I've been asked to light an opera this Sunday, in a venue that has 10 universes networked, with approximately 255 fixtures defined.
Many of the fixtures are multi-channel fixtures.
I'm not sure if this will be an Artnet or ACN network.
I'll be using a Windows 10 Dell M6700 laptop with a 2.70GHz processor and 32gb of RAM, with QLC+ 4.12.6. Gigabyte ethernet.
This is a one day event. I've never used this large a configuration. Does anyone have any warnings, recommendations or advice?
10 Universe Network
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Yestalgia
- Posts: 419
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I've used 16 universes of control for LED strips on an Intel Nuc with no issues. QLC+ punches well above it's weight.
With that said, one thing to look out for is the smoothness of your moving heads. If you have too much going on for your PC to cope with, it can sometimes cause stuttering. Do plenty of tests when you show up and Ideally some pre-vis.
The biggest thing you've got going for you is that it's artnet. If you have any issues you can simply pull the ethernet and it should(do a test) hold whatever the values are.
Only setup your Fixture Groups after you're 100% confident in the patch. It's a pain to deal with later.
Grab yourself a second laptop and load the show on it as a backup. Then you can switch to it by pulling the ethernet out of the main and plugging it in.
Finally, grab photos!!! - show us your patch, the hardware, your Virtual Console. Do a post! - I'm super keen to hear how this goes.
With that said, one thing to look out for is the smoothness of your moving heads. If you have too much going on for your PC to cope with, it can sometimes cause stuttering. Do plenty of tests when you show up and Ideally some pre-vis.
The biggest thing you've got going for you is that it's artnet. If you have any issues you can simply pull the ethernet and it should(do a test) hold whatever the values are.
Only setup your Fixture Groups after you're 100% confident in the patch. It's a pain to deal with later.
Grab yourself a second laptop and load the show on it as a backup. Then you can switch to it by pulling the ethernet out of the main and plugging it in.
Finally, grab photos!!! - show us your patch, the hardware, your Virtual Console. Do a post! - I'm super keen to hear how this goes.
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GGGss
- Posts: 3052
- Joined: Mon Sep 12, 2016 7:15 pm
- Location: Belgium
- Real Name: Fredje Gallon
* If something goes wrong, only you will notice, not the audience.
* 255 fixtures - you don't need them all - KISS where possible. Create a front-total and build upon that. Depending on which opera, 4-5 looks are sufficient. Refrain from creating mayhem on stage. Create some depth on stage. Side fills work wonders.
* One of the last steps in programming should be: add fade times to whatever you programmed. The magic of light works best slowly, so nobody notices a new called scene.
* Get in as early as possible. Having to spend 3 hours before showtime doing nothing works better than changing last-minute scenes when the audience gets in.
* What Yestalgia said: get a 2nd QLC+ instance with you. Have it prepped in such a way that you can provide basic (emergency) lighting. The orchestra will get in at some time and need light to work under. During that time you cannot do anything but wait...
* It wouldn't be the first time I have myself locked up during the night. You can work undisturbed and have the stage all for yourself alone. But an opera would not need a busking show file I guess...
Break a leg and have fun
* 255 fixtures - you don't need them all - KISS where possible. Create a front-total and build upon that. Depending on which opera, 4-5 looks are sufficient. Refrain from creating mayhem on stage. Create some depth on stage. Side fills work wonders.
* One of the last steps in programming should be: add fade times to whatever you programmed. The magic of light works best slowly, so nobody notices a new called scene.
* Get in as early as possible. Having to spend 3 hours before showtime doing nothing works better than changing last-minute scenes when the audience gets in.
* What Yestalgia said: get a 2nd QLC+ instance with you. Have it prepped in such a way that you can provide basic (emergency) lighting. The orchestra will get in at some time and need light to work under. During that time you cannot do anything but wait...
* It wouldn't be the first time I have myself locked up during the night. You can work undisturbed and have the stage all for yourself alone. But an opera would not need a busking show file I guess...
