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DickM

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  1. Thanks for your advice Jon. It's not going to be quite a flexible as I'd hoped, as I'll have to program a new chase for each different colour change (eg. red to blue, blue to green, green back to blue, etc) but it sounds like it should be possible for one or two cases, and I'll just have to manage the director's expectations (again)! Many thanks, DickM.
  2. Hi Jon, thanks for the quick response. I had thought about trying to do it this way, but came to the same conclusion - editing all point cues for 48 dimmer channels over 10 steps would be bad enough, without even thinking about the LED Pars and Macs. Especially if we want to try to do this more than once in the show However, I could see how this would work if the colour 'sweep' could happen either before or after everthing else had changed state, so this technique could prove a useful backup. Could there be a way of combining a one-shot chase of 12 steps that is triggered at the same time as the GO button? Would the colour fade between the start- and end-state on the cue stack take precidence over the colour values in the chase? Alternatively, would it help if we dissassociated the ChromaStrips from what's going on the cue stack; perhaps running them manually from sub-masters or chases or some othe magic function of the fixtures controls?
  3. I'd like some advice on programming a Jester ML48, which I have some experience of, but only for one week per year, and this time I need to do something a little different. The Jester will be running 48 channels of conventional dimmers, some Colorado LED Pars, and a couple of Martin Mac250s. The show is a musical and will be programmed using a standard cue stack for easy playback, which will handle all the LED colour changes and Mac movements. So far, no problem, as we've done all this before. However, we will also be adding 12 Pulsar ChromaStrips on a ChromaZone controller, which we have never used before. I can see that we can set each ChromaStrip as a separate fixture on the desk, and can therefore change all or some of their colours, from one cue to the next, but is there a way of programming a colour fade that 'sweeps' across the fixtures from one cue to the next? In other words, if all the ChromaStrips all blue in cue 27 and we want them to be red in cue 28, is there an easy way of programming a fade so that, on GO cue 28, Strip no 1 changes to red first, then strip 2, then strip 3, etc, until steady state is reached for cue 28 when they are all red? This should of course happen at the same time and over the same duration that all the other lanterns are changing their states for cue 28 too. Any ideas would be gratefully received. Many thanks, DickM
  4. That's a shame... I found that was a really useful fault-finding function on the Frog, especially when you'd done a lot of patching. But thanks for taking the time to reply anyway. Cheers, DickM
  5. We're about to use a Jester ML for the first time (our hire company doesn't have the usual Fat Frog available). I've gone through the manual and had a play with the PhantomJester in preparation, and while most of the control surface is pretty familiar there was one thing I couldn't find... the ability to switch between display modes on the monitor to switch between Desk Channels and DMX Channels; ie. the OUTPUT button on the Frog. I would like to be able to do this in ordert to check that the DMX patching is doing what I think it should be doing. So, is there an equivalent to the Frog's OUTPUT button to view DMX output levels on the Jester ML ? Thanks, DickM
  6. DickM

    Load Show

    Thanks for the confirmation K-Nine. Just goes to prove what a great place this is to post your questions/problems... not only do you invariably get useful suggestions from fellow members, it may even result in an improvement to the product too DickM
  7. DickM

    Load Show

    Not on the version I was using there wasn't, but then things may have changed since then. But thanks for the tip - next time I need to use it, I'll download the latest version with this handy new feature. DickM
  8. DickM

    Load Show

    I will take a look, but I guess trying to edit a show with v9.2 that was created on a hired desk that's supplied with v7 is not a good idea! When the hire co update their software, I'll update my copy of the Phantom!
  9. DickM

    Load Show

    True, I could install one, but in the two years I've had this PC this is the first time I've ever needed one. I normally move any data around either using my home LAN or a 64Mb USB memory drive - a floppy is soooo 20th Century :wink: It won't be long before th Frog's are shipped with USB ports I'm sure :idea: Cheers, Dick
  10. DickM

    Load Show

    It's OK... I found a way to do it using standard Windows-XP - using the Computer Management tool (in the Administrative Tools on the Control Panel) I renamed my removable USB memory drive to be drive-A. Then copied the show file from the hard-drive onto that. Because this is now the A-drive, the Phantom Frog then thinks it's a floppy and quite happily loads the show! It might be an idea to still consider a 'load from anywhere' function for a future release of the Phantom Frog though, as some people will not have another drive they can rename, and even if they have, they might not be happy to mess around with their computer configuration like this. Cheers, Dick.
  11. DickM

    Load Show

    May seem like a silly question, but is there any way of getting the Phantom Frog to load a show from anywhere other than a floppy drive? My PC doesn't have a floppy, but I've got my show file that I emailed to myself from another machine that does, so the file is now on my hard-drive. But I can't load it up because the Phantom seems to only search for a floppy... and fails to find one If it can't currently be done, can I ask for it to be considered for the next release please :?: Cheers, Dick.
  12. Wow, thanks for the quick responses everybody… what a superb support group this is! I think I understand now the answers to Q1. The reason I used full mode is so that we can skip forwards (and maybe even backwards) if they jump around in the script (you know amateurs in pantomime!). If I programmed in partial mode, wouldn’t I have a problem if I skipped over a memory that moved the fixtures to a new position – wouldn’t they come pointing at the wrong place? But maybe I misunderstanding the point of Partial mode! Thanks for your suggestions for Q2. I will check when I go back to the desk tonight, but it’s quite possible that I may have been using the fixtures for a general wash in the scene that was being output on Playback X when I brought up the sub with the chase on it. I understand that this would cause the brightness to remain high when I took out the sub – if this is the case, it’s a pity the position and colour doesn’t revert back values from the Playback X scene too. I guess this raises another question then… is there an easy way to edit the scene memory to change the fixture brightness to 0 so they do turn off when I lower the sub? Thanks again, Dick
  13. I spent yesterday programming a Fat Frog for an am-dram Panto for the first time. Most of what I wanted to do came pretty easily but there were a couple of anomalies combining sub-masters, chases, and moving fixtures that I couldn't figure out. Perhaps someone could clear up my confusion? A bit of background info - 36 channels of generic dimmers, plus two MAC 300 wash lights. Entire show programmed in sequential 'scene' memories for simple GO-button playback. Also programmed in Full mode to ensure we could skip a scene if they forget a couple of pages of the script! Q1. I created a simple 3-step auto chase just altering the levels of some generics. I wanted to use this over the top of the current scene being output, so transferred the memory to a sub-master. However, on playback when I add the sub-master the moving fixtures always go back to 'home'. How do I stop the fixtures being saved as part of a 'generics only' chase so they remain where they were put by the main scene memory? Q2. I created another simple chase, this time with just the MACs in two different positions, so on playback they basically move from one place to another and back again. Assigned that chase memory to another sub-master so that again I can bring it in at the appropriate time. When I fade up the sub-master the MACs dutifully open their dimmers, change colour and start moving. But when I fade it out, they stop moving but the brightness is left at 100%. What isn't the brightness lowered by the level of the sub-master that raised it? I'm sure there's a simple explanation for all this, but for a 'once-or-twice a year' user with a very limited amount of programming time, I couldn't work it out. Any advice gratefully received, Dick.
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