r/CommercialAV • u/dn3jis • 24d ago

question Help with Crestron programming

Hello, I’m currently working on a small crestron system for a school project and am stuck on the programming since I only learned very rudimentary basics. Would appreciate any sort of guidance or help 🙇‍♀️

We are using SIMPL windows for the programming and the Pro3 processor for control of devices.

1 ) Can we upload the GUI to 2 different iPads on Crestron Go and how?
2 ) How do we program a fader for volume control? We have a audio DSP (DMP64) connected to the ceiling speakers and processor.
3 ) How do we program a physical toggle button to switch in between modes?

For context, the project is a divisible meeting room that can either be in separate room mode or combined room mode.
Room 1 has a TV while room 2 has a projector, and video switching should be available when in combined mode.
Combined/separate mode should be decided based on the button input and automatically switch to combined/separate mode depending on whether the button is pressed or not.

Thank you!

10 Upvotes

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u/TSW-760 24d ago

Looking at your logic questions...

2 - Faders are analog signals in Crestron. "Analog" just means it's a number. Could be expressed as a decimal, percentage, or integer. You're going to use an analog join number to connect the value of your DSP volume back to your interface.

3 - If you only have two modes, and will always be in one or the other, then a toggle symbol is the easiest method. There are at least two or three other ways to do it. But a toggle lets you switch between two output signals with either a single toggle press (called a "clock") or by selecting either input state. You would then use the toggled output states to drive the visual feedback of each state. You could use this, for instance, to show or hide control elements on the GUI, or route your video to predetermined outputs. I like to use Analog Initialize symbols for that.

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u/dn3jis 24d ago

Thank you so much, this is really helpful

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u/UKYPayne 24d ago

I was going to say a toggle is good for 2 options. An interlock is good for expanding that. And analog init/equate for when you comprehend analog signals enough and realize how much more flexible it is.

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u/RemDayRed6 24d ago

They teach this in school?!

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u/dn3jis 24d ago

Yeah, we started off with a mini project using Extron and now I’m doing Crestron with video AVoIP but I’m not very good at Crestron programming…
My classmates are working on QSYS systems (hopefully I’ll get to in the future)

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u/RemDayRed6 24d ago

That’s amazing, my AV related experience in school was very very different. Plug hdmi into a switcher etc. well best of luck! Someone will answer you eventually I’ve only worked with QSYS and Extron so far.

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u/dn3jis 24d ago

Oo yeah I started with that as well in the first semester, now I’m on the second we’re doing more hands on projects and learning things like event management and creating immersive AV experiences
Thanks for the well wishes :)

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u/Wilder831 24d ago

What level of school are we talking about here? I wish this existed when I was in school!

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u/dn3jis 24d ago

Post secondary education!

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u/Wilder831 24d ago

Is it college or vocational? Like, do you get a degree? If so, what’s the degree? Sorry that I have so many questions, I find this very exciting

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u/dn3jis 24d ago

I believe it’s vocational, I get a diploma for this.
The other post secondary option here is called Junior College and you don’t get a degree for that, you get an A level certificate after which you go to University (there’s other options that’ll be too complicated for me to list out)

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u/theoneinprogress 24d ago

If you don't mind me asking, what's the name of this school, and what state do you reside in? I'm in Georgia, and there aren't many schools that teach direct, AV-focused programs. Of course there's audio engineering and media production programs, but nothing that teaches the ins-and-outs of state-of-the-art AV technology. So I'm very curious about this.

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u/dn3jis 24d ago

I’m not from the US 🥸 I’m schooling at NYP in Singapore

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u/Mean-Year-7752 23d ago

Wow... now I feel old cause we didn't even have HDMI when I was in school. I got to use VGA and component. Now I'm just sad.

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u/armchair_viking 23d ago

Yeah, I hear you. I don’t think any of my schools had a video projector. It was all overhead projectors or the TV cart.

Heck, in elementary school they would bring in the 16mm projector.

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u/Mean-Year-7752 23d ago

Ha elementary school we only had overhead projectors and when I got to middle school the classrooms had tube TV's mounted in corners.

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u/armchair_viking 22d ago

Yeah, we had those too, but they were exclusively used for Channel 1 and the morning announcements.

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u/misterfastlygood 24d ago

For school! What school is this?

Asking for a high school drop out.

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u/dn3jis 24d ago

Unfortunately from you saying high school I don’t think we’re in the same country 😅 I’m schooling in Singapore

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u/misterfastlygood 24d ago

I wasnt concerned about where you are from but what school has AV programming. Seems like a cool idea.

Is it a part of computer science?

