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    stevi
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Probably an absolute beginners question (?)

Hi all

Im quite new to the world of ColorSource (the 40 model) and i'm still trying to understand the functionality of the console. In this context there is something basic i dont seem to understand and i would be thankful if somebody could shed some light on the issue (wich probably is not an issue at all but a misunderstanding):

1. I'm loading a session (somebody else saved it, so i do not know a 100% what is going on); some cues are in there, nothing else.

2. i'm recording a playback memory consisting of multiple lights and i also have to pan and tilt some moving-heads to get the scene right. Ok, i save this to fader 1 (no other playback memories are saved)

3. Pulling all faders down, set to playback mode. done

PROBLEM:

Now when i move up that fader 1, the moving heads move from some random position into the position i told them to go. Fine, so the scene does look right when that fader is up. But when i move the fader down again the moving-heads move back into this position wich i never told them to go to...
It looks like the movement has been recorded but i have not recorded a sequence. Now, depending on the cue number, the moving-heads move from some other position into the position saved on my playback memory... Weird thing is, even when i pull down the cue master fader, the moving-heads move back and forth when moving the fader with the playback memory on.

When i move the fader and i'm looking at the position settings of the moving-heads i can see pan and tilt changing, so i copy pasted all settings from "fader up" to "fader down". This stopped the movement but only until i change the position via cue again. Then all my playback memory settings seem to somehow be overruled when moving the fader back down. ...Evene when cue master is completely down.

Looking at the stored playback memory on page one i can see a blue button showing the "x/y" sign... but i'm pretty sure i have not recorded any movement. 

I dont understand why this is happening... The console seems to have some random position memorised to wich it always wants to go back, no matter what. Where are these movements stored? And how can i mace the lights stay in position?

But im sure there is a simple answer to that. Im thankful if somebody can answer it or point me into a direction or some article i can read.

Thank you!

  • 0

    By default, pulling down a playback puts the fixtures back to wherever they were when you pushed it up.

    To disable this, turn off the setting: Setup > Settings > General "Parameters on Playbacks: Bidirectional"

  • 0 in reply to Richard

    Ah, thanks! I knew this must have been something basic.

  • 0 in reply to stevi

    ...I'm still struggling a bit with this. 
    I assume that it does not make sense to deactivate the "bidirectional" setting in my context because i would want the lights to move back into position of an active cue. ...my problem is more the position itself and where i can define the default position of lights.

    Another concrete example is this: I saved some Playback Memories and there are some lights in this scene that can have the shutter opened and closed via dmx. Now one of these lights has the shutter closed by default and only opens up when the fader is on 100%. Just move it a little bit down and the shutter closes wich makes it impossible to fade the scene down because this particular light will just switch off before it dims. 

    I still dont understand where i set this default state of the lights. I tried to change the active cue bit it does not matter if cues are active or not, no effect.

    So, how do i change the default state of the lights for a perticular file (i assume this is in connection with the saved file?) so that f.ex. all shutters are always open and zoom always to 50%?

    Thanks a lot for clarifying!

  • 0 in reply to stevi

    The Home (default) values are part of the fixture personality.

    This is intended to be Pan & Tilt 'straight out', Shutter Open, No strobe, Color/Gobo wheels at "open white", Zoom & Iris at maximum beam size.

    If the shutter closes when you do "Home All", then there is a mistake in the fixture personality that needs correcting.

    It's possible that we've already corrected this in a software or fixture library update.
    Updates can be downloaded from this page: https://www.etcconnect.com/Products/Consoles/ColorSource/Software.aspx

    After installing the update and rebooting, do File > New, patch the fixture again and see if it's corrected.

    If not, then we'll need a copy of the fixture's manual and an explanation as to what's wrong.

    We'll need to know what the proper DMX values for the Home (default) "shutter open" should be.
    - If you're not sure, the easiest way is to record a Playback with the correct values and attach the showfile (*.lsf), along with a note as to which Playback we should copy the numbers from.

    If you can email that to colorsourceconsole [at] etcconnect [dot] com, we'll sort it out and publish an update.

    PS: There is also a fixture personality editor at the above link, you can load your showfile containing the fixture and change the Home values to whatever you like, export the new personality and repatch it in the console.

  • 0 in reply to Richard

    Ah, i see... Now this becomes clearer, thanks for your answer!
    I did not know the "home all" button puts everything back to real default state (its probably stated in the manual...Sweat smile). It then may well be that the default states of my session is just all mashed up and just needs the "home all" button that fixes it. But now i understand where these default states of the lights are coming from.

    Thanks again!

  • 0 in reply to Richard

    Disabling the bidirectional feature pretty much solved my problem, until effects came into play... Because i realised that when the bidirectional feature is disabled, effects that include movement cannot be stopped anymore once they are activated by raising the fader or pushing the flash button on wich the effect is stored. Releasing the flash button or taking down the fader does not stop the effect. Any workaround i'm missing here?

    Thanks again!

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