RGB Lights 101 - Exploring the Basics of Multicolored Lighting

 

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Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are the long-lasting, energy-saving bulbs that are trending towards the mainstream. With a few simple tricks and new control options, you can create some impressive lighting effects.

An RGB LED strip consists of numerous RGB LEDs that are closely positioned enabling the mixing of red, green and blue to produce secondary colors. Most come with a 12V 4-pin connector that plugs into an RGB LED controller.

Red

Lighting is one of the most important elements to the art of cinematography. Whether you are a beginner or a professional, knowing the different types of lights available as well as how to control them is crucial. In this series, we will cover the basics of the most common lighting techniques used in film. We will start with two of the most popular light sources, tungsten and LED.

An RGB LED is three different LED emitters in a single package with each of the shorter pins controlling an individual color (red, green, blue) and the longer pin being a ground. These LEDs require a DMX interface that converts AC voltage from the power supply to DC voltage for the LEDs and a controller that sends a DMX signal to the interface, adjusting the DC voltage to change the color of the LEDs.

The DMX interface is the red component in the diagram above and is wired inline between the power supply and RGB modules or strip. It receives a DMX signal from a controller which can be in the form of a wall mounted controller, remote control or even a smart phone.

A DMX signal is a data signal that contains information about the color of the light. Typically, the color information is encoded by a number that identifies how much red, green and blue to use to recreate a specific color. There are a few different ways to create these codes, but the most popular is by using an RGB coder.

The RGB LED’s close proximity enables them to mix the red, green and blue colors together to produce secondary colors such as yellow, magenta and purple. However, not all RGB LED’s are created equal. Some are “dumb” RGB LED’s and behave like standard single color LED’s while others have a more complex circuitry.

Green

Using the correct lighting can make or break a scene in cinema. Understanding different types of lights, what they achieve and how to use them is essential for good cinematography. This series of articles will begin with a look at two of the most commonly used lights in the film industry, the tungsten light and the RGB LED. Visit here :https://store.yeelight.com/collections/all-lights

The first item on our list of needed supplies for RGB lighting is the power supply. The power supply’s job is to take the AC voltage from the junction box and convert it into DC voltage for the LEDs and controller. Usually this is either 12 or 24 VDC.

Next, you’ll need a DMX interface. This is wired inline between the power supply and the LED strip or modules. It can be thought of as a complex switch or valve, receiving a signal from the controller and adjusting the DC voltage sent to the LEDs accordingly.

Once you’ve got your DMX interface, you’ll need some sort of controller to send the signals that control your lighting. This can be in the form of a wall mount controller, remote, or even a smart phone. The controller will be connected to the DMX interface via a CAT5 cable and will send a code that tells it how to control the LEDs.

In this example, we’ll be using an Arduino board to create a circuit that will change the color of an RGB LED from red to green and then back to red again. You can try out this circuit yourself and see how it works by following the link to the online Tinkercad simulator. If you want to get really fancy, you can also add in a fading effect and have the LED change color from red to purple or blue and then back to red again.

Blue

In the world of stage lighting, full color lights are nothing new. LED lighting in particular is becoming increasingly popular for its ability to produce more vibrant colors than its tungsten counterparts. However, for those new to the industry or just getting started with the basics, it can be confusing trying to figure out how these lights work. This video series is here to help!

We’ll start by exploring the basics of RGB lights and how they differ from CMY lights. From there we’ll move on to learn about how these lights are controlled and some of the more impressive effects that can be achieved with them.

RGB LEDs consist of three different LED emitters in one case that can be controlled independently. The shorter pins on the RGB LED control each of the three colors, while the longer pin controls a common ground pin. This allows you to create custom colors using the additive lighting theory by mixing red, green and blue together.

Each individual colored LED can only emit 256 shades of light (though in practice it takes a premium DMX controller to truly reach that limit). The DMX interface in a rgb fixture acts as a complex switch or valve that adjusts the DC voltage sent to each of the individual LED emitters to create the desired effect.

To get the most out of your RGB lights, we recommend using a traditional encoder wheel or faders on your console to mix the colors. Stay away from color pickers and HSL – hue, saturation and lightness - mixing for now as these can be misleading and lead to some pretty disappointing results!

Additive Mixture

As the name suggests, additive mixture lighting starts with red, green and blue emitters that combine to create white light. It's the most common type of lighting available today, especially with LED products. Each emitter produces a range of wavelengths, and the overall intensity of each color can be adjusted. This is what gives you the ability to create a wide array of colors.

Compared to subtractive color mixing, the process of mixing lights to make other colors is simpler. For example, if you shine a beam of red and a beam of green at the same time, they will contain all of the wavelengths found in either the red or the green. This is the same way that paint pigments mix together.

The human visual system does the same thing with light. If you put a yellow light beam in front of a white light beam and then a red one, the mixture will still have all of the wavelengths found in the yellow and red light beams.

Because the eye adds together all the wavelengths that enter it, it can perceive these additive mixtures as "white" light. This is what we see when we look at overlapping coloured spotlights, and it's the same way that a computer screen displays colour.

The problem with simple additive mixtures, however, is that they cannot make all of the visible light spectrum colours. To do that, you would need to have an extremely high luminosity of the red, green and blue components. LED lights can do this, but it requires a very expensive and power-hungry power supply. This is why many people turn to a DMX controller instead of an RGB fixture when they need to display more than just the primary colours.

White Light

The term white light can refer to several different things in the lighting industry. It can be used to describe a bulb that produces a full spectrum of visible light or it can be used to refer to an entire lighting system that is designed to provide white light. Generally, white light is used to describe a system that produces a bright, clear light that is suitable for general illumination in an indoor or outdoor space.

White light can also be used to describe the color that is emitted when a bulb or LED fixture is heated. This process changes the physical state of the electrons within the semiconductor, which can be observed as a gradual shift in the hue of the light that is produced. It is important to understand the different types of white light that are available in order to be able to determine which type of lighting may best fit your project or space.

In the case of RGB lights, there are a few other components that are required to create a functioning LED strip. First, you will need a power supply that is capable of taking AC voltage and converting it to the necessary DC voltage for the LEDs and control modules. This can be a simple power supply or it can be a more sophisticated unit that is capable of allowing users to upload scenes and effects from a computer (many companies offer these units).

Finally, you will need some sort of controller that will send a signal to the DMX interface that tells the LEDs what to do. This can be a simple wall mounted controller or it can be a more sophisticated device that is capable of being controlled from a computer, smart phone, or tablet.