Hi,
i have the attached setup consisting of 18 uplights. Creating scenes for them has been very slow using qlcplus which makes me wonder if im doing something
inefficent.
Here is how i would create the attached scene in other dmx programms:
> select all fixtures that should be blue by shift clicking them inside the preview / fixture monitor
> open color wheel and select blue
> do the same for red and white
> done
The only thing that i have found in qlcplus to help me is using channel groups. Unfortunately there are quite a few combinations of relevant symmetries that i might
want to use to make a scene. Making channel groups for all of them would be a lot of work, not just when creating them but also when trying to find the right one to change the colors.
If i just group the vertical symmetries i still have to select 5 groups of fixtures with 4 channels (r,g,b, intensity), meaning 20 channel group selections
before i can set the blue color. This is a very slow and unessesary complex process.
Does qlcplus really offer no way to dynamically select multiple identical fixtures and change their values at once?
I would appreciate advice on how to better abstract things so that am able to test different color combinations more quickly because currently trying out colors
takes forever since its so hard to select the right fixtures.
Cheers
Better scene creation workflow for a given setup
-
GGGss
- Posts: 3052
- Joined: Mon Sep 12, 2016 7:15 pm
- Location: Belgium
- Real Name: Fredje Gallon
* place a slider onto your VC
* configure it to be in level mode
* add all your fixtures RGB channels
* use the Click&Go option in RGB
+ go into produce mode
Under the slider there is a square. Click it and select a color.
* use the DMX dump function and have these values dumped into a scene
Now you have f.i. a 'master' red scene.
* Open this scene and delete the fixtures you don't need.
and so on and so forth.
* configure it to be in level mode
* add all your fixtures RGB channels
* use the Click&Go option in RGB
+ go into produce mode
Under the slider there is a square. Click it and select a color.
* use the DMX dump function and have these values dumped into a scene
Now you have f.i. a 'master' red scene.
* Open this scene and delete the fixtures you don't need.
and so on and so forth.
All electric machines work on smoke... when the smoke escapes... they don't work anymore
-
Lynix
- Posts: 7
- Joined: Sat Nov 13, 2021 12:10 pm
- Real Name:
This does work and i didn't know about RGB able faders before but the way you described using them is not really usefull for me since i need
to be able to prototype and jump back between many different color variations quickly.
I've tried making making tons of channel groups.
While this supports group hierachies, meaning im able to change the color of a big group of lights, then override the values by changing another smaller group of light,
it doesn't support the color picker which makes color design very annoying. There is no way to select a channel group, open the color picker just for this group and then selecting
a different group to do the same thing. Making the groups is also very annoying since there are so many of them and for each fixture i have to make a group for red for green and for blue.
I will have a total of 28 lights and i need groups for many possible symmetries for quick editing.
I've tried to use RGB faders to speed up the programming. First of all i don't see any practical reason for them to even be faders. Having the fader at 0 is black, at 128 is your selected color and at 255 white.
I just don't see how that fader is every useful but maybe i just don't have a good usecase. I just want to use the color picker to change the RGB values for a subset of my fixtures. Problem is,
i really don't like the color picker. Its very hard to get the color you want without accidently having it be at a low brightness or mixing in some blue. Challenge: try to get Red to 255 and green to 128 while keeping blue at 0.
I've never seen a color picker like this be used in any other programm. I very much prefer the color picker that is used in the functions tab.
After a lot of very frustraiting attempts i think the verdict is that the best i can do is to use channel groups and use faders to select the colors.
Alternatively i could try to use qlcplus 5 since i have heard that the programming workflow is a lot better on that. That being said i have two shows with 300-600 paying visitors end of this week and have never used
version 5 before so it would be a very risky decision. Also i still saw some crash reports on github for workflows that i thought to be not to unusual.
Sorry for writing this in a bit of a frustraited way.
to be able to prototype and jump back between many different color variations quickly.
I've tried making making tons of channel groups.
While this supports group hierachies, meaning im able to change the color of a big group of lights, then override the values by changing another smaller group of light,
it doesn't support the color picker which makes color design very annoying. There is no way to select a channel group, open the color picker just for this group and then selecting
a different group to do the same thing. Making the groups is also very annoying since there are so many of them and for each fixture i have to make a group for red for green and for blue.
I will have a total of 28 lights and i need groups for many possible symmetries for quick editing.
I've tried to use RGB faders to speed up the programming. First of all i don't see any practical reason for them to even be faders. Having the fader at 0 is black, at 128 is your selected color and at 255 white.
I just don't see how that fader is every useful but maybe i just don't have a good usecase. I just want to use the color picker to change the RGB values for a subset of my fixtures. Problem is,
i really don't like the color picker. Its very hard to get the color you want without accidently having it be at a low brightness or mixing in some blue. Challenge: try to get Red to 255 and green to 128 while keeping blue at 0.
I've never seen a color picker like this be used in any other programm. I very much prefer the color picker that is used in the functions tab.
After a lot of very frustraiting attempts i think the verdict is that the best i can do is to use channel groups and use faders to select the colors.
Alternatively i could try to use qlcplus 5 since i have heard that the programming workflow is a lot better on that. That being said i have two shows with 300-600 paying visitors end of this week and have never used
version 5 before so it would be a very risky decision. Also i still saw some crash reports on github for workflows that i thought to be not to unusual.
Sorry for writing this in a bit of a frustraited way.
-
GGGss
- Posts: 3052
- Joined: Mon Sep 12, 2016 7:15 pm
- Location: Belgium
- Real Name: Fredje Gallon
Learning a program from scratch in one week: this means bad time management on your part... (I'm organising my showfile(s) for a big 12k admitters show in August - just to point out time management.)
Every desk has its own workflow. Don't you like it? Go elsewhere. Start learning Avolite, and you will bark after 30 hours of trying to achieve 'something'.
28 fixtures aren't the top of the world...
Now, take a breath or two - and restart.
Split your workload into:
* statics (basic colors, basic positions, basic preferences, having control over the intensity levels of your groups of fixtures)
* dynamics (chasers, RGB matrixes, gimmicks, flash, bumps-to-zero, grand-finale-blind, ...)
* EFX (on top of all above, add some tweaks and nudges to what is running)
As said before: I have the impression that you are result-biased - you NEED to have it solved. I understand your stress.
Therefore I suggest that you -seen your workload- accept the KISS principle: Keep It Simple and Stupid or Stupid and Simple. NO ONE will notice the lack of your time learning how to program a desk.
Use the wizard: https://docs.qlcplus.org/v4/function-ma ... ion-wizard
It will create a ton of functions and you will be set.
Every desk has its own workflow. Don't you like it? Go elsewhere. Start learning Avolite, and you will bark after 30 hours of trying to achieve 'something'.
28 fixtures aren't the top of the world...
Now, take a breath or two - and restart.
Split your workload into:
* statics (basic colors, basic positions, basic preferences, having control over the intensity levels of your groups of fixtures)
* dynamics (chasers, RGB matrixes, gimmicks, flash, bumps-to-zero, grand-finale-blind, ...)
* EFX (on top of all above, add some tweaks and nudges to what is running)
As said before: I have the impression that you are result-biased - you NEED to have it solved. I understand your stress.
Therefore I suggest that you -seen your workload- accept the KISS principle: Keep It Simple and Stupid or Stupid and Simple. NO ONE will notice the lack of your time learning how to program a desk.
Use the wizard: https://docs.qlcplus.org/v4/function-ma ... ion-wizard
It will create a ton of functions and you will be set.
All electric machines work on smoke... when the smoke escapes... they don't work anymore