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ShowMagic SL Series User Manual - SIRS-E

1. 2 Enter will clear just that function on faders 1 3 and 4 Example 2 Highlighting any fixture fader pressing Delete twice followed by 1 4 L B Enter will clear all function faders on fixtures 1 2 and 4 Section 6 Fixture Panel 41 Pressing Del on the numeric keypad once will cancel any command in the function display 42 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual Section 7 Lighting Scene Panel The lighting scene panel provides a scene details display window and a page of 24 lighting scene buttons The scene buttons are shown grey when no FX CScn lighting scenes have been recorded onto them or they eect are shown in red when they contain a stored lighting E inde Gim ae alee eyay VY VV Vy yyy AD 5B G aie dee aie we all Using a similar system to the fixture panel page ATEI Wee buttons initially labelled with the number of the first VOOOOOOC scene on that page are provided for accessing any page Interior Scene Scene A009 Scene A017 Sunny Scene Scene A010 Scene A018 Bank selector buttons labelled A B etc are used for Night Scene SceneA011 Scene A019 selecting any bank of pages e g clicking on bank Forest Scene Scene A012 Scene A020 button A and then page button 1 will display scene Scene ADOS Scene A013 Scene A021 buttons A001 to A024 selecting the next page button Scene A006 Scene A014 Scene A022 25 shows buttons A025 to A048 and so on Bank and Scene A007 Scene A015 Scene A023 Page b
2. Ctrl This must be held down when using the mouse to change items colored light blue Hold down amp double click on function number to make it the main dimming function number shown yellow F12 Copy fader used to copy a fader s assignments to the range of faders specified Thru Used to specify a range of faders or fixtures At Used to specify a Dmx address Del Delete Command Deletes the command shown in the command display 178 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual Delete Delete Fader Assignment s Deletes assignments to the highlighted fader or range of faders Delete Fixture Deletes a fixture from a fader if the fixture is highlighted Insert Insert Fixture Adds a fixture to a fader If used in a copy command it will add the specified number of fader assignments to the copy ME Scrolls through Faders Scrolls through and tests Dmx channels if Dmx test button is on or tests fader s dimmer channels if Fdr test button is on Home Displays the first page of faders in the list End Displays the last page of faders in the list Page Up Displays the previous page of faders in the list Page Down Displays the next page of faders in the list Section 15 Appendix 179
3. To create subsequent frames you can do one of the following a Double click to the right of Frames to add a blank frame to the next empty frame box b Drag an existing frame onto an empty frame box to copy that frame c Double click on an existing frame to copy that frame into the next empty frame box To delete a frame simply click on the frame box to highlight it press Delete and then confirm If you have created any frames then delete them now and we will create a new ColorScene frame chase from scratch Using the 9 ChromaPanels in a 3 x 3 grid let us create a simple ColorScene chase for Scene A001 that changes the panels from red to green to blue 1 Double click to the right of Frames to add the first blank frame 2 Click on the red color Color 01 in the palette to select it 3 Hold down Ctrl and double left click on any one of the black cells in the grid to change all the black cells to red Section 7 Lighting Scene Panel 81 4 Double click on frame 01 to copy that frame into the next empty frame box Frame 02 is then automatically selected and highlighted 5 Click on the green color Color 02 in the palette hold down Ctrl and double left click on any one of the red cells to turn them all to green 6 Double click on frame 02 to copy that frame into the next empty frame box Frame 03 is then automatically selected and highlighted 7 Click on the blue color Color 03 in the palette h
4. 13 channel mode clicking in the approximate area of the right angle corner of either triangle in a quarter of that panel will color that quarter of the panel Soundlight LED Spot This fixture possesses 4 channels Red Green Blue and White The white channel can be used on 1ts own or in combination with the others to achieve pastel colors The Soundlight range of LED fixtures also have 16 bit capability If you wish to make use of this facility then select the Options gt Other Settings gt 16 Bit Settings menu on the main desk screen and tick the RGBW CMY and Enabled items Section 15 Appendix 171 Pulsar ChromaZone Each Pulsar ChromaZone controller unit can be used to control up to twelve 3 channel Chroma devices such as the ChromaDome ChromaPanel etc Like most LED fixtures each Chroma device uses 3 DMX channels for controlling the color mixing of Red Green and Blue The fixtures are connected to the ChromaZone controller unit and ShowMagic is connected to the controller via a normal DMX cable The ChromaZone controller unit can be set to run in one of 5 different modes 6 channel 9 channel 36 channel 42 channel or 46 channel Using 6 Channel Mode In this mode the ChromaZone unit only uses the following 6 channels 1 Red 2 Green 3 Blue 4 Chase 5 Speed amp 6 Dimmer intensity On the patch screen highlight an empty fader select Make Pulsar Model ChromaZone Option 6 Channel using the fixture Librar
5. 140 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual 2 Select the action panel on the other side of the desk 3 Drag and drop the scene sound event control event or sequence button onto the desired action button That action button now has that event assigned to it Dropping the event elsewhere such as back in 1ts own list display will cancel the operation Clicking on an action button highlights it and its details are shown in the top details display Double clicking on an action button runs the event assigned to it and any Wait fade In settings etc will be used Double clicking on an action button that is already running turns it off and any Hold fade Out settings etc will be used Alternatively the panel s motor control buttons can be used as described on the next page Deleting Action Button Assignments To delete an assignment on an action button and make it empty simply highlight the action button and press Delete You will then be asked to confirm or cancel the operation Action Motor Control Buttons Go Clicking on this button or pressing Spacebar if the action panel is on the left will run the event assigned to the currently highlighted action button If you had 2 action panels selected on the desk the left panel is the one that Spacebar will affect Any Wait fade In or volume fade up settings will be used when the event is run with this button If the event is a Manual sequence clicking on the Go button or pres
6. SL Series User Manual Version 13 1 For SL Free Edition SL and SL Plus Models www showmagic com Telephone 44 0 1405 740393 Fax 44 0 1405 814807 Email support showmagic com AVSS Ltd Field House Fieldside Thorne Doncaster South Yorkshire England DN8 4BE All rights reserved The authors have taken care in the preparation of this manual but make no expressed or implied warranty of any kind and assume no responsibility for errors or omissions No liability is assumed for incidental or consequential damages in connection with or arising out of the information contained herein ASIO is a trademark and software of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH All trademarks acknowledged Copyright O 2011 AVSS Ltd 11 Table of Contents Purpose of the User Manta coi dis viii Notes on using the User Manual oooccconnnnnonanoccnnnonononnnnnnancccncnnnnnnnnnnnanncnnnnnnnnncnnnnnnnnaninass x Section 1 OVORVICW nc 1 CTO TAO O Ii a dake O a A O ditt Ra 2 Load Desk and Sav DS E IS E AAA 3 EME T E a A a E a aS 4 DOCUION 2 EVEN E shetaseccesacacignai sees va tectetehedeecececausac sede ncetheeuses sacetecesssattecbeteubec 7 ETON CONG Seen A Se este O ia tied bt aN Ce 7 Sound E S sce acl AAE o 7 Control EYES A ade E 9 A A E A S 9 Action Buttons il eS 10 Section 3 PACO EN Asi 11 Assigning Physical Fixtures to the ShowMagic Virtual DesSK ooonconcnnncnnnnnncnncnncncnoncconnanonccnnn nos 11 Quick Patch and Copy FEE A Bo
7. static lighting state the scene itself changes to produce dynamic lighting effects without the need to drop numerous static scenes into chases or other sequences to produce those effects LED fixtures are assigned to ShowMagic fixture faders and their DMX addresses patched on the patch screen in the normal way See Appendix B at the end of this manual for more information on patching LED fixtures Once they are patched the LED fixtures can be laid out on a grid to simulate their physical arrangement so that when effects are applied to them the effects produced can also be simulated on screen Please Note Throughout this section the term RGB fixtures refers to any fixtures with RGB or CMY color mixing functions Generic fixtures refers to any fixtures that have a physically fixed color e g par cans or spots with colored gels etc Creating a ColorScene Lighting Scene Let s assume we are using 9 ChromaPanels in a 3x3 matrix arrangement thus 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 Throughout this section we will use the term matrix to denote the physical grouping or layout of LED fixtures and the term grid to mean the on screen grid Section 7 Lighting Scene Panel 75 Let us further assume that the ChromaZone controller is set to 36 channel mode and its start address is 001 Panel 01 above is assigned to fader 001 ChromaPanel and E scene ons addressed to DMX channels 001 to 003 Panel 02 above E 1s assigned t
8. 23 59 59 24 00 to 24 25 frames Sound Events ShowMagic takes full advantage of a PC s ability to play MIDI and digital audio files from hard disk Add to this the ability to mix these PC audio sources with any external audio devices such as audio mixers microphones etc via any digital line level and microphone level input connectors on your PC soundcard interface and you have a very flexible sound system The quality of sound from ShowMagic is of course dependent on the soundcard s that you have installed in the PC Section 2 Events Digital audio files are the most useful source for sound as playback is virtually instant and they can all be stored on hard drive for easy access ShowMagic supports 2 different types of audio drivers DirectShow drivers and ASIO drivers Either or both of these drivers may be available for one or more of the audio outputs on the soundcard depending on the audio hardware you are using For instance with an M Audio Delta 1010 multiple input output soundcard there are DirectShow drivers available for analogue outputs 1 to 8 and ASIO drivers available for analogue outputs 1 to 8 Both these drivers share the same physical outputs on the card Where there are DirectShow drivers available for the physical audio outputs we refer to these herein as DirectShow channels Similarly where there are ASIO drivers available for the physical audio outputs we refer to these herein as ASIO cha
9. Blue on fixture 12 Use one ShowMagic fixture fader for each Chroma fixture in this way you can use the grouping keys F1 to F8 to set up different groups for the fixtures Odds and Evens etc Highlight the first empty fader row on the patch screen that you wish to use select the appropriate Pulsar fixture from the ShowMagic fixture library copy however many Chroma fixtures you are using up to 12 by using the F12 copy facility and enter the start address of the ChromaZone pack as part of the command 172 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual Example If you have assigned the first fixture to fader 13 are using 12 Chroma fixtures and the start address of the ChromaZone is 30 the following keystrokes would copy and patch all 12 Chroma fixtures to faders 13 to 24 F12 1 31 1 1 8 0 Enter Using 42 Channel Mode In this mode the first 6 channels of the ChromaZone are used as in 6 channel mode above to control all 12 Chroma fixtures together i e 1 Red on all 2 Green on all 3 Blue on all 4 Chase 5 Speed amp 6 Dimmer intensity However the next 36 channels are used to control the Red Green amp Blue 3 channel settings independently for each fixture The way to patch this is as follows Highlight an empty fixture fader e g 001 select Make Pulsar Model ChromaZone gt Option 6 Channel using the fixture Library button and set the start address Next highlight fixture fader 013 and select t
10. Changing Event Settings Within Sequences The following settings for each event in a sequence are stored in that sequence independently from the settings on that event s original button e Scene fade in and fade out e Chase speed and slope e Volume e Volume fade in and fade out e Pan position When an event is dropped into a sequence step a copy of the settings set at that time for that event is stored for that step in that sequence Example If for example you had a wave file with a 2 second fade in selected for it on the sound panel and you then dropped it into a sequence a 2 second fade in would be stored in the sequence for that event step If you later changed the fade in time for that event on the sound panel to 4 seconds and then dropped it into another sequence then a 4 second fade in would be stored in that other sequence and so on Various settings for events can be changed in a sequence at any time using Shift with the faders on the sequence panel but for other settings you may need to set them on the event s panel and then drop the event into the sequence again in order to store those new settings 120 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual Adjusting Settings for Sound Event Steps If a manual timed or random sequence contains a sound event then the volume pan and fade in out settings can be adjusted in the following way 1 Highlight the sound event in the sequence step details display 2 Hold down th
11. Spacebar they can also be triggered in the following ways as described later in this section a When ShowMagic receives selected notes or program change commands from the MIDI port e g using a MIDI keyboard or MIDI sequencer etc Within this section we will assume that you have a MIDI keyboard connected to a PC MIDI port Section 12 Action Panel 145 b When a wireless Media Player remote controller is used If any action buttons are triggered by any means the fade In and Out times set for that event will be used The various action button triggering options are as follows MIDI Input Triggering Situated just below the details display are the MIDI trigger displays The MIDI trigger display The first display shows what PC MIDI port is set to receive MIDI data Right click on this to select via a pop up menu a port if your PC has more than one see MIDI Port Settings p 156 for information on how to enable selected MIDI ports Clicking on the MD button with the Ctrl key held down toggles MIDI triggering on button shown red or off shown grey for the currently highlighted action button Right clicking on MD with Ctrl toggles MIDI triggering on or off for all action buttons on that page If the MD button is off then the action button will not be affected by any MIDI input If it is on then the MIDI note program change or control change number shown in the third display note C3 in the exampl
12. The buttons below the Pan FX and Tilt FX Speed faders can be used to select one of the sound to light frequency meters on the master panel to trigger the FX Right clicking on the button selects PK LF LM HM or HF respectively Left clicking goes back through the options i e HF HM LM LF PK or Off When the appropriate meter is triggered the pan or tilt moves at the speed selected with its Speed fader then it stops until it is triggered again Setting different frequency meters for the Pan FX and Tilt FX or setting one of them to sound to light and the other to a normal speed setting can produce interesting pan and tilt FX that follow the music 70 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual The Random Slope Buttons If you click on the buttons labelled R below the Pan FX and Tilt FX Slope faders it activates them turns them blue When activated ShowMagic will then randomly pick whether to use the selected slope setting or jump to the opposite FX position each time round This can be very effective especially when used in conjunction with the sound to light options above producing even more varied patterns that follow the music sometimes moving smoothly sometimes snapping The Shape FX Presets Combining the Pan FX and Tilt FX presets can produce many waveform type shapes but in order to create geometric shapes such as circles and ellipses the pan and tilt values must be calculated and applied mathematically to achieve the desired sh
13. The user screen is ideal for this and here is how it can be done 1 Create the early mid and late lighting scenes for the background lighting drop them onto action buttons set their exclusive letter groups to B for background set the buttons to On Off and then create your schedule using these action buttons e g Early Background In at 19 00 00 Mid Background In at 21 00 00 and so on Please Note You only need to set an Out time for the last of these action buttons in each scheduled day because as a scheduled B group button comes on it automatically turns off the previous action button set to group B Section 14 User Screen 163 2 Create a lighting scene that dims the background lighting for when there is a stage show and drop this onto an action button Set its exclusive letter group to B and set the button to On Ex The On Ex setting means that when it is run before a stage show it turns off any other background scene and no background lighting scenes can then be run even if scheduled until the stage show is over and this scene is manually turned off 3 Create some sound to light activated chase sequences and some lighting scenes for the par cans in the dance stage floor area drop them onto action buttons set their exclusive letter groups to D for dance floor and set the buttons to On Off The action buttons will then look something like this Act A1 Act A9 Act A17 Act A2 Act A10 Act A18 D B STL S
14. adjusted accordingly as in Normal mode however when that scene is turned off the channels set to LTP remain in their last state because no Latest scene has been run to change them If you want to Section 7 Lighting Scene Panel 49 bring an LTP channel back down to 00 you must run a scene that includes that channel recorded at 00 However any channels set to HTP return to 00 as there is no scene left running that is pushing that channel higher than 00 Another way of explaining the difference between the Normal and Live modes is Normal mode what you get for each channel is the result of what scenes are currently running for those channels allowing of course for NTP LTP or HTP precedence Live mode what you get for each channel is the result of what scenes were last run that use the channels set to LTP precedence and the brightness level of any fixtures is dictated by any currently running scene s that set the highest brightness levels for those fixtures using HTP Live mode is selected by ticking the Live Mode gt On item in the Options gt General Settings menu Normal mode is selected by un ticking the Live Mode gt On item Summary of the Different Recording Modes Before we move on to the other scene panel items and the process of recording and playing back lighting scenes it is a good idea to re cap and summarise the different types of recording modes because a proper understanding of them is required to ma
15. finished by this point in the sequence ShowMagic can automatically calculate this and therefore won t play it The logic for manual sequences is different in that ShowMagic does not have any time references to use in determining which events should be running and which events shouldn t if you start or continue from a particular step in that sequence Because steps are triggered manually with the exception of any steps set to Wait or Fllw it is not possible to know when the next steps were triggered after a step containing an event with a set time duration e g a piece of music Consider the example above but this time as a manual sequence thus Step 001 trigger Go XT a sound effect lasting 6 seconds Step 002 trigger Wait 00 00 XT first lighting scene which auto starts with the sound effect Step 003 trigger Go XT second lighting scene Step 004 trigger Go XT a sound event of music lasting 2 minutes Step 005 trigger Go XT a Null Step as the last step to stop the sequence If you were to highlight step 003 and then click on the Play From Mark button the sequence would be started from step 003 and the following would happen a The lighting scene in step 003 would be run and because it is set to XT the previous scene in step 002 is automatically turned off b ShowMagic would however now play the sound effect in step 001 because it has no way of knowing how soon after the sound effect is
16. into this folder Do the same for the rock and classical tracks Playlist Random Playlist y copying them into folders called TrackLength TrackLength gt Rock and Classical XFade On respectively You now have 3 folders containing the 3 different styles of music tracks Random Sequence A001 Adverts f Every 15 Minutes 2 Highlight any empty sound event button and double click on Set EA the wave file selector button a file selector appears Select a file in the Jazz folder and click on Open the file details will then be shown in the details display Set audio playlist dialogue box 3 Hold down Ctrl and click on Off to the right of Plist a Set Audio Playlist dialogue box will then appear 4 Playlist Select Linear Playlist if you want the tracks to play in the same linear order or select Random Playlist if you want the tracks to be played in a random order each time the playlist is run or looped 5 Track Length You can select Track Length which will play each track for its total 94 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual length or set a maximum track length between 1 to 5 minutes to restrict the length of each track if required If a track is shorter than the maximum length then the next track is played as soon as the current track finishes with any cross fade settings taken into account 1 e there are no silent periods 6 If you tick XFade On cross fade the I
17. 004 is now a volume change event 2 Hold down Ctrl and right click on VL to change it to PN This changes the step from a volume change event to a pan change event 124 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual 3 Hold down Shift and use the centre and right faders to adjust the pan position and pan fade times in a similar way to setting the volume change event described above The pan setting will then be shown to the right of PN Holding down Ctrl and left clicking on a step set to PN will change it back to VL To remove a volume or pan change step simply highlight the step press the Delete key and confirm Auto Playlist Function If you are creating a sequence which contains events of different time durations that need to simply run one after the other often referred to as a play list the features in this section can be used to automatically calculate the step trigger times in a timed sequence so that you don t have to work them out manually The auto playlist function can be used with timed sequences containing any types of events that have set time durations e g sound events timed sequences etc and the trigger times are automatically calculated for you You can also use events that don t have fixed time durations with this function but of course ShowMagic can t calculate the times for you Here s an example 1 Using the Demo desk open up an empty sequence button by right clicking on it or by highlighting it and
18. 1 and 3 and this will turn them red 4 Press F3 to select group F3 which is where we will store the alternate 2 and 4 fixture group then right click on the on off buttons for fixtures 2 and 4 and this will turn them red 5 Finally press the F3 key to turn that group off We have now set up three groups for fixtures on the first fixture panel so now to record any scenes using fixtures 1 to 4 simply press F1 to select group F1 move one of the function faders in that group to the required level the other function faders will be set to the same record the scenes see Recording Scenes p 53 and then press F1 again to turn the group off To record scenes using alternate fixtures 1 and 3 press F2 to select group F2 and so on Fixture grouping affects all the functions of fixtures contained within the group so moving the Color Wheel function fader or selecting one of its preset buttons will select that function setting for all other fixtures in that group When initially setting up a desk and assigning fixtures via the patch screen it is a good idea to arrange the assignments to make use of fixture pages as the page group facility is specific to each page of fixtures Universal Groups There is also a separate grouping function available where function keys F1 to F8 can be used to store another eight universal groups which can affect ALL the fixtures on the desk not just the selected page To use one of these unive
19. 12 fixture faders When one of the keys is pressed to select a group it is shown in the display above the Trackball 1 Pressing the function key again turns the group off Example The current group As an example we will use the four par cans in the first page of fixtures on the demo desk Let us say that you wish to create some scenes in which all the par cans are set to the same level some other scenes in which alternate par cans 1 and 3 are the same and scenes in which alternate par cans 2 and 4 are set to the same This can be done very easily by using group keys F1 F2 and F3 in the following way Section 6 Fixture Panel 37 1 Select the first page of fixtures 1 12 on the fixture panel Press F1 to select group F1 and you will see the on off buttons for all the fixtures displayed in red this is the default for group F1 on each page of fixtures until it is changed We are only interested in grouping fixtures 1 to 4 so right click on the on off buttons for the other fixtures to remove them from the group their buttons will then revert back to blue 2 Now whilst the F1 group is turned on a large F1 is displayed moving any one of the function faders of the fixtures in that group will cause the other same function faders in the group to move also to that value 3 Press F2 to select group F2 which is where we will store the alternate 1 and 3 fixture group then right click on the on off buttons for fixtures
20. Adjusting ColorScene Chases ColorScenes are palette based with each ColorScene having its own definable palette This can be very useful if you want to create a few ColorScene chases that use the same animations such as having a colored block running along a length of LED fixtures but you want each ColorScene to use a different color The quickest and easiest way to do this is as follows 1 Create the first ColorScene chase in red for instance on Scene button A007 2 Exit the ColorScene panel to return to the normal Scene panel 3 If you want to replicate the red ColorScene to provide the same animation in green amp then blue then simply drag the red ColorScene button A007 onto the next two empty scene buttons A002 amp A003 to create two copies 4 Highlight scene button A002 and click on the button labelled CScn to produce the ColorScene panel 5 Now simply click on the color box containing red in the palette and replace it with green If you run that ColorScene you will then see the same animation but now running in green 6 Repeat steps 4 and 5 using scene button A003 and the color blue 84 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual Using Dimmers in ColorScene We will re create the above ColorScene chase but this time we will use fixtures with R G B and dimmer functions so that we can dim up each of the red green and blue columns as they are brought onto the grid 1 Copy the above ColorScene scene button onto another
21. Horizontal Triangular 5 FL 60 90 Wave 3 Peak Horizontal Triangular 10 FL 60 90 Wave 6 Peak Vertical Triangular 60 90 5 FL Wave 3 Peak Vertical Triangular 60 90 10 FL Wave 6 Peak Horizontal Square Wave 5 FL 60 0 3 Peak Horizontal Square Wave 10 FL 60 0 6 Peak Vertical Square Wave 60 0 5 FL 3 Peak Vertical Square Wave 60 0 10 FL As you can see from the above examples it is the relationship between the Pan and the Tilt Speed settings that determine the vertical horizontal direction and frequency of the waveform and the Slope settings determine the shape of the waveform The FX Window and Range Limiter Box The FX window consists of a black background with intersecting horizontal and vertical yellow dotted lines The vertical dotted line represents the DMX value range for tilt channels with the very top of the line representing 000 and the very bottom representing 255 The horizontal dotted line represents the DMX value range for pan channels with the extreme left of the line representing 000 and the extreme right representing 255 The range limiter box Section 7 Lighting Scene Panel 67 Contained inside this window is a white square outline with two handles shown as grey squares in the top left and bottom right this is the pan and tilt Range Limiter box The two handles attached to the Range Limiter box are used to set the minimum and maximum pan and tilt range limits for the FX scene with the box acting as
22. Lateney 1055 samples 104By_ Consumer z 3 4 WavOut 5 6 WavOut 7 8 and ale Mono Asio Easi Options Wa vO ut S P D F I Disable audio app use of Monitor Mixer and Patchbay Router I Disable multiclient mode AYUDO Click on the Done button and the card will then be ready for use in ShowMagic ESI WaveTerminal Console If you wish to use all the Waveterminal 192 M v 3 80 Console output channel pairs File Config DirectWIRE separately then click on the a eE Waveterminal 192 M conso e GEJ Mix button in the HW VOL SAMPLE Wingy yao 1 aaa wx NOL MME SW VOL section to disable it then Talc tale abe babe labels LPFRILIRILIRILIRILER shown dark red eS 48 Click on 44 1 for the sample 5 22 rate and click on the Auto 16 sax seu iii Lock 4 00 4 00 0 400 100 100 100 100 100 button below it to change it to Lock 4 00 lawon Make sure the Clock is set to INTERNAL select Exit from the File menu and the card is now ready for use in ShowMagic Section 15 Appendix 169 Appendix B Using LED Fixtures and Controllers with ShowMagic Mtf LEDdance The Mtf LEDdance dancefloor panels that incorporate triangular sections are supported in ShowMagic from v11 1 onwards These panels have 3 operating modes 4 channel 13 channel or 25 channel Using the LEDdance Panels with ColorScene In 4 channel mode each dancefloor panel occupies 1 ColorS
23. ShowMagic simply uses the stored pan position instead The odd fixtures will move up as the even fixtures move down at the speed set by the Tilt FX Speed fader to produce the marching effect If you now click on the Pan FX Straight preset to select it set its Speed fader to 10 and its Slope fader to FL then stop the FX scene and re run it you will see the scanners march as before but the odd and even fixtures will now also criss cross each other slowly If you now wish to limit the range of this effect then use the Range Limiter box in the FX window as described in The FX Window and Range Limiter Box p 67 to select how low and high the scans march and how widely they cross The Delay Offset Fader The first fader on the FX generator panel can be used to set an offset delay to the fixtures in an FX scene In all the effects we have used up until now the fixtures have all started to trace their shape at the same time but we can use this fader to select a delay so that each fixture can be made to lag behind the previous one to create Mexican wave type effects gt The value of the Delay Offset fader is a percentage of the Pan FX Speed fader times 2 1 e ifthe Pan EX Speed is set to 30 BPM i e 2 seconds and the Delay Offset fader is set to 50 then the Offset Delay time will also be 2 seconds Slide the Offset Delay fader up to FL and the delay will become 4 seconds Triggering Pan FX and Tilt FX using Sound To Light
24. The label for that event is also displayed on the action button Please Note Labels on action buttons cannot be edited the label shown is the same as the label used for the event that has been assigned to that action button Action Button LEDs An LED is provided on each button and when a button has been run from the action panel or the event assigned to that button has been run from its own panel this LED will turn half bright or bright green to indicate that it has been activated As with the scene buttons a half bright green LED on a red action button indicates that a scene is in the process of coming on or going off a half bright LED on an orange action button would indicate that the sound event volume is fading up or fading down and so on If the event has been paused the LED will flash on and off to indicate this Similarly with the red LED feature if a scene is assigned to an action button and a sequence containing that scene is also assigned to another action button the LED on the action button for the sequence will turn green when it is run and when the scene is run as a step in that sequence the LED on its action button will turn red to indicate that it has been run indirectly by another event Assigning Events to Action Buttons To assign a ShowMagic event scene sound event etc to an action button simply 1 Select the appropriate panel on one side of the desk for the type of event you wish to assign to the button
25. a different palette highlight any color box from the third box onwards by clicking on it and then you can choose your colors using one of the following options a Selecting Lee Rosco gel colors using the Presets panel If you wish to use a range of colors available on the presets panel then simply click on any one of the RGB function faders on the fixture panel hold down the Shift key to call up the Presets panel and then click on each preset that you want in order Those colors will then be selected and set on the color palette in that order If you want to add another color to the palette at any time or change one of the existing colors simply click on the color box click on any one of the RGB function faders on the fixture panel hold down the Shift key to call up the Presets panel and then click on the preset color that you want for that color box b Creating colors using the RGB function faders on the fixture panel If you wish to use the RGB function faders on the fixture panel to select a color and then store it in the palette simply adjust those faders to obtain the color you want and then hold down Ctrl and double click on the appropriate color palette box to store that color in that box Do likewise for the other color boxes Conversely if you want to set the RGB function faders to the values stored in a color box simply hold down Ctrl and double right click on that color box You can then adjust it and then store that n
26. a graphic indicator of these range limits When an FX preset is first selected the top handle defaults to the extreme top left of the window minimum pan 000 minimum tilt 000 and the bottom handle defaults to the extreme bottom right of the window maximum pan 255 maximum tilt 255 If you select Straight presets for both Pan FX and Tilt FX and run the FX scene as before all the pan and tilt channels used in the scene will scan between DMX values of 000 and 255 Setting the Range Limits With the FX scene still running drag the bottom handle half way across to the left so that the right hand side of the box lines up with the vertical dotted line You will notice that the pan channels for all the fixtures stored in that FX scene will now only scan between the values of 000 and 127 you have limited the pan channels to the half of their range The vertical edges of the box represent the pan limits Similarly if you now drag the bottom handle up so that the bottom of the box lines up with the horizontal dotted line You will notice that the tilt channels will only scan between the values of 000 and 127 you have now also limited the tilt channels to half of their range The horizontal edges of the box represent the tilt limits Moving the Range Limits As well as being able to set range limits using the Range Limiter box you can also set the range position using the top handle Here s an example This time using the RI
27. amp White channels is not in the ShowMagic fixtures library simply select Make Generic Colour Model RGB W using the fixture Library button and re label it accordingly And so on If a fixture possesses any other color channels or colors in a different order e g Yellow Green Blue amp Red etc then simply make the fixture by dropping the functions in the correct order and select the appropriate fixture type RGB Control Led Cluster LED Strip LED Panel LED Par LED Spot LED Flood LED Panels Moving LED etc Lee and Rosco color filters presets are available on the presets panel and these can be used with any fixtures that contain Red Green amp Blue or Cyan Magenta amp Yellow channels in any order Section 15 Appendix 173 Appendix C Quick Key Command Reference General on Main Desk Ctrl Hold down when clicking on light blue critical items to change them Hold down after dragging but before dropping an event button to move that event onto the new button Enter Completes the entry of labels and values Shift Esc Used to enter a password to unlock the User Panel Spacebar Equivalent to clicking on left hand side Play or Go buttons When labels are being typed this inserts a space Delete Deletes highlighted button or display item Tab Used to toggle between and highlight settings in the details display Backspace Deletes last character when typing in labels Home Selects the first fader page
28. any function faders stored in the FX scene that are set to the Default In time other than pan amp tilt will fade In over this time Hold When the FX scene is turned off all the functions will pause at their current position for this period before fading out If Flash has been selected on the standard scene panel for Eff when no FX have been applied to this scene then the FX scene will run for the time set for Hold and it will then automatically fade out using the Out time O ut When the FX scene is turned off all the function faders set to the Default Out time for that scene other than pan and tilt will fade out over this period The fade in and out times for pan amp tilt functions in an FX Scene are determined solely by the In and Out settings on the right hand side of the details display as described on the next page FX Generator Details Display settings on the right Type 64 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual This can be set to Normal or Safe in the usual way on the standard scene panel this cannot be changed on the FX generator panel Eff When one or more Pan FX Tilt FX or Shape FX presets are selected for a scene as described below FX Sen is displayed here to denote that the standard scene has been changed to an FX scene If you wish to select Flash for an FX scene then the scene must be set to Flash on the standard scene panel whilst 1t is a standard scene not an FX scene If you wish to select Flas
29. are many wireless Media Player remote handheld devices on the market for controlling programs such as Windows Media Player These devices output common commands for Play Pause Stop Previous Track Next Track Volume Volume and Mute You can use one of these devices to control the currently highlighted action button when the action panel is on the left of the desk or the user screen is displayed by first installing the device on your PC laptop follow the instructions supplied with the device The various buttons on the handheld devices do the following Section 12 Action Panel 147 Play This plays the event if it is stopped pauses the event if it is playing and pressing again resumes Pause Stop This stops the event if it is playing Prev If the event is a manual sequence this jumps to the previous step set to Go and runs from there Next If the event is a manual sequence this jumps to the next step set to Go and runs from there Vol This increases the volume of the Audio Master fader on the Master Panel Vol This lowers the volume of the Audio Master fader on the Master Panel Mute This mutes the Audio Master fader on the Master Panel and pressing this button again un mutes it User Screen Hide If this item is ticked then that action button will not be displayed on the user screen there will just be an empty space where the button would normally be This option is useful if you want to deny the u
30. as a scene In the example below we have recorded a scene for the Stage Light 300 fixture on the demo desk 3 Use the bank and page buttons on the scene panel to select the page containing the scene button scene number that you wish to record the settings to 4 Activate the Rec button by clicking on it 1t will flash then click on the desired scene button the scene will then be recorded to that scene number and the Rec button will be de activated If the scene number already contains a recorded scene then you will be prompted to confirm the overwrite Click OK to overwrite the scene or Cancel to cancel the operation both options de activate the Rec button Setting Fade Times for a Scene With a scene recorded to a scene button the button is shown in red to indicate that a scene has been recorded to it you can now set the fade times for that scene 1 Click on the scene button to highlight 1t in a light red its details are then shown in the details display at the top of the scene panel 2 Click anywhere in the details display and an Edit Scene dialogue box will appear Section 7 Lighting Scene Panel 53 z Label Scene A001 Fade Times Default 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 Wait In Hold Default Rec Times In _00 00 00 00 Out _00 00 00 00 The edit scene dialogue box The In a
31. assign those fixtures to faders that correspond to the DMX channels E g If you are using a 24 channel dimmer pack set to DMX address 007 the fixtures connected to that pack should be assigned to fixture fader numbers 001 to 024 You can then use the commands for setting faders when creating lighting scenes and you know that the fixture fader numbers in those commands correspond to the DMX addresses If the pack is set to address 57 or 201 or 357 etc then you can still use fixture numbers 001 to 024 as it is easy to remember that the DMX addresses are all offset by 50 200 or 350 etc For instance on the fixture panel on the main desk screen if you want to set channels 212 to 218 to 50 you can use the keystrokes 1 2 1 8 5 0 Enter 18 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual Notes on Overwriting DMX Addresses Already in Use If you attempt to patch a fixture to a DMX address that has already been assigned to another fixture you will be prompted to confirm this On confirmation the DMX address on the other fixture will be cleared i e set back to 000 000 You will then need to re enter another address for that other fixture This system ensures that no DMX cross channel conflicts can be created Deleting Fader and Fixture Assignments To remove a fixture from a fixture fader simply highlight the appropriate fader row press the Delete key press Enter to enter the command and then confirm or cancel on the dialogue box P
