DMX output Steps

I'm sorry for this one, it's for my own justification after an exhausting day. . .

EOS consoles output DMX in 256 steps, but those are virtual steps based upon the console processing data as 0%-100%?

( 1% change = 2.56 steps output )

In other words, my ColourForce IIs may have been at 07% and faded to Zero in 7 seconds, but that happened in 7 steps not 17.92 steps.

Hence:

 

and that would also explain the colour shifts due to the lack of the units having an intensity channel? (in RGBA, not HSI)

 

(Some days you think you know what's going on, but everyone else says you're wrong.... That was my day.)

 

Thanks everyone!

Parents
  • I'm not quite shure I get what you are trying to convey...
    The console uses the full DMX-resolution availiable to fade. Be it 8-bit (256 steps/255 above zero) or 16-bit(65536/65535 above zero).

    If you hold the Data key (or press it once to lock), you will see that the console does not fade from 7% to 0% in 7 steps, but actually in 0.001% decrements. This applies to any parameter.

     

    The colorshifts you experience are almost certainly caused by the fixture itself.
    Most LED-fixtures on the market are not built to be faded out over a long period of time.
    Long fade times in the lower intensity-ranges are what seperates wheat from chaff. ´

Reply
  • I'm not quite shure I get what you are trying to convey...
    The console uses the full DMX-resolution availiable to fade. Be it 8-bit (256 steps/255 above zero) or 16-bit(65536/65535 above zero).

    If you hold the Data key (or press it once to lock), you will see that the console does not fade from 7% to 0% in 7 steps, but actually in 0.001% decrements. This applies to any parameter.

     

    The colorshifts you experience are almost certainly caused by the fixture itself.
    Most LED-fixtures on the market are not built to be faded out over a long period of time.
    Long fade times in the lower intensity-ranges are what seperates wheat from chaff. ´

Children
  • Thank you, that makes more sense.
    It's another case of being taught something that isn't true by someone who never knew to begin with.

    My local rental house has tonnes of ChromaQ's ColourForce IIs and I've yet to have a good experience with them in a theatrical environment. The max value we'd output them would be ~20% & then I'd get blamed for their shitty curve.

    It's just nice to eliminate all of the other possible causes and focus on an inappropriate fixture for what we're trying to do with them.

    Thanks everyone!
  • there might be a workaround: because you never use them above 20% you can put an ND filter in front of them and then compensate that with higher output. the overall intensity is the same, but instead of using only 50 DMX steps (0-20%) you could use a bigger range. hence when dimming over 10 seconds the distance from step to step is shorter and less noticeable.
    ND filters are the grey ones. the lee numbers are (increasingly darker) 298, 209, 210, 211, 299.
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