All Activity

Ooh, this looks very promising. If it works (on our board) this might be just what I'm looking for. I'll let you know. All your help is very much appreciated, in any case, many thanks.

@Phil Mckerracher @kgallen So, after testing this on both v7.14 and v8 I have shown that... You don't seem to be able to alter defaults on a Solution showfile - even when it is loaded on an FLX running the FLX-only v8 and been saved on that and reloaded. This seems so wrong that I fear it may be me and the way I am doing it. If it isn't then it probably warrants a call to support. You can achieve default colour black by making amended copies of fixture personalities. Fixtures with a default of white behave exactly as I would expect (i.e. the reverse of what you and I would like). They start with white and, as the playback is raised, they fade out the colours that are not needed. Fixtures with a default of black, on the other hand do what I expected and would like and also what I suspect you need. These start at black and fade up the colours needed. Where another playback is already up the (default white) fixtures, the behaviour of the both black- and white-default fixtures is to raise the "missing" colours and the lower the "unwanted" ones effectively replacing the original PB's colour with the new one. T would seem to be the required behaviour but contrasts with faders set up for colour mixing. If you want to mix playbacks then you should refer to the instructions for this in the manual. My recommendation for you achieve the look you require is to set a default of black fr LEDs in your showfile. While this does not seem to be possible through changing the fixture defaults you can do it by creating modified fixture personality files and replacing the library ones in the patch. However there is another way - one which use all the time. On an FLX I use a multi-function key (latched and with release disabled). I save all the default values I need for a show onto this. Not just default colour black but things like stair edge lights at 50% and default positions for moving heads. I engage this when I start the desk up and record the "default" values I need for that day's show on to it. These values would, of course, be restored whenever that show file is loaded. As you do not have MFKs you could use instead. You might find it helpful to disable raise-on-lower on this PB. Be careful about recording HTP levels on this as they will become the minimum level for those fixtures and you will not be able to go below it. For our stair lights this is, of course, exactly the behaviour I require. Hopefully, this, and the various bits I have sent you by DM wi help you to achieve the reults you require. Have fn!

Hmm, quite a mess. It shouldn't be this hard to turn a light on and off. I realise there are a LOT of variables involved and some interactions are unavoidable but I wish I could turn off the clever stuff and just get the basics working first. Reproducing it in simulation is definitely a step forward, though.

@Phil Mckerracher I loaded v7.14.4 on my spare desk and added your show file So, like you, I couldn't seem to set the default to be black instead of white. I also had some trouble with the fixtures on 13ch mode. I tried making a custom personality file with zero as the default for all the colours and they all defaulted to zero but red was stuck on 255. For my next attempt, I started with an empty show file and a new, 12ch personality and then added one fixture using the custom personality and another using the library one. This gave me problems and I was able to set up some playbacks that are similar to yours. I did some tests while recording the screen output. Unfortunately the resulting mp4 file is too big to attach here but results were as follows... The custom personality starts from black and the colours fade up with the fader. The standard personality starts from white and fades out the unwanted colours leaving the The fun starts if another PB is up. Taking yellow up and add blue as an example with just yellow, red and green are full and blue is out on both channels but, when blue is raised, the channel one goes to red, green AND blue full but the standard personality fades out red and green while doing nothing with blue - it's not until the yellow is faded out that blue goes to full. EDIT: Messaged you with a link to some files.

Hi, the links do not work anymore? thanks

I won't be at the theatre again until 22nd May and even then I can cope so no hurry, much appreciated.

Thanks. No promises as to time scales but I'll try to make a start over the weekend.

Attached... Phil 2025.zos

Just to be sure, was this entry window removed in a later update upon loading the desk for the first time, and replaced with loading into "Tracking - Enabled" by default with the ability for "Cue Only" as Non Tracking? I just loaded a fresh version of Phantom into a VM on the latest software version of the Solution desk (7.14.4) and wasn't met with this window.

@Phil Mckerracher Can you post your show file or DM it to me? I'm kind of busy this week pre-programming a show for Friday but as soon as I get a chance I'll load it up on my real FLX and have a play.

Re-reading the thread (because I'm sort of back to square one) there were two points raised that I think are worth further comment because they can now be ruled out. 1. The potential differences between Flex and Leapfrog (and Solution) can probably be ruled out because I think this is a software problem and the ZerOS software is common to all those boards. I guess the hardware drivers might be different but the fact that I can reproduce the problem with PhantomZerOS running on a Windows PC suggests not. 2. Being able to reproduce the problem in PhantomZerOS also tends to rule out the (otherwise plausible) theory that something in the inherited show setup causes it. I think the causes have been explained fairly thoroughly - the colours are designed to either "snap" when triggered or fade in gradually with the fader (or a delay). It's the solution that I'm still struggling with. If I can get it to fade from black instead of white that will probably do it.

Update: Tried this on the real board in the theatre and it didn't work. The board has been upgraded from a Leapfrog 48 to a Solution which might explain that. But what DID work was better - Clear + Submasters. This cleared them all in two button presses, which is great. Except when it doesn't. 😞 It's not reliable - some faders still sometimes had to be cleared manually by cycling through submaster pages, finding active submasters and raising and lowering the fader. It doesn't always happen and I didn't manage to find the crucial difference between the ones that clear and ones that don't in the time available.

