Sidus Link 101
Explore the Power of Wireless Lighting Control
What if I told you that you could control 100 lighting fixtures from four football fields away AND change their color output to match your favorite T-shirt with just your smartphone?
You’d probably question why you would ever use your shirt to light a scene… but you wouldn’t know unless you gave it a try!
Today, we’re breaking down the key features of the Sidus Link wireless lighting control app and what you need to know to unlock your light’s full potential.
So What is Sidus Link?
Sidus Link is a premium wireless lighting control platform. Its purpose? To push the possibilities of wireless lighting design on set and develop revolutionary tools for filmmakers of all backgrounds.
Sound like a dramatized version of your Phillips Hue app? Not even close.
Utilizing Bluetooth 5.0 Mesh technology, Sidus Mesh connects your smart device directly to compatible lights and turns them into a transceiver node in a localised network. In essence, allowing each light to communicate with one another and transmit your commands along a signal chain. This is accomplished without any additional routers or network hardware.
The key detail: Each light needs to be within 80 meters of the adjacent fixture to retain a wireless link. These links can be combined to reach a max distance of 400 meters between your control device and the farthest unit.
Your commands can either be sent to individual lights or a Group of lights simultaneously within a Scene. It is through this Scene structure that a majority of the Sidus Link workflow takes place.
What Can I Do With It?
The greatest benefits of using Sidus Link over manual controls are increased speed, advanced settings, and the highly reduced cost of creating a wireless lighting system on set.
I mean it’s literally free for mobile devices and pre-built into compatible Aputure lights.
Everything you can adjust with a light’s onboard menu you can control with the Sidus Link App, with several key additions.
This includes unlimited Presets which allow you to save and share your individual light’s settings, and Quickshots to store group lighting plans that you can instantly switch between. Think of having a scene lit for both a day and night configuration, swappable with the tap of your finger.
You can also wirelessly update your light’s firmware and collaborate through CC Group, allowing multiple operators to control separate lights within the same scene.
This only scratches the surface of unique features Sidus Link offers, but for now let’s jump into some of the modes and functions you can explore. To check if these modes are available to use with your light, see the Supported Fixtures guide.
1. WHITE LIGHT MODE
CCT:
The first menu you’ll find when selecting a fixture is White Light Mode, which covers a light’s output, dimming curves, and color temperature adjustments. For bi-color lights you can make CCT adjustments through custom or preset Kelvin ratings as well as green/magenta shifts for advanced color-mixing lights like the Nova P300c.
SOURCETYPE:
This sub-menu adds additional pre-measured CCT presets based on common filmmaking light sources. These include Natural White Metal Halide, Xenon Short-arc Lamp, and Horizon Daylight to name a few.
SOURCEMATCH:
One of the best tools Sidus Link has to offer is Sourcematch: Turning your phone into a CCT meter.
Using an advanced algorithm, the app takes an aggregate reading of your phone’s camera input and turns its metadata into a color temperature reading. The app will then send this reading to adjust your lights automatically to the source you measured.
If you want to make adjustments after taking a reading you can tweak the settings further. This is a great way to save time on set if you’re adapting to a location’s existing light sources.
2. GEL MODE
CTO/CTB:
For those of you who still prefer working with gels, you can adjust your compatible bi-color lights with good old fashioned CTO and CTB color correction gels. Choose from a full range of strengths including 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, or full strength options.
GELS:
For those who forgot their colored gels at home, you can select from over 300+ industry standard color gel options to fit your project’s needs.
Search and browse by gel series, name, number, color, or be inspired by scrolling through the color previews. Just remember to swipe right when you’re found the perfect match.
Only the Aputure Nova P300c has Color Gel mode. 012/10/2020
3. COLOR MODE
HSI:
Eager to make the most of millions of color options? With hue, saturation, and intensity mode you can explore the the color wheel to your heart’s content. Drag your finger around the wheel to experiment or input your adjustments manually for precise control.
RGB:
Fine tune your colors by adjusting individual red, green, and blue channels with sliders or by manually selecting your levels. Check out the live color preview at the top of the window when experimenting.
XY:
For industry standard color matching between fixtures, XY mode allows you to choose colors in the CIE1931 color space based on an XY coordinate value. Choose between 3 color gamuts, A.GAMUT, DC1-P3 or BT.709 depending on your lighting application.
