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Play multiple cues at same time

Posted: 28 Oct 2009, 01:49
by Stikstof
In our club we have regular parcans on a dimmer, rgb lights and moving mirror fixtures. For our next party our fixtures can't be on audio control mode in the theme/setup we use for the party so we added them on dmx control.

I have made different scenes to control each of them apart. I have made 1 cue for 20 parcan scenes, 1 cue for 20 rgb scenes and 1 cue for 20 fixtures scenes. Because we don't have a person spare to control the lights at the party, I want each cue to loop every set of 20 scenes at the same time to get some nice effects.

Any ideas?

Re: Play multiple cues at same time

Posted: 28 Oct 2009, 08:01
by remco_k
As far as I know FreeStyler can run 1 cue at a time with 20 scenes in it (that run all, or just one).
So I guess you need to rethink your ways of diong things.

Why 1 cue for 20 parcan scenes?
Looking at that from here, it seems better to create 1 scene with 20 steps and add that scene to the cue.
Then you'll have 19 cue positions left to be filled.
The same goes for your other scenes like RGB and fixtures.

Re: Play multiple cues at same time

Posted: 28 Oct 2009, 10:41
by Stikstof
So when I have 1 sequence with all my parcans and 1 sequence with all my rgb, I have to make also one HUGE sequence with all my fixture movements.
It would have been nice if I could build a cue for my fixtures where i could call the same sequence more than once.

Why I want different sequences for my fixtures: I added a picture to give a bit more background info on the setup of the fixtures. I only have the fixtures in the eyes. (In the mouth I have placed a fogger and a blacklight.) I wanted to make a couple of sequences where the eyes would freeze and 'stare' at the crowd. I made the scenes transparent, so if I don't change the pan and tilt (and sometimes color setting too) of my fixture, i could use the same 'stare'-sequence after different moving sequences. Then the mirrors (and color wheel) are in a different position and the mask stares at different places while you only have to program it once.

When i make a cue with these effects and select the 'loop all sequences' function, I can't control my parcans and rgb at the same time. (unless i split a 10 sec fixture step into 20 steps of 500ms and mix my parcan and rgb effects in the different fixture steps and create a lot of huge sequences).

PS. After spending more time on the forum, I believe it is also what the guy in this post is asking for: http://www.freestylersupport.com/fsforu ... f=6&t=1105

Re: Play multiple cues at same time

Posted: 28 Oct 2009, 13:32
by remco_k
Stikstof wrote:So when I have 1 sequence with all my parcans and 1 sequence with all my rgb, I have to make also one HUGE sequence with all my fixture movements.
Yep
It would have been nice if I could build a cue for my fixtures where i could call the same sequence more than once.
You can put the same sequence multiple times in the same cue, but there's no point doing so as running the same sequence more than once at the same time has no sense at all.
Or I misunderstand what you are saying here.

Its not that hard to create I I understand you correctly. Just create several sequences with several steps for each type of fixture. Add those sequences to the cue and run them all at the same time.

Re: Play multiple cues at same time

Posted: 28 Oct 2009, 17:20
by Stikstof
I do not want to play all the sequences at the same time. Since I can only play one cue at the time, I want to play 18 sequences for my scanners one after the other with the loop all sequences function. While the 18 sequences are playing one after the other, i want to play sequence 19 (parcan control) and sequence 20 (rgb control) all the time, as if they are not in the loop all...

here is an example how i want my cue to look ideally:

Code: Select all

1. Scanner move1: Path: Square - Color: Green - Gobo: Small dot - Time: 10sec
2. Scanner freeze1: path: off - 10 steps with increasing speed: Alternate shutters scan 1 and 2 (1open,2closed,1000ms; 2open,1closed,900ms; 1open,2closed,800ms;... ; 2open,1closed,100ms)
.
.
.
13. Scanner move6: Path: Circle - Color: Red - Gobo: Striped - Time 12sec
14. Scanner freeze1 again (and maybe change chase speed to 80%)
What I get in sequence 2 my scanners are flashing a small green dot, where my mirror has stopped in the top right corner of the square path
What I get in sequence 14 my scanners are flashing red stripes a bit slower, where the mirror has stopped in the lower half of the circle.
Same effect with a different look, and I don't have to program the 10 steps over and over again when i want to use them.

The freeze1 sequence is one I plan to use, some others are even more complicated. When I have to program all of them in one sequence, I have to write 18 sequences x 10 step average = one 180 step sequence that is a lot harder to make small adjustments.
Same for parcan and rgb chases. If you have more small chases, it gives more flexibility to control the lights (more likely in a bar/nightclub than at a concert).

Another example: If I move my scanners to another part of the dancefloor for another setup, and want move the square path the scanner makes a bit more to left because it looks better on the dancefloor.
Your way: I open the sequence 'scanners' i made 6 months ago, search in which steps I use the square path and change the path in every step (time consuming).
My way: I can open the sequence named 'sqare path' i made 6 months ago and move the path in step 1. Done.

And that is why I think it would be handy to make 3 cues run together, each playing it's sequences one after the other.
I hope you catch my idea with this explanation.

I have a workaround in my mind. One last question when i play all sequences at the same time. The top one gets priority when i send two values to the same channel, right? And does the bottom one sends its value back when I send only one signal to a channel, because this doesn't seem to work right in the 3D easy view...

Re: Play multiple cues at same time

Posted: 05 Nov 2009, 00:01
by magic
Hahah Lol!

You are experiencing exact the same problem as I do. I opened a topic in the ideas sections. Perhaps you can verify that I mean the same thing as you do.