Urgent help...flickering only when dimming

[rkhanso]

We have a play starting tomorrow night and are having flickering problems. Running the latest version of Freestyler. Are using a home-built Enttec Pro compatible interface and Elation dimmer packs with par64s.

I've used the clone Enttec interface in the past without problems with different dimers. It was going ok for a while with these Elations. But Recently, adding scenes causes random, intermittent flickering. It's not always on the same channel. It's not all the time. I've searched the forum and not come with a fix, or even an answer.

I'm new to lighting and don't really know what to look for.

Any ideas?

Thanks

[rkhanso]

A little clarificaton...

The flickering happens during the fade in/out in the scene. Sometimes there is some flicker on a fade out to black, The light will start to fade out, but then the light will come on at full intensity before it fades out completely.

[Partyman]

Your problem most likely is your USB to DMX converter. You need one with an adjustable refresh rate such as the Enttec Pro. Is the flickering happening on LEDs or traditional Lighting? You also may need a line terminator if you are running long lines.

Rusty

[rkhanso]

The interface is an Enttec Pro compatible clone that I made off of someones design (RPM at doityourselfchristmas.com). I'm using Elation dimmer packs with PAR64s.

I'm watching the first showing of the play right now, and haven't seen any flickering so far. I missed the first hour and a half though.

Not using a terminator. Dmx interface to dimmer is 50 feet, and each dimmer (3 total) have 50 ft cables between them. I think have to change the firmware and reflash the microprocessor to change the timing. I'll check on that.

But, the first show went much better than the initial setup.

[rkhanso]

I found out that they did have a lot of problems during the show. There were file not found errors the scenes were missing on various things like that.

I'll search the web tonight for answers to those problems

[rkhanso]

We're seeing 2 errors when running Freestyler. One error says:

Error-Warning
Can't show non-modal form when modal form is displayed

the other error says:

Error-Warning
File not found

Both of those errors show up when we click the blue play button (sideways triangle) on the Fast Cue Switcher panel.

Occasionally, one or more of the scenes in the grid in the Fast CUE switcher disappear when the error shows up.

Do we need to re-install Freestyler? Is this a known bug? I searched the forum but there were no hits when using the text from those error messages.

Maybe Freestyler isn't meant to be used this way....simple scene changes for a play/theater?

[rkhanso]

I think we may have it figured out.

We're using a laptop running Windows 7.
We started Freestyler in Windows XP Serv pack 3 compatibility mode, and checked the ' run as administrator' box.

it's working better, but there are 3 more shows to go.

[rkhanso]

I'm not so sure that changing to the XP compatibility mode and running as administrator really fixed the problem. We still had trouble with flickering during fades (fade out mostly) and a couple file not found errors. But, the longer the lights were on, the better it seemed to work...I know - doesn't make sense.

I'll be looking at different software to try out.

[BillsGate]

The file not found errors probably are caused by a bug in the backup-restore feature.
Sub-folders of chases are not saved/restored correctly (this will probably be solved in next version).

To solve this, save a zip-file of your chases folder after you create a backup, and unzip it on the machine you've restored a backup to. Make sure Winzip / Winrar doesn't overwrite files while extracting.

[Robin_N-Zone]

rkhanso,

I´ve seen the file not found error a few times, for example when you create a cue, and tick the box that says Add to buttons, same when you create a sequence and tick add to buttons, then I always get the file not found error. and there was some other instance. But I think that it still works, at least for me, but not quite as it should maybe.
But if you just save your sequences and cues, without ticking add to buttons, and then add them manually, it works fine, typical bug I dont know if it has been reported though?

I dont know if this is what was happening to you, but it could be something similar perhaps? There does seem to be a few bugs in freestyler, but when you know them you can learn to work around them;) no software is perfect, and remember that Freestyler is one mans work, and for free

I run in Win 7, no XP mode or anything.

[Spirit]

i never known about the "file not found" issue.
but if yuor sure its a bug you can report it to the devolper. (and no its not been reported as i allways drag the sequence to the correct place )
http://www.freestylersupport.com/bugs/main_page.php

and about the flickering while dimming how do you dimm the light with the slider on the right side or on the submasters.
as i also have the problems sometimes that the Light is flicking if i use the intensitie slider on the submasters.
but i use the BCF2000 to controll the Submasters as i noticed if the Submaster window is Closed and i use the intensitie slider it will Flicker but if the Submaster window is open it all works Perfect!

/spirit