Vari Lite VL1000ERS

[missbethany3302]

At my church i work with VL1000ERS...i having a major hard time creating this fixture in the creator. it just seems like the values dont match what are in the creator. is this because this is an older light? anyone get me on the right path? So needing help!

[Spirit]

hello
i have lookt in to the pdf file but i See 4types of the "Vari Lite VL1000ERS"
1.Enhanced 16-Bit Mode – Models VL1000T & VL1000A part number T=20.9663.0001.01 A=20.9663.0001.11
2.Enhanced 16-Bit Mode – Models VL1000TS & VL1000AS part number TS=20.9663.0001.02 AS=20.9663.0001.12
which one do you have or which part number do you have.

and can you explaine a little better what your problem is, what you already have tried.

And maby you can also poste your Fixture File you already have been made.

http://www.calstage.com/manuals/movers/vari1kman.pdf

[missbethany3302]

Ok, Well i'm figuring out how to post what i have so far...i'm at work and left my lighting laptop at home. I have the 2nd option you have listed the 27channel light.

I'm not having any trouble filling in the info for like the colors and focus, things like that. what i'm struggling with is when it comes to the gobos. the DMX mapping i have doesnt break them down. there are 2 channels for gobo index 13-14. one is an index and one is a rotation. then you have channel 12 that is for rotating. then what do i do with all these Frame a and b's there?

thanks for your help. i'm a self taught lighting volunteer at my church, and i love learning new things but this fixture is really throwing me through the loop right now... I currently am operating an ETC express 48/96 that really is not condusive for moving lights, so the quicker i figure out how to get this light programmed, the quicker i can go live

[missbethany3302]

I was wondering, do i need to go into the fixture on my current board that it is hooked up to and write down what value each gobo is at? it has a range, and then assign that to the gobo wheel value? I can do that if i need to since the mapping doesnt break that down for me. I dont know, this fixture is making me feel really dumb right now...

[Spirit]

oke
i have lookt at the pdf but i think The frames 1a/4b are.
Normal your OPEN gobo must be round but with the frames you can make a square of it with the sizes you want. so you can highlighte a object.
look at this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghvRy6EDZfY at 5:00min

and the gobo's i don't understand. but i will look at it when you post the fixture file.

[Spirit]

Ido i need to go into the fixture on my current board that it is hooked up to and write down what value each gobo is at?

yes this is a good idea

[missbethany3302]

ok, well i will write down those values. i saw that picking a number in the middle for each gobo wa best ( i watched the Direct sound tutorial on youtube...)
When i get home i'll look at the profile, i guess where i'm getting stuck is where to enter the gobo channels,
channel 12 is rotating gobo.
channel 13 and 14 is gobo index

when you use the light on the gobo index the lower values are stationary gobos, and as you get to a higher value the gobo starts turning all on one channel, you then have to manipulate the spin speed by scrolling through the rotating gobo, the higher value with that channel the slower the gobo spins. so thats the confusing part... Does that make any sense...or was that totally confusing?

the other part that i'm unsure of is i entered the 0 to 65535 for the pan and tilt in the ranges for the profile, but, the light has a low byte and a high byte, first i dont understand the difference, and second do i just need to enter those values in the pan/tilt range?

[Spirit]

when you use the light on the gobo index the lower values are stationary gobos, and as you get to a higher value the gobo starts turning all on one channel, you then have to manipulate the spin speed by scrolling through the rotating gobo, the higher value with that channel the slower the gobo spins. so thats the confusing part... Does that make any sense...or was that totally confusing?

No this is good, can you also Stop a Rotating gobo or will he allways rotate iff he don't stop with rotating you have your stationary gobos.
And value 0=Fast And 255=SLow this isn't confusing every company does different this.

the other part that i'm unsure of is i entered the 0 to 65535 for the pan and tilt in the ranges for the profile, but, the light has a low byte and a high byte, first i dont understand the difference, and second do i just need to enter those values in the pan/tilt range?

