2 D view does not show "Channels" with 4 CH Dimmers

[Legaziofunk]

Howdy,

am absolutely new to QLC and read manuals and watched a lot of tutorials.

So I managed to set up fixtures and stuff.

What i got so far:

• 9 x a 4 channel dimmer (from Botex DSP 40 from the fixture list, although I'll be using a different (a more recent one) - but I thought, this does not matter).

• appr. 40 scenes

• and some chasers, made out of these scenes

Because I can not test in the room later, I want to pre-program the lights which is, I guess, the common thing to do.
But I do need a visualization of the prgrams and I figuered, the 2 D viewer would be the tool for that as seen in many vids I have watched.

I intuitively understand that a dimmer with only a single channel will be displayed in the viewer as a circle which will then light up (in the chosen color/filter).

Yet, the 4-Channel dimmer packs are also displayed as just ONE circle. I have assigned the channels to each dimmer and have set a single scene (ON for one of the four channels and OFF for the other three on each dimmer) for every channel individually - and then added them to a chaser.

And when I run my chasers, they do NOT light up.

So, my question is two fold:

1. why don't these dimmers light up at all?
2. How can I display all four channels of every dimmer individually?

I attach a screenshot of the set up (in the upper left corner is a ONE Channel dimmer which I am using as a test fixture at home (the pink color) - and this one does light up in the 2 D viewer when i run the chaser… but the 4 Channel dimmers do not, as shown in the other two screenshots where one channel of the selected dimmer pack is up but nothing shows in the viewer)

Addendum: In the DMX viewer though, the digits on the very channels do change also in the 4 channel dimmer packs. As I said, I need a visualization of these chasers and the DMX viewer since it only shows digits and not how the lighting "looks".

[MichelSliepenbeek]

How can I display all four channels of every dimmer individually?

You could (on the Modes tab) add 4 heads to your Fixture Definition, but it is easier just to use 4 Generic Dimmers instead.

If you are not happy with the size of this fixture in the 2D Monitor, you could also create your own profile and change the dimensions to your likings.
In my own workspace i make use of 3 (personal) profiles wih different dimensions for a 1 channel fixture:

Mickey-Lite_Spot-Small.qxf

(808 Bytes) Downloaded 38 times

Mickey-Lite_Spot-Medium.qxf

(810 Bytes) Downloaded 40 times

Mickey-Lite_Spot-Large.qxf

(809 Bytes) Downloaded 39 times

As an alternative you could also use one profile with 3 different modes (1 ch Small, 1ch Medium and 1 ch Large) and use the "override Global Settings" option (on the Modes Tab).

[Legaziofunk]

How can I display all four channels of every dimmer individually?

You could (on the Modes tab) add 4 heads to your Fixture Definition, but it is easier just to use 4 Generic Dimmers instead.

Thank you.
So, from what I understand, there is no actual function (yet) in QLC+ - just workarounds?

I guess, I did intuitively just what you suggested above in yellow. I deleted all my 4-CH-dimmers and set up all channels with individual dimmers, hence creating a new universe.

I also changed the size of the 2 D monitor - as you can see in my screenshot before.

The entire thing looks now like this (cf. screenshot below).

Also, I noticed, that QLC does not seem to support deleting an entire universe if it is not last of the list.
So I kept the "old" one with no fixtures assigned since I worked in the second (new) one to compare the assigned DMX-addresses.

But: does anybody know what is the sense in not being allowed to delete a universe that is not bottom of the universe list?

[MichelSliepenbeek]

A 4 channel dimmer pack (like your Botex DSP 40 or Showtec Multidim) is usually used in combination with (1, 2, 3 or) 4 Par Cans (incandescent lights like Par64, Par56, Par38, Par36, ....).

So in this situation the Controller is not integrated within a Fixture, but separated from (1 to) 4 Fixtures.
For the 2D viewer, your Dimmer pack is irrelevant, you want to see what the (up to) 4 Par Cans do.
For the 2D viewer it does not matter where you position your Dimmer Pack (it could even be in a cabinet next to the stage), the positions off the 4 Par Cans however do matter.

It is important to use the right definition of "Fixture": just approach your 4 Par Cans as being 4 (single channel) Fixtures.

[edogawa]

Just to mention a detail that hasn't been covered here, you also can increase the channel count when adding a generic dimmer, Like this, in the 2D window you get a "block" with as many single lights in a row as you defined.
For a 6ch dimmer this looks like a PAR64 6-Pack Bar in the 2D space.
When I started using QLC, I used this method to represent the dimmer packs of the venue, often one or more devices with 4, 6 or 12 channels per unit.
That way, in the 2D view, you can't move the individual dimmers so that they represent your physical situation, but you get a tidier fixture list and a kind of logical representation of the dimmer installation (depending on how the power cabling in the venue is done, here they often use 6 channel multicores and power outlet bars).
Just my 2c...

[MichelSliepenbeek]

About Universes:

If you start with a new project it will have 4 universes.
If you click on Universe 4 (on The Inputs/Outputs Tab) you can change the name to "Universe 5", but if you then click the + button to add another universe it will also be "Universe 5".

If you go to the Fixtures tab to add a new Fixture and click on the Dropbox to select the Universe, you will notice that there are two Universes 5 (and no Universe 4, i.o.w. it will show the descriptions you gave).
But if you select the first appearance of Universe 5 (and press OK), you will notice that the Fixture you just added is actually in Universe 4.

This is why i use Universe Names like "Universe 1 - Fixtures, "Universe 2 - More Fixtures, "Universe 3 - Loopback 1", "Universe 4 - Loopback 2", "Universe 5 - Midicon", "Universe 6 - LaunchPad", ....).
Leave the original name unchanged, just add your description to it.


QLC+ provides you with a lot of flexibility to create whatever you want, but (maybe because of that) it sometimes also allowes you to make silly mistakes.