32. audio faders on the Master panel will be adjusted to those settings Res Restore If this is set to On then the audio faders will be restored to their previous settings the settings that they were at before this mixer settings event was run after the Mixer Setting event is turned off otherwise they will remain at those settings In An In time can be set here which determines the time between the original settings fading out and the mixer settings in this event fading in Out An Out time can be set here which determines the time between the mixer settings in this event fading out when it is turned off and the original mixer settings fading back in 1f Res On is set Beats Per Minute Counter The beats per minute counter in the details display can be used to store up to 8 different bpm settings for each sound event If you were creating lighting chases to run with this particular sound event wave file or MIDI file you might wish to create a pan and tilt Chase with a BPM setting that follows every beat a color chase which is set to follow every other beat and a gobo chase that follows every fourth beat and so on You might even want to set a BPM that is an odd number per bar or offset to the natural beat of the music so for this reason ShowMagic enables you to log these BPM settings whilst listening to the sound event 1 Simply left or right click whilst holding down Ctrl on the digit to the left of the colon to select y
33. be shown in red to indicate that the Fader list is now active for editing Press Delete 1 2 then Enter and you will be prompted to confirm the deleting of those two fader assignments 1 thru 2 With the Fdr 001 row still highlighted select the Make Clay Paky Model GoldenScan HPE fixture using the Library button then press F12 1 10 This would display the command Copy Fdr 1 Thru 10 Pressing Enter to confirm this command would then assign copies of the fixture assigned to fader 1 GoldenScan HPE to faders 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 and 10 You now have 10 GoldenScans assigned to faders 1 to 10 but they are not patched to DMX channels the patching can be done for each fixture individually as previously described or 1f their addresses are all set to be consecutive they can all be patched with a single command 1 Let us say that you have physically set 10 GoldenScan 3 HPE fixtures to use consecutive start channels beginning with 1 i e 1 13 25 37 etc and you wished to assign these to faders 1 through 10 this can be done in the following way 2 Delete fader assignments 2 through 10 by pressing Delete 2 10 Enter and this will leave you with one GoldenScan on Fdr 001 3 Press F12 1 10 1 This will display the command Copy Fdr 1 Thru 10 at 1 Pressing Enter to execute this command would then assign the 10 fixtures to fixture faders 7 10 and also automatically patch them to their conse
34. button or item in a display End Selects the last fader page button or item in a display Page Up Selects the previous page of faders buttons or display items PageDown Selects the next page of faders buttons or display items M1 Scrolls up and down event buttons gt Scrolls horizontally through event buttons Right click On pink items to produce a pop up menu of options Single click On an event button to highlight it and view its details in the details display Double click On an event button to start or stop that event Master Panel on Main Desk Ctrl Hold down and double click on any clear button on the Master panel to clear ALL events Section 15 Appendix 175 Fixture Panel on Main Desk Shift Ctrl Enter F1 to F8 F12 F12 F12 When the fixture panel is on the left of the screen holding this down produces the preset panel on the right Hold down when dragging faders or trackball to select fine adjustment Hold down and double click on a fader to set 1t to locked mode or released mode Hold down and double click on the group window e g showing F1 to include all 12 fixture faders in that group Hold down and double right click on the group window e g showing F1 to remove all 12 fixture faders from that group Hold down and double click on Centre or Locate to lock the function faders Hold down and double right click on Centre or Locate to unlock th
35. can select the audio channels either DirectShow or ASIO to use for that wave file or playlist event b The third row in the details display contains the file details e g File C AVSS ShowMagic wavefile Cash1 wav The length of that file in minutes seconds and frames and the From and To play times these are the time positions within the file that the event will play from and to These default to the start of the file and the end of the file but can be changed by holding down Ctrl and left right clicking on the time digits to decrement increment them If LP is highlighted click on it with Ctrl held down to toggle it on off then that sound event will repeat in a loop until the event is turned off c The fourth row in the details display contains the volume fade In and fade Out times in seconds and frames The default is 00 00 for both but can be changed by holding down Ctrl and left right clicking on the time digits to decrement increment them d To the right of the fade times is a bpm Beats Per Minute setting see Beats Per Minute Counter p 100 e The Plist setting above the motor controls can be used to play a folder full of wave files as a playlist Let s assume you have jazz rock and classical music tracks stored on disk as wav files and you wish to create 3 playlists one for each style of music 1 Create a file folder called Jazz and copy the jazz tracks Set Audio Playlist
36. chase for those par cans We will have the first frame set to black so click on the first dimmer palette box 000 and drag the mouse across cells 1 12 to set them to black Double click on frame 01 to add another frame With Frame 02 selected click on the 2 dimmer box dimmer level 255 and then click on the 4 and 9 cells to set them to a dimmer level of 255 They will then be shown as a bright yellow Double click on the Frame 02 box to add another frame click on the 3 and 10 cells to set them to 255 bright blue then click on the 3 dimmer palette box to select a level of 192 and click on the 4 and 9 cells to set them to 192 Double click on the Frame 03 box to add another frame click on the 2 dimmer palette box 255 click on the 2 and 11 cells to set them to 255 bright green click on the 3 dimmer palette box to select a dimmer level of 192 click on the 3 and 10 cells to set them to 192 click on the 4 dimmer palette box to select 128 and then click on the 4 and 9 cells to set them to 128 10 Double click on the Frame 04 box to add another frame click on the 2nd dimmer palette box click on the 1 and 12 cells to set them to 255 click on the 3rd dimmer palette box to select a dimmer level of 1192 click on the 2 and 11 cells to set them to 192 click on the 4 dimmer palette box to select 128 click on the 3 and 10 cells to set them to 128 click on the 5 dimmer palette box to select 64 and th
37. colored fixtures you first need to soft patch those fixtures onto the grid you will notice that at this point the Chase Color and Run mode selector buttons are not selectable greyed out If we were using 16 ChromaPanels situated in a 4 x 4 grid we would need to make the ColorScene grid 4 x 4 to accommodate this You could do so by simply right clicking on the yellow X03 value to increment it to X04 and do likewise for the Y digits The grid would then change to 4 x 4 For this exercise however we will stick with the default 3 x 3 grid The next step is to soft patch the fixtures onto the grid and this can be done in one of a few ways Manual 1 Click on the first icon in the top selection area M the default highlighted option This selects manual soft patching and Patch 00 Manual is then shown in the display 2 Click on fader 001 the first ChromaPanel on the fixture panel to highlight it then double click on the first top left cell in the grid the fixture number and name of the fixture assigned to that cell will then appear in the display above the grid i e 001 ChromaPanel 3 The next fixture number is automatically incremented and highlighted ready for patching to the next cell If you don t want to patch this fixture to the next cell then highlight the fixture number that you do want 4 Double click on the next cell to patch it and so on until all cells are patched with the desired fixtures This manual s
38. first frame of the Frame ColorScene chase in the following way 1 2 3 4 5 6 Click on the Sf frame to select it it should already be selected as this is a new chase and no new frames have been created yet The cells containing generic fixtures will then be shown black ready for coloring ColorScene automatically goes into Color mode when the Set frame is highlighted as this frame is used just to set fixed colors for generic fixtures Please Note If you are mixing RGB fixtures and generic fixtures on the same grid then please read the notes in Notes on Mixing Generic and RGB CMY Fixtures on the Same Grid p 89 You can edit the color palette in the Set frame in the normal way but the default palette possesses the colors we need so we will stick with 1t Par cans 1 and 8 have red gels so click on the red color box then click on cells 1 and 12 to color them red Cans 2 and 7 are colored blue so select blue in the palette and then click on cells 2 and 11 to color them blue Cans 3 and 6 are colored green so select green in the color palette and then click on cells 3 and 10 to color them green Cans 4 and 5 are colored yellow so select yellow in the color palette and then click on cells 4 and 9 to color them yellow The colors for each cell in the grid are now set If you intended to create a number of ColorScene chases with this layout of colored par cans then you should exit the ColorScene panel at this point
39. fixtures fixture faders 13 and 16 and another group for the inside fixtures fixture faders 14 and 15 It all depends on the effect you are trying to achieve but in any case the scene generator will generate all the scenes for whatever groups you set up in the same way The choice of grouping and combinations is entirely up to you Other scene pages can be filled with scenes for the MiniMacs Shutter strobe Gobo and Gobo Rotate functions using the same quick scene generator function so within minutes you can generate a veritable Palette of scenes for all types of functions and fixture combinations from which your lighting chases and other sequences can then be easily created As scenes for Focus etc are determined by the physical area and distances in which you are using the lighting fixtures lots of presets for these functions haven t been provided in the ShowMagic fixture library as they aren t really of much use so these scenes will need to be created one by one in the normal way Don t forget to apply graphics to bank and page buttons as described in Applying Icons To Bank and Page Selector Buttons p 43 as this is a useful way to easily identify and locate where the scenes for different fixtures and functions are stored Lee and Rosco Presets because there are so many Lee Rosco presets they are spread across a number of pages that can be accessed using the numbered buttons on the bottom Clicking on the m
40. for DMX ee i i channel patching in just two simple steps Old Password o New Password cance Change Password dialogue box Section 3 Patch Screen 21 Change Password Selecting the Options gt Change Password menu item on the patch screen allows you to enter a password which can be used if you wish to lock out access to the programming of the desk as described in System Locked p 160 Initially the password is blank and anyone can lock and unlock the desk using the Options gt System Locked menu item on the main desk screen but once you have entered a password containing alpha numeric characters not case sensitive this password must be provided whenever you attempt to lock or unlock the desk To create a password 1 Click in the Old Password box and type in the old password If the password is blank such as when this function is first used then ignore the Old Password box and leave it blank 2 Click in the New Password box type in the new password that you wish to use then click on the Enter button The new password will then be stored If no new password is entered i e 1t is left blank then the password will revert back to being blank when you click on the Enter button Auto Patch Fixtures Ifthe DMX addresses for your physical fixtures are set consecutively and in the same order as the fixture fader assignments on the patch screen then these can be patched automatically by selecting Option
41. for analogue outputs 1 to 8 Both these drivers share the same physical outputs on the card Where there are DirectShow drivers available for the physical audio outputs we refer to these herein as DirectShow channels Similarly where there are ASIO drivers available for the physical audio outputs we refer to these herein as ASIO channels Microsoft DirectShow Drivers Audio files in uncompressed wav file format and audio files in mp3 wma or aif compressed formats can all be played by ShowMagic using any available outputs with DirectShow drivers On the Default Directshow channels as selected on the Windows Sound and Audio Devices dialogue box multiple files of multiple types can be played at the same time Please Note On any other DirectShow channels other than the default only one audio file can be played at any one time If an audio file is started that uses the same channels as another audio file that is already playing on those channels the previous audio file is stopped ASIO Drivers ASIO drivers only support playback of un compressed wav files but the advantage of using ASIO outputs is that multiple uncompressed wave wav files can be played to any of the multiple audio outputs with up to 16 channels synchronized As described later in this manual any available DirectShow or ASIO channels that ShowMagic finds are listed in a pop up menu and can be selecte
42. group letter is displayed in a box at the top right of the button and only one of those buttons in that letter group will be allowed to be run at any one time Clicking on another button set to that same group letter will turn off any other button set to that group letter which is running and any Hold or fade Out times etc set for the out going event will be used See also the description for the Action Sub Group Settings menu in Action Sub Group Settings p 155 142 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual Operation Options Left right clicking with the Ctrl key held down on the display to the right of the Grp display determines how an action button is operated when it is triggered The options are as follows The operation options display On Off MIDI the appropriate MIDI note program change will turn the action button on when it is received and the action button will stay on until the same trigger is again received to turn it off Spacebar Hitting Spacebar when the action button is highlighted and the action panel is on the left of the screen will turn it on Hitting Spacebar again will turn it off UNLESS the event assigned to the action button is a Manual sequence in which case subsequent presses on the Spacebar will trigger the next step in that sequence 1 e it will act as the Go button for that Manual sequence Hold This option has been provided specifically so that you can manually control how long an ac
43. icon the default manual system of soft patching can be used gt The sixth preset icon can be used if you have fixtures arranged in a loop For instance let us assume you have 12 ChromaPanels arranged around the edge of a dance floor thus 01 02 03 04 12 05 11 06 10 09 08 07 By setting the active grid size to X04 Y04 selecting fixture 001 clicking on the sixth soft patch preset icon and then double clicking on the first top left cell in the active block in the grid twelve ChromaPanels fixtures 001 to 012 will then be patched consecutively to the cells as shown above Soft Patching Dimmer Functions If you are using fixtures that possess a dimmer function as well as RGB or CMY functions you can also set dimmer levels in each frame of a ColorScene chase more on this later For now we will use a 3 x 3 grid patched left to right left to right etc so use the 2 soft patch preset E as described above Now the fixtures have been soft patched onto the grid we can start using the Chase amp Color programming modes you will notice that Chase amp Color buttons have now been enabled to indicate this and an RGB icon has been applied to the left of the scene button to indicate that this is now a ColorScene scene You will also notice that the speed amp slope faders have also been enabled The next step is to select the type of chase we want to apply to this ColorScene Click on the Chase button to sel
44. is activated in the sequence If set to XA eXclusive Audio then this event will turn off all events of any type except audio events that are running in that sequence when it is activated If set to XT then this will be eXclusive to that Type of event in that sequence all previous events of that type of the same color will be automatically turned off when this step is activated in the sequence If set to LA then this event will be LAtched it doesn t turn off any other events and the same event must be turned off by using another step for that event set to Out or Off unless of course it is turned off automatically when any later event set to EX or the same type of event set to XT is activated The group letters A to Z can be used for exclusive grouping If any events are set to A group A then the latest activated step containing any type of event set to A will turn off any previous event of any type that is set to A all other events however such as those set to LA or other main groups such as B C etc are unaffected Sub groups Each main exclusivity group letter A to Z contains 26 sub group letters i e Aa to Az Ba to Bz etc displayed in lower case and in yellow If an event is set to Aa and another is set to Ab then they will not affect each other However if an event is set to main group A shown as A in blue then this will turn off any events set to main group A and also any sub groups of that main grou
45. left panel by right clicking on it s button and then simply drag the snapshot buttons into the bottom of the sequence step display in the order required 10 The sequence containing the snapshots can then be set to Manual Timed or Random and when it is run the mirror movements etc will move smoothly between chases as one ends and the other begins because they defaulted to being event steps set to In when they were recorded in the snapshots When color wheel channels are faded out they will often cycle down through different colors as the chase fades out and this may not be what you require you may wish the color to remain constant until the chase has stopped To achieve this simply set the color scene event step in the appropriate snapshot to On Now when that chase fades out all the channels not being used by the next chase fading in will fade out but the color will remain on until the out going chase has finished fading out at which point it is instantly stopped Deleting a Sequence To delete a sequence highlight its button and press Delete If the sequence is used in any other sequences then a warning will be given If you confirm the deletion then that sequence will be removed from the other sequences that contain it Copying a Sequence To copy a sequence to another sequence button drag the sequence button you wish to copy onto the sequence button you wish to copy it to select two sequence panels on the desk if necessary An o
46. of the control command and the second being the value that goes with it e g X1 34 127 Most of the standard MIDI commands are supported with ShowMagic control codes as shown in the String Codes drop down menu 134 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual x Control Change X7 to X15 C MIDI Channel C1 to C16 P Program Change PO to P127 p Pan Control pO to p127 N MIDI Note On NO to N127 This must be preceded by a velocity value VO to V127 n MIDI Note Off nO to n127 V MIDI Velocity VO to V127 v Main Volume v0 to v127 A All Notes Off A R Reset All Controllers R Please Note Commands are case sensitive Example Let s assume that the effects unit is set to receive MIDI commands on MIDI channel 8 the effects preset number 1 is no effect the effects preset number 2 is echo which are both selectable using the MIDI program change command and that the level of the echo effect is selectable from 0 to 100 by setting the velocity of note 0 to the required level 0 127 The following ShowMagic String Codes in the On box of the Enter Midi CTRL string dialogue would turn on the echo setting and set it at a level of 50 when the control event is turned on C8 P2 V63 NO The following ShowMagic String Codes in the Off box of the Enter Midi CTRL string dialogue would select the no effect setting when the control event is turned off C8 P1 Any control event can be copied to another control event
47. on the appropriate action button Action buttons can be turned on and off triggered automatically when ShowMagic receives selected MIDI notes program change or control change commands from any external MIDI keyboard or MIDI sequencer connected to the MIDI port on the PC A handheld RF media player remote control can be used to control the currently highlighted action button 10 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual Section 3 Patch Screen The Patch screen is not used very often as it is designed for performing the initial set up and other one off functions e Checking what audio capabilities have been detected by ShowMagic e Selecting the makes and models of DMX lighting fixtures you are using and assigning these to virtual fixture faders on the ShowMagic fixture panel Setting the DMX addresses of the lighting fixtures Please Note With all models of ShowMagic any DMX addresses between 001 and 512 can be used The DMX addresses can also be spread across up to 4 universes However the amount of DMX channels that can be assigned to fixtures is dependent on the model as follows SL Free Edition 24 DMX channels SL SLX amp AV models 512 DMX channels SL Plus SLX Plus and AV Plus models 2048 DMX channels Assigning Physical Fixtures to the ShowMagic Virtual Desk The Patch Screen Section 3 Patch Screen 11 The Patch screen consists of 4 main displays windows 1 Key Input This is where
48. on the user screen Options menu is now disabled and the user cannot access the main desk screen they are limited to the user screen only Section 14 User Screen 165 Unlocking the user screen To access the main desk screen again hold down the Shift key and then press the Esc key An Enter Password dialogue box will appear Enter the correct password and click on Enter and this password will return you to the main desk screen The main desk will still be locked so select the System Locked item and enter the password as normal to unlock it Quitting the Program To quit from ShowMagic select File gt Quit Program on the main desk screen or the user screen menu If a schedule or any events are running you will be prompted as a safeguard to turn them off or not You will also be prompted as to whether you wish to save the desk or not click on the buttons as appropriate The Close Window cross at the top right of the window is also disabled as a safeguard You can only quit ShowMagic via the File gt Quit Program menu items on the main desk or user screens 166 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual Section 15 Appendix Section 15 Appendix 167 Appendix A Setting up Multi I O Soundcards If you are using a SoundBlaster as a primary soundcard on a Multimedia Properties KE Windows XP system then select this soundcard as the preferred vass wiol co Muse Devices device in the Windows Control Panel
49. output device for that MIDI pd 01 13 00 an To file event e g soundcard synth output or MIDI output port etc A Bra ASIO o b The third row contains the file Or e AA re P details e g File ED 25 49 73 97 121 145 169 193 217 C Windows Media Town mid c The length of that file in minutes seconds and frames and the From and To play times these are the time positions within the file that the event will play from and to These default to the start of the Steel Gtr Muted Gtr Bass Accordian Fiddle Trumpet Brass Alto Sax Slap 2 Drums 1 Town file and the end of the file but can be changed by holding down Ctrl and left right clicking on the time digits to decrement increment them d If LP is highlighted click on it with Ctrl held down to toggle it on off then that sound event will repeat in a loop until the event is turned off MIDI track listing on the audio panel e The fourth row contains the volume fade In and fade Out times in seconds and frames The default is 00 00 for both but can be changed by holding down Ctrl and left right clicking on the time digits to decrement increment them f The playlist function is not available for MIDI files so Off is shown and cannot be changed If you right click on the MIDI sound event button the normal sound event buttons are removed and replaced with a MIDI track listing for the highlighted MIDI sound event thus The Beats Per Minute t
50. speed up the programming process considerably more for specific commonly used effects but as with the color algorithms it is impossible to create algorithms to suit every conceivable effect that may be required in the future so the Frame option has been made available first to allow for this Notes on Mixing Generic and RGB CMY Fixtures on the Same Grid Cells containing RGB CMY fixtures are shown in grey rather than black on the Set frame this is because fixed colors cannot be applied to them When creating frames clicking on a cell containing a generic fixture will automatically change the mode button from Color to Dim because colors from the palette cannot be applied to generic fixtures only dimmer levels from the dimmer palette You cannot change the mode button from Dim to Color when a cell containing a generic fixture is selected in the grid If you want to use the Color mode for cells containing RGB CMY fixtures then a cell containing an RGB CMY fixture must first be selected Use a right click on a cell to just select it this avoids any dimmer color changes being applied to that cell When a cell containing an RGB CMY fixture is selected right clicking on the Color button toggles it between Color and Dim modes Right clicking on the Color button with a generic fixture selected has no effect To change the fixed colors on the grid for generic fixtures the Set frame Sf must be selected and used Section 7
51. supposed to play that you are triggering this step Let us assume that you want to run the manual sequence at roughly the same timings as the timed sequence 1 The sequence is started with Go and the sound effect step 001 and the first lighting scene step 002 come on together 2 Approximately minute later the sound effect has long finished by this time Go is used to trigger the second lighting scene step 003 that turns off the previous scene step 002 because of its XT setting 3 Approximately minute after that Go is used to start the music that plays for 2 minutes 4 After the music is finished Go is used to stop the sequence 128 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual Now let s say you are at rehearsals for the show and you want to rehearse the section of the show starting from the point of the second lighting scene You highlight step 003 click on the Play From Mark button to start the show from that point and the second lighting scene step 003 comes on which is what you want BUT the sound effect step 001 also plays which you don t want This is not a problem there are solutions with appropriate use of the exclusive group settings a Set the exclusivity group for the second lighting scene step 003 to EX EXclusive when that step is triggered using Play From Mark only that lighting scene is run as its EX setting will turn off any other events that may otherwise have been run This will stop the earl
52. synchronized wav files on outputs 1 to 16 limited to 8 fixed outputs on the SL Free Edition model This can be useful if you are playing customized surround sound tracks or backing tracks for a band certain tracks can be sent to the drummers headphones and others can be played to foldback speakers for other members of the band etc To load a multi track sound event onto a sound event button do the following 1 Highlight an empty sound event button 2 Double left click on the ASIO selector button The lower part of the sound event panel will then change to display 8 audio channel faders with their buttons labelled 01 to 08 Above these you will find File and Channel descriptions 3 The selected channel selector defaults to 01 Clicking on the File or Dir directory descriptions produces a Load Wavefile dialogue box 4 Select the wav file that you wish to play on Channel 01 5 Next except on the SL Free Edition model where the output channels are fixed you need to select which physical audio mono channel or stereo channel pair that file will be played on so right click to the right of Out and select the physical channel from the pop up menu 102 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual 6 Click on the channel 02 fader to highlight 1t and repeat steps 3 to 5 above to load the appropriate wave files on to the other channels 7 If you want to access channel faders 09 16 not available on the SL Free Edition model the
53. the Fade Out _00 00 00 00 desk as normal Right click on the presets that you want auto generated and their text will turn yellow to indicate that they have been selected Cancel for auto generation If you want to select them all then also hold down the Ctrl key and click on the last preset in the list If white labels are The scene generator dialogue box present on the preset panel then all of the presets from the last one clicked UP TO the label will be selected Presets can of course be de selected from the auto scene generator by right clicking on them again to turn their text back to white F Automatic Overwrite Click on the Rec button on the scene panel and it will flash to indicate that it is in record mode but this time hold down the Ctrl key whilst clicking on the first empty scene button B001 and a Scene Generator dialogue box will appear There are a number of items available on this dialogue box described on the next page but for now we will just use the Label Prefix box In the Label Prefix box type in All MiniMacs and click on the Generate button and you will see that ShowMagic automatically creates 31 scenes B001 to B031 on the scene panel for each available preset and also labels them with the prefix followed by the preset name For instance the first available color preset on the Preset panel is named White so scene button B001 is labelled All MiniMacs White the second preset name is Color 1 so scene b
54. the Options menu then holding down the Ctrl key whilst left right clicking on the description to the right of Aud will select which frequency band will trigger the scenes in that chase If Aud is Off sound to light is ignored for that chase and the speed setting in BPM is used If the last Go option is selected the steps in a chase are triggered by the Go button or Spacebar Grp If this sequence were to be dropped into another sequence as a step then the group setting for that step will default to the type selected here XT A B etc e g if this were a chase sequence using gobo scenes then the Grp could be set to G so as not to affect other steps containing color chase Pan and Tilt chase etc that were being run by the sequence The group setting for any steps in a sequence can of course be changed at any later time in the normal way As with the scene panel Ctrl with left right clicking selects the group type EX XA XT LA or main group letter A to Z shown blue and Shift with left right clicking selects the sub group letter a to z shown yellow Mas This determines what DMX audio channels used in that sequence are affected by the In amp Out sequence sub master fader settings Holding down Ctrl and clicking on a dark blue description Dm PT Col Gb Msc or Snd turns it bright blue to show that it is set Dm selects DMX channels assigned to dimmers PT selects Pan and Tilt channels Col selects channels assigned to colo
55. the start of the sequence can then be set for each step in the timed sequence at which that event will be automatically activated Random With chase manual and timed sequences event steps are activated sequentially through the sequence list but in a random sequence the next step to activate is chosen randomly from the list by ShowMagic For instance steps 001 to 004 might contain 4 different lighting scenes or Section 2 Events 9 lighting chases When that random sequence is run it may trigger step 003 first followed by step 1 next and so on The time between each step being activated is also chosen randomly between selectable minimum and maximum times to create an ever changing show or effect Snapshot The current condition of a ShowMagic desk can be captured to create a snapshot All events that are running on the desk when a snapshot is recorded are automatically stored in that snapshot and running that single snapshot will turn all those events on at the same time Action Buttons One of the most powerful design features of ShowMagic is its action panel Rather than having to select each event s panel in order to access that event s button any type of event a lighting scene sound event sequence etc can be dropped onto an action button on the action panel By having a variety of events assigned to action buttons you are able to instantly control any elements of a show from a single panel by double clicking
56. the user screen for the event on that action button depending on what type of event is loaded onto the action button The options are 150 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual Realtime Edit Enable ticking this item enables realtime editting on the user screen for that specific action button Enable Bank Page Access If this item is not ticked then the user can only replace the event on this action button with another event of the same type and on the same page of events If this item is ticked it provides access to page and bank selector buttons enabling the user to replace this event with another event of the same type on any bank or page Enable File Replace ticking this item enables the user to replace any file based event with another file of the same type Enable Sequence Step Edit if the event on the action button is a Manual Chase Random or Snapshot sequence then ticking this item enables the user to replace a sequence step with another event of the same type Please Note This option is not available for Timer sequences Realtime Editing on the User Screen ShowMagic AV Auto dsk File Options C No Sequence Step Selected A BCDEF GH GB 25 49 73 97 121 145 169 Spot Chase Seq A009 Seq A017 Cue List Seq A010 Seq A018 Timer Sequence Seq A011 Seq A019 Snapshot Seq A012 Seq A020 Seq A005 Seq A013 Seq A021 Seq A006 Seq A014 Seq A022 Seq A007 Seq A015 Seq A023 Seq A008 Seq A016 Seq A024 Section 1
57. then turn bright green when it is fully on 44 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual When a scene button that is on is double clicked to turn it off manually the LED will turn to half bright green to indicate that the scene is in the process of going off if any Hold and or fade Out times are set and then it will go dark grey when that scene is fully off Red LEDs When an LED is shown in red it indicates that the scene is being run from another source e g a sequence is playing a lighting scene as one of its events This red LED indicator also applies to buttons on the other event panels The button LEDs provide an instant indication of the current running state of events on those buttons Recording and Playing Scenes Fundamental Principles Before we go on to describe the other scene panel items and the process of recording and playing back lighting scenes 1t is important to understand the following as they all affect how lighting scenes are recorded and then played back Recording Scenes e The different fixture fader States The setting of the lighting scene Rec record button recording mode e The setting of the Overwrite Recorded Channels Only flag accessed via the Rec button Playing Scenes How the system of desk precedence works e The difference between ShowMagic s two operating modes Normal mode and Live mode The Fader States The Rec T Record Tagged recording mode see next sectio
58. this will be applied to the box above the button If you want to blank out the graphic simply select a blank button from the graphics display Clicking on the white right facing arrow at the bottom right will take you to another page of icons clicking on the left facing arrow will take you to the previous page of icons and clicking on the button labelled Exit or right clicking in the graphics display area removes the icons display and shows the scene buttons again The Up Down Left and Right cursor keys can be used to scroll through the scene buttons Pages and banks will automatically be scrolled through when boundaries are reached The Page Up and Page Down keys can scroll through the pages and the Home and End keys can be used for selecting the first scene on bank A page 1 and the last scene on the last page of the last bank respectively A Blackout scene scene 0000 shown in the display below the Rec M and Clear Y buttons can be dragged from here into any sequences etc This blackout scene can be used as part of a sequence and set to XT to clear any scenes used in that sequence see Sequence Panel p 105 Scene Button LEDs Each scene button has an LED that illuminates when that scene is running When a scene button that is off is double clicked to run it manually the LED will turn to half bright green to indicate that the scene is in the process of coming on if any Wait and or fade In times are set for it and
59. to Front Cans and then press Enter to enter that label Similarly double click on the label GoldenScan HPE edit it to Front Scan then press Enter Type The type of fixture assigned to that fader is shown under this title A copy of this name is used as the default label until you edit the label as described above and replace it with your own Fixture List When a fader row is highlighted in the Fader list the addresses that the fixture or fixtures are patched to are displayed here Initially when a fixture is selected using the Library button there are no addresses assigned The information provided in this display is as follows Eix Each physical fixture s that is patched to a fixture fader is shown under this title in white by its number 1 to 24 e g if you assigned 4 par cans with different channels DMX addresses to the fader the Fix numbers 1 to 4 would be shown in white with the remaining Fix numbers 5 to 24 shown in grey to indicate that they were not used Dmx Address The DMX address range for each fixture patched to the fixture fader is shown under this title Name This can be edited in the normal way for easy identification of the fixture s or bank of fixtures If the fixture you are patching uses a dip switch for setting its DMX start address and you wish to view the dip switch setting for the DMX channel set for that fixture on the patch screen then 14 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual clicking on
60. user interface for controlling a ShowMagic desk It is a full size screen and it utilises action buttons but these buttons are 50 bigger on the user screen to make it more suitable for use with touch screens Example To best explain how to use the user screen and to introduce some other useful tips regarding using action buttons and the scheduler we will use a theoretical simple application in which you have been commissioned to install and program a ShowMagic system to run the lighting in a nightclub Here s the brief e The nightclub has some background lighting that needs to change automatically at different times of day early mid and late evening via the ShowMagic scheduler e There is also an area that is used sometimes as a dance floor and sometimes as a stage floor for artistes singers comedians etc Different colored par cans are used for illuminating the stage area e When the dance stage floor is not in use the background lighting is controlled solely by the scheduler e When the floor is being used for dancing the background lighting continues to change as scheduled e When the floor is used as a stage however the background lighting needs to drop down to a dimmed level and stay there until the stage show has finished and an appropriate background scene is selected The club owner wants to be able to select the different lightshows for the floor area by simply touching different options on a touch screen
61. will be restricted to the right and bottom edges of the limiter box and so will trace the shape of a quarter circle instead Example 3 Creating a Square Use the circle as above but drag the top and bottom handles so that the edges of the limiter box fall inside the circle When you run that FX scene the fixtures will try to trace the circle but will be restricted to all four edges of the limiter box and so will trace the shape of a square instead The range limiter box for a square The range limiter box for a quarter circle Example 4 Creating an Oblong This time select the Shape FX Ellipse preset and drag the top and bottom handles so that the edges of the limiter box fall inside the ellipse When you run that FX scene the fixtures will try to trace the ellipse but will be restricted to all four edges of the limiter box and so will trace the shape of an oblong instead We have used the range limiter with Shape FX to modify the preset shapes but you can use the range limiter in a different way to achieve even more effects With Shape FX presets the shape is normally centred on the reference pan amp tilt positions recorded in the original scene This can be useful if you wish to fix shapes to specific areas such as spots on a dance floor with one fixture The range limiter box for covering one area around its fixed central point and another an oblong fixture covering another area etc Ho
62. you can enter commands 2 Fader List This where you assign fixture types to the fixture faders on the main screen s fixture panel 3 Address List This is where physical fixtures and their DMX addresses are shown set 4 Function List This is where the functions of the fixtures are shown set Two test buttons Fdr and Dmx a Make button and a fixture Library button are also provided The Library button is used for selecting lighting fixtures that are contained in the ShowMagic fixture library Clicking on this button produces a Fixture Library dialogue box from which you can select first the Make of fixture then the Model and lastly if the model possesses different options or modes e g 5 channel mode 7 channel mode etc the required option can be selected from the Option drop down menu Vertical scroll strips are provided to the side of the patch screen displays for when all the items in the list cannot fit within the depth of the display area These scroll strips enable you to quickly scroll through the lists by simply dragging the mouse pointer up or down the strip or alternatively clicking on the strips will scroll up the list one item at a time and right clicking will scroll down the list one item at a time DMX Universes A DMX universe can only support up to 512 DMX channels In order to accommodate applications where more than 512 DMxX channels are required or where the DMX channels are spl
