I'm moving from Ableton (w DMXIS) to Showbuddy w DMXIS. Brand new to SB. Everything's coming together but I thought I'd ask a couple of things here.
1. What's the most efficient/precise method of copy/pasting? For ex., many songs have: Intro / Verse / PreChorus / Chorus/ then it all repeats. I copied and pasted but precise selection was difficult while zoomed out. And it's on the pasting that I miss the grid that most DAWs have. ...and "snap to grid". I have to zoom way in and paste. Is there a better way?
2. Overall workflow: It seems to me that building up a library of individual masked presets (and their corresponding OFF presets) is the way to go. And a batch of stock scenes of both solid colors and rhythmic variations. Plus building a stock of utility presets (blackout, white blinder, strobe, etc).
Am I on the right track or is there a better way?
Rookie - Best Practices
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Re: Rookie - Best Practices
As far as copy and pasting goes, you can use ctrl-a to select all cues (depends on what version of SB youre using). That helped me a lot because I know the struggle of trying to copy everything while zoomed out and selecting cues you don't want.
For my work flow, I usually program a big batch of "General scenes" whether theyre just a specific static look orspecific movement for my heads. I'll then pick one for a certain scene from that general scene bank and I'll "modify" it for that song (change colors, movements, positions). It basically serves as my template. I also "borrow" scenes from other finished tracks modifying them doing the same thing. I've started to get into the whole masking work flow but honestly I doesn't seem much more efficient for me. Im still learning so I may be wrong on that (probably am lol).
The biggest obstacle I've faced while programming moving lights (this goes for any software) is having them pre-positioned before you have them start moving to their specific position. If you fail to do this then you just get a second of movers going crazy quickly moving toward their set position from wherever the were before. This also goes for color wheels and gobos. Biggest pet peeve of mine is seeing a scene change and a mover scroll thru its color wheel for the first second of the scene. Looks very sloppy IMO. This is where masking is nice.
For my work flow, I usually program a big batch of "General scenes" whether theyre just a specific static look orspecific movement for my heads. I'll then pick one for a certain scene from that general scene bank and I'll "modify" it for that song (change colors, movements, positions). It basically serves as my template. I also "borrow" scenes from other finished tracks modifying them doing the same thing. I've started to get into the whole masking work flow but honestly I doesn't seem much more efficient for me. Im still learning so I may be wrong on that (probably am lol).
The biggest obstacle I've faced while programming moving lights (this goes for any software) is having them pre-positioned before you have them start moving to their specific position. If you fail to do this then you just get a second of movers going crazy quickly moving toward their set position from wherever the were before. This also goes for color wheels and gobos. Biggest pet peeve of mine is seeing a scene change and a mover scroll thru its color wheel for the first second of the scene. Looks very sloppy IMO. This is where masking is nice.
Re: Rookie - Best Practices
I second the masking, BUT be aware that if you use masking a lot, like I do, you can get pretty complicated shows. In the example mikevar94 gives you could set up a preset that disables the mask for everything but the mover. You set the preset up to scroll to the correct gobo/color with the dimmer off. You put that preset a certain time before the scene needs it and when the scene comes up, BANG, the mover is right where it needs to be. You should set your move up and make note of the time it takes to get to the right setup and that is what you use as your time before the main scene runs where you would put the preset. Hopefully I haven't confused you!
When you really have it figured out its a great tool but again be aware that using masking can significantly change show size. For simple songs you'll have maybe 25-50. If you're as nerdy as I am you'll find yourself with several hundred cues in a single song. When you get to that point editing will slow considerably. In a big show it will take sometimes 5 seconds for a cue to move. Here is a capture of about 25% of a song I am working on for Halloween!
Just an FYI!!
best,
joeb
When you really have it figured out its a great tool but again be aware that using masking can significantly change show size. For simple songs you'll have maybe 25-50. If you're as nerdy as I am you'll find yourself with several hundred cues in a single song. When you get to that point editing will slow considerably. In a big show it will take sometimes 5 seconds for a cue to move. Here is a capture of about 25% of a song I am working on for Halloween!
Just an FYI!!
best,
joeb
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