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    Aaron Martin
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Fixture Profile Update Request: Arri Skypanel S60 C, S30 C and S120 C

I notice in the latest build of the fixture library (v2.5.2 Build 9) that personalities for mode 17 to 23 of the Skypanel S30 C and mode 18 to 23 of the Skypanel S60 C have been included. Whilst everything about these new additions seems to match up with the DMX mapping in the manual for these fixtures, something I have noticed is that one parameter has been missed off the personalities released last year (M1 to M16 for the S30 C and M1 to M17 for the S60 C) which has been included on the newly released modes, even though the correct number of addresses have been reserved. That parameter is 'Preset', used to select one of the twenty states saved on the fixture internally, and is the last mapped parameter in every mode, aside from two reserved addresses which serve no function.

In addition, while the parameters have been labelled more appropriately in mode 17 for the S30 C, the functionality of gel selection by brand and library, already present in modes 16 and 17 of the S60 C, is broken. Somehow you had created a behavior which changes the values of ranges and their respective names in the gel parameter based on the range chosen for the gel category parameter, which in turn is affected by which value of the gel brand parameter is chosen, Rosco or Lee. Such behavior does not exist in the S30 C equivalent. When brand and gel range is chosen, the ranges available under the gel selection parameter remain static and don't seem to actually reflect any of the names stated in the manual for the gels.

I have noticed that mode 16 for both fixtures seems to be missing all parameters required for selection of a second gel, including the parameter named in the manual as 'Gel Transition Type'. (Mode 16 and 17 are identical in functionality, the only difference being that some parameters have 16-bit resolution in mode 17.) Peculiarly, the range for 'LEE 700 Series' is missing from the gel range parameter in mode 16, preventing the gels in that library from being selected.

Mode 17 for the S30 C has corrected this, but some parameters in mode 16 (both fixtures) and mode 17 (S60 C only) have been wrongly placed in the Form category, instead of residing within Colour.

There may be other discrepancies in personalities for other modes of these two fixtures. but those are all I have spotted so far.

I should point out that, presently, the library has no personalities for the S120 C, a wider version of the other two Skypanel fixtures. All that should be required is the duplication of the 23 personalities built for the other two fixtures as the DMX control mapping of all three is identical for every mode.

  • There is another issue, similar to that affecting the gel selection system in mode 17 of the S30 C , in modes 20 and 21 where particular sources of light can be chosen based on the range selected in the 'Category' parameter. The 'Source' parameter ranges do not update upon selecting one of the lamp types available as ranges within the 'Category' parameter.
  • in reply to Aaron Martin
    I don't think it's particularly a problem like the other matters I have raised, but it would be beneficial if the personality was written to dynamically assign the ranges specified in the manual to the applicable effect parameters in modes 23 and 22 to reflect the chosen range in the 'Effect Selection' parameter.
  • I'm glad you posted this. But instead of creating a S120C profile, they should have only one profile for all three sizes of the light. I use a customized "Skypanel" profile and it allows me to apply the same palettes to different sizes of lights. And it takes up less space in table view.

    This should apply to all fixtures from a manufacturer that have the same personality, e.g. have one profile for "Arri HMI", one profile for "Arri Skypanel Color", one profile for "Arri Skypanel Remote Phosphor", etc.
  • in reply to John728
    I take it you mean there should only be those 23 fixture modes under one title since the three Skypanel models have identical functionality, not just one profile altogether?
  • in reply to Aaron Martin
    Yes. I probably used the term "profile" wrong but I couldn't think of a better term.
  • in reply to John728
    Please send an updated copy of the manual(s) for these fixtures to ETC support, along with a summary of the updates needed and we will add/update as necessary.

    Unfortunately very few manufacturers let us (or indeed any controls manufacturer) know about changes to their fixtures, instead they rely on their users passing on the information.
  • in reply to Richard
    Actually, I believe these changes are already in the works due to another thread asking similar questions.
    We hope to have all the changes in soon.
  • in reply to saranow
    I have been trying to address the gel range issue by creating my own profile based on the one in the console's library. There are several mistakes and typos in the existing profile which I corrected but one thing has me stumped. When I switch the Gel Manufacturer in the ML Controls from Rosco to Lee the list of gels doesn't change, but when I switch the Color Mode parameter to Brightest Color, Lee gel numbers appear. The labels in the Gel parameter are only Rosco gels. That means the Lee labels and presumably other gel ranges are stored somewhere else. Where are they and how do I edit what triggers when they get displayed as they are currently tied to the wrong parameter. Thanks!
  • in reply to MikeNYC
    I don't know if its the same issue but when I've changed color gels in a color wheel in a fixture type, it seemed that you need to repatch the fixture (as in just reselect its type) and reselect the color select attribute. (Was a while back but it was one or both of those I needed to do for it to take the change). It seemed as if it was storing the data about the gels in the patch itself when set up rather than looking it up/linking to it dynamically as required.
  • in reply to Mike A
    There are two different modes that let you pick gels. One accesses the gel library that resides in the Skypanel, the other uses ETC's library of gel approximations in the console's profile. The mode that let's you access the color wheel is HSI mode. The problem with that mode for motion picture lighting is that there is no way to adjust the color temperature of the virtual source behind the gel you pick. The color temperature setting only works when the color crossfade is at zero. If you move it to one hundred to apply the gel you have selected you lose the color temperature to whatever the default is in that mode. In the mode that accesses the Skypanel's on-board library you can adjust the gel choice and color temperature of the source behind the gel independently. In HSI mode the best you can do is look through the Arri conversion tables and enter hue and saturation manually to achieve this. I'm hoping to create a profile for the gel mode that mimics the on-board selection tree in the Skypanel. It looks like whoever created ETC's profile figured out how to do that but failed to execute it. I can't find the option in the editor that will give me access to that information so I can fix it.
  • in reply to MikeNYC
    There are 23 different modes and most of them let you use the Eos color wheel and gel tiles.

    The color temperature setting should work whenever the color crossfade is not at full - it's just that the closer ColXfd gets to zero, the more your HSI values get "polluted" with "white light".

    For what it's worth, I always use the Eos tiles to select a gel and no one has ever complained. If they don't like the Eos version of the color, I tweak it with the tinting tools and record it to a color palette.
    I can only see it being an issue if you have a mix of locally controlled Skypanels in "gel mode" and DMX-controlled Skypanels near each other - something I've never had to deal with.
  • in reply to John728
    Not only is a mix of Skypanels that are into the console and not a possibility, but mixing them with tungsten units with the matching gel. The DP and Gaffer have been pretty happy with the Skypanel gel library so tweaking the color every time he wants a new gel is not our first choice. I could enter the gel information manually from the Skypanel DMX documentation, but it's frustrating to have that functionality in the head and not be able to access it from the board. Does anyone know the format the fixture profiles are stored in? It's got to be one of the off-the-shelf database formats. Since some of the profile is not accessible through the console's editing function, it may be possible to open it up in a database application to fix it.
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