What would you like to see in ZerOS?

[keredyelesob]

Completely understand that its not fully spec'd.

1 hour ago, Jon Hole said:

 Whether it was a full builder within ZerOS, or a simple builder within ZerOS and a full builder somewhere else, is up for discussion.

I appreciate for non windows users not having the editor on the desk may be problematic, for this I like the idea of both app and desk options.

In honesty I am not to bothered where the fixture builder resides as I am never to far from my windows laptop when working on the FLX. I am more concerned that it will support all the new things you are working on, again I appreciate it won't be future proof but bringing it back up to date would be good.

[Mark-Jazzie]

Hi.

I am very new to the forum pages but have worked with and installed zero 88 lighting systems and control platforms for many years.

I really enjoy using Zeros and the FLX range of consoles and as the name suggests they are very flexible and easy to work with.

One feature  I would like to see on Zeros Is the Universe Map or Universe Preview as described when adding a fixture, after you have added all your fixtures.

Unless I am missing a big trick here or that special key tap I have not found, if I need to change the address of a fixture which does sometime happen either changing of rig set up or just made a mistake, either I have to calculate the address needed myself or add a false fixture just to see the universe space available. 

Yes, I now you have the DMX Output Screen on the "Z" Button, that only show you the output levels that each DMX Channel is at a specific time. Also I know you have the likes of RigSync but this sometimes is not practical or can not be used.

I  know that this feature may not be a priority for some or what the cost and complications to implement this feature would be.

I do think that it this would be a valuable and useful tool to be able to use. Either when selecting an address or the address column in the Fixture Schedule and may be as the system info on the "Z" Button

Your thoughts please

Mark -Jazzie

[Edward Z88]

Hi @Mark-Jazzie

Welcome to the Zero 88 Forum.

5 minutes ago, Mark-Jazzie said:

I really enjoy using Zeros and the FLX range of consoles and as the name suggests they are very flexible and easy to work with.

Really glad to hear it.

6 minutes ago, Mark-Jazzie said:

Unless I am missing a big trick here or that special key tap I have not found, if I need to change the address of a fixture which does sometime happen either changing of rig set up or just made a mistake, either I have to calculate the address needed myself or add a false fixture just to see the universe space available. 

Yes, I now you have the DMX Output Screen on the "Z" Button, that only show you the output levels that each DMX Channel is at a specific time. Also I know you have the likes of RigSync but this sometimes is not practical or can not be used.

I  know that this feature may not be a priority for some or what the cost and complications to implement this feature would be.

I do think that it this would be a valuable and useful tool to be able to use. Either when selecting an address or the address column in the Fixture Schedule and may be as the system info on the "Z" Button

Your thoughts please

A very valid suggestion. This suggestion is actually already logged on our software tracking system. The reference number for this particular enhancement is ZOS-8756. I have raised the priority of this following your request.

The current thoughts are, that when editing a fixture's DMX address in the Fixture Schedule, you will be able to access the Universe preview, in the same way you can when adding a new fixture. Currently to view the Universe Preview, you have to tap Add Fixtures -> Next, to be able to access it.

Similarly, when editing a fixture's channel number, we'd like to add the ability to tap a channel button below a channel fader, to move the fixture to a different fixture number on the console, rather than having to use a number pad.

Thanks you for your feedback.

Edward

[LLuk]

Hi All

first i wanna to say that i like a lot to work on my FLX. I am always excited when new updates with new features arrive...it's little bit like christmas...;)

It's a nice voting-list...but what i really miss on the list (where i would for shure put my first cross) is an active GO button whilst "manual Fader 2-ways" is

active. In every theatrical show i did was several cues i prefer to change by manualy cause for example for timing of a way an actor/actresse do, and several cues automaticly

cause for example very slow changes. Meanwhile for this i get more used for the speed-override, but still it would be much more precise to have the direct option with

manual-fader AND Go-Button.

But Anyway, have a good evening

Luk

[keredyelesob]

7 hours ago, LLuk said:

(where i would for shure put my first cross) is an active GO button whilst "manual Fader 2-ways" is active.

Hi @LLuk have you looked at the settings for the que stack, I think what you want is already in place. under the general, Fader Function options.

 

To get to this screen hold down setup and then press the go button for the cure stack in question.

 

 

[Edward Z88]

Hi @LLuk

7 hours ago, LLuk said:

first i wanna to say that i like a lot to work on my FLX. I am always excited when new updates with new features arrive...it's little bit like christmas...;)

Really glad to hear you like working on FLX.

