The Avolites Discussion Forum

For some reason I've managed to get a block shape before a shape in a cue. How do I remove block shape? the shape doesent activate in the cue so I think that this is the problem...

I run Titan mobile 6.1

I mean that there are shapes subsequent to the block shape command in the cue...

Sorry, I missed the urgent bit.

I'm not sure if a block shape in a cuelist could affect subsequent cues, but you can check what shapes are in cues by looking in playback view. Where there is a shape it will be represented in a view button. If there are multiple shapes it will be represented as '...'. Click on the button to see the shape(s) in more detail.

As far as I know the only way to remove a shape from a cue at the moment is to replace the cue. There are two ways of doing this - either quick include the cue, enter the shapes menu, delete the offending shapes and then replace. Alternatively you could use advanced include, changing the mask to exclude FX. If there are multiple shapes in a cue and you only want to remove some then using the delete shape option is the solution.

Thanks. I've already got that idea and tried it. Everthing seems ok, but the block shapes wont disappear... I Include the cue and hit shapes ans effects, hit delete, select the block shapes I want to delete and hit enter, then I press REC, and choose the cue I work with, hit replace cue... But when I check the cue again the block shapes are still there...

Just noticed; I tried a cue now with one block all shapes and one circle shape. I deleted the block shapes and replaced the cue, when I open it there's still the block shapes, but two circle shapes... but whe I include it again to remove block shapes I see only one Circle shape... this is very strange or du I miss something?

I've tried a few tests on this but it always seems to work for me.

Please try again making sure only the block shape is selected for deletion before you press enter. You can check it has been removed before recording by using [Edit]/[Select Shape]. Then double-check that you definitely are replacing the cue rather than merge.

If it still doesn't work then please send me a copy of the showfile with information on which list/cue contains the problem and I will see if I can replicate here.

I think it worked now, I think the problem was that it was so many "block all shapes" that I needed to change page so I sometimes missed several of them... But then another phenomena was that no ordinary shapes was there either after the removal of block shapes, so I had to edit a lot of cues...

Now I'm thinking of how to avoid getting this problem in the future... This is the workflow I use when I do my cuelists:

1. set an environmental light, like red PAR leds
2. set my movingheads in some colour and some position
3. save this cue to the cuelist
4. change colours and add a shape to the movingheads
5. save this cue to the cuelist
6. prevent the movingheads from moving with block P shape or block all shapes
7. put the movingheads in another position
8. save this cue to the cuelist
9. change colours and put on another shape on the movingheads
10. save this cue to the cuelist

maybe it's here I get it wrong when not clearing the console between each cue in the list? but it's so much work to start from every cue from scratch all the time? how should I do this correct?

I don't think there is anything particularly wrong with your workflow. The mistake is using block shapes.

A shape will only run in the cues it is recorded. So all you need to do is remove the shape rather than use block. In other words change step 6 to 'delete shape (or clear programmer)'. This will mean there are no shapes in step 8 as required and step 9/10 just has the new shape.

Block shapes are mostly beneficial in a busking scenario where you might have a shape running across all fixtures and need a solo cue that overrides the shape for just a few fixtures temporarily. It would be unusual to use block shapes in a cuelist unless you specifically intended the cuelist cues to be overriding shapes coming from a separate playback.

Of course, delete shapes, why didn't I think of that? Thank you very much!