scenes, the chase selection will also get limited to 32 chases.

• Crossfade Mode
This will set the actual crossfade mode: Progressive (0-20), Linear (21-41), Left Shape (42-62), Right
Shape (63-83), Left Intensity (84-104), Right Intensity (105-125), Left Overlay (126-146), Right
Overlay (147-167), Left Overlay Border (168-188), Right Overlay Border (189-209), Move left/right
(210-230), Move up/down (231-255)

• Crossfade
This will control the main cross fader. 0 means left, 255 right, 127 will place it to the center position.

• Master Brightness
With the master brightness control you can set the main brightness. Accepted values are from 0 to
255, where 0 means 0% and 255 will get out 100% brightness of your matrix.

• Master Strobe
This control also takes values between 0 and 255. The value 0 switches the master strobe off, 1-255
will activate the strobe. Smaller values will give you a faster strobe.

In the first section of the remote control dialog you can enable or disable the remote control feature by
setting the first checkbox. You can also activate the scene / chase limit in this dialog section.

The second area will display the 7 controls and tell you the actual channel they are using. The channels will
always be ascending and the control order is fixed. The start channel can be set inside the protocol
addressing area. Additionally you can invoke the midi mapping in this section if the midi protocol is active.

Attention: Jinx! will always start any channel count at zero. DMX normally starts counting in human order,
means 1 is the first channel. So if you converting any DMX data to remotely control Jinx! you should take
care about that and know that DMX channel 1 will get Channel 0 inside Jinx!.

You can configure the wanted remote control protocol with the device type drop down list. The following
protocols are available:

• Art-Net
The network based Art-Net is also accepted to get remote commands. You will need to assign the
Art-Net addressing with Net, Subnet and Universe. The start channel must be assigned as well. Jinx!
interpret every addressed Art-Net frame, with sizes between 4 and 512 channels. The Art-Net
implementation also supports ArtPoll, this means any lightning desk or software which is able to do
ArtPoll can find and configure the Jinx! remote automatically.
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• sACN / E 1.31 (streaming ACN)

You can also use the network based sACN/E1.31 protocol to receive remote control data. You have
to the universe Jinx! should listen to (1-63999). Jinx! will receive and use every sACN frame with a
minimum of 4 channels and use the given start channel.

• Enttec DMX USB Pro (and compatible)

The Enttec DMX USB Pro interface supports DMX IN to your computer (not all compatible do this as
well), so you can use any hardware based DMX Desk to remotely control Jinx!. You have to
configure the correct serial (Virtual Com Port) of your device and set the start channel Jinx! should
look at.

• Midi
You can also control Jinx! via midi, so you can
use midi controllers or sync your matrix to a
midi sequencer like Cubase, Logic or Pro
Tools. After selecting the midi protocol, you
can choose the midi in port Jinx! should use.
You can map the 8 control functions from
Jinx! to any midi channel and any control or
program change within the Midi Setup
Window, which can be started with Midi
button within the Remote Channels section.

• tpm2
For the serial based tpm2 protocol (see
Configure Output Devices for details) you
need to set the incoming serial port and the
corresponding baud rate as well as the start
channel. Jinx! will receive every tpm2 frame with a minimum of 4 and maximum of 512 channels
and will use the given start channel for the first control.

• tpm2.net
As tpm2.net is a network based protocol you only need to set the starting channel inside the
received frames to map the control functions. Only frames between 4 and 512 channels will be
accepted.

Tip: To control Jinx! with your DMX lightning desk, you can also use any DMX2Art-Net node or use a small
SEDU based solution, which will do a DMX2tpm conversion (http://www.sedu-board.de).

Attention: If you activate the Auto Scene Fade option inside the scene window or the show mode, the
remote control will also take care of it and restore half scenes automatically to the left or right side of Jinx!
and start a crossfade to the new scene. Using Scene Select Left or Scene Select Right will not make a
difference while the Auto Scene Fade option is active.

Network Options
If you have multiple network interface cards in your setup you can
bind the incoming (remote control) and outgoing network traffic

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from Jinx! to a specific interface. You will get access to these options with the main menu entry Setup ->
Network Options.

If you don’t activate the binding options, Jinx! will listen to any network interface for incoming traffic and
will let windows choose which network card will be used for outgoing traffic. If you activate the options,
you can choose any of the ip addresses that are available on your computer and Jinx! will only listen or send
data over the corresponding interfaces. You can even set the input and output binding independently.

Audio based Effects

Jinx! also offers some audio based effect generators, which will be driven by a Fourier analysis to get
frequency controlled triggers. The audio capturing will be done automatically and always uses your default
windows capture/recording device. The selection and configuration of this device depends on your
windows version and your audio hardware. You will find information inside your audio device manual.

Tip: If you playback your music with the same computer that runs Jinx! you should configure your audio
device to capture the main output. If your soundcard doesn’t offer this feature, you can use the free
available VB-Audio Cable driver.

Auto Gain Control

The audio engine inside Jinx! has a built-in auto gain control. This means the engine will try to normalize the
captured audio to a common level. If you activate this feature you are able to get the same effect results,
even if your audio volume changes. You can enable and disable the auto gain control within the main menu
over Setup -> Audio AutoGainControl.

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