16Bit Attributes or Coarse / Fine attributes?

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Wayneskie
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16Bit Attributes or Coarse / Fine attributes?

Postby Wayneskie » 25 Jan 2018, 15:21

Me again.
Still working on Arri Sky Panel Profiles. Another little query - have I understood this correctly?

There are many modes for example:

Mode 2 8 Bit Dim CCT (correlated Colour Temperature) +/- Green etc
easy!

Mode 7 16Bit Dim CCT +/- Green etc.
Two channels each for 6 Bit functions.
Easy

Now Then:

Mode 9 bit Dim RGBW etc.
Two channels each, while RGBW are placed in the Colour group, I have a 16 bit control for each colour which is placed on the colour mapping display. I can choose colours at random very quickly. All fine and dandy.

But:

Mode 14 - 8 Bit but giving a coarse and Fine control per function:
Dim Coarse
Dim Fine
Red Coarse
Red Fine
Green Coarse.....etc

Stay with me, I guess the idea is to get within a region with coarse, then fine tune with the fine control.
However despite placing all these attributes in the Colour Attribute Group and making sure they are all mapped across pages of C-mix and colour wheels, I am unable to see the colour mixing chart.

Is this possible?

The scenario I am guessing would be to get near to the colour required, and then fine tune with Fine RGBW controls?

Nic Morris I noticed in your personality you have just used a straight 16bit 2 channel per function in Mode 14 for example.

Am I asking too much?

Any comments or suggestions gratefully received.
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niclights
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Re: 16Bit Attributes or Coarse / Fine attributes?

Postby niclights » 25 Jan 2018, 16:09

I'm not sure if I understand your question fully but 16bit attributes are handled internally. Attributes should be defined at their maximum resolution (in other words if you have some modes with 8bit and some with 16 then the attribute would be defined as 16bit). If necessary you can then reduce the resolution to 8bit in the modes.

The most significant bit (ie. 'Coarse') and least significant bit (ie. 'Fine') are combined in the software. This ensures fade functions work correctly. They are not designed to be used independently. When fading or adjusting 16bit controls by wheel the least significant bit will run its full 8bit range before incrementing (or decrementing) the most significant bit by one and then repeat. For example if you slowly increase a 16bit dimmer it will go from 0-255 in the LSB before increasing the MSB by 1 and then 0-255 in the LSB etc. The wheels will automatically allow fine control when moved slowly but it is important to set the wheel display resolution to maximise accuracy. Generally 16bit attributes should be set to 2 decimal places when using percentage ranges or similar. Technically speaking this obviously still only allows 10001 steps in a 0.00-100.00 display range but in reality it works well (internal fades will use all values regardless of the display resolution). For absolute control you can define a 0-65535 value (0dp) display range but this may cause compatibility issues with some functions. You could separate them out but this would result in 'steppy' fades.

Note that the shape generator and colour picker rely on specific attribute ID's. Each attribute must have a unique ID so for compatibility you can only have one red, one green, one blue etc.
Wayneskie
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Re: 16Bit Attributes or Coarse / Fine attributes?

Postby Wayneskie » 25 Jan 2018, 17:45

Understood.

I wonder why Arri have seen fit to provide two seperate modes, one using LSB and MSB as you describe, an one mode splitting out fine and coarse controls.

I would like to post a pdf with the two profiles laid out side by side, not sure I can attach a picture to my post?
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niclights
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Re: 16Bit Attributes or Coarse / Fine attributes?

Postby niclights » 25 Jan 2018, 17:53

It's a good question.

According to the charts the 'coarse/fine' versions are for when consoles don't support 16bit. But technically I don't think there is any difference and as far as I can see it was unnecessary (the description is each of the 256 coarse steps has 256 fine steps which in my interpretation is the same thing).
Wayneskie
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Re: 16Bit Attributes or Coarse / Fine attributes?

Postby Wayneskie » 25 Jan 2018, 18:07

Just had a thought.

Why use an 8 bit personality when you could use a 16 bit one (given enough DMX channels)?

Answer, when you don't have a 16 bit console.

The Sky panel is very much at home as a single item 'location soft light' as it is in a big array or studio. If you want to control from a simple 12 way DMX fader desk on location , use a simple 8 bit profile giving one function per fader.

Simples

:D :D :D
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niclights
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Re: 16Bit Attributes or Coarse / Fine attributes?

Postby niclights » 26 Jan 2018, 10:23

Sure. That's what I was trying to say above. But in practice there is no difference, other than the way they have written the charts (ie. 'HI/LO' next to one another or 'Coarse' followed by 'Fine'). You could patch the 16bit 'HI/LO' mode on faders or the 'Course/Fine'' on faders and, as far as I can see, it would be identical. Perhaps they do behave differently in the fixture but from the description it doesn't sound like it.

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