Kinesys
Motion control for touring and arena rigging. Position exists inside the system; getting it out is a version, licence and vendor question.
What it is
Kinesys is a motion control platform used widely for rigging automation on tours, in arenas and on large one-off events: hoists and winches moving trusses, scenic pieces and flown performer elements under computer control, generally with position feedback per axis and a safety layer held separate from the motion control itself. Rigs are commonly built and operated by an automation vendor or a specialist operator travelling with the production rather than by the venue. Software generations, hardware and site configuration vary considerably between packages, so a system that behaved one way on one tour is not evidence about the next. Anything you read about output capability should be checked against the exact system on your show, and against what the automation supplier is contractually willing to enable.
How we work with it
Start with the automation department, not the datasheet. Establish what the controller can emit in the version actually installed, whether that needs a licence or an option the production has not bought, and who signs off on enabling it. Then agree a coordinate frame in writing -- origin, axis convention, units -- because a hoist reporting drum position in its own reference is not yet telling anyone where a truss is in the room. From there the work is conversion and transport: map axis values to stage coordinates, publish onto a control network segment in a form the lighting and media departments already consume, and define consumer behaviour on data loss. Test with the rig moving at show speeds, not parked.
Rigs travel with an automation vendor, so access is a commercial conversation before it is a technical one
Capability varies by software version and by what the production has licenced; confirm against the installed system
Hoist axis position is not truss position until the rigging geometry is worked through and agreed in writing
Keep the path read-only: the safety layer stays untouched and no consumer ever writes into motion control
Right when
- The thing you need to light is scenery or a flown element already moving on encoded, cued axes
- The automation supplier is contracted for the run and will support the output on the road, not just at rehearsals
- Moves follow known paths, so a small number of axes describes the whole position problem
Look elsewhere when
- You need people rather than scenery; performers moving freely on deck are not derivable from rigging axes
- The tour changes automation packages between legs and the integration would have to be rebuilt each time
Does Kinesys output position data over the network?
Kinesys systems track axis position internally as a matter of course. Whether that is available to a third party, in what form, and on which software version is not something to state generically: it varies by generation, by configuration, and by what the automation supplier will enable for a given production. Ask the vendor and the show's automation department directly, naming the exact system, and get the answer before it appears on a drawing.
How much lead time does this add?
Plan for pre-production rather than production week. The technical work is usually modest once data is flowing; the schedule risk sits in the approvals -- vendor sign-off, licence questions, and finding rig time to test with axes actually moving. Access to a loaded rig is scarce during a load-in, and a coordinate-frame disagreement discovered in previews is expensive and public to unwind.