Posts by Metric

Yes, I worked it out after I made the post. Took a little bit of tweaking but was quite easy once I came at it fresh and not trying to work on it late at night

Hello again, my battles with DDF creation continue.

I'm trying to create a DDF for an LED followspot from chauvetDJ. It seemd pretty strightforward with only 3 channels required. Having created the file, the followspot will dim and strobe correctly but the colour is permanently locked on blue. I understand I might have gotten the type wrong for the colour ranges as it's a not a colour mixing unit, using a colour wheel most likely but I was hoping by setting min and max val each to 1 it might be a work around as I understand it.

Even so, I can't see why the unit is locked to blue and won't change.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<device type="DMXDevice" dmxaddresscount="3" dmxcversion="3.2.3" ddfversion="1.0.0">
  <information>
    <model>LEDFOLLOWSPOT120ST</model>
    <vendor>ChauvetDJ</vendor>
    <author>Metric</author>
  </information>
  <functions>
    <dimmer dmxchannel="0">
      <range type="linear" mindmx="0" maxdmx="255" minval="0" maxval="100"/>
    </dimmer>
    <rgb>
      <coldwhite dmxchannel="1">
        <range type="linear" mindmx="000" maxdmx="031" minval="1" maxval="1"/>
      </coldwhite>
      <warmwhite dmxchannel="1">
        <range type="linear" mindmx="032" maxdmx="063" minval="1" maxval="1"/>
      </warmwhite>
      <green dmxchannel="1">
        <range type="linear" mindmx="128" maxdmx="159" minval="1" maxval="1"/>
      </green>
      <red dmxchannel="1">
        <range type="linear" mindmx="160" maxdmx="191" minval="1" maxval="1"/>
      </red>
      <blue dmxchannel="1">
        <range type="linear" mindmx="192" maxdmx="223" minval="1" maxval="1"/>
      </blue>
      <indigo dmxchannel="1" hueLeftBottom="0" hueLeftTop="60" hueRightTop="60" hueRightBottom="120">
        <range type="linear" mindmx="096" maxdmx="127" minval="1" maxval="1"/>
      </indigo>
    </rgb>
    <strobe dmxchannel="2">
      <step type="open" mindmx="004" maxdmx="007"/>
      <range type="linear" mindmx="008" maxdmx="215" minval="1" maxval="12"/>
      <step type="open" mindmx="216" maxdmx="255"/>
    </strobe>
  </functions>
</device>

Quote from LightningBrothers

Quote from Metric

Create 2 cues perhaps with different colour values, and then have each loop back to the other repeatedly?

Right... you can choose for each cuelist individually the play mode. One of them is the mode "Loop". So all cues inside this cuelist will be repeated until you stop this cuelist.

I think I understand. In this scenario, you would create an executor that would like to different cuelists. One of which would have a recursive cue list the executor would draw from for the 2 colour chase sequence.

Quote from Frank Burghardt

You obviously succeeded in the first step: using the color chaser. In the second step you have to adjust the color list in the properties window. If you don't want to use the default color list, you have to create your own color list with the colors you want in the "List of Elements" folder in the project explorer. (right mouse button etc.). Now you can use this list in the parameterization of the color chaser.

This was the solution I was looking for. Many thanks.

Quote from LightningBrothers

And don't forget the possibility working with cues they running in a loop. Inside the cues, you give the first cue the values 255;0;0 # 0;0;255 for color and the second 0;0;255 # 255;0;0, if the chaser should be alternate for each device in the selected device group.

I'm not sure I understand what you're suggesting. Create 2 cues perhaps with different colour values, and then have each loop back to the other repeatedly? Thanks for your help.

Hello again, I'm being really stupid I'm certain of it. I would like to create a simple 2 colour chase for the show I'm working on. If I use the colour chaser in the effects library, the light cycles through all of it's available colours. I cant select only 2 colours as far as I can tell. I think I might be able to do something by mixing and matching various various effects on the same fixture and then playing with the various settings but I feel like there should be a quick and easy fix for a function so obvious and I'm being very dense.

Am I just missing something and being a bit stupid?

Many thanks.

Metric.

Quote from LightningBrothers

After I figure out, that you hid the manual of your text, I could finally check if your DDF looks well.

So if you wouldn't give the hint, that your interface wasn't work right, I would recommend to try a "simplier" mode like the 20 channel mode, Here the functions a completely clear so far. In the 32 channel mode, I can't imagine currently, what the channels 6 to 8 of each pod will do finally.

