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Future scaling suggestion

May I suggest an option for a future release of Catalyst ?

I, for one, would find it unbelievably handy to be able to specify something like a "global scale" as a user preference. Let me clarify what I mean and why I would need such a feature. When working with content that is, say, 720x576, and is being displayed at, or very near "native resolution" or full screen, I find that the majority of the scaling & translation range (X & Y positioning) is unusable, and often results in having live scaling & translation cues being so steppy as to also be unusable.

For example, if I wanted to scale a piece of content from "0%" (just small enough to not be seen) to full screen, the 16-bit DMX values are 32911 > 36345, which is an incredibly small slice of the DMX spectrum...and if I wanted to perform this scale change over, say, 10 seconds, the transition is incredibly steppy...whereas, if the range was from 0 > 36345, that would be a *much* greater step resolution and, I surmise, would allow for a much smoother transition from imperceptably small to full screen.

Does that make any kind of sense ?

Thanks.
  • I beleive if you look in the BEAM parameters you will find a MOVEMENT SPEED (channel #22). Like a macro time, you would set it to the time you want the x-fade of the scale, X or Y position to take and have the next cue be where it should end up on a cue with a ZERO count fade (you don't want to cross fade the movement speed channel or you will see a ramp-down in speed of the cross fade).

    If you need an example of a cue sequence using this, feel free to contact me.
  • Yeah, I know about the mspeed channel...unfortunately it doesn't really help smooth things out enough for what I need...I mean, there is a slight difference, but for what I really need, it's not quite the answer. Plus, there's that age-old pain-in-the-ass-ness of having to use the mspeed channel at all, and if you need different parameters to have different timings, etc.
  • you are dealing with dmx update issues - not scaling inside catalyst- and possibly bugs inside the lighting desk you are using?

    which desk are you using?

    if you do a preset internally - with a move from one position to another - it will be perfectly smooth.

    if you are using a hog 3 - there is always the possibility that they are using only 12 bit resolution - as they have done this is in the past.
  • [QUOTE=hillaryknox]Yeah, I know about the mspeed channel...unfortunately it doesn't really help smooth things out enough for what I need...I mean, there is a slight difference, but for what I really need, it's not quite the answer. Plus, there's that age-old pain-in-the-ass-ness of having to use the mspeed channel at all, and if you need different parameters to have different timings, etc.

    mspeed channel - is nothing like the 'mspeed' on a light.
    a computer has no physical inertia - it will instantly do what you tell it.

    you need to check the output and update rate of dmx from your console.
  • I'm on a GrandMA...it doesn't seem to be exhibiting any kind of other DMX refresh rate problems...you may be imagining a more extreme problem than I am having....it's just that a cue written with parameter-based scaling (i.e. the scale channel goes from, say, 32768 to 33000 over 10 seconds) is not as smooth as the same visal result when rendered as a 30 fps quicktime movie.

    I understand that the mspeed channel is nothing like mspeed on a light...however it is the same in that it removes the timing from the console and puts it on the server and that = a pain in the ass...unless I completely misunderstand what the mspeed channel does.
  • [QUOTE=hillaryknox]I'm on a GrandMA...it doesn't seem to be exhibiting any kind of other DMX refresh rate problems...you may be imagining a more extreme problem than I am having....it's just that a cue written with parameter-based scaling (i.e. the scale channel goes from, say, 32768 to 33000 over 10 seconds) is not as smooth as the same visal result when rendered as a 30 fps quicktime movie.

    I understand that the mspeed channel is nothing like mspeed on a light...however it is the same in that it removes the timing from the console and puts it on the server and that = a pain in the ass...unless I completely misunderstand what the mspeed channel does.

    its not the values - or the range of the values - themselves - but the fact that the lighting console and the media server are not synchronised together - frame by frame -
    the visual update rate is synchronised to the video refresh - the dmx is synchronised to the dmx update rate- they are not the same.

    you should add a small mspeed value - ( it doesnt replace the timing from the desk ) - it smooths out this difference. its like adding a little bit of mechanical inertia to the values. it doesnt remove the timing from the desk - it smooths out the dmx update rate.

    its not a moving light 'mspeed' parameter - it should be called 'movement smoothness' and it is called this in my software.

    start with a small value - between 0% and 5% - and increase until you see the movement become smoother visually- it is an 'exponential smoother', like 'easy ease in' in after effects.

    this parameters is designed to smooth out - exactly what you see - visually.
  • [QUOTE=hillaryknox]I understand that the mspeed channel is nothing like mspeed on a light...however it is the same in that it removes the timing from the console and puts it on the server and that = a pain in the ass...unless I completely misunderstand what the mspeed channel does.

    did you get around to testing this - for yourself?

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