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LeeStoddart

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Everything posted by LeeStoddart

  1. I friend produced a prison look which was quite remarkable. a pair of source fours next to each other with the "thin bars" gobo. Focused onto a desk and the floor around it. Lots of Haze to bring out the beams. The source fours were off to one side from the desk ~ 45degree angle I suppose. As the scene started these two lights were the only illumination then as the actor walked into the set and sat at the desk a small amount of other light was slowly added (if I remember it was a blue to "dust" the stage and some cold front light for visibility). Looked stunning.
  2. If I understand the specification you want the result of removing something from a pallette to leave all memories / submasters / SXs in the same state as they would have been had you not made the removal. However, consider the situation where some thing is removed and later re-instated - the link to the palette has been destroyed so any subsequent edits to the pallete won't have effect. Perhaps as an example... we have four fixtures, Colour Palette 1 sets all four fixtures to green, Colour Palette 2 sets all four to blue and Colour Palette 2 sets all four to yellow. If memory 1 sets all four fixtures to open white memory 2 sets all four to colour palette 1 (green) memory 3 sets all four to colour palette 2 (blue) If Colour Palette 1 is edited such that the colour is CYAN rather than Green and (by mistake) fixture 4 is untagged the current specification would change memory 2 such that three fixtures referenced colour pallete 1 (cyan) and the fourth fixture had the dmx value for green. Editing the pallete to include fixture 4 will obviously not correct the problem in memory 2 as the reference has been removed. My preference would be that the reference to the pallete be retained but that on execution no output happens (for fixture 4 in this example) That would remove the requirement to look for palette references on changes. Perhaps there could be an option on editing the palette - retain previous effect of removed parameters. Of course it could be possible that there is a bug in the code which is doing this search for references even when the changes made are NEITHER untag NOR clear. :wink:
  3. I hate to quote the manual back to its author :wink: but...Page 4-10 And in seperate communication you have said GROUP 9 COLOUR ENTER should produce the same effect as GROUP 9 COLOUR (hold) Is there a difference between the action when the BRIGHTNESS button is held down and when the COLOUR button is held down? BRIGHTNESS takes account of the state of the majority of the channels but does COLOUR just toggle each individual fixture or parameter? It might well be that before I tried to clear this COLOUR setting from the cue I did not have Colour tagged in EVERY fixture in one of the groups - So I might have been seeing the toggle effect.
  4. In circumstances which I cannot tie down exactly I have found that when our Illusion 500 is powered up it sometimes has changed values for the beats per minute for chases transferred to submasters. I have two chases which are memories 1 and 2 the beats per minute on these memories are approximately (but not exactly) 300 and 250. The two memories have been transferred to submasters 1.7 and 1.12 and in the submaster page the bpm have been set to exactly 300 and 250. I have found that sometimes when the board is powered up (after being off overnight) the bpm in the submaster has changed to a strange value. Trying to remember, I think the value was something like 98.6. The default for the board is set to 60. Recovery mode is ON. Rather like the problem I describe in an earlier posting this problem does not arise every time the board is powered off but it has happened at least twice during the last week.
  5. Sometimes I want to remove all the colour changes which are in a cue (ie make the colour track through from the previous cue) I have found it difficult to remove the C from the Data column on the memories display. In the show I've just programmed I have two groups of scrollers (groups 9 and 12) and a group of MAC500s (group 14) - everything else is conventionals so have no Colour attribute. On the Colour tab of the PW, I expect to be able to ... select GROUP 9 then press and hold COLOUR - the colour parameter should then be UNTAGGED select GROUP 12 then press and hold COLOUR - the colour parameter should then be UNTAGGED select GROUP 14 then press and hold COLOUR - all the colour parameters should be UNTAGGED then SAVE but when I come back to the memory screen the C is still present under the data field. Sometimes I have resorted to selecting the First Fixture and then using F2 to select each NEXT fixture to confirm that none of them have any colour parameter tagged - and still the C refuses to die :?
  6. After I EDIT LIVE a memory, when the SAVE is done and the PW closes, if I use mouse click to select another cue sometimes the newly selected cue runs. I've just finished programming a show where there are many queues which have multiple follow on AUTO cues - for example 61 will be automatically followed be 61.2 then 61.4 then 61.6 etc. This might be significant - I THINK it mostly happens when I select the last section of the multi memory cues. It might also be the case that I click to select another cue quickly after the PW closes - it might be within the normal "running" time of the cue I just edited. I was always using the mouse to select the cue I want next and I don't generally click on the memory number itself - just click anywhere on the line in the memories display - usually in the information field - because that's what I'm using to identify which cue I need to go to. The "spurious" GO doesn't happen every time but is there any reason why the newly selected cue might run in this way.
  7. Strange thing today on Illusion 500 with version 1.7 software. I wanted to setup a submaster which had the BRIGHTNESS channel for my 4 MAC500 fixtures. I selected the four fixtures (Group 14) set the brightness to 100% then did Save As a submaster (2.1) Reset the brighness to 0 in the Program Window. When I raise the submaster fader to 100% the four fixtures come on but when I lower the fader to 0% the output remains at Full???? Are they behaving like the Brightness is an LTP parameter?
