Colour control: works with encoder wheel but not with colour palette?

[MikeF]

Aplogies for what is probably a very newbie question....

Most of our fixtures work fine but we have two particular types (LEDJ performer 36 LEDs and ETC Colour Spots) where we can't set the fixture colour using the colour palette, we can only do it using the encoder wheels (RGB). This is ok if you want to save the setting as a cue but not so convenient if you want to change colours on the fly during a live gig. Any suggestions please as to how we can control these from the colour palette?

Incidentally, I've noticed these fixtures were patched historically by others using personalities which were not part of the zero88 libarary (as they appear in red in the "add fixture" menu on the FLX console). Not sure whether that would have an impact?

Finally, is it possible to view and edit the fixture personalities stored in the console? I've downloaded the Fixture Editing software and can see how to create new personalities and edit those downloaded from the zero88 fixture library on your site (and load them to the console) but can't see how to export fixture personalities from the console for viewing or editing?

Grateful for any suggestions.

Thanks, Mike

 

[kgallen]

Mike,

It's worth uploading your showfile so Edward can have a look. If those fixture profiles were built by someone not experienced at it, they might not have attached the correct detail information to each (colour) channel in the profile. I would expect both of those fixtures to be in the standard library, so if you have chance to experiment, would you be able to try swapping out to the "official" fixtures and see if you can get proper behaviour?

If you have 7.13 on the desk then you might be able to use the new on-desk fixture editor to at least take a look at how those fixtures are defined.

Kevin

[Edward Z88]

Hi @MikeF

Welcome to the Zero 88 Forum.

1 hour ago, MikeF said:

Most of our fixtures work fine but we have two particular types (LEDJ performer 36 LEDs and ETC Colour Spots) where we can't set the fixture colour using the colour palette, we can only do it using the encoder wheels (RGB). This is ok if you want to save the setting as a cue but not so convenient if you want to change colours on the fly during a live gig. Any suggestions please as to how we can control these from the colour palette?

Incidentally, I've noticed these fixtures were patched historically by others using personalities which were not part of the zero88 libarary (as they appear in red in the "add fixture" menu on the FLX console). Not sure whether that would have an impact?

The first thing to do is to regenerate the automatically created colour palettes. To do this, tap the COLOUR key to access the Colour window. In the palettes tab, scroll down, and then click Automatically Create Colour Palettes. Please then try the automatic palettes with your fixtures.

If the palettes are still not working, it could well be due to the fact the fixtures are from an early fixture library version, or are custom fixture files with limited information. The ColorSource Spots are definitely in the latest ZerOS Library. In Setup -> Fixture Schedule, ZerOS will provide you with the ability to "convert" the fixtures in red text, to the latest versions of the fixtures from the console's library. Please see the link below for more information...

https://www.zero88.com/manuals/zeros/patching/fixture-schedule/change-fixture

If you are still having difficulty with your fixtures, please email your show file to support@zero88.com, and we can make sure you are using the most up to date versions of your fixtures.

1 hour ago, MikeF said:

Finally, is it possible to view and edit the fixture personalities stored in the console? I've downloaded the Fixture Editing software and can see how to create new personalities and edit those downloaded from the zero88 fixture library on your site (and load them to the console) but can't see how to export fixture personalities from the console for viewing or editing?

Yes it is - fixtures can be edited or created directly on the console. This functionality was introduced in the latest software. To find the software version currently running on the console, tap the Z button, and from the touchscreen choose "System Information". In the window that opens, will be a line of text displaying the "Software Version". The latest software version for FLX consoles is ZerOS 7.13. If you're not running ZerOS 7.13, I'd recommend updating your console's software. ZerOS 7.13 can be downloaded from the link below...

https://zero88.com/zeros#download

For more information on the ZerOS Fixture Creator, see the link below...

https://www.zero88.com/manuals/zeros/patching/add-fixtures/fixture-creator

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

Edward

[MikeF]

Thanks Edward

I'm hopeful I'll have time to try your suggestions out tomorrow.

I'll let you know the outcome.

