ACME Spider FC virtual dimmer for cell

[n4spd]

Hi, just wondering Is there a way to change its personality file to have a dimmer for each of its 8 cells? thanks!

[niclights]

Assuming you mean for the 36 channel mode with RGBW cells, yes. It's a lot easier to do than explain so I have changed it in the library. The revised version should be available from tomorrow morning.

[n4spd]

Thanks, yes that is what I was referring to. I assume with a separate dimmer for each cell, it is easier to program effect such as dimmer chase, and dimmer shapes will also be available to use.

I also noticed fixture overlap does not work with these sub fixtures. how do we program one cue to achieve the effect of one cell light up after another?

[n4spd]

I found below email explanation on virtual dimmer. I will try to recreate the personality of this spider and see if i ran into any problem. thanks:

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Hi,
There aren't any instructions yet that I know of. To be fair I probably understand it more than John at the moment.
Some quick points regarding creation:
- The sub-fixtures are based on modes. Where new modes have to be created for this purpose they can be hidden from patch to
avoid confusion.
- Attributes in the master fixture can be linked to attributes in the cells ('attribute link'). Normally this will be linking the same
attribute although it is not limited to that. Crucially a linked master attribute directly controls the cell attributes it is linked to (as
opposed to being a virtual controller).
- To add a master attribute hold <alt> while selecting the attribute. This is initially useful to begin creation of a multi-cell fixture
where it doesn't solely rely on cells.
- With 'add automatically' ticked, when adding cells the attribute links are automatically created in the master fixture whenever
the master fixture does not already contain this attribute with a resolution (8/16bit).
Let's look at some common examples and how to create:
Example 1 - 4 cell batten. No dimmers, just 12 ch R,G,B,R,G,B,R,G,B,R,G,B:
1 - Create red, green, blue and dimmer attribute (we will use the dimmer for v-dim).
2 - Create two modes - '12 DMX' and 'RGB cell, 3 DMX'.
3 - Add all the attributes to 'RGB cell, 3 DMX' and toggle 'hidden' to 'true'.
4 - Open channel view, change dimmer to resolution 'none' and delete its channel.
5 - Return to properties view, select R+G+B and choose virtual master = 'dimmer'.
6 - Select '12 DMX' mode.
7 - Open cells view.
8 - Increase 'count' to 4.
9 - Add attribute links automatically should already be enabled by default and 'mode to add' will already be 'RGB cell, 3 DMX' as
it is the only valid option here.
10 - [Add Cell]
That's it. You will notice RGBD have been automatically added to the master fixture with no resolution/mapping. If you expand
the cells you will see each of these attributes is linked to the one in the master.
Example 2 - 4 cell batten with a master dimmer located on ch 1.
(Repeat example 1 steps 1-6)
- Now hold Alt and double-click 'dimmer' in created attributes. This will place dimmer in the master fixture with channel mapping
1
- Select cells and continue with steps from example 1.
Note how this time the cells are not attribute linked to dimmer.
Example 2 - 4 cell batten with a master dimmer located on ch 13.
(Repeat example 1 steps 1-10)
Because when we added the cells there was no dimmer in the master fixture it was created automatically and linked to the cells.
Since the fixture has a master dimmer we don't want this.
- Either select dimmer in 'cell master' and change its resolution/mapping to suit or select, delete and then double-click 'dimmer'
again in created attributes to get it automatically added to the end of the mapping.
- Expand all the cells, select each dimmer and delete it in turn to remove the attribute link.
Hopefully this makes some sense. The attribute link is the important factor here.
Where a fixture has no real master attributes then it is simple - the master fixture just contains links to the cells. When you locate
the master fixture it follows the locate rules defined for those attributes (ie. 100% for dimmer, r,g,b) and because all the cells are
linked they jump to 100% also and everything lights on stage.
The problem occurs where a fixture does have a master. If this was linked to the cells then it would present very awkward
control difficulties - ie. the only way to separate master from cells would be to turn off the cell attributes each time. This would be
very inconvenient. Therefore to avoid this the cells are not linked, but this does mean that they don't locate from the master
Re: Avo Subixture howto imap://imap.gmx.net:143/fetch>UID>/INBOX>38794?header=print
1 von 2 09.01.2012 22:41
fixture.
This is a known issue and has been discussed. The conclusion myself and Gregory came to was that the software should
attempt to locate both the master and sub-fixtures when the folded master is selected. If an unfolded master fixture is located
then only that should locate.
As for the Eurolite - yes, I see the problem. This is very tricky. I have one possible solution that I will try. I really wish
manufacturers wouldn't do this!
Nic

[Gregory]

I also noticed fixture overlap does not work with these sub fixtures. how do we program one cue to achieve the effect of one cell light up after another?

Yes, fixture overlap is based on the fixtures that are recorded into the cue not the sub fixture cells. If you want to use fixture overlap over the cells make sure that they are recorded into the cue instead of (or as well as) the master fixtures. You can do this by selecting the fixtures and then pressing [.] [Enter] to select the cells, set the attributes as normal and record your cue. You can also create groups of your cells or select them from the Attribute Editor or the pattern selection (All/Odd/Even) menu.

[n4spd]

Hi Gregory, thanks, these cells does not have dimmers of their own, I have to use master fixture to turn up dimmer first, then gointo the subfixtures to set colors.

I have tried a few times, i seems that if I do this and save a cue, the dimmer value on the master fixtures are not saved, hence these do not light up when i fire the fader after pressing clear.

Nic said there is a way to assign a virtual dimmer to these cells, and i assume that will solve this problem?

Thanks!

[niclights]

The revised version is now in the library. Please download/install and see if that works. You can open it in Personality Builder to see how I have implemented. If you have any problems/questions let me know.

[n4spd]

Thanks a lot, i tried today with the lights, and it works. I had a look at the revised personality file, and should be able to do the same in case i need to do it myself in the future. thanks again.