wish list for future versions

I just finished designing my first show with Ion and was very happy.  Here's my list:

- To assign a curve, [Cue] {Curve} n doesn't just assign curve n to the current cue -- I had to give it the cue number as well: [Cue] x {Curve} n

- In chan check, putting the screen in a flexi display should allow the user to [Next] over channels which aren't on the screen.  Instead, the hidden channel number just pops into the active tombstone.

- Unpatching dimmers didn't seem possible in the patch by channel display.  [0] [@] x produced an error.

- I would love if the help key worked for all soft keys and touch screen buttons.

- I missed having a button for Select Active and Select Manual.  Perhaps holding down the Select button could populate the softkeys.

- Could there be an option to show the softkey labels in the corner of the screen, like in the offline editor.  I often find myself working with a programmer who doesn't know the board as well as I do, and I like being able to see what keystrokes are available.

- Could gel colors labels in the color picker display in data as though they were color palettes.  The labels should have some sort of indication (brackets, bullet point, italics, etc.) to distinguish itself from an actual color palette which might have the same name.  When building a show with limited cueing time, these instant palettes would be a real time saver.

Keep up the good work.

-Josh 

I just finished designing my first show with Ion and was very happy.  Here's my list:

- To assign a curve, [Cue] {Curve} n doesn't just assign curve n to the current cue -- I had to give it the cue number as well: [Cue] x {Curve} n

- In chan check, putting the screen in a flexi display should allow the user to [Next] over channels which aren't on the screen.  Instead, the hidden channel number just pops into the active tombstone.

- Unpatching dimmers didn't seem possible in the patch by channel display.  [0] [@] x produced an error.

- I would love if the help key worked for all soft keys and touch screen buttons.

- I missed having a button for Select Active and Select Manual.  Perhaps holding down the Select button could populate the softkeys.

- Could there be an option to show the softkey labels in the corner of the screen, like in the offline editor.  I often find myself working with a programmer who doesn't know the board as well as I do, and I like being able to see what keystrokes are available.

- Could gel colors labels in the color picker display in data as though they were color palettes.  The labels should have some sort of indication (brackets, bullet point, italics, etc.) to distinguish itself from an actual color palette which might have the same name.  When building a show with limited cueing time, these instant palettes would be a real time saver.

Keep up the good work.

-Josh 

Hey Josh.... 

some thoughts.

 Will look into the curve issue - your syntax should auto-populate the selected cue number.

In 1.4, Next/Last will work through only the channels in your current flexi-channel state.

Unpatching dimmers in the channel display.  [x] [at] [0] [enter] -- where x is your channel number should work.  [Address] [0] [at] [x] [Enter] - where x is your channel number doesn't because address 0 is a phantom entity.  It's the same as [1] [at] [Enter] for a channel, where this action is just saying..."remove the current data."  

Yes, Help is an ongoing project.  

 We have some ideas about getting [Select Active] and [Select Manual] into Ion.   A shift/softkey function as you describe is among the possible solutions.

I understand your point about the softkey labels.  We've avoided that sort of thing to date to avoid clutter on the screens.  We've got several more advisories that we are considering adding the the live/blind channel display and am concerned about information overload.

In 1.4, we are changing the way certain data is displayed.  Setting a frame table device (such as a scroller, color or gobo wheel) will result in a Frame number and label, rather than absolute DMX data.  Similar to the encoder display, we will use a + / - to tell you when you are not in full frame.   And setting color from the gel picker will display the gel number (R80).

Thank you for the feedback!

Anne 

Hi Anne,

Thanks for your replies.

Regarding unpatching dimmers -- what you say makes sense.  I was trying to unpatch one of two dimmers "twofered" in patch.  I figured out that what I was looking for is [x] [Part] [y] [Delete] [enter].  Channel 0 was a useful patch concept, but the graphical address browser is a more than worthy replacement.

Speaking of which, I just noticed that clicking around the address table takes me to that channel not the address.  Is this a bug?  I would think that the address table could be a handy way to jump to an address while still viewing the hookup by channel.

Also, I love the [Move_To] feature in patch.  Could there also be a Swap_With option that swaps addresses between channels?  Maybe a 3rd press of the [Copy_To] button?

If you do implement softkey labels on the screen, I definitely think it should be an option in the settings.

Great news about labels in 4.1 -- I think that makes a lot of sense.  It would be great if there was a way to easily distinguish the label for the gel picker R80, and my R80 palette.  Even better would be a way to update the values from the color picker (for example, the scrollers are in the R80 frame, the wash fixtures mix to an R80, and the spot fixtures are in their primary blue on the color wheel), but that may open a big can of worms.

Cheers,

Josh