Currently Only the Aputure Nova P300c has XY mode. 012/10/2020
COLOR PICKER:
Similar to Source Match, Color Picker turns your smart device’s camera into a color selection tool to replicate real world color references with your lights. Here’s where you need that favorite shirt I mentioned earlier
Instantly record a color’s hue and saturation value from your camera’s data and transmit it to your light automatically. You always make adjustments or save a color preset for later.
Color Picker mode requires the use of a compatible color-mixing Aputure fixture
4. EFFECTS
Last but not least, we have Effects Mode with as many as 15 staff-picked system effects available so far. This includes Fireworks, Paparazzi, Faulty Bulb, Lightning, TV, Pulsing, Strobe, Explosion, Club Lights, Candle, Fire, Welding, Cop Car, Color Chase, and Party Lights depending on the light fixture. Some of these effects can be adjusted by CCT, HSI, gels, frequency, and other effect-specific parameters.
FEATURES OF SIDUS LINK 1.2
Only IOS mobile and Ipad have features of Sidus Link 1.2 12/10/2020
5. MAGIC PROGRAM:
We will discuss this more in detail separately, but think of Magic Program as a portable DMX-like mapping tool on your smart device.
This means crafting complex pre-planned lighting designs down to a fraction of a second; adding fades, flashes, or loop transitions to a keyframe based timeline up to 10 minutes long.
Imagine a real time fading sunset effect for an emotional narrative scene, or a flashy music video with timed lighting changes to match the beat.
Up to 25 lights can be controlled as individuals or in groups to achieve your creative lighting sequence.
Currently only the MC and B7c can be used with Magic Program 12/10/2020.
6. MANUAL FX:
Do you want to express your inner lighting nerd and play around endlessly with detailed effects parameters until you create the coolest custom effect the world has ever seen?
Well, this is your mode... best you try it for yourself.
FEATURES OF SIDUS LINK 1.3
Currently only IOS mobile has features of Sidus Link 1.3. 12/10/2020
7. PICKER FX:
Why stop at pre-programmed effects when you could capture a real world effect yourself?
With Picker FX, you can use your device’s camera to record your tv, fireplace, or maybe the annoying flickering bulb in the office to recreate its specific color and intensity changes with your Aputure lights. The app captures a recorded scene of up to two minutes, noting changes in intensity, hue, or CCT. It then saves the metadata as a custom effect for you to share with collaborators, or send straight to your light.
Also just released for IOS is Live Picker FX. This simple but powerful feature adapts this concept to real time capture, allowing you to create a live feed from your device’s camera and transmit its data to your light. Imagine a light using a fire effect generated by the actual flames it’s motivating on set in real time. That’s accurate lighting!
8. OPTICAL CALCULATOR:
A useful pre-production tool, Optical Calculator helps solves the output parameters of lighting for different set requirements. This includes five calculation modes of illumination, light flux, light distance, light beam angle, and estimated power consumption to assist with planning for your production’s lighting needs.
9. ILLUMINOMETER:
One of the most important measurement tools in a filmmaker’s kit is now available as a part of Sidus Link. Illuminometer helps you calculate proper exposure of your scene using your device’s camera. Choose between several different priority modes including Fill-light, Key-light, Aperture F-value Mode Switch, and more!
Sidus Link Bridge
Releasing October 2020
Now some of you may know that the LS 300D II was the first Aputure light compatible with Sidus Link. This means any lights released before it sadly do not have the built in hardware required for compatibility with the app. So if you’re using fixtures such as the LS 300D or 120Dii you’re out of luck. That is until later this month…
Aputure is bringing you this needed hardware support in the form of Sidus Link Bridge. With the use of one of these weatherproof transmitters, you can turn your device’s Bluetooth signal into RF commands compatible with any Aputure fixture with 2.4GHz wireless control.
In other words… 90% of all Aputure lights.
For more info on how to set up Sidus Link on your device, check out the official Sidus Link website, or head over to the Sidus Link FB Group the latest questions and discussions.
We will cover more Sidus Link features in detail soon. But for now, go forth and explore!
Download here for
IOS (v1.3.1) FREE / Android (v.1.1.5) FREE / iPad (v.1.2) $9.99 USD
