Palettes

Geoff,

What you're looking for is called "Make Absolute."  That is, a value is stored absolutely in a cue and not as a reference.  An entire channel can be made absolute (it's a softkey) or any combination of the channel's parameters.

There's also an option when you update (via the oCIA and, I think, softkeys) to Update - Make Absolute.  This converts any manual values to absolute date before updating.

-Josh

Many thanks

Just tried 'Make Absolute' and thats exactly what it does. By hitting the softkey when channels are selected they lose the Palette reference and become - absolute data!

Not quite sure what the Make Absolute in the 'Update' CIA panel does - I'll have to explore a little further. The manual is always close by.......

Thanks again

Geoff

When you press Update (before you press Enter), the CIA should display some information about the cue you're updating along with the channels.  If any palettes/presets are listed, then you can use Update All to change the int./focus/color/beam palettes of those lights in those palettes/presets.  You can select Make Absolute to code the info as hard data to the cue.  And, though I've never used it, you can Break Nested which I think is supposed to break the palette-preset "bond."

I do know that when you click the option in the CIA, you establish a new "default."  ION remembers your last choice and that is the option already selected the next time you Update a cue.  I typically leave it on Make Absolute, but have found the ability to fix a palette while fixing a cue quite useful, but I've also messed up a palette or two from not remembering to change it back.   :)

--Oz

That was my assumption..... but the result of a channel 'Make Absolute' and using Update 'Make Absolute' is slightly different - at least on the display.

By using the channel 'Make Absolute' (on the softkeys)  the channel tombstone display clears all reference to Palettes - just showing +.

But using Update 'Make Absolute' (on the CIA) leaves the Palette desciption appended with a + (i.e. FP2+).

However I'm not sure what the actual results are on stage as I am in the middle of a rehearsal and so unable to really explore the differences! Does FP2+ mean that the original focus palette is still required as a reference or is it now effectively absolute data?

But thanks for your help, much appreciated.

Geoff

They're different because they're ultimately dealing with either a single channel or a cue as a whole. What it boils down to, is if you just want to update the look on stage without updating any of the presets (any absolute values will remain absolute and will not update into any preset/palette they may have been in) then always make sure that "Make Absolute" is selected in the CIA after update is pressed.

The reason why you are seeing FP2+ is because some parameter within focus is still in focus palette 2. This is normally some form of speed or timing parameter. If you open About this maybe a little clearer then going to table view as you will have to expand the speed parameter so you can see it.

If you only have a few focus palettes it may help you if you go to blind focus palettes and remove all the speed parameter data for your channels. That way when you move pan and tilt you will only see a +. You will still need to update make absolute or make the focus of channel absolute before you update.

The reason why you are seeing FP2+ is because some parameter within focus is still in focus palette 2. This is normally some form of speed or timing parameter. If you open About this maybe a little clearer then going to table view as you will have to expand the speed parameter so you can see it.

If you only have a few focus palettes it may help you if you go to blind focus palettes and remove all the speed parameter data for your channels. That way when you move pan and tilt you will only see a +. You will still need to update make absolute or make the focus of channel absolute before you update.

Here's the way the summary views work.

If all of the parameters within the category are at their home position, you will see a grey + in the field.

If some of the parameters within the category are in use (off home), but whatever is in use in "absolute data", you will see a + in the field.  From a color standpoint, we give priority to manual.  So if anything in the category is manual, the + will be red.  

If all of the data that is in use in the category is in a palette or preset, we display the palette/preset name/number.

If some of the data in a category is in a palette or preset, but some of the data is absolute, we display the palette/preset name/number, with a + in superscript to the right.

If the data in the category is in a mix of palettes, presets and absolute data, we display a + in the field, again, with priority given to manual control notice.

Hope that helps!. 

a