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    Andrew Riter
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How to program rotators, hazers, I-Que, strobe

I've got an Ion, 1.4.2 as our house console.  Typically we only use the submasters.  The school of opera is coming in this week, adn this is our first chance to write cues.

 With this comes the "toys" I never get to use: gobo rotators (twin spins, I think), hazer, fogger, an I-Cue, and a dataflash.

I'm OK on the theory of patching them in.  Experience may prove different.  I'm looking for general advice when programming with the toys, adn I have a few questions:

 Except for the fogger/hazers, channel 51 part 1 is patched to the dimmer for the instrument.  51 part 2, I select the manufacturer and model of the toy, and the address (I'm choosing the second universe, just to keep the numbers simple (that's my theory, and I'm sticking to it)).

 I need to make a Home Preset for teh I-Cue and the rotators:  Preset 999, recorded as channels 51 - 56, with the beam and position co-ordinates set to my liking.  That way, when I turn 51 to full, and hit home, the rotators will stop spinning, and the I-Cue will move to a pre-determined position.  Am I right so far?

 Programming: rotators: bring the channel up, and I've got 2 (?) encoders for the rotator: 1 for the forward gobo, and 1 for the back gobo, Yes? 

Roll the encoder left or right to change direction, and the more I roll it, the faster it goes?

How does the stobe work, regarding the DMX signal it's receiving?

 The I-Cue I figure I'm OK on.  It's for a special effect (witch gobo flying across the back wall).  I set a preset for the start position, I set a preset for the end position. Cue 25, Mark to Preset 1, cue 26 fade lamp up time 10, and move to preset 2 time 3:00.  YEs???

Would it be better to have teh slow movement cue in a second cue list, just so other cues don't prematurely bump the witch cue to its conclusion?

Can I link Cue 1/25 to 2/1 and link 2/1 back to 1/26 so that 2/1 runs, and the cue stack returns to main cue list?  Is this the best way to go?

The thing I'm not sure about in patching some of the toys, is that there are multiple options for each device, whether 8 bit, 16 bit, other options that aren't quite so readily decipherable from teh name of the device.  Any suggestions to make my choice more apparant (I haven't seen the devices yet, I'm trying to get a head start on the call this evening (and later this week).

 Any advice on the above, any suggestions greatly appreciated.

 PS. channels 1 - 16 (all my house lights) MOVE TO channel 151:  LOVE IT.  Makes repatching a cinch!  Thanks ETC. 

 

Parents

  • Hmm.  I've got more posts here than replies . . .

    Moving on in tech week, it's not going too badly.  However, with the Apollo roto-Q rotators, I can't get them to stop rotating at 50%.  "00" is off, 01 is REALLY FAST CCW, 49 is really slow CCW, 51 is really slow CW, and 99 is really fast CW.  IF I get the encoders to actually hit 50% where stop should be (right?) the rotators keep spinning really slowly.  I hit 50.4, and the direction changes.

     The designer wants a fairly slow spin to then fade to a stop.  If I use Home (00), then it speeds up as it scrolls through 20s and 10s before it comes to a hard stop.

    Is there any way to type in the data value?  I've tried clicking on the box and typing '50', but nada.

     (Then Apollo manual isn't specifically for these ones, but the more recent version it seems.)

     thanks for any advice.

  • in reply to Andrew Riter
    Andrew Riter:

    Is there any way to type in the data value?  I've tried clicking on the box and typing '50', but nada.

    You can do this from the command line.  Lets say you want to enter a value of 50 on the "gobo2" parameter of chan 54.

    [54 {gobo2} 50 enter]  note: {gobo2} is the parameter softkey which is located in the CIA.

     

    If 50% doesn't end up stopping your rotator, there are a couple of other options.  You can make a follow-on using WAIT times. ie: have the rotator fade to as slow as possible in the first cue.  In the second cue have the rotator snap to the stop value.

    Another possibility would be to write a curve.  You would then need to make a part2 of the cue in question, and apply the curve to that cue and only have the rotator in that part of the cue.  This would probably take a bit of faffing around, so I'd suggest using wait times and having a follow on cue to stop the encoder (the first example)

    Happy programming :-) 

  • in reply to BrentFJ

    BrentFJ said:
    Andrew Riter:

    Is there any way to type in the data value?  I've tried clicking on the box and typing '50', but nada.

    BRENT replied: You can do this from the command line.  Lets say you want to enter a value of 50 on the "gobo2" parameter of chan 54.

    [54 {gobo2} 50 enter]  note: {gobo2} is the parameter softkey which is located in the CIA.

     If 50% doesn't end up stopping your rotator, there are a couple of other options.. ..  ..

    Thanks Brent.   (again)  I finally had a chance to email apollo, adn they said the Roto Q was an inherited product, and doesn't stop at 50%.  they also suggested the link cue.  Do able, but considering there were a bunch of on/off sequences for the rotator, not much fun to program.  Fortuneately the designer was OK with a snap fade to 0.  I did start to use the RECALL from command for a few channel levels as we got closer to opening, which would have been a useful way, along with Copy To.

    thanks.

Reply
  • in reply to BrentFJ

    BrentFJ said:
    Andrew Riter:

    Is there any way to type in the data value?  I've tried clicking on the box and typing '50', but nada.

    BRENT replied: You can do this from the command line.  Lets say you want to enter a value of 50 on the "gobo2" parameter of chan 54.

    [54 {gobo2} 50 enter]  note: {gobo2} is the parameter softkey which is located in the CIA.

     If 50% doesn't end up stopping your rotator, there are a couple of other options.. ..  ..

    Thanks Brent.   (again)  I finally had a chance to email apollo, adn they said the Roto Q was an inherited product, and doesn't stop at 50%.  they also suggested the link cue.  Do able, but considering there were a bunch of on/off sequences for the rotator, not much fun to program.  Fortuneately the designer was OK with a snap fade to 0.  I did start to use the RECALL from command for a few channel levels as we got closer to opening, which would have been a useful way, along with Copy To.

    thanks.

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