This is a thing i'm also a little confusing about, But 0 to 65535 This doesn't exists Dmx only uses 0 to 255.
oke your Hi byte Pan= 16bit Pan / Lo byte Pan = 8bit Pan. So HI byte =16bit and Lo Byte = 8bit with a value of 0 to 255

Sorry for the late reaction i have had a very busy Week-end.

[missbethany3302]

ok hmmmm, well then since i'm using the high byte/16 bit i dont need to worry about this. I havent had a chance to test what i have or get my individual personality yet because like you have had a busy weekend. i'm thinking i'll be able to do this this weekend.

as for the rotating gobo, i cant stop the gobo spinning unless i scroll down to the stationary index. the rotating gobo separate channel will only change the speed and what direction the gobo is spinning.

I"m starting to understand this thank you so much for your help so far I'm going to plug the high value in anyway and test it and see if it works or not. trial and error right?

[Spirit]

yes indeed trial and error.
every Fixture is different nothing is standard.
and i don't have the fixture you are trying to understand so i'm trying you to find de good way to understand your fixture.
so you just have to play with it and as more you play with it the more you will understand how it's work.

and if you don't now anthing about DMX it's a good idea to read the DMXwiki. it will help you clear a lot of your problems. and DMX Works with 512Channels And every channel can give a Value of 0 to 255.

and with the 8bit and 16bit pan/tilt you alway's use both. a lot of fixtures only have a 8bit pan/tilt, the 16bit pan/tilt only makes your fixture more precise.

hopefully you have understand me, and if you got more problems just post your problem and we will help you.

[missbethany3302]

ok so when i try to attach what i have so far for my fixture, it says the exgtension fxt is not allowed. something is not right with it because i am getting an 'overflow' error when i try to add the fixture to my list. so do you know what this error is? and how do i attach the file to a post?

[missbethany3302]

Ok so this is what i have so far for my fixture. When i try to patch this fixture i'm getting an overflow error. with these odd DMX values i'm hoping this fixture will work. i think i am missing some values.

[Spirit]

oke, a lot of things you did is correct but with the pan/tilt isn't correct.
Hi byte pan (16bit) must be ch2 and your Lo Byte pan(8bit) must be ch3
Hi byte tilt (16bit) Must be Ch 4 and your Lo byte Tilt(8bit) must be CH 5
if the pdf is correct.

And the range are the degrees your Fixture can Pan and tilt so the Pan must be 540 and your tilt must be 270.
Because your fixture van Pan 540 degrees and tilt 270 degrees

and you put some value's in the Shutter Ch. open255 and closed 0 But you don't have a Shutter so you can Remove this value's.

[missbethany3302]

Ok, i think i fixed those setting correctly. now, i know i have a frost setting but not sure what the dmx channel is. also under the fixture description tab, do i need values in the 8 bit and 16 bit pan/tilt area. I entered the values you gave me for the range but what about these fields? there is something wrong with the pan/tilt. i cant get the movement window to open in FS. so i think i need values in those areas i mentioned?

I'm very excited to be able to test my fixture tomorrow. Let me know what else i need to do

[Spirit]

Pan 8 bit = 3
Pan 16 bit = 2
Pan range = 540

Tilt 8 bit = 5
Tilt 16 bit = 4
Tilt range = 270

Iff the pdf is correct

[missbethany3302]

Ok, so nothing happened...I loaded the the personality and nothing. but I"m wondering why? when i plug in the fixtures, they have a "home" position when they are reading a DMX signal from the controller. If they dont sense a signal, the lense points straight up. well no matter what changes i made nothing. Couldnt get a beam. Now my fixtures lamp on/off and intensity are on the same channel do i need to label the lamp on/off and intensity on the same channel? Do we have any ideas about why nothing is working? Any???