Break a leg and have fun
All electric machines work on smoke... when the smoke escapes... they don't work anymore
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sbenejam
- Posts: 607
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- Real Name: Santiago Benejam Torres
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Take a look at this post. It's a renovated theater a couple of years ago and with quite modern equipment. I couldn't control the lights, I just did the audio part, the fellow guy who controlled the lights used a Win10 computer and had 13 Artnet universes configured in his QLC+ project. The function went pretty well.
viewtopic.php?f=24&t=14670&p=61695#p61695
viewtopic.php?f=24&t=14670&p=61695#p61695
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sbenejam
- Posts: 607
- Joined: Sun Apr 12, 2015 6:28 pm
- Real Name: Santiago Benejam Torres
- Contact:
About my experiences as a user of ArtNet. I have an Enttec DMX USB Pro and haven't used it for a while. The ArtNet AN6DMX2 node allows me to simplify the DMX wiring from the node to the fixtures and in case the network disconnects the lights remain in their last state.
viewtopic.php?p=62250#p62250
viewtopic.php?p=62250#p62250
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kenact
- Posts: 435
- Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2015 6:43 am
- Real Name: Ken Coughlin
Thank you all for your advice.
I plan to have a second laptop with me. I've never been at this venue before, I will not get into the venue until 9AM Sunday, and our show is at 4PM. I'm only going to have about 3 hours before tech rehearsal begins. I do have the Rep Plot and Cheat Sheet, so I'll be able to preconfigure all my instruments before I walk in the door.
There are a number of moving heads, but I plan to stay away from those, as I won't have much time with my singers on stage.
There is an additional complication. There will front projected images, and I'll have to keep my lights off the screen, but that may have the effect of simplifying my setup, by limiting some of the fixtures I can use.
Other operas I've done for this company, have been relatively simple, with 3 different playing spaces, and limited working fixtures. This is a larger venue, more instruments and a separate theatrical director, using at least 6 playing spaces. It will be interesting.
Another question. If their ETC Ion is setup to use ETCNet2, instead of Artnet, do I have any options to use QLC+?
I plan to have a second laptop with me. I've never been at this venue before, I will not get into the venue until 9AM Sunday, and our show is at 4PM. I'm only going to have about 3 hours before tech rehearsal begins. I do have the Rep Plot and Cheat Sheet, so I'll be able to preconfigure all my instruments before I walk in the door.
There are a number of moving heads, but I plan to stay away from those, as I won't have much time with my singers on stage.
There is an additional complication. There will front projected images, and I'll have to keep my lights off the screen, but that may have the effect of simplifying my setup, by limiting some of the fixtures I can use.
Other operas I've done for this company, have been relatively simple, with 3 different playing spaces, and limited working fixtures. This is a larger venue, more instruments and a separate theatrical director, using at least 6 playing spaces. It will be interesting.
Another question. If their ETC Ion is setup to use ETCNet2, instead of Artnet, do I have any options to use QLC+?
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Yestalgia
- Posts: 419
- Joined: Thu Jun 17, 2021 9:31 am
- Location: Australia
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They'll only be running ETCNet2 if they have the expensive nodes that go with it.
You still have options if this is the case. The ION should support DMX Input universes from ARTNET. Take a look at the documentation for the ION to see what's possible.
You'd be trying to set something up like this in the ION:
Artnet 0 -> ETCNet2 0
I hope for your sake it's just Artnet; this is the most likely anyway, since not every LX Operator uses ION.
You still have options if this is the case. The ION should support DMX Input universes from ARTNET. Take a look at the documentation for the ION to see what's possible.
You'd be trying to set something up like this in the ION:
Artnet 0 -> ETCNet2 0
I hope for your sake it's just Artnet; this is the most likely anyway, since not every LX Operator uses ION.
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kenact
- Posts: 435
- Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2015 6:43 am
- Real Name: Ken Coughlin
So, the show itself went well, and again, I want to thank all of you for your help.
