Feedback from 'Dodgy Technicians' facebook group

[Jon Hole]

This thread is aimed at users who have given feedback via Facebook.

 

This thread gives you an area to provide additional feedback and suggestions on the main areas that were highlighted:

 

intelligent fixtures

 

tagging of attributes (normal or smart mode)

 

effects

 

assigning fixtures

 

patching

 

editing scenes and chases

 

As always, we love to hear feedback from end users, and always take suggestions seriously.

 

Many Thanks

[CallumP93]

I have 2 main issues with the desk, well one with the desk and with the phantom software. Wheras, I think the desks are brilliant, and easy for people to pick up, especially when I introduce new people to the desk. My issues are the following:

• The lack of, on the Jester, the ability to name fixtures, without using the fixture software, which is a absolute pain to manage if for example you need to add 10 led pars or something
  
• My second issue is the size of the buttons on the phantomjester software, as you can only expand the size so far and I cant see the buttons to select letters etc when I am patching the desk virtually.
  

Bar this, I think the desks are brilliant bits of kit after having worked on the, Jesters, Jester ML Desk and the Leapfrog of varying sizes, and actually find patching the desk a whole load easier than a desk such as the pearl.

 

Callum

[bentodman93]

You guys make some great gear , and being 18 the first desk i ever programed was a fat frog, it seemed ok to start with when i was programming generic lanterns, however when it came to programming any intelligent effects it was like having to fool the desk into getting the lights do what you wanted them to do, for instance the wheels were very sensitive and ment programming took a long time.

 

When i left school i started working on a touring show that used a bull frog which being the older brother of the fat frog i had no problems getting used to it. about a year into the job i persuaded the management to sell the bullfrog and buy a leap frog from a large well known uk company who supply quite a few zero 88 desks to schools. It seemed better but i still had problems programming intelligent fixtures quickly and accurately. About 2 weeks after we brought the desk it's motherboard blew up about 5 mins into the show and left me with no screens on the desk or externally , i had to guess my way through the show twice whilst my boss was franticly trying to get hold of the company we got it from. They supplied us with another desk a day later.

 

A year ago i switched to a computer based system called Showcad and im still trying to sell the leapfrog.

 

To sum it up for me these desks are great to learn on but they need a few tweaks for me to be able to use it effectively in my enviroment.

 

Most importantly the wheels on every desk i have used seem to be very sensitive and I've had to replace them a few times.

 

The next thing is the effects generator on frog os , i would love you guys to have a gander at showcad because for me they have got it spot on. I can draw my shape onscreen and the heads follow it , i can spread the fixtures around the shape with no effort at all.

 

but other than that like i say these are good desks and great for a first time user .

 

 

( PS - Frogger has gotten me thru some very dull rehearsals !)

[Jon Hole]

Hi Guys,

 

Sorry it's taken me a while to reply to these - thanks for your feedback.

 

The lack of, on the Jester, the ability to name fixtures, without using the fixture software, which is a absolute pain to manage if for example you need to add 10 led pars or something

Thanks for this Callum - I've logged it as Issue ZJE-4185 on our bug tracking software for the Jester Series.

 

 

 

My second issue is the size of the buttons on the phantomjester software, as you can only expand the size so far and I cant see the buttons to select letters etc when I am patching the desk virtually.

 

Have you got the latest version of Phantom Jester? Maybe you could send me a screenshot as I don't have the same problem.

 

Most importantly the wheels on every desk i have used seem to be very sensitive and I've had to replace them a few times.

It's possible to decrease the sensitivity of the wheels on all our ZerOS consoles. It's also important to remember that the wheels take the speed you move the wheels, opposed to the amount you move the wheels. This can take some getting used to, but it makes controlling moving lights, specifically the Pan and Tilt, really quick as you only have to move the wheel a small amount. I've seen a lot of users spinning the wheels, which results in them 'loosing control' of the mover as the wheel is spinning so fast.

 

 

 

The next thing is the effects generator on frog os , i would love you guys to have a gander at showcad because for me they have got it spot on. I can draw my shape onscreen and the heads follow it , i can spread the fixtures around the shape with no effort at all.

Please remember how old Frog OS is, it's not one of our current products. Our ZerOS consoles, including the Leap Frog 48 & 96, Solution Series and ORB Series all have advanced effects engines, allowing you to apply wave based effects to any parameter of the fixture, and adjust the size, speed, offset and rotation of these. We also have 1000 effects palettes, with the console automatically creating you 20 or 30 of the most used effects for you.