Trackball input plugin?

[Francois Doyon]

Hello, is there anyway to control the pan & tilt channels with a regular USB trackball instead of a mouse? I use one of those on my laptop and it would be quite useful for programming movers positions

Frank

[Massimo Callegari]

Hi, did you try it with QLC+ before posting ?
There's a HID plugin which is supposed to support joysticks and similar. Your device might work right away.

[Massimo Callegari]

Also, on which operating system ?
Which model is your trackball ?

[Francois Doyon]

Hi, thanks for your help but please keep in mind that I am new to this stuff and not particularly a computer whiz...Sorry!

I am running Vista on my laptop, using a Logitech trackball instead of a regular mouse.
The trackball behaves normally as a pointing device in QLT+ but I can't figure out how to configure it to drive the pan & tilt channels when programming positions. I looked in the many tutorials before posting and couldn't find anything about a HID plugin. I am having trouble with my PAL 1200 fixture definition as well so it makes it very hard for me to test the program with my scanners. I guess the learning curve right now seems pretty steep but I am confident to be able to use QLC+ with my gear instead of a console soon.

Regards

Frank

[Jano Svitok]

Frank,

setup Channel Groups for your Pan & Tilt channels. Channel groups accept input from plugins in design mode.

J.

[Massimo Callegari]

HID plugin is present only on Linux and OSX. Not Windows. (see compatibility table in QLC+ website)
At the moment I don't see a solution for you, sorry.

[Jano Svitok]

What's your problem with the fixture definition? Did you manage to create it? If there's a problem, attach what you have to new thread in Issues, feedbacks etc. and we'll discuss it there.

If HID is not possible, you may try other ways:
- OSC from a smartphone/tablet (TouchOSC app or something similar)
- if you have dongle with DMX input, you can use your console's faders
- if your console has MIDI out, and you have MIDI input on your soundcard, then you may use that (any other suitable MIDI device counts as well)

Post what HW do you use (DMX output, DMX console, etc.) and maybe we may work something out.

Last way:

Create XYPad in the Virtual Console for each scan, create empty chaser, start operate mode.
Now position your scanners using XYpads, and use Dump DMX button to add a scene to the chaser (maybe you'll need to create cuelist for it). Switch to design mode, and adjust the positions.

[Francois Doyon]

Hi Jano I am able to program positions with faders and/or XY pad. I was hoping to use the trackball like I see on consoles. My dongle Enttek USB pro mk II has a DMX input, but since Massimo mentioned HID is not an option with Vista I'll program with the XY pad, no big worry.

As far as the fixture definition goes I started making one with the editor but got confused on channel #17 in all modes and channels # 26 in mode 4 since there seem to be conflicting parameters in the manual. I include both the manufacturer data and my ''work in progress'' definition. Any help creating it would be greatly appreciated and useful for those of us still using vintage Martin lights

[Francois Doyon]

Now the manufacturer's data for the PAL 1200

Thanks again for your help!

Frank

[Jano Svitok]

Francois,

I guess there's one way to deal with it:

make a union of all three variants, and name it accordingly.

For channel 17:

0-2 Gobo Index CW or No rotation
3-126 Gobo Index CW or CCW Rotation
127 Gobo Index static or CCW Rotation
128-253? (there's a typo in manual!) etc.
254-255

Similarly for channel 26. It's a bit awkward, but QLC+ currently doesn't
support dependencies between channels.

[Davey Daytona]

hello Francois

I'm not sure if you solved your track ball issue. I use a usb gameing joystick from Phillips for XY pads. I use a midi interface for it. Its called Vellocet (VMIDIJoY) from Vellocet.com . it is freeware. works quite well.

[Francois Doyon]

@Jano: I'll make three variants but how do I make the union? I hope next time I build a definition the manual will be accurate

@ Davey: I downloaded the shareware, now I have to order a midi adapter for my interface.

Thanks for your help!

[tasaei]

hey is it possible to connect a joystick ? I think there should be a plugin HID in the input/outputs , but there is no O.o i use Mac Os X , do you have an idea ?
Thx Tasaei