Kind regards

Mike

[MikeF]

Hi Edward

We haven't upgraded to 7.13 yet (that's a job for another day!) so I imported the personalities for the ColorSource spots and LEDJ Performer 36 LEDs from the legacy fixture library, then auto created colour palettes and both types of fixtures worked as expected.  However we have 12 Chauvet Hybrid 140SR fixtures, also running on non-library personalities (i.e. showing in red on the fixture schedule) installed previously by others which we were then unable to change the colours on using the colour palettes and we were also unable to control other features. These worked fine before.   I think the interim solution might be to install the latest fixture library. Not sure if I'm being dense but I can't see how to download the fixture library from the website?  (I can see the fixture contents file, the Rigsync file and the fixture tools but not a download link for version 3.3 of the fixture library.)

Apologies once again for my basic questions!

Thanks

Mike

[Edward Z88]

Hi Mike,

3 hours ago, MikeF said:

I imported the personalities for the ColorSource spots and LEDJ Performer 36 LEDs from the legacy fixture library, then auto created colour palettes and both types of fixtures worked as expected.

Thanks for the update. Pleased to hear it.

3 hours ago, MikeF said:

we have 12 Chauvet Hybrid 140SR fixtures, also running on non-library personalities (i.e. showing in red on the fixture schedule) installed previously by others which we were then unable to change the colours on using the colour palettes and we were also unable to control other features. These worked fine before.

Had the Automatic Colour Palettes been manually updated, to add in the relevant Colour Wheel slots of the Intimidator Hybrid 140SR? If so, these manual edits will have been cleared upon choosing "Automatically Create Colour Palettes". You will therefore need to manually update the colour palettes, to add in the Intimidator Hybrid 140SR colour wheel. What other parameters are you having difficulty controlling?

3 hours ago, MikeF said:

I think the interim solution might be to install the latest fixture library. Not sure if I'm being dense but I can't see how to download the fixture library from the website?

The latest fixture library is not fully backwards compatible with previous software. It is therefore not provided on our website as a separate download. ZerOS Library 3.3 comes preinstalled with ZerOS 7.13 software.

If you have any questions, please let us know.

Edward

[MikeF]

Thanks both (Edward and Kevin) for your helpful responses.

Quote

Had the Automatic Colour Palettes been manually updated, to add in the relevant Colour Wheel slots of the Intimidator Hybrid 140SR?  What other parameters are you having difficulty controlling?

I can only imagine that the Colour Palettes had been manually updated previously by others - I'm not sure how to do this.  Presumably, if we used the current library personality, everything should be fine?  From memory, beam/effects parameters were problematic too, but this was only after re-creating the Automatic Colour Palettes following importing the P36 and ColorSource personalities, which makes sense.

Looks like we'll need to bite the bullet and upgrade to 7.13.

The Colorsource spot and Intimidator personalities are included in the latest library and I can import the Performer 36 from the legacy library.

I'm guessing that upgrading will require full re-patch?

Thanks

Mike

[Edward Z88]

Hi Mike,

7 minutes ago, MikeF said:

I can only imagine that the Colour Palettes had been manually updated previously by others - I'm not sure how to do this. 

To do this, select your Intimidator Hybrid 140SR fixtures, and tap the COLOUR key. Then tap on the button in the middle of the "Colour Wheel" encoder, to view the available slots of the colour wheel. Then tap the first colour, tap UPDATE, and then choose the relevant automatic colour on the touchscreen. This chosen colour slot will then be added to the chosen automatic colour palette. You can then repeat this for the remaining slots of the colour wheel.

9 minutes ago, MikeF said:

Presumably, if we used the current library personality, everything should be fine?

That's correct - the up-to-date Intimidator Hybrid 140SR fixture is already included in the automatic colour palettes.

10 minutes ago, MikeF said:

I'm guessing that upgrading will require full re-patch?

After updating the console's software, you will be able to load your show file back into the console from a USB drive. After doing this, you can then use the Fixture Schedule, to "upgrade" all of the fixtures in your show file, to the latest versions of the fixtures from the library.

Please see the link below for more information...

https://www.zero88.com/manuals/zeros/patching/fixture-schedule/change-fixture#upgrade

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

Edward

[MikeF]

Many thanks Edward.

We're now fully updated to Zeros 7.13 with fixtures upgraded to the latest library versions and enjoying the additional features this has unlocked on the Intimidators.

Kind regards

Mike

[Edward Z88]

Hi Mike,

12 hours ago, MikeF said:

We're now fully updated to Zeros 7.13 with fixtures upgraded to the latest library versions and enjoying the additional features this has unlocked on the Intimidators.

Thanks very much for the update. Pleased to hear it.

Edward