Issues with existing profiles

If you discover an issue with an existing fixture profile, please let us know here.   We will investigate and correct if necessary.  

Thanks much!

Anne

 

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  • Bright Shot RGBAW Illuminator: Multiple issuses on Ion/NET3

    This was for a 1 day shoot, the rig has since beeen wrapped, so I can't apply any possible suggestions until I get my hands on another unit but here are the issues;

    I patched this fixture several different ways and I was only able to control it when each attribute was patched as an indidvual generic dimmer.

    Here are the particulars:
    Console was an Ion 2000 and the rig consisted of 4 universes: 1&2 were all dimmers, 3 was Mac vipers and ColorForce 72s, universe 4 was dedicated to the Bright Shots. Originally The Bright Shots were in 3 with the rest of the smart lights, but after having control issues I moved them into their own universe.
    The Bright Shots would not respond to any DMX commands when they were receiving DMX through the NET3 gateway. I ran DMX direct out of the console and was able to get them to respond-somewhat.

    First I patched them as Luminator RGBAW fixtures from the Ion library. When pathced this way, random units would flash, blink and stobe when ANY DMX signal was sent over the network. The units would not respond to any INTS or Color levels, they only would flash momentarily if you set them to RED @ 75%, then go out and not respond again.

    Then I patched them as Generic RGBAW 8bit units, with separate Channels for FX, Duration, Speed, etc which I grouped. This alllowed me to control Color and INTS in ML controls and they did respond, but the units still randomly froze on various colors and INTS even when I sent blackout commands, cleared cue lists, etc.

    Finally I had to resort to patching them as 10ch generic dimmers. This worked and I was able to build groups, color palletes and effects-kinda like how you would run movers on an old 2X console-but it was less than ideal. Even when patched this way I still could not control them through the gateway, they needed to be DMX direct out of the console. I did try different gateways as well.

    I called tech support and the owner of Bright Shot came and spent time teching out the units. They ran fine from his ipad as I expected. He also said he has this problem with the units on Ion all the time.


    Here is the DMX value for the effects:

    DMX Effect 255 Max Value 100 Max Value
    None 0-5 0-1
    Strobe 6-15 2-5
    Chase jump 16-25 6-9
    Chase Fade 26-35 10-13
    Police Old 36-45 14-17
    Police New 46-55 18-21
    Fire truck Old 56-65 22-25
    Fire truck New 66-75 26-29
    Ambulance Old 76-85 30-33
    Ambulance New 86-95 34-37
    Fire 96-105 38-41
    Water 106-115 42-45
    Television 116-125 46-49
    Lightning 126-135 50-52
    Paparazzi1 136-145 53-56
    Paparazzi2 146-155 57-60
    Projector 156-165 61-64
    Fireworks 166-175 65-68
    Grand Finale 176-185 69-72
    End Burst 186-195 73-76
    Gun Shots 196-205 77-80
    Strobe All White 206-255 81-100

    The units use 2 cards, 1 for RGBAW+Ints, and another for the Effects layer, so that you can add effects on top of RGBAW output simultaneously. That being said I think the units need a profile like a DL3 that has a seprate graphic layer from the Global functions. Also having the ability to reset the fixture via lamp commands would be helpful.


    The ETC profile has the fixture as follows:

    Ion Profile Bright Shot
    1 Red 1 Red
    2 Green 2 Green
    3 Blue 3 Blue
    4 Amber 4 Amber
    5 White 5 White
    6 Ints 6 Ints (for color 1-5)
    7 Color Temp 7 Color Temp
    8 Color Mix 8 FX Duration
    9 Color Mix Macro Rate 9 FX Frequency
    10 Color Mix 2 10 FX Select
    11 Hue
    12 Saturation
    13 Brightness
Reply
  • Bright Shot RGBAW Illuminator: Multiple issuses on Ion/NET3

    This was for a 1 day shoot, the rig has since beeen wrapped, so I can't apply any possible suggestions until I get my hands on another unit but here are the issues;

    I patched this fixture several different ways and I was only able to control it when each attribute was patched as an indidvual generic dimmer.

    Here are the particulars:
    Console was an Ion 2000 and the rig consisted of 4 universes: 1&2 were all dimmers, 3 was Mac vipers and ColorForce 72s, universe 4 was dedicated to the Bright Shots. Originally The Bright Shots were in 3 with the rest of the smart lights, but after having control issues I moved them into their own universe.
    The Bright Shots would not respond to any DMX commands when they were receiving DMX through the NET3 gateway. I ran DMX direct out of the console and was able to get them to respond-somewhat.