7 hours ago, LLuk said:

It's a nice voting-list...but what i really miss on the list (where i would for shure put my first cross) is an active GO button whilst "manual Fader 2-ways" is

active. In every theatrical show i did was several cues i prefer to change by manualy cause for example for timing of a way an actor/actresse do, and several cues automaticly

cause for example very slow changes. Meanwhile for this i get more used for the speed-override, but still it would be much more precise to have the direct option with

manual-fader AND Go-Button.

When a playback is set to "Manual Fade", the Go button is disabled. Rather than using the Go button, moving the fader advances you through your cues.

However, the ability to also use the Go button, is something that we would like to implement. This is logged on our software tracking system as reference number ZOS-5803.

For more information on using a Speed Override fader, please see the link below...

https://zero88.com/manuals/zeros/cues-playbacks/special-playback-functions

If you have any questions, please let us know.

Edward

[LLuk]

@keredyelesob

@Edward Z88

denks for your answers...

@Edward Z88 Glad to here that this is something you would like to integrate.

[Ed75]

19 hours ago, LLuk said:

It's a nice voting-list...but what i really miss on the list (where i would for shure put my first cross) is an active GO button whilst "manual Fader 2-ways" is

active.

+ 1 .  Also missing this possibility

[CPlater1]

As part of custom layout/UI, custom lock screens would be nice, but not essential. 

[Edward Z88]

24 minutes ago, CPlater1 said:

As part of custom layout/UI, custom lock screens would be nice, but not essential. 

Thanks very much for the suggestion. Logged on the system as ZOS-10871.

[Sven76]

Hi all

I hope this was not already added but I‘d have a which/proposal for color fanning on legacy devices with no multitouch available:

What about if you just could click the two „endpoints“ of the color range one after the other? 

I know you could do it also with a connected Tablet but I think this might be not to hard to implement and would give some extra value 😉

Best regards
Sven
 

[Edward Z88]

Hi Sven,

44 minutes ago, Sven76 said:

I hope this was not already added but I‘d have a which/proposal for color fanning on legacy devices with no multitouch available:

What about if you just could click the two „endpoints“ of the color range one after the other? 

Thank you for the suggestion. This would also benefit Phantom ZerOS users that do not have a touchscreen laptop. I have logged this on the system as reference number ZOS-10879.

Many thanks,

Edward

[van den abbeele Eric]

Hello,

 

I didn't seen that there were several other options other than 5 or 6 present in the first page ....

 

TIMING

- The first thing is to have the possibility of having a different timing of different elements (intensity ... Or Colour ... etc...) in the same CUE.

Have a change of fade in 15 sec for all fixtures and for some fixtures to have a longer time delay.

This allows in the same cue to be able to create interesting effects.

(Whether for the intensity, the colors, the beam, the movements or the effects ...)

 

COPY

- To be able to copy several Cues together.

Example From CUE 20 to 25 To CUE 130 to 135.

 

Effect Engine

Increase  effects engine yes

 

Pixel Mapping / Matrix

Yes more

 

UNDO function

Maybe interesting ... would be the last events that we could catch up ...

OR having a place to store information Some kind of Cue stuffs everything

 

Fixture Builder

YES, for be free to manage fixtures !!!

 

Storage multi show files

Yes

 

Mac ZerOS Version

Yes

 

thank A lot

[Edward Z88]

Hi Eric,

Thanks for voting for your top topics.

54 minutes ago, van den abbeele Eric said:

COPY

- To be able to copy several Cues together.

Example From CUE 20 to 25 To CUE 130 to 135.

You can already copy multiple cues to a new location. Please click the link below for more information...

https://zero88.com/manuals/zeros/cues-playbacks/copying

Hope this helps,

Edward

 

(I have deleted your unnecessary posts)

[van den abbeele Eric]

For the Mac OS version it will be a good thing. There more and more Mac OS Computer on the world and many technicien and artists use Mac OS... 

 

Thank

[Muller Light]

My idea for what I would like to see in ZerOS.

To be able to configure a Solution console in ‘FLX’ mode.

 

I can see that one day soon you are going to say that you will stop software upgrades for the Solution, as it is an obsolete product.  (Made obsolete the month after I picked one up on ebay. Typical!)

