Background level by fader

[Johanvh]

I have RGB Par LED Cans. On a fader I want to control a background level. Background color may be always white but it would be great if this follows the let's say main color.
On other faders I have the control of some chases I made for the fixtures.

I made a Recording of the fixtures and linked them to a fader. With this fader I can control a white illumination from 0 % to 100 % but when this background is set to for example 30% and I fire on a chase with another slider the background intensity disappears.

How can this be controlled?
Thanks in advance,

[niclights]

I'm not sure if I fully understand what you mean by 'background'.

But if, say, you want to separate white from RGB then the key is to ensure only the controls you want to record are in the programmer and set the record mode to 'by channel'. For example, clear, select fixture(s), adjust red, green and blue level by wheel or numerically and record by channel to a playback handle. Then clear, select fixture(s), adjust just the white control by wheel or numerically and then record to another handle. This way the white playback is independent of the RGB one. In a more typical setup you would probably record just dimmer by channel to a playback fader and have colours on palettes.

If you wanted to have a colour chase where you want the colour to swap between a colour in the chase and another colour that you can change then the trick is to record empty steps (clear the programmer) where you want the 'flexible' colour and then turn cue release on in the chase playback options. For if you set the colour to red and then run a chase that sets the colour to white in the first step and then has nothing in the second it will output a red/white effect. Changing the colour to blue will then give a blue/white effect etc.

Does that help?

[Johanvh]

Hi again,

When I read my first post, I understand my question was not clear.
I have 4 RGB par CAN and what I try to do is:
- Have a fader to control a background light. For example fader 10 % open = 10 % R + 10 % G + 10 % B
- On another fader I want to control chases (this is already 'programmed'). Chose chases have a higher intensity than the background.

When I read your answer, I assume you think I have RGBW fixtures and can control the White channel seperately but this is not.

I recorded (in channel mode) only Color Channel and have set R, G and B to 50 % and linked this to fader 1 but this does not work. Nothing happens because the Intensity channel is not recorded.
Even when the chases are active and I fire the fader 1, the backlight does not come up.

Don't understand why...

[niclights]

You need to use the dimmer control to set intensity.

For example playback 1 = all fixtures dimmer @ 10%, playback 2 = chase where step 1 = just the dimmer of fixture 1, step 2 = just the dimmer of fixture 2 etc.

If you want to you can include the colour at the same time but this should be at the full value. So in playback 1, dimmer @ 10% with R100/G100/B100 and in playback 2 all chase steps would have R100/G100/B100.

[Johanvh]

Apologies but can you explain some more detailed?
Is the dimmer control a channel of the fixture or a Titan One feature?

[niclights]

Dimmer is just another control like red, green or blue. Personalities for all RGB fixtures should have one. Which fixture have you patched?

[Johanvh]

My fixtures are Showtec Compact PAR18 MK2 and those have a shutter and dimmer control.

I understood your previous post about 2 playbacks; 1 for example at 10 % dimmer control for all 4 fixtures and another playback at for example 90 % for the 'animation'.

So far I don't understand the difference between Cue, Cue List, Chases, etc. What I do now is make chases (Record -> Create Chase, and save this under a handle). This means all attributes, including Intensity (dimmer control) is saved and I cannot combine this with a dimmer control playback. Is there another way I have to do this.

Let me explain the purpuse: I am a DJ on weddings so whole evening the PAR's should produce a nice show but without my intervention. Only on 'special' moments, slow or other moods, I want to change to other variations.

Is it possible to let Avolites One create a show with a mixture of different handles/playbacks? Playback 1 = animations (intensity), Playback = color animations (color). While both are playing is it possible to record this as a chase?

Many many thanks for the feedback!

[niclights]

I don't fully understand what you mean by 'Playback 1 = animations (intensity), Playback = color animations (color). While both are playing is it possible to record this as a chase?' but I''m sure that what you want to achieve is possible.

I think there are three fundamentals to understand:

- The programmer
- The record mode
- HTP and LTP ('Highest Takes Precedence' and 'Latest Takes Precedence')

When you select a fixture it goes into the programmer. When you touch (adjust) an attribute that attribute goes into the programmer.

When you record something, either a memory, a chase or a cue list, there is a toggle option to set the record mode on the softkeys. By default this is set to 'By Fixture'. This means that it will record the level of all the attributes for any fixtures currently in the programmer, regardless of which attributes have been adjusted. If you set it to 'By Channel' it will only record the attributes that have been adjusted.

Dimmers are HTP. This means that if you have more than one active playback containing just a dimmer for a particular fixture it will go to the highest level of the two. For example if playback fader 1 contains a dimmer memory at full for all fixtures and playback 2 contains a chase where each step sets an individual fixture dimmer to full and playback 2 is fired at full the fixtures will all go from zero to 100% intensity in turn as it steps through the chase. If playback fader 1 is then raised slowly all the fixtures will start to light at a low level while the chase continues to 'bump' them to full from that point.

All other controls are LTP. This means they will go to the last value set, regardless of level. So, for example, if you have two playbacks where playback fader 1 contains just Red 100%, Blue 0%, Green 0% and playback fader 2 contains just Red 0%, Blue 100%, Green 0%, raising playback fader 1 to full will output red and then raising playback fader 2 to full will output blue (ie. Red 0% is the latest value, even though it is set to 100% in playback 1. If you lower playback 1 and fire it again it will output red.

It is very common to record intensity playbacks on the faders and use palettes for colours. That way you can control the intensity level and have the ability to any colour without having set specific colours in playbacks. Try doing what I explained above where you record just the dimmers (by ensuring dimmer is the only thing in the programmer and recording by channel). Make one playback that sets the dimmer for all the pars to full and then another that is a dimmer chase. Then set the colour independently and fire the playbacks. If you need a chase that changes colours then these will always take priority but you can get them to return to the previous colour by setting a colour release mask.

[Johanvh]

Thanks niclights, this helped me lot. So far it goes as I want.