Yes, absolutely the 20 channel mode would be more straightforward. I thought I wanted the strobe function but the deadline for getting the show up and running made it necessary to go another route for that function. The bar works well now, but it's almost in spite of the manual rather than thanks to it. If one were tight for channels, it's not very useful to have modes that group colour to a single channel and then not give the DMX range allocated to each colour in the mode description.

Agreed, I'm not 100% clear what 7 and 8 in particular want to do. 6 I think is strobe speed but why the strobe would need a separate dimmer control for intensity I'm not sure. Channel 8 must be related to syncing the pods together but why or how that is done is not clear.

OK after a bit of investigating, the problem was actually that the DMX interface wasn't putting out. The unit responds now after deleting and discovering again the interface into DMX control.

The next stumbling block seems to be that the strobe function seems to be bootstrapped to a low rate. It might be just the max rate for the fixture as I tried upping the maxval to 50 but it doesn't do anything to increase the strobe rate.

OK so the file doesn't work right now. Here's what I have at the moment;

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<device type="DMXDevice" dmxaddresscount="8" dmxcversion="3.1.0" ddfversion="1.0">
  <information>
    <model>LP-LED2X</model>
    <vendor>Yorkville</vendor>
    <author>Metric</author>
    <mode>8 channel mode</mode>
  </information>
  <functions>
    <rgb>
      <red dmxchannel="0"/>
      <green dmxchannel="1"/>
      <blue dmxchannel="2"/>
      <white dmxchannel="3"/>
    </rgb>
    <dimmer dmxchannel="4"/>
    <strobe dmxchannel="5">
      <range type="linear" mindmx="0" maxdmx="225" minval="0" maxval="10"/>
    </strobe>
  </functions>
</device>

Any help appreciated.

Many thanks Stefan,

I hadn't come across the idea of sub-device before (this probably seems very basic to you, I have very limited time to do too many things) so I'll look into that.

Is it possible to fully create a DDF covering all the functions of the rotator? There seems to be a lot, and I agree you wouldn't really need that many day to day, but if I were using it every show it might be worthwhile to try adding functions over time.

Thanks again.

HI, has anyone ever tried to create a DDF for a gobo rotator? I'm looking at one for a show that's coming up. There's quite a nice one that can counter-rotate 2 gobos at a local rental shop. Seems to have a lot of features but I'm not sure where to start or if there's a DDF for anything similar that I might look at. The rental model is the Chroma-Q twin FX gobo rotator.

Regards.

Metric.

Twin FX DMX Gobo Rotator User Manual.pdf

Hello again,

I hope to use a couple of small 2 head lighting bars on a small show next week. There isn't a DDF in the library and I won't have the fixtures in hand till close to the show so I wanted to check my work with the hive even though it's very simple. The fixture will have 2 heads but I want to be able to control them separately as easily as possible and as I don't have a lot of time it seemed simplest to just create a DDF as if it were individual fixtures and then use group controls within DMX control as necessary. The channel assignment for the mode I want to use is as follows (full manual attached):

CH 1 – Red for Pod 1

CH 2 – Green for Pod 1

CH 3 – Blue for Pod 1

CH 4 – White for Pod 1

CH 5 – Intensity for Pod 1

CH 6 – Strobe Speed for Pod 1

CH 7 – Strobe Intensity/Brightness for Pod 1

CH 8 – Sync (Master)

It's not a very detailed DMX list to be honest. I don't know how to input the item in the channel 7 slot either. The syntax to give a fixture 2 intensity controls is definitely not something I've had to do before. All help appreciated. My .txt file attached and repeated here:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<device type="DMXDevice" dmxaddresscount="8" dmxcversion="3.1.0" ddfversion="1.0">
  <information>
    <model>LP-LED2X</model>
    <vendor>Yorkville</vendor>
    <author>Metric</author>
    <mode>8 channel mode</mode>
  </information>
  <functions>
    <rgb>
      <red dmxchannel="0"/>
      <green dmxchannel="1"/>
      <blue dmxchannel="2"/>
      <white dmxchannel="3"/>
    </rgb>
  </functions>
  <dimmer dmxchannel="4"/>
  <strobe dmxchannel="5">
    <range type="linear" mindmx="0" maxdmx="225" minval="0" maxval="10"/>
  </strobe>
</device>

Many thanks once again.

Metric.

Hello again,

Quote from LightningBrothers

Which tutorials are you talking about?

I followed the Wiki link on the front page of the DMX Control website from where I got the software. There's a Tutorials page there. I can tell they're perhaps outdated as they don't match the current version completely. But well enough to point me in the right direction most of the time. I know there's a YouTube channel I can go to, to see very long detailed video tutorials which I will take in at some point soon.