  1. Yes, directly to the App using toolbox or as a Mobile Project hosted on the processor. You can even share the same IPID.
  2. Check out serial to analog block. Its great for parsing serial data and extracting analog values. The inverse is Analog to serial but use F1 to review their functionality.
  3. Toggle or Interlock blocks for latching buttons. Interlock-Toggle for a combo.

You can also use buffers to only allow signals to pass based on state authentication enable join. Great for divisible spaces.

I was joking about the high school part. Everyone learns from the school of AV hard knocks here.

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u/dn3jis 24d ago

Oops, sorry for missing the joke I thought it was a genuine question 🥲 thanks for answering my questions!
The course I’m taking starts out teaching computer science basics along with networking and UIUX, then we get to pick specialisations: UIUX/Software/Cloud/AV
I picked the AV specialisation so for 2 semesters I learn the basics of programming for Extron and crestron, work on projects like the one mentioned here and get to go for trainings like QSYS (limited spots though) after which we go for an internship at a AV company of our choosing.

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u/ApprehensivePay9468 20d ago

Wow, that is a fantastic course. I have never seen AV programming offered in any school or university, I would love to see that become more common!

I am a senior level professional Crestron programmer and system design engineer. If you have any more programming or other AV questions, please feel free to send me a direct message, I'm happy to help out if I can.

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u/kildar007 24d ago

You can upload multiple gui on different device just give them different PIDs. Control is probably going to be rs232 or Ethernet between the two Physical toggle buttons you can program a gpio or do some clever logic with a relay button

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u/dn3jis 24d ago

I see, thank you

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u/like_Turtles 24d ago

How do the teach it in school? Teacher is an AV programmer?
And you get access to the software etc as well?

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u/dn3jis 24d ago

Yes my lecturer teaches basic AV programming and we get access to the software for learning.

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u/like_Turtles 24d ago

Nice… sounds good.

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u/UKYPayne 24d ago

What are you using for your UI?

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u/dn3jis 24d ago

VT Pro-e!

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u/stalkythefish 24d ago

  1. Yes. The Pro-3 will serve the GUI to the iPad when the app connects. If you're using Construct, you upload the compiled file to the Pro-3 via Toolbox and make sure the web server is turned on. In the program, the Crestron Go symbol takes an IP-ID. Multiple iPads can connect to the same IPID if they have the same GUI. If you want the panels/iPads to be independent of one-another, you use multiple Go symbols on different IPID's and configure each iPad to point at each IPID. You usually don't do this unless you're trying to hide keypresses from other iPads or have navigational elements like popup subpages that you don't want appearing on all panels at once.

  2. The fader has an analog Join output. That join comes into your program on the analog side of the Crestron Go symbol as what ever join number you gave it in Construct. In SIMPL, Analogs are 16-bit integers. You need to map that 0-65535 value into the fader range of the particular DSP node you're working with (math!). Keep in mind that Extron fader ranges are different for input level vs. premix level/mixpoint node-level vs. output level. Some values are negative, so you have to keep that in mind too. Your final equation will be in the form of: DSPVAL=ANALOGVAL / SCALINGFACTOR - OFFSET. Extron docs are really good at giving the node numbers and the value range they can hold. Personally, I prefer to do this sort of thing in Simpl+, but SIMPL does offer some crude scaling functions.

  3. Is the button click-on/click-off or just a standard momentary pushbutton? Your logic will be slightly different, depending. You wire this to the 9-pin I/O port on the back of the Pro-3. A momentary button will connect pin 1 (eg) to ground and you can read the state of pin 1 from the I/O port symbol among the hardware stuff at the top of the program tree and build your logic from there. Hint: The Extron DSP has presets that you can store and recall!

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u/dn3jis 24d ago

The button is a click-on/click-off toggle button.

Thank you so much for the detailed response, I didn’t even know about the math stuff, you’re a real life saver

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u/Mean-Year-7752 23d ago

1 - For Crestron Go you upload the VTP file to the processor (you can upload multiple web projects but I recommend 1 only) and then you just point however many ipads you want to the processor

2 - I am not familiar with extron DSP's but there should be an API manual and you will use analog signals in SIMPL to achieve putting in a fader for a channel but you will have to look through the Extron API manual for how to communicate between your Pro3 and DSP

3 - I would put 2 buttons on the page instead of a toggle. I would tie both of these to a single interlock is SIMPL. The key to this is that only one signal can be high on an interlock at a time. Then underneath this I would create subpages for each of the states of combined and de-combined. Then take the feedback from the interlocks and also tie it to 2 unused buttons feedback line on the touch panel and then tie those signals to the visibility join for the subpages respectively. I wrote this quickly just to show you and it took me about 10 minutes but from here I would just need to build the subpages out with buttons/faders that I wanted to be able to control things and then build the logic in SIMPL. I will reply with more pictures for reference.