 

In the ‘FLX’ mode, the Solution would not need to operate like an old solution does, but would only operate as an FLX.

The buttons and faders would perform ‘FLX’ like functions.  The keys would need to be re-labelled, but the Solution MFKs could be ‘soft’ labelled on the screens.  It may be that you specify that a keyboard, mouse and touch screen were required (or have them as options).

So the MFKs would not need to select fixtures, but could be used as the keyboard on the FLX, or dynamically for other things.

All faders as channel, fixture or cue, like FLX.

Etc

 

This way, you would only have to write the interface ‘middleware’ software from Solution controls to FLX controls once, and it would then run the FLX software.  So you would not need to produce a separate ‘if Solution console, then…’ branch of the software for every OS release.

That way, the solution would be supported for longer, at reduced software development expense.

 

Of course, your marketing team probably want to sell me a new FLX, so may discourage you from doing this!

[Edward Z88]

Hi @Muller Light

Welcome to the Zero 88 Forum.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

49 minutes ago, Muller Light said:

This way, you would only have to write the interface ‘middleware’ software from Solution controls to FLX controls once, and it would then run the FLX software.  So you would not need to produce a separate ‘if Solution console, then…’ branch of the software for every OS release.

Solution consoles, and other legacy ZerOS consoles, use x86 architecture. FLX consoles use ARM architecture. Therefore the FLX branch is very different to the Solution branch, and you couldn't simply run the FLX software on a Solution. The FLX processor is also far more powerful than the Solution processor, and so there are FLX features not available on Solution consoles. 

If you have any questions, do let us know.

Edward

[kgallen]

So I take it that's a "No" for an FLX mode on my Alcora MkI then as that's Intel based too. 🙄

[Muller Light]

22 hours ago, Edward Z88 said:

Solution consoles, and other legacy ZerOS consoles, use x86 architecture. FLX consoles use ARM architecture. Therefore the FLX branch is very different to the Solution branch, and you couldn't simply run the FLX software on a Solution. The FLX processor is also far more powerful than the Solution processor, and so there are FLX features not available on Solution consoles.

Hi Edward,

I did suspect as much.

Presumably the new ARM  board has completely different interfaces to the ETX form-factor Kontron one fitted in the Solution, so you couldn't swap them.   

Let's hope you continue to support the Solution for a few years.

Paul

[Jon Hole]

2 hours ago, Muller Light said:

Let's hope you continue to support the Solution for a few years.

There's certainly no plan to stop support any time soon!

Some new feature will continue to come to Solution (like Multicell, which we've just launched) whereas other's might not be appropriate or possible... however that's no different to ZerOS today, where FLX and FLX S don't always recieve identical updates.

The only ZerOS-based console we've been forced to drop support for so far was the FROG 2 back in 2017 (but that was still 13 years after the console launched).

 

[Muller Light]

21 hours ago, Jon Hole said:

There's certainly no plan to stop support any time soon!

Some new feature will continue to come to Solution (like Multicell, which we've just launched) whereas other's might not be appropriate or possible... however that's no different to ZerOS today, where FLX and FLX S don't always recieve identical updates.

 

Glad to hear you have no plans to stop support.

I guess I was thinking of possibilities with my hardware/systems design engineers hat on (the day job!).

You do have a x86 version of ZerOS - Phantom ZerOS.

Best regards,

 

Paul

[Jon Hole]

4 minutes ago, Muller Light said:

You do have a x86 version of ZerOS - Phantom ZerOS.

We have ORB, ORB XF, Leapfrog 48, Leapfrog 96, Solution and Solution XL.

Phantom ZerOS is a little different, as it doesn't include a linux Operating System as part of the package.

 

 

[Ed75]

regarding @delfine 's question in the FLX S section about adapting intensities in a cuelist , and regarding your last point in the questionnaire about dimmer curves: 

Wouldn't it be possible to do this proportionally in your patch? I know of a sofware which uses this possibility, Very nice. 

For example: fixture 1 to dmx 20@80 . this results in a proportional 80%.     Let's say this fixure is at 50% in a cue, so the result would be a dmx output of 40% .

In this software your patch is spreadsheet like, so you can easily fill in your @xx in a special column . Patch first, then go through your show, and during this you can easily  adapt.

I used it very much on a tour. You can adapt each fixture's intensity individually for the whole show. Specially if you come across different lights, different dimmers, different distances, it is a very handy way to adapt yor intensities. Even during a show I could go to my patch spreadsheet and make small corrections. 

