Support Forum

Hi Folks...

I've been using FS for a few weeks now and am starting to experiment with the cuelist buttons attached to the cue splashscreen. So I've:
1) Created a number of sequences for each fixture type
2) Each sequence is one particular attribute of the fixture (eg colour, position, gobo etc)...
3) I've then loaded one of each attribute into the cue switcher to get the effect I want (eg red colour, central positin, star gobo etc)
4) I then save these a a 'cue' and load it into a cue button.

However...

When I click between cues, some features from the last cue remain (eg a scanner will stops moving but stays lit)?

I have the "Cue go to previous value" feature enabled in the setup menu and I also have the "restore value' feature enabled on the cue switcher itself.

So is this normal behavoiur or should all the fixtures in the prevoius cue stop doing their 'thang'?

Thanks in advance.

OK I think I get what you are saying.

I think you are doing very well if you have only be at it for a few weeks!

You have got the idea of the cue buttons down which is great. What you need to do is create and add in a scene which closes the shutter for the scans etc. in the cues where they are not need. Every attribute of a fixture will stay doing the last command it was told to do. So changing the cue will only change the attributes in that cue and leave all others as they were on the last cue.

Closing the shutter on different cues can be one of the most important tools in programming.

My example is a strobe on an overide button. In creating the overide I save it so that only the shutter closed on all fixtures and all other atributes like color, gobo, panning, tilting carried on while the strobe did its thing. Then when I release the strobe and the other fixtures come back on (instantly) where they left off.
If I had programmed the overide to kill every attribute (send all values to zero) then on release of the strobe all the fixtures would need to cycle round to the value you are now sending so pan , tilt, gobo , color etc look really crap and not seamless.

Hope this has helped!

dmxlighting wrote: You have got the idea of the cue buttons down which is great. What you need to do is create and add in a scene which closes the shutter for the scans etc. in the cues where they are not need. Every attribute of a fixture will stay doing the last command it was told to do. So changing the cue will only change the attributes in that cue and leave all others as they were on the last cue.

Just some little theory as addition for Kings:
This is called "LTP" -> Latest Takes Presedence.
Its a common technique that is used in the world of light control.
The cue window works this way if multiselect of the cue's is not used (so only one cue runs at a time).
When multiselect mode is enabled, the Cue still runs LTP, but when a later switched on cue is switched off, values of a previously started and still running cue are re-used.

HTP (Highest Takes Presedence - which commonly is used for general lights like PAR's) is also used in FreeStyler, but only in the DMX400 controller, I believe.

Understanding these 2 techniques is one of the most importand things in the world of lighting, so you might want to google/wiki some around to read more about it.

By the way, if you want a cue to restore the values of the DMX channels that are changed by that cue, you need to enable that for every cue by clicking the grey arrow (which becomes blue then).

Thanks for the great tips guys!

But...

OK I think I get what you are saying.

I think you are doing very well if you have only be at it for a few weeks!

You have got the idea of the cue buttons down which is great. What you need to do is create and add in a scene which closes the shutter for the scans etc. in the cues where they are not need. Every attribute of a fixture will stay doing the last command it was told to do. So changing the cue will only change the attributes in that cue and leave all others as they were on the last cue.

OK...just to test my understanding...If we have a scenario where I am using two types of scanners (call them A and B). If I click on a cue for A and then select a cue for B, A will still be active as its continues to recieve a signal?

Whereas...

If im using a sequences (displayed to the left of the fast cue selctor screen), disabling the multiselct feature and enabling the restore value will effectively stop the sequence if I select another.

But what I'm finding is that when I select a cue (= collection of sequences) for A and then a Cue for B, only some attributes of the original cue A remain ('A' fixtures will remain lit but stop moving). I would expect to see A still displaying all the attributes listed in the original cue A!? Its almost as if changing a cue 'freezes' the output from the first cue. This 'frozen' output also remains when I deselect all cues.

(DMXlighting...am I correct in thinking that in your post, the word cue should be replaced with the word sequence? )

Kings wrote:Thanks for the great tips guys!
OK...just to test my understanding...If we have a scenario where I am using two types of scanners (call them A and B). If I click on a cue for A and then select a cue for B, A will still be active as its continues to recieve a signal?

Yes, but only the last sent out values.

Whereas...

If im using a sequences (displayed to the left of the fast cue selctor screen), disabling the multiselct feature and enabling the restore value will effectively stop the sequence if I select another.

But what I'm finding is that when I select a cue (= collection of sequences) for A and then a Cue for B, only some attributes of the original cue A remain ('A' fixtures will remain lit but stop moving). I would expect to see A still displaying all the attributes listed in the original cue A!? Its almost as if changing a cue 'freezes' the output from the first cue. This 'frozen' output also remains when I deselect all cues.

Its only the movents that are stopped is'nt it? Well, thats how it should be. You stopped that cue that controls the movement (which could be a multiple step sequence, or shape). So that cue is'nt thinking for it self anymore, it is "on hold" because its not active, so movements and stepping through steps stop and only the last DMX values of the pan & tilt channels are sent out. Meaning that the mirrors or heads stop moving when the cue that controls that is disabled.
In short: active shapes/steps are stopped when the selected cue is disabled.
If you don't want this behaviour, you should enable multiselect (in the freestyler config) so that you can run multiple cue's at a time.

Sound advice from Remco and probably a little clearer than my confusing efforts!

Ohhh...I get it!

Darn! Instead of completely stopping the first cue, or allowing it to continue to run, choosing another cue produces an intermediate result. I wish it were one way or the other in that it were only one cue at a time (LTP) or multiple cues (ie different fixture types) allowed at one time.

So I'll use your suggestion of programming a shutter sequence for the fixures not playing in the latest cue.

Thanks so much for your help guys! I appreciate the time you took to set me straight.