  8. I was trying some movement effects this evening and found the pre-programming I had done before attaching the fixtures turned out to be VERY jerky. I had the movement speed set to -100 (I think that's from the wheel turned all the way down) By bringing the absolute value of the speed parameter down significantly the shape became MUCH smoother and more defined. I ended up saving the pallettes I worked on this eveing with speeds between 10 and 30
  9. This is the web site I originally downloaded from. click here For the MAC600 I find them to be very close - certainly close enogh for my needs. Given the similarity of the comment at the bottom of the page there most likely was a common root for this information.
  10. OK - I understand how to use the built in <SCROLLERS> with the number of frames. I was hoping to be able to use the "complex" fixture where the channel numbers for the lamp and scroll are not adjacent. If there is a bug with the patching of the complex fixtures I'll have to use the work around. :roll: And I now understand why renaming the manufacturer made the fixture definition visible. Thanks for the quick response.
  11. Illusion 500, updated to version 1.7 this evening. Fixture library 12 and 13 downloaded today. Starting a new show which has scrollers (and Mac 500s) and conventionals. I want to use the fixture type where we have a lamp and a scroller defined as a fixture (with the brightness being one DMX address and the Colour an independent dmx address) Fixture library 12 contains some <SCROLLERS> fixtures including a Lamp+1Ch Scroller - excellent! But when I load fixture definition from disk <SCROLLERS> does not come up as a manufacturer. Fixture Librabry 13 has the same <SCROLLERS> (plus lots of other fixtures too) - I don't know why I didn't notice it on my first visit today :? So I try loading from disk with Fixture library 13 - again <SCROLLERS> does not show as a manufacturer (<RELAY> does so it's not the special <> characters) In UFTE tool I import the definition from Library 13 and rename the manufacturer to LEESCROLL, save the .ift and try to load it into the desk - this is successfull I create 14 fixtures using this definition - I note that as I define each the display expands to show two lines of information (1 for the lamp and one for the scroll) I assign DMX addresses - Fixture 1 has the Lamp on 27 and the scroll on 321 - as I enter 27 in the lamp's DMX address the same number appears against the scroll. :?: I overtype the scroll's dmx address with 321. As I select something else the display reverts to showing 27 on both lines - but when I select the scrolls dmx address field again it does show 321. Quick test setting levels for brightness and colour on fixture 1 and then look at the DMX output screen - appropriate (and different) values show against DMX 27 and 321 - so that looks OK . I assign dmx addresses to the other 13 fixtures and start setting up pallettes. Save the show and continue this activity. Call me suspicious but before I invest too much time in this I decide to power off and back on again. Curiously the DMX assignment is now incomplete (some but not all) of the scroll dmx addresses are not preserved - four or five are still assigned - but they are all assigned to fixture 4??? So I reload the show from disk. Now I have none of the dmx addresses for the scroll parts of these 14 fixtures - the lamp addresses are all present and correct so it's not that the save was before I assigned the DMX addresses. So - is it possible to have a lamp and scroller type of fixture on the Illusion 500? - If so what have I done wrong?
  12. Well the way I did it was to use then submaster with the chasing lights in it. That worked out to be fairly simple.
  13. To get the "right" sort of flicker on the train specials we were using one of the attacks with a vertical edge - to be honest I can't remeber which I think it was slow up then vertical down /| Well that's almost exactly what we did - only thing you got wrong was the memory number - we used 90 But this presents the board op with something different from just pressing the go button - not impossible but a potential for error. Is this flicker for lanterns where their level is not changing between steps by design? (I expected the changes to be dipless :!: )
  14. Only problem with this (as I found last night) is that if there is a gap in the programmed Memory numbers then two minus keys don't take you back far enough. I know you can enter the number on the keyboard and you can see on the monitor which memories are actually programmed but in the heat of the moment the instinctive response or "minus minus go" failed me :cry:
  15. I have the situation where I need to create the effect of a train going past during a scene. Fairly simply I have a couple of lights which I need to flicker to produce the effect. I need for all the other lights in the previous state to stay as they were. So lets say I have Q10 - the beginning of the scene, Q11 the train is passing, Q12 the train has passed, Q13 next scene. Q12 is a copy of Q10 but what are the contents of Q11? It seems that the state which is Q10 needs to be in every step of Q11, with each step of the chase having different levels for the two train effect lanterns. But when I use an Attack with either the slow fade in or slow fade out I don't get a steady state for all of the "Q10" lanterns - all the lanterns in the steps flicker even those where their level does not change from one step to the next. So... is it possible to program the chase in such a way that the lanterns from Q10 remain steady throughout Q12?
