Need to turn tracking off - what will be impacted?

[Ian_p]

Hi. 
 

just programmed a show into my new FLX, but hadn’t realised tracking is switched on. 
 

we had an issue at the dress where the face lights weren’t on in any scene, got to the end, programmed them back into the first cue, and now they are back in every cue they were missing from. 
 

this is why I have always run my board in non- tracking mode as I didn’t really understand tracking. 
 

however as this show is now recorded in tracking, what impact will there be if I turn tracking off? Will each scene be converted to full scenes, not just changes?

[Ian_p]

Thinking about it - I suspect the operator had to go back a cue or two at some point and this messed up the lights. I really want to turn tracking off so if needed the op can do this without impact. 

[kgallen]

On FLX you can set "Cue Only" in Setup and actually I believe you can switch between Tracking and Cue Only arbitrarily and your programming will stay intact. (This wasn't the case for example on Frog consoles using Full or Partial mode). What I can't say is whether or not the recorded data for your show has all the information required - i.e. if you switch to Cue Only you may still find your cues are missing the required lights, because they just weren't programmed regardless of Tracking or Cue Only.

However as someone who has also historically "struggled" with Tracking I would actually strongly discourage you from switching to Cue Only. Firstly it's worth confirming you have Smart Tag enabled in your Record Options. This pretty much makes Tracking work as Cue Only during a programming session, but you don't incur the downsides of using Cue Only which include completely breaking Move on Dark and inhibiting any kind of overlay - even something really simple like adding house lights, or firing a smoke machine from a UDK can cause havoc with your lighting state, because the intensity of all fixture will always be recorded.

When using Tracking the one thing to check when doing an Update during programming, is if you need to click for "Cue Only" rather than "Track Forwards" (which I think is the default.

TL;DR I'd strongly discourage you from switching to Cue Only - I don't think it will immediately solve your current issues and it imposes some real limitations on the power of the console. In my view, Tracking is implemented well on FLX and I feel very comfortable using it always. This certainly wasn't the case with previous consoles I've used.

[Edward Z88]

Hi @Ian_p

11 hours ago, Ian_p said:

just programmed a show into my new FLX, but hadn’t realised tracking is switched on. 

On FLX consoles, there are actually two different Tracking Options. It is important to understand which tracking option you are referring to.

One set of Tracking Options live in the Record Options. Within the Record Options, you will see "Track Forwards", "Track Backwards", "Track Both" & "Cue Only". To access the Record Options on the internal touchscreen, press and hold RECORD until the Record Options appear. These options can be changed whilst programming cues, to allow you to choose whether a new cue tracks into subsequent cues or not. 

The other set of Tracking Options can be found in Setup -> Settings -> Record & Update. This allows you to Enable the Tracking Options, or force the console into global Cue Only mode. The default option is "Enabled". This allows you to use the Record Options window as described above, to choose your tracking option, such as Cue Only. As @kgallen warns, changing this option within Setup -> Settings -> Record & Update mid-show could change the behaviour of existing cues, and affect Move On Dark functionality.

Therefore, the first question is, what Tracking Option are you asking about?

11 hours ago, Ian_p said:

what impact will there be if I turn tracking off?

Existing cues will not be affected by changing the Record Options.

Existing cues may be affected by changing the global Tracking mode in Setup.

11 hours ago, Ian_p said:

we had an issue at the dress where the face lights weren’t on in any scene, got to the end, programmed them back into the first cue, and now they are back in every cue they were missing from. 

"Track Forwards" allows your changes to be sent down the cue stack, until a cue where your fixtures are given a new instruction. This means you can go into a cue, make changes, update it with tracking, and the changes will track down the cue stack. You can then work through your cues, and if necessary, go into a cue that is being tracked into, "undo" the changes so the cue looks how you had it, and update the cue with tracking again.

5 hours ago, Ian_p said:

Thinking about it - I suspect the operator had to go back a cue or two at some point and this messed up the lights. I really want to turn tracking off so if needed the op can do this without impact. 

Tracking is a programming tool. It is not a playback tool. Therefore, the Tracking Option is used at the point of recording to choose the record behaviour. Changing the Tracking Option within the Record Options whilst running through cues, will make no changes whatsoever to the information included in the cues.

If you want to go in-depth on tracking, please watch the dedicated Tracking video below...

To find out more about the Record Options, please watch the video below...

I hope this helps. If you have any questions, please let us know.

Edward