Question about creating new fixture

[3rdPlanetRob]

I have some 6 channel generic "par 56" rgb led fixtures. Ch 1-3 is rgb, ch4 is intensity, ch 5 is strobe. I don't need anything except channels 1-3, i'm not really interested in strobe or ability to dim all 3 channels with ch 4.

Does anyone know, do i still need to create the channels i don't need and put values in? How would i do that and make it so they aren't changeable? i.e. channel 4 would always need to be at 255, channel 5 should be 0, nothing should ever change them. It would be better to not even have a slider available for them in simple desk, as if they didn't exist. That way they aren't modified by functions like rgb matrix..

Oddsocks was nice enough to help me with my custom fixtures awhile back. I got so busy with work after that i hardly had time to work on it, but i'm trying to understand the fixture editor better..

Thanks,

Rob

[3rdPlanetRob]

Here is the other problem i am having.

I have some fixtures (the ones that oddsocks helped me fix the defs for). Everything works great, until I added some cheap 6 channel generic rgb fixtures.
I don't understand the fixt editor very well, but it seems like the fixture i made shouldn't be the problem because in simple desk, everything works fine. I added the new fixtures to channel groups, so i can raise the red channel for example, and the red LEDS from both the old and new fixtures come on, and same for green and blue. They seem to work fine. The sliders on the top part of simple desk that control the new fixtures all work as well, tho i need to raise the 4th channel of each fixture (the fixtures dimmer).

But when i go into function and use a preexisting rgb matrix that worked fine before with the old fixtures, now *none* of the fixtures light up when i hit the play button. I did add the fixtures to the group that the old fixtures are in, called matrix, so that they (i thought) would work in the existing rgb matrix function. Something isn't working right- i also tried making a scene and can't get any of the fixtures to light up there either. At first i was sure it must be a hardware thing- cables, maybe dip switches set wrong, i spent most of the night making sure everything in the hardware was ok, a waste of time really tho since everything works just fine in simple desk.. Any ideas?

Thanks,

Rob

[OddSocks]

Hi,

Glad you think I was useful

Can you share your show file and fixture files so we can have a look.

One quick question, you mention 6 channel fixtures and then give details for 5

One the whole your fixture file should include all the channels as other wise adding of multiple fixtures will place them to close together.

When using the matrix did you but the intensity channel to max?

[siegmund]

I got so busy with work after that i hardly had time to work on it, but i'm trying to understand the fixture editor better..

Maybe video tutorial #3 is helpful for you: http://www.qlcplus.org/tutorials.html

[3rdPlanetRob]

Sorry, no it's a 5 channel fixture- r, g, b, fade and strobe. Here is a folder that contains three files-

The project file called "rockpdx new temp2.qxw", The fixt that you helped me with awhile back called "RockPDX-RawkLight-1-rgbw fixed by oddsocks.qxf"
And the new fixture def, called "RockPDX-RawkLight for rgb par.qxf"

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... UZmenVVWGc

The new fixture i'm sure isn't right, but it works fine in the simple desk, so i thought it should work fine in the functions section as well. The new fixture is 5 channels, in this order (1-5), red, green, blue, intensity, strobe. I only put 4 of them in for now. I don't need/want to use intensity or strobe, but intensity needs to be always at max, and the strobe always at 0. I'm watching through the tutorial again for fix defs to try to find how to do that so they're unaffected by functions. i'm so close it seems, i need to understand fix defs better for sure. In simple desk i have to go to each fixtures ch. 4 slider and raise it first, then i can raise the other channels, or use the channel groups.

I said before that once i go to functions, not even the original lights work, but that was wrong, i found that i needed to "reset universe", then the original lights work, but the new lights don't come on when i start any of the functions-the new lights only seem to work in simple desk, and i have to go back and raise each fixtures ch. 4 slider (dimmer ch) again for the new rgb lights. I hope i'm not making this confusing, it's late and i think i passed out about an hour ago.

