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I have been trying to learn the submaster section and have come upon a strange behavior. When I create a simple sequence of led par cans that turn on and off, and save that sequence it works fine. I add it to a cue all by itself and it works fine. I can run it from the cuelist buttons no problem. I can add it to other sequences in a cue and they all run fine.

However, When I save a cue containing the flashing pars and then add it to a submaster, the sequence no longer appears to work under any conditions. I cannot get it to work from the sequence editor or from the cuelist or from the cuelist button. Doesn't matter if I remove it from the submaster, it's still broken. The sequence seems to be running through the steps in the cuelist or sequence editor, but nothing happens with the lights.

If I restart FS, it works again.

I say "no longer appears to work" because when I look at the pars on the FS screen, they indicate that they are changing, but in the 3-D visualizer nothing happens and no changes are observed when looking at the DMX levels in the Visualizer. It seems that FS stops passing DMX data for this sequence once it has been placed in a submaster. Other submaster sequences I have work fine.

I have not had a chance to try this at home with the lights, but so far, the visualizer has been pretty representative of the real thing.

Thanks,

Doug

Hi doug

I think I've seen this problem myself. It's a strange one though. Can u give more detail about ur set up.
Fs version ? USB device? Etc etc etc

I'll do my best to help u solve this one!

dmxlighting wrote:Hi doug

I think I've seen this problem myself. It's a strange one though. Can u give more detail about ur set up.
Fs version ? USB device? Etc etc etc

I'll do my best to help u solve this one!

I believe I am using the latest version of FS (3.3.2) with the Enttec Pro. I get the same result in the 3D Visualizer as I do with the real lights connected. Pars are simple 3 channel LED Rain 56.

To recap (for those who don't want to read the long original thread):

1. Create simple sequence of par cans changing colors - works fine
2. Add to Cue and save Cue - works fine
3. Add Cue to Submaster and run - does not work. Cue/Sequence will never work again under any approach (sequence editor, cue list, cue button) until I reboot FS. Sequence "appears" to run (pars change color in FS window) but real pars or pars in 3-D visualizer don't respond.

Thanks,

Doug

Hi Doug_Danforth.

looks like you have found a bug... havent tried to reproduce it yet thoug. However I think you should submit a bug report, so me and raph can investigate this further and fix it.

I don't appear to be able to submit a bug report. When I click on the link I get to the bug tracker screen but it tells me I am not logged in. When I try to log in I am not allowed.

I tried both the link in your post and the link at the top of the screen.

Thanks,

Doug

You have to create an extra account at the bug tracker here: http://www.freestylersupport.com/bugs/signup_page.php Unfortunately it is not possible to use your forum account there. Perhaps this will change in the future, but til then you need two accounts.

This is, just for the case you are intrested in, that there are two different systems. As forum a phpbb is used and mantis is running as bug tracker. This system have nothing in common together.

Doug I think you are forgetting to use the submaster intensity.
Try pulling up the slider on the side of the relevant submaster to the top.
Raph added a 'virtual' dimmer control for RGB fixtures to allow dimming on fixtures with no master intensity.
If the sub intensity is not used then you will not get any light!

Let me know if this sorts the issue.

Well, this sort of helps. When I adjust the virtual dimmer on the relevant submaster, the cue/sequence now runs correctly and the lights appear. If I turn the dimmer back to 0, I see no lights - so that makes sense.

What is still confusing, is that once I insert that cue into a submaster, I can never run it on its own, even if I delete it from the submaster. Once the cue list is in a submaster, that submaster never relinquishes control of the cue list - at least not the dimmer aspect.

I create the sequence - runs fine, lights appear.
I put it in a submaster and turn up the dimmer - runs fine, lights appear. I turn down the submaster dimmer, and the lights disappear and will never appear even if I delete the sequence from the submaster and run it from the sequence editor. The sequence runs but there are no lights.

The submaster never relinquishes control of the dimmer function - that appears to be the bug.

Doug

Have you tried to delete the sequence from submaster without setting the virtual dimmer to 0? Perhaps it is not that the submaster relinquished the controll but the virtual dimmer is not switched off and keeps control.
Try the following:
Create the sequence and run it.
Put it in a submaster and turn up the dimmer. Run it again
Delete the sequence from the submaster and run it from the sequence editor. What happens then?
Answering this could help to find out if there is a bug and if so what specific problem there is.

if you run a sequence in a submaster you have to turn off the submaster before you can run the sequence from the cue window or sequence editor (all sequences in cue window and all submasters have to to deactivated when opening sequece editor, otherwise sequence editor will run i offline mode... that means you can only see the changes you make in the 3D viewer and not on your actual lights. this make it possible to edit sequences while other sequences are running on the actual fixture)

Mavi wrote:Have you tried to delete the sequence from submaster without setting the virtual dimmer to 0? Perhaps it is not that the submaster relinquished the controll but the virtual dimmer is not switched off and keeps control.
Try the following:
Create the sequence and run it.
Put it in a submaster and turn up the dimmer. Run it again
Delete the sequence from the submaster and run it from the sequence editor. What happens then?
Answering this could help to find out if there is a bug and if so what specific problem there is.

When I do as you say, the sequence runs fine and I see the lights at whatever intensity I left the dimmer in the submaster when the sequence was deleted. If the submaster dimmer was at 100% and I delete the sequence, that sequence will always run at 100% whether I play it from the editor or cue list. If the submaster dimmer was at 25% when I delete the sequence, the sequence will always play back at 25%.

Seems like we're getting close?

