It seems that no matter what we do, how successful our endeavor becomes depends on the lighting. Anyone who has had any experience with photography, videography, or staging and lighting knows this more readily than the rest of us, but deep down inside we all know it. Lighting makes the mood.

We have a special lighting to help us be "romantic." When watching a movie, we prefer another lighting arrangement. Entertaining guests requires more light, and sitting at home relaxing over a good book requires yet another form of light.

So in this How2, we’re going to show you how to set your lights using ActiveHome, and then adjust them using your Ultimate Remote. So once you’ve set up your macros, all you need is your remote and you’re set. With the touch of a button you can go from "house lights," to "romance" within a few seconds.

Here’s how we’re going to do it.

For this particular How2, you’re going to need your Lamp Modules (as many as you want to use) a transceiver, the ActiveHome Software, and the Ultimate Remote.

Most of you are familiar with using the remote to turn on and off lamps, but this may seem a little different to you. Well it is. What’s going to happen here is that your remote is going to send a signal via your transceiver into ActiveHome. ActiveHome is then going to read that signal, and recognize that if you hit A1 for example, that it needs to turn all the lights on. But if you hit A2, it needs to turn all the lights off except the lamp that you specified as "Romantic Lighting," and that it will need to dim that light down to fifty percent. That’s what’s going to make this so much fun. So here’s how we’re going to do it.

First, take your lamps and set them up. You may prefer to have your "romantic lighting" in the dining room, your "movie lighting" in the den/entertainment room, and your "house lights" in the living room. Or you may prefer to have all the lights in the same room. That choice is completely up to you.

Also be sure and set the lights appropriately - A1, A2, A3, depending on how you intend to use them.

Now let’s set up those macros. We’ve covered setting up macros in other How2s, so if you find you need any further assistance, you can refer back to one of the other articles. So, let’s get started.

We’re going to set up three macros. Macro number one is going to be called "House Lights." Macro number two is going to be called "Movie Lights," and macro number three is going to be called "Romance Lighting." (You can name these whatever you choose, but if you’re following along it might help to use these names for now, and change them later once they’re programmed.

Once there, click on the "M" (macro) button on the far right side of the interface. This will bring up your options for creating macros. The interface will give you a list of the lights/lamps you’re running through your computer.

Open your ActiveHome software.

Click on the icon that says Lamp 1, and drag it to the left side of your screen. When you do this, a dialog box will ask you "What type of macro do you want to create?" Tell it that you wish to create a "Fast Macro." Do this for each macro that you want to create.

Name the macros "House Lights," "Movie Lighting," and "Romantic Lighting." (You can change these names later, but to avoid confusion, this will help you follow along.)

You may want to set the "Romantic Lighting" at fifty percent, and the "House Lights" at 100 percent, and the "Movie Lighting" at twenty or thirty percent. However you chose to do that is up to you, but make sure that it’s a comfortable choice.

Now go back to the standard ActiveHome interface. There you will see a list of the macros you just created.

Now, as long as you are running ActiveHome, you can use your remote to turn on and off the lights. Its as simple as running "A1 On/Off; A2 On/Off etc."

And there you have it. No matter what kind of a mood you’re in, you now can set the tone of your lighting with just the click of a button. So if you come home from work and take a good look at your partner and realize that the two of you haven’t spent enough time together, dim the lights and enjoy some romance. If you’re in the mood for a good movie, hit the lights, and watch the movie. You can even set up the lights so that they’re dim while you watch the previews (if you’re one of those people that actually sits through the previews), and then when the movie starts, with the push of a button you’re down to dark. It’s up to you.

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