Home Preset Referencing

I have seen this as well. A fastish work around is to make a macro that is just [@] [preset] [x] [enter]. Label the macro as "home" or as I do "Badger". Anytime you need to home a fixture or a parameter run the macro and there you go. 

We do the same thing here at the Coli. It's a shame that even when bound to a Preset the Home button doesn't display label information. It's worth knowing that if you don't bind the home key to a Preset it takes it's info from the fixture personality in patch making it a useful trouble shooting tool. Allowing you to dismiss questions like "are you sure it's not a mistake in your preset?" 

Enjoy

I believe this behavior is very much by design.

The use of a Preset for a customised home position is really just a useful place to store the required data.

You have to consider when sending a fixture 'home' whether or not you actually want to recall a reference. This rather depends on what you are going to do next, and how you work with referenced data. For example, if you are sending a fixture home to 'clean' it before you start a new focus, how are you going to build that focus? With other referenced data, or manually? Are all the parameters you sent home going to be recorded into a new Preset before you record your cue? Or are you going to remember to make those parameters absolute first?

The danger is, that you end up accidentally recording a cue which references the Home Preset in some way. You may come back later and update a change to this cue without realising this and subsequently screw up your home preset.

If you really do want that referenced data in your cue you can recall the preset. Personally I wouldn't want this behavior most of the time...

Graham

I believe this behavior is very much by design.

The use of a Preset for a customised home position is really just a useful place to store the required data.

You have to consider when sending a fixture 'home' whether or not you actually want to recall a reference. This rather depends on what you are going to do next, and how you work with referenced data. For example, if you are sending a fixture home to 'clean' it before you start a new focus, how are you going to build that focus? With other referenced data, or manually? Are all the parameters you sent home going to be recorded into a new Preset before you record your cue? Or are you going to remember to make those parameters absolute first?

The danger is, that you end up accidentally recording a cue which references the Home Preset in some way. You may come back later and update a change to this cue without realising this and subsequently screw up your home preset.

If you really do want that referenced data in your cue you can recall the preset. Personally I wouldn't want this behavior most of the time...

Graham

I do use "Home" to 'clean' my light of any attributes, but typically my Home for Colour is open white and Beam is everything out. So while I doubt I will ever use Focus Home for an actual position during a show as its usually pointing straight down, Home for Beam and Colour are used frequently.

I could make a palette for Beam, labelled 'Open' and a Colour Palette labelled 'Open' but personally I don't mind thinking 'Home' is my safe position, where there is no colour in the light nor any strobe/gobo's/shutters on or in.

At the moment I haven't been using Presets too much. Favouring using focus/colour/beam palettes which describe the lights attributes much better. For example I would probably label a preset 'Scene 1' or 'Bed' but in most scenarios when I know the Designer isn't going to be referring back to this look. I would rather have a Focus Palette labelled 'Bed' Colour labelled 'L181' and Beam 'Home' Thus allowing me to quickly tell them exactly what's happening with that light.

To address the point of referencing 'Home' into a Preset, I would possibly not do so and make the values absolute like you suggest, exempting Colour, if it is a Scroller. You would want it to reference from that so you can calibrate across the whole show. I would certainly make the preset or focus/beam/colour palette before recording the cue. Or if not then come back and do it in blind when I have a moment.

The point I hope I'm making is that I like to use referenced labels for everything. I would rather see a label than a blue plus sign on my tombstone. I understand this may take a little more time to program but alot of it is setting up before the actual tech, making beam,colour and focus if you can palettes for everything e.g 10% Zoom, 50% Iris, Gobo 1 Hard, Gobo 2 Soft etc etc.

I see the Home as a Safe Position. I know if it says Home on my tombstone I know nothing is in and it's 'Safe'

P.S I would also Lock my Home Preset.

I am the same way. This is why I make a preset that is home. I hive it a label and that is that. When I want to home a light I send them to that preset. I only use the home key to "knock out" perimeters that I have rolled into a unit. So if I have moved a light and don't like the position. I send the light home [focus] [home][enter]. This is the same key stoked as sneak. But for me sneak it a live control or an intensity control. I realize that this is not the case. But it's how my mind works.