How do fan curves work with fixtures?

Fan curves were introduced in v1.9. Documentation basically says the feature exists, but not how it works with specific devices.

I happen to have some AC Lighting Chroma-Qs and currently use the Plus_M3 fixture personality to control them. I see that I have a fan speed attribute but I am skeptical that it does anything when they are operating in Mode 3.

Am I correct in assuming that the fixture has to have a DMX channel (or some range thereof) dedicated to fan speed? If so, I should be using the Plus_M2 personality in order to use a fan curve.

If they are smart enough to work with lamp controls then well done. If not, you may want to review the fixture library and possibly remove the fan speed option from the Plus_M3 personality. If fan curve is supported for a particular fixture that would be useful information to have documented in the fixture library release notes.

[edited by: sk8rs_dad at 11:50 AM (GMT -6) on Wed, Dec 1 2010] converted to question.

0 sk8rs_dad over 14 years ago

Hello? *tap* *tap* *tap* Is this thing on?
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0 speterson over 14 years ago in reply to sk8rs_dad

If you are interested in using Fan Curve then you should use Plus M2 to be on the safe side. Fan Curve will work with Plus M3, however it will continually send dmx values to fixture instead of just the command for a specific length of time. If you used M3, the curve would have to start with 0% at 0 and 100% at 50, so that you aren't accessing the other associated commands of that parameter.

For M2, your curve will need to be O% at 100 and 100% at 0.

If you have any other questions, please let us know.
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0 sk8rs_dad over 14 years ago in reply to speterson

Thanks. Once I had a chance to work with the fixtures in real life and observe the erratic behaviour of having a fan curve assigned to a Plus_M3 that it wasn't a good plan, and was clobbering the other settings available under Lamp Controls.

I've followed up on the 1.9.5 beta forum since I think there are some issues with the initial implementation. For instance, it's possible to assign a fan curve to a Sensor_Dimmer, and I'm pretty sure there's no such control channel on the real fixture.
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0 speterson over 14 years ago in reply to sk8rs_dad

If you apply it to a fixture without the Fan Speed parameter then nothing should happen.
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0 sk8rs_dad over 14 years ago in reply to speterson

I prefer a user interface that doesn't give me the option to set a value for a feature when the feature is not available. Why isn't Fan Curve implemented the same way as Scroller or Color Wheel, wherein they only appear on the Attributes tab when the fixture supports them?
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