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    joshgubler
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Expression: Groups and Moving Lights

Ok...I want to preface this by saying I know I should be using focus points, but the designer I am working with had a bad experience on the O2 with focus groups and is requesting that I use regular groups.

 On the O2 I often use the syntax "fixture 1 thru 6 record group 400 enter".  I'm pretty sure the translation on Expression is "fixture 1 thru 6 record group 400 solo".  Is that correct?

 Then I often use the O2 syntax "fixture 1 and 2 attribute all at group 400 enter".  Is the equivalent Expression syntax "group 400 only fixture 1 and 2 full"?

 If so, can I then extend this further by saying "group 400 only fixture 1 and 2 only position full"?

Sorry if this is a garbled mess.  I haven't taken the time to explain exactly what I'm trying to do.  If nobody responds to this then I'll take some more time tomorrow and try to explain myself better.
 

  • Ok, I can use groups or focus points, but either way I'm having the same problem.  I want to have the same functionality you get with libraries or pallets: record some information for all fixtures to a single pallet; restore that information to specific selected fixtures/attributes.

    I can record a pallet by saying "fixture 1 thru 6 only position image color beam none record group(or focus point) 1 solo".  And I can restore that by saying "group(or focus point) 1 full".  But I can't say "group(focus point) 1 only fixture 1 and 2 full".  I could probably substitute the channel range for fixture 1 and 2 (i.e. "group 1 only chan 201 thru 248 full"), but isn't there an easier way?  And that probably still wouldn't let me say "group 1 only chan 201 thru 248 only position full".  Or would it?

    Oh yeah, and I'm not interested in creating references between cues and focus points, so I'm not going to use "focus point 1 focus point 1".  Thanks. 

  • in reply to joshgubler

    I know it's bad form to let a thread turn into a monologue, but I just want to let everybody know what I discovered, just in case it can help someone else out.

    Record: fixture 1 thru 6 only position image color beam none record group(or focus point) 1 solo.

    Full restore: group(or focus point) 1 full.

    Fixture specific restore: fixture 1 and 2 only group (or focus point) 1 full.

    I still haven't had any luck with attribute specific restores.  Nested onlys don't seem to work (i.e. fixture 1 and 2 only position only group (or focus point) 1 full).  The second "only" discards the first one.

    Another little quirk that you sometimes have to work around is the fact that expression doesn't record hard zeros into groups.  So it is sometimes necessary to manually zero your fixtures out before trying to restore a group or focus point.  Am I missing something here?  Is there a way to make a group a "block" or "allfade" group so that empty channels in the selected range are filled in with hard zeros?  I run into this same problem a lot on the O2 and a workaround would be nice.



    [edited by: joshgubler at 4:25 AM (GMT -6) on Fri, Jun 08 2007]
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