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How to fx: Mirrored Ballyhoo with 6 fixtures?

I have 6 floor lights that I need to mirror each other in a circle effect so that 1&6, 2&5, and 3&4 cross paths at the same time but each half is offset in a 0,90,180 type spread. This is a very common effect but I cannot seem to get it to work.

I've tried:

1>3 circle, spread 100%, copy to 6>4, change 6>4 pan to reverse...does not work, 2&5 are going the same direction

1>6 circle, fan center until offset reads 180,90,360,0,270 then reverse pan on 4>6...does not work. 2&5 are going the same direction.

The only time it works is without spread or offset, but that's not the effect I need. Any time spread or offset is set to a 0,90,180 type configuration fixtures 2 and 5 go in the same direction even tho they did not before the offset.

I'm clearly missing something and any help would be appreciated.


  • 0
    Figured it out. I wasn't using spread correctly. For 6 fixtures it needs to be a spread of 120% for a mirrored circle in offset.
  • 0
    Some tips:

    Selections order is key to spreading an effect. a 100% spread will evenly spread your lights across 360° of the circle. Assuming your lights go across the stage |1>2>3|4>5>6|
    100%
    1: 0°
    2: 300°
    3: 240°
    4: 180°
    5: 120°
    6: 60°
    (Spread goes counter clockwise on the circle)

    In the case of a mirrored effect, you would want your spread to be across the first 3 and the last 3 in reverse.
    1: 0°
    2: 240°
    3: 120°
    4: 120°
    5: 240°
    6: 0°
    The easiest way to do this is to select your lights, and hold the [set] key and touch your effect offest encoder and enter 0>240>0.

    Then you want to select your stage left lights and put a revese direction on pan.

    Press [Blind] twice to re sync your effect.



  • 0
    Noah, thank you for the input.

    Just some feedback: selecting 1>3 with a 100% spread and then copying to 6>4 and then reversing the second pair will result in 1&6 being mirrored, but 3&5, 2&4 will be mirrored.

    The same issue with using a center fan clockwise encoder until pan reaches 0>240, It will result in 3&4 mirrored but 2&5, 1&4 mirrored instead.

    I found the fastest and easiest way to achieve the effect I wanted was to give 1>6 a circle, reverse pan/tilt on 6>4 and then select all 1>6 and give a 120% spread. That will get me the proper look every time.

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