Some simple questions

Sunlite Suite, the lighting control software which even outshines most of the consoles available on the market !

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stonehedge
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Some simple questions

Post by stonehedge »

SUNLITE SUITE 2006 running on Win XP Pro.

I would like to ask some very basic questions. Yes ive read the manual but these tips arent mentioned. Eg it tells you how to save a show but not how to save an alternate version. Also i tried and have lost my show settings more than once. Im experienced with some complicated softwares i learned in college. But in sunlite its tricky as it saves the show into several different places and not just one project file. So please be patient and just give me a file > save as > name that you like kind of brief clue answers so that i can try on those lines.

* How to enable the 3d vizualizer to start always with the main program, it sometimes starts on its own, sometimes it doesnt and i have to start it manually ?

* When you want to save your show what do you actually have to save ? Just save the show using the main menu ? And also save the stage from the 3d visualizer ? What do saved page archives actually save ?

* How to just remove 4 scanners from an 8 scanner set up and save as a new show without altering your original version of the show with 8 scanners ?

* How do you save a new version of the show (say with some major modification like you remove 4 scanners from an 8 scan setup but dont want to destry your 8 scanner version show) ?

* Is there an undo function in sunlite when you do something wrong or spoiled a perfect scene by mistake ?

* When the 3d visualizer asks if you want to save the stage before closing what does it actually save ?

I know some of these are pretty basic but why im asking is, the show programming that ive done is crucial for me. And twice before i lost all my stage settings when i restarted all the fixtures were in a row for me to arrange again all over the stage. And such other problems. So i dont want to risk it.
stonehedge
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Re: Some simple questions

Post by stonehedge »

Can someone please answer. Its just such a basic question that anyone using the software should know.
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Re: Some simple questions

Post by N.Webber »

I'll have a go...
* How to enable the 3d vizualizer to start always with the main program, it sometimes starts on its own, sometimes it doesnt and i have to start it manually ?
I never experienced the visualizer start on its own, but one click on its icon is all it takes…
* When you want to save your show what do you actually have to save ? Just save the show using the main menu ? And also save the stage from the 3d visualizer ? What do saved page archives actually save ?
The visualiser is an independent program (though it reads the fixtures set and DMX map & levels from SL) so its setup needs to be saved separately within the visualizer.
* How to just remove 4 scanners from an 8 scanner set up and save as a new show without altering your original version of the show with 8 scanners ?
Highlight the scanners page, and at the Page tab –> settings –> channels, delete the desired fixtures and then save the altered page by a different name so as not to loose the original 8 scanners page/setup.
* How do you save a new version of the show (say with some major modification like you remove 4 scanners from an 8 scan setup but dont want to destry your 8 scanner version show) ?
At the Controller tab -> save the show as... by different name...
* Is there an undo function in sunlite when you do something wrong or spoiled a perfect scene by mistake ?
Sadly there isn't.
* When the 3d visualizer asks if you want to save the stage before closing what does it actually save ?
It saves all stage settings, fixtures/duplicates locations, positions and beam colours, as well as any objects etc.

Hope this helped.

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stonehedge
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Re: Some simple questions

Post by stonehedge »

Thanks Webber. Could you please explain your 3rd answer a little more. You said to open the page and delete the unwanted fixtures. (I found that you could not delete by CTRL selecting multiple fixtures, i dont know if this is normal but its painful to find and delete because the freed channels from each fixture start crowding the list as you delete each fixture).

Now once ive deleted these fixtures, the free channels just sit there juxtapositioned. Im unable to remove them to have a seamless flow of channels. 16 channels just sit idle. Also most of my programming stopped working once i removed fixtures. I actually tried a few of this. But didnt mention to not complicate my question. But now i fugure ive attempted on the right lines but things seem to have gone awry.

Also when i save this as a new page. wont the old page also exist within the same show and it will have the old channels all patched and interfering with the new page saved. Ive not tried the saving as a new page though.

Thank you for volunteering to help.
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Re: Some simple questions

Post by N.Webber »

I had not tried deleting fixtures out of an existing page before, so I just tried it and I see what you mean about the empty channels…
I guess an alternative rout would be to create a new page from blank and specify the reduced number of fixtures.
This way, the fixture group will be continuous and any relative routines should operate correctly.

You can then choose which page of fixtures to load into your show according to the number of fixtures used.

Pages are saved in a separate folder and SL automatically loads only the page/s associated with the existing show.
You can create and store many variations of the same fixture page (under different names of coarse…)

SL will not let you load a fixture page if any of its channels are used by a page already loaded into the running show.
So for example, if your 'regular' show uses a page of X fixtures, and you now need only Y fixtures, you need to first remove the existing page of X fixtures,
and then load the page of Y fixtures instead (unless the Y fixture page addresses another set of unused channels)
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stonehedge
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Re: Some simple questions

Post by stonehedge »

Hello Webber,

Sorry that i couldnt reply earlier. I did a show and thats was neck deep in it. The show was a major disaster and Sunlite failed me terribly. Only my scanners and heads worked. The complete front lighting sequences just didnt work. Ill explain what happened. I had six pages - Scanners, Moving Heads, Color Washers, Smoke Machines, Music, Videos. These were my basic fixture pages sort of. Then i finally had my sixth page Show Seq. In this page i had nothing but cycle buttons. Each cycle button was for a look or series of moves corresponding to each part of the show. I tested the entire show in sequence more than 20 times. Even during rehearsals everything worked fine. I worked very hard for this show.

