CITP patch dimmer fixture

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TWC
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CITP patch dimmer fixture

Postby TWC » 03 Sep 2020, 17:00

Hi. when you patch certain types of dimmer fixture from capture it doesn't appear in titan and you get a citp patch failed message appear in the context area.

For example when you Choose a source four profile or a selecon acclaim zoomspot or any other branded model of dimmer controlled generics. However if you choose a fixture in the 'generic' folder in capture like a generic zoom profile or a generic par64 it works fine.

If you patch a dimmer fixture in titan in pops up as expected in the fixture patch window in capture where you then can define the fixture type inside capture.

This only appears to happen on dimmer fixtures, all other intelligent type fixtures seem to patch up fine bi-directionally.

Regards, Tom.
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niclights
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Re: CITP patch dimmer fixture

Postby niclights » 03 Sep 2020, 17:52

This function relies on their being an equivalent Titan personality with links to the relevant Capture fixture and that these links are unique (ie not used in any other Titan personality). If these three requirements aren't met then you will get this error as it won't know what to patch. Do personalities for these fixtures exist in Titan and, if so, do they include Capture support?
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TWC
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Re: CITP patch dimmer fixture

Postby TWC » 03 Sep 2020, 19:08

Ah. Yes perhaps that's the answer. Although oddly if the fixtures pre exist in a capture show file and you patch an active fixture to titan then these dimmer fixtures will patch like any other fixture. They just won't dynamically patch via citp once the connection is made.

There certainly isn't an existing personality file for a source four profile as far as i know because to all intents and purposes we just treat these as a 'dimmer' in titan and there's no need to differentiate between dimmers. Although I did note that when you citp patch a generic fixture type say par64 for example it actually appears in titan as a 'par64' rather than 'dim'

So in the example of the source four profile would this need to have a separate personality file for each optic type too 19,26,36,50 and so on because capture treats each source four as a different fixture type with no optic selection menu but a par64 is one fixture and has various optic choices on the drop-down menu in its properties menu?
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niclights
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Re: CITP patch dimmer fixture

Postby niclights » 04 Sep 2020, 09:56

Yes, in order to automatically patch in Titan there must be personality with a link that matches the one patched in Capture and it must be unique (they should be unique but there may be some rare exceptions). So for example at the moment the ETC Source 4 Titan personality is linked to the ETC Source Four Zoom 15°-30° fixture in Capture. So if you have patched an ETC Source 4 in Titan it will automatically patch as ETC Source Four Zoom 15°-30° in Capture and vice-versa. This was something of an arbirary choice to ensure there was some sort of simulation in Titan. But if you patch any of the other (non-LED) Source Four variants in Capture they won't patch into Titan at the moment.

Similarly, the Dimmer fixture in Titan (actually Generic, Generic Fixture) is linked to 'Generic Profile Zoom' in Capture. 'Generic' fixtures aren't real and as a general rule can't be simulated. For example in the case of 'Dimmer' we are referring to a dimming channel. This obviously isn't something that can be simulated. And any number of things could be attached to the dimmer channel. But we needed to ensure 'Dimmer' simulated so a Capture added a special fixture - I'm fairly sure it is a Par 64. The same is true for many of the other 'Generic' fixtures. For example a generic RGB could be lots of different things - maybe it's an LED par, or a bar, or a panel, or a festoon etc. etc. And these can all be different power/size/beam angle etc. Some exceptions have been made here again based on arbitrary choices to ensure there is some sort of simulation in Titan.

In the same fashion some personalities have been added in Titan to complement options in Capture so that they will automatically patch with project link, the various Generic Par types being a good example. These are perhaps less of a guess as, while they aren't a specific manufacturer the housings tend to all be the same or very similar dimensions and of course the 'par' bit is the lamp itself so we know the characteristics.

Note that for single channel fixtures it is possible to adjust properties like the beam angle in Titan. So if, like in the ETC Source 4 example, the Capture fixture has a variable zoom, it is possible to adjust this in Titan too. And the same should be true where the fixture has equivalent drop-down optic settings in Capture albeit not restricted to particular angles in the same way. However, for multiple channel (for example LED versions of profiles) this is not currently possible and we have to have separate personalities for each beam angle (and in this case if they are zoom unfortunately it is not possible to adjust this in Titan). Hopefully it will be possible to add some of these parameters to multi-channel fixtures in a future version of Titan.
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TWC
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Re: CITP patch dimmer fixture

Postby TWC » 04 Sep 2020, 11:46

Thanks for your reply nic, it makes sense perfect sense to me now.

It's almost like we need a universal 'dimmer' fixture in capture to make the patch connection to titan, then we can go in afterwards and replace that fixture in capture to whatever you need it to be in a similar way that you have to choose a fixture definition from the library when you patch in titan and they appear in the capture fixture patch window.

Now I'm aware of this limitation I will always try to have them in the capture file before the active fixture is patched to titan, or only patch dimmers from titan.


Something else you may know the answer to. Is there a way of updating the active fixture in titan on demand for situatuons where fixtures have been added whilst not connected to an active link so that it only adds the new additions. i tried to repatch the active fixture but i ended up in a right old pickle with multiple iterations of the same fixture appearing.
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Titan Mobile + Fader Wing
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i7, ssd, 8GB, Intel Hd4000

Capture Machine
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Ai Media Server - 12.1
r6 + 2x Datapath DVI capture cards + Genlock module.

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