63. 0 Master Output AAA E TA E E E 30 Hold Butt nara traca 30 111 Blackout BUM A E ice 30 AUN O o nd 31 Sound To Light Input Selector Button id iia 31 Section 6 Fndture Panel corri 33 Fixture Padre a AS A E A A ia 33 F nction ECU waste ent rindi E a E A res ihe ay 34 e UReYo7 e110 e A Re ARE Ss ALERT ARSE E E E APLAR A A RPE AEE 34 PUN CHON BOO dl iii tea 35 Selecting Adjusting a PUC in 35 Selecting Function Pres a 35 Using Key Activated Presets on the Fixture Panel ci io il 35 Lee and Rosco Color Filters Presets for RGB CMY FunctiONS ccoconocccnocononccccononcnconnnnccnnnnnons 36 The Trackballicntaiaitaidni aiii tata 36 Centtre and Locate BUIN A A A mee Anew ness 37 Color SS 37 Grouping FARES NS SA AAA E 37 A A RA E ERRES aa 39 Setting Faders using E OIM dt is di ld tata 39 Copying Fixture Function Settings using COMMAN S ooooconocononcconcnoonncnnnononcconnnnon ccoo conan nino cnnnnnnnns 40 Clearing Fixture Function Settings using COMMAN S ooooccnococonccoonnconncnonoconccnnnocnnncnnn crono nnncnnnncno 41 Section 7 Lighting Scene Pannel seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeseeeeeneeeeeeeeeeeseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 43 Applying Icons To Bank and Page Selector BULONS ooonoconoconocccoocnconcconnccnnncnnnaconcconcccnonocoronnnnos 43 SEE BABAO ED a a E 44 GA A a a a oeausa ava a N a Aai 45 Recording and Playing Scenes Fundamental PrincipleS oconconcninnnnconocnncnnncncnonnconnncnonccnanccnnnos 45 MA A sca
64. 0 02 seconds is set and a Max of 00 10 seconds is set then ShowMagic will pick a random time for each step between 2 and 10 seconds If you want ShowMagic to randomly pick the next step to trigger but to do so at fixed intervals e g 10 seconds then simply set Min and Max both to 00 10 Run If set to Cont continuous a chase manual or timed sequence will play again from the start when it has reached the end and so on until it is turned off If set to Once it runs only once then stops Chases default to Cont and manual and timed sequences default to Once but either can be changed by holding down Ctrl and left right clicking on this item Random and snapshot sequences do not use this function In any continuous sequence the last empty step in that sequence is automatically labelled as Repeat The last empty step in a sequence set to Once is automatically re labelled End Opt Chase only Various options are available for determining what steps in a chase are activated next This can be set to Down Up Bounce or Random If set to Down then the chase runs down the steps in the sequence e g step 1 2 3 1 2 3 etc If set to Up then the chase runs up the sequence steps e g step 3 2 1 3 2 1 etc If set to Bounce then the chase runs down then back up the sequence steps e g step 1 2 3 2 1 2 3 etc If set to Random ShowMagic randomly picks the next step to activate Lock Timed sequences only If set to Int the default the timin
65. 001 0000 0000 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 Gobo Wheel _00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 Dim Strobe 10 00 00 004 0000000000000000 0000000 Pan Coarse _00 00 00 00 00 00 04 00 00 00 00 00 _00 00 04 00 Tit Coarse _00 00 00 00 00 00 04 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 04 00 Effects 00 0000 00100 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 Focus 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 Pan Fine 10 00 00 00 000000001 000000001 00000000 TiltFine 10 00 00 00 00 00 00 001 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0 J Our new fade times Now if you run that scene the gobo and color functions will snap to the settings stored in that scene the pan and tilt will fade in over 4 seconds and all of the other functions stored in that scene will fade in over 2 seconds the Default settings Sub Master Control Although it is good programming practice when running ShowMagic in Normal mode to record separate scenes for each of a fixture s or group of fixtures functions so that you can then easily mix and match them in different sequences there may be times when you want to record all the functions as a single scene One example of this might be that you want to be able to run the scene from the action panel either directly or by using sliders on an external DMX desk and use the action button sub master fader or external slider to manually bring in that scene and adjust its level etc For scenes containing single chann
66. 2 Action Panel 151 In the above example with the demo desk loaded all the realtime edit options described in the previous section have been selected for the Cue List sequence on the action panel The Cue List action button has then been highlighted on the user screen and the Edit button has been clicked producing the screenshot above Replacing an Event If you want to replace the Cue List sequence on that action button with another sequence then simply use the page and bank selector buttons to select the approriate page if required and then double click on the required sequence button The sequence assigned to that action button will then be replaced and you will be returned to the normal user screen display The same system applies for replacing other non sequence events and if the event is file based a sound event etc you can click on the file folder button above the bank selector buttons and load a different file onto that action button and subsequently into that event button on its panel Replacing Sequence Steps If the event on the action button is a Manual Chase Random or Snapshot sequence the individual steps can be replaced in a similar manner Simply use the left and right arrow keys to the right of the window labelled No Sequence Step Selected to select the sequence step number the page containing that event will then be displayed use the bank and page selector buttons to select another event page if necessary cont
67. 98 Motor CONO dd lee E E edo o e Alaa at 99 MES A Ras 99 Beats Per Mintte COURSE csc ci ii ite nad tv tinte eia hiv weds islas 100 Deleting a Sound EVEN AS 101 COPY ities OU Event a caeidea sine minaret enamel 101 Moy ills a Sound FE Vem sian oes scorn i Lave a 101 Using ASIO Drivers and Multiple Input Output Soundcards ee eeceeceeseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesneeeees 101 Playing Multi Tracks Multiple Synchronized wav Files eccesceesessceseeeeeeeeeeeeeseeneeeseens 102 Section 9 SEQUENCE Pal aio 105 Seguenc Setting Siir e led tania sie O E al oS oak 105 B geal DITS E Denna een ye A o ter CPA eR RE 108 ep Deals Display nscstec das 108 SL AA O OE R AT 110 Creatina SEQUENCES in at nai 111 Dragging a Bank or Page of Lighting Scenes into a SequenCe ooooccnnoccnonononcconnnconcconncconcconnncnnoss 111 Sequence Motor Control Buttons A A AA 111 Seguence RA dolce ar de 112 Mute DUOb calida el ES 112 A O RN 113 Mylan lS COME a Ce ctv E E EA S EE A EE E S 113 Using a Pause Resume Step in a Manual Sequence iodo id 114 Stopping a Seguente SL ie 114 Timed Sequence co seda 114 Pausing Resuming Events within a Manual or Timed SequenCe ooconconocnoccnocononconnnoncnancnananos 115 Recording Event Trigger Times in Real DIME venenos ia A a n 115 Random SEQUENCES ti tn es 116 Auto Timed Random SEU A A AA ti 117 A O O OL 117 Del ting Sequence a NON 119 Copying A EQU es ias 119 Moving a Seg ent 119 Del ting SEQUENCE S
68. A Setting up Multi I O SoundcaradS cccccccccccccccccccccccccnncnananananennnnnnss 169 Appendix B Using LED Fixtures and Controllers with ShowMagic 171 Appendix C Quick Key Command Reference cccccccccccccccccccccnccnccccnccnnncnnnnnnnannnns 175 vii Purpose of the User Manual Please Read This Important Notice Before Using This Manual AV and show control by their very nature can be very complicated processes so a great percentage of the development time of ShowMagic has gone into making it as flexible but as quick and easy to use as possible The ShowMagic user interface has been optimised to make the best use of space providing large and clear items that are easily recognisable for instant feedback and fast operation To avoid cluttering the screen with numerous function buttons for every different function extensive use has been made of keyboard shortcuts primarily the Shift and Ctrl keys These can be used in various combinations with items on the screen to perform many different operations quickly and easily and a Quick Key Command Reference p 175 is provided at the end of this manual The end result is an application that will enable you to create your desired results with as little time and effort as possible This user manual is intended as a guide to all the functions and features of the ShowMagic products Each function is described in the relevant section of the m
69. AND a secondary ASIO soundcard then the input output channels on the Soundblaster compatible soundcard can be used for sound to light If the sound to light selector above the AM fader is on which selects What you Hear see below then certain input channels may be automatically disabled muted if others are enabled ShowMagic will indicate this on their mute buttons Please Note If you wish to open Line or Microphone inputs etc all at the same time then the sound to light selector above the AM fader MUST NOT be on click on any other sound to light selector instead This is a limitation of soundcard hardware When music is playing through the ShowMagic desk the volumes of particular frequency bands in the music can be seen in 5 meters which are provided on the sound to light section low frequency LF low mid frequency LM high mid frequency HM high frequency HF and overall volume peak PK These work in a similar way to the meters on an audio graphic equalizer Bass and drum sounds tend to affect the LF and LM meters and other higher tone instruments tend to affect the HM and HF The overall volume peak meter PK is affected by all the frequencies The lowest and highest frequency for each frequency band can be selected between 30hz and 16Khz The sound to light meters can be used to activate scenes in a lighting chase as described in Sequence Settings p 105 FX scenes as described in FX Generator p 63 and Colorscene frames a
70. Color Wheel function buttons are provided in the Gobo Wheel Gobo Rotate Focus fixture section which serve a dual Prism Pan Coarse Tilt Coarse purpose Function Buttons Selecting Adjusting a Function Clicking on a function button selects that function in the same way as clicking on that function s fader but text descriptions are provided on the buttons rather than icons Buttons can also be dragged up and down to alter the value for that function in the same way as dragging its fader up and down Selecting Function Presets Over 1000 fixtures are available in the fixtures library and function presets for those fixtures are readily available If the fixture panel is on the left of the screen selecting a function and then holding down the Shift key will reveal a panel on the right containing preset buttons which provide instant access to all that function s presets For example if you load the Demo desk click on fixture fader 5 for the Stage Light 300 then click on the Color Wheel function button and hold down Shift you would see the colour wheel presets on the right Clicking on the button labelled Orange for instance would then select orange on the color wheel and you will notice that the function fader moves to the correct value for that preset The last preset selected for each function remains highlighted in blue with a red border until another is selected Using Key Activated Presets on the Fixture Panel If you want t
71. Dir directory of the folder where the tracks are stored rather then the File filename of a single digital audio file e The fourth Len length row displays the total time duration of the playlist allowing for any cross fade timings rather than the length of a single digital audio file f Files nn This shows the number nn of tracks in the selected folder g The LP loop option if highlighted in light blue indicates that looping is set to on If shown dark blue then looping is set to off will play the playlist only once h The fifth row shows the In and Out times these are normally used to set the fade in and fade out times of single sound events but with the playlist selected these denote the cross fade times between tracks i The item to the right of Plist denotes the following Lin the tracks in the playlist folder will be played in a linear order each time Rnd the tracks in the playlist folder will be played in a random order each time 96 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual 3 When the playlist is playing the blue value to the right of the Plist setting shows what track number is playing and the value in white to the right of that shows the current running time for that track MIDI File a The second row shows the type of event i e Aud Midi Right clicking on the pink description to the right of Midi produces a pop ld up menu on which you can select File CAWINDOWS Media town mid the
72. GHT mouse button drag the top handle down and to the right to move the Range Limiter box into the centre of the FX window You will notice that the pan and the tilt channels now scan between the values of 064 and 191 the channels are still scanning over half their range as indicated by the size of the box but they are now doing so in the centre of their range The range limits and positions given in the above examples were used to illustrate simply how the Range Limiter box works any range limits and positions of your choice can of course be used Here s a practical example of using the Range Limiter with a simple FX scene Let s say you have four scanners in a row at the back of a stage You want the scanners to trace a sine wave pattern to and fro in unison across the stage but you don t want the beams to leave the stage area and blind the audience 1 Group the four scanners using a group button F1 to F8 2 Move the pan and the tilt function faders for any one of the scanners in the group 68 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual 3 Record a scene and then un group the fixtures 4 Highlight that scene button and click on the FX button to call up the FX generator panel 5 Select the Pan FX Straight and Tilt FX Straight presets 6 Set the Pan FX Speed fader to 20 the Pan FX Slope fader to FL the Tilt FX Speed fader to 60 and the Tilt FX Slope fader to FL these settings will trace 3 sine waves to and fro across t
73. L setting of step 004 turns off any other steps set to main group L or any of the L sub groups i e La to Lz e Step 002 the first lighting scene which would normally come on with step 001 will not be run because the L setting of step 004 turns it off due to it s sub group setting of LI Step 003 will be run because it is set to a different main group letter C If the same sequence is run from the start using Go as normal the following happens Section 9 Sequence Panel 129 The sound effect in step 001 set to La is played The first lighting scene in step 002 immediately follows it Wait 00 00 and because it is set to a different sub group of L i e LI it does not turn off step 001 that is set to sub group La ShowMagic then waits for the next Go to trigger the next step step 003 e When step 003 is triggered the lighting chase is run and because it is set to main group letter C it does not affect any of the previous steps ShowMagic then waits for the next Go to trigger step 004 e When step 004 is triggered the lighting scene set to main group L turns off any earlier steps set to main group L or any of its sub groups La to Lz Therefore step 001 is turned off set to LI step 002 is turned off set to La but step 003 is unaffected because it belongs to a different main group C It is also important to remember that an event step set to XT will ALWAYS turn off any
74. Lighting Scene Panel 89 Section 8 Sound Panel This contains a page of 24 sound event buttons to which sound events can be assigned Page selector buttons allow access to pages of 24 ero did buttons each A details display fader for adjusting do ye stereo balance volume fader mute button audio AT type selector buttons and motor control buttons ASIO are also provided Up to six types of sound events are available on a soundblaster compatible soundcard depending on the particular soundcard Digital audio files ac3 surround sound wav mp3 wma or aif Sind 003 Sp 011 Snd 019 files all these different standards are referred to Snd 004 Snd 012 Snd 020 simply as wave files in this manual MIDI files Snd 005 Snd 013 Snd 021 Audio CD tracks Digital input Line level input ARE ZERP ae and Microphone level input All these types of sound event can be played at the same time or overlapped with independent volume fade up fade down and stereo balance selectable for each UD 25 49 73 97 121 145 169 193 217 Hurricane Snd 009 Snd 017 Snd 002 Snd 010 Snd 018 Snd 007 Snd 015 Snd 023 Snd 008 Snd 016 Snd 024 If you are using ShowMagic SL Free Edition with The sound panel a multiple output soundcard with ASIO drivers up to 8 wav files can be played and synchronized on fixed outputs 1 to 8 On the other models up to 16 wav files can be played on multiple selectable outputs Mixer setting events are al
75. Multimedia Properties dialogue box as shown Ey ut GOED To select advanced options click Advanced Properties Multi output soundcards have a monitor facility that can be used to combine one or more of the output channel pairs in a E single monitor channel pair This facility is used mainly in i SB vawwe music recording applications for mixing tracks etc and as such maa Advanced ropas is of little use in ShowMagic so it should be disabled TF Use only preferred devices M Show volume control on the taskbar DirectSound uses the emulated port drivers on multi output soundcards The Delta Series and ESI range of cards possess these port drivers for Windows XP amp Vista Delta Series Control Panel If you wish to use all the output AMADO DEA AEE channel pairs separately then click on evo Miel Paehbay Fouer Harina Satinas s POIE About A m Clocks and Sample Rates H Save the Monitor Mixer tab and disable all ea e a aeee S PDIF Sample Rate Es gt monitor functions C 8000 C 00 11 025 C 12000 Delete f C S PDIFin C 16 000 C 22 050 C 24 000 C 32 000 Pe 44100 C 48000 C 88 200 C 96 000 H w Installed Select the Hardware Settings tab PEA ae RS oes and make the settings as shown thus MuliTrack Diver Devices Single and In Sync Independent fulipe Gard Spne Variable ae ae Levels Select the Patchbay Router tab aa E and select WavOut 1 2 WavOut
76. The time position within the sound event at that moment will then be stored as the From setting The To setting can also be set in the same way by clicking on any of the To digits with Ctrl held down at the moment within the playback of the event that you wish it to stop The From and To settings can later be tweaked in the normal way to the nearest 25 of a second by holding down the Ctrl key and then clicking or right clicking to decrement or increment the values at any time when the event is not actually playing Mixer Setting Events This type of sound event can be used for adjusting the volume of any or all of the audio output sub master faders on the Master panel Ge To create a Mixer Setting sound event do the following The mixer setting selector button 1 Highlight an empty sound event button 2 Double click on the Mixer Setting selector button The following settings can then be seen in the details display Label The number for that sound event 001 etc and a label that can be edited in the same way as described previously Sel Section 8 Sound Panel 99 The level of any or all the audio channel faders on the Master panel can be adjusted or their mute buttons turned on or off and stored as part of that mixer setting event by holding down Ctrl clicking on its label Wv Md etc to highlight it and adjusting the volume fader on the sound panel When that Mixer Setting event is then turned on the
77. X using the Range Limiter Box The Range Limiter box can be used to clip a preset shape to create other varied shapes such as a semi circle quarter circle square rectangle etc As we have seen the range limiter box sets the limits as to how far the pan and tilt channels can scan and if we apply this with a shape the FX Generator attempts to trace the whole shape but if a channel reaches the range limit it will not pass that limit and remains in that position until it is told to move to another position which is in the range Here are a few examples Example 1 Creating a Semi Circle 1 Select only the Shape FX Circle preset and drag the centre handle down and to the right to make the circle full size The limiter box can be used to crop shapes of any size but use a full size circle to best illustrate the effect 2 Drag the bottom handle halfway to the left so that the right edge of the limiter box lines up roughly with the dotted vertical tilt line Now when you run that FX scene the fixtures will try to trace a The range limiter box for circle but will be restricted to the right edge of the limiter box and CH CHTEIE so will trace a semi circle instead Example 2 Creating a Quarter Circle Drag the bottom handle halfway up so that the bottom edge of the limiter box now also lines up with the dotted horizontal pan line 72 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual When you run that FX scene the fixtures will try to trace the circle but
78. a new scene This is useful if you are recording dissimilar scenes and you want to start with a clear desk each time Clear on Record No When this is selected the desk is not cleared down automatically each time you record a scene you need to double click on the Clr N button to clear the desk This is useful if you are recording similar scenes and you want to leave them at their last settings and then make fine adjustments to those settings when recording each new scene Scene Details Display The scene details display When a scene is highlighted by clicking on its button its details are shown in the details display Section 7 Lighting Scene Panel 51 The unique scene number A001 B023 etc is shown at the top along with the label for the scene Unlike the other event panels the details in the details display for lighting scenes are changed by means of an Edit Scene dialogue box that is produced when you click on any of the blue items The following time values are shown in Hours Minutes Seconds and Frames i e hh mm ss ff and can be set to up to 23 hours 59 minutes 59 seconds and 24 frames 23 59 59 24 1 e 1 day Wait The time that the scene will wait before fading in after it has been run is shown to the right of this title If set to 00 00 00 00 then the fade up starts immediately on running the scene In The time that it takes for the faders to reach that scene s settings If 00 00 00 00 is set then the faders reac
79. ain Screen menu item Main Desk Screen The main desk screen is split into two panel areas which each cover half of the width of the screen Eight panels are available that are designed to provide logical and easy access to the various features and facilities available on the desk The Master Fixture Lighting Scene Sequence Sound Control Monitor and Action panels can be accessed on either side of the screen by simply clicking on its tab at the top Master Panel Lighting Scene Sound Panel Monitor Panel Panel Fixture Panel Sequence Panel Control Panel Action Panel The panel selector tabs The tabs are normally colored grey except when one is selected in which case its icon is shown colored 3 Master panel selector tab Fixture panel selector tab Lighting Scene panel selector tab Sequence panel selector tab Sound panel selector tab Control panel selector tab Monitor panel selector tab BDEBEEE Action panel selector tab Page buttons are used on the Fixture Scene Sequence Sound Control and Action panels as the number of faders buttons that are available cannot all be accessed from a single panel Event buttons and faders are therefore spread across a number of pages and the page buttons are used to select which page you require Section 4 Main Desk Screen 25 121 145 169 193 217 Where more than one bank of page buttons is available bank buttons labelled A B etc each containing a number of page butto
80. aining the event you want to place on that step and double click on the event button to put that event into that step If the original event in the step is a file based event you can also use the file folder icon to load a different event into that step from a file The event step will then be replaced with that new file based event and subsequently the appropriate event button on its event panel will also now contain that new file based event 152 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual Section 13 Main Desk Screen Options Menus Patch Screen Menu This item selects the patch screen see Patch Screen p 11 User Screen Menu This selects the user screen see User Screen p 163 General Settings Menu Enable Alt F4 Quit If ticked pressing Alt with F4 will instantly quit from ShowMagic use with care Clip Cursor If ticked the mouse cursor is restricted to movement within the ShowMagic screen 1 head only on a multi head graphics card or interface Control Key If ticked the Ctrl key must be held down when changing most items shown in blue Sound To Light The sound to light facility for triggering FX scenes and normal scenes in Chases can be enabled or disabled by ticking or un ticking the Enabled menu item Desk Precedence None NTP Latest LTP or Highest HTP The overall precedence of the desk can be set to any one of these by ticking it Disabled Event Layering On a desk set to LTP it is the latest ev
81. an fading in and we also want the pan and tilt functions to fade in over 4 seconds rather than 2 1 Record the scene by setting the function faders on the fixture panel to the values you want to store in the scene 2 Click on the details display to call up the Edit Scene dialogue box 3 Set the Default In and Out times to 2 seconds as described above 4 Click on the Color Wheel button below the Default button on the Edit Scene dialogue box the button will appear pressed down and its Wait In Hold and Out value buttons will be activated for the color wheel The values are shown in black rather then being greyed out to indicate that they are being used instead of the Default times These times are initially set to 00 00 00 00 and that is what we want for that function i e no fade time snap on and off 5 Repeat step 4 above for the Gobo Wheel button 6 Click on the Pan Coarse button and the Wait In Hold and Out value buttons will be activated for the Pan Click on its In time button and enter 4 0 0 and do likewise for the Out time button 7 Repeat step 6 above for the Tilt Coarse fade time buttons 8 Click on the Enter button on the dialogue box to set those times Section 7 Lighting Scene Panel 55 Fade Times Default 00 00 00 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 02 00 Wait In Hold Out Color Wheel _00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 Gobo Rotate 00 0000
82. and drag and drop this scene onto a few more empty scene buttons to copy the soft patch and color palette set up to those scenes In this way you don t have to create that set up again from scratch for each new scene Let s now create a ColorScene dimming chase for scene button A007 in which the par cans come on from the centre par cans outwards and then diminish to give the effect of a trail of brightness pulsing outwards The dimming levels we will use are 000 off 064 25 128 50 192 75 and 255 100 1 2 3 Click on scene A001 and click on the CScn button to go to the ColorScene panel There are no frames created yet for this ColorScene so double click on Set to create a new frame You will notice that the Color button changes to a Dim button because ShowMagic knows that none of the fixtures used on that ColorScene grid possess RGB or CMY functions The color palette is also changed to a dimmer palette As with the color palette the first two dimmer level boxes in the dimmer palette are fixed at 000 and 255 Click on the third box move one of the dimmer faders for the par cans on the fixture panel to 192 75 and double click in that dimmer box to store it Section 7 Lighting Scene Panel 87 4 5 6 7 8 9 Do likewise for boxes 4 amp 5 storing levels of 128 50 and 064 25 respectively We now have 5 dimmer levels 000 255 192 128 amp 064 that we can use in our dimmer
83. anel Sub Master Fader ud a cialis ai 142 Mu te BUON dd 142 Latch and Exclusive letter OOPS A AAA as 142 Operation y AAA E dda a E a aT a 143 Triggering Action Buttons a A A A A A E 145 MIDI Input rh OST es vee ic cca Gaus A vc ek cai AEAEE E EE Caen A aA ee 146 Wireless Media Player Remote Controller sic ccccevcdeseverceoestcitcsdsavedanodsnetcvennsdevinen latin 147 Us cr Screen A A A O Raat ancetee cies 148 As lA O E Pace tena A 148 Q ick Find Feature x arrests seer eai EEA A de es E aaa aa 150 Using Key Activated Presets on the Action Pan l cai lada 150 Setting Editable Events for the User SEM A da di A 150 Realtime Editing on the User Str caia 151 Section 13 Main Desk Screen Options MenNUS oooomonnnonccccnccnononnnnnannnccnnnnnnnnnnnnanannnnnnnns 153 PASEO M UU A A davon A di 153 MS A E RA 153 General Settings MT A TEARS IE 153 PAD A A os 153 Se A a a aT AA R A 153 Boot Delayer unei ls o ad d A 154 A eT ny ena ee ear Te se 154 Other Settings Mentir iaa 154 A IT 154 a A AA LI 154 Action Sub Group CUINA ii 155 DI A a E E EE o E A OR Ea 155 MIDI Port Setting s aii decis 156 Acton Panel Menikini nossen E E Sd 157 Fixture Pare MEM noni ii A A aos 157 Monitor Panel MD O ancestors 157 User Screen Access Mo sdecacuanusteniasteaettacetaseiees 158 A E A RAIN 160 System A ON 160 The Notepad Mens a a ada anos 161 Section 14 User SCree it a bd 163 Q itting THE Proa ri a i 166 Section 15 APDO ODE ini ol aad ociosas 167 Appendix
84. anual and some examples are given for using those functions ShowMagic has developed over the years into a very versatile and powerful piece of software and if step by step instructions were given for using every function and feature then this manual would become a very large document indeed To avoid this many functions are simply described in brief as these should become clear with use and experimentation In order to understand the functions and features properly 1t is very important that you first read through the Beginner s Tutorial and practice the examples using the software first before using this manual The Beginner s Tutorial introduces you step by step to the basic operating principles patching lighting fixtures using those fixtures creating lighting scenes creating sound events using lighting and sound to create sequences etc Once you understand the basic operating procedures described in the Beginner s Tutorial the more in depth features and functions described in this user manual become much easier to understand and use Experimental Features Certain features may have experimental status Experimental features are listed in the release notes for the ShowMagic product you are using and are also marked in this manual with the EXPERIMENTAL label Experimental features are features that require more feedback before full integration into ShowMagic They have passed through internal and beta test programs but due to their comp
85. ape The Shape FX presets are provided for this purpose n Scans Shape 1 The two most useful geometric shapes have been provided Circle and Ellipse The Pan FX and or Tilt FX presets can be used in conjunction with the Shape FX presets as described later For now de select any Pan FX and Tilt FX presets that FX generator for a circle may be highlighted Select the Shape FX Circle preset the faders and FX Window on the FX generator panel will change The first fader remains the Offset Delay fader the second fader changes to a Shape FX Speed fader with a sound to light selector button below it and the third fader becomes the Shape FX Slope fader The selected shape is also now shown in FX Window and the centre handle is used to change the size of the circle Dragging the centre handle to the right of centre increases the size dragging to the left of centre decreases the size When a Shape FX preset is first selected its default size is 50 Therefore when the FX scene is run the pan and tilt function faders will move in the range of 25 and 25 of the original pan amp tilt positions stored in that scene 1 e if both the pan and tilt fader values were stored in the scene as 127 then the faders will move between the DMX values of 064 and 191 when tracing the shape Please Note If the Shape FX Ellipse preset had been selected then dragging the centre handle to the right increases the width of the ellipse dragging to
86. ar the pan amp tilt functions back to 00 and unlock them if they are Locked simply double right click on the trackball 36 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual Centre and Locate Buttons As the Centre and Locate buttons are used specifically when Centre recording scenes and knowledge of the various fader modes and the difference between Normal and Live mode is required to understand Locate them they are described in the appropriate lighting scene section Using the Fixture Panel s Centre and Locate Buttons p 57 Centre and locate buttons Color Box The Color Box to the left of the Centre and Locate buttons displays the currently selected color when using a fixture s RGB or CMY function Cer faders Loc Please Note The fixture s main dimming function level is also reflected in this box 1 e The color box if a dimmer function fader is at 0 the box will show black Grouping Fixtures One or more of the twelve fixture faders on each page of faders can be grouped so that any adjustment to one fixture when the group is turned on also affects the other fixtures in that group By grouping two or more fixture faders you can then select a gobo on one of the fixtures and the other fixtures in that group will also be changed to that gobo This eliminates the need to set each fixture independently Fader Page Groups The function keys F1 to F8 can be used to store up to eight group selections for each page of
87. ating Sequences p 111 the group setting for that scene EX XA XT LA or group and sub group letters A Be etc shown in blue will default to this setting BOM Blackout On Movement This can be set to Off the default or a value between 1 and 25 If set to a value of 1 to 25 frames When fading in that time value is added to the fade in time before the main dimming function dimmer shutter etc snaps on to the level recorded in that scene When fading out the dimming function will instantly snap to 000 when that scene starts to fade out This allows the pan tilt gobo color etc to reach its correct setting before the beam is turned on even if no fade times are used 52 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual Please Note The main dimming function fader s on the fixture panel will appear to fade in out as normal but the actual DMX values being sent will follow the BOM settings as can be viewed on the Monitor panel with the DMX button selected The Type Effect Grp and BOM settings above can be changed by clicking anywhere in the details display and using the appropriate drop down menus on the Edit Scene dialogue box that appears The scene s label can also be edited by clicking within the Label window on the dialogue box Recording Scenes To record a scene do the following 1 Select the fixture panel on the left side of the desk and the scene panel on the right 2 Set up all the faders that you wish to record
88. be very useful for viewing and editing a particular function on all 12 fixtures on the page at the same time and it can be used in conjunction with the preset panel and the grouping feature Please Note When using dissimilar fixtures on the same page the presets for the color function etc could differ If you group them together highlight the color function for one of the fixtures hold Shift and then click on a preset all the color function faders will jump to that preset value because the fixtures are grouped However you will find that the same fixture types as the selected fixture will display the color shown on the preset button but the other dissimilar fixtures may display a different color for that preset value Setting Faders using Commands In a similar way to assigning fixtures on the patch screen the key thru and the key at Using the numeric keypad you can enter commands to set a number of single channel fixtures such as par cans to a specific value E g typing 1 4 5 0 Enter would set fixtures 1 to 4 to 50 A function can also be set for a number of fixtures using the keypad e g if you had 4 GoldenScan HPEs assigned to fixtures 9 to 12 clicking on the Color Wheel 1 function fader for any one of those fixtures to highlight it and then typing 9 1 2 3 5 Enter will set all the Color Wheel 1 function values for fixtures 9 10 11 and 12 to 35 Color Blue You can also us
89. bel and you can now enter your own label and description for it if you wish If a dimmer has been copied as a function it will be set as the main dimming function for that fixture and its number is shown in yellow i e adjusting the fixture fader for that fixture on the fixture panel will alter this function s value If you wish to make another function on the fixture the main dimming function then simply double click on its number with the Ctrl key held down to turn it yellow 6 Ifyou wish to save the new fixture make sure the fader row containing the new fixture is highlighted select the File gt Save Fixture menu item and save it with a name of your choice The Test Buttons Fdr and Dmx The Fdr and Dmx buttons can be used to test the physical fixtures assigned to fixture faders or test individual DMX channels respectively Clicking on one of the buttons selects that particular test mode only one can be on at any one time Clicking again on a test button will turn it off and take the patch screen out of test mode When the Fdr test button is on the dimmer shutter channel for the fader number currently highlighted is set to the value selected on the Options gt Dmx Test Level menu item default 50 so that the effect can be observed e g if you had 2 Goldenscans assigned to fader 001 highlighting fader 001 with the Fdr test button on would turn on the dimmer channels 4 functions for those two fixtures at their test l
90. belled as Save on Microsoft keyboards this will immediately re record that scene without prompting for confirmation Or Click on the Rec button on the sequence panel You will then be prompted to confirm the overwriting re recording of that scene Notes on Live Editing e All of the commands described in Setting Faders using Commands p 39 can be used for adjusting fixtures e When a scene is Live Edited the scene is not stopped and the desk is not cleared irrespective of the setting of the clear button on the lighting scene panel e The scene that is re recorded is always the last scene run by the sequence shown highlighted in the sequence panel s live display Ifthe Overwrite gt Recorded Channels Only option is ticked on the lighting scene Rec button then only the values for any channels originally stored in the last scene to be run from the sequence are re recorded to that scene All other channels are not recorded to that scene e Unless the Overwrite gt Recorded Channels Only option is ticked as described above if more than one scene is being run by the sequence or if other fixtures have been adjusted either manually or cued by a lighting scene run outside the sequence the channels that are recorded into the last scene are determined by the current mode setting of the record button as normal Adjusting Settings for Chase Event Steps If a sequence contains a lighting chase then the Speed an
91. button in the normal way by dragging one button onto another The new control event can then be edited and renamed etc Deleting a Control Event To delete a control event highlight its button and press Delete If the event is used in any sequences then a warning will be given If you confirm the deletion then that event will be removed from any sequences that contain it Section 10 Device Control Panel 135 Copying a Control Event To copy a control event to another button drag the button you wish to copy onto the button you wish to copy it to select two panels on the desk if necessary An overwrite warning will be given if appropriate Moving a Control Event To move a control event from one button to another drag the button onto another empty button and hold down Ctrl before dropping it If the original control event button is used in any sequences those sequences will be updated with the new control event button number 136 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual Section 11 Monitor Panel Fdr Addr C00 C01 C02 C03 C04 C05 C06 C07 Pan Tit Col Gb Gbr Sht 1 000 S 00 Dmx Midi Run The monitor panel This panel is used for monitoring what is currently running in ShowMagic and what input and output signals are coming into and going out of it Buttons are available on the bottom for selecting the different monitor displays e DMX output Dmx e MIDI input Midi e Running events Run Section 11 Monitor Pane
92. c on fixture 1 and you then wished to copy one or more of those function settings to one or more of the other three fixtures then this can be done in one of the following ways a To copy one of the function settings to all the other 3 fixtures 1 First highlight the particular function that you wish to copy the settings from 2 Press F12 once to select Copy Function the name of the highlighted function that you are about to copy will be shown in the function display 3 Press 1 to select fixture fader 001 the fixture you are copying that function setting from 4 Press then 4 followed by Enter to copy that function setting from fixture 1 through to fixture 4 b To copy one of the function settings to just fixture 3 1 First highlight the particular function that you wish to copy the settings from 2 Press F12 the name of the function in question will be shown in the function display 3 Press 1 to select fixture fader 001 the fixture you are copying that function setting from 4 Press at then 3 followed by Enter to copy that function setting from fixture 1 to fixture 3 That function on fixtures 2 and 4 will not be affected c To copy one of the functions to fixtures 2 and 4 but not 3 40 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual 1 First highlight the particular function fader that you wish to copy the settings from 2 Press F12 the name of the function in question will be shown in the function disp
