Expression off-line read and write ASCII files

In general, the idea of the USITT ASCII cue structure is to have a method of getting  very basic cue data from one type of console to another - I.E. from ETC Expression to Strand Light Pallette, or the reverse, etc..

As such, only the very basic data is supported - Channel Number, Level, Cue Number, Time.  Other data, such as split times, multi-part cues and effects are not supported as each console handles and writes this data differently.

That, at least has been my experience.

Out of curiousity, what are you trying to do that requires going to ASCII ?.

Steve B.

Thank you for responding to my post.

I am new on the controller and I am also a software programmer. I know exactly the sequence of lights should be working, so I thought it will be easier to use ASCII file to program a show than using the keypad. I have read the USITT document briefly, so I guessed the offline program skipped all the secondary commands(with prefix $$).

If the sequence(positive effect) is

Step 1. channel 20 up 3 seconds hold 20 seconds down 0 second from 0% to 100%

Step 2. channel 40 up 2 seconds hold 10 seconds down 0 second from 100% to 0%

To meet the USITT standard(to edit ASCII file), can I program 2 steps as 2 cues and link them together or put them in a subroutine to achieve the same goal?

Thanks,

TC

tkuan, I recommend you abandon your idea of working in USITT/ASCII in preference to the keypad of the Expression console.  (It can also be irritating to use an offline version of a console because it's so different from the actual facepanel, but it's not clear if that's a factor in your original post. You did say that you haven't used the console for very long.)

Although ETC developments strongly influenced the elderly USITT/ASCII document you read, not all old and new consoles of any one manufacturer implement that standard exactly the same way. And the truth is that the main real-world use of USITT/ASCII has been to port shows from one console to another-because the show files are totally and hopelessly incompatible. Before there were offline console emulators, some consoles could be edited in a hotel room only with ASCII. But it would alsways be better to use the emulator program when available.

The USITT/ASCII standard is just not complete or contemporary enough to use the way you want to use it. Even though the latest ETC products output an astonishingly complete amount of ASCII data, the Expression offline ASCII input can't use any of those newly extended keyword sets.

I should also point out to you that the "essence" of the Expression, or any other lighting console, is in-theater operation of the lighting. Your time is best spent getting familiar with the physical interface of the console. Even if you were programming a museum display that will never be edited again, your work would go faster on the real console.

Hi tkuan,

As a programmer myself, I can fully understand what you are trying to do, and to be honest, we have often written ASCII shows for testing.  Cut and paste works wonders when you need to test whether the console can actually record and play back 10,000 cues.

But as you found out, Expression cannot read any manufacturer-specific data, which is designated by the $$ in front of the keyword.  If you are writing shows with conventional lights, you can write cues, cue parts, cues with link and/or follow, up/down times or waits, subs, groups and labels.  Effects and subroutines are not standard ASCII data, so avoid these.  Also keep in mind, that if you type in an errant character, the show will not read in and you will have a devil of a time trying to figure out why. 

 Overall, I agree with the previous advice to avoid ASCII showfiles.  They were designed to move very basic data only.  But as an interesting experiment....

Ann

Tkuan,

As other have said, the Express Offline Editor will not read back in manufacturer specific USITT ascii extensions.  Afoster gave a good summary of what is in the basic USIIT ascii standard.

But you might be interested in a bit of software I've been working on and have just made available (open source, MIT license) to others-

XLCue is an Excel spreadsheet that uses Visual Basic behind the scenes to read and write USITT ascii data for cues, (and patch and subs and groups) and allow you to edit it in a spreadsheet format.  It also has some special features that help a lot in dealing with scrollers, or in getting by with very simple moving lights.

The program itself can be found at http//web.mit.edu/aff/www/xlcue

Some documentation can be found at http://mitmtg.pbworks.com/XLCue-Introduction

Please let me know if you use it at all, have any questions or comments, etc.