Release fixture attributes while busking

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GB
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Release fixture attributes while busking

Postby GB » 03 Feb 2012, 21:13

Hello, I am starting to learn Titan from being a Classic Pearl user. My question is “How can I release lights from the programmer without changing their attributes”.

Right now many of my fixtures will not response to the playbacks if the fixtures are active in the programmer. This presents a problem while busking in that I do not want the fixtures intensity to go to zero when I press the “clear” button. Also “Locate” is not a good choice to remove fixtures from the programmer while busking.

What’s a good method to remove fixtures in the programmer while busking?
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Postby icke_siegen » 03 Feb 2012, 22:25

Program a memory only for the dimmer channels, and bring up your lights there. Then you can happily busk along, and press CLEAR whenever needed. The fixtures should remain on, without any visible changes.

You might wish to have a look at the Clear options (whilst <Clear> is pressed), see manual section 4.1.3 - in particular 'Freeze Current Values' should be set to 'Freeze' for you.

You'll find it useful to have some 'default' palettes in convenient reach, like: 'Shutter open', 'Gobo Rot = Off'. Else, you'll press 'Clear' to get a clean start, but the fixtures keep strobing and such.

The programmer has always priority over playbacks - like in the Classic consoles.
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niclights
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Postby niclights » 03 Feb 2012, 22:33

icke_siegen wrote:The programmer has always priority over playbacks - like in the Classic consoles.

Unless playback is set to very high priority.
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Postby icke_siegen » 03 Feb 2012, 22:37

Oops, that's new to me. May I suggest to mention this in the manual?
GB
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Postby GB » 04 Feb 2012, 00:59

Thank you for the replies (all good stuff). My rig is mostly Robe's and Mac's. I was not clear in my initial questions. If I have a playback up (with dimmers and Inteligent lights) then select 4 Robe's, hit a 1 second fade then hit my singer 1 position palette the Robes move to the singer 1 position and the remaining dimmer channels and movers in the orignial playback remain unchanged (only the 4 Robes that were part of the playback moved).

At this point I want to release my 4 Robes on singer 1 becuase I need to bring up a different playback which those 4 Robes are part of. My questions was how do I clear the attributes out of the programer for those 4 Robes (without changing their attributes) so my next playback will be able to control of them?
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Postby icke_siegen » 04 Feb 2012, 11:07

Short answer: do nothing, just fire the playback. If you called the palette with timing, it doesn't go into the programmer.

Or: simply hit clear, as discussed in our posts. This will make sure the programmer gets cleared, and depending from mentioned settings, LTP channels will remain unchanged despite being removed from programmer.

Or: select the fixtures you want to clear, hold <clear>, select 'clear selected fixtures'.

Or: assign the next playback priority 'very high' (imho this makes sense only for playbacks you'll use quite frequently).

Of course, you could also release the selected fixtures. This will make them return to their previous state (Clear, Release and stuff is frequently discussed when training MA users on Avo desks... the terms are slightly different, but you can get where you want). But when the programmer is in the game, Release turns to Off, which has some caveats. I'd strongly go for (selective) CLEAR.
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Postby niclights » 04 Feb 2012, 11:47

Exactly. Just pressing clear should be all you need to do and is very common practice on Avo consoles.

However, I will add that normally I would advise you don't overlap playback and palettes like this if possible. ie. in a wholly busking environment I would use playbacks almost exclusively for intensity only with all positions/colours/gobos coming from palettes. If the show is known then program everything into cues/cue-lists etc. That way you never enter into a situation where one overrides the other. Of course there may always be exceptions but I find this works well in general.

Also, when busking, try to make use of quick palettes. A quick palette is a palette recalled without selecting any fixtures/groups. This does mean you have to program palettes specifically so they only contain data for fixtures you want to recall but it is a very fast way of operating and nothing goes in the programmer with no need to press clear.
By way of an example if I were pre-programming a 'rehearsed' show, I might create a set of colour palettes that contain colours for all of my fixtures. I will then use these for programming by selecting group(s), apply colour to that group and record a cue.
But if I were programming for a busked show I would also create a separate set of colours for each fixture (or perhaps fixture type) so I can control the colours of fixure or fixture types independently without having to use groups.
GB
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Postby GB » 04 Feb 2012, 22:11

Icke_segan and Niclights

You two are great. You have made more headway with me on this subject than all the time I have spent with the manual!