93. cel button at any time the scene generation operation will be aborted at that point FX Generator Pan and tilt movements can be created by recording pan and tilt position scenes dropping them into a lighting chase and then setting the speed and slope for that chase g asi scans Shape 1 This is ideal if you want the beams to go from one specific position move to another specific position and so on perhaps to highlight particular points in a room Shapes such as a circle or ellipse however are difficult to create using this method you would need to record a lot of position scenes in order for the beam to trace an accurate circle and there will be a lot of times when you may want to make a scanner or group of scanners move in a wave pattern or have their beams crossing over each other etc This is where the FX Generator comes into Random Ellipse Individual play Odds Evens The FX generator is applied to a lighting scene event and the pan amp tilt positions for each fixture recorded in the scene act as the central reference point when a shape e g a circle is selected using the FX generator If you had four scanners round a dance floor one in each corner The FX generator panel positioned all their beams to the centre of the dance floor recorded that as a scene and then applied a circle shape as the effect using the FX Generator the four scanners would then all trace a circle in the centre of the dance floor when that FX
94. cene cell In 13 channel mode each panel occupies 16 ColorScene cells 4 across by 4 down and each quarter of the panel can be coloured independently In 25 channel mode each panel occupies 16 ColorScene cells 4 across by 4 down and each of the eight triangular sections of the panel can be colored independently Soft Patching the LEDdance Panels in ColorScene Depending on the mode that the panels are set to you may need to increase the size of the grid in ColorScene to accommodate them E g if you are programming a dancefloor that consists of 5 panels across by 4 panels down 20 panels and they are set to either 13 or 25 channel mode then you will need to increase the ColorScene grid size to at least 20 across 5 x 4 cells by 16 down 4 x 4 cells The panels need to be soft patched manually in the following way 1 Highlight the fixture fader on the fixture panel for the first panel 2 Double click on the cell where you want the top left of the panel to be soft patched to That panel will then occupy a 4 by 4 cell block at that position and the next fixture fader on the fixture panel will then be automatically highlighted to speed up the patching process 3 Double click on the next cell where you want the top left of the next panel to be soft patched to and so on for the rest of the panels Coloring the Triangles 25 channel mode clicking in the approximate area of the right angle corner of a triangle will color that triangle
95. cenes you may want to see the beam to position it but you don t want to record the dimmer channel s open state in those position scenes As an alternative to the above the Rec T recording mode can be used and the pan amp tilt functions tagged in this mode only the pan and tilt channels settings will be recorded to scenes any other channels shutter color gobo etc are ignored Double clicking on a Locked fader or anywhere within its column with Ctrl held down unlocks it and it reverts back to its original state Cued Fader The values of any faders contained in any scene s that are running them are shown in bright yellow to indicate that a scene has moved those faders Any faders that are in a Cued state at the time a scene is recorded in Rec M or Rec F recording modes are recorded to that scene Released Fader Faders can be set to Released mode by holding down Ctrl and double clicking on them or anywhere within their fader column TWICE the values below the fader will then change from their current color to white then to dark yellow to show that it is Released When faders are in Released mode their settings are not written to a scene when it is recorded unless the record button 1s set to its Record by Fixture Rec F setting as described below Though faders set to Locked or Released states are similar in that neither get recorded in scenes they differ in that when the scene has been recorded the Release
96. ch event button highlight it double click on its label in the details display and then edit the label Example If you had recorded a number of lighting scenes for a venue s entrance hall and had labeled these as say Entrance Red Entrance Green Entrance Blue etc The venue owner then decides that the area should be referred to as the Foyer you can then replace all occurences of Entrance in the labels to Foyer in the following way 1 Click on the Edit Menu gt Event Label menu item and this will produce an Edit Event Label dialogue box thus Edit Event Label El M Audio Events Replace M Control Event ontrol Events With cs M Sequence Events M Scene Events Cancel 2 Tick whatever types of events you wish to replace the labels in In this instance we are changing the lighting scene events only so tick the Scene Events item 3 Type Entrance into the Replace box and Foyer into the With box 4 Ifyou want to replace all occurrences of the label click on the Replace All button Alternatively click on the Replace button if you want to replace each label selectively you will then be prompted with a dialogue box to confirm each replacement 4 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual Note The text that you type into the Replace box is case sensitive and must match the label being replaced Section 1 Overview 5 Section 2 Events Color coding is used on the ShowMagic desk for
97. ch fixture will trace the same pattern as the rest and at the same speed etc but some are picked at random to trace the pattern in the opposite direction This can be used to produce random criss crossing effects etc Odds Evens If this preset is selected then each fixture will trace the same pattern as the rest and at the same speed etc but the odd fixtures in the scene 1 3 and 5 will trace the pattern in one direction and the even fixtures 2 4 and 6 will trace the pattern in the opposite direction This can be used to produce symmetrical criss crossing effects Using Odds Evens to Create a Marching effect Lets assume that we are using the six scanners as above We can use the Fixture presets along with the Tilt FX preset to create a march effect where the odd fixtures move up as the even fixtures move down in the following way Section 7 Lighting Scene Panel 69 1 Group the six fixtures 2 Move their pan amp tilt function faders to 50 and record that as a scene 3 Click on the FX button to call up the FX generator panel 4 Select the Tilt FX Straight preset the Fixture Odds Evens preset and slide the Tilt FX Slope fader to FL 5 Double click on the scene button to run it You will see that the pan channels will move to the position stored in the scene 50 and stay there This is because no Shape FX pan AND tilt or Pan FX preset has been applied to the scene that would affect those channels so
98. chieve the desired results Here s an example of how you can very quickly create a sequence of chases whose various channels can be set to jump or blend 1 Create a number of chases that just contain pan and tilt position scenes for a group of fixtures When the chases are run they simply move the fixture s mirror or head to and fro in various patterns 2 Create a number of lighting scenes that just contain a variety of color settings for those fixtures 3 Create a number of lighting scenes that just contain a variety of dimmer settings for those fixtures or gobo settings if a gobo is used as its primary light function 4 Now with these simple components we can create a varied light show very quickly and easily 5 Run one of the pan and tilt chases turn on one of the color scenes and turn on one of the dimmer gobo scenes 6 If you like the effect then select an empty sequence button hold down the Ctrl key and click on the Rec button on the sequence panel to record those chase and scene settings as a snapshot to that sequence button 7 Select Chase for In Out on that snapshot 8 Repeat steps 4 5 and 6 above until you have enough varieties of snapshots to create your required sequence 118 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual 9 With a sequence panel on the left of the screen and a sequence panel on the right containing your new snapshots open an empty sequence on the
99. clicking the Edit button 2 Drag and drop the Midi Funk and Till FX sound events from the sound panel into steps 001 and 002 respectively 3 Drag and drop the Spot Chase and Timed Sequence events from the sequence panel into steps 003 and 004 respectively 4 Highlight any blank sequence step at the bottom of the step details display and press Insert to insert a Null Step at the end This last Null Step will automatically be re labelled as End 5 Hold down Ctrl and click on the Shf button and an Auto Playlist Timer dialogue box will appear 6 Click on the Do button the dialogue box will be removed and trigger times will automatically be calculated and set in accordance with the time durations of each of the events so that one follows the other Edit the label for this sequence as Playlist Because the first step Midi Funk has a duration of 01 03 00 the second step Till FX will have it s trigger time set to 01 03 00 Likewise Till FX has a duration of 00 01 08 so this is added to make the trigger time for the third step 01 04 08 and so on for all the steps You will notice that the trigger time calculated for step 004 Timed Sequence is the same as step 003 Spot Chase this is because the Spot Chase event does not have a fixed duration and therefore a trigger time cannot be calculated for the next step the same goes for other events with no fixed duration such as lighting scenes control events excluding video or manual s
100. cludes multiple synchronized software decoded video file playback Section 1 Overview 1 General Operation Whichever model you are using the methods of operation are consistent throughout the range If you upgrade to another model at a later time you can use your existing desk files and 1t will work just the same as the model you have been using but you will have access to more features which themselves use similar and consistent methods of operation The ShowMagic desk has been designed to be as simple quick and easy to use as possible Just like a hardware lighting desk or audio mixing desk the ShowMagic desk uses displays and faders but these are operated with the keyboard mouse or a touch screen Lighting scenes sounds video digital signage etc are all treated in ShowMagic as events On SLX and AV models you can connect any DMX lighting desk to ShowMagic using a selection of DMX input interfaces and then control all your ShowMagic events from that lighting desk You can also transfer existing lighting scenes stored on an external DMX hardware desk quickly and easily into ShowMagic then take the desk away The unique ShowMagic twin panel system enables you to quickly access any events stored on the desk Two panels are viewed at once one on the left and one on the right Panels are available for each type of event lighting scenes are stored on the lighting scene panel sound events are stored on the sound panel and so
101. cutive channels beginning at DMX channel 1 16 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual Alternatively pressing F12 1 9 1 Enter would add 9 more fixtures of the same type as Fdr 001 assign them to Faders 002 through 010 and also patch them consecutively beginning at channel 1 Yet another way to assign and patch multiple fixtures is to assign a fixture to a fader double click on it s DMX Address enter the start address for that fixture in the Address box but also type the number of copies you want in the Copy box That number of fixtures will then be assigned to the faders and patched consecutively Function List When a fader is highlighted in the Fader list the functions for the type of fixture patched to that fixture fader are displayed here Function Descriptions of the fixtures functions are provided under this title e g Dimmer Color Wheel etc Pre The precedence of each function on a fixture can be set independently of the overall precedence set for the desk see Recording and Playing Scenes Fundamental Principles p 45 for a full description of precedence on the desk The default is DSK desk precedence but they can be set to NTP LTP or HTP by left right clicking on them whilst holding down the Ctrl key Please Note To control the dimming of scenes stored on action buttons with the action sub master fader the main dimming attribute must be set to HTP Mn The minimum DMX value for that
102. d Slope settings for that chase within that sequence can be adjusted in the following way 1 Highlight the chase event in the sequence step details display 2 Whilst the Shift key is held down the 2 and 3 faders on the top right of the sequence panel will change into purple Speed and Slope faders 3 With the Shift key still held down adjust these faders to the desired settings Chase step faders Section 9 Sequence Panel 123 4 Release the Shift key and the normal sequence faders will again be shown You can also make any adjustments described above for that chase step whilst 1t is running and the original settings for that chase s button on the sequence panel remain unaffected i e a single chase on the sequence panel can be used in any number of other sequences each with their own independent Speed and Slope settings Creating a Sound Event Volume or Pan Change Step If you had a sound event in a sequence background music for instance and you wished to change just the volume setting for that music later in that sequence you can do so in the following way 1 Let us assume that you have a timed sequence such as the one supplied on the demonstration desk in which step 001 brings In a midi file event and steps 2 to 5 are scene event steps 2 Insert a Null Step in front of step 004 by highlighting step 004 and then pressing Insert Hold down Ctrl and double click on the time digits to set them to be the
103. d faders will return to 00 if the clear button is set to Clr Y whereas Locked faders will stay locked at their position Moved Fader When Cued or Released faders are moved manually by dragging them their values are shown in bright blue to indicate that they have been Moved When recording scenes in Rec M or Rec F modes the settings of any faders that are Cued by a running scene or physically Moved by dragging will be recorded to that new scene In this way an existing scene or scenes can be run adjustments can be made manually to them and or other faders can be added and the combination of all those new fader settings can then be saved as a new scene Edited Out Fader If you wished to create a new scene which was the same as another previously recorded scene but with maybe one or more of its fader settings removed then running the original scene holding the Ctrl key down and double right clicking on the faders or anywhere in their columns will take those faders out and their values will be shown in dark blue to indicate they have been Edited Out The record button in Rec M mode can then be used to record the new scene to whatever scene button you wish and the settings of any Edited Out faders will not be recorded to that scene 46 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual Record Button The Different Recording Modes This button is used to record the settings of selected fixture function faders to a selected scene event button There ar
104. d for routing your audio files Please Note Not all soundcards that have more than 2 audio outputs allow you to adjust the volume levels on the DirectShow channels using the ShowMagic volume faders This is dependent on the soundcard and its drivers The Audio Type Selector Buttons Wave file selector wav mp3 wma ac3 or aif MIDI file selector mid files Audio CD tracks selector Digital input selector St 92 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual PA Line level input selector Z Microphone level input selector The first three audio types are automatically assigned to the three internal audio OUTPUT devices wave MIDI and CD respectively The next three types are INPUT devices the fourth is assigned to the digital input on the soundcard if it exists The fifth type is assigned to the line level input on the soundcard if it exists and lastly the sixth type is assigned to the microphone level input on the soundcard if available If any of the above are not available on your soundcard or if the soundcard is not correctly set up on your PC then the appropriate button is left blank and that type of sound event will not be available This last selector button is used when creating a Mixer Setting event as described in Mixer Setting Events p 99 Sound Motor Control Buttons Motor control buttons can be used depending on the sound event type to play pause or stop a sound event The pause button can also be use
105. d so that when you run a dimming chase on the grid you can see the effect of those colors dimming 80 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual By selecting the Sf frame a color in the palette can be applied to the cells containing single channel fixtures see Notes on Mixing Generic and RGB CMY Fixtures on the Same Grid p 89 for more detailed instructions Creating Frames To create the first frame in a Frame chase simply double click on Set to the right of Frames The options will then be selectable shown in bright blue the number of frames will be displayed as 01 and the 2 box in the lower selection area will change to show 01 This box now contains the first frame You will also notice that the active cells in the grid have been colored black the default color i e they are empty You can now color the active grid cells by first clicking on the desired color in the color palette to select it and then doing any of the following a Left click on any cell to change it to the selected palette color or right click to change it to the selected background color b Drag the mouse pointer over the cells to draw the palette color into those cells c Hold down Ctrl and double left click on a cell of a particular color to change all cells of that color to the selected palette color d Hold down Ctrl and double right click on a cell of a particular color to change all cells of that color to the selected background color
106. d to hot start a sound event simply highlight the sound event button and click on the pause button When the pause button has illuminated clicking Go or pressing Spacebar if the sound panel is on the left will start the sound instantly Creating Sound Events 1 Highlight a sound event button by clicking on it double click on the audio type button that is appropriate for the type of sound event that you wish to create for that event i e to create a wave file playback event double click on the wave type selector button 2 Ifa wave or MIDI file event is being selected a file selector appears Select the appropriate file and click on Open the file details will then be shown in the details display If a CD is being selected then the CD in the CDROM drive is read and the details of the CD are shown in the details display That sound event is now assigned to that sound event button The settings for that sound event can be made via the details display as described on the next few pages For every type of sound event the first row in the top details display shows the sound event number and its label The other rows in the details display are described on the next few pages for each type of sound event Wave File Playlist a The second row in the details display shows the type of event i e Aud Wave Section 8 Sound Panel 93 Right clicking on the pink description to the right of Wave produces a pop up menu on which you
107. de Chase faders in and out times of half a second Holding down Ctrl whilst left right clicking on Slope in the sequence settings display will select between Slope or Instant When set to Slope the first lighting scene in the chase will use the slope setting when the chase is started When set to Instant the slope setting will be ignored for the first scene i e it comes on instantly first time round In a similar way to other types of sequence the exclusivity of scenes in a lighting chase can be set to either EX for exclusive XT for exclusive type scene or control event or LA for latched When a scene is set to EX it will turn off any other scenes in that chase that might be running When a scene is set to LA then it will not affect any other events in that chase and it will remain on until another event set to EX or XT is run Chase speeds range from 1500 scenes per minute down to 1 scene every 10 minutes Manual Sequences A sequence with its Type set to Manual is the type most suited to Live applications where events need to be triggered manually A Manual sequence is similar to a cue list on popular theatre lighting desks Steps in a manual sequence can be triggered by clicking on Go buttons or pressing Spacebar when using the sequence or action panels on the left or set to follow other triggered steps after specific time delays Go is always used to start a sequence but when a sequence is set to Manual on
108. dom Sequences If you set the Min time to 00 00 the Max time changes to a Once setting and the sequence Type changes to Rnd Sel meaning Randomly selected and run for the duration of the Selected event When that random sequence is triggered an event in that sequence is randomly selected which plays to the end of its duration and then the sequence stops If you hold down Ctrl and right click on Once to change it to Cont then the same thing happens but the sequence won t stop at the end of that event instead another event is randomly picked which plays through to its end and so on until the sequence is stopped in the normal way This feature is of course only pertinent to events with set time durations sounds video files captured video with a selected To time timed sequences other Rnd Sel sequences and chases set to Once etc Snapshots To create a snapshot set all the events you want to be stored in that snapshot running then highlight an empty sequence button hold down the Ctrl key and click on the Rec button on the sequence panel All the running events will then be recorded to that Snapshot No timings are used in a Snapshot every event is started at the same time If the speed and slope settings for one or more chases that are running are adjusted before the snapshot is recorded and the Rec button for each chase IS NOT used then it is those adjusted settings that are recorded within the snapshot the original speed and slope setting
109. e Shift key and the three faders on the top right of the sequence panel will change into orange colored volume pan and fade time faders 3 With the Shift key still held down adjust these faders to the desired settings 4 Release the Shift key and the normal sequence faders will again be shown Sound event step faders Volume This is adjustable between 0 and 100 FL as normal Pan This fader is adjustable between YA Topmost position full pan left shown as lt FL Bottom position full pan right shown as gt FL Any settings in between are in 2 increments from gt 98 through lt 0 gt centred to lt 98 Fade Time This is adjustable between 0 and 99 seconds If you click right click on the value below this fader the time can be decremented incremented in half second steps A half second is shown as a point e g 7 equals 7 5 seconds If the sound event step in that sequence is set to n then this fader sets the fade in time for that event step If it is set to Out then this fader sets the fade out time The fade in and fade out settings set on the sound panel at the time the event is dropped into the sequence are stored in the sequence until one of them is changed using the Fade Time fader as above y Please Note You can make any adjustments described above whilst that event step is playing The above settings will only affect that sound event in that particular sequence The original volum
110. e pan fade In and fade Out settings for that sound event on its own sound event button on the Sound panel remain unaffected Section 9 Sequence Panel 121 Adjusting Settings for Lighting Scene Event Steps If a sequence contains a lighting scene then the fade in and fade out settings for that scene within that sequence can be adjusted in the following way 1 Highlight the lighting scene event in the sequence step details display 2 Whilst the Shift key is held down the 2 and 3 faders on the top right of the sequence panel will change into red Speed faders 3 With the Shift key still held down adjust the 2 fader for the scenes fade in time and the 3 fader for the scenes fade out time Lighting scene step The decimal point denotes half a second so values of 1 or 2 etc faders denote 1 5 seconds 2 5 seconds etc 4 Release the Shift key and the normal sequence faders will again be shown The fade in and fade out values can be adjusted as above between the range of 0 seconds 00 and 99 5 seconds 99 If you wish to use longer fade times than this then do step 3 above but this time push the faders to the topmost setting to display FT Fade Time The scene will then fade in out over the times set for it on the scene panel that can be up to 1 day 23 59 59 24 Please Note The FT option uses the In and Out settings shown in the scene s details display on the scene panel If you alter these In and Out s
111. e ShowMagic virtual desk enables you to select any of the three types of precedence logic that will now be described When a number of lighting scenes are running that are using one or more of the same DMX channels the way in which the output values to those DMX channels is determined is called the precedence The three types of precedence are a None take Precedence NTP b Latest takes Precedence LTP c Highest takes Precedence HTP To best explain how these different precedences work we will use an example in which e In scene channel 1 is set to 50 channel 2 is set to 25 e In scene 2 channels and 2 are both set to 30 e Both scenes are running with scene 1 being run first followed by scene 2 None NTP When the desk is set to this option no scene s settings takes precedence over any other scene The values for any running scenes sharing the same channel outputs are simply added or piled one on top of the other to produce a compounded output value for those channels up to the maximum percentage value of FL Full 100 or DMX value of 255 Example Channel 1 is at 80 1 e 50 set by scene 1 30 set by scene 2 Channel 2 is at 55 1 e 25 set by scene 1 30 set by scene 2 Latest LTP When set to this option the latest scene takes precedence The values stored in the latest scene that 1s run will be used as the output values for any shared channels Exa
112. e above will trigger that action button The C setting tells ShowMagic to scan all MIDI channels for that note program change or control change number To set a specific MIDI channel right click on C and select a channel from the pop up menu The action button will then only be triggered if the note number shown is received on that specific MIDI channel Right clicking on the note in the third display produces a pop up menu on which you can select Trigger By Note Trigger By Program Change or Trigger By Control Change Trigger by Note For setting a MIDI note click on the button depicting a music keyboard to change the details display into a music keyboard graphic MH Click on one of the keys on the keyboard graphic will then set the trigger to that note The arrow keys on the right are used to scroll through the octaves from CO through The MIDI keyboard display to B7 E jul 146 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual Alternatively whilst the music keyboard graphic is shown pressing the actual note on the external keyboard will also set that note to trigger that action button if the Action Panel gt Midi Record Enabled item has been ticked on the Options menu The next action button is also automatically highlighted ready for you to press another MIDI key on the external keyboard useful if you wish to record MIDI notes for multiple sequential action buttons Trigger by Program Change or by Control Change If either of thes
113. e changed by sliding the Pan FX Speed fader up down to increase decrease the speed respectively Random If this preset is selected then the three faders appear as above but instead of panning between the extreme left and right positions ShowMagic will randomly pick continuously pan positions within the range limiter box for the fixtures to pan between The Tilt FX Presets As with the Pan FX presets you can also select either Straight or Random for the Tilt FX When either of these is selected the fourth and fifth faders on the FX generator panel change to Tilt FX Speed and Tilt FX Slope faders Now when you run that FX scene rather than staying at the tilt positions recorded in the original scene the Tilt FX will be applied to the fixtures tilt fader using the Tilt FX Speed and Tilt FX Slope settings as selected The Pan FX and Tilt FX presets can be used independently or together Combining them and varying their speed and slope FX generator faders settings can produce an almost unlimited number of waveforms and other shapes Example Select Straight for both Pan FX and Tilt FX presets and use the values shown in the table below to create some example waveforms 66 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual Pan Speed Pan Slope Tilt Speed Tilt Slope 6 Peak Horizontal Sine Wave 5 FL 60 FL 3 Peak Horizontal Sine Wave 10 FL 60 FL 6 Peak Vertical Sine Wave 60 FL 5 FL 3 Peak Peak Vertical Sine Wave 60 FL 10 FL 6 Peak
114. e fixture faders but multi channel intelligent fixtures can have numerous functions so the function section at the bottom of the fixture panel is provided as a means of accessing any function of a fixture Function Faders Function faders When a multi channel fixture is assigned to a fixture fader and that fixture fader is selected the value box below that fader is shown in dark red all its functions e g Pan Tilt etc are displayed on the lower function faders with icons to denote its function The primary light function e g Dimmer or Shutter is assigned to the fixture fader as well as its function fader so the brightness for the fixture s can be controlled by either The function fader values are shown below the function fader as a percentage i e 00 to FL Full 100 and the actual DMX values 0 to 255 are also shown below that The Left and Right cursor keys can be used to scroll along select each function fader for that fixture If a fixture possesses more than 12 functions the next selector button lt r below the Trackball illuminates to indicate that another page of functions is available Clicking on this button displays the next page of 12 function faders and buttons Clicking on the previous button Previous and next takes you back to the first page and so on buttons 34 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual Function Buttons As well as the 12 function faders 12 Shutt Strobe Dimmer
115. e function faders Hold down and right click on a preset panel to select all presets up to that one for the Scene generator Executes the displayed commands if any on the fixture panel At Used to specify a value for a fader To When used with the F12 copy key to specify another fixture fader Thru Used to specify a range of faders Used to include a fader in a command Used to exclude a fader in a command Selects de selects a fader group Copy Function used to copy a fader s function setting to the range of faders specified Copy Fader press F12 twice to copy all of a fader s functions settings to the range of faders specified 176 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual Del Delete MN gt Delete Command Deletes the command shown in the attribute display on the Fixture panel Zero Fader Sets highlighted function fader to 0 Scrolls through the fixture faders Scrolls through function faders Scene Panel on Main Desk Ctrl H Single click Hold down and drag to slide Scene button levels up or down Hold down and click on a Scene button in record mode to call up the Scene generator Zeroes highlighted fade in fade out time settings Anywhere in the details display to edit the scene settings for the currently highlighted lighting scene event Sequence Panel on Main Desk Ctrl Shift Hold down and double click on a step time to select the same time as the
116. e inserted into frame box 01 with the rest of the frame numbers shifted up by one Then simply highlight the last frame press Delete and confirm Section 7 Lighting Scene Panel 83 Setting a Loop Point You may want a ColorScene chase to start in a particular way and then loop between certain consecutive frames until it is stooped For example You may want to start with a black grid then introduce a column of red followed by green followed by blue as in the previous example however at this point you want the colors to now wrap around the grid until the chase is stopped Here are six sample grid frames using a 3x3 grid and RGB columns that would achieve that effect 01 02 03 04 05 06 However if you were to run this ColorScene chase as it is frames 01 to 06 would run the first time which is good but when the chase repeats it would start at frame 01 again black which is what we don t want If you look at the frame 01 box you will notice that unlike the other frame boxes it is colored light blue This is a loop point marker that defaults to the first frame The sequence of frames that would achieve the effect we are after is 1 2 3 4 5 6 4 5 6 4 5 6 and so on i e after the R G and B columns have been initially brought onto the black grid the frames should then loop between frames 04 to 06 Double right clicking on frame 04 will set that frame to be the repeat loop point and achieve this effect Duplicating and
117. e is selected then you can set that trigger option by clicking on the dark pink Record item to the right of the keyboard graphic to highlight it and then push up or press the required fader or button pad on your external MIDI interface to select that trigger Alternatively you can click on the keyboard keys on the keyboard graphic to set the value without having a MIDI interface attached Finally click on Record item to turn it dark pink and disable the record function Clicking again on the button depicting a music keyboard will revert back to the action button details display If you tick the Master Level Control item on the drop down menu then any control change values being received will be used to control the level of that action button rather than just starting and stopping it You can select a MIDI note to start stop control an event on an action button but in addition you can also select different MIDI notes to go to the Next step if it is a manual sequence go Back a step if it is a manual sequence or Pause everything that is running in that event This can be done by pressing the Tab key to select the function and pressing clicking on the MIDI note for that function To disable the extra Back Pause and Next MIDI triggers for that action button simply press Tab to call up Back click on Back with Ctrl held down to turn the word dark pink and then press Tab three times Wireless Media Player Remote Controller There
118. e notes below if you are going to use these functions To save a sequence 1 Highlight the sequence button you want to save 2 Double click on the red Save button on the sequence panel a Save Sequence dialogue box will appear with the files in the default directory shown 3 The name of the sequence is used as a default filename but you can of course edit this in the normal way 4 Click on the Save button to save that file To load a sequence 1 Highlight a sequence button that you want to load a sequence onto 2 Double click on the red Load button on the sequence panel if the sequence button is not empty you will be prompted to confirm the overwriting of that sequence 3 Use the Load Sequence dialogue box to select the sequence you want to load Section 9 Sequence Panel 131 4 Click on the Open button to load the sequence Notes on Loading and Saving Sequences Please Read Very Carefully When an event button is dropped into a sequence ShowMagic stores a pointer to that event button in the sequence not the event itself When you run the sequence it will run whatever is loaded onto that event button at the time Therefore if you want to use the same sequence in two different desks 1t is crucial that any events contained in that sequence are stored on exactly the same event buttons and are exactly the same events on both desks otherwise you will get some very unexpected results Example 1 In desk A we cr
119. e of the following trigger options can be selected for each step in the sequence a Go If this is selected you must click on the Go button on the sequence or action panels or press Spacebar if the panel is on the left to activate the event Section 9 Sequence Panel 113 b Wait This selects how soon after the previous event has started that this event should wait before automatically activating If the Wait time 00 00 0 seconds and 0 frames then this event will activate at the same time as the previous event i e the two events will occur at the same time c Fllw This determines how soon after the previous event if it is a lighting scene or chase has finished fading in that this event will wait before following on If the time 00 00 then it will occur immediately on the previous event finishing its fade in If the previous event is a sound timed sequence or video event this determines how soon after the event has finished playing that this event will wait before following on A sequence timer is shown above the motor control buttons When any sequence is started the timer begins at 00 00 00 00 and increments in hours minutes seconds and frames throughout the playing of that sequence Using a Pause Resume Step in a Manual Sequence All the events sound sequence video etc in a manual sequence that are currently running can be paused and then resumed with the Go button To do this insert a Nu
120. e on the user screen Hold Button If ticked the DMX Hold button will be provided on the user screen Motor Buttons If ticked large motor control buttons Rewind Stop Pause Play will appear in the top left which will change depending on what action button is highlighted on the user screen at the time Main User Screen Button If ticked a Main button will be displayed on the user screen and a US button will appear on the action panel The user screen can then be accessed from the action panel by clicking on the US button and conversely the main screen can be accessed from the user screen by clicking on the Main button for easier operation when using a touch screen One Touch Button If ticked then a button labelled One Touch will appear on the user screen that enables the user to switch between a single click being required to start or stop an action button One Touch button shown in red or whether a double click is required One Touch button shown in grey Recall Button If ticked a Recall button will appear on the user screen If the user double clicks on the Recall button to turn it on then shown red the current running state of any buttons including their fader levels on any pages that the user has access to on the user screen will be recalled when ShowMagic is restarted If the button is not on shown grey then the buttons will be set to their normal on off states when ShowMagic is re started Reset Button If
121. e page selector buttons labelled 1 2 3 etc that then appear on the user screen The labels 1 2 3 etc are initially used on these page buttons The labels can however be replaced with more descriptive labels such as Lighting Motor Control etc by clicking on and typing in the boxes provided Auto Menu Load Desk If ticked then ShowMagic when it is run looks for a file called auto dsk in the default desks folder and if the file exists it will be automatically loaded A desk set up can be saved as different dsk files by simply saving the desk under different names so if you wish to make use of this function first save your desk with the name you would normally use for it and then save it again as auto dsk User Screen If ticked then ShowMagic when it is run will automatically display the user screen as previously configured The status of the System Locked menu item will also be preserved so if the desk has been locked the user will not be able to access any other screen unless they know the password and how to unlock the user screen Save If ticked the selectable duration shown ticked i e 5 10 or 15 minutes will determine how often the desk is saved automatically If Off is set then Auto Save is disabled and durations are ignored System Locked If this item is ticked then only the currently selected page on each of the two currently selected panels will be available and all editing functions on the desk will be locked ou
122. e setting is used or no slope is used for that frame f A fixture display initially empty that shows the fixture assigned to the currently highlighted cell in the grid and X and Y grid size selectors g The ColorScene grid initially showing 3 cells across by 3 cells down h A button marked Live If you want ColorScene to output dmx to the fixtures patched on the grid live as you are programming rather than just outputting DMX to those fixtures when the ColorScene scene is run then double clicking on this button will turn it red and enable the live dmx output Double clicking again on the button turns it off 1 A copy of the scene panel s Clear button j Four buttons labelled Patch Chase Color amp Run for selecting the 4 different modes 76 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual k Two options displays with selection areas below them Patch 00 paangat 1 These upper and lower options displays and selection areas change depending on what programming mode you are in m A duration window that displays the time duration of a ColorScene event when a ColorScene chase is The option displays selected to repeat a number of times or a series of chases are run in succession for that ColorScene event n Scroll buttons to the right side of the bottom selection area ColorScene Patch Mode This is the first default mode that you use in ColorScene Before you can apply any ColorScene effects to a group of LEDs or other
123. e the and keys to include or exclude fixtures when setting multiple faders using the keyboard Example Here are some examples assuming that you have patched 12 par cans to fixture faders 1 to 12 1 4 9 H 6 5 0 Enter would set fixtures 1 2 3 4 5 7 8 amp 9 to 50 1 9 H S 1 1 41 7 5 Enter would set fixtures 1 2 4 5 6 7 8 9 amp 11 to 75 Section 6 Fixture Panel 39 ShowMagic stores the last command entered in a temporary buffer so after using b above if you were to just type 8 0 Enter fixtures 1 2 4 5 6 7 8 9 and 11 would be set to 80 Similarly if you were then to type 7 0 Enter this would set fixtures 1 2 4 5 6 7 8 9 and 11 to 70 and so on The command stored in the temporary buffer is overwritten whenever you enter another command that doesn t start with You can also use commands to adjust fixture settings and re record scenes whilst you are running a scene from within a Manual sequence See Live Editing of Scenes in a Manual Sequence p 122 for more information Copying Fixture Function Settings using Commands The F12 function key can be used to copy one or all function settings from one fixture fader to one or more other fixture faders that have the same type of fixtures assigned to them Example If you had 4 scanners of the same type assigned to fixtures 1 to 4 and had set up the pan tilt color et
