Noob questions: 1) manual cue advance, 2) Cues on until advanced

[berto2002]

Hi folks, I am trying to learn the software for a very short Halloween show for the kids.

I have two questions I really need answers for which are deal-breakers for my use of FreeStyler x2. Can you help, please?

I have got as far as creating fixtures, patching them in, creating single-step sequences (I think some people call these scenes), adding them to the cue list. The problem is that each step seems to need a duration in miliseconds and each cue in the list needs a manual click on the little blue arrow to play it.

My requirement is simply to have a list of cues (each with various lamp settings representing a scene) that stay in that state (lamps on, not fading out) until I click a button on the keyboard (like space) when they would move to the next cue in the list: manual stepping-through the cues. Is this possible?

1) How do I set-up cues that don't have a duration (or infinite duration until next cue?)
2) how do I set-up the manual stepping through the cues with a key press?

Many many thanks in advance.

Rob

[Partyman]

Pretty easy but can get difficult depending on the amount of fixture types
Make sure you are using 1 step sequences and all channels are yellow, no red or green channels even if value is zero (right of sliders) if you do not want to deal with fade times.
Lights only do what they are told, if you turn a light on it will not turn off or change unless it is told to do so or overwritten in the next scene.
Load scenes into cue list.
Make sure in cue settings (cog wheel) Multi select cue is disabled
Go into freestyler setup, external control and setup whatever keyboard shortcuts you would like to use

[berto2002]

Thank you partyman. From what you said, it sounds like Freestyler cannot work for me because the main reason I need to use DMX is to get RGB LEDs working in all manner of colours. All my fixtures have RGB W channels.

I don't mind them fading up, the issue is that they fade out again but I just want them to stay on until the next cue comes along. They appear to be 3 time settings: the first appears to be the fade up time set to 1,000 milliseconds by default and then there is a second figure which appears to be the duration and then there is a third figure which is the speed.

So for clarity is there no way at all with LED RGB fixtures to have the cue set so it fades up and then stays on until the next cue comes along (and then either fades of cuts off?

[Partyman]

You are in your own world of thought, you can make any scene snap or fade but for simplicity until you understand the software better lets just have them snap. What I suggested will work 100%. Forget anything you have already programmed. Start with the instructions I gave you and it will work

Open sequence creator and select fixtures
DO NOT ADJUST ANY TIMES OR ADD ANY STEPS DO NOT CHECK ANY BOX
Adjust colors on lights with sliders for desired effect, Make all channels yellow (not green or red) to the right of sliders
save sequence
insert sequence(s) into cue
Run cues

There are tons of ways to trigger scenes including keyboard shortcuts

[berto2002]

@Partyman I hope you will be able to nudge me in the next direction?

I have indeed worked out that by yellow you meant the lightning icons, thank you, all set.

I have successfully saved 9 scenes and then added them to a Cue List.

When I click the blue play button in Cue List, each plays for exactly one second which is what I had feared given the "F: 1000/1000 settings that default in the Sequence creator/editor.

I set the Next Scene key press to be "Right" key, Previous Scene as "Left" key but they don't do anything in the Cue List window; all I can do is press each blue arrow to play the 1 second scenes.

"Cue Multiselect always enabled" is not ticked which I think you recommended.

I saw in the help files about a preview button but that does not show on the cue list window (https://www.freestylersupport.com/wiki/ ... ce_creator)

Also on the above page there are no durations set but all my cues have "1s" next to them; presumably this was set when I saved the scene.

I feel I am closer but the scenes are still saving with a duration and the key shortcuts are not moving the cues.

Can you help or point me please to the help file that tells me how to get rid of the durations and make the key shortcuts work?

Thank you in advance.

[Partyman]

Change the red arrows in the cue window to the two yellow circle arrows. By selecting the red arrow you are telling it to play once and stop. Doing it with yellow arrows will make the sequence continue until the next sequence is selected. the preview button is on left side of sequence window right above "options". The double >> is to play the sequence and single > are to change steps (if added) forward and backwards.
You really need to read the wiki on how to create and play sequences, all the info is there

[berto2002]

I have set the red arrow to the green loop and the lights stay on when I play each cue now. I understand this is now putting them on an infinite repeating 1 second loop in the cue list so one of my problems is solved.

I have searched all through the Wiki to find how I can use a keystroke to interrupt the looping cue and move it to the next cue on the list but I have not found anything

On this page:
https://www.freestylersupport.com/wiki/ ... k_sequence
it says, "Manual Trigger - Clicking this will move each sequence (that is set to react to manual/sync) to the next step. Click again to go to the next step… Right-click on the button to restore it to normal (speed controlled by the sequence)"

I notice the wording is that it will step through each STEP of the SEQUENCE under that cue but because my cues are only single scenes, there are no steps in them which explains why that button does not work. I need manual trigger from current cue to next cue.

I looked here for keystrokes:
https://www.freestylersupport.com/wiki/ ... al_control
When I set the "Next Scene" to right arrow and "Previous Scene" to left arrow they do not advance the cues. But that makes sense because "scene" and "cue" are different things. There are no keystroke shortcuts for "Next Cue" and "Previous Cue".

Unless you can tell me how to manually advance from one looping cue to another using a manual keystroke I think this feature is not available.

I think I have three options?

1) Attempt to use the tiny blue arrows on the screen and manually click to activate one cue after the other. For my environment, this is difficult and means I will be looking at the screen all the time not the show.

2) Create all my scenes in a single sequence and therefore under a single Cue. Then I should be able to use the Manual Trigger to move through the steps of that sequence. The trouble with that is the steps do not have names and are not visible in a list so I have to just remember what is next when I press the Manual Trigger each time. I assume the "Next Scene" keystroke will actually do "Next Step" (are Scene and Step the same thing?)

3) Add my scenes to theoverride buttons and try to squeeze in meaningful text and put them in the right order starting top left and moving like a book. This means I will be able to click the next one in the sequence manually to fire it, using the touchscreen.

Thank you again for the answers you have provided so far.

Regards, Rob