Help with best practice for Virtual Console design

[champagj]

First off, let me say how much I am impressed with QLC+ creator (Massismo) commitment to this software. Lasting longer than many marriages!

Designed a light show for my basement with 2 moving heads, 2 lasers, fixed RGB and 3 WLED strips. I got all the tech stuff, artnet network, config, custom fixtures, channel groups and all working.
But I found out I am not a very good light show artist! My hat off to you people who create these amazing shows!
I would like to have a mostly un-attended setup where a series of scenes, chasers and collections can be triggered from time-to-time during an evening using the virtual console.
I have designed basic-scenes for heads positions, laser effects, RGB effects then assigned to buttons, sliders, RGB picker and cue lists.
Lots of try and error and I feel its two step forward, one step back. A few questions:

How do I achieve proper dimmer control? (My RGB's dont have master dimmer but laser, heads and WLED do..)
It appears sometimes I have conflicts between scenes which have dimmer channels and slider controlling dimmers. Should I use sub-master mode whenever I can or specific fixture dimmer chanel?
How do I make sure a scene is not interfering with a chasers? I have used Solo Frames but does not work with cue lists..

I suspect the answer is "keep trying". We can all learn how to paint but only few can paint a masterpiece??

Advices will be appreciated.

[GGGss]

Welcome to the forum.

How do I achieve proper dimmer control? (My RGB's dont have master dimmer but laser, heads and WLED do..)

Yeah, I know the burden. Something called 'virtual dimmer' should be 'a nice to have'. For now, you only can play with submasters.

It appears sometimes I have conflicts between scenes which have dimmer channels and slider controlling dimmers. Should I use sub-master mode whenever I can or specific fixture dimmer channel?

Yeah, and again seen that done that. In my experience, it's best to use dimmers faders as a general background level and let the functions work on top of that. Let HTP do its work.
If you need real darkness for your functions to work correctly, you have to limit this level before playing functions. (Through loopback magic or submasters or even the combination)

How do I make sure a scene is not interfering with a chasers?

Program wisely... You cannot omit the one function that overrules another one. Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a temp fader inside QLC+, temporary overruling everything else. So you have to rely on HTP (or change your workflow to LTP, but that will show other problems very quickly).

I have used Solo Frames but does not work with cue lists..

Through the loopback magic, you could have a solo-frame, sending values to the loopback universe and have your chaser respond (enable / play / stop...) to these changes.
Another approach would be to use (sub)chasers inside the (main)chaser and step through the main chaser.

A fully automated light show is nearly impossible. It needs the human to press buttons. For a certain portion (song), you could use the show part of QLC+. The show part is not a real timecode solution, so don't get frustrated if you get confused using the show part.

If you have programmed all the small bits and pieces (like you already described), it's up to combine them wisely. Use of the collections feature comes in very handy here.

But I found out I am not a very good light show artist! My hat off to you people who create these amazing shows!

People creating these shows have certain looks in their minds and will program all the portions to come to this look. Compare it with firework: one cracker will do it at first but afterwards, you really need a combination of crackers to get to a look. Due to their price per piece, you have to think to use them sparsely enough and again wisely to come to a 'whaw'- emotion.

Personally, I make up stories:
I am swimming underwater almost getting out of breath. In the cave I'm swimming in I see light ahead, flickering light versus the blue sea. Passing the border of the cave, the light overtakes the blue of the sea and this means oxygen! I dive up and I am being exposed to the sun. After gasping enough air again, I decided to dive back into the darkness.
Reading this story you might start thinking about all the portions you need to cook this recipe.

When hearing music, I paint the picture going with it. It all comes to taste and manners - it has nothing to do to be able to program a scene... And please: don't cause mayhem. It is way better to have accents where pronunciation is necessary. KISS Keep It Stupid Simple works better than 'fire in the hole'

[champagj]

Feedback is very much appreciated.
Glad to hear I am not missing something and it just takes a bit of workflow to prevent conflicts.
I will explore the loopback functions for sure, did not you use this feature before.

Yes, keep it simple.. I should probably start there!

Thanks,