124. e up to four different recording Rec M modes available for the lighting scene record button Rec M Rec T Rec F and if any DMX input devices are selected in ShowMagic Rec S The record button These various recording modes are selected by right clicking on the record button and selecting one of the following from the pop up menu Rec M Short for Record Moved the default mode When set to this recording mode all faders that are in a Cued or physically Moved state are recorded to a scene when the record button is used Rec T This is short for Record Tagged When set to this recording mode the background color of the function buttons in the centre of the fixture panel default to blue Right clicking on a function s button on the fixture panel will toggle that button between blue and red The state of any functions for any fixture or group of fixtures that have been tagged in red will be recorded to a scene when the record button is used set to Rec T even if they are at 000 The only exception to this is if a tagged function fader has been Locked either manually or by running a Safe scene see Scene Details Display p 51 All other un tagged functions are not recorded even if they have been moved manually or have been moved by a currently running lighting scene Cued state If you hold down Ctrl whilst double clicking on the scene panel s clear button labelled as Clr Y or Clr N then the desk is cleared do
125. earlier events of its own type irrespective of their main group or sub group settings Example Step 001 contains a lighting scene set to La Step 002 contains a lighting scene set to Lb Step 003 contains a lighting scene set to X Step 004 contains a lighting scene set to XT Step 002 does not affect step 001 different sub group Step 003 does not affect step 001 or step 002 different main group Step 004 turns off steps 001 002 and 003 set to XT eXclusive Type which turns off all other events of its type i e lighting scene events shown in red Though this may at first seem complicated the principal is actually very simple and it provides a very quick powerful and versatile system for the logical control of events Text Only Event Steps If you wish to mark certain sections of a sequence with labels for reference purposes you can change a Null Step into a Step Text event that you can then label Simply insert a Null Step hold down Ctrl and then double click on the step A dialogue box will then appear Enter the label and click on the Enter button Step Text events have no effect in a sequence they are there for information purposes only Double clicking on a Step Text event will change it back into a Null Step 130 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual Part Step Numbering It is common in theatre applications to use a written cue sheet When a show is being designed the lighting scenes sound effects etc are each
126. eate four lighting scenes for par cans on scene buttons D010 D011 D012 amp D013 We then create a lighting chase sequence that runs scene buttons D010 D011 D012 amp D013 We then save that chase sequence as a sequence file We load up a different desk desk B and load the chase sequence onto a sequence button on that desk We then run that chase sequence but instead of a par can chase we get scanners going crazy because scene buttons D010 to D013 on desk B contain FX movement scenes for the scanners and the chase sequence is chasing through those FX scenes instead of par can scenes Similarly if you created a lighting scene on scene button C008 that turned on blue par cans for instance and then dragged that button into a sequence when you run that sequence it will run scene button C008 which in turn will turn on blue par cans However if you later re recorded over scene button C008 with a setting that turned on red par cans when you run the sequence it will run scene button C008 that turns on red par cans Example 2 If you were to create a sound event on sound event button A007 such as loading a wave file called Songl wav into it and then drop this into a sequence when you run that sequence it will play the Song1 wav file If you later loaded a different wav file onto sound event button A007 such as Song8 wav when you run the sequence it will play Song8 wav not Song1 wav Another Very Important Poin
127. ect Chase mode and the upper options display will change to show the Chase details with a range of chase options displayed in the selector area below it 78 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual Chase Mode ColorScene currently includes one type of chase effect Frame Using Frame a chase can be defined frame by frame within a single scene event This makes it very flexible because any type of effects can be created in this way The Frame chase provides a much quicker means of creating LED effects compared to creating multiple scenes using the fixture faders and then dropping these scenes into a chase sequence In addition you can also view on the grid the effects created and edit them graphically Frame With Frame a dynamic ColorScene effect can be created frame by frame in a similar way to how cartoon animations are created These frames can then be run at whatever speed and using whatever slope you have selected to produce the desired dynamic effect Once you have selected the type of Chase effect you require Frame the next step is to select the colors we want to use for that ColorScene and to do this you select Color mode by clicking on the Color mode selector button Color Mode A ColorScene lighting scene is based around a color palette and each ColorScene can possess its own palette of 24 colors The first two colors are fixed as black and white and the next 6 colors default to red green blue cyan magenta and yellow To create
128. ected Frame as the chase type the lower options display shows the following Frames This shows the number of frames in that chase when you create them initially shows Set Opt This shows the currently selected direction for that chase Down Up Bounce or Random These work in a similar way to the Chase sequence options e g if Down is selected and the ColorScene chase contains 3 frames then the frames will be run in the order 1 2 3 1 2 3 etc when that ColorScene chase is run Run This option can be set to Cont continuous or any value between 01 and 99 If Cont is selected then the ColorScene will run continuously until it is stopped If a value is selected then the ColorScene chase will repeat that number of times and then stop automatically The time display to the right of Run will also show the duration of that chase calculated automatically from the speed of the chase and the number of repetitions and if you also click on the Hold option to highlight it in bright yellow then the chase will run the specified number of times and then hold on the last frame until the ColorScene is stopped The Set Frame The first frame in a Frame chase is always a Set frame labelled as Sf in the frame display Because you can use ColorScene to create dimmer chases for fixed color single channel generic fixtures e g par cans with different colored gels the set frame is provided as a means of assigning fixed colors to cells on the gri
129. ed down the display and as more are received the topmost input details are scrolled lost off the top The last MIDI input received is shown in yellow Double clicking on the Clear button will clear this display Run Clicking on this button selects a display showing a list of any events that are running Up to 29 events can be listed in this display Quick Find Feature If you wish to go to any of the running events shown in the Run display then double clicking on it within that display will select its panel on the other side of the desk with its button highlighted You can then access its button or use the motor control buttons on its panel to pause the event stop it etc 138 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual Section 12 Action Panel A001 Spot Chase 001 A001 Left 002 A002 Left Centre MD C c3 Em TG 00 DT RD Grp 00 00 00 00 G 25 49 73 97 121 145 169 193 217 EVES Spot Chase Left CASH1 Cue List Left Centre Mood2 Timer Sequence Right Centre Act A19 Act A4 Right Act A20 Act A5 Act A13 Act A21 Act A6 Act A14 Act A22 Act A7 Act A15 Act A23 Act A8 Act A16 Act A24 The action panel The purpose of the action panel is to provide one panel that can contain a mixture of ShowMagic events any types of event can then be mixed together and controlled from that single panel Events that are to be controlled by external devices e g MIDI remote media controller etc need to be assigned to action buttons because the
130. ee the function faders on the fixture panel fade down over the time that you have set for the fade Out 54 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual Multi Part Scenes This facility enables you to a In Normal mode Set different Wait In Hold amp Out times for each function of each type of fixture that is recorded in a scene rather than them all using the same Default fade times b In Live mode Set different Wait and fade In times for each function of each type of fixture that is recorded in a scene Hold amp Out times are not applicable in Live mode All function faders default to using the Default time settings shown in the details display UNLESS they are edited independently on the Edit Scene dialogue box Most of the time most of the function faders will want to either snap on off instantly or fade in out together at the same rate when the scene is run However in some cases you may want to set particular function faders to fade in out at a different rate to the rest of the functions stored in that scene For this reason it is quicker and easier to use overall Default settings and then just change the times for any functions that need to have different times to the rest Example Let us say that we want to record a scene for the Stage Light 300 as above with Default fade In and fade Out times of 2 seconds for most of the functions but we want the gobo and color wheel functions to snap on instantly when the scene is run rather th
131. el fixtures this is no problem the sub master fader for the action button containing the scene will control the level of the dimmers for those generic fixtures However if you were using intelligent fixtures in the scene this might not be ideal as you move the fader the dimmer will scroll up to the limit set by the fader which is OK but all the other functions pan and tilt color gobo etc will also scroll up to that limit which is seldom what is wanted It is more likely that you would want certain functions to snap to their scene settings instantly other functions to fade to their scene settings over a fade time and manually control just the dimmer level with the sub master fader This is where the Sub master control comes into play The level of the sub master fader on an action button to which a scene has been assigned will control the level of any functions recorded in that scene that are set to HTP on the Patch screen If a function is set to LTP that function will not be controlled by the level of the sub master fader it will just fade in if the sub master fader goes above the LTP trigger level initially set to 00 or fade out if the sub master fader goes below the LTP trigger level The LTP Trigger level can be changed using the Set Action Trigger dialogue box 56 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual Example Let s assume the scene s default fade in and fade out times are 2 seconds the color and gobo functions are set to
132. els and you will also notice that a The DMX channel will correspond to the action button number e g DMX channel 001 will be set to trigger action button A007 etc b The LTP Trigger percentage that you selected before clicking on the Set Page To DMX button will be applied to each action button on that page c Master control MTR has been selected for each action button on that page Section 12 Action Panel 149 Quick Find Feature Double right clicking on an action button will put that event s panel and button on the other side of the desk Using Key Activated Presets on the Action Panel In a similar way to the fixture panel the Key Activated Presets feature see Using Key Activated Presets on the Fixture Panel p 35 can be used on the action panel If the action panel is on the left of the desk and an action button containing a lighting scene is running and highlighted pressing the keys D for Dimmer G for gobo etc enables you to select those presets on the fly providing you with full Live control of those functions without having to store different scenes for each setting on different action buttons Example Let s say you have recorded a scene containing the color functions for a group of fixtures set to red You then drag and drop that scene onto an action button By running that action button on the left hand side of the desk of course and highlighting it the fixtures will go to red as you would expect h
133. empo setting for that MIDI file is shown in the window below the Ctrl button This BPM value can be changed by left right clicking on it and re starting the MIDI sound event Section 8 Sound Panel 97 Each track can be transposed by left right clicking on the digits below the BPM window to decrement increment them The symbol denotes a higher octave and the symbol denotes a lower octave Transposing is then applied to all the tracks that have the button on their right set to blue If you want to leave any tracks at their original pitch e g drum tracks then simply click on the button to toggle it from blue to grey Similarly left clicking on the left button for each track to turn it red will mute that track and right clicking on the left button for each track to turn it green will solo that track Any buttons on the left of the tracks shown in grey are un muted If you are sending the MIDI sound event to a MIDI port to control an external MIDI device then double click on the Ctrl button to turn it red No volume transposition changes will then be made to affect the original MIDI data going to the device Finally right clicking anywhere in the tracks area or clicking on the Exit button will close the track list and return the display to the normal sound event buttons CD Tracks a The second row shows the type of event i e Aud Internal CD b The third row shows the number of tracks on the CD and the total
134. empty scene button select that new button and click on CScn to go to the ColorScene panel we have already created a color palette and seven frames so it is quicker to copy the ColorScene and then modify it 2 We need to create and patch 9 new fixtures that contain R G B and dimmer functions so select Options gt Patch Screen highlight fader 025 and select A gt Abstract gt AVR series gt LEDion from the Fixtures menu 3 Press F12 the copy fader function and type 25 8 Return to copy another 8 fixtures of the same type to fader numbers 026 to 033 4 Now that we have 9 fixtures that possess R G B and Dimmer functions we can soft patch these fixtures in ColorScene so select Options gt Main Screen to return to the main screen 5 With the ColorScene panel still shown select fixture 25 on the fixture panel and click on the Patch button on the ColorScene panel Select the Grid LR LR soft patch option and double click anywhere in the active grid to soft patch the fixtures to the grid If you now run that ColorScene you will notice that it will do the same chase as the ColorScene it was copied from but it is applied to fixtures 25 to 33 instead You will also notice that the dimmer functions for the fixtures are automatically set to full so that the LED colors can be seen at full brightness We will now modify this ColorScene chase using the dimmer function so that each of the colored columns will grow brighter as they m
135. en click on the 4 and 9 cells to set them to 64 11 Double click on the Frame 05 box to add another frame click on the 3 dimmer palette box to select 192 click on the 1 and 12 cells to set them to 192 click on the 4 dimmer palette box to select 128 click on the 2 and 11 cells to set them to 128 click on the 5 dimmer palette box and click on the 3 and 10 cells to set them to 64 click on the 1 dimmer palette box and click on cells 4 and 9 to set them to 000 12 Double click on the Frame 06 box to add another frame click on the 4 dimmer palette box to select 128 click on the 1 and 12 cells to set them to 128 click on the 5 dimmer palette box to select 64 click on the 2 and 11 cells to set them to 64 click on the 1 dimmer palette box and click on cells 3 4 9 and 10 to set them to 000 13 Double click on the Frame 07 box to add another frame click on the 5 dimmer palette box to select 64 click on the 1 and 12 cells to set them to 64 click on the 1 dimmer palette box and click on cells 2 3 4 9 10 and 11 to set them to 000 If you now run that ColorScene you will see the cells brighten from the centre outwards and diminish leaving a comet type trail 88 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual In future versions of ShowMagic automatic chase effects will be provided that will apply specific dimming algorithms to the grid without the need to create them manually frame by frame This will
136. en highlight any of the blank steps below the current last step and press Insert to insert a step at the end the last empty step in a sequence is automatically labelled as End If you did not have an End step at the end the sequence will simply stop or fade out as soon as the last non empty step is triggered Double click on the sequences label in the top details display and enter your own label such as scene test then press Enter to enter it Dragging a Bank or Page of Lighting Scenes into a Sequence If you drag and drop a bank selector button marked A B C etc or a page selector button marked 1 25 49 etc from the scene panel into a sequence then that whole bank or page of scenes will be automatically dropped into that sequence in numerical order after confirmation Sequence Motor Control Buttons Go When the sequence step details display is shown the normal Go button becomes split into two the top half of the button is a Play button the bottom half is a Play from Mark button The function of each half only differs when they are used to start sequences or to jump to sequence steps see Continue From Mark p 127 otherwise both halves act as a normal Go button Play will always play a sequence from the beginning first step and when a A Fo manual sequence is running clicking on this again will trigger the next step if its Section 9 Sequence Panel 111 trigger is set to Go Play from Mark w
137. ent that is run whose values are sent to the DMX channels of fixtures contained in that event E g if a 60 BPM chase was run for fixtures 01 to 04 first followed by a 30 BPM chase for the same fixtures the channels will be updated by the 2 30 BPM chase because that chase was the latest event to be run If that chase is stopped control reverts back to the earlier 60 BPM chase If this item is ticked to disable event layering then the logic for scene processing reverts back to strict desk precedence E g the DMX values for fixtures 01 to 04 would be updated by both the 60 BPM chase and the 30 BPM chase on a strict LTP basis Section 13 Main Desk Screen Options Menus 153 Boot Delay If for any reason there is a conflict between other programs or utilities that are being auto run on boot up along with ShowMagic you can set a boot delay with this drop down menu between 1 and 20 seconds ShowMagic when it is auto run will then wait for the duration of this boot delay time before initialising any resources that may cause any conflicts Live Mode If this item is ticked then the logic of how channels are updated when running scenes is changed from the Normal operating mode to Live mode as described in Normal and Live Modes p 49 Auto Set will automatically set all action buttons to run on the respective DMX input channels A001 from DMX channel 001 A002 from DMX channel 2 etc and use the selected Threshold and LTP trigger settings O
138. ent with a I Clear Snds Button F Realtime Edit F Clear Ctrls Button F Action Fader F Blackout Button K F Display Details F Hold Button The user screen described in User I Display Schedule I Motor Buttons r F Hide Mouse F Main User Screen Button r Screen p 163 has been designed so F Load Desk One Touch Button F Master Faders F Recall Button m that you can program all the necessary T One Touch On F Reset Button E gt Save Desk Prompt on Quit Schedule Button ShowMagic events for a show or F Spacebar Play F Use Fader Buttons r Quit Program venue assign them to action buttons F Clear Scenes Buton I a y simple to use screen from which they can select pre programmed sequences lighting scenes etc In other words the end user need not get involved with any of the intricacies of programming or using the main desk screen they can just quickly and easily start and stop the large action buttons displayed on the user screen x User screen access dialogue box This dialogue box has been provided to allow you to select what is available on the user screen Options are shown on the left buttons that can be displayed are shown in the middle and on the right is a page selector area where you can tick what pages of action buttons are accessible on the user screen and also label them Action Fader If ticked a sub master fader and mute button will appear on the user screen that enables the us
139. equences As Section 9 Sequence Panel 125 well as using the Auto playlist function trigger times can be edited manually in the usual way the function is provided however to make the setting of consecutive trigger times in a typical playlist that much easier Auto Time Function If you had consecutively timed steps in a timed sequence such as the example Playlist sequence described above but you wished to set a delay of 4 seconds between the Midi Funk event finishing and the Till FX event starting the timings for all the events following the Midi Funk event would have to be incremented Rather than having to do this manually step by step an Auto Time function has been included to simplify this process This function uses start and end markers to mark the range of consecutive steps that are affected by the function Here s an example of how to use this function 1 Using the above Playlist sequence double click on the white step number of the step that you wish to mark as the end of the marked section 2 Scroll up and highlight the Till FX step in the step details display it will then be highlighted in red when using the Auto Time function the currently highlighted step in a sequence is treated as the start marker a All the events between the start marker highlighted step in red and the end marker inclusive are then shown highlighted in blue b Ifyou wish to set the end marker as the last non empty
140. er off the mouse button then cancels the slide function leaving the faders at their last dragged position Individual faders can also be adjusted independently by dragging them up or down That scene can then be overwritten or a new scene can be saved using these new levels by clicking on the Rec button to activate it and then clicking on the desired scene button In this way numerous individual scenes can be run adjusted and piled together the combined fader levels of all those scene settings can then be saved as a new scene Section 7 Lighting Scene Panel 59 Deleting a Scene To delete a scene click on the scene button and press Delete You will be prompted to confirm or cancel If the scene is used in any sequences you will be informed of this and if you confirm the deletion it will be removed from all sequences that contain it Copying a Scene To copy a scene drag the scene button or its label from the details display onto the scene button that you wish to copy it to dropping the scene elsewhere e g back onto the same button or back into the display will cancel the operation Ifthe scenes are on different pages then select two scene panels on the desk one on the left and the other on the right and copy from one to the other If the scene button you are copying to already has a scene stored in it then you will be prompted to confirm or cancel the overwrite Moving a Scene To move a scene from one scene button t
141. er to adjust the levels of the events in the currently selected action button on the user screen Display Details If ticked the details display will appear on the user screen as on the action panel that shows the details of the currently highlighted action button Hide Mouse If ticked the mouse cursor will not be displayed For use with a touch screen monitor Load Desk If ticked the Load Desk option will be made available in the user screen File menu Master Faders If ticked the Grand Master GM and Audio Master AM faders and their mute buttons will appear on the user screen One Touch On If ticked one touch rather than two on a user screen button will run stop that button Save Desk Prompt on Quit If this is ticked the default then the user will be prompted to save the desk if quitting from ShowMagic on the user screen If not ticked no prompt will appear Spacebar Play If ticked Spacebar can be used to start stop the currently highlighted action button on the user screen Quit Program If ticked Quit Program will be made available on the user screen File menu 158 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual Realtime Edit If ticked this will enable various edit functions to be enabled for action buttons when they are being viewed on the User Screen See Realtime Editing on the User Screen p 151 for more information Blackout Button If ticked a blackout button labelled Black will be accessibl
142. ettings on the scene panel then the sequence will use those altered settings You cannot use the same scene elsewhere with different fade times in excess of 99 5 seconds because all sequence steps containing that scene event will use the CURRENT In and Out settings shown in the scene s details display Instead you should copy that scene button onto another empty scene button and use that new scene in other sequences etc with different In and Out settings Live Editing of Scenes in a Manual Sequence When you are running a lighting scene from a Manual sequence you can use the keyboard commands described in Setting Faders using Commands p 39 to adjust lighting fixtures and then re record them to a running scene Example Let us say that you have recorded 8 par cans assigned to fixture faders 1 to 8 at 50 stored on scene A001 and you have dropped that scene into step 001 of a Manual sequence If you want to adjust those values to 60 then you can do this as the sequence is running in the following way 1 With the sequence panel on the left of the desk highlight and run the Manual sequence this will then run lighting scene A007 2 Using the numeric keypad on the keyboard type 1 8 6 0 Enter to set fixtures thru 8 to 60 122 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual 3 Now you can re record that scene using one of the following two methods Press the function key labelled F11 on the PC keyboard often la
143. evels Also because ShowMagic knows what channels need to be used to open the beam iris etc it opens these channels and also sets the pan amp tilt channels if any to 50 so that the beam is centred for easy viewing Using the Up and Down cursor keys turns the last selected faders dimmer channels off and the dimmer channels for the newly highlighted fader on and so on until the Fdr test button is turned off 20 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual When the Dmx button is on the numeric keypad can be used to test any DMX channel directly i e typing 1 0 Enter will set DMX channel 10 to the test level and so on until the Dmx test button is turned off Alternatively the Up and Down cursor keys can be used to step through the DMX channels one by one When either of the test buttons is on the fader or DMX channel being tested is shown in the Command display The Dmx test button can be very useful as it enables you to test all the DMX channels at a venue if you do not have the information on the fixture channel set up information for that venue The results that you can note from the test can then be used to set up the correct address patches for that venue Load Fixture and Save Fixture Functions The functions Load Fixture and Save Fixture are available on the patch screen s File menu and although a new fixture that is not contained in the fixtures library can be made and then saved using Save Fixture as de
144. events with a finite duration i e Timed sequences sound events video file events captured video with a selected To time digital signs with an Off duration set etc If ShowMagic finds any events that do not have a finite duration events set to loop for instance then ShowMagic will ignore them and not play them because that sequence insert once started would not stop and ShowMagic could not return to playing the playlist whilst the sequence insert was playing d If the sequence insert is a Rnd Sel sequence a different event will be played each time the sequence insert is run from the playlist To assign a sequence to a playlist as a sequence insert do the following i Drag the sequence button from the sequence panel and drop it into the Plist window If the sequence is not a Rnd Sel sequence or a Timed sequence then this action has no effect ii Hold down Ctrl and click to the right of Plist to call up the Set Audio Playlist dialogue box iii Tick the On box to the left of the Sequence Insert name iv Type in the interval in minutes at which you want the sequence insert to run Any value can be used between 1 and 999 8 When you click on the Set button there will be a delay proportional to the number of tracks in the selected folder whilst ShowMagic examines all the audio files in the folder and calculates the overall duration of the playlist When the dialogue box disappears the playlist is ready to ru
145. ew color in the palette by clicking on the next empty pallet box You can also store a background color so that when you are coloring cells a left click will paint that cell with the currently selected palette color and a right click will paint that cell with the background color To select the background color default black simply right click on a color in the palette The large box on the right of the palette will then show the background color Section 7 Lighting Scene Panel 79 Time saving tip If you are intending to create a number of ColorScene scenes that all use the same grid layout and colors then you should at this stage exit the ColorScene panel by clicking on the Exit button and drag and drop that ColorScene scene onto the required number of empty scene buttons Those ColorScene scenes will then have the grid and colors already set up ready for you to select whatever frames speeds etc you want to apply to them later Highlight the original ColorScene button Scene A001 and click on the CScn button to Color Bk R select the ColorScene panel for that scene and let us assume that the colors you have selected for this ColorScene are the first two fixed colors Black and White followed by Red Green Blue Cyan Magenta and Yellow The upper options display shows the currently selected color box along with the red green Color and frame options blue and white values for that color Frames Having sel
146. fade out using the value set for the FX speed in BPM see below The Pan FX Presets You can select either Straight or Random for the Pan FX If you click on either preset button to highlight it in blue you will notice that the graphic for the scene button changes slightly Scans Shape 1 This denotes that an effect has been applied to that scene turning it into an FX scene An FX scene button Straight If selected the first three faders on the FX generator panel will change This first fader is used to set an FX Delay Offset default 00 Section 7 Lighting Scene Panel 65 e This second fader is used to select a Pan FX Speed in BPM default 60 O This third fader is used to select a Pan FX Slope setting default 00 If you double click on the scene button as normal to run the scene the tilt faders for all of the fixtures recorded in the original scene will move to the reference positions set in that scene and remain there Because you have selected Straight for the Pan FX faders the fixtures will jerk between the extreme left and right positions at 60 BPM If you adjust the third Pan FX Slope fader to 50 then the fixtures will pan between the positions over half 30 BPM of the period set by the Pan FX Speed setting 60 BPM wait for half the period and then pan back the opposite way over half the period and so on continuously in a similar way to scenes in a lighting chase The Pan FX Speed can of course b
147. fader row that you want to assign your new fixture to and click on the Make button to activate it The top right fixture list is then temporarily changed into a Function List and a comprehensive list of functions is displayed Section 3 Patch Screen 19 2 Use the scroll bar to scroll through this Function List and select the first function Dimmer Color Wheel etc for your new fixture by dragging the function from the Function List display down onto the Function display below it The dragged function will then be copied onto the first channel of the fixture Dropping it anywhere else will simply cancel the operation 3 Select and drag down the second function for that fixture This will then be copied onto the fixture s second channel Repeat the above for the rest of the functions for that fixture If you have copied a function to the wrong channel offset then drop the correct function onto the channel and overwrite the old one 4 When all of the functions have been copied to the new fixture maximum of 48 left right click on the description to the right of the Make button whilst holding down Ctrl to select a fixture description The icon for that type of fixture will then be shown on that fixture faders slider on the fixture panel Click the Make button again to de activate it The normal Fixture list will then be displayed 5 Set the DMX start address for the fixture then double click on its yellow label or fixture type la
148. fault Directshow channels 1 and 2 but you can only play one audio file at once on any other DirectShow channels Multiple output soundcards tend to use either a breakout cable adapter that consists of a bunch of cables with phono or jack sockets on the end or a breakout box containing a number of phono or jack sockets Using ShowMagic these outputs can be treated as stereo pairs e g outputs 1 and 2 are the first left and right stereo outputs outputs 3 and 4 are the second stereo left and right outputs and so on or each channel can be selected as a single mono output or in any combination at any time Please Note Channel pairs 1 2 are selectable on both primary and secondary soundcards So if you are using a SoundBlaster compatible primary soundcard with a single pair of outputs and a secondary soundcard with 4 pairs of analogue outputs you will be able to select from 5 pairs of outputs 1 2 on the primary soundcard and 1 2 3 4 5 6 or 7 8 on the secondary soundcard In order to use a multi output soundcard with ShowMagic you need to first set it up using the Control Panel Console utility that is supplied with the soundcard after the soundcard has been successfully installed in Windows See Setting up Multi I O Soundcards p 169 for some sample set up instructions Playing Multi Tracks Multiple Synchronized wav Files If you are using a multiple output soundcard that is supplied with ASIO drivers you can play up to 16
149. function is shown under this title The function fader on the fixture panel cannot go down any further than this and if the blackout button on the Master panel is used this minimum value not zero is sent to the DMX channel The Grand Master blackout GM button however will always send zero values to ALL channels The setting of minimum values can be useful if you want to ensure that certain functions on fixtures are never allowed to go fully off such as the dimming level of fixtures that might be used for emergency lighting Mx The maximum value that will be output to that DMX channel The default Mn and Mx values are 00 and FL Full 100 respectively but these can be incremented or decremented by right left clicking on the values whilst holding down the Ctrl key When a fader is moved to its minimum or maximum level on the fixture panel it s value is shown enclosed in single quotes e g 10 90 etc The setting of maximum values can be useful if you wish to conserve lamp life a lamp that is regularly run at 100 brightness will not last as long as a lamp that is regularly run at 90 Section 3 Patch Screen 17 Ind A DMX channel can be made independent of the blackout Black button on the master panel on the ShowMagic main screen If set to Y then operating the Black button will not affect it If set to N then operating the Black button will set this channel to its minimum value e g if a fixt
150. g of scenes Undo and Store Buttons A temporary store buffer provides a means of undoing any mistakes lt S s that may be made when performing lengthy scene programming Undo Store tasks For instance you might be creating a scene that uses dozens of intelligent fixtures with all their functions set differently Undo and store buttons Clicking on the Store button regularly such as after setting up a number of fixtures so far to your satisfaction would have stored the settings and state of all the faders changed up to that point in the temporary store buffer Now if a mistake is made clicking on the Undo button will recall the changes stored in the buffer i e before the mistake occurred allowing you to start again from there The temporary store buffer is also updated automatically each time a scene is recorded with the settings for that scene 58 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual Flashing a Scene Holding the right mouse button down with the pointer on the scene button will instantly Flash that scene ignoring any fade times etc and letting go of the right mouse button will turn the flash off This is very useful for quickly running through various non sequential scenes during programming to check them Flashing and Releasing a Scene Rather than dragging individual faders up and then locking or releasing each of them one by one so that beams etc can be viewed when creating scenes for othe
151. ged in a number of ways a Highlight the event in the step details display and then type in the values in the same way as typing in fade times for scenes 114 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual b Hold down the Ctrl key and double click on the time to set it to the same time as the previous step c Set them in real time using the Rec button as described below d Use the Auto Playlist see Auto Playlist Function p 125 and Auto Time Auto Time Function p 126 features for auto calculating step trigger times Pausing Resuming Events within a Manual or Timed Sequence If you are playing an event in a sequence and you want to automatically pause that event later in that sequence simply insert a Null Step where you want the event to pause drag and drop the same event into that Null Step hold down Ctrl and right click 4 times on the In action setting to change it to Pa Pause To resume the playing of that event drag and drop the same event into a Null Step later in the sequence and right click 5 times on the action setting to select Re Resume This feature only applies to sound or sequence events not lighting scenes Recording Event Trigger Times in Real Time Trigger times for each event in a timed sequence can be entered automatically for you using the Spacebar key if the sequence panel is on the left or clicking on the Play button as follows 1 Drag events into the Step Details display to create you
152. gic Model where Model is the name of the ShowMagic model you are using ShowMagic desk capacities Lighting Scenes Sequences Sounds Action Buttons Control Events 2304 1536 960 960 960 The term DMX used throughout this manual is a general reference to the type of lighting control output you are using If you have selected Art Net ExPERIMENTAL PMX or MIDI for lighting control output then treat the term DMX as a reference to that Section 1 Overview 3 When the desk is running scenes chases sound events or sequences the DMX and sound output take priority over what is displayed on the PC screen In extreme cases unavoidable due to the possible use of very old slow PC graphics cards etc the updating of faders time displays etc on the screen may lag behind or jump slightly but the actual output of audio video or DMX will be consistent and correct Where possible and appropriate alternatives are provided to using the mouse where the keys on the PC keyboard can also be used to perform many of the functions The numeric keypad on the right of your PC keyboard can be used in a similar way to the keypads on hardware lighting desks for patching channels and setting values etc Edit Event Label User editable event labels can be applied to all ShowMagic event buttons Selecting this item enables you to globally or selectively find and replace all or sections of any event labels This eliminates the need to go to ea
153. given a cue number denoting their running order in the show and the step numbers in a ShowMagic sequence 001 002 etc could be used to represent these cue numbers However during rehearsals the director of a show may decide to insert some extra cues in the show and the usual method used for this is to give these new cues a part step number For instance if a new scene or sound effect is inserted between the original cue numbers steps 019 amp 020 this is given a part step number of 19 05 if another new scene were to be inserted between 19 amp 19 05 it would be given a part step number of 79 03 and so on This method avoids the need to re number all the cue numbers on the original cue sheet ShowMagic includes a feature to accommodate this popular cue numbering system if you highlight a sequence step hold down Ctrl and press Insert a Null Step is inserted at that point but its step number is shown as a part step of 01 You can then set that part step number by holding down Ctrl and left or right clicking on it to decrement or increment that number respectively between 01 and 99 Loading and Saving Sequences Sequences can be saved to disk and loaded from disk independently of the desk file You may wish to use different desks at different times but use the same sequence in a number of these different desks The Load and Save sequence buttons have been provided for this purpose however it is very important that you read th
