Pixel mapping

1) 6 channel mode will probably work best, unless you need to have strobe control of the fixtures. (You can still 'strobe' the fixtures using effects or the pixel map)

2) You can patch your server channels at whatever channel you wish.

3) Your grid can be however big or small you want it. If you are hanging the fixtures in a 4 x 4 grid, then you can make pixel map grid the same. I often find it useful to make the pixel map grid bigger than what I need it to be, and then arrange the lights I am using inside that grid that loosely follows the layout.

4) Yes

5) Yes. However in recent updates you can instead input the channel number if you have already patched the fixtures.

Jon, Thank you for this information. It clears up some things for me. Today I actually set up the 16 fixtures and created Pixel Map 1 so I will comment on each item again to add. 1) 6 channel mode will probably work best, unless you need to have strobe control of the fixtures. (You can still 'strobe' the fixtures using effects or the pixel map) I set the fixtures to 6 and patched them in the console as 6 with starting add 2/295 (they will be running on univ 2) and start channel 401. I also found a Generic RGBAWI and tried that but it didn't work so I went back to actually picking the fixture at 6 ch. The problem is once I figured out a little bit about getting the Pixel Map to run, everyplace there was a black or no intensity that fixture UV color remained on. I couldn't figure out how to shut it off. I also noticed that even though they were patched as 6 channel which is 6 colors, only RGB show in the ML control. After a while of tinkering around I accidentally discovered the fixtures worked if they weren't patched at all in the console. Instead just assigning the start address in the initial Pixel Map set up as the first fixture was set to. Then UV never came on and when a fixture was supposed to be black it was. So now I am trying to figure out how the other 3 colors are controlled since only RGB shows in the ML Controls. 2) You can patch your server channels at whatever channel you wish. I thought they needed to be patched to channels that aren't being used in the show. When I tried channels 1 - 3 as the video showed then on the patch screen I lost the dmx values 1 - 3 and my channels 1 - 3 which are conventionals used in the show. I didn't try to run channels 1 - 3. Would they still work because the map is virtual or do they need to be any unused channels? 3) Your grid can be however big or small you want it. If you are hanging the fixtures in a 4 x 4 grid, then you can make pixel map grid the same. I often find it useful to make the pixel map grid bigger than what I need it to be, and then arrange the lights I am using inside that grid that loosely follows the layout. I can see why a bigger grid would be better. When I play anything it's nothing like expected because it's so zoomed out with only 16 fixtures. One thing I did notice is there is absolutely nothing in any of the 255 library choices other than choice #0. Is that normal? I also noticed that in the video when the operator first turned on channel 1 and channel 2, which were his virtuals and he opened the ML controls and the preview window the double squiggly line pattern popped up on the preview window. Of course the default turn on was library 0 and the other selection range 0. When I did it the preview was blank until I started picking patterns and somewhere down deep into the selections was the double squiggly line pattern that the video showed in default. I never got two squiggly lines however. I'm guessing it's because with only 16 pixels it would be so zoomed out that it wouldn't really show properly. 4) Yes - Again even though I have 6 channel/color fixtures patched the ML controls only show RGB and of course Hue Sat. So where are the other 3 colors or does Pixel only ever use rgb? 5) Yes. However in recent updates you can instead input the channel number if you have already patched the fixtures. As explained above, when the fixtures are actually patched in the console UV stays on every time a fixture is supposed to be off. I could never turn that off until I unpatched them from the console and only patched them in the grid. Of course that means now the console can't control them other than using the pixel mapper and I don't like that. Probably something I am doing wrong. Also if they aren't patched in the console and only in the grid then using a start channel I would think would not work. So again I must be doing something wrong. I think I need a short tutor session. :-)

Jon, Thank you for this information. It clears up some things for me. Today I actually set up the 16 fixtures and created Pixel Map 1 so I will comment on each item again to add. 1) 6 channel mode will probably work best, unless you need to have strobe control of the fixtures. (You can still 'strobe' the fixtures using effects or the pixel map) I set the fixtures to 6 and patched them in the console as 6 with starting add 2/295 (they will be running on univ 2) and start channel 401. I also found a Generic RGBAWI and tried that but it didn't work so I went back to actually picking the fixture at 6 ch. The problem is once I figured out a little bit about getting the Pixel Map to run, everyplace there was a black or no intensity that fixture UV color remained on. I couldn't figure out how to shut it off. I also noticed that even though they were patched as 6 channel which is 6 colors, only RGB show in the ML control. After a while of tinkering around I accidentally discovered the fixtures worked if they weren't patched at all in the console. Instead just assigning the start address in the initial Pixel Map set up as the first fixture was set to. Then UV never came on and when a fixture was supposed to be black it was. So now I am trying to figure out how the other 3 colors are controlled since only RGB shows in the ML Controls. 2) You can patch your server channels at whatever channel you wish. I thought they needed to be patched to channels that aren't being used in the show. When I tried channels 1 - 3 as the video showed then on the patch screen I lost the dmx values 1 - 3 and my channels 1 - 3 which are conventionals used in the show. I didn't try to run channels 1 - 3. Would they still work because the map is virtual or do they need to be any unused channels? 3) Your grid can be however big or small you want it. If you are hanging the fixtures in a 4 x 4 grid, then you can make pixel map grid the same. I often find it useful to make the pixel map grid bigger than what I need it to be, and then arrange the lights I am using inside that grid that loosely follows the layout. I can see why a bigger grid would be better. When I play anything it's nothing like expected because it's so zoomed out with only 16 fixtures. One thing I did notice is there is absolutely nothing in any of the 255 library choices other than choice #0. Is that normal? I also noticed that in the video when the operator first turned on channel 1 and channel 2, which were his virtuals and he opened the ML controls and the preview window the double squiggly line pattern popped up on the preview window. Of course the default turn on was library 0 and the other selection range 0. When I did it the preview was blank until I started picking patterns and somewhere down deep into the selections was the double squiggly line pattern that the video showed in default. I never got two squiggly lines however. I'm guessing it's because with only 16 pixels it would be so zoomed out that it wouldn't really show properly. 4) Yes - Again even though I have 6 channel/color fixtures patched the ML controls only show RGB and of course Hue Sat. So where are the other 3 colors or does Pixel only ever use rgb? 5) Yes. However in recent updates you can instead input the channel number if you have already patched the fixtures. As explained above, when the fixtures are actually patched in the console UV stays on every time a fixture is supposed to be off. I could never turn that off until I unpatched them from the console and only patched them in the grid. Of course that means now the console can't control them other than using the pixel mapper and I don't like that. Probably something I am doing wrong. Also if they aren't patched in the console and only in the grid then using a start channel I would think would not work. So again I must be doing something wrong. I think I need a short tutor session. :-)