Chapter 6: Fixture Definitions

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1 Connecting to a LanBox
2 Rigging a Stage
3 Control Your Lights
4 Cues and Chases
5 Live- and Automated Shows

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         7 Keys, CLI, keystrokes and macros
         8 UDP networking usage
         9 DMX input and MIDI usage

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The Fixture Library

LCedit+ comes with a library of most common fixture definitions, but if your fixture is not in the library you can create a new fixture definition file for it. Be aware that some fixtures can be very complex, and a good understanding of the working of LCedit+ is a must. Fixture definitions in LCedit+ have no limit on the used number of channels, but screen size will limit the number of controls.

As an example the picture right shows (partly) the definition (design) of a Martin MAC 2000, which has 21 controls, and uses 24 channels! Creating this fixture is basically not so much work, but when you want to have nice icons, buttons, indicators, and a basic set of presets, it's a lot of work.

A fixture is built from "panels" (a row in the design list). A panel can have a control, a label, and three optional parameters like used channel offset, display mode (decimal, % or hex), and separator option. The panel order determines the order of the visible controls, not e.g. the channel number order.

Note: The top panel -must- be a big intensity wheel named "Intensity", even if your fixture has no intensity! To optimize further correct merging in mixed groups, it's wise to have, as much as possible, the same panel order in each fixture.

Library Files

Fixture definition files are located inside a make directory (like Martin), while these directories are located inside the library directory. The library directory -must- be in the same directory as LCedit+, otherwise the files can not be found. Each fixture definition file has an unique ID and fixture name inside the file, so the filename can be anything.

Note: New and duplicate fixture definition files can -only- be made by the library editor, as it generates a new unique ID. Never change the name or duplicate the files directly, as the inside ID will not be correctly anymore, and can lead to loss of fixture definitions.

Create a Fixture Definition File

When you open the library editor, you get a list of existing definitions (see picture), but if your fixture is not in the list, just create it. In order to speedup creation, you need to have the "DMX table" of your fixture. The manual of the fixture is also often needed in order to understand the working of the fixture and to see what iconstrips you need to make. It also helps if you already have an idea whether some functions should have a big wheel, a small wheel, or buttons, etc.

If the fixture definitions you need to create are close to an existing one, you can duplicate it Menu/Duplicate Item) and then change it to meet your fixture. When you want to create definitions from scratch do the menu command New Fixture (the library editor should be the front window).

The first thing you need to do is select Large Wheel from the popup menu below the empty list. This creates a new panel (first one), and you can set the other parameters. Change the name, short name, and label, and set this panel to percentage and add separator. If this fixture has an intensity function, fill in the channel offset number, otherwise leave "Chs" blank. It should look like the picture to the right.

another way of telling that

1. select [Large Wheel] from the popup menu below the empty list
2. enter/edit name, short name, label
3. select [Percentage]
4. check [Add separator above panel]
5. set the channel offset number (only if fixture has Intensity, otherwise leave "Chs" blank)

Note: The first channel of the DMX table is ZERO not one.

Now click below the selected row of the panel list, so it becomes de-selected. You can now add another panel by selecting a control again (the popup below the list). Choose this time the 16 bit trackball. Add in this way panels, so it's the same as the picture left. Note: The shutter panel has "add separator" not selected (no "--" in list).

Click on the OK button, and save your file into the library/various/ directory as "mark1.lcf". As LCedit+ needs to know that the library has been changed, do File menu "Extra->Reload Library". Close the info window and you can now place your fixture on the stage. If all went well, it will look like the picture right.

While it is not a complete fixture definition (missing presets, icons and buttons), it can already be used!

Add icons to your fixture definition

You need to do some graphic work in order to provide nice icons at the color wheel and the shutter buttons. The mark1 fixture has a complicated shutter control, so here is the strip with all needed small (12x12 pixels) icons. This strip is 300x12 pixels, so it contains 25 icons.

Now open the mark1 again in the library editor, select the shutter row, and click on the Iconstrip button. You will get an empty Edit Icon Strip window. Now how do you get the icons in it? This is depending on OS and whether QuickTime? is installed, but on Windows, dropping a bmp file on this window will always work. On Macintosh systems, you can drop near any file type on it, but you can also paste it from e.g. Photoshop. Next step is assigning the icons to certain DMX value ranges, so you get the right icon for each DMX value. Icon 1 e.g. will show up when the DMX value is from 0-19, 20-49 shows icon 2, and so on. For each icon fill in the "to" value as shown in the picture left.

The last step is assigning one or more icons to a button. Each button is numbered from 1 up, while 0, means no button. Look at the picture for icons 3-5, which are all three assigned to button 3. The effect of this is, that when the DMX value is somewhere between 50-72, you get a three step speed indicator in button 3. So it gives you a rough indication of speed within this function.

Note: It's allowed to have up to 250 buttons maximal!
Note: The small wheel of the button panel is always limited to the range of a button, so you don't have to worry that you turn into another function (e.g. lamp off) by accident, while you where speeding up the blackout strobe speed.

Click OK, and in the Fixture definition window again on OK, in order to save our changes. You will notice that your fixture already has buttons now, but we also going to add icons for the color wheel.

A little bit more graphic work to go, to get nice icons at the color wheel. The mark1 fixture has a partly continuous color wheel, so here is the strip with all the (16x16 pixels) icons. This strip is 272x16 pixels, so it contains 17 icons.

Now open the mark1 again in the library editor, select the color row, and click on the Iconstrip button. Do the same procedure to get the icons in, as you did for the shutter.

Note: The gif and bmp versions of the iconstrips can be found in the images directory of this manual.

The continuous option makes it possible that your icons scrolling (instead of jumping) in the same way as your color wheel in the fixture does. It scrolls e.g. from white (value is 0) to "cc" (value is 26) softly for each in between value. The same colors jumps "hard" at the values between 200 and 207, while from 208 to 255 the color rotation is linear, indicated with three icons. If you open several pre-made fixtures (do not change them), you will see several other examples of how we use all these icon options.

This is how your finished fixture now looks.

The fixture is now near finished, so you can play with it and check if all functions are working correctly. The last step is adding some standard presets.

Create presets for your fixture

The fixtures we supply all contain at least a basic set of presets, so your made fixture should have them too. We have the following standard presets:

Shutter: "Intensity Off", "Intensity Full"
Beam: "Home"
Other: "Fixt Default"

Note: The name of a preset is very important, as only identical names are merged together for groups!

First let's make the "Fixt Default". In the fixture definition window of your Mark1, click on the Presets tab. In the preset groups list (top left list), select "Other", and click in the empty list below it. Type "Fixt Default" in the field below, and click again in the empty part of the lower list. Fixt Default is now appeared in the lower list, select that row.

It's now possible to select a row in the panel list (right list), and set the panels to your default values as in the picture. Add in this way also presets for Shutter (only use the intensity channel, leave other channels blank), and Beam (only pan/tilt channels).

After closing the fixture definition window with OK, and selecting your mark1 on the stage, you must check that in the "po" popup item 1 is indeed "Fixt default". "Intensity Off" and "Full" should be item 1 and 2 of the "ps" popup, and in "pb" item 1 is "Home". To give your fixture a finishing touch, you can paste a nice icons (32x32 and 16x16) into the standard fixture icons. This was all about creating fixture definition files. In the next chapter you will learn to use your keyboard in a very effective way

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-- FokkoVanDuin - 20 May 2007