154. gs of all the event steps in that sequence are synchronized to the internal clock If set to Audio Video or Step 01 to Step 10 all the steps are synchronized to the clocks of those events if those events should drift for any reason then the other sequence steps will remain in sync with them If set to Audio or Video and another of those types of event is run later in the sequence e g a second video event takes over from the first the steps in the sequence will sync to the most recently run event of that type in that sequence In Out Chase This determines whether the first and last scenes in the chase come on and go off instantly Instant or use the chase slope fader setting Slope In Out Snapshot This can be set to Normal or Chase These enable you to determine how the channels shared by multiple chases can be set to blend or jump refer to Snapshots p 117 for a full description Left right click on any of the above settings shown in blue whilst holding down the Ctrl key to change them Section 9 Sequence Panel 107 Live Display In Go In Go In Go The live display When the Edit button is used or you right click on a sequence button this display shows the current step position within a running sequence highlighted and below that the next two steps in the sequence due to run This display is live and it is constantly updated as the sequence is running It is therefore provided pu
155. h for an FX scene you must first turn off any Pan FX Tilt FX or Shape FX presets turn there buttons back to red by clicking on them on the FX generator panel click on the Exit button to exit the FX generator panel change the Effect to Flash using the Edit Scene dialogue box and then click on the FX button to select the FX generator again and re select the Pan FX Tilt FX or Shape FX presets required FX scenes set to flash will run for the Hold period and then stop automatically If any FX preset buttons are highlighted the scene is automatically set to an FX scene and the Eff setting on the FX generator panel or the equivalent Effect setting on the standard scene panel cannot be changed In This can be set to Scene or Spd short for FX Speed If set to Scene then the pan and tilt functions and any other functions that are set to use the Default In time in that FX scene will fade in using the time set in the In option on the left of the details display If set to Spd then the pan and tilt functions in that FX scene will fade in using the value set for the pan FX speed in BPM see FX Speed below Out This can be set as above to select how the pan amp tilt functions and any other functions that are set to use the Default In time in that FX scene fades out If set to Scene then those functions will fade out using the time set in the Out option on the left of the details display If set to Spd then those functions will
156. h the values set for that scene instantly Hold The time that the scene settings are held before fading out when the scene is de activated If set to 00 00 00 00 the scene will start to fade out or go off if no Out time is selected immediately Out The time taken for the faders to fade out If 00 00 00 00 is set then the faders change instantly Type A scene can be set to Normal or Safe If set to Safe its button will be shown in blue with a red border and it will not be affected by the use of any Clear or Black buttons it can only be turned off by double clicking on its button again This allows any essential scenes for background lights etc to be protected from being turned off inadvertently The GM button on the master panel however will always set every channel to 0 off during the time it is activated though the scenes themselves may still be left running Effect This effect setting can be toggled between Off or Flash If set to Off then the scene will come on and will stay on until it is turned off manually or in a sequence If set to Flash then the scene will remain on for the period set for Hold if any then it will go off If Hold is set to 00 00 00 00 then it will still flash on then off instantly A shape can also be applied to a lighting scene making it an FX scene that would then be displayed here using the FX generator described in FX Generator p 63 Grp When scenes are dropped into sequences as described in Cre
157. hannel select code is entered it is sent on MIDI channel 1 the default You will need to refer to the manual supplied with your MIDI controllable device for the appropriate commands but most devices use a Program Change MIDI command with a number for selecting stored settings on the unit If you only enter a MIDI command in the On box then when that MIDI control event is run the LED on it s button will turn on momentarily to show that the command has been sent and then the button and therefore the control event will be turned off automatically If however you want to select an effect setting e g echo when the control event is turned on but you want the event to remain on and send a different MIDI command for another effect setting e g no effect when it is turned off then simply type in the appropriate codes in the On and Off boxes Example Let us assume that the effects unit you are using requires a Program Change 1 MIDI command to select setting 1 which is no effect and the Program Change 2 MIDI command selects setting 2 which is an echo effect By typing in the commands P2 in the On box and P1 in the Off box for that control event running the event will select echo on the device and turning off the event will select no effect To send a Control Change MIDI command type Xn where n is the channel number followed by two decimal numbers separated by commas the first number being the number
158. he stage when run 7 Run the FX scene and whilst it is running you can drag the handles on the Range Limiter box in the FX window to set a range and position that will keep the scanners beams confined to the stage area If you use Pan FX and Tilt FX presets the initial stored reference values of the pan and the tilt faders become irrelevant but you must still record a value for pan and tilt channels in order to include those fixtures in the FX scene It is only when you are using a Shape FX preset such as a circle that requires a central reference point to draw the shape around or 1f you are going to use just one or the other of the Pan FX or Tilt FX and not both that any stored pan and tilt reference values are actually utilised The Fixture Presets The last column on the bottom of the FX generator panel contains the Fixtures presets So far we have applied Pan FX and Tilt FX presets to the fixtures contained in the scene but when we have run the FX scene all the fixtures in the FX scene have traced the same shape in unison Let s assume that six scanners on fixture faders 1 to 6 are contained in the scene the Fixtures presets can select the following options All This preset is the default and it makes all the fixtures in the FX scene do exactly the same shape at the same speed and in the same direction This is what we have been using so far Individual If this preset is selected then ea
159. he appropriate Pulsar fixture from the fixture library Copy another 11 fixtures on faders 014 to 024 using the F12 copy function as described above but this time use the start address of the ChromaZone 6 as the start address of these fixtures The reason for copying the 12 x 3 channel fixtures onto the next page of fixture faders is that they are then all shown together on the same page of fixtures and therefore easier to access and group etc Using 46 Channel Mode In this mode the first 9 channels of the ChromaZone are used as in 9 channel mode above to control all 12 Chroma fixtures together i e 1 Red on all 2 Green on all 3 Blue on all 4 Chase 5 Speed amp 6 Dimmer intensity However the addition 10 channel is used as a master dimmer for the intensity of all fixtures and both chases The next 36 channels are used to control the Red Green amp Blue 3 channel settings independently for each fixture as usual Select Make Pulsar gt Model ChromaZone Option 10 Channel using the fixture Library button and create 12 Pulsar fixtures as described for 42 channel mode as above Other Makes of LED Fixtures Most other makes of LED fixture possess Red Green and Blue channels If a fixture possessing Red Green amp Blue channels is not in the ShowMagic fixtures library simply select Make Generic Colour Model RGB using the fixture Library button and re label it accordingly If a fixture possessing Red Green Blue
160. he faders for each channel on the ASIO Input Output Router display Action Sub Group Settings Exclusive letter groups for action buttons as described in Latch and Exclusive letter Groups p 142 can be used so that any action button set to group A for instance will automatically turn off any other action button set to A that may be running This is a very useful feature for ensuring that only one of a group of action buttons can be running at any one time What 1f however you want to set up the action buttons so that the running of a single action button can automatically turn off action buttons of it s own group but also turn off other action buttons of different exclusive letter groups as well The Action Sub Group Settings menu can be used to select what other letter groups sub groups will be turned off when an action button set to it s own group main group is turned on Click on the Action Sub Group Settings item on the Options menu or double click on the blue group letter on the action panel and a dialogue box will appear a gt zrr e zo monu gt amp VAT 1111111111 N lt xgEg lt ciomomvoz a7 TU UR da a Dd dm Dd N lt xgE lt caonovoz r r r r r r r r r r r r VAT TV TT UIK zrACCia man Z A If you tick Main Group A tick Sub Groups B C and D and click on OK any action buttons set to A will turn off action buttons set to A BUT they will also now turn off any other action buttons
161. how A Act A11 Early Evening D B B STL Show B Dim Background Mid Evening D B Artiste Setting Act A13 Late Evening Act A6 Act A14 Act A22 Act A7 Act A15 Act A23 Act A8 Act A16 Act A24 Action buttons You will notice that the events have been dropped onto the action buttons in a particular order dance floor events in the left column Dim Background scene in the middle column and the other background scenes in the right column This has been done because the way in which you organise events onto action buttons determines how they appear on the user screen as you will see Select the User Screen Access item from the Options menu and a User Screen Access dialogue box will appear The User Screen Access dialogue box allows the programmer to select what action buttons and faders control buttons such as the schedule On Off button etc the end user has access to We only want the user to access the first page of action buttons on the user screen so tick the Page 1 item in the right column and click the OK button 164 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual D B STL Show A Early Evening D B E STL Show B Dim Background Mid Evening D Artiste Setting Late Evening The user screen Select the User Screen item from the Options menu and the user screen will be displayed You will notice that the action buttons are laid out in the same order and positions as on the action panel and any action buttons that are empty are simply
162. ht the Fdr 001 row par can in the Fader list 4 With Num Lock on use the numeric keypad on the right of the keyboard and press the 1 key then the asterisk key then the 1 then 0 keys followed by the Enter key i e 1 1 0 Enter This patches the first fixture for fader 1 at DMX channel 10 the key being used to represent at Fader 1 is highlighted as the active fader so after pressing the keys 1 1 0 the command Fdr 001 Fix 1 at 10 appears in the Command display which means that fixture 1 on fader 1 is being patched to DMX address 10 Pressing Enter confirms this command or alternatively you can press the Del key to delete and re enter the patch command before pressing Enter The Del key on the numeric keyboard is used only for deleting commands The Delete key above the cursor keys is used for many other purposes Please Note An alternative way to enter the start address of any fixture is to double click on its DMX Address row and a dialogue box will appear type in the address and confirm or click on Cancel 5 Highlight the line below the fixture in the Fixture list press Insert and this will add a fixture to that fader Do this twice more and you will end up with four fixtures assigned to Edr 001 Highlighting any fixture and pressing Delete will delete that fixture assignment from that fader after confirmation Section 3 Patch Screen 15 6 7 Press 2 1 2 Ente
163. iddle Clr clear button will de select turned white all presets previously selected shown yellow for the scene generator Scene Generator Options A number of items are available on the Scene Generator dialogue box that can be used to determine how scenes are automatically generated 62 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual Label Prefix As just described you can type in a prefix to the labels that will be applied to the set of scenes that are generated The prefix is put at the start of the label and the name for each preset Color 1 Color 2 etc as shown on the preset panel is added to the end of the label In this way the sets of scenes can be easily identified later Scene labels can of course be changed later in the usual way Group As described earlier an exclusivity group setting for the scenes being generated can be selected here and an optional sub group letter if a main group letter from A to Z is selected so that each scene is automatically set to that exclusivity group as it s default Fade In and Fade Out A fade in and fade out time in Minutes Seconds and Frames for the scenes being generated can be selected here Automatic Overwrite If this item is ticked then the scene generator will automatically overwrite any existing scene buttons as it runs down the scene buttons filling them with the new preset scenes If the item is un ticked then you will be prompted to confirm each overwrite and if you click on the Can
164. ier sound effect step 001 from playing and any earlier scene events from running b If solution a above is not appropriate in a sequence because you may want to leave other earlier events such as video events chases etc still running but not play the sound effect or any previous scenes then you could do the following 1 Set the exclusivity group of step 001 to La here we are using main group letter L to represent lighting scene events and sub group letter a to represent audio events 2 Set any earlier scene events to LI 3 Set any other type of earlier event steps that you don t want to be turned off by a scene event to say V for video events C for chase sequences etc 4 Set the later scene event that you want to turn off earlier sound events and lighting scenes to L For example we now have the following Step 001 trigger Go La a sound effect lasting 6 seconds Step 002 trigger Wait 00 00 LI first lighting scene which auto starts with the sound effect Step 003 trigger Go C a chase sequence Step 004 trigger Go L second lighting scene Step 005 trigger Go XT a sound event of music lasting 2 minutes Step 006 trigger Go XT a Null Step as the last step to stop the sequence When you now Play From Mark or Continue From Mark from step 004 above the following will happen The sound effect in step 001 is not played the
165. ill start the sequence from the step highlighted in the bottom Step Details display If testing the last part of a long sequence you may not want to play it right from the start each time Rew Clicking or holding down on this button rewinds back through a sequence to an earlier step Fwd Clicking or holding down on this button enables you to go forward through the sequence to a later step Stop This is used to stop a sequence if it is running If record mode is on this will turn it off To view the start of the sequence in the Live display simply double click the Stop button Pause Clicking on this button when a sequence is running pauses the sequence and the button illuminates Clicking on the Go button or Spacebar if the panel is on the left takes pause off and continues running the sequence from the position where it was paused GEESE Sequence Faders The grey fader on the sequence panel is a sub master fader for that sequence and it is used to adjust the overall levels of all events in that sequence i e the brightness of lighting scenes and or the volume for sound video events It is an independent sub master automatically assigned to events in that sequence The level setting defaults to FL but it can be adjusted and then stored by right clicking on the Rec button The other two faders are used for chases as described below and for adjusting sound events as described in Adjusting Settings for Sound Eve
166. input level faders do not affect the output volume of those channels they only affect the level of the audio going in to the sound to light section When these are adjusted you will hear no difference but the sound to light meters will react differently to that audio channel Double clicking on the red In button replaces the red in input level faders with the normal orange audio output sub OO 66 Dn e master faders again The sub master faders with the input selector button activated Section 5 Master Panel 31 Section 6 Fixture Panel Fixture Faders Each fixture fader at the top of the panel has a button below it showing its number and double clicking on a button shown in blue on will turn it off then shown grey These buttons can be used to disable the fixture s assigned to that fixture fader which can be useful if a fixture develops a fault during a show the DMX output is disabled S432 az 49 6 23 8 97 gt i e only zeros are sent to any fixtures assigned to a fixture IICA e fader that is turned off irrespective of what scenes are AAA Dim Strobe Pan Coarse Tilt Coarse running that may use that fixture AAA a The DMX universe and start address of the currently highlighted fixture fader is displayed in pink below the large fixture fader number in the central display area A page of 12 fixture faders is visible on the fixture panel at any one time and individual fixtures or groups of fixtures e g a ban
167. instant recognition of event types and item functions Red Orange Cyan Purple Green Blue Grey Light Blue Pink Event Button Lighting scene events Event Button Sound events Event Button Control events Event Button Chase sequence Event Button Manual Timed or Random sequence Event Button Snapshot sequence Event Button Empty no event is currently stored on that button Text and values in yellow can be changed by double clicking on them to produce a dialogue box Text and values shown in light blue can also be changed but in most cases the Ctrl key must also be held down at the same time this is to prevent the accidental changing of more critical settings The requirement of the Ctrl key can however be disabled see General Settings Menu p 153 On the lighting scene panel clicking on any blue items in the details display produces a dialogue box Used for Pop Up Menus Text and values shown in pink can be changed by right clicking on them This produces a pop up menu from which options can be selected Lighting Scenes A lighting scene is simply a desk setting or lighting state in which lighting fixture fader settings are stored along with settings for how that scene should occur when the scene is run using Wait fade In Hold and fade Out times These are in hours minutes seconds and 25 of a second frames and a maximum time of 23 hours 59 minutes 59 seconds and 25 frames can be set
168. ion panel or the Action Panel gt Run Default Action Buttons item on the Options menu Any ShowMagic event assigned to an action button can be made to run automatically provided that no other action buttons in the same exclusive letter group see previous page are running If Default is set for an action button indicated by a green box in the top right of the button and the Action Panel gt Run Default Action Buttons item is ticked on the Options menu or the RD button is turned on shown red then the event assigned to that action button will run automatically if no other action buttons in the same exclusive letter group are on Example Here s an example application using an action button set to On Ex with another action button set to Default Let us assume that you have a room which requires default background lighting until someone enters the room and pushes a button to start a light and sound presentation The background lighting should fade out as the presentation starts The presentation lasts for say 2 minutes and we wish it to run the full 2 minutes without being interrupted or re triggered After the 2 minute presentation has finished the background lighting fades back in The background lighting remains on until someone else walks into the room pushes the button and triggers the presentation again and so on Here is how it can be done 1 Create a lighting scene for the background lighting with fade In and fade Out times of 2 sec
169. it across a number of universes the number buttons to the right of the Command display are used for selecting the appropriate DMX universe when patching fixtures The correct universe number should first be highlighted when patching addresses DMX universe selector buttons Clicking anywhere in a display selects it and it is shown with a red highlighting bar the highlighting bars in the other non selected displays are shown in green You can also scroll up and down through the currently selected display by using the Up and Down cursor keys With the demo desk loaded we will add a number of fixtures to the desk using the patch screen to see how the various patch functions work This can done by using the quick patch and copy feature by using patch and copy commands or a mixture of both 12 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual Quick Patch and Copy Feature 1 Highlight Fdr 009 in the Fader list on the left of the patch screen by either clicking on it or using the Up and Down cursor keys to highlight it 2 Click on the Library button and a Fixture dialogue box will appear Select Generic Lamp from the Make drop down menu and then select Par Can from the Model drop down menu Par Can will then appear under the Label title and under the Fixture Type title The one function for that fixture Dimmer will also appear in the Function list on the bottom right of the patch screen 3 Double click on the address va
170. k of pars can be assigned to these using the Patch screen The numbers below each fader show the fader setting as a percentage i e 00 to FL Full 100 The fixture panel D 1 13 25 37 49 61 73 85 97 1209 gt The fixture page selector buttons Page buttons containing the number of the first fixture fader on that page as it s initial label are provided for access to any one of the pages of 12 faders These buttons can be labelled using up to 3 characters however many will fit by double right clicking on them and entering the label e g you could use sca to denote scanners mh for moving heads par for par cans etc The Up and Down cursor keys can also be used to scroll backwards or forwards through the fixture faders The Page Up and Page Down keys can be used to select the previous page or next page respectively on any panels that contain page buttons Similarly the Home and End keys can be used to select the first and last pages respectively Previous and Next bank selector buttons are provided at each end of the page buttons for selecting any 1 of 4 banks of 10 pages each thus providing access to a total of 480 fixture faders The label for a fixture can be displayed down the left of the fader column using the Options gt Fixture Panel gt Display Fixture Name menu item Section 6 Fixture Panel 33 Function Section Single channel fixtures such as par cans can be fully controlled using just th
171. ke the most of ShowMagic s features and achieve the desired results There are four main scene recording modes in ShowMagic a Record Moved the default shown as Rec M on the scene panel s record button In this mode the settings of all lighting fixture faders that have been physically moved or Cued by a running scene are stored in a scene when it is recorded b Record Tagged shown as Rec T on the scene panel s record button In this mode only the settings of lighting fixture faders that have been tagged are stored in a scene when it is recorded irrespective of what faders have actually been moved c Record Fixture shown as Rec F on the scene panel s record button In this mode the settings of ALL the function faders for selected fixtures are stored in a scene when it is recorded even if those function faders are at 00 or have not been moved d Record by Sniffing DMX shown as Rec S on the scene panel s record button In this mode the DMX values for the grouped fixtures are recorded from the incoming DMX signal via DMX input A recording mode is selected by Right clicking on the scene panel s record button and selecting one of the items on the pop up menu When operating in Rec T mode the background color of the function buttons on the fixture panel default to blue un tagged To tag functions so that only their settings will be recorded you simply Right click on the required function button s to tu
172. l 137 DMX This display shows a list of fixture fader numbers under Fdr and their labels plus the DMX universe number in brackets and start address under Addr for the first fixture assigned to that fixture fader The DMX output values for each channel of that fixture are shown under the appropriate channel offset number C01 C02 etc with a short title e g Pan Tit etc to indicate the function If the Options gt Monitor Panel gt Display DMX Percentage item is ticked then the DMX values will be shown as a percentage 0 FL rather than a DMX value 0 255 E Up to 8 channels can be viewed at any one time but if the fixture possesses more then these can be viewed by clicking on the previous and next buttons on the bottom left of the panel To view the next or previous page of fixture faders right click or left click respectively on the page up down buttons If you click on the Dmx button again the display will toggle to show the DMX input values arranged by simple DMX channels in rows of 8 i e The values are shown as raw channels rather than by fixture functions MIDI If you click on this button the MIDI in port channel number status e g Note On and values for the data bytes B1 amp B2 for any MIDI inputs can be viewed If the Options gt Monitor Panel gt Display Midi Note item is ticked then the first byte B1 will be displayed as a note and octave number rather than a value Up to 29 inputs can be view
173. lay 3 Press 1 to select fixture fader 001 the fixture you are copying that function setting from 4 Press 4 8 followed by Enter to copy that function setting from fixture 1 to fixtures 2 amp 4 but not fixture 3 as the key inputs 3 excluded fixture 3 from the copy command d To copy all of the function settings to the other three fixtures 1 Press F12 twice to select Copy Fader 2 Press 1 to select fixture fader 001 the fixture you are copying all the function settings from 3 Press then 4 followed by Enter to copy all those function settings from fixture 1 through to 4 e To copy all of the function settings to just fixture 3 1 Press F12 twice to select Copy Fader 2 Press 1 to select fixture fader 001 the fixture you are copying all the function settings from 3 Press then 3 followed by Enter to copy all those function settings from fixture to fixture 3 Pressing F12 three times will cancel the Copy Fader command in the function display Clearing Fixture Function Settings using Commands The Delete key to the right of the Enter key on the main keyboard can be used to clear down function faders on one or more fixtures Please Note The Del key on the numeric keypad has a different function being used to clear commands in the function display see below Example 1 Highlighting a function fader pressing Delete once followed by 1 4
174. lease Note The fixture faders on the main desk fixture panel cannot be deleted only assignments to those faders can be deleted If a fixture fader is empty the fader knob on the main desk fixture panel will be shown in plain black Multiple consecutive fader assignments such as faders 4 through 10 can be deleted by pressing Delete 4 10 Enter and confirming on the dialogue box Where a number of fixtures are assigned to a fixture fader fixtures can be removed by selecting the appropriate fader row highlighting the appropriate fixture and pressing Delete Enter the highlighted fixture will then be deleted from the currently highlighted fixture fader The Load Patch and Save Patch Functions The patching of a desk can be loaded and saved independently of Load Desk and Save Desk using Load Patch and Save Patch from the patch screen s File menu The Load Desk function will however overwrite any patch settings as Load Desk loads ALL the desk AND patch settings Load Patch and Save Patch are very useful though for loading in the known settings for a venue prior to creating a new desk Making Fixtures If you are using fixtures that are not included in the ShowMagic fixture Library you can create a new fixture for a fixture fader and save it to disk so that you can still take advantage of ShowMagic s function icon display and control features To create a new fixture do the following 1 Highlight an empty fixture
175. lexity or the vast variety of hardware that the feature supports require more usage before losing the experimental status and being incorporated as a standard feature In the majority of cases you will not notice any difference between an experimental and a standard feature However it is best to assume that experimental features may not be fully stable or always function as expected We do not recommend their use in a production environment without thorough testing The functionality or method of operation of expermental features is also more liable to change or to be removed in later versions viii Experimental features should not effect the standard features of ShowMagic if you decide not to use them 1X Notes on using the User Manual It is assumed that the reader is at least familiar with DMX and their fixtures It is also assumed that the user is reasonably familiar with using menus dialogue boxes etc in Windows Mouse Commands click Click the left mouse button right click Click the right mouse button double click Click the left button twice in quick succession double right click Click the right button twice in quick succession drag Press and hold down the left mouse button on an item e g a fader and slide the mouse up or down To drag and drop an item from one place to another press and hold down the left mouse button on the item you wish to drag move the item to where you wish to p
176. lk away automated method of operation and Live Performance desks use a program then play as I want on the fly method of operation Each of these applications has it s own disciplines methods of creation and methods of operation For this reason all types of scene creation have been supported all three precedences have been made available and two different types of logic for how scenes are run and how they are turned off are also available in ShowMagic using the Normal mode and the Live mode The Normal mode was devised as a system whereby scenes could be turned on and the DMX channels used in those scenes were adjusted accordingly When those scenes were turned off the DMxX channels used in those scenes would then be brought back down to 00 assuming that no other scenes were still running that used those channels In this mode you could determine the state of the DMX channels solely by seeing what scenes were left running at any given time This on is on and off is off approach makes it far easier to program automated or randomised lightshows This mode is also ideal for running automated lightshows in different areas at the same time as you can program pre determine exactly what is on and what is off in any area at any time In Live mode you can use ShowMagic in a more on the fly manner using a similar logic to popular Live Performance lighting desks Put simply when a scene is run the DMX channels are
177. ll Step where you want the events to be paused then double click on the words Null Step The words Pause Resume will then be displayed in white for that step When that step is triggered using the Go button or Spacebar any running events in that manual sequence will be paused The next click on Go or Spacebar will then take the pause off and the running events will resume from the point at which they were paused The next Go received will then trigger the next step as normal To change a Pause Resume step back to a Null Step simply double click on the words Pause Resume This enables you to pause that sequence using Spacebar or any external trigger MIDI input etc instead of having to manually click on the Pause button Stopping a Sequence Step A sequence step in a manual sequence can be stopped by highlighting the step holding down the Ctrl key and left clicking on the sequence STOP button Timed Sequences A sequence with its Type set to Timed is the type most suited to automated shows where each step is set to occur at a pre determined time referenced from the start of that sequence When the last step is triggered the sequence ends so you may need to insert a Null Step at the end with its trigger time set to the time at which you want the sequence to end The last empty Null Step in a sequence is automatically re labelled as End Events in a timed sequence have a default timer setting of 00 00 00 00 and these can be chan
178. lues currently shown in grey as 000 000 in the top right window under the title DMX_ Address and an Enter DMX Address Copy Copy Address Tr dialogue box will appear Cancel 4 Type the value 50 into the Address box to enter a start address of 050 for that fixture If you wanted to assign another 3 par cans to the consecutive faders 010 011 amp 012 and patch them at consecutive DMX addresses 051 052 amp 053 then additionally type 3 in the Copy box before clicking on the Enter button 4 par cans will then be automatically assigned to fixture faders 009 through 012 and they will be automatically patched to DMX addresses 050 to 053 Enter DMX Address Copy dialogue box 5 Highlight Fdr 013 in the list by either clicking on it or using the Down cursor key Then using the Library button select Make Clay Paky Model GoldenScan HPE The label GoldenScan HPE will then appear under the Label title and Scanner will appear under the Fixture Type title The 12 functions of the GoldenScan HPE will also appear automatically in the Function list 6 Double click on the DMX address for that fixture and an Enter DMX Address Copy dialogue box will appear Type a start address of 55 in the Address box and click on Enter button That fixture will then be patched to DMX addresses 055 066 as it is a multi channel fixture that uses 12 DMX channels Clearing an Address To delete a DMX address for a fixture do the abo
179. med sequences the steps become out of sequence time wise then clicking on the Shf Shuffle button will shuffle the sequence steps Shf into the correct time order The shuffle Random Sequences button A sequence set to Random is suited to applications that require ever changing scenes that don t need to run in any predetermined order By creating different lighting scenes or chases and dropping them into a random sequence you can quickly produce an ever varying lighting atmosphere Chases in a random sequence using sound to light will produce an ever changing lightshow that follows the music Instead of activating steps sequentially as in a chase manual or timed sequence the next step to activate in a random sequence is chosen randomly from any one of the steps in that sequence and ShowMagic never picks the same step twice in succession Likewise the time between random steps being activated is also chosen randomly each time Min and Max these are selectable in minutes and seconds By setting the Min time to 2 seconds and the Max time to 10 seconds ShowMagic will pick a random time between each step being triggered that will be no less than 2 seconds and no more than 10 seconds If you want the random sequence to randomly pick the next step but you want it do so after a regular time interval say every 10 seconds then simply set both Min and Max to the same value e g 00 10 116 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual Auto Timed Ran
180. mple Channel 1 is at 30 set by scene 2 the latest scene that was run Channel 2 is at 30 set by scene 2 the latest scene that was run 48 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual Highest HTP When set to this option the highest value stored in any of the running scenes for a particular DMX channel will take precedence Example Channel 1 is at 50 set by scene 1 higher than the 30 of scene 2 Channel 2 is at 30 set by scene 2 higher than the 25 of scene 1 The general precedence for the ShowMagic virtual desk can be set using the Options gt General Settings gt Desk Precedence menu item to None NTP Latest LTP or Highest HTP However the precedence for each function on each fixture i e each DMX channel can also be set independently on the patch screen to DSK same default precedence as selected for the desk see above NTP LTP or HTP Please Note To control the dimming levels of scenes stored on action buttons with the action button s sub master fader the main dimming attributes for the fixtures in those scenes must all be set to HTP on the patch screen Normal and Live Modes ShowMagic has been designed to offer a complete solution for any lighting desk or show control application Traditional theatre desks tend to use a program the scenes then manually trigger them from a set cue list method of operation Show Controllers use a program run and wa
181. mple no effect and Program Change 2 selects setting 2 which is for example an echo effect Section 10 Device Control Panel 133 To send these commands simply type P1 the ShowMagic String Code for the Program Change 1 MIDI command in the On box and click on the Enter button for one control event then type P2 in the On box for another control event and click on the Enter button Now 1f either of these buttons are run by double clicking on them dropping them into a sequence and running that sequence or dropping them onto action buttons which then get triggered in any of various ways the desired effect on the audio effects unit will selected A list of the established General MIDI Instrument names can also be viewed in the Program Change GM Instrument drop down menu These drop down menus are there for reference only they do not perform any other function Numerous string codes can be typed into the On box on the Enter Midi CTRL string dialogue for each control event button and running that control event will output all of the MIDI commands for those codes but the rule is that each code must be a legal code as listed in the String Codes drop down menu and each code must be separated by either a space or a comma If the device is set to receive MIDI commands on any MIDI channel other than channel 1 e g channel 4 then the channel select code C4 must precede any other commands in the On box e g C4 P1 etc If no c
182. n Note if there are a large number Section 8 Sound Panel 95 of files in the folder this can take some time 9 If you hold down Ctrl and click on LP LooP in the details display to highlight it in light blue the playlist will repeat continuously until it is stopped Note if the playlist is set to Random Playlist then each time the playlist is played it will pick the next track in the folder to play randomly but 1t only plays each track once until all the tracks in the folder have been played It then starts again with a new random track order When the playlist option has been selected for a sound event the information in the details display changes to show the following Wave D Jazz 00 46 45 Files 013 a The first row shows the sound event number and its label as normal Out b The second row shows the type of sound event Wave and the channels it is set to play on shown in pink If you are playing playlists on the Default outputs the tracks in the folder can be a mixture of wav mp3 wma files etc Playlist details display c Different playlists can be played to different DirectShow or ASIO audio channels Please Note If you select ASIO channels the tracks being played must be in uncompressed wav file format compressed audio files such as mp3 wma etc are not supported on ASIO channels See Playing Multiple Playlists p for more details d The third row displays
183. n introduced in ShowMagic version 11 greatly simplifies the logic for what fader settings are recorded into a lighting scene and what fader settings are not recorded Put simply only the settings of function faders for a fixture or group of fixtures that have been tagged will be recorded to a scene when the record button is set to Rec T on the lighting scene panel irrespective of what faders have been moved on the desk When using the Rec M Record Moved recording mode there are five possible fader states that affect what fixture functions are recorded to new scenes a Locked the faders percentage values 00 to FL and DMX values 000 to 255 are shown in white b Cued treated as Moved but the values are shown in bright yellow c Released the values are shown in dark yellow Section 7 Lighting Scene Panel 45 d Moved treated like Cued but the values are shown in bright blue e Edited Out the values are shown in dark blue Locked Fader Faders can be set to Locked mode by holding down Ctrl and double clicking on them or anywhere within their fader column the values below the fader will then change from their current color to white to show that that function fader is Locked Locked faders remain at that position and are not affected by any running scenes that try to move them The settings of Locked faders are also never recorded to a scene This is particularly useful if you want to record position s
184. n use the page selector buttons in the bottom left 8 The levels for each channel can be adjusted by using their appropriate faders as normal 9 Stereo Pan Button If you are playing any audio files on a stereo output then the stereo pan position can be set by clicking on the Pan button this will temporarily replace the volume faders with pan faders for each track these faders can then be used to adjust the pan position for that track Clicking on the Pan button again removes the pan faders replacing them with the volume faders 10 Finally right click anywhere in the lower area or click on the Exit button to return to the normal sound panel buttons display Section 8 Sound Panel 103 Section 9 Sequence Panel This consists of a sequence settings display top a sequence sub master fader and two other faders described later on the right of the display with mute and record buttons below them Type Run Opt In Out A Load button a Save button and sequence motor control buttons are also provided below the display Bank buttons A B etc and the page buttons for each bank provide access to any one of the pages Save 00 00 00 00 49 73 97 121 145 169 Shf T Edit containing 24 sequence buttons each Sasiihasass Seq A009 San 017 Cue List Seq A010 Seq A018 The bottom of the panel is switchable By clicking on Timer Sequence AA Sag AD13 the Edit button you can view either the sequence Sree So a2 Sag A020 butto