    First I patched them as Luminator RGBAW fixtures from the Ion library. When pathced this way, random units would flash, blink and stobe when ANY DMX signal was sent over the network. The units would not respond to any INTS or Color levels, they only would flash momentarily if you set them to RED @ 75%, then go out and not respond again.

    Then I patched them as Generic RGBAW 8bit units, with separate Channels for FX, Duration, Speed, etc which I grouped. This alllowed me to control Color and INTS in ML controls and they did respond, but the units still randomly froze on various colors and INTS even when I sent blackout commands, cleared cue lists, etc.

    Finally I had to resort to patching them as 10ch generic dimmers. This worked and I was able to build groups, color palletes and effects-kinda like how you would run movers on an old 2X console-but it was less than ideal. Even when patched this way I still could not control them through the gateway, they needed to be DMX direct out of the console. I did try different gateways as well.

    I called tech support and the owner of Bright Shot came and spent time teching out the units. They ran fine from his ipad as I expected. He also said he has this problem with the units on Ion all the time.


    Here is the DMX value for the effects:

    DMX Effect 255 Max Value 100 Max Value
    None 0-5 0-1
    Strobe 6-15 2-5
    Chase jump 16-25 6-9
    Chase Fade 26-35 10-13
    Police Old 36-45 14-17
    Police New 46-55 18-21
    Fire truck Old 56-65 22-25
    Fire truck New 66-75 26-29
    Ambulance Old 76-85 30-33
    Ambulance New 86-95 34-37
    Fire 96-105 38-41
    Water 106-115 42-45
    Television 116-125 46-49
    Lightning 126-135 50-52
    Paparazzi1 136-145 53-56
    Paparazzi2 146-155 57-60
    Projector 156-165 61-64
    Fireworks 166-175 65-68
    Grand Finale 176-185 69-72
    End Burst 186-195 73-76
    Gun Shots 196-205 77-80
    Strobe All White 206-255 81-100

    The units use 2 cards, 1 for RGBAW+Ints, and another for the Effects layer, so that you can add effects on top of RGBAW output simultaneously. That being said I think the units need a profile like a DL3 that has a seprate graphic layer from the Global functions. Also having the ability to reset the fixture via lamp commands would be helpful.


    The ETC profile has the fixture as follows:

    Ion Profile Bright Shot
    1 Red 1 Red
    2 Green 2 Green
    3 Blue 3 Blue
    4 Amber 4 Amber
    5 White 5 White
    6 Ints 6 Ints (for color 1-5)
    7 Color Temp 7 Color Temp
    8 Color Mix 8 FX Duration
    9 Color Mix Macro Rate 9 FX Frequency
    10 Color Mix 2 10 FX Select
    11 Hue
    12 Saturation
    13 Brightness
Children
  • First of all, can you provide an up-to-date fixture manual for these units?

    I'm not totally clear on whether the existing fixture personality template needs changes, or if this is a different version of the fixture that needs its own, extra template.

    Secondly:
    It sound like these units may not fully comply with the DMX512 standard.
    The fault you've described sounds very much like what happens if a device treats everything as level data - including the RDM "Hello? Is anybody there?" request.
    The DMX512 standard (ANSI E1.11 - 2008) requires all DMX receiving devices to check the Start Code and ignore anything sent with any Start Codes that the device is not intended to handle.

    Therefore, a device that doesn't do RDM should simply ignore the "Hello? Is anybody there?" RDM packet - however there are some fixtures that don't.

    If you turn off RDM in the Gateway port (using the front panel button, GCE or Concert), does that appear to fix it?

    If this is the case, then the problem is a simple fault in the Bright Shot firmware that they should be able to fix - once they know about it!

    For more info, you can currently download the entire DMX standard for free from the PLASA TSP website:
    http://tsp.plasa.org/tsp/documents/published_docs.php

    Near the bottom, there is also "Recommended Practice for DMX512: A guide for users and installers, second edition" by Adam Bennette available.
    This book is probably more useful for theatre technicians (as opposed to fixture manufacturers)

  • Here is the link to the manual down load.

    http://briteshot.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Luminator-RGBAW-Operations-Manual-V5.0-U10_11_12.pdf

    RDM was off in the Gateway. The firmware issue makes alot of sense. I will contact Bright Shot and let them know.

    Once I setup another Bright Shot I should be able to do more tests. Any other input is welcome.

     

     

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