I've been trying to figure out how to use the show manager for the past few hours and getting more and more frustrated with it. I think I've finally figured out what's wrong though. I'm hoping it's just a bug that can get fixed. If it's working as intended, consider this feedback that it's HORRIBLE for someone trying to figure out and use the software.
Here's what I've been experiencing. In show manager, I add a new scene (track?) and then create a sequence. I add a step to that sequence, and then add some fixtures. I select some channels and set values. I then create a second step, and adjust the channels to different values.
What I expect: when I select step 1, the values I previously set will be there.
What happens: when I select step 1, the values I set for step 2 are there.
If I fix the values back to what I wanted for step 1, and advance to step 2, step 2 now has my values for step 1! It's an endless loop of steps not working! Even more frustrating was that for some scenes it seemed to work, and others it didn't.
After much banging of my head against the wall, I think I've found the problem. In order to work properly, you need to create the scene, create a sequence, select all the fixtures you will ever use at any point in that sequence, select all the channels you'll ever use in that sequence, and THEN add your first step.
Is this correct? The editor allows you to work in a non-linear fashion - I can go back to the general tab and add a new fixture to the sequence at any point without any hint that it won't actually work. That's great because if I'm designing something, I may well change my mind and decide I want to use another fixture I hadn't planned on originally, and just go add it in... or decide I want to use another color once I'm on step 3, and add it and set the values for my previous steps to 0... but the program then starts behaving all unpredictably.
If you aren't allowed to add additional fixtures or channels part way though, I'd suggest you disable the buttons and check boxes once the first step has been created, so that it isn't temping to go back and add something more.
Show Manager - Fixtures/Channels before Steps?
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Travis Cook
Also really annoying: When entering the hold and fade times, if you type in ".4" and press enter, the value becomes ".04". Last I checked, .4 and .04 were two very different values, and so when I type in one, it shouldn't give me the other. The only way to get .4 is to type ".40". Related, if I type in something like "6.3", it gives me ".03". I know I'm not that great at math, but something seems WAY wrong there! The only way to get it to work is to type "6s.30". The field is clearly already in seconds, so I don't get why I need to type the s. If I try to use any other value, like 1m, or 1h, it just sets the value to 0, so it CLEARLY doesn't need me to tell it I want seconds, it won't take anything else!
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Travis Cook
Yet another bug, this one leading to a program crash.
In the show editor, create a scene, then a sequence with multiple steps. In my case I have 91.
Select steps 80 - 85, press copy.
Select steps 86 - 91, delete them from the sequence, so that 85 is now the last step.
Select step 85 and then paste your copied steps.
What I expect to happen:
I wanted to repeat steps 80-85 twice instead of what I was doing before, and expected it to paste a copy of 80-85.
What actually happens:
Program crashes. Hope you saved recently! Console logs a "Segmentation fault".
Workaround:
Delete the old ending before you copy and paste.
In the show editor, create a scene, then a sequence with multiple steps. In my case I have 91.
Select steps 80 - 85, press copy.
Select steps 86 - 91, delete them from the sequence, so that 85 is now the last step.
Select step 85 and then paste your copied steps.
What I expect to happen:
I wanted to repeat steps 80-85 twice instead of what I was doing before, and expected it to paste a copy of 80-85.
What actually happens:
Program crashes. Hope you saved recently! Console logs a "Segmentation fault".
Workaround:
Delete the old ending before you copy and paste.
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OddSocks
Hi,
Sorry you are finding it frustrating, I scratched my head on this one a bit as well when I first started.
Now I am no expert but it appears that the "add step" button will insert a step after the selected step. This is all well and good but it does not automatically select the new step. So if you don't select the new step it will be inserting new steps at step 1.
So I found that if I select the last step before add a step all went just as I expected.
Hope this helps.
Sorry you are finding it frustrating, I scratched my head on this one a bit as well when I first started.
Now I am no expert but it appears that the "add step" button will insert a step after the selected step. This is all well and good but it does not automatically select the new step. So if you don't select the new step it will be inserting new steps at step 1.
So I found that if I select the last step before add a step all went just as I expected.
Hope this helps.