DMX Template Help

Hi,

I’ll try to be brief. We have gotten a surprising number of requests for a Catalyst Layer template for our DMX controller. One user even started a template, but left many of the 40 channels used as simple faders, instead of populating combo boxes with option names, breaking up channels with mode controls, and etc.

[Hugh] Which controller are you using?

Using the Catalyst online user's manual I have put together what is, I hope, a reasonable start, but I have a few questions which are probably best answered by folks who actually use the system!

Q1. Is there s list somewhere of the stock folders and content? In the manual, a few specific files are referred to, but I could not find a master list of stock content. I’ve given libraries listed in the manual meaningful names instead of just numbers, and I’d like to do the same for files.

[Hugh] My colleague Reagan should be able to chip in with the current content folders.

Q2. How should the 16 bit controls for “In Frame Point” and “Out Frame Point” display their values? I’ve currently just got 16 bit faders showing percentage (ex. 59.5%), but this isn’t very friendly if users typically dial in precise values instead of just finding them empirically.

[Hugh] No - you want to show this as as a straight 16 bit number i.e. 0 - 65535.

Q3. Is there a definitive list somewhere showing how Parameters (FX1 and FX2) map back to Visual Effects? On our system, you can change how controls are presented depending on the current setting of another channel. I’d like to change the presentation of FX1 and FX2 to match the current mode (‘Rows’, ‘Columns’, ‘Sides’, etc.) and hide them when they aren’t relevant.

[Hugh] Catalyst tells you. Windows>Library>Colour FX/Geometry FX.

Q4. Would Keystone channels benefit from fancy control? This one is a little hard to explain. Currently, I’ve got 8, 8-bit faders for adjusting the keystone channels. But I noticed that some of the samples use keystone for things like ‘shutters’. I could replace the 8 faders with 4 ‘position controls’ (normally used for pan/tilt on a moving fixture in our system). This would not really make keystone any easier to adjust, but position controls automatically get an ‘effects generator’ – basically you can pick a geometric shape and trace it at a variable rate, as well as control gain, rotation, and direction.

[Hugh] See if it works - sounds an intuitive way to do things. Let me know!

I already used a position control (in 16 bit mode) for X and Y position, since having the Catalyst output move around in a figure 8 pattern, sinewave, etc. in a single cue seemed useful, but I wasn’t sure if this sort of feature would be useful for controlling the corners or not.

[Hugh] Not following you here....

Q5. Is the behavior of “Movement Speed” documented anywhere? I’m assuming that the listed default (0) is max speed, but I’d like to confirm.

[Hugh] You are correct in your assumption. Movement Speed is a bit like MSpeed on a High End light, but applied to X Pos, Y Pos and Scale.

Q6. The biggie – if someone in the SoCal area would let me come by and try out this template on a real v3 system, I’d really appreciate it! I’ve done some pretty sophisticated templates ‘blind’, but this is a heck of a lot of channels! If SoCal isn’t an option, I could arrange for one of our loaner units and ship it to you.

[Hugh] We have an office in LA if that's helpful.

Best wishes,

Hugh Davies-Webb,
Catalyst Test and Support Specialist
High End Systems Europe Ltd
London.

Hi,

I’ll try to be brief. We have gotten a surprising number of requests for a Catalyst Layer template for our DMX controller. One user even started a template, but left many of the 40 channels used as simple faders, instead of populating combo boxes with option names, breaking up channels with mode controls, and etc.

[Hugh] Which controller are you using?

Using the Catalyst online user's manual I have put together what is, I hope, a reasonable start, but I have a few questions which are probably best answered by folks who actually use the system!

Q1. Is there s list somewhere of the stock folders and content? In the manual, a few specific files are referred to, but I could not find a master list of stock content. I’ve given libraries listed in the manual meaningful names instead of just numbers, and I’d like to do the same for files.

[Hugh] My colleague Reagan should be able to chip in with the current content folders.

Q2. How should the 16 bit controls for “In Frame Point” and “Out Frame Point” display their values? I’ve currently just got 16 bit faders showing percentage (ex. 59.5%), but this isn’t very friendly if users typically dial in precise values instead of just finding them empirically.

[Hugh] No - you want to show this as as a straight 16 bit number i.e. 0 - 65535.

Q3. Is there a definitive list somewhere showing how Parameters (FX1 and FX2) map back to Visual Effects? On our system, you can change how controls are presented depending on the current setting of another channel. I’d like to change the presentation of FX1 and FX2 to match the current mode (‘Rows’, ‘Columns’, ‘Sides’, etc.) and hide them when they aren’t relevant.

[Hugh] Catalyst tells you. Windows>Library>Colour FX/Geometry FX.

Q4. Would Keystone channels benefit from fancy control? This one is a little hard to explain. Currently, I’ve got 8, 8-bit faders for adjusting the keystone channels. But I noticed that some of the samples use keystone for things like ‘shutters’. I could replace the 8 faders with 4 ‘position controls’ (normally used for pan/tilt on a moving fixture in our system). This would not really make keystone any easier to adjust, but position controls automatically get an ‘effects generator’ – basically you can pick a geometric shape and trace it at a variable rate, as well as control gain, rotation, and direction.

[Hugh] See if it works - sounds an intuitive way to do things. Let me know!

I already used a position control (in 16 bit mode) for X and Y position, since having the Catalyst output move around in a figure 8 pattern, sinewave, etc. in a single cue seemed useful, but I wasn’t sure if this sort of feature would be useful for controlling the corners or not.

[Hugh] Not following you here....

Q5. Is the behavior of “Movement Speed” documented anywhere? I’m assuming that the listed default (0) is max speed, but I’d like to confirm.

[Hugh] You are correct in your assumption. Movement Speed is a bit like MSpeed on a High End light, but applied to X Pos, Y Pos and Scale.

Q6. The biggie – if someone in the SoCal area would let me come by and try out this template on a real v3 system, I’d really appreciate it! I’ve done some pretty sophisticated templates ‘blind’, but this is a heck of a lot of channels! If SoCal isn’t an option, I could arrange for one of our loaner units and ship it to you.

[Hugh] We have an office in LA if that's helpful.

Best wishes,

Hugh Davies-Webb,
Catalyst Test and Support Specialist
High End Systems Europe Ltd
London.