Quote from LightningBrothers

If you have a conventional light source, the mechanics isn't fast enough.

The fixture, while being a cheap, small, moving head, can do a camera type flash when set to a slow strobe function which was why I initially tried linking the softdesk flash button directly in the input assingment page, the relevant DMX outputs for that function on the fixture. It did work, but it highjacked the fixture and it went out rather than return to it's programmed level and colour. I think it might indeed be a limitation of the fixture, at least in part.

At this point, the cuelist editor is sufficient for my needs, working with the kids to get a simple kids show underway. Getting softdesks and executors will be on the back burner till I can get the kids comfortable just putting lights onto the stage view, dmx addressing, and assigning to groups.

Hello again, many thanks for the assistance so far. I have a couple of questions. The flash is now more of a brief white flare rather than a pop such a camera flash. Is it possible to have the fixture pop like a camera flash and still return to it's state set by the main cuelist? This may be a restriction of the cheap moving head I have here. I've played around with the settings of the flash cuelist but I can't seem to get it to do the thing I want.

The Blinder program is quite interesting but the complexity of the scheme goes over my head. Could I get a brief description of how it works and why the complexity is necessary to bring the lights up and stay up as long as the button is pressed? I can think of a few applications for such a thing but how it's being done is hard to pick apart not having a programming background.

What is the purpose of the dummy cues? I read over the earlier posts and I can't quite grasp what the purpose is for those. I think it is perhaps about resetting the cuelist to allow repeated softdesk inputs.

One last sidenote, I can't seem to bring up the executor display shown in the tutorials. I'm not 100% certain I need to do so as the cuelist editor window will function well enough for our purposes but I feel like I'm missing something. The tutorial says to just add cues directly to an executor but the option to do so is not available in the Add Cue expanded menu. I'm a bit of a completionist when it comes to tutorials and so on.

Hello again.

Here is the very basic practice config. Nothing too serious, just trying different things to see what I can do with it. I haven't created an executor yet and it's really very basic just to get used to the process of building cues etc. I want the 2 x MMH fixtures to just flash once when I click the softdesk control.

Many thanks once again.

Metric.

Greetings,

many thanks for your support. I will be the first to admit I'm a bit of a hack and say that I didn't create a cue/scene for my strobe effect and simply created a momentary button labelled flash which I linked to the relevant DMX channels in the input assignment panel. The strobe works well but now I have to prepare the cue prior to the moment I want to flash the light (it's intended to simulate a camera flash) to ensure the fixture I've pointed the button at isn't lit or we'll lose some of our wash.

Is there truly no way to create a button I can just click for a single press at the right moment to have the light flash a bright white and then return to it's cue defined state? Or must I build a cue sequence to create this? I'm a novice so advice must be straightforward.

Many thanks once again for all assistance. It is much appreciated.

Metric.

Hi,

I would like to create a simple bump button to flash some of the lights on a simple mouse click. I can make the lights respond after thoroughly reading the softdesk tutorial, but I seem to hit a bit of a wall if I'm using lights that are already lit. If the fixture is live, it flashes in response to my mouse click but then goes out and doesn't return to it's cuelist specified level. No doubt it's a HTP/LTP issue but I can't find where I can adjust this setting for the softdesk control.

In short, I would like to override a cuelist level with a momentary softdesk signal and then have the fixture return to it's scene specified level. Is that possible?

Many thanks in advance.

Metric.

Hi there,

after some reading in deeper detail into DDFs I managed to create the XML file needed from the text above and moved into the LibDevices directory. Absolutely works as intended. Many thanks for your assistance.

I would like to try and edit it further and get the full range of functions written into the XML and then submit it to the DDF library but I'm not sure what some of the other functions are. What is "Motor Auto SH 1" for example? I'll check the tutorials again and give it a go and let you know how I get on.

Thanks again.

Metric.

Hi JPK,

many thanks for the response. No worries, I understand that the concept behind DMX Control is to use the HAL and stage View combined with fixture groups to very quickly build scenes and presets. The question came up a few times and the kids enjoy watching the values change when they trigger cues and so on. It was more about garnering interest from the kids than actually needing the values to be represented in % rather than Dec, although I will admit that yes, I'm more used to the older style of control going all the way back to physical 2 preset lighting desks.

It's a youth theatre group in western Canada. My son was participating in the tech aspect and the volunteer who was running the course departed so the academy director who knew I was formerly a tech asked me to step in. We're doing a production of Alice in Wonderland in April. The kids are so young, and we have limited time each week to get practice in so I'll probably end up doing most of the programming but it's a thing to do.

Thanks again for your time.

Metric.