  16. There is a save of the show on its way to you. I think the problem occurs after doing an EDIT LIVE on a Q. Channels which are TAGGED in the edited Q do not display correctly when Going a different Q after exiting from the EDIT LIVE. In the example I have sent you I did EDIT LIVE of Q 280 then after exiting from that Q, I selected Q 277 and pressed GO. Channels 66 and 67 stayed at their intensity as in Q280 whereas they SHOULD have tracked in to 277 @ 0. (In Q280 channels 66 and 67 are tagged and change to an intensity of 80 or 100%) Interestingly after seeing Q277 with these two channels still at their bright intensity an EDIT LIVE of Q277 shows them at 0%
  17. Ahhh - now that you mention it, I have seen that option in the delete but didn't understand what it meant - I suppose you could have said RTFM :oops:
  18. I'm finding that sometimes if I run Qs out of their normal sequence (as I need to do during the plotting or technical session) I don't always get the correct look if settings should have tracked in from previous Qs. Specifically I can see this on Colour parameters. My current show is using scrollers and I found during the plotting session yesterady that I was not getting consistent results when going back into a scene to review. I don't have the specifics bacause I was too pressed for time in the session to make detailed notes but the sort of thing I would see might be something like Q 120 would set colour to Frame 12 Q 121 through 130 do nothing to the scroller Q 131 through 139 set colour to different frames (say Frame 1, then 2 then 3....then 9) Say we have progressed through the Qs normally and are at Q135, If I need to go back to say Q128 the scroller would not reset to Frame 12. I would not get the same look as I had when progressing through normally. I'm sure the sequence of Qs that I was going through was more complex than this but it gives the basic idea of what happens. - Running a Q out of sequence does not always track in Colour parameters.
  19. With the desk in the normal mode of PARTIAL, changes in one Q track through to subsequent Qs. Say I have Q1 Channel 10 Thru 30 @ 50 Q2 Channel 15 Thru 25 @ 75 Q3 Channel 21 Thru 30 @ 90 by the time we have executed Q3 we have 10 - 14 @ 50, 15-20 @ 75, 21-30 @ 90 If the designer decides that the looks for Q1 and 3 are great but the change at Q2 is not required I have a problem. If I delete Q2 there is an impact on the look at Q3 I would be left with just 10-20 @ 50, 21-30 @ 90 What course of actions would allow me to preserve the look of Q3 (and subsequent Qs) when I need to delete Q2 :?: Of course changes to 0 in Q2 complicate the question and there could be changes in Colour, Beamshape and Position attributes to consider. And a subsequent change to Q1, say setting channel 12 at 80, would be expected to track into Q3 :!: I suppose what I'm thinking is that the changes in Q2 and Q3 be merged with those in to Q3 having priority. The desired result of the deletion would be Q1 Channel 10 Thru 30 @ 50 Q3 Channel 15 Thru 20 @ 75, 21 Thru 30 @ 90
  20. A very minor presentation problem On the file utilities window there are column headings for desk type and version but there is no data shown. On the loading and saving window these columns are populated.
  21. This is neither a bug nor a new feature - it's more a dawning of understanding and MAY cast light on usability. 8) Last night I think I worked out why I sometimes get stuck with something in the command line preventing some action from happening. The dawning is that it now seems to me that the command line sequence is based on selecting an object or list of objects first, optionally selecting the Attribute section, then doing something with the objects. But my intuitive way of working is first to go to the right screen, then select the objects and then do something. An example of the sort of problem I get to would be... I'm in EDIT LIVE, do some changing of channel levels - then want to check which Pallete is tracking through for a group of fixtures PALLETE GROUP 16 (there are no enter or OK buttons pressed) brings up the Pallete section, selects the fixtures in group 16 and highlights their selected Palletes. Now if that's the correct set of Palletes I don't need to do anything else so I press SAVE but SAVE doesn't do anything at this point. I think the syntax is that after the GROUP 16 it is expected that either @ or AND or EXCEPT would occur OR that a new section would be selected by pressing BRIGHTNESS or COLOUR for example. Perhaps I should also realise that this idea of select an object first is inherent in the way the PW opens - but I don't think like that - I open the PW by doing EDIT LIVE or EDIT BLIND - my way of thinking is get to the screen, select the objects, do something to them. Perhaps this boils down to a request - after selecting the objects be more creative on what I might press next
  22. The primary fixture is not correctly identified after using GROUP to select a set of fixtures. For example on the Palletes section FIXTURE 1 AND 2 AND 3 selects the three fixtures and gives a highlight around Fixture 1 - click one of the palletes and it applies to those three fixtures GROUP 17 deselects Fixtures 1, 2 and 3 and selects the fixtures in group 17 ( 51 to 80 in my current show) but the Primary highlight stays at Fixture 1
  23. Ahhh It's that key word selected isn't it! As I was writing the question I realised that on the LTP Attribute sections the change only affects the selected fixtures - so only affecting selected channels and fixtures on the Brightness section is obvious really.
  24. During last night's editing session the strange fader didn't make an appearance :? The board had been off for a number of hours during the day but I did do a number of power off and on re-cycles during Sunday to see if it would clear and it had not. As we say - strange one :!:
  25. The Palletes can only be numbered from 1 to 200. I think the max number of 200 is probably adequate but it would be better if they could be numbered from 1 to 999. I like to number things in sections so that they are more easily remembered and being able to use a wider spread of numbers would be better. The same thing applies on Groups - but here the limit of 20 is far too restrictive. This number needs to be increased significantly. 8)
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