Thanks for the link for the tutorials, i've seen them all several times, as well as the ones by PeJayCee, hard to understand in parts, but any tutorials are good tutorials..

Thanks for helping, the more i learn about this program the better it seems- so much has been thought out so well, a lot of times i'll work on something and think it would be really good if it could (.....), and a few minutes later i find that it does what i was hoping and more.. Sorry for the longwinded post, i wanted to make sure i include everything so those files aren't confusing.

Thanks!

Rob

[janosvitok]

Comments to the new fixture def:

- RGB look fine
- dimmer: remove White color (No color is used for dimmer -- due to historical reasons); capability min:255 does not make the channel be set to 255.
- head: when a fixture has only one head, you don't need to define it
- strobe: I think it's only beneficial to include the strobe channel -
1. you don't need/forget to add the one channel gap between fixtures
2. you may need the strobe somewhere in the future and it may come handy
- dimensions: you may want to add some dimensions so that the fixture displays properly in 2D view

The problem with intensity channel might be the cause why your new lights don't come up.
RGB Matrix will turn dimmer to maximum if the fixture has RGB channels AND a dimmer channel and you checked 'dimmer control'.
You may also create a scene with all dimmer channels set to 255, and a button for it and make it autostart (See in http://qlcplus.org/docs/functionmanager.html)

[3rdPlanetRob]

Thanks for looking at it for me.

I removed the head, i wasn't sure and it worked fine on the rgbw fixture so i left it, but it's gone now.

For the white channel- i wasn't sure what the appropriate "group" setting would be- i used the rgbw fixture as a starting point so just kept what was there. i was going to change ch4 to something else and add ch5, but i don't know what group to use for them- When you set a group- is that how the functions know not to change that channel, or is the group just cosmetic? I redid the fixture , changed the channel dips on the rgbs (they're upside down! grr.. that makes it deeply error prone), reimported the fixtures and added them top the matrix fixture group. Then i redid the channel group. Now, everything is back to where it was with those things fixed- the channel group faders in simple desk work, but the rgb fixtures still don't respond unless i first raise the dimmer channel for each rgb fixture. I did make sure that "dimmer control" is checked in the matrix function.

I resent the new fixture and project in case you have time to look, in a folder called new:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

maybe not nec though since you know how it's set up.. I don't know what the right "group" name is to use for strobe, i just picked maintenance. If i can just find how to make the fader channelstay at 255 that part would be fixed. For what i'm doing i'll never have a need to change it to another value, i'll be using the rgb channels directly (same with strobe)

For the spacing i just used the layout of the stage- this is how they would be on the stage floor, i should do it differently? I don't quite understand if how you space them in the project affects how the colors are spaced, for example in the matrix function.

Thanks again,

Rob T.

[3rdPlanetRob]

I have it working the best i can, i made a channel group that i can use to raise the fader on all of the rgb fixtures all at once, at least for now until i learn a better way, which is fine, i have a lot of things to work out anyway. I'm still not sure what it is about a fixture channel that tells the matrix function to raise/lower a channel, i'll keep reading.. Before, the matrix function was changing the fader channel just like the color channels, i'm not sure what exactly fixed it.

[janosvitok]

Rob,

you still had Amber color set in your dimmer channel. I'm attaching fixed fixture.

Jano

[3rdPlanetRob]

Thanks for fixing it, as mentioned i wasn't sure what to use for the channel so i just picked something that seemed to work for what i need, i still don''t understand it, but at least it works.

Thanks

[janosvitok]

For historic reasons, both primary colors (R/G/B, C/M/Y, A,W,UV, etc.) and dimmer channels share the same group.
So QLC+ distinguishes by looking at the color: when it's "No color" it's a dimmer, otherwise it's a color channel.
Dimmers have special/different behavior to colors, e.g. RGB matrix will manipulate them in order to the colors be seen.
When you set your dimmer channel to amber/white, you in fact disabled this special behavior.

[3rdPlanetRob]

Ok, thanks, i maybe i should have gotten that much, trying to learn too many things at once..