Q Light Controller+

[copied from an email discussion]

In the Show Manager I added a scene (track) for the music and a scene for the sequences (another track). I then thought I could add scenes that I had already created in QLC, into specific points in the timeline. For example, I had a scene where all the lights face forwards and are on with the colour white and the open gobo. I had another scene where the lights are off and pointing downwards.

How do I add the first scene at a specific point in the timeline and the second scene at another point? Or do I have to re-create all the scenes using sequences and the sliders at the bottom?

Can you explain what the "Fade In" and "Fade Out" times are?

Also, what is the record button for at the bottom and the drop-down list of Chases? They didn't seem to do anything when I clicked on them.

One other question, what is the "Blind Mode" button for?

I think the difficulty of understanding how the Show Manager works, is because it goes beyond the traditional scheme of QLC.
You have to imagine a track like a representation of fixtures/channels. It's a generic reference for the sequences you will use in the timeline on that track.
Using an existing Scene (even created with QLC) as a track, will only consider the fixtures/channels present in the Scene, but not its values.

Then, to change the Scene values, you will have to create one or more Sequences with one or more steps in it. Every single step will use the track associated Scene fixtures/channels and will change their values at the desired point in time.
To set up a step, yes, you need to act on the Scene faders in the bottom part of the screen.

The idea was: why having a bunch of Scenes all using the same fixtures ?
For example, you could normally have one scene for red lights, one for blue, one for green, one for purple, one for white, one for black.
With Show Manager, you create one single Scene and one single Sequence with just the 6 steps to reproduce a timed sequence of the above colors.

That's basically the concept.

If you're doing manual live light shows, probably you won't need a Show created with the Show Manager.
In these days I'm setting up a 2 hours show fully created with Show Manager and it seems QLC+ is working good for me. My project is almost passing one megabyte of size, with something like 1000 steps in it and I'm around 50% of the whole work.


"Fade In" is the transition between one step to another. Basically you can fade in from black to white or from white to black. It's still a fade in.

"Fade Out" happens at the end of a step and is used to fade all the values to zero. I never use it, cause "fade in" can perform also a fade out.

The record button in Scene Editor is quite self explanatory (just read what appears on its tooltip). "Clone this Scene and add a new step to the selected Chaser". It does exactly what it says.
It's a kind of way to shorten the editing time and the number of clicks.
Although, I never tested this in the Show Manager. Any feedback is welcome.

Not sure what "Blind mode" is either. It was there before I started QLC+. Maybe it temporarily disables the Scene ?

"Blind Mode" is a standard feature on almost all consoles that do not have separate edit vs run modes.

Having separate run and edit modes are great in two situations, but otherwise a pain.
1) The operator is not nearly as experienced as the programer.
2) A long running program. Example: A play that will run in one venue many times a week for months on end which therefore shouldn't change from show to show.

However if your working in a venue that does different programs almost every service having to switch modes is a pain. I've found some consoles do not remember state when switching so you have to restart cues, scenes ect.... If you are editing during a rehearsal or have control of the house lights this can be very annoying to people in the room. I can give more pain examples, but don't have time right now.

Blind mode is for a console that is always live. Blind hides the contents of the programmer from output. This lets you make changes to cues, scenes, etc... without interrupt anything on stage at that moment.