So with the great new offset features and random modifiers in 3.0 I revisited how I use random in my workflow and refamiliarized myself with what they can do. Offset is a fantastic feature, and random offset provides a quick and easy to use tool that can dramatically change your looks on stage, but something I've always wished the desk could do is a continuously random offset attribute for effects. When you're dealing with a large number of fixtures, like 20+, random offset completely fulfills the need; but when you get to smaller groups of fixtures like 8 or 5 or even 3 then the pattern recognition in our brain can quickly adjust and see the pattern. This loses the feeling of real randomness and excitement where you don't know what/where/or when something will happen. An option for a continuously random offset attribute on an effect would solve this problem and give the feeling of randomness that large shows have to smaller more limited shows. Here are a couple of ways I would imagine how this feature would behave, for the examples I will use five channels, Group 1 = 1 thru 5.
With the current random offset on Group 1 I will get a channel distribution such as 3 1 2 5 4, and I can continue to hit the random button to generate a different channel distribution until I get one I like.
With a continuously random offset we start with the same distribution 3 1 2 5 4
Then the last channel in that distribution is saved as X so X=4. Another random offset is generated that is Group 1 - X.
So say we get 3 2 1 5 , we set X=5 and that distribution is appended to the first distribution to give us 3 1 2 5 4 3 2 1 5
Run again random offset Group 1 - 5 and get 1 3 2 4, so set X = 4 and distribution is 3 1 2 5 4 3 2 1 5 1 3 2 4.
Continue this loop some number of times such as ten, and you now have a long order of for a channel distribution that the to the eye will look infinitely random with no pattern. One note about how this is imagined is that we don't want a channel to directly follow itself, such as 3 1 2 5 4 4 2 1 5 3 because that might cause an effect to look like it has stopped or is stutters.
I am not a coder and I obviously don't know how Eos' code works so it may be that this kind of loop isn't possible, but maybe something that achieves this result is?
We currently have Random Groups as an attribute for effects, but it also randomizes Action/Step/Position of the effect, and that gives a very different result that isn't always the right choice.
I hope I was clear with the idea, and would be happy to talk with anyone about it
Thanks!
Steven Johnson