185. n and Out times set in the details display for that sound event will be used to cross fade between each track E g if the In and Out times are both set to 02 00 then 2 seconds before its end the current track will start to fade out over 2 seconds and the next track will start to fade in over 2 seconds 7 Sequence Insert Introduced in version 12 0 this option enables you to insert and play a sequence between tracks after an interval selectable in minutes up to 999 minutes This could be used for playing regular voice announcements adverts etc Because a sequence is used as an insert any ShowMagic events or combination of events can be played in the inserts e g a digital sign can be displayed whilst an audio announcement is made etc This makes it very versatile but simple to use Notes on using Sequence Inserts a When a playlist contains a Sequence Insert ShowMagic will check when the chosen interval has passed since the last insert was played and will then run the sequence insert as soon as the currently playing track has finished b When a sequence insert is running from a playlist that playlist is paused When the sequence insert has finished the playlist is taken out of pause and continues with the next track in the playlist c A sequence insert must be either a Timed sequence or a Random sequence set to Type Rnd Sel and Run Once If the sequence is a Rnd Sel sequence it must only contain steps that are all
186. nconccnocinccnocononcnoncnnconncnnnnoncnoncnnnonnnons 70 The Random Slope But A A A as 71 WWE Shape FX Presi lic 71 Triggering a Shape FX using Sound To Light oooonocnnccnnccnnocaconnconnononoconccnonccnnnononcconncnnnccnnncnnnos 72 Using the Fixtures Presets with Shape FX Presi in is 72 Clipping Shape FX using the Range Limiter BOX oooonccnnocccoccconccoonoconcconnnconccnnnc con ccnnnccnnnnccnnnnss 72 Changing the Reference Positions in Existing FX ScCen8S oooconconocconncocononcnnncnncnnnonnnnononnncnncnnnenns 74 Color Scene mie ads 74 Creating a ColorScene Lighting S CONS ains 75 ColorSc ne Patch Mod s isrener a ae a O EEE ta Gea ae 717 Case We E E TE A AEA 79 Color Mods a ic 79 TASAS E A SS 80 CL A A tido 81 Using Insert and Dis ido 83 Setting a Coop Potasio s 84 Duplicating and Adjusting ColorScene Chases ccceccceeseeseeeseeesseeeseeeeeeseeeeneeeeceseeeeseaeees 84 Using Dimmers in Col EMS AA weaves E iene wine aint 85 Using ColorScene with Colored Generic Ligh S oooonocnnocinocanoncconnnconncnnnncnoncnncnonanc nooo nccnononos 86 Notes on Mixing Generic and RGB CMY Fixtures on the Same Grld conconconiconicnoconocanoncnnannss 89 SECTIONS Sound PA a at ea 91 Directs Gow anid ASIO Channels ad 92 The Audio Type Selector DUO A ROS 92 Sound Motor Control Buttons ai a 93 Creatine Sound Ernst iii 93 a EA EEEE A A O 93 MIDI PA A A Vantaa RE N 97 COTA E EE 98 Digital Line and Microphone Tati No
187. nd Out values under Default Rec Times on the dialogue box can be used to select default times that will be set on each scene automatically as it is recorded The default times can of course be changed on each scene later in the normal way Default Wait In Hold amp Out times can be set as the default for all the fixture functions stored in that lighting scene Simply click on the appropriate box the box will then be shown pressed down and type in the time that you want in minutes seconds and frames Example Fade Times Default 00 00 00 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 Wait In Hold Out Fade times in the edit scene dialogue box Here we have entered a Default fade In time of 02 seconds and 00 frames by typing 2 0 0 Now if you press Enter on the PC keyboard that value will be stored as the default fade In time for that scene Follow the same procedure to enter any time values you want for the Default Wait Hold amp Out times then click on the Enter button on the Edit Scene dialogue box to remove it You will notice that the default times that you have set will then be displayed in the details display Now if you run that lighting scene by double clicking on its button you will see all the function faders on the fixture panel fade up to the values stored in that scene over the time that you have set for the fade n If you double click on the scene button again to turn it off you will s
188. nd assign Martin MiniMac Profile Mode 2 fixtures to fixture faders 13 14 15 and 16 60 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Go back to the main screen click on the fixture panel tab on the left hand side of the desk and click on the second page button to select fixture faders 13 to 24 You will now see the 4 MiniMac fixtures If you are grouping fixtures the scene generator function will only work if the fixtures contained in that group are OF THE SAME TYPE If you wish to generate preset scenes for a single fixture then don t use the group keys simply highlight that single fixture For this example use the F1 key to turn on group F1 and the buttons below the MiniMac fixture faders will turn red to indicate that they are contained in that group i e the F1 group contains ALL 4 MiniMacs Click on any one of the MiniMac fixture faders in the top section of the fixture panel to highlight it and then click on the color wheel function fader in the bottom section of the fixture panel to highlight that function On the right hand side of the desk select the E scene panel and using the bank and page buttons Scene Generaiog select an empty page of scene buttons such the Label Prefix first page on bank B i e scene buttons B001 to B024 Group xT Subjof Hold down the Shift key and the presets for that Fadein _00 00 00 00 function will be displayed on the right of
189. nel offer even more features to assist in creating scenes Please Note The Rec F feature described in Record Button The Different Recording Modes p 47 offers an easier alternative to using the Locate button described below The Rec T feature described in Record Button The Different Recording Modes p 47 offers an easier alternative to using the Flashing and Releasing a Scene method described below The Locate button and Flash and Release features have been retained to be backwards compatible with the original record moved Rec M system to suit users who are used to using it Centre By double clicking on this button the pan and tilt functions on the currently highlighted fixture or group of fixtures are centred at 50 and any functions needed to open the beam dimmer shutter etc are set to their open position These faders are also all set to moved mode ready for recording using Rec M If you are recording scenes for gobo color etc and you wish to centre and open the fixtures so you can see the beams but you do not want these functions recorded into the scenes using Rec M then you can lock these functions by holding down Ctrl whilst double clicking on the Centre button Section 7 Lighting Scene Panel 57 Double right clicking on the Centre button unlocks those function faders moves them back down to 00 and puts them in the Released state Locate This is used in the same wa
190. nge of products enables you to control from a single PC literally all the technical aspects of any show or presentation that uses e Lighting e Audio playback e Audio input output routing e Effects equipment e RS232 MIDI or IP controllable devices IP device support is EXPERIMENTAL e Multiple digital signs pictures text and FX PowerPoint multiple video file playback and live video capture In other words in the case of ShowMagic AV it is a software equivalent to a e Lighting desk Sound playback device and audio mixer router e Device controller e Digital signage content creator player and PowerPoint slideshow player e Video file player and live video router Models of ShowMagic are available in two sizes to suit the maximum number of DMX channels that you need to control 512 on standard models and 2048 on the Plus models There are 3 ranges of ShowMagic SL Sound output Lighting control and MIDI device control SLX Sound output amp input output routing Lighting control MIDI device control eXternal RS232 IP ExPERIMENTAL device control plus auto scheduler AV As SLX but including on board software video file playback with captured video output multiple digital signage creation playback and single PowerPoint slideshow playback Up to 3 displays are supported in the AV model The AV Plus model provides the same functionality as the standard AV model but supports up to 5 monitor outputs and also in
191. ngs for a sound or video event step will be ignored and the event will stop immediately Pa This will pause the event See Pausing Resuming Events within a Manual or Timed Sequence p 115 for detailed instructions Re This will resume the event if it is paused See Pausing Resuming Events within a Manual or Timed Sequence p 115 for detailed instructions If an event step is another sequence that contains scenes chases and or sound or video events the above In On Out or Off settings will be applied to the first last event s in that other sequence Depending on the type of sequence selected other details may be displayed on the right of the fifth column These will be described in the appropriate sections that follow Keyboard Commands Use Up and Down cursor keys to scroll through the sequence steps one by one in the step details display Use Page Up and Page Down keys to scroll through the steps in the display a Screen Page at a time Use Home key to go to the start of the steps and End to go to the last steps in the sequence The Tab key can be used to toggle through and highlight settings or the sequence step display in order to edit settings or step details Alternatively you can click on the appropriate item to highlight 1t Right clicking in the left half of the step details display will revert back to the sequence button display Quick Find Feature Double clicking on the Ref or Label of an
192. ning then A002 cannot be run 1t is disabled Act OFF If this is ticked and an action button number is selected in the drop down menu below it e g Act A1 then this action button can only be run if the selected action button is off This function is useful if you want to set the conditional logic for a number of action buttons to be dependent on one other action button Act ON This works in a similar way to the above but is conditional on the selected action button being on not off LTP Trigger Selecting a DMX value from the drop down menu will set the LTP Trigger threshold Any DMX value received above that threshold value will be used to trigger that action button Any DMX values below that threshold percentage are ignored Set Page To DMX If you had assigned a number of scenes to consecutive action buttons on a page and you wanted the DMX input channels that correspond to the action button numbers to be used to control those buttons then you can use the Set Page To DMX button to do this automatically for you in the following way 1 Highlight any one of the action buttons on the required page 2 Double click to the right of TG to call up the Set Action Trigger dialogue box 3 Select the required trigger level for the LTP Trigger 4 Click on the Set Page To DMX button this will then remove the dialogue box You will then see that each of the action buttons on that page has been set to trigger by DMX chann
193. nnels Microsoft DirectShow Drivers Audio files in uncompressed wav file format and audio files in mp3 wma or aif compressed formats can all be played by ShowMagic using any available outputs with DirectShow drivers On the Default Directshow channels as selected on the Windows Sound and Audio Devices dialogue box multiple files of multiple types can be played at the same time Please Note On any other DirectShow channels other than the default only one audio file can be played at any one time If an audio file is started that uses the same channels as another audio file that is already playing on those channels the previous audio file is stopped ASIO Drivers ASIO drivers only support playback of un compressed wav files but the advantage of using ASIO outputs is that multiple uncompressed wave wav files can be played to any of the multiple audio outputs with up to 16 channels synchronized and on SLX and AV models audio inputs can also be mixed routed to any of the multiple outputs As described later in this manual any available DirectShow or ASIO channels that ShowMagic finds available are listed in a pop up menu and can be selected for routing your audio files Please Note Not all soundcards that have more than 2 audio outputs allow you to adjust the volume levels on the DirectShow channels using the ShowMagic volume faders This is dependent on the soundcard and its dri
194. not be re triggered if the trigger device switches from off to on again 1 e if the event is already running any more on triggers received will have no effect until the event has stopped The running of another action button set to the same exclusive letter group will turn an action button set to On TRG off Off TRG Conversely if Off TRG is set then the action button will be run when a trigger device such as a physically latching switch is turned off When any of the above settings are used ShowMagic will check for a change in the condition of the trigger then act on that change if appropriate at the time of the change The next four settings differ from the above in as much as the current condition of a trigger input is checked constantly CC On Checks whether the trigger is currently on and if so runs the action button CC Off Checks whether the trigger is currently off and if so runs the action button CC On Ex Checks whether the trigger is currently on and if it is the event is run and will not be turned off until it is finished in the same way as the On Ex setting CC Off Ex Checks whether the trigger is currently off and if it is the event is run and will not be turned off until it is finished in the same way as the On Ex setting Triggering Action Buttons Besides running and stopping events assigned to action buttons by double clicking on the action button clicking on the Go button or pressing
195. not displayed at all The whole purpose of the user screen is to limit what the end user sees on the screen to keep it as simple as possible for them to use The person who programs the desk can decide exactly what functions the end user can and cannot access on the user screen by using the User Screen Access menu item from the main screen Options menu The programmer can also force ShowMagic when started to automatically go to the user screen and prevent the end user from accessing any other part of the ShowMagic desk by using the Auto gt User Screen and System Locked items on the main screen Options menu This can be done in the following way 1 Tick the Load Desk and Run Schedule items if required from the Options gt Auto menu and then tick the User Screen item on the Options gt Auto menu When ShowMagic is later re started it will then automatically display the user screen instead of the main desk screen 2 Select the User Screen Access item from the Options menu and the User Screen Access dialogue box will appear 3 Tick the functions and page buttons that you want to appear on the user screen and then click on the OK button 4 Select the System Locked item on the Options menu type in the password assuming you have created one on the patch screen and click on the Enter button The system will now be locked 5 Select the User Screen item from the Options menu and the user screen will be displayed The Main Screen item
196. ns are provided and this bank and page system provides a very handy way for you to organise events into logical groups for easy access A short label of up to 3 characters however many will fit can be applied to a bank or page selector button by double right clicking on the button and entering the label Each of the panels will be described in the following sections 26 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual Section 5 Master Panel DEDE Mon May 02 15 25 26 SL Plus Clear Scns Clear Seqs ClearSnds The master panel Clear Buttons Clear Scns Clear Seqs Clear Snds Clear Ciris The Clear buttons Double clicking on the Clear Scns Clear Seqs Clear Snds or Clear Ctrls buttons will stop any lighting scenes sequences sound events or control events respectively that are running on the desk Holding down Ctrl and double clicking on any one of these buttons stops ALL events The button s LEDs are illuminated in green if any events of that type are running Section 5 Master Panel 27 The top half of the Master panel contains a sound to light section Sound To Light Section ShowMagic uses the wave record channel on a Soundblaster compatible soundcard for its sound to light features Please Note Some on board sound for laptops and desktops do not have this facility The sound to light functions are not available for soundcards running ASIO drivers However if you are using a Soundblaster compatible soundcard
197. ns or a Live display middle and a Step Details mas BAN Sec display bottom By selecting to view the sequence Sen Ans Sea Bills man Afi buttons the running condition of groups of 24 e een hls aaa Adz sequences can be seen Highlighting a particular sequence button and then clicking on the Edit button opens it up and it shows the details for that sequence in the step details display Alternatively right clicking The sequence panel on a sequence button will toggle between showing the live amp step details displays for that sequence or the button display Seq A008 Seq A016 Seq A024 Sequence Settings The top settings display shows the following for each sequence Label The number for that sequence A007 etc and a label which can be edited in the same way as described previously for fixture fader and lighting scene labels In A fade In time for the sequence sub master fader can be set here by holding down Ctrl and left or right clicking on a time value to decrement or increment that value respectively Any DMX and audio channels used by any events at the start of the sequence will then fade in over this duration if they have been set to do so as described under Mas below Out The fade Out time for the sequence sub master fader can be set here as above Aud Chase only Section 9 Sequence Panel 105 Five sound to light meters are available on the Master panel If the Sound To Light gt On item is ticked on
198. nt Steps p 121 Mute Button A mute button situated under the sequence sub master slider is used to turn sound off on if it is a sound or sound and light sequence In addition if Dim is set on Mas for that sequence then 0 will be sent to all dimmer channels used in that sequence If PT is set on Mas then 0 will be sent to the pan and tilt channels used in that sequence and so on Mute does not stop scenes or sound events from running it simply turns the audio or DMX output off It acts like a combined GM and AM button on the Master panel but it only affects events contained in that particular sequence Double clicking toggles the button on or off 112 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual Chases The Speed and Slope faders next to the sequence sub master fader are normally turned off shown in black but if the currently highlighted sequence is set to Chase then they are made active shown in purple The Speed and Slope faders can be used to control or set the speed of a lighting chase the time between scenes being activated and the slope cross fade time Speed This fader is used to select the speed of the chase in beats per minute BPM Scenes in the chase are executed at each beat so at 60 BPM 60 scenes are executed per minute i e one every second Slope The rate at which each scene fades in and out ina chase is selectable as a percentage of the chase speed e g if a speed of 60 is set then a slope of 50 produces fa
199. o a maximum of 999 steps per sequence and any events can be dropped into a sequence step When the sequence is run the first event shown as step 001 is activated followed by the second event shown as step 002 and so on to the end of the sequence A sequence is stored on a button on the sequence panel and when sequences have been created they can themselves be treated as events that can be dropped into other sequences This makes it extremely powerful yet simple to use The range of slider movement on the ShowMagic virtual desk faders is 128 screen pixels but the actual resolution of the fader value adjustment is 256 steps It was not possible to use a 256 pixel fader strip as the screen resolution is not high enough so a single pixel movement of a fader on the screen is equal to 2 steps This does not pose a problem however as normally this resolution will be adequate but where single step adjustment is needed this can be set in one of two ways 2 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual a Hold down the Ctrl key whilst moving the fader this will select finer fader adjustment and decrement increment the value in single steps b Move the fader to the approximate value that is required and then left right click on the value below the fader to decrement increment the value in single steps Load Desk and Save Desk The complete set up of a desk can be saved using Save Desk and later loaded in again using Load Desk both available f
200. o another drag the scene button onto another empty scene button and hold down Ctrl before dropping it If the original scene button is used in any sequences those sequences will be updated with the new scene button number Scene Generator Function Normally when creating scenes you would select a fixture or group of fixtures highlight a function fader such as Gobo Color etc by clicking on it hold down Shift to call up the Preset panel on the right click on the desired preset and the function fader for that fixture or for all the fixtures in that group would then be set to that preset You could then use the Rec button on the scene panel to record that setting to a scene button You would then repeat this process for creating other scenes for all or some of the other available presets However if there are a lot of presets available for each function on a fixture or group of fixtures the above could prove a laborious process as there could potentially be very many scenes to record one by one For this reason a scene generator function has been included in ShowMagic that can automatically generate all the possible scenes for each function using all the available presets for that function for any fixture or selected group of the same fixtures This eliminates the need for you to create each of these scenes manually Example Here s an example of how to use this function 1 Using the demo desk go to the patch screen a
201. o fader 002 and addressed to DMX channels 004 to 006 and so on 1 Select the fixture panel on the left of the screen this should remain on the left hand side when you are using ColorScene and click on the first page selector button at the top labelled 1 to select fixtures 1 to 12 Patch 00 2 Select the scene panel on the right highlight an empty scene button e g Scene A001 and then click on the button labelled CScn a ColorScene panel will then replace the normal scene panel The panel consists of The ColorScene panel a The usual details display at the top left b An Exit button for exiting the ColorScene panel and returning to the normal scene panel c Acopy of the scene button initially shown grey empty d A Speed fader that uses BPM in the same way as lighting chases with a sound to light frequency selector button below it Left amp right clicking on this button selects the frequency range that will trigger each Colorscene frame LF LM HM or HF or if Off is selected on the button then the speed set by the speed fader is used The combination of the speed amp slope settings determines how quickly the ColorScene frames crossfade and can be re triggered when set to trigger by sound to light e A Slope fader with a randomise selector button below it right clicking on this button turns the randomiser on shown blue or off shown grey The randomiser will randomly pick for each frame whether the slop
202. o select the presets panel for the more common fixture functions there is a quicker alternative to selecting a function on the fixture panel and then pressing Shift to call up the presets panel for that function as described above Special keys can be used when the fixture panel is on the left hand side of the desk and a fixture or group of fixtures has been selected For instance by holding down the D key the main dimming function is selected in the function fader section of the fixture panel and the presets panel for that function will also appear on the right hand side of the desk holding down G will select the gobo function and display that fixtures gobo presets and so on Section 6 Fixture Panel 35 C Color wheel If more than one color wheel exists then this selects color wheel 1 D Dimming function dimmer dimmer strobe etc F Focus G Gobo wheel If more than one gobo wheel exists then this selects gobo wheel 1 I Iris S Shutter X Effects Z Zoom Lee and Rosco Color Filters Presets for RGB CMY Functions If a fixture possesses red green and blue or cyan magenta and yellow functions then highlighting any one of these function faders and holding down Shift will produce a presets panel containing a list of Lee and Rosco filter numbers and labels Clicking on one of these presets will set the three RGB or CMY function faders to the values to produce that color These values are approximate as fi
203. old down Ctrl and double left click on any one of the green cells to turn them all to blue 8 Double click on the scene button to run it adjust the speed and slope faders to suit and you will see the grid changing colors as selected 9 Stop the scene hold down Ctrl and right click once on Opt Down to change it to Up Run the scene again and the colors will chase from blue to green to red i e the frames are running in the order 3 2 1 3 2 1 etc 10 Stop the scene hold down Ctrl and right click once on Run Cont to change it to 01 Run the scene again and the colors will chase from blue to green to red once and it will then stop automatically Let s create another slightly more complex chase where red green and blue colors are scrolled across the grid 1 Exit the ColorScene panel to the normal scene panel 2 Highlight the Scene A002 button and click on the CScn button to enter the ColorScene panel again 3 This time we will assume we are using a 3 x 3 grid so highlight the first fixture fader click on the second patch symbol Patch 01 Grid L R L R and then double click on the first cell This will then patch fixtures 1 to 9 to the grid thus 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 4 Double click on Set to insert the first frame click on the color red third color palette box and draw this color vertically down the first column of cells 5 Double click on the first frame box 01 to make a copy of that frame in the next emp
204. on Clicking on the appropriate tab at the top of one side of the desk selects that panel on that side of the desk Events are all stored on event buttons on their appropriate panels Clicking once on a button highlights it this is then shown brighter and the details of the event stored on that button are displayed in the details display at the top of the panel Double clicking on a button is the equivalent to pressing it and this will start the event if it is not currently running or stop the event if it is currently running i e double clicking on an event button toggles it on and off The main advantage of using this button system is that you can label each button with a descriptive name and the function of each button is then instantly recognisable at any time Each type of event is also color coded so you also know at a glance what type of event is stored on that button Motor control buttons are used on the ShowMagic desk that are similar to controls on an audio or video player For example the Play or Go button runs the event assigned to the currently highlighted button on that panel the Pause button pauses the event and so on The motor controls available for an event varies depending on the type of event stored on that button Most shows or presentations are simply a series of events so ShowMagic lets you put these events together in a ShowMagic sequence Each sequence is divided into steps step 001 step 002 etc up t
205. on this button will set all lighting channels to their minimum settings as defined on the patch screen It does not affect audio 30 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual Auto Save Button Double clicking on this button toggles auto save On or Off When On the com button is displayed in red and the current desk is saved automatically every 5 10 or 15 minutes depending on which duration is ticked on the Options gt Auto gt Save menu Auto Save can also be turned On or Off from this menu Up to Tire anio 10 Auto Save d desk files are saved in the Desk folder as Auto_01 dsk to Save bomian Auto_10 dsk and their numbers wrap round as 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 2 3 4 etc This allows you to revert back through up to ten Auto Save d files Sound To Light Input Selector Button The levels at which each audio channel is fed to the sound to light section is Ta adjustable by double clicking on the audio input selector button labelled In situated on the bottom left of the Master panel The In button is then displayed in red and the normal orange audio output sub master faders on the master The input screen are temporarily replaced by red sound to light input level faders for any selector channels on the primary soundcard with orange buttons labelled Wv Md etc button that are available These faders can then be adjusted to alter the level of that channel being fed to the sound to light section Please Note The red STL Sound To Light
206. onds 2 Drag that lighting scene onto action button A007 and set that action button to Default and Grp A 3 Create a Timed sequence for the 2 minute presentation 4 Drag the Timed sequence onto action button A002 and set it to On Ex and Grp A 5 Set the trigger TG for the action button containing the Timed sequence to an appropriate trigger 144 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual 6 Tick the Action Panel gt Run Default Action Buttons item on the Options menu or click on the RD button to turn it on then shown red Now action button A007 the lighting scene will run automatically set to Default until someone pushes the switch to trigger action button A002 the Timed sequence at which time action button A001 will go off the lighting scene fades out and the presentation begins During the running of the 2 minute presentation further presses of the switch will have no effect because the button is set to On Ex When the presentation finishes the default lighting scene fades back in again until the next person presses the switch and so on By using different sets of action buttons set to different letter groups you can achieve the above for multiple independent rooms On TRG If set to On TRG then the action button will be run when an on state is detected from its selected trigger device This is useful for running timed events that turn themselves off automatically When an action button set to On TRG is run then it will
207. ound to light section This function doesn t usually work with on board sound on desktop PCs and laptops due to hardware limitations selector button See the Audio Input Selector Button in Sound To Light Input Selector Button p 31 for details on adjusting sound to light input levels Audio Output Sub master Faders Up to eight orange sub master audio faders are available depending on the capability of your soundcard These can be used to control the overall volume for each of the different audio types independently Adjusting the first fader will affect the overall levels of all digital audio files that are playing adjusting the second fader affects MIDI file levels and so on The audio levels are shown under each fader with mute buttons below them and each mute button is labelled to denote what type of sound events are assigned to that sub master fader if available on your soundcard Wv for wave file output Md for MIDI output Di for digital input Ln for line level input and Mc for microphone input The sub master audio faders Section 5 Master Panel 29 Multiple ASIO Audio Output Sub master Faders If you are using one or more multi input output soundcards with ASIO drivers page selector buttons will appear below the audio input In selector button The page selector These buttons can be used to select the sub master faders for the multiple rae uttons ASIO output channels The ASIO channel sub mas
208. our BPM setting 1 8 This selects one of the 8 BPM slots for that sound event 2 Start the sound event in the normal way so that you can hear it playing 3 Whilst holding down the Ctrl key tap Spacebar in time to the BPM you are logging After every four taps of the Spacebar ShowMagic will display the BPM setting The displayed BPM value can then be used as a reference when setting the BPM for the chase on the sequence panel 100 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual Deleting a Sound Event To delete a sound event click on the button and press Delete You will be prompted to confirm or cancel If the sound event is used in any sequences you will be informed of this and if you confirm the deletion it will be removed from all sequences that contain it Copying a Sound Event To copy a sound event drag the button or its label from the details display onto the button that you wish to copy it to dropping the sound event elsewhere e g back onto the same button or back into the display will cancel the operation If the sound events are on different pages then select two sound event panels on the desk one on the left and the other on the right and copy from one to the other If the sound event button you are copying to already has a sound event stored in it you will be prompted to confirm or cancel the overwrite Moving a Sound Event To move a sound event from one button to another drag the button onto another empty sound e
209. ove from left to right across the grid When the color first appears on the left of the grid it will appear at 50 brightness when it moves to the centre column it will increase to 75 and when it moves to the right column it will be at 100 1 Right click on the Color button to change it to Dim the color palette will then change into a dimmer palette and the two faders at the top will change into a sub master fader that controls the overall dimmer levels and a slope fader that controls the slope for dimmer channels 2 Click on the third box in the dimmer palette in a similar way to the color palette the first and second boxes are fixed at 000 off and 255 full brightness respectively Dimmer levels for each box in the dimmer palette can be set by moving the dimmer function fader on the fixture panel for any of the fixtures used on the grid to the desired level or selecting a preset using the presets panel and double clicking in the box to store it For this example store 75 in the Dim 01 box and 50 in the Dim 02 box 3 Select the frame 02 box click on the Dim 02 box and draw down the first red column This will set the level of that red column to 50 Section 7 Lighting Scene Panel 85 4 5 6 7 Select the frame 03 box and draw down the left green column to set it to 50 Click on the Dim 01 box and draw down the middle red column to set it to 75 Select the frame 04 box and draw down the middle green col
210. owever you can now hold down the C key to call up the color presets panel on the right of the desk and by clicking on any color preset button set that group of fixtures to that color preset This feature works for any functions recorded into a lighting scene assigned to an action button that is highlighted and running on the left hand side of the desk If the lighting scene has been recorded with only values for the color function holding down C will enable you to change the color setting live as above but holding down G will have no effect because no values for the gobo function were recorded to that scene If you want to be able use this feature to change the color gobo dimmer etc using a single action button then you must record all those functions into the lighting scene that you create for that action button Please Note The Key Activated Presets item on the Options gt Action Panel menu must also be ticked in order for this feature to work on the action panel Setting Editable Events for the User Screen If the Options gt User Screen Access gt Realtime Edit item is ticked then a dark blue UE option will appear in the details displays for action buttons You will also notice that an Edit button will appear on the user screen If you highlight an action button hold down Ctrl and click on the UE option a User Screen Realtime Edit dialogue box will appear and this enables you to determine what can be edited directly from
211. p letter i e A will turn off any events set to A or sub groups Aa to Az To set a sequence step to a sub group highlight the step hold down Shift instead of Ctrl and then left right click to decrement increment through the sub group letters Alternatively highlight the step and then type the main group letter followed by the sub group letter within 1 second To reset a sub group back to a single main group letter simply type the single letter Action except Chases The action that the event should perform within the sequence is shown in the fifth column Left right clicking using Ctrl on an action description selects Section 9 Sequence Panel 109 In If a lighting scene this will use any Wait and fade In settings Similarly if the step is a sound or video event any fade up settings for that event will be used On This will set that event to play instantly all Wait and fade In settings for a scene will be ignored it will come straight on at the set levels Similarly any fade up settings for a sound or video event step will be ignored and the event will play immediately at its volume setting Out If a scene this will use any Hold and fade Out settings Similarly if the step is a sound or video event any fade down settings will be used Off This will set that event step to stop instantly all Hold and fade Out settings for a scene will be ignored the scene will go off instantly Similarly any fade down setti
212. play click the record Rec button and then click the bottom Play from Mark half of the Go Button The sequence will then start from the fourth step and subsequent clicks on either half of the Go button or Spacebar will set the times for each subsequent step until the sequence is stopped b Click on the Play button to start the sequence from step 001 When step four has triggered at 1ts set time the Fwd and Rew buttons can be useful for skipping through long sections to save time click on the Rec button to turn record mode on The fifth step will then wait until the Go button is clicked again or Spacebar The time within the sequence at that moment will then be recorded as its trigger time and so on for the other steps When recording timer settings in real time using the Rec button if you continue clicking the Go button or pressing Spacebar then Null Steps will be added to the end of the sequence until Stop is used In this way you can continue logging times and adding Null Steps and events can be dropped into these steps later A Null Step is automatically inserted at the end labelled End and set to 23 59 59 24 this can be deleted later or the correct time at which you wish to end the sequence can be typed in for that End step in the usual way If you wish to insert a Null Step between event steps when recording in real time press Insert instead of either clicking on the Go button or pressing Spacebar If when recording ti
213. previous step Hold down and click on the Sequence Rec button to record a snapshot to the currently highlighted Sequence button Hold down when dragging events into a sequence to create an event change step Hold down and click on the Sequence Shf button to set auto playlist times Hold down and double click on a Null event step to change it to a Step Text event Hold down and press Insert to insert a Null event step with a Part Step number Hold down to display settings faders for highlighted sequence step event if any are available Hold down when clicking right clicking on exclusivity groups to select sub groups Ctrl Shift Hold these down and click right click on sequence step s times to auto time all Section 15 Appendix 177 steps in the marked area from that step downwards Insert Inserts a Null sequence step Zeroes highlighted time settings 1 Scrolls up and down the sequence steps display when it is selected on the Sequence panel Sound Panel on Main Desk Ctrl Hold down and tap Spacebar 4 times to log BPM when a sound event is playing Control Event Panel on Main Desk Shift Hold down and click on X or Y settings to select Ctr Action Panel on Main Desk Shift Hold down and click to toggle between midi note program change selection on the action panel Tab Used to scroll through extra midi trigger functions Back Pause amp Next on action panel Patch Screen
214. r functions Gb selects Gobo channels Msc selects all remaining lighting channels and Snd selects sound event audio channels Holding down Ctrl whilst clicking again on any of the above un sets it shown dark blue again the sub master sequence fader and In and Out settings will not affect those channels Type Holding down the Ctrl key whilst left right clicking on the description to the right of Type selects the sequence type for the currently highlighted sequence button A sequence can be one of the following types e Lighting Chase shown in purple see Chases p 113 e Manual sequence shown in green Manual Sequences p 113 e Timed sequence shown in green Timed Sequences p 114 e Random sequence also shown in green Random Sequences p 116 Snapshot shown in blue Snapshots p 117 Unlike the other types of sequence this cannot be changed to another type It is fixed as a Snapshot Min Random sequences only The minimum time in minutes and seconds up to 59 59 that ShowMagic will wait before picking a step to activate next can be set here Max Random sequences only 106 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual The maximum time in minutes and seconds up to 59 59 that ShowMagic will wait before randomly picking a step to activate next can be set here As well as randomly picking the next step the time for each step is also picked randomly within the times selected in the Min and Max settings e g if a Min of 0
215. r then 3 1 5 Enter then 4 1 7 Enter This patches the 2 3 and 4 fixtures of that fader to addresses 12 15 and 17 These are then shown in the Fixture list and 004 is shown under the Fixs title in the Fader list to indicate that four fixtures are assigned to that fader Highlight the Fdr 002 row GoldenScan and press 1 5 0 Enter Now because the fixture was selected using the Library button ShowMagic knows that the fixture requires 12 consecutive channels so it automatically patches the GoldenScan to 12 consecutive channels starting from the channel supplied i e channel 50 The channel range 050 067 is thus indicated under the Dmx Address title in the Fixture list as being patched to that fixture The four par cans are now assigned to fixture fader 1 and patched to channels 10 12 15 and 17 and a single GoldenScan is assigned to fixture fader 2 and patched to DMX channels 50 to 67 Multiple Assignment and Patching Commands For speed and convenience ShowMagic offers features for assigning and or patching multiple fixtures with a single command by using other keys such as on the numeric keypad for Thru and function key F12 for Copy For instance if you were using 10 GoldenScan HPE fixtures and you wished to assign these to fixture faders 1 through 10 on the desk you could do the following 1 2 Click anywhere within the Fader list to select it The highlight bar will then