Doug

LJ_krede.dk wrote:if you run a sequence in a submaster you have to turn off the submaster before you can run the sequence from the cue window or sequence editor (all sequences in cue window and all submasters have to to deactivated when opening sequece editor, otherwise sequence editor will run i offline mode... that means you can only see the changes you make in the 3D viewer and not on your actual lights. this make it possible to edit sequences while other sequences are running on the actual fixture)

When you say "turn off the submaster" do you mean close the submaster window? I have done that and when I open the sequence editor, it is not in Offline Mode. I made sure to close both the submaster window and the cue list window before starting the sequence editor.

Based on Mavi's suggestion, it seems like the submaster dimmer never relinquishes control of (that function of) the sequence - at least when outputting DMX. As I mentioned earlier in the thread, I can see the sequence running and the little bars above the pars in the main FS window change color correctly (even when the submaster dimmer was left at 0%).

Doug

Doug_Danforth wrote:

LJ_krede.dk wrote: wrote:if you run a sequence in a submaster you have to turn off the submaster before you can run the sequence from the cue window or sequence editor (all sequences in cue window and all submasters have to to deactivated when opening sequece editor, otherwise sequence editor will run i offline mode... that means you can only see the changes you make in the 3D viewer and not on your actual lights. this make it possible to edit sequences while other sequences are running on the actual fixture)

When you say "turn off the submaster" do you mean close the submaster window?

I mean press the stop button for each submaster

Doug_Danforth wrote: When you say "turn off the submaster" do you mean close the submaster window? I have done that and when I open the sequence editor, it is not in Offline Mode. I made sure to close both the submaster window and the cue list window before starting the sequence editor.

Based on Mavi's suggestion, it seems like the submaster dimmer never relinquishes control of (that function of) the sequence - at least when outputting DMX. As I mentioned earlier in the thread, I can see the sequence running and the little bars above the pars in the main FS window change color correctly (even when the submaster dimmer was left at 0%).

Doug

You need to use the 'stop' button on the submasters. Just closing the window will not stop play back from the subs. From time to time fs does do some odd things but you need to make sure that you fully understand what to expect from it. You are well on your way and asking some interesting questions.
Its worth remembering that submasters are probably the best way to use fs and give total flexablity.
You can also use the 'cuelist Buttons' with the submasters. This will let you select a bunch of sequences (well 20 actually) and run them at the touch of 1 button.
If you haven't already can I recommend looking at the submaster tutorial written by me. You will find it in the tutorials forum or on the fs wiki. Im always looking for feedback so that I can improve future versions.

I have an issue with programming some LED pars myself. At the weekend I was programming 8 pars. For some really odd reason the steps I recorded were partly ignorned and fs decided to do the wrong colours. I had to go back in to the sequences in offline mode and re-edit. This solved it but I have no idea why this happen.
Very strange.

LJ_krede.dk wrote: I mean press the stop button for each submaster

Think Kristian added this as I was still typing!

dmxlighting wrote:I have an issue with programming so LED pars myself. At the weekend I was programming 8 pars. For some really odd reason the steps I recorded were partly ignorned and fs decided to do the wrong colours. I had to go back in to the sequences in offline mode and re-edit. This solved it but I have no idea why this happen.
Very strange.

if you can reproduce the error please write a bug report....

.

wrote:From time to time fs does do some odd things

Fortunately this have been much better the last few years because of the users like you and Doug_Danforth who post their questions about strange behaviour .


Keep up the good work

LJ_krede.dk wrote:
I mean press the stop button for each submaster

I have done that.

dmxlighting wrote:
You need to use the 'stop' button on the submasters. Just closing the window will not stop play back from the subs. From time to time fs does do some odd things but you need to make sure that you fully understand what to expect from it. You are well on your way and asking some interesting questions.
Its worth remembering that submasters are probably the best way to use fs and give total flexablity.
You can also use the 'cuelist Buttons' with the submasters. This will let you select a bunch of sequences (well 20 actually) and run them at the touch of 1 button.
If you haven't already can I recommend looking at the submaster tutorial written by me. You will find it in the tutorials forum or on the fs wiki. Im always looking for feedback so that I can improve future versions.

I have an issue with programming some LED pars myself. At the weekend I was programming 8 pars. For some really odd reason the steps I recorded were partly ignorned and fs decided to do the wrong colours. I had to go back in to the sequences in offline mode and re-edit. This solved it but I have no idea why this happen.
Very strange.

I have used the stop button to stop the sequence in the submasters. Then I delete the sequence from the sub master. Then I close the sub master window. The dimmer function on the sub master still maintains control over the sequence.

I have read your very helpful sub master tutorial and I have my scanners working perfectly with it. To be honest, I have not tried to delete a scanner sequence and see if the sub master still maintains control I have only done that with the par can sequence. Interestingly, the par cans don't even have a dimmer control channel. I have them set up as simple 3 channel R G B so to control intensity you have to use the color sliders. However, even when I set them up with a dimmer channel the sub master behaved the same.

Doug

Hi again Doug_Danforth

Thank you for posting a bug report regarding this issue. the video helped me to understand the issue and I could easily reproduce the problem.. I have assigned the bug to Raph, the Developer. Lets see what he can do

Well done Doug. That video explains the problem very well. Its a very strange one!
Others could follow in your example and post video links do show the problem they have. Thats really helps.

Dougs youtube link - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSQGwCBySM4

HEy Doug

could you try to retest and see if you can reproduce the issue in the newest release of FS (3.3.6 Beta). if you can not reproduce it, you may close your bug report