Fading with DMX

[plasmadrive]

I am adding a couple of hundred DMX channels this year and I noticed that there is a really poor selection of actual DMX commands.. as in ONE! It is only to set intensity.. How come we don't have a way to select DMX and then an effect?

OK.. there is a DMX selector in the color fade tool, but that doesn't really do that much except for color fading.... and I can't seem to get forground effects to work in conjunction with that color fade..

Am I doing something wrong???? Or is there just not yet much support in LOR S3 for the effects specific to DMX?

[Tim Fischer]

You can use any effect with DMX.

[jeffl]

I sure hope they all work as my whole display will be running DMX. If it doesn't I'm in..... um...... Huge trouble!

[Randytenn]

We have a bunch of DMX. Everything works just fine.

[plasmadrive]

Yes of course all effects work with DMX.. Let me rephrase this better.. I want them to work with DMX 0-255 levels and not just with LOR 0-100 levels. Using LEDs with DMX yields a really poor dimming curve with the V2 controllers.. I have not tried my V3 controllers yet. There is a DMX "Intensity" button, but that is about it.. It would be better if when that button was active all of the commands that have to do with intensity are 0-255 and not just 0-100.

That is what I was trying to say.. Sorry if I paniced anyone..

Edited November 19, 2012 by plasmadrive

[-klb-]

What happens if you use DMX intensity to set your end points, then use the fill tool to connect the two?

[bob]

In addition to the fill tool like -klb- mentions, another way to get fades with resolution 0-255 is by using a "fake" RGB channel. It's a little kludgy, but it works. And if you intend to do a bunch of the same fades, the "Recent Tools" and/or "Saved Tools" lists can make it easy after you've done one such fade in this manner (with the intensities you want):

Add an RGB channel. Don't set it to actually control any real circuit - i.e. have its channels device types as "(no device type selected)".

Open up the Color Fade tool. Select "DMX" as the effect type.

Click on the "Choose" button in the top left. That opens up a palette selection screen; in the lower right, there are entries where you can specify the red, green and blue levels. Set red to (for example) 37. Click OK.

Now click on the other "Choose" button, in the top right. This time, set red to (for example) 111. Click OK.

Now apply the color fade tool to the "fake" RGB channel, for the length of time that you want your DMX fade to be.

Click on the RGB channel's "+" button to display its constituent channels. The red channel is now a DMX fade up from 37 to 111. Copy it and paste it into the real channel that you want the fade to operate on.

A couple things to note:

First, the fade is now in your "Recent Tools" list. So if you want to make other fades from 37 to 111, you can just click on that instead of going through the hassle with the palette stuff again. If desired, you can save it to your "Saved Tools" list.

Second, note that the red, green, and blue are all independent of each other. So you really can save three different fades in a single entry on Recent Tools / Saved Tools, by setting the red to be one fade, the green to be another, and the blue to be a third. Then just copy/paste from the R, G, or B channel, as appropriate.

This is obviously not the greatest possible way to support this feature, and I agree that it would be good if we were to add a better way of doing it to the software. However, like I said, at the very least, it works.

[WayneKremer]

I talked about this problem years ago here...and put in a wishlist request for it years ago. Yet...no sign of it....

[plasmadrive]

What happens if you use DMX intensity to set your end points, then use the fill tool to connect the two?

I hadn't tried that..

In addition to the fill tool like -klb- mentions, another way to get fades with resolution 0-255 is by using a "fake" RGB channel. It's a little kludgy, but it works. And if you intend to do a bunch of the same fades, the "Recent Tools" and/or "Saved Tools" lists can make it easy after you've done one such fade in this manner (with the intensities you want):

Add an RGB channel. Don't set it to actually control any real circuit - i.e. have its channels device types as "(no device type selected)".

Open up the Color Fade tool. Select "DMX" as the effect type.

Click on the "Choose" button in the top left. That opens up a palette selection screen; in the lower right, there are entries where you can specify the red, green and blue levels. Set red to (for example) 37. Click OK.

Now click on the other "Choose" button, in the top right. This time, set red to (for example) 111. Click OK.

Now apply the color fade tool to the "fake" RGB channel, for the length of time that you want your DMX fade to be.

Click on the RGB channel's "+" button to display its constituent channels. The red channel is now a DMX fade up from 37 to 111. Copy it and paste it into the real channel that you want the fade to operate on.

A couple things to note:

First, the fade is now in your "Recent Tools" list. So if you want to make other fades from 37 to 111, you can just click on that instead of going through the hassle with the palette stuff again. If desired, you can save it to your "Saved Tools" list.

Second, note that the red, green, and blue are all independent of each other. So you really can save three different fades in a single entry on Recent Tools / Saved Tools, by setting the red to be one fade, the green to be another, and the blue to be a third. Then just copy/paste from the R, G, or B channel, as appropriate.

This is obviously not the greatest possible way to support this feature, and I agree that it would be good if we were to add a better way of doing it to the software. However, like I said, at the very least, it works.

Thanks Bob.. it is a cumbersome way to do what should be a simple thing... but like you said, it is a work around.. as long as I am not using too many different ones... then it would be a pain..

Would be good to have the "DMX" button be a toggle type and when on all the effects work that way for DMX if the channel you use them for is a DMX channel...