For zeros it could be an extra column in the patch list, with empty= 100% or any 0-99 value in it.

Would this be possible in the zeros software like it is now? or is this a very different way of programming ?

[Kauz]

Thank you for providing this thread, so I can file my wishlist right before christmas 😉. My list is going to be long. Please let me know in case I should rather split it up or shorten it for the sake of clarity.

Firstly I will comment on my favourites of your poll. Secondly you find (possibly) new ideas - maybe for consideration in a future poll.

Colour mixing with multi-emitter LEDs
I would like to use our "generic" RGBWA LEDs more easily, so the white and amber LEDs will be controlled optimally by the colour picker. I haven't yet tried to create a custom fixture in the external fixture editor to achieve this. Is this theoretically possible or isn't it worth to try?

Rig plan layout  (no more one of my personal prio ones)
In a conversation with the Zero88 key account manager I requested this too, prior to buying the Zero88 desk. On the other hand, my hand drawn rig plan (on paper) is hi-res compared to the desk integrated touch screen and is always visible. No need to switch screens in order to see it. In addition, I can easily add individual information like group numbers in my paper version. Bottom line: Personally, I don't think it would be worth the effort.

Undo functionality
"Undo AT" (i. e. undo a numeric intensity change) would be quiet useful (imho).

CSV import / Improved export
CSV export to ETC format would allow to re-use Zero88 output on Show Cue System. No idea if this is a pro or a con from Zero88 sales point of view. To me it would facilitate the use of SCS as backup for the Zero88 desk.

Improved Macros
In our theatre we have two user groups: "Show Operators" and "Programmers". I need a way how Show Operators can easily return to their usual desk look+feel, even if a Programmer left the desk in a different state or if a show operator pressed a certain key unintentionally (e. g. "Setup").

A "return to show operators look+feel macro" would do like the following steps:

• cancel any programmer specific operation like "Macro", "Setup", "Record", ...
• clear selection, clear edit register (i. e. press clear twice).
• select fader mode (either "Playbacks" or "Channels", depending on my choice)
• select the master playback screen

A nice add-on would be if one might assign a power-on macro, so the desk starts always in the "Operators Mode".

Afaik, this would include the capability to select a certain state of a toggle function via macro. (E. g. "channels" / "playbacks"). Let me call it "absolute state" in comparison to the usual toggle function.
Ideas: Pressing a toggle key twice or three times instead once during macro recording might result in recording the absolute state. In case of the "View" key this is wouldn't work. Therefore pressing the toggle key long when the desired state has been reached would be more universal. 

Dimmer curves
In Ray Conney's "Out of Order" we had a magnet keeping a sash window open, which should drop by the command of a flash button. I solved this (on an old Strand GeniusPro) by means of an inverted dimmer curve. With this trick the magnet remained on, even during blackout. This requires dimmer curves. Yes, to me dimmer curves are a must-have. If they are difficult to implement in ZerOS, I might alternatively create them using the rig editor.

** additional ideas **
(My personal brainstorming for future polls ;-))

Bar graph view for cue stacks
In this view, intensities would be represented by vertical bars. Each channel has a pair of bars: The left one represents the current intensity, the second one represents the intensity of the next cue. Each bar height represents an intensity, similar to a fader position. I found this concept on an old lighting desk in the 1990s. It might be improved if the bar color represented the channel colour. Yes, I am starting to dream.

Master Playback Fader to control selected channels
... as replacement for a vertical wheel. Would be nice for cue programming, but might be (too) tricky to integrate(?).

Touch Controlled faders in remote App

"GO" button in remote App
Yes, this would really be nice and useful.

Phantom ZerOS for Linux
Today I am using WINE in order to run Phantom ZerOS. As long this does the job, I am okay...

App download on Zero88 home page 
I am using Android, but not the PlayStore. Therefore it would be nice if one might download the .apk files directly from your home page. I am aware that this is not planned yet.

I am fully aware that you have to prioritize and I am wishing you good success in making the optimal choices for your product.
Martin (alias "Kauz")

 

[keredyelesob]

I don't know how popular this would be, but would be ausome if you added an option to swap the mouse buttons for left handed use. Working between my pc and the lighting desk often gets confusing, having two mice with different button polarity. Pc set up for left handed use and lighting desk right-handed but in my left hand. Not a huge issue but realy nice feature for us left handed users.