Default Show - Do you use one and what do you set up in it

Hi Andy,

I have a template which I use for all shows, and update it as I develop new effects/palletes etc.
I'm fortunate to have a generally fixed/generic rig, with only 2 variations of configuration. 1/ Standard & 2/ Dance season.
Dance season adds additional sidelighting and rear lighting to the standard rig.

I always start with my groups. I break them into the 3 or 4 colour areas and work from Front of House, to Overhead to Cyc. Side lighting and IMovers/LEDs
At any time I know which group is which by a simple scheme. of Blue, Red, Amber & Other.
My FOH groups are 1=Blue, 2=Red, 3=Amber,4=Open White.
My Stage groups add a 1 to the front of these numbers, so STage Overhead is, Blue =11, Red =12, Amber =13, Open White =14
My Cyc adds a 2, i.e Blue Cyc = 21, Red Cyc = 22, Yellow Cyc =23, Green Cyc=24.
I have additional groups for various other lamps, such as my down lights ( 9 pattern ).

For all of my groups I have the first 2 pages of Masters layed out such that I can access all of these, and use them to 'paint' a stage state with.

Once I have set all of these, and there are always additional groups being made for special combinations of lamps, I make a "functional channel layout'
This will have the individual lamps in indication of their location on stage, group by use. I.e all Overhead Reds are together, near the overhead Blues.
All Cycs are together, and in locations indicating whether they are ground or hanging , Stage Left, or Stage right.
Side lights are also in groups of Low , Mid & High and which wing & side of stage they are.

WIth this functional layout I don't need to know ANY channel numbers but can point & click to choose lamps, or grab an area but clicking & holding the mouse button down.

On Independants I have Inhibits on the Left side and exclusives on the Right.My Inhibits control FOH, SIdeLights, and Cyc, to allow me to stop those being used at the wrong times.
My exclusives are used as required.
On the 3 independant buttons I have Strobe on Left , centre spare, and smoke on the right.

In my basic show I have many different screen layouts; i.e Show & FX, Design, All live, etc. each one designed for a different function , i.e building as show, editing a show & running a show.

On my Direct Selects I have items which are likely to be intelligent or moving lights i.e. LED's and Movers.
I have one bank associated with groups so I can select all, or combinations with one or 2 touches. I have this dupliacted on 2 Direct Select button groups.

One (of the 5) is set for colour & gobo/beam combinations, The other is Positions/Focus pallettes.

In my basic Show I have cue 0.1 as Black out, cue 0.4 as Curtain washers with work light ( when the house curtain is in, pre-show) cue 0.9 is Black out prior to Show start... then the show cues start.  On Cue 0.4 I have pre-loaded 20 Effects using the groups I have, i.e Cyc groups, witt all effect intensities at 0, but the rest loaded so I can just select the effect and roll it up on the wheel.

I ihave created a heap of 'standard' chases, i.e. step effects, which I rarely use now, and these are stored  as Sequences accessed on high Master pages so that I can scroll through various effects quickly to get an idea of what a client is looking for.

Theres so much more but I have to go plot so will see what else springs to mind afterward
Cheers,

Ric

Cheers for the lengthy reply and taking the time Ric!

Hoping a few others might chip in with things that they find useful.

How much do you re-use content effects you make as im guessing your groups or sets remain fairly constant through shows being in the one venue? Do you ever use congo on other jobs elsewhere too ?

Cheers

Hi Andy,

We only use the Congo in the one venue here; a 477 seat Council run Community Theatre.
The performances range from Dance schools ( which is what we're in the middle of) school presentations and musical production through to professional plays, bands, comedy etc.  A very diverse range of performances. A few of the incoming companies do bring their on lighting control solution, usually PC based, but occasionally a Strand Pallete of some description.

For the end of year, dance season, shows I tend to use my pre-built palette of groups & effect, but of course it does get modified when there is a need/request that doesn't fit what is already there. It's a good way to break the stagnation barrier, and find new looks on the stage that I've lit hundreds of times. :-)

Cheers,

Ric

Hi Andy

I'm in a venue that has a standard rig that changes as required. We simply have a show file which is our template. I've wanted to use the default show option as a back up if the template got corrupted and an easy way to get things started for touring shows but with the lack of effects and other features I can't really utilise it.

Perhaps I'm after using it in a different way than intended but I would be after everything that gets stored in a full show file.

It would be useful as we try to plot new things in the template file then save as that days show afterwards. Being able to update just part of the default show no matter what show is loaded would be helpful.

Thanks

Gareth

Hi Gareth ,

I'm with you there in as much as I often use a show file as a 'base/ default' starting point. I just name it appropriately and if there's something useful to import from another show file i can then. I suppose it does require opening the ' base' play and importing but that's not too bad as you can do it at any time thats convenient

So for every 'new' show coming in you open your template show and save it straight away as the new show name for that day? or do you plot over the template and then when done save as the new file!?

You say you're ' after using it in a different way' - whats the ideal for you then?

Just out of interest, if your rig changes do you rename dimmers and devices in the patch  and are you using RPN or @mode?

Cheers

What Ric and Gareth said, for my house rig full of movers and season full of one-offs.

In my base showfile I also keep the Channel Database current with any hang changes intended to to be permanent. If the Saved As showfile contains a variation on a standard house Palette I'll note it as such there, but the base showfile is the 'Bible,' so to speak. 

Hi

I tend not to rename dimmer or devices as the turn around is to fast and I don't think I would have the time to keep it accurate.

I use the @mode.

Plotting wise I'll keep my template show open as long as I can and update any files I know need a mod.

I'll then try to plot things for my show template, do a save and then change the show name/record a file for that show.

If the default settings included everything in a show file but when I was in a file I could send a command to update colour palette 5 to the default show as I've just amended it, that would be great OR

I've just created 1 new effect that I want to keep in the default show, sending just that single effect to the default file would be good. Perhaps a warning if I was overwriting something might be good but as I almost always start from my template file I don't feel I would over right something accidently really.

One thing that would be useful would to be able to update the HOME EFFECT function from the browser. If in the browser you could see all of what was saved in that "palette" and amend anything from there, that would be good.

Thanks Gareth

I have a couple different default files -- most of my work is with just conventionals at one venue and conventionals and 40 Selador fixtures at another. I have a default file with my independents for house lights, work lights, rehearsal house lighting, and such. My default groups are for my rep plot, which some cases I can use as-is, other times they require slight modifications, and some times I start from scratch. All of my cyc lights are patched as devices in my default files. I also have a handful of color palettes programmed for my cyc and Selador fixtures.

One of the biggest things I have in my default files are my screen layouts. I have a different layout for different times in the programming process; one for programming effects, another for revising cues, another for live playback, etc.

The screen layout I use the most is the one with two Live screens. The first has my conventionals in the normal channel icon format, and the second has just my LED's in a channel layout as they're hung on stage.

It's so stupidly easy to quickly throw together dynamic effects that I don't worry about leaving any in the default file because when I need one, I can throw it together in thirty seconds.

I did go the route two years ago of making a nice channel layout showing all of my circuits in the theatre, and every fixture in our rep plot was one it with the appropriate symbols and colors -- seemed like a good idea at the time but I've almost never used it. Had I realized then it was impractical to have a diagram of all 288 circuits in the theatre, I wouldn't have gone through the trouble of making it.