[Spirit]

nothing? ok strange.

realy nothing happened or could you only can't get the lamp on/off.

oke a little check list.
1.What type of DMX dongle do you have and did you seclect the good Dmx dongle in the "Interface Setup".
2.did you patch the DMX channels the same

oke i see in the pdf you must get CH27 "Control" to value 249 - 255 for at least 3sec to set your lamp on.
you can also set this value in your Fixture file with the Fixture Creator you must have "Lamp Channel" "27" on=255 off=170.
and to set your lamp on with FS you must open the "Lamp window" and press The Lamp on icon.
and it wil take a minute 1 or 2 to warm the lamp up.
and if the lamp is on you must use Channel 1 to dimm it.

[missbethany3302]

nope nothing...they wouldnt even move. i really donto think they were reading the dmx signal. I'm not sure by what you mean about the dmx dongle. it installed automaticly so do in need to check that? how would i do that. i will try the other suggestions also wish me luck

[Mavi]

If there happens notheing to the lights it is mostly a problem with the dmx chain. Mostly the DMX adresses are not set correctly or the fixture is not set to DMX mode.

To see if the dmx dongle is correctly installed open the device manager and plug the dongel il. You shuld see it in the device manager then.

[Spirit]

Dongle= a word for all types of usb devices.
Webcam . Mous. Keyboard and all usb devices.

And your dmx device because it works with usb . So a dmx dongle

[missbethany3302]

ok i will check those things, still not sure i'm understanding. the interface i'm using is the enttec open USB, that has one DMX universe... when i plugged in the interface the installer ran automaticlly...will it make a difference my DMX plugs for the interface has 2 universes, 1 for each plug. my interface is only one universe. does it matter what plug its plugged into? i have checked the addresses and they are addressed correctly. IDK, i'm going to work on this some more this week. the board i'm currently using is becoming very tempramental. i'm having a lot of problems with it. i'm running an ETC 48/96 right now not very condusive for moving lights at all! thank you all for your help by the way. its much appreciated from this volunteer self taught lighting person.

[Spirit]

oke it does seems you must install the drivers.
and Yes Windows does install some drivers but that is something else so you need to install the drivers of the Dongle (Dmx Device).
the thing you are talking about with the universe i don't realy understand, because the OPEN enttec only have 1x 5pin connector so 1 universe.
the enttec PRO does have 2x5pin connector, 1=For DMXout and 2=for DMXin. Also 1 universe
Enttec Open Drivers: http://www.enttec.com/dmx_usb/CDM20600.exe
Enttec Pro Drivers: http://www.enttec.com/dmx_usb/CDM20802.exe
and the Firmware updater (Only Enttec pro) : http://www.enttec.com/download/pro_utility_setup.exe

now you have the drivers but Freestyler needs to now which Dongle (DMX) device) you are useing to do this you need to start Freestyler Go to Setup-->Freestyler setup-->Interface Setup(tab).
here you can select the dongle (DMX device) you are useing. so select Enttec Open / Enttec pro depants on withs Dongle you have.

[missbethany3302]

Ok so i'm going to try these changes tonight. i know my fixtures are addressed correctly, that is not the problem. Would there be a problem with the interface if all my stationary lights function? as of now these are the only 2 moving heads i have. the rest are stationary washes, all i control is the intensity. My moving are not sensing any DMX signal at all. I will check the drivers, but to me it doesnt make sense that there is something wrong with the interface.

[missbethany3302]

as for the dmx universe, my interface does only have 1 universe capablities. My AV room has 2 plugs for separate universes, it's automaticlly setup for 2 dmx universes. i plug my interface into only one of these. but my question is does it matter which one i plug this into? hope that make sense?

[Spirit]

oke now i think i'm understanding you.
you say you have 1Dmx universe with stationary washes
and 1 Dmx universe with Moving lights.
Yes it does matter which one you plug into your dmx Device.

so you have 2 Dmx universe.
and 1 enttec open with 1 Dmx universe.

oke, it depents on what you want to control, the stationary washes or the moving lights but if you want to control everything. you need to do
Option1= to make your daisy chain a little better so you only and up with one cabel.(cheap but unstable if the line is getting a bit long)
option2 = or buy your self a Dmx distributor(not so cheap but more stable)
This works only if you use less than512 dmx channels, if you use more than 512 channel you need to buy antoher DMX device, or patch some fixture's the same.