How do I control the initial colour of playbacks?

[Phil Mckerracher]

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.

[Davidmk]

@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.

[Phil Mckerracher]

On 4/28/2025 at 6:38 AM, Davidmk said:

@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.

Attached...

Phil 2025.zos

[Davidmk]

17 hours ago, Phil Mckerracher said:

Attached

Thanks.

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

[Phil Mckerracher]

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

 

[Davidmk]

@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.

Edited 22 hours ago by Davidmk

[Phil Mckerracher]

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.

[Davidmk]

@Phil Mckerracher @kgallen

So, after testing this on both v7.14 and v8 I have shown that...

1. 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.
2. You can achieve default colour black by making amended copies of fixture personalities.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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!