Granularity of scenes/chasers/collections: Best practises

[djkad]

Hello guys,
Day by day i'm learning qlc+ (using version 4) and i'm very impressed about the quality of this software. Massimo is doing a wonderful work.
During this experience i made different mistakes that often has brought me in a wrong direction.
One big mistake i made is the way to organize scenes/chasers/collections/rgb matrix with my different kind of fixtures.
Basically i own 6 par leds, a strobe, 4 moving heads, 2 spiders and 2 uv led bar.
I've created some scenes just dumping all the dmx values of every fixture and assigned to a vc button.
In this case i found myself in the corner because when a scene is running, all the channels used are like "locked" and for example is not possible to move moving heads with sliders keeping other lights settings. For this reason i've splitted scene into two folders "colors" and "movements".
Inside of each folder i've created a subfolder for each kind of fixture (ex: par,bar,moving heads,spiders).
In this way i can create collections or chasers givin me the opportunity to override movements and/or colors in realtime.
Having scenes splitted in this way gives me more granularity.
Do you think that this way can be considered a best practice or i'm missing something?
I'm very interested about your opinion. Probably since Massimo built this software he could give us some advices regarding that.

[lighthacker2020]

Honestly, the software is flexible enough that the real answer to the question is that the "best" best practice is whatever you need to set up for you to get the desired result. More practically, I have my fixtures and functions configured much in the way you do. In my case, I have folders for each fixture type at the top level, and then sub-folders for the various capabilities (color, dimmer, tilt, pan, UV, laser, gobo, etc...). For example, some (but not all) of my fixtures have tilt/pan, some do not have dimmer channels, while only 1 fixture has a laser. For me, it's easier to visualize where the fixtures are placed on stage (and having the fixture type at the top level helps me keep that organized), and then create other functions for the fixture based on my desired outcome.

I have scenes that setup the static configuration for a fixture type (color, dimmer, strobe, fixture presets, etc...), and use RGB Matrix and EFX elements for the more dynamic looks for the fixtures. (fixture motion and effects ... many of the built in RGB Matrix scripts are super cool, if you haven't had a chance to mess around with them, I highly recommend it!) I take those 3 function types and put them in to collections and chasers. For me, the collections are based on around the songs we perform in the band (1 collection = 1 song). Since I work the lights from the stage, and we don't do a time-synchronized show, collections work best for me to effectively start the function at the beginning of the song (via midi foot switch), and leave it alone while I play. I do have some chasers to handle time-based effects (usually managed via a tap-tempo signal received from the foot controller), but the most important use of the chaser (for me) is to create a cue list configured in the same order as the set list we're playing for the night. (I'll reorganize that cue list chaser before the show) That chaser cue list is used in a virtual console cue list, which accepts midi inputs to advance the position to the next song.

The entire setup is a raspberry pi 2 running QLC+ and a VNC server (it also is setup to act as its own wi-fi access point so I'm not reliant on anyone else's network infrastructure), a Behringer FCB1010 midi foot controller, and an Amazon Kindle Fire tablet to connect to the pi over VNC so I can edit the queue list before the show, and keep an eye on the cue list position during the night. It's worked out pretty good for us ... previously we were using an American DJ My DMX Buddy, which required a full laptop to run the proprietary lighting software and hardware driver. The rest of the band is pretty impressed that I'm able to run a full light show for the night from a computer the size of a credit card.

[djkad]

Thank you for the feedback. Probably i will try to use your folder scheme

[questionmark]

Hello and welcome!

You mentioned the software "locking" the other channels when you dump a scene. The reason this happens is because you are including all channels in your dump - explicitly setting them to a value of 0. If you are putting scenes together, you will want to make sure you only dump what you need to dump. Change "Dump all channels" to "Dump selected channels", and only include the channels and fixtures that you need for the scene.

Good Luck!
~ Mark

[sandinak]

So FWIW .. I run complex cue'd shows and I use QLC as the 'lead' tool. I've bounced back and forth on the best ways to handle this granularity .. and to date my workflow is:

• configure all the fixtures for the show
• configure FixtureGroups i'll want to update/change together ( so like T1 for all fixtures on the first truss .. or M36 for all the moving head 36 LED washes )
• create QLC-scenes that represent discrete features... specifically:
  • colors
  • positions
  • specials ( gobo, focus, etc )
• I outline the show based on the songs .. assembling the scenes into Collections in folders and named: {{song}}.{{section}}.{{cue}} and assemble them into the show using a Chase like this:
  • each Cue has the assembled scenes that create the look I want .. so for instance for a moving head I may have 3 different scenes that references it: color, position and gobo.
  • I generally use the ABACAB formatting for the section.
  • I create folders for each 'song' for organization like: 0 - Preshow; 1- Sing Sing Sing
  • song 0 is preshow .. where we stage in equipment and have a preset that helps us know things are ready to go, run hazers, etc
  • song 1 is the first .. so it'd have somethng like 1.1.1 - opening beat
  • each 'section' in a song will have a 'cue' 0 .. which is not included in the 'chase' and is the base cue that sets background and default colors, and then subsequent cue's include that one and add modifiers like position, brightness, etc.
• When naming the collections we assemble in the chase we use either measure number ... so like 67.3 for measure 67 beat 3 .. or might name it on a choreo move if they're free form

I ended up writing tools to support this where once you create the fixtures and fixturegroups .. you can run a tool against your showfile and for each FixtureGroup it will create the colors, positions and special features. Because it's automagic .. I was able to do this *Across fixture types* ... so for a 'Red' color .. for the entire FixtureGroup it will set the gobo's on wheels AND set the LED correctly depending on the fixture type. If you add fixtures to a group it can be re-run and does the Right Thing including them .. etc. Quite useful You can find the code at https://github.com/sandinak/qlcplus-tools.

My only NIT with this approach is when you have a dynamic 'scene' you want to persist across other changes .. like an RGBMatrix or EFX .. there's no easy way to do it as the 'dynamic' element will restart from the beginning. I've played with multiple chases and a few other things but really havn't found a good solution. Anyone else solved this?

[GGGss]

I can second Branson's workflow. I'm doing 80% busking-jobs, so this may influence your workload.
In my setups, you will find Statics, Dynamics, and Efx.
I once wrote a lengthy post dealing specific with organizing your workflow.
viewtopic.php?f=29&t=11181&p=48286&hilit=statics#p48286

[sandinak]

Oh .. for those interested .. I've got last years showfile here: https://sandsite.org/downloads/Evo19-Full.qxw .. show's the breakout and how it works together.