Effects of Category and Type designations in DPRO

Chat relating to fixtures.dmxis.com, the fixture editor for all our lighting products.
LittleAL
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Jul 14, 2015 2:40 pm

Effects of Category and Type designations in DPRO

Post by LittleAL »

Hi Dave or Jeremy,

I've recently upgraded to Dpro, and I'm trying to understand how decisions with Category (in the Channels table) and Type (in the Channel Ranges table) affect Dpro's Show Control window functionality.

I've seen the documentation relating to DMXIS that explains Channel Ranges. Blackout is specific to DMXIS, Variable is not affected by master dimmer, Fixed is fixed, and Dimmer does react to master dimmer settings. Check.

What about the Category settings? I'm trying to set up sliders in the show control window to control fixture channels like focus, rotation, and strobe - but the only setting that I'm having luck with so far is the combination of Dimmer Category AND Dimmer Type. Wouldn't that setting cause focus, rotation, and strobe to get caught up in effects like Dimmer oscillation?

I see categories like Focus, Beam, and Gobo - but how does Dpro respond to these settings? I've experimented a little and none of them seem to allow the fixture function to be controlled as expected other than Dimmer/Dimmer (either doesn't respond or jumps straight to 100%), but I could be doing something wrong :) . I thought that Dimmer Category with Variable type might do the trick, but that didn't seem to work for me either. Again this is specific to controlling these functions with the Show Control submaster sliders...

Can you guys offer some guidance on Fixture Channel Categories and Dpro?
LittleAL
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Jul 14, 2015 2:40 pm

Re: Effects of Category and Type designations in DPRO

Post by LittleAL »

For those that may be interested, here's what I've been able to deduce from chats with other members and experimentation:

The various Category settings specifically affect the CueList window. You can expand the standard CueList settings to show these categories and set different fade in/out times so that the dimmer fades in at a different rate than gobo or focus for example, but it's really only used by the CueList window. I don't really use the CueList window for my application so I haven't pursued it further.

If you want to control a single attribute via a Show Control submaster fader, it will only work if the attribute is set up in the Fixture Editor as a Dimmer Category and Dimmer Type. Doing this also makes the attribute respond to Master Dimmer, so if you're wanting to control something like rotation or strobe rate it'll be turned down with Master Dimmer. Maybe not a show stopper but it's good to know what the limitations are so you don't get frustrated. I ended up just
identifying these settings as Controls in the Fixture editor and programming individual cues/palletes with various speeds instead trying to have something that could be dynamically controlled with the Show Control fader.

Hope this helps!
Post Reply