Round Matrix Panels

[SPOPATT]

Hey folks,

I am impressed with what many of you have managed to do with the QLC+ software. I have been assisting a local after school program with some custom lighting using QLC+ because it works well with the stage lighting in the room. I think it would be pretty cool if I could do some designs on these but I do not see a way in creating a round matrix in QLC+. Am I missing something or is this not supported? What would you recommend? I suppose I could make some animations frame by frame but there are so many neat animations built in.

I've attached photos. There will be 12 total. I'm eager to share what the finished product is.

[SPOPATT]

I attached a photo of the finished panel and I currently have one of those cheap controllers attached to it. I am still confused how to make QLC+ see it as a round panel vs a traditional square one.

I believe I mentioned this but there are 256 pixels in each of these rounds.

Thanks!

[janosvitok]

You need to enter each row as a separate fixture, and create proper layout in a fixture group.
If you now some python or similar language, you may use it to generate the xml snippet programmatically.

Jano

[SPOPATT]

You need to enter each row as a separate fixture, and create proper layout in a fixture group.
If you now some python or similar language, you may use it to generate the xml snippet programmatically.

Jano

Thanks. I’ll give the first bit a try and relay my results.

I do not know python. I wouldn’t know where to begin.

[SPOPATT]

So to test this, I created two RGB Matrices in QLC+ (6x1 and 10x1 being the first two rows) and I attempted to move them to the proper location using the fixture monitor and it seems to automatically throw them in squares and I end up missing some of the pixels. Do I need to create a custom fixture for this?

What am I missing here? It seems like I am just not picking up on something obvious here.

Edit: I misunderstood. My bad. I'll update when I get further.

[edogawa]

You can define a matching fixture group and run a RGB Matrix on that , without any further scripting or such.

See the attached workspace:

I defined 256 generic RGB fixtures, which needs approximately one and a half universes.
Then I selected the first six fixtures, created a Fixture group in an 18*18 grid shape, and, in the fixture group editor, moved these to the middle six fields of the top row.
Then, by selecting the next start position and using the left arrow "Add to row" icon I added, row by row, the right number of fixtures to reflect the shape of the device.

Selecting this fixture group in RGB Matrix editor gives you an exact preview right there.
Arranging them in the Monitor 2D view though will be a very time consuming but entirely possible job.

[SPOPATT]

You can define a matching fixture group and run a RGB Matrix on that , without any further scripting or such.

See the attached workspace:

I defined 256 generic RGB fixtures, which needs approximately one and a half universes.
Then I selected the first six fixtures, created a Fixture group in an 18*18 grid shape, and, in the fixture group editor, moved these to the middle six fields of the top row.
Then, by selecting the next start position and using the left arrow "Add to row" icon I added, row by row, the right number of fixtures to reflect the shape of the device.

Selecting this fixture group in RGB Matrix editor gives you an exact preview right there.
Arranging them in the Monitor 2D view though will be a very time consuming but entirely possible job.

This is awesome. Thank you for doing that. I was trying to add the fixtures by the number of lights in each row. You spent some time on this. You're awesome. This cleared everything up for me.

[edogawa]

I wasn't sure if this is actually possible the way you wanted, and got curious.

Then I remembered that about 3 years ago I had programmed a theater show with LED strips with irregular counts of lights per row, So I looked in my backup folders, found it and looked what I did back then. Programming the demo was another useful exercise in which I found out about the automatic row/column filling, so I also learned something while going. All in all it took less than an hour today in the morning and it was fun.

Glad I could help!

[SPOPATT]

I will share my results. I have one of the twelve made so far.

QLC+ is super powerful. I know it's a labor of love (and frustration) at times but it's insane. Every once in a while I look for other DMX software but I always come back.