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    ian_wright
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Template issues in Congo v6.4.1-Problem solved!

Hey guys, I doubt others are having this same issue but I figured I would post about it anyway!

Last week I created a new show file, and I imported the device templates for all of my fixtures that I have in my inventory (MAC 250 wash, MAC 550, Chauvet LEDs, etc.) and after I finished setting up my file it was time to try everything out and wouldn't you know it my washes and spots were acting bizarre.

This is what happened, I would do the follow keystrokes;

200 CH/ID 207 THRU

DEVICE —> ENABLE +  LAMP ON

HOME ATTRIB
and the devices would reset, then when I would lamp off and press home attribute and the devices would reset and lamp back on.
What I found out was that the device templates I imported were from the Extended Library in Congo v6 which are the incorrect templates, I then went back and imported the templates from the Standard Library and they were different! The templates that are in the Standard Library all checked out okay when I cross checked them with the manuals of the devices I was using.
Here's a screenshot of the correct template
And here is a screenshot of the incorrect template
So I if you are having the same problems that I had, that would be a good place to check when you are troubleshooting. Hopefully this helps!


[edited by: ian_wright at 10:10 AM (GMT -6) on Tue, Nov 5 2013]
Parents

  • I think the official advice is always use templates from the standard library if they exist for your fixture. As I understand it, the standard library templates are "hand built" and verified, while those in the extended library are "machine built" and may require some level of fine tuning to work properly. I ran into an instance with a template from the extended library  that didn't work; upon examination, it had two completely different attributes assigned to the same DMX channel. Once corrected, everything worked fine.

  • in reply to kellison

    I was in the extended library because a few of my fixtures only exist there and their templates worked no problem. So now I know, if it's in the standard library, use it. Yeah, they had three parameters attached to the control channel on my 550s and it wasn't snapping to the default on the control channel, so that explained the lamp on followed by the reset.



    [edited by: ian_wright at 7:46 AM (GMT -6) on Wed, Nov 6 2013]
  • in reply to ian_wright

    One thing to remember is that you should always send the "Lamp Idle" command after sending the other commands.

    Otherwise the control attribute(s) might fade through other commands on the way to Home - which will strike the lamp again for a lot of Martin fixtures

  • in reply to Richard

    I have been using this console for about two years, and I could not for the life of me figure out what that button did. So that would have fixed the problem too?

Reply Children
  • in reply to ian_wright

    Yes, it would have!

    The difference between the two templates that caused the issue you saw is that the Standard library template has "Snap" turned on for the Strobe-Control attribute, while the Extended library doesn't.

    The "Snap" flag says "this attribute will always snap between levels, never fade".

    So Homing one of these templates faded back to Home, while the other snapped.

    I'd argue that in this case the Extended library was actually correct, because you might want to fade from one strobe rate to another.

  • in reply to Richard

    Richard said:

    Yes, it would have!

    The difference between the two templates that caused the issue you saw is that the Standard library template has "Snap" turned on for the Strobe-Control attribute, while the Extended library doesn't.

    The "Snap" flag says "this attribute will always snap between levels, never fade".

    So Homing one of these templates faded back to Home, while the other snapped.

    I'd argue that in this case the Extended library was actually correct, because you might want to fade from one strobe rate to another.

    I agree with you there, fades do look nice. I did not know about the Lamp Idle command, so I stayed away from it. But now I know! 

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