The Avolites Discussion Forum

Hi,

we recently received some new LED fixtures. They're nice, but the fixture DMX channels aren't really thought trough very well. They've got a shutter channel for strobe effects and 3 channels for R-G-B. Unfortunately, there's no dimmer channel to control the entire fixture's output. I would like them to work as a movinghead does; being able to select the colour via the pallet buttons and then push up a dimmer channel to turn them on at that exact colour.

I don't think there's a way to acheive this, but that's where the Pearl could come in. It would be great to assign a 'virtual dimmer' to selected fixture channels. That way, I could create a virutal dimmer which then alters the output of the channels to match the percentage which I've set.

For instance:
R 255
G 125
B 50

With the virtual dimmer set to 50% would output:
R 128
G 62
B 25

That way the fixtures would behave exactly the way I want them to!

I know this is fixing a shortcoming of the fixture via the console, but it would be a nice feature in more occasions I think!?

A well known problem & is at the top of the wish list

But I don't think it is going to be possible on old hardware. Expert hopefully will.

i have the color blast 12 tr's and an azure shadow.

can't you just make the look you want and than program the stage to a sub?

for instance, if you want R 255 G 125 B 50, dial it in, record to a sub, and now isnt that sub at 50 percent what you are looking for? I guess i'm just not understanding the question.

actually, i wish there was a way to do this for moving heads. A strength of the azure shadow is that it has 50 playbacks on the face on such a small console. however only 10 subs. So slow black out fades past the 10 sub's become a challenge under strict time because i have to grab the fixtures and manually bring the dimmer down, than clear the stage, and get ready for another playback. I've always wished that boards essentially had a "master" that all patched fixture's dimmer channels were automatically assigned to.

For instance if i have 10 studio spots, 8 studio commands, and 4 conventionals, and they are all on different playbacks, some on bumps, some on subs, and i want to fade them all out at once, i should be able to do that with one master fader that takes highest precendent at all times.

You misunderstand the problem with LED fixtures that lack overall dimmer.

In this case the colour channels are the dimmer meaning you must program exactly what you want, be that a memory or a chase.

For example, if you want a blue chase you must program precisely that, the same for a red etc.

However, with your average moving light you might simply program an intensity memory or chase and then colours can be chosen separately, either from palettes or from other memories/chases. This is much quicker to program, requires fewer playbacks and gives much more flexibility.


Regarding your wish this is actually a suggestion I made for the D4 whereby a group handle would use the preset fader as a proportional intensity master for the fixtures contained in the group.

i see. thanks 'nic'. yeah a dimmer channel would be nice for consolidating on programming.

Niclight's right, that's exactly what I'm looking for. We're thinking about an Expert but at the moment have some other priorities I'm affraid. An as long as the software isn't supporting this there's no real rush to it