It turned out they were setup for sACN, so I used E1.31 and was able to communicate with every universe. Interestingly, not every universe showed the joystick right away, but as soon as I accessed any of the faders in that universe, the joystick appeared.
Several of the movers were homed to non-zero values, which limited what I could do with them. I was able set them to a value higher than their homed value, but not lower. The techs at the venue unpatched the movers a from the Ion console, and I was able to gain full control.
A problem did arise, causing me to lose a great deal of time right after the required lunchbreak. I wasn't allowed in the booth during the lunch break, so I brought my laptop into the green room, to continue working. When the lunchbreak was over, I saved my workspace and closed my laptop, without shutting down QLC+ or the laptop itself. When I got back to the booth, with only 2 hours to curtain and an hour and a half to house open, I found that a lot of faders were up, when there were no scenes active and no channels on Simple Desk were being controlled.
I'm guessing that had something to do with the OS and going into hibernation mode without shutting down the program. I probably saved myself 2 minutes by doing that, but cost myself nearly an hour fixing it. I've tried a couple of things to recreate the exact sequence of events that caused the problem, but haven't figured it out yet. I think it's easier to just save the project and shutdown the program going forward. I ended up having to go through 11 universes and zero out every fader in Simple Desk, save the project, shutdown QLC+ and reload it. That did solve the problem. It also took up the time I was planning to use to create a few more interesting scenes. Instead I had to settle for 6 basic looks, and I just brought each one up as needed. It looked good, but not great. I'm sure the audience was pleased, but they weren't wowed.
I created a few fixtures, which I'll upload. A Rosco DMX Iris, Chroma-Q Color-Force 48 and 72.
Ultimately, I ended up controlling about 100 fixtures, over 11 universes, and over 800 channels, and once I fixed my screw up, everything worked flawlessly. I was too busy fixing my screw up to take any pictures, sorry.
Again thank you all for your help and THANK YOU MASSIMO.
It turned out they were setup for sACN, so I used E1.31 and was able to communicate with every universe. Interestingly, not every universe showed the joystick right away, but as soon as I accessed any of the faders in that universe, the joystick appeared.
Several of the movers were homed to non-zero values, which limited what I could do with them. I was able set them to a value higher than their homed value, but not lower. The techs at the venue unpatched the movers a from the Ion console, and I was able to gain full control.
A problem did arise, causing me to lose a great deal of time right after the required lunchbreak. I wasn't allowed in the booth during the lunch break, so I brought my laptop into the green room, to continue working. When the lunchbreak was over, I saved my workspace and closed my laptop, without shutting down QLC+ or the laptop itself. When I got back to the booth, with only 2 hours to curtain and an hour and a half to house open, I found that a lot of faders were up, when there were no scenes active and no channels on Simple Desk were being controlled.
I'm guessing that had something to do with the OS and going into hibernation mode without shutting down the program. I probably saved myself 2 minutes by doing that, but cost myself nearly an hour fixing it. I've tried a couple of things to recreate the exact sequence of events that caused the problem, but haven't figured it out yet. I think it's easier to just save the project and shutdown the program going forward. I ended up having to go through 11 universes and zero out every fader in Simple Desk, save the project, shutdown QLC+ and reload it. That did solve the problem. It also took up the time I was planning to use to create a few more interesting scenes. Instead I had to settle for 6 basic looks, and I just brought each one up as needed. It looked good, but not great. I'm sure the audience was pleased, but they weren't wowed.
I created a few fixtures, which I'll upload. A Rosco DMX Iris, Chroma-Q Color-Force 48 and 72.
Ultimately, I ended up controlling about 100 fixtures, over 11 universes, and over 800 channels, and once I fixed my screw up, everything worked flawlessly. I was too busy fixing my screw up to take any pictures, sorry.
Again thank you all for your help and THANK YOU MASSIMO.