Update: Tried the above solution ("Manual fader 1 way") on the real board at the theatre and it didn't work, so I'm back to square one. 😞 The board in the theatre has been upgraded from a Leapfrog 48 to a Solution, so that might explain the difference. I'll try the simulated version of that when I get a chance. I noticed a progress bar along the bottom edge of the LCD display above each of the 10 submaster faders. It takes about 5 seconds to reach all the way across once triggered by raising the fader. The behaviour of the lights is different depending on whether the progress has completed or not - I would like to disable it completely but I couldn't find any setting for it. I set every delay I could find in both the submaster properties and the board settings to zero but it's still there. Does anyone know where it is set or how to disable it completely?

Not entirely sure how I should open the log file to be honest haha, I assume I need to decrypt it somehow.

Hi Ben, Yes - to insert a cue between two other cues, simply set up your scene and tap 'Record'. Then type the cue number between the two cues you want to insert your new cue between. Then hit the 'GO' button, or alternatively if you have an external keyboard connected you can press 'Enter' to submit your action. As @kgallen said, cue numbers have the ability to be identified with up to a 2 decimal place number, so I could have 0.99 or 0.58 if I wanted. For example: If I wanted to insert a cue between 1 and 0.8, and I wanted its number to be 0.9, I'd tap 'Record', type 0.9 and hit 'GO'. I recommended to connect an external keyboard to your console as it can help in numerous scenarios with the keyboard shortcuts that are available for use. You can access the on-screen touchpad via hitting the Z key on your FLX S24 console.

OK, yes, I know all about tracking and terms lantern, fixture... And SmartTag. So to insert, I press Record, type cue no to insert, then tap the Cue button/Go? Have not found a video that goes through this. Only recording 0 makes sense as other things are irrelevant, so I will give it another go. Regards, Ben

Ah yeah you're probably right. I remember 10 or so years ago programming Joseph's Tech Dreamcoat on the Jester and had an excel spreadsheet with all the RGB values required for each colour. It was red, and yellow, and green, and.... 😄 (spoilt rotten with the colour picker on FLX now!)

I think that's only a label for fixtures that use HSI internally, but does not actually add any "math" behind the scenes (as e.g. the virtual dimmer channel does). There would need to be a way to enter 3 DMX adresses for each value (i.e. the R/G/B channels that should be calculated from HSI). But I'll give it a try.

Fixture editor available here if you don't have it already : https://www.vari-lite.com/global/products/zeros-software (under Latest ZerOS Library > Zero 88 Fixture Tools 2.6) Good luck!

I've not touched a Jester for a long time, however I've fired up the old Zero88 Fixture Editor tool, and it is possible to assign Hue, Saturation, and Intensity, against the colour parameter, so this could be possible if you've got some time to test it!

Out of curiosity, what errors did you get from the log file?

Welp I had a major show crash with a Z88 LF96, managed to get some Linux errors. Sent them a showfile 19th March and no response... I'm not hopeful for the future.

Hello, is there a way to create fixture definitions that allow to operate fixtures with RGB color mixing as HSB on the JesterML/TL (i.e. program colors as hue/saturation/brightness and the console converts it into red/green/blue output channels)? The arrangement of the scroll wheels would be perfect for that. regards, Stephan

Thanks for documenting this @Phil Mckerracher especially as many of us who post regularly on here have little if any experience of Leap Frog 48 (ZerOS) so struggle to be specific on the controls/details on this console. Cheers!

Update: I think I've found a solution, at least in the simulator. Recording it here for my own benefit and in case it helps others. What I did: The link here doesn't work but I eventually found the "capture demo packs" here https://www.capture.se/Downloads/Download-Demo-Packs and Phantom Zeros 7.14.4 here https://www.vari-lite.com/global/products/zeros-software (you have to click the Legacy Zeros link and download and unzip the file to find it). This allowed me to run the three capture demos. I couldn't get the "Club" demo to work at all - it loaded but none of the lights would come on. But the other two (Open Air and Dockhouse) do work and that's all I needed. I also discovered how to see what the buttons on the simulated Leapfrog48 console are - if you hover over them it tells you in the title bar at the top left. Far from ideal but a lot better than trial and error. WIth a working simulation I could at last do some experimenting at home. It's taken me all day but I think I've found a solution, which is.... [FX: Drumroll] After saving a scene to a "Multi Function Fader" (aka Submaster), click the fader (in the MFF window on the monitor) to open its properties and change Fader Function to Manual Fade (1 way). I have no idea why this works - the user guide makes no sense to me in this area, but it does what I want. The colour remains as the intensity changes. This is better for me than editing the default colours of all the fixtures because it's faster and less disruptive. A side effect is that the Flash button no longer works, but in a way that's an advantage since I rarely use them except by accident! I will get a chance to try it on the real board later this week. Fingers crossed. I also confirmed the solution to my other question here so I'm happy. 🙂