During the show the sequences played out as planned (smoke machines, moving heads and scanners), But the front Color Washers just didnt come on. Imagine a show with no front lighting. The color washers were live however as in the bulbs were all on inside as you could see by the light leakage. But all had their shutter closed. Mayeb locked up in blackout mode. We had to go into the Colour washers finxture page and just use all lights on to get the front lighting to open up. After that they just were on during the show. They wouldnt black out when they were supposed to. They wouldnt dim to half level when they were supposed to, etc.

Can you help me Webber ? What do you think might have gone wrong. Im guessing one of the buttons on the Color Washers page was locked and superseeding other sequences etc ?

How do you make a cycle which releases all other buttons that might be locking a fixtures movement or shutter etc ? When i click a cycle button in my show sequence page its shoudl release all other activated buttons in the idividual fixture pages enabling them the perform the cycle properly instead of remembering some residual click or button. Should i include an intialize click within the show sequence page. Will that release all buttons ?

Thanks
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Re: Some simple questions

Post by N.Webber »

Not sure I can help here. Are you referring to the Master page as your sixth page where you placed all the cycles? Because if not, this may be the problem.
All switches, scenes or cycles that are composed of data from several pages should be located and run from the Master page only.

As to the washes staying closed, as you figured there may be a switch or scene on their page that wasn’t released.
Also make sure that the Init button on the washes page has all the channels in off state. In the heat of battle I have more then once accidentally modified some of the channels in the Init button – thus preventing these channels from resetting.
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stonehedge
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Re: Some simple questions

Post by stonehedge »

No. Not the master page. I had a seperate page created called "Show Sequence" and created all my cycles within it.

You asked me to make sure non of the channels were in the off position. How do you do that ? By clicking edit button which shows you the channels in a line left to right and they have on/off/easystep stustus above each channel ? And i should edit which button within the page ?
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Re: Some simple questions

Post by N.Webber »

stonehedge wrote:No. Not the master page. I had a seperate page created called "Show Sequence" and created all my cycles within it.
Why are you not using the master page for all the cycles and combined swiches? It is there exactly for this purpose.
I am pretty sure your 'Show Sequence' page is not kosher and may be contributing to the problems you are experiencing. Maybe someone else can confirm this.
You asked me to make sure non of the channels were in the off position. How do you do that ? By clicking edit button which shows you the channels in a line left to right and they have on/off/easystep stustus above each channel? And i should edit which button within the page?
In the INIT button of the washes page all channels should be off. Look into the INIT button (in edit mode) and make sure ALL channels are marked as off (select the on/off mode at the left of the edit window and right click on the channel header to change it to 'off' mode)
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stonehedge
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Re: Some simple questions

Post by stonehedge »

Hi,

I just checked and all the channels were in the dimmer setting. Now i have changed them to all OFF. What does the off setting do to each channel ?

Thanks
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Re: Some simple questions

Post by N.Webber »

stonehedge wrote:What does the off setting do to each channel ?
When a channel is set as 'off' within a certain switch, it means that this channel is not controlled by this switch and the channel is free to take any value that may be set by another switch or scene that may be running on that page at the same time.

In the INIT button, setting all the channels to 'off' basically releases all the channels of the relevant page (assuming all the switches of that page are also disabled), so that they are free to take their value from a switch or scene on the master page for instance.
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stonehedge
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Re: Some simple questions

Post by stonehedge »

Ok wonderful i understood that.
(assuming all the switches of that page are also disabled)
How do i do that ? By assuring none of them are active right ? Or you mean each switch or button within that fixtures page i should click edit and ensure even there all channels are set to OFF ? Or only doing that for the INIT button is enough.

Regards
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Re: Some simple questions

Post by N.Webber »

Only for the INIT button. It's not possible for any of the switches or scenes of a page because they have different values for the relevant channels as set by programming.
When they are released (inactive) they don't send any value to any channel, so to eliminate the control of any switch button just make sure all are inactive (bright red).
The INIT button is used to release any scene button within the page, so make sure all the channels in the INIT button are indeed 'off'.

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stonehedge
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Re: Some simple questions

Post by stonehedge »

Thanks a lot for your help Webber. I will try these things in the future in all my pages. Also i think its one of these channel things thats creating a problem for me with my moving heads. I have a scene where all the moving heads dim down. Now the dimming is done by the mechanical shutter of the head. So when i have a dimming sequence all the heads first strobe and then start from full bright to dim. The same way when i use the dimming channel (mechanical shutter) to go from zero to full brightness the heads grow in brightness and then when almost fully bright they start strobing and then only become static open.

Now i partly know why this is happening Its most probably because from 0 > 230 is dim to bright. After that 231 > 254 is strobe from fast to slow (towards 254 being faster strobing) and then when it reaches 255 the beam becomes static. So ive heard or think that theres a way in which you can limit the dimmer button so that it doesnt hit more than 230. Its shouldnt move into the strobing portion. How do you do this please ? I think it has something to do with the same channel setting. Ive also seen inside the button properties theres an option to set max and min values for the dimmer (or any) button like 0 > 100% or max and min dmx values etc. Any ideas how i can do this so i can have my heads just slowly open shutter and stop at full bright without moving into the strobing bit ?

Thanks
N.Webber
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Re: Some simple questions

Post by N.Webber »

You should edit the global fixture profile to the correct dimmer range.

Launch ScanLibrary and open the relevant fixture page. Hit the edit button on the dimmer channel/line and In the Dimmer window settings you will see the 'Last DMX Level' which is probably 255. Change it to 230, Press OK and store the new/modified profile.

You will need to delete the (old) page from SL and re/load the new/modified page for the change to take place.

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