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.

oh now I see the words. Eye, eye, eye.

trying this paste again folks in Rich Text. If it doesn't split up the topics now then it's over. [:'(]

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. :-)

Jeff Toussieng said:

1) 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.

I don't know which fixture you are using, so I'm not sure why all of the attributes would not be showing up in the ML Controls for those fixtures. The extra colors will not show up in the ML controls for the Pixel Map server channels. And yes, you don't need to patch those fixtures when you set up the pixel maps using address, provided you're ok only having control of them via the pixel map.

Jeff Toussieng said:

2) 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?

Use whatever channels you want that aren't already in use in your show. If my show has less than 1000 channels, I'lll use channels 1001+ for my pixel maps. Just make sure to use whatever channels you assign in patch in the pixel map editor.

Jeff Toussieng said:

3) 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.

Yup. I haven't watched the video in a while, but I'm willing to bet it was pre-loaded because they probably did multiple takes.

Jeff Toussieng said:

4)  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?

Pixel map server channels only use RGB & Hue/Saturation. I don't know if media loaded will recall those extra colors, but I suspect probably not…

Jeff Toussieng said:

5) 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 I think we are getting close. Really appreciate your input.

The fixtures are Chauvet Freedom Par Hex4, rgbawuv. I have them set at 6 channel but I did have to build them manually because they are not yet in the library (waiting), which is a whole nuther forum topic I am getting nowhere on. Anyway I woke up this morning early and couldn't get it out of my head; I wondered if UV needs to be set at 0 default instead of the 255 it is set at. But then I wondered why that mattered and amber and white did not. They to are both set to 255 default but they don't stay on. So I was going to go back to the venue this afternoon after I get off work to do some more testing.

All the colors do show up in ML controls when operating them as patched fixtures under normal console use. It's only in Pixel Mapping they don't show up. So since you have clarified Pixel mapping only uses rgb then I understand why they don't, but don't know what it does with all the other colors in fixtures, especially Selador's which have a boatload of colors. Again, if the extra colors are set to default 255 I wonder why they don't always stay on, other than UV in my case. I would think it should just be a channel like all the others.

Not "needing" to patch them wasn't really my question. It was more like are they NOT supposed to be patched since my UV keeps on. But if I need to edit the build to UV default 0 and that fixes it, then I will patch them back because I do want to use them normally also. But again, not sure why only UV stays on and not white and amber.

Map channels are quite clear now; need to be unused.

I do have another question that came up since last night and was going to post it separately but maybe you have the answer. When selecting layers there are two types in the list; ver 1.0 and ver 1.1 (I think that's the versions). There is only one server though, ver 1.0. So what works with what and what should I use?

And any idea if it is normal that only 0 in the library once the layers are turned on is the only selection out of the 255 that has content?

Ok so I worked with Pixel more today and I think I am finally at a point where I understand most of it. I did recheck the versions though and I was wrong. There is only one Layer ver 1.0 and one Server ver 1.0 but there is also an Effect Layer ver 1.0 and an Effect Layer ver 1.1. I patched the Layer ver 1.0 to two channels. What are the Effect Layers and what do we do with them? Nothing was mentioned in the video about them.

Also I changed the fixtures UV default in the manual build I made from 255 to 0 and now it works properly. Strange how that one remained on but White and Amber did not, even though they default to 255. White and Amber also do not work in the Color wheel, nor does UV of course. Most likely because it's based on rgb. I wonder if that will be changing. So when I select any colors that have Amber or White in them they show wrong on the Magic Sheet when I have fixtures set to link color.

Ok so I worked with Pixel more today and I think I am finally at a point where I understand most of it. I did recheck the versions though and I was wrong. There is only one Layer ver 1.0 and one Server ver 1.0 but there is also an Effect Layer ver 1.0 and an Effect Layer ver 1.1. I patched the Layer ver 1.0 to two channels. What are the Effect Layers and what do we do with them? Nothing was mentioned in the video about them.

Also I changed the fixtures UV default in the manual build I made from 255 to 0 and now it works properly. Strange how that one remained on but White and Amber did not, even though they default to 255. White and Amber also do not work in the Color wheel, nor does UV of course. Most likely because it's based on rgb. I wonder if that will be changing. So when I select any colors that have Amber or White in them they show wrong on the Magic Sheet when I have fixtures set to link color.

Effect layers = fun!

Multiple effect layers = lots of fun!!

I often use multiple layers & effect layers.

So, for example:

1001 - pixel map server

1002 thru 1005 - layers

1006 thru1009 - effect layers

And then if I have multiple pixel maps I use the same layout  with 1011-1019, 1021-1029, etc