D4 (off-line editor) & Avo Visualiser

[neil]

Hi All,

I patched the D4 off-line machine into visualiser.

All is going well.....until I came to locate the Mac300 I patched.

Can anyone explain WHY when I locate it, it doesn't point to the floor in visualiser, as I beleive it should?

Is there anything I need to do with the Mac300 to make it do this.

All I have done is change the address in visualsier.....nothing else yet.

[niclights]

Change orientation of fixture in the theatre?

This will hopefully be your solution although I must admit I have found it impossible to get the visualiser to correctly reflect what is happening in reality with all my fixtures. No matter what combination of orientation/axial rotation/angle to stage I have failed to make all my moving heads appear the same as they do on the stage.

[neil]

ok another day, another question.

Currently pre-programming for a tour on the D4.

When I go into SOLID mode on the visualiser, am I suppost to see beams and gobos etc or not?

I checked the smoke at both 0 and 100% and nothing, can anyone shed any light onto this?

Does solid actually do anything light wise, as it seems to do very little my end....

Also;

1) What angles should a fixture be if its 'on stage'? I have tried, with no luck

2) Is there a way to 'block' select fixtures and drag them all to stage level or rig height etc

Cheers

N

[niclights]

Solid doesn't work!

Don't know about angles. It makes sense to me that 'vertical down' for truss and 'vertical up' for ground with axial rotation of 90/180 etc. depending on rigging orientation should be simple enough but I've given up trying! I would like to know but it has not been priority so I am not pursuing myself.

You can drag a box and group fixtures to move all at once. You can also use for zoom and align. I find using align and then group to be the most efficient way of designing.

[iadwm]

Neil,

If you haven't already found them, there are orientation diagrams here...

http://www.avolitesdownload.com/Downloa ... agrams.exe

Also the by degree selection of 'Angle To Stage' is meant to be used for generics, so you can focus generics more realistically and obviously Vertical Up and Vertical Down (as Nick said) is a quick selection for MH's .

Once you have grouped a number of fixtures (eg 6 generics onto a bar as an IWB or use my IWB's in the CSV file) it appears in the Object Selection menu as a Device:Group, when you select a device group you can then move the whole group's orientation AROUND it's position on stage. Just be sure to edit Orientation values and not Position values.

I found all these options much easier to understand, when they are applied to a generic. Try this...open an empty theatre, design mode, patch a generic, open the fixture properties, only pay attention to the Plan (overhead) and Front (FOH to stage) windows.

Now experiment with the various orientation options. For example, with Axial rotation=0, Orientation to stage=0 and Angle to stage=Vertical Down; the light beam is pointing down to the stage (Front Window). Orientation to Stage has no effect BECAUSE it's Angle to stage is Vertical Down and you wont see the changes. Changing Angle to Stage to Vertical UP and the beam now points to the grid. Again Orientation to Stage has no effect that you can see.

As soon as you change Angle To Stage to Horizontal (beam now points to FOH ie US to DS in Plan window ) changing Angle to stage will have an effect because it's an orientation change you can actually see. 0 deg (North US),180deg (South DS) etc...

I really must buy Capture....

HTH

Andy

[niclights]

The problem is I'm sure something is fundamentally wrong. I sometimes run vis in show environment for testing. No matter what combination of position I try I can never get the visualisation to match the actual output on stage with moving heads. Even though there are no P/T inverts/swaps either in patch or on fixtures, if I get pan to respond correctly, tilt is wrong and vice versa. If I can summon the courage I'll try once more..

[iadwm]

Ok - if I'm going to be honest - I don't use Vis to actually program P+T's for exactly the same reason, I only use it to get a 'feel' for a plot. And to test playbacks and the like. The other day I used it to experiment with shapes and 20 LED PAR's, I only wanted them in a nice straight line and pointing down.

I can't help but think that if you wanted to program a 'real' show (as opposed to just get a feel) then Vis is not the program to do it with, aside from whether the orientation business is correct or not -there are all the other limitations.

But if you try with generic, the options do work and do make sense.

Also, the only time I tried Vis with a (real) fixture running as well, I drove myself nuts, I couldn't get them to match. After a lot of hair pulling, I noticed that the head I was using was 90 deg off it's 0 point anyway!
It must have been rebuilt wrong after a service or something - the lens points to the right, instead of the control panel at 0Pan and 0Tilt

I haven't bothered to try again. And I'll say it again, I really must buy Capture, although that cheapy from Sunlight, doesn't look to bad, for my purposes anyway...

Andy

[neil]

Thanks Andy.

Its really as you said, to get a feel. I am touring no production, so its all house movers and kit (hahah)..

How are you these days Andy, I should of remembered you last week when I was screaming out for crew

[iadwm]

I should of remembered you

Yes you should have! But never mind...

Things go well thanks Neil, I'm looking forward to a full and interesting festival run this Summer...

Although I'm having to miss The Glades this year because it got pushed forward by a week - it's now the same weekend we are at Easternhaze.

When did you get the D4? Did you keep the Pearl?

Oh, I eventually got back in contact with Leggy - via the Blue Room!
(it has it's uses...)

Cheers,

Andy