ETC Nomad Setup for dummies

I’m going to chime in here a year later as another new Nomad user, on the Mac side. I’m coming from an Express (OLD school), and we’re about to get an EOS console, so in the interim, I’m trying to figure out the software. here we are a year later from this thread, and the software UI is still not even remotely intuitive (and I don’t think it’s from a lack of hardware control surface buttons).

I see frequent references to the Fixture Editor (I need to create entries for our vintage Sensor dimming rack modules, which ETC inexplicably forgot to include in the software), but the software UI doesn’t really tell you how to get there, nor does the documentation. Gone are the normal menus that one typically finds on a Mac or PC application. The built in “manual” tab is very difficult to navigate, and won’t let you open section headers… so I can tell that there *is* a fixture editor, but I couldn’t tell you how to get to it if my life depended on it. 

there needs to be some significant improvement of the documentation (have someone who has not designed the product develop the documentation, so that no assumptions are being made and steps omitted because they seemed obvious to the person that designed them), and make some significant improvements to the software UI. 

this is the section in the manual that tells you how to get to the fixture editor: https://www.etcconnect.com/webdocs/Controls/EosFamilyOnlineHelp/en-US/Default.htm#05_Patch/07_Fixture_Editor/About_the_Fixture_Editor.htm

the vintage sensor dimming modules you're referring to, can they do things other than dim conventional fixtures? if not, then just patch them as regular dimmers.

Trying to create a relay module - also baffling that this wasn’t included in the stock list. 

and I seem to have stumbled into getting it created, but changing a group of channels within a single patch seems to be impossible, making me do it individually. 

Trying to create a relay module - also baffling that this wasn’t included in the stock list. 

and I seem to have stumbled into getting it created, but changing a group of channels within a single patch seems to be impossible, making me do it individually. 

is the module in your dimmer an actual relay? then you can use the NonDim fixture profile that you find in the Generic manaufacturer. of course you can also use this profile if you connect to a dimemr module, but while this will switch on and of the channel it will not make it into an actual relay.

Yes, the arcsystem was retrofitted onto the Sensor Wiring (previous house lights were dimmed from the same rack), but the fixtures themselves, once they’re on, then have a DMX to ArcSystem mapping for dimming control. 

I was able to create a fixture with two modes labeled “on” and “off” at 0 and 100… I’ll need to do some testing in the space to see how much time they need to boot up once power is applied before I can send a dimming command.