I used Icke’s suggestion regarding the options in clear. This worked perfectly. Key presses are Clear, A,A (Clear, A – Select attributes, A – exclude intensity). The next thing I need to figure out is how to create a macro of these key presses (I do not have a Pearlx wing).

I will also review the Clear, Release method that was mentioned.

Niclights, thanks for the helpful tips on busking a show. Do you prefer to run your shows from the Run mode (using Takeover) or straight from the Program mode?

Thank you again, I will run through all your suggestions!
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niclights
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Postby niclights » 04 Feb 2012, 23:17

I always use Program mode. There are only two reasons I can think of for Run mode - dedicated tap tempo softkey and preset faders that don't enter the programmer. I set the blue key for tap tempo on chases. Note that 'takeover' and 'normal' are now just key profiles.

Regarding clear mask you can shortcut by pressing the dimmer or shutter attribute bank key. ie. Hold clear and press dimmer. The majority of mask settings can be done this way. Attribute options (the old change bank key) toggles exclude/include all. I often locate just Pan/Tilt by holding the locate button, attribute options, pan/tilt.
Also, if you go to clear options you can set it to remember the mask settings so that it always clears without dimmer. However, if you do this remember that you have. It is easy to forget and wonder why you can't clear things.

I have to say I'm still confused why you would need to do this. Normally intensities would be recorded and fired from cues. Or, in the case of the Expert, from the preset handles themselves. I would try to avoid using directly from wheels/numeric or attribute editor during a show.
GB
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Postby GB » 05 Feb 2012, 23:36

Here’s the problem I ran into and why I am clearing specific attributes.

Example:

1. In the program mode, Hit Clear
Select 6 robes, hit locate (lights turn on and go to Locate position) and the Channel Grid shows no attributes are in the programmer, all good so far.

2. This is where the trouble starts:
I push up a playback fader; no response (tried several playbacks; no response).
Pressed clear; now playbacks work on all faders.

3. I started over (repeat step 1).
Selected 2 Robes from the six that are in the locate position.
Pressed a grey button with a timed position; the 2 lights moved correctly to the P/T position.

4. I pushed up a playback fader;
four of the six Robes moved to the playback position with all the correct attributes.
The 2 Robes previously moved to a timed preset position remain in their P/T position but the other attributes of the playback correctly work.

5. To regain control of the 2 Robes that are in the P/T palette position (and still selected):
I use a macro “Clear, A, A” (clears all attributes except intensity).

6. I push up a playback fader; all playback faders now work correctly.

Is this normal operation in Titan?

The other issue that just occurred is that no values appear in the external LCD Channel Grid screen for attributes. What happens now is a blue box will show up in an attribute field when a selected fixture’s attribute is changed; just no values. Normally attribute values in the Channel Grid screen will change as they are changed on the console. Any ideas on this?
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niclights
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Postby niclights » 05 Feb 2012, 23:56

Yes, it's normal operation on any Avo including Classic. Programmer takes priority unless playback is set to very high prio. This is normally what you want - ie. override with programmer until cleared.
Locate is usually used as a quick starting point for programming or to check fixtures are working after rigging etc.

As mentioned earlier, record and fire intensity cues and try to separate attributes between cues and palettes when busking (ie. positions just from palettes or just from cues).

Is channel grid is set to display levels in the context menu?
GB
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Postby GB » 06 Feb 2012, 04:46

I must have turned off the “levels’ in the Channel Grid context menu when I was zooming around trying to get things figured out. I clicked on “levels” and the values are back working normally!

I believe I am sorted out on this topic now. Most all of our work will be using palettes and cues built with palettes; all your tips and advice will be put to good use.

Thank so much for your replies!

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