216. r functions a quicker alternative is available If temporary scenes are created and recorded in which just the lamps are turned on the scene can be flashed by holding down the right mouse button with the pointer on the scene button but in addition if the left button is clicked prior to letting go of the right mouse button the faders are left at that scene s settings but put into Released mode The pan and tilt settings can then be made and only those settings will be stored when the scene is recorded When recording multiple chase movement scenes etc other quick and easy means of leaving dimmers turned on without recording them are to a Record just the dimmers to a scene set it to a Safe scene and run it b Double click whilst holding down the Ctrl key on the Dimmer fader s to lock it Numerous scenes can then be set up and recorded but the Dimmer settings will not be stored in those scenes as they are in Locked mode and they will remain on until the safe scene is deliberately turned off or the fader is unlocked manually by double clicking on it again whilst holding down Ctrl Sliding a Scene Button You can slide a scene button up like a fader by holding down the Ctrl key when you drag it to bring that scene on Any up and down drag movements can be used to adjust the relative fader levels of all faders used in that scene the percentage level 00 to FL being shown on the left of the Blackout window Taking your fing
217. r receipts of the trigger or Spacebar presses will trigger the next step in that sequence and so on until it reaches the end of the sequence i e they will all act as the Go button for that Manual sequence On Ex Section 12 Action Panel 143 All Trigger Inputs If On Ex is set indicated by a red box in the top right of the button and that action button is in an exclusive letter group then double clicking on the button using Spacebar or receipt of the appropriate trigger will turn the action button on However once it is turned on it cannot be turned off except by using the motor control stop button or the Clear button on the action panel and any other action button set to that letter group cannot be turned on either until the event has finished 1 e any trigger inputs for other buttons in that group are simply ignored until the running On Ex event has finished This option is provided so that action buttons can be set to run exclusively in that group and be allowed to finish It is only suitable for events that automatically stop after a period of time such as Timed Sequences sounds video events captured video with a selected To time scenes set to Flash Chases set to Once etc Off Ex All Trigger Inputs This option works in exactly the same way as the On Ex option described above but it is triggered on the condition being off rather than on Default The Default setting is used in conjunction with the RD button on the act
218. r sequence and then click on the Rec button to activate it it will flash off and on in red to indicate that the sequence is in record mode 2 Click on the Play button or press Spacebar to start the sequence and the timer will begin incrementing The first step is of course always set to 00 00 00 00 The second step will then wait until the Play button is clicked again or Spacebar is pressed the time at which you clicked on Play or pressed Spacebar will then be recorded as that steps trigger time 3 The next step will then be highlighted in the sequence step display waiting for the next click on the Play button or Spacebar and so on for all the events When the stop button is used the sequence will stop and the record button will be de activated Now pressing Play will run that sequence using the recorded timings Trigger times can of course be edited manually later in the usual way Using the Play and Play from Mark buttons trigger times for individual steps can be set in real time at any time This need not be done in a single session Example You have set the trigger times for a four step sequence in real time and have then pressed Stop You now wish to add three more steps to the end of the sequence so you drag them in as normal Now you wish to set the trigger times for the last three steps in real time This can be done in two ways Section 9 Sequence Panel 115 a Highlight the fourth step in the details dis
219. r steps in manual sequences correctly to achieve the right results as will now be explained with some examples If you use the Play From Mark feature with timed sequences ShowMagic can automatically calculate what events in that timed sequence should be running at the trigger time set for the step it was started from and what events would have finished by that time Example a timed sequence contains the following Step 001 trigger time 00 00 00 00 group XT a sound effect lasting 6 seconds Step 002 trigger time 00 00 00 00 group XT first lighting scene Step 003 trigger time 00 01 00 00 group XT second lighting scene Step 004 trigger time 00 02 00 00 group XT a sound event of music lasting 2 minutes Step 005 trigger time 00 04 00 00 group XT a Null Step as the last step to stop the sequence If you were to highlight step 003 and then click on the Play From Mark button the sequence would be started 1 minute in trigger time of 00 01 00 00 and the following would happen Section 9 Sequence Panel 127 a The lighting scene in step 003 would be run and because it is set to XT the previous scene in step 002 is automatically turned off b ShowMagic would not play the sound effect in step 001 however because we have started the sequence 1 minute in step 001 would normally have been triggered at the very start of the sequence 00 00 00 00 and because it only has a duration of 6 seconds it would have
220. r timed sequence can be started from the step currently highlighted in the step details display rather than starting from step 001 Sometimes in a live performance however you may need to skip sections of a pre programmed show or go back a few steps whilst the sequence is already running the Continue From Mark feature has been included to accommodate this At any time when a manual sequence is running rather than clicking Go or Spacebar to trigger the next step in the manual sequence as shown in the live display you can click on any step in the step details display to highlight it and then click on the bottom Play From Mark half of the Go button ShowMagic will then jump to that step in the sequence 1t will be triggered and ShowMagic will then await a Go or Spacebarl to trigger the next step after that as normal Similarly at any time when a timed sequence is running highlighting a step in the step details display and then clicking on the bottom Play From Mark half of the Go button will restart the timed sequence from that point time in the sequence Notes on using Play From Mark and Continue From Mark There are fundamental differences in the logic involved when using the bottom half of the Go button as a Play From Mark or Continue From Mark button in a timed sequence and using it in a manual sequence It is important that you understand the difference so that you can set the exclusivity settings fo
221. re are playback and logic control features available that are specific to action buttons only The panel contains pages of 24 action buttons to which any lighting scenes sounds lighting chases or other events can be assigned Page selector buttons provide access to the other pages of action buttons Section 12 Action Panel 139 If the Main User Screen Button item on the User Screen Access Menu see User Screen Access Menu p 158 is ticked then a button marked US User Screen can be used to go to the user screen as an alternative to using the Options gt User Screen menu item A button marked DT Disable Triggering can be used to disable the external triggering of action buttons see Triggering Action Buttons p 145 and it is an alternative to un ticking the Options gt Action Panel gt Enable Action Triggers menu item When this option is off button shown in grey any action buttons set to trigger by external devices will have a T displayed in their LED graphic A button marked RD Run Defaults can be used to turn on the Run Default Action Buttons function described in Operation Options p 143 Action Buttons When an event is assigned to an action button see Assigning Events to Action Buttons p 140 the button changes to the appropriate event color for easy recognition e g ifa lighting scene event were dragged onto an action button that button would be changed to red to indicate a lighting scene event
222. rely for information purposes as none of the details can be changed via this display Any changes to sequence steps are made on the Step Details display as described next Step Details Display Step Number Each event in a sequence is called a step and step numbers are shown in the first column Sequences can vary in size from a sequence containing 2 lighting scenes to a sequence containing hundreds of lighting scenes chases sound or control events A total of 50 000 steps are available with a limit of 999 steps per sequence but sequences are sized dynamically i e if the first sequence uses 100 steps there are then 49 900 steps remaining for use in other sequences See also Part Step Numbering p 131 The step details display Ref This shows where the event is stored e g scene A001 etc Label The event s label is shown in the third column Group Event steps can be set to EX XA XT LA or to one of 26 main group letters labelled A through to Z by left right clicking on them with Ctrl held down or by highlighting the step and then typing the group letter These determine which events are turned off automatically when the event occurs later in a sequence Only EX XT or LA can be set in chases 108 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual If set to EX then this event will be EXclusive in that sequence all previous events of any type scenes chases sounds etc are automatically turned off when this step
223. rent pan and tilt fader positions as being Moved by the running FX scene will be recorded to that FX scene rather than the static positions stored in the Reference scene ColorScene The ColorScene feature has been included in ShowMagic to simplify the programming of color patterns using LED lighting fixtures and single channel Fixed Color fixtures such as par cans with color gels Some manufacturers produce moving head and floodlight fixtures that use LEDs instead 74 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual of normal lamps these can be treated and programmed in the same way as other moving heads etc that use RGB or CMY color mixing channels The majority of LED fixtures however tend to be programmed and used in a dramatically different way to other DMX lighting fixtures they are used to produce moving colored lighting effects without any physical movement of the fixtures Typical applications would be Strips of LEDs to light the length of the underside of a bar or to highlight cornices ceilings etc LED panels used for illuminating dancefloors etc ColorScene provides a means of soft patching ShowMagic fixture faders containing LED fixtures or colored par cans onto a graphically visible grid which enables very quick and easy programming of any desired effects in a uniquely simple way A ColorScene lighting scene is more like an FX Scene than a normal ShowMagic lighting scene 1 e rather than it being a
224. rn them red tagged or blue un tagged 50 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual Double clicking on the scene panel s clear button labelled as either Clr Y or Clr N will clear all fixture faders back down to 00 When using the Rec T recording mode tagged functions are not un tagged when the clear button is used unless you hold down Ctrl when double clicking on the clear button Before creating and recording a scene in Rec M and Rec F modes it is good practice to clear the desk first to ensure that all the faders are in Released mode and at 00 This is where the Clear button comes into play Clear Button Double clicking on the Clr button will clear any fixture fader settings on an aaa the desk except Locked faders and it will also turn off any running scenes Clr Y except Safe scenes see Type below If you hold down Ctrl whilst double clicking on the Clr button it will also unlock and clear any locked faders except faders locked by running Safe scenes This provides a clear Clear button desk on which to create new scenes There are two settings for the Clear button Clr Y and Clr N and these settings effect what happens to any running scenes and fixture fader settings on the desk when you record a scene You can change this setting by right clicking on the button and selecting one of the following from the pop up menu Clear on Record Yes When selected the desk is automatically cleared down each time you record
225. rom being changed Key Activated Presets If this item is ticked the Key Activated Presets feature will be enabled If un ticked the keys will have no effect on the action panel Midi Record Enabled If this item is ticked you can select what MIDI note triggers the highlighted action button by pressing the required key on an external MIDI keyboard whenever the keyboard icon on the action panel is shown see above Number Action Buttons If this item is ticked then ShowMagic will print the numbers of the action buttons A1 A2 etc on the bottom left of those buttons Run Default Action Buttons If this item is ticked any action buttons set to Default will then be automatically run if no other action buttons in the same letter group are running Fixture Panel Menu Display Fixture Name if this is ticked then the labels for fixtures are displayed down the left of the main fader columns on the fixture panel Monitor Panel Menu Display DMX Percentage by ticking this item the DMX outputs on the monitor panel will be shown as a percentage 0 FL rather than a DMX value of 0 255 Display Midi Note by ticking this item the first byte B7 on the MIDI Monitor display will be shown as a note and not as a value Section 13 Main Desk Screen Options Menus 157 User Screen Access Menu Selecting this item brings up a User Screen Access dialogue box F Clear Seqs Button and then provide your cli
226. rom the File menu on the main desk screen A single desk set up programmed for just a few lighting scenes a show or even numerous shows can be saved and loaded at any time The File gt New Desk option will clear the desk set up after confirmation and a copy of the current desk is automatically saved as a file called Backup dsk Normally when ShowMagic is initially run all the lighting scene sound control event and sequence buttons are empty Each can then be selected and programmed or alternatively a desk set up that was previously programmed can be loaded in using Load Desk and then adapted to create a new one VERY IMPORTANT We recommend that you should save your work regularly An auto save feature is provided to do this automatically for you It is also a good idea to save an important desk set up file twice under two different names e g MyShow dsk and MyShow Backup dsk should one of the files get inadvertently overwritten or deleted then you can revert to the other Floppy disk CD Rom or USB memory stick back ups are also strongly recommended and we have implemented optimised load and save routines that keep the size of desk dsk files to a minimum enabling even desk set ups for large shows to be saved to a single floppy disk or low capacity memory stick ShowMagic files can be loaded from or saved to anywhere on your hard disk s but they default to their own folders within the program folder the default being C AVSS ShowMa
227. rsal groups select a group F1 to F8 and then double click in the display above the trackball Universal group mode is then selected and F1 to F8 above the trackball will be shown in pink rather than white Double clicking in the display above the trackball again reverts back to page group mode and F1 to F8 will then be displayed in white to denote page group mode A quick way to include all 12 fixtures in a selected page group or universal group is to hold down Ctrl and double click on the group number above the trackball all the fixtures on that page will then be included in that group A quick way to remove all 12 fixtures from a currently selected group is to hold down Ctrl and double right click on the group number all the fixtures on that page will then be removed from that group 38 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual Multi Button Shown below the trackball this can be used to view the currently Multi highlighted function fader for all 12 fixtures on the page For instance 1f you highlight fixture fader 001 click on it s dimmer function fader and then click on the Multi button to turn it on shown red the 12 function The Multi button faders for fixture 001 will be replaced by any dimmer function faders that are possessed by the 12 fixtures with each dimmer fader appearing directly below its fixtures fader If any of the 12 fixtures do not possess that function a blank fader is displayed The Multi button can
228. running time of those tracks c The fourth row shows the range of tracks to play defaults to A N and the total running time of that range of tracks Right clicking with Ctrl to the right of Play will change the display to show the track number to play from and the track number to play To Left or right click on these track numbers with Ctrl to adjust them Clicking on RND with Ctrl will toggle between enabled bright blue or disabled dark blue When enabled ShowMagic will randomly pick the order in which to play those tracks In the same way the LP loop option can be enabled disabled to continuously loop the sequential or random playing of those tracks d The fade In and fade Out times in seconds and frames default for both 00 00 These In and Out times affect how the CD playback starts and finishes it does not affect each track 1t just fades in the first track in the selected range and fades out the last track in the selected range The fading of each track is pre determined on the music CD itself If a CD sound event s track range is set to A and you change the CD in the drive clicking on the play button will automatically refresh the details display for the currently loaded CD first before playing it Digital Line and Microphone Input a The second row shows the type of event e g Aud Microphone b The fade In and Out times default to 00 00 and can be used to open and close the inputs over a duration of
229. s gt Auto Patch Fixtures and confirming on the Auto Patch dialogue box System Menu This menu can be used to check that you have the appropriate sound resources etc correctly installed You don t need to tick any items on the System menu they are there just to show you what resources are available If any sound resources are not available then check that your soundcard should possess them and if so use the Windows control panel to set them up correctly or re install the latest soundcard drivers Direct Capture Selecting the System gt Direct Capture menu item will display the device on your soundcard that ShowMagic will use for the sound to light features If No Direct Capture is shown then the sound to light features will not work On board soundcards or certain laptops may not have this capability so to use sound to light you will need to upgrade your soundcard or use an external interface that is Soundblaster compatible 22 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual Notepad Menu The System Notepad and Desk Notepad menu items can be accessed from the patch screen as well as from the main screen as described in The Notepad Menu p 161 Section 3 Patch Screen 23 Section 4 Main Desk Screen Now that the patch screen has been described the rest of this manual will be dedicated to the User screen User Screen p 163 and the Main Desk screen that is described next and is accessed from the patch screen by selecting the Options gt M
230. s using the sub master fader the main dimming attribute for those fixtures must be set to HTP precedence on the patch screen See Function List p 17 for details on how to do this The sub master fader Mute Button A mute button situated under the fader is used to mute the sound if the action button contains a sound or video event turn all the lighting off that is used in a scene or Chase event or turn both lighting and sound off if it is a light and sound sequence Mute does not stop scenes Chases or sound video events from running it simply turns the output off Double clicking on the mute button toggles it on or off Latch and Exclusive letter Groups Each individual action button can be set to either LA meaning Grp Latch or to one of 26 exclusive letter groups labelled A to Z by holding down the Ctrl key and then left clicking or right clicking on that description Alternatively you can hold down the Ctrl key and The group display hit the required letter on the keyboard If an action button is currently set to a letter group and you wish to set it back to LA then hold down the Ctrl key and hit the 0 zero key If buttons are set to LA then any number of those buttons can be run at the same time They must be turned off by double clicking on them again by a trigger or by using the Stop button when the appropriate action button is highlighted If set to an Exclusive letter group A B etc then the
231. s a a i aa eao E 13 Cl aring AN A Cdr eSS neenon AA eos 13 A A E E A E A A 13 Fixture A e a E E cae ees RE E ncaa reas A sviuduadedepcen escatc Vianna E A EAEE 14 Patch and Copy Commands tadas 15 Multiple Assignment and Patching Command5s ceceeccceesceesecesseeeseeeseeeeseceeeeeaeeneeesseeneeenenaees 16 eye ates 01031 Eist aendre e e TE R E E E TE E E E ETEN 17 Notes on Matching Fixture Fader Numbers to DMX ChamnelS ooconnconiccnocnnccnoncnononccconncconnccnnncnns 18 Notes on Overwriting DMX Addresses Already in US8 ooonoconocccnoccnococonononnncnonononcconccconononnnncncnnns 19 Deleting Fader and Fixture Asi id 19 The Load Patch and Save Patch Functions iii 19 Making PARTIES sists ina comcast annua eat anak agree cas a a flat a eerste ca Tet ala ce CR oes 19 The Test Buttons Fdr anid Di oda 20 Load Fixture and Save Fixture FUNnCtonss sscccsecsceehdacecs renacentista detras 21 Change PASS WO AOS 22 AMO A A e od 22 Syste Meni eree e A OS 22 Notepad Misa aa s 23 Section 4 Main Desk Screen ccccccccccsseeseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeseeeeeeeeeeeseeneeecceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 25 Maii Desk O aa saath cemtastaciia enh a adds 25 Section Master Panel coin eee ie ee eee ee 27 Clear BOS tad tt 27 So und To Light Section ia AAA A A AAA AA 28 Audio Output Sub master Pads ai ob dvanttncdercdajadoghiaavtes 29 Multiple ASIO Audio Output Sub master FaderS ooooocnnoccnocaconcconncnoncconncnonccnnno nono connnonnnonanonnnnnnos 3
232. s described in ColorScene p 74 A blue LED in each meter will be triggered and will jump to the top of the meter when the volume shown as green LEDs in that frequency range reaches a threshold TH selectable between 10 and 90 of the volume This setting applies to all the meters Any settings displayed in blue such as the ones above can be adjusted by holding down the Ctrl key whilst left right clicking on them A response setting RP between 25 and 100 is also selectable for each meter independently and this determines how soon after a blue LED has been triggered that it can be triggered again 28 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual 100 1 4 second 75 1 3 second 50 1 2 second 25 1 second When the blue LED has been triggered it falls back down at the selected response speed An auto gain function is also implemented wherein the overall volume of the audio is checked by ShowMagic at a selectable period and the sensitivity of the meters is automatically adjusted to allow for consistency between loud and quiet pieces of music The auto gain period AG is selectable between 1 and 10 seconds Channel selectors Selecting the button above the audio master fader AM selects all audio channels what you hear to be used for triggering sound to light Double clicking on any other sound to light channel selector button situated above an audio channel fader selects that audio channel only to be fed exclusively anal to the s
233. s for the original chases will remain unaffected A snapshot cannot be changed into a chase manual timed or random sequence it is fixed at Snap Events can later be dropped into a snapshot or deleted from it in the usual way and these events can be set to In or On but no other settings are available In Out When a snapshot has been recorded you can select either Normal or Chase for In Out as described below Normal When set to Normal the events in that snapshot will use their normal fade In and Out times if In is selected for that event step in the snapshots step details display If On is selected for that event step then that event will come on instantly when that snapshot is started and go off instantly when that snapshot is stopped and any In and Out settings for that event are ignored Please Note The sequence sub master fader In and Out times for that snapshot if set to anything other than 00 00 00 will be used when the snapshot is started and stopped If any In and Out settings are made for event steps within that snapshot then these will be used AS WELL AS the sequence sub master fader In and Out times The sequence sub master fader In and Out times have the highest priority however and it is important to know how this affects events within that snapshot particularly when the snapshot is turned off To help explain what happens to events in that snapshot take the following simple example Example A snapshot con
234. s on each side with a gap of four cells in between Right click on X03 nine times to increase it to X12 then right click on YO3 nine times to decrease it to Y12 We are only going to use one row of 12 cells but making the grid 12 x 12 keeps the cells square It also shows that you can position multiple rows or groups of fixtures on different sections of the grid and use ColorScene to apply effects across multiple groups of fixtures 1 e you can roughly simulate the actual physical layout of your fixtures Click on fixture 1 on the fixture panel decide on which grid row you want to place your 8 par cans and click on the cell 1 in that row to soft patch that fixture to that cell Soft patch fixtures 2 to 4 to cells 2 to 4 in the same way Highlight fixture 5 and double click on cell 9 Do likewise for fixtures 6 7 and 8 to soft patch them to cells 9 10 and 11 respectively We now have fixtures 1 to 8 soft patched to cells 1 2 3 4 9 10 11 and 12 respectively 86 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual Because par cans are single channel dimming fixtures that use colored gels their colors are always fixed and you can only create ColorScene chases for the dimmer function of these fixtures However it would be very useful if the colors of the par cans could be represented on the grid to observe the effect of those colors dimming For this reason you can set a color for each cell in the grid that is fixed for generic fixtures This is done using the
235. same as the previous event 3 Drag the sound event button containing the same midi file event from the sound panel onto the Null Step BUT hold down the Ctrl key before you drop it Step 004 is now a volume change event VL will be shown to the right of the sound event name and the value of the volume level for that sound event as was set on the sound panel will also be seen to the right of VL In a similar way to adjusting settings for sound event steps you can also set the volume and fade time by highlighting that step holding down Shift and adjusting the first and third faders Volume fader The setting of this determines the volume that the sound event will play at after the volume change event step has been activated and the fading has finished Fade Time fader This determines the time that it will take to fade up or down from the current volume level to the level set for the volume change event This is adjustable between 0 seconds and 99 seconds If you click right click on the value below this fader the time can be decremented incremented in half second steps A half second is shown as a point e g 7 equals 7 5 seconds If you wished to change the pan setting rather than the volume setting for that sound event in the sequence you can do so in the following way 1 Drag the sound event button containing the same midi file event from the sound panel onto a Null Step BUT hold down the Ctrl key before you drop it Step
236. scene was run Creating an FX scene To create an FX scene do the following Section 7 Lighting Scene Panel 63 1 Move the pan and tilt for each of the fixtures so that their beams are in the desired positions 2 Record that setting to a scene button and change its label via the Edit Scene dialogue box to something like Scans Centred This can then be copied onto numerous empty scene buttons so that you can apply FX scenes to each of those new buttons without having to re record the positions again each time 3 Copy the Scans Centred scene button onto another empty scene button and change its label via the Edit Scene dialogue box to something like Scans Shape 1 4 Click on the FX button and the normal scene panel will be replaced with an FX generator panel The FX generator panel consists of a details display the items of which can be changed by clicking anywhere in the display to produce the Edit Scene dialogue box an EXIT button for exiting the FX generator and returning to the normal scene panel a copy of the scene button five faders four of them having buttons below them an FX window and some FX preset buttons FX Generator Details Display settings on the left Wait You can set a delay time here for the FX scene to wait when it is run before any functions stored in that scene other than pan amp tilt movements which occur straight away are brought in using the In time In If a fade In time is set then
237. scribed above this is by no means the only use of these functions as the names suggest the complete set up and assignments for any fixture fader either made or loaded using the Library button can be saved by highlighting that fader row and selecting File gt Save Fixture and later loaded in by highlighting the fader row that you wish to load it into and selecting File gt Load Fixture The Load Fixture function combined with the multiple assignment and patching commands can save a lot of time when it comes to setting up a new desk before creating a show For instance if you had used 4 fixture faders on the desk for a previous show to control 4 moving head fixtures each and you had saved one of those faders with all its fixture assignments you could do the following on a new desk for a larger show requiring a similar set up but for 8 fixture faders 1 Highlight a fixture fader row in the Fader display 2 Select the File gt Load Fixture menu item and choose the fader set up saved previously You now have a fader instantly set up with all its 4 fixture assignments and Function list settings for each fixture Min Max etc the DMX patch settings are not of course saved as these invariably have to be set each time for different venues Now for example simply pressing F12 1 8 Enter i e Copy Fdr 1 thru 8 creates eight fixture faders each with 4 fixtures assigned to them that s 32 fixtures set up and ready
238. seconds and frames 98 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual Running a sound event button containing Digital Line or Microphone Inputs will open that input and turning off the event will close it The label for any sound event can be edited in the details display in the normal way and values or time settings can be edited by clicking on them to decrement the value or right clicking on them to increment it with the Ctrl key held down in both cases For example if you wished to start a wave file 10 seconds into the file you would simply hold down the Ctrl key and right click on the From seconds digits to increase them from 00 00 00 to 00 10 00 The volume fader is used to set the playback volume for that sound event and double clicking the mute button directly below it toggles mute on and off to turn off the output volume Sliding the pan fader up past the halfway mark centre pans the stereo image of that sound event to the left sliding it down past the halfway mark pans it to the right Motor Controls With output sound events clicking on the Play button plays the event from the From time position to the To time position In the case of input sound events however Play simply opens the channel and Stop closes it The From and To values can also be set in real time by pressing the Play button to play it and then clicking on any of the From digits whilst holding down Ctrl at the moment that you wish the event to start
239. sections of a show or even an entire show can be created as a sequence The way in which shows and presentations are run can vary enormously so there are 5 different sequence types available in ShowMagic to allow for this They are a Chase b Manual c Timed d Random e Snapshot Chase Unlike single lighting scenes that occur only once each time they are run a lighting chase is a sequence containing two or more lighting scenes When the chase is run the first scene in the chase is executed followed by the second etc and a chase defaults to run continuously in a loop until it is stopped Ifa sound event is contained in a chase sequence it is ignored Manual This is similar to a Cue List on popular lighting desks but unlike lighting desks a ShowMagic Manual sequence can be used to cue much more than just lighting scenes You may be running a show where for instance lighting scenes music sound effects etc must be operated manually to allow for fluctuations in human participants timing Each step of a manual sequence lighting scene music etc can be activated manually by pressing the Spacebar key if the sequence panel is on the left hand side or by clicking on the green Go button on the panel when that sequence button is selected highlighted Timed To create an automated show or presentation where each event is activated at a pre determined time the sequence type can be set to Timed A time referenced from
240. ser access to the event stored on that action button irrespective of whatever page of action buttons it is stored on It is particularly useful however if used in conjunction with the Conditional settings described next Conditional The settings in this section enable you to quickly and easily apply conditional logic to the normal running or triggering of an action button This should eliminate the need to have to set up complex switches hardware logic by performing all the logic in software The idea of the Conditional settings is this an action button is only enabled allowed to be triggered depending on the condition of another action button i e it can only be triggered if the other action button is running OR if the other action button is not running This is different to exclusive groups using A B etc We will assume we are using action button numbers A001 and A002 and A002 is the currently highlighted button Off If this is ticked then conditional logic is not applied to this action button Prev OFF If this is ticked then the Previous action button A007 must be off for this button A002 to be enabled so that it can be run If action button A007 is running then A002 cannot be run it is disabled 148 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual Prev ON If this is ticked then the Previous action button A007 must be on in order for this button A002 to be enabled so that it can also be run If action button A007 is not run
241. sing Spacebar when the sequence is already running will start the next event in that sequence if its event Trigger is set to Go Stop This will stop any event assigned to the highlighted action button but unlike double clicking on the action button when it is running the event stops immediately ignoring any Hold fade Out or volume fade down settings set for that event Pause This will pause the event and the button is illuminated Clicking on Go or Spacebar takes pause off Rew This is used only for sequences on action buttons If a sequence is running it will move back to the previous step in the sequence Fwd This is also used only for sequences If a Timed sequence it will move forward to the next step It has no affect on a Manual sequence Go must be used instead to move to the next step Section 12 Action Panel 141 Action Panel Sub Master Fader The fader on the action panel serves a number of purposes depending on what type of event has been assigned to the highlighted action button If it is a sound event it acts as a volume control shown in orange otherwise it acts as a sub master fader for the scene Chase or sequence If the sequence includes sound events the overall volume s of the sound event s are also adjusted by this fader assuming that Snd has been highlighted in that sequence s details display Please Note To control the dimming levels of lighting scenes stored on action button
242. snap and that scene is assigned to an action button Dragging up the sub master fader for that action button will run the scene the pan and tilt will fade to their recorded settings over 2 seconds the color and gobo will instantly snap on to their settings and any manual adjustment of the sub master fader will determine the level of the main dimmer function HTP setting recorded in that scene When operating in Normal or Live mode if the sub master fader is dragged down the dimmer level will follow the sub master fader level When operating in Normal mode if the fader reaches 00 the scene is told to go off so the color and gobo will snap off instantly and the pan amp tilt will start to fade out over 2 seconds When operating in Live mode if the fader reaches 00 the scene is turned off but the all functions not set to HTP will remain in their current position Recording Scenes With Sub Master Control If you record a scene whilst using sub masters to control the overall levels of running scenes the scene being recorded will take account of the current levels of any channels being controlled by the sub master s In this way what you see level wise will be what you get when you later run that recorded scene Using the Fixture Panel s Centre and Locate Buttons In a similar way to double clicking on the fixture panel s trackball to move pan and tilt channels to their central position the Centre and Locate buttons on the fixture pa
243. so available which allow you to store and recall the settings of the audio sub master faders on the Master panel A sound event can be set to do any one of the following if your soundcard supports it and is correctly set up in Windows on your PC e Play wave files off any of the PC s hard disks e Play a mid MIDI file off any of the PC s hard disks e Play tracks from a CD in the PC CDROM drive e Select digital audio input from the digital input socket e Select audio input from the line level socket e Select audio input from the microphone level socket e Adjust the levels of the audio faders on the Master panel Mute buttons under the faders on the Master panel can be used to toggle mute on and off for each channel independently this does not stop sound events from playing it simply turns off the output volume The type of audio for each mute button on the Master panel is shown as Wv for Wave Md for MIDI CD for CDROM Ln for line input and Mc for microphone input Section 8 Sound Panel 91 DirectShow and ASIO Channels ShowMagic supports 2 different types of audio drivers DirectShow drivers and ASIO drivers Either or both of these drivers may be available for one or more of the audio outputs on the soundcard depending on the audio hardware you are using For instance with an M Audio Delta 1010 multiple output soundcard there are DirectShow drivers available for analogue outputs 1 to 8 and ASIO drivers available
244. step in the sequence as is required in this case then simply double clicking on the white step number of the start marker step highlighted in red will set the end marker as the last non empty step in the sequence step 005 3 Hold down both the Ctrl and Shift keys and then right click four times on the seconds digits for the Till FX events trigger time and you will notice that the trigger times for all the steps in the marked section below that start step are also incremented by 4 seconds Similarly clicking or right clicking on any of the Hours Minutes Seconds or Frames digits for an event s trigger time will decrement increment those digits on all events highlighted in blue below that step When a marked section is active you can move an end marker to a step earlier or later in the sequence by simply double clicking on the desired step s white number When the desired times have been set the markers can then be removed in any of the following ways a Double click again on the white step number for the end step the last step highlighted in blue b Double click on the white step number for the start step the step highlighted in red 126 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual c Click on any blank step below the last step in the sequence d Click on the Edit button to remove the step details display Continue From Mark When you use the bottom half of the Go button Play From Mark a manual o
245. t action scene sound buttons etc can still be turned on and off in the normal way and certain audio lighting faders can be adjusted but all programming and recording functions are disabled Also if a password has been set and this item has been ticked when you select the user screen the Options gt Main Screen menu item on the user screen will be disabled and a password will need to be entered in order for the user to exit the user screen and return to the main desk screen This enables you to restrict end users to the user screen they will not be able to access the main desk screen at all unless they know the password If a password has been set using the Options gt Change Password menu item on the patch screen this password will be requested if you attempt to lock or unlock the desk or exit the user screen If a valid password is entered the System Locked item will be locked or unlocked as appropriate If an invalid password is entered you are notified and the attempt to lock unlock the system will be cancelled 160 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual The Notepad Menu System Notepad Selecting this menu item will produce a notepad that you can use to make notes on system specific items Only one system notepad is available and it is stored automatically along with other system specific settings such as the type of output you are using with ShowMagic and so on Desk Notepad Selecting this menu item will produce a notepad
246. t before using the device control panel to communicate with the device To create a MIDI control event do the following 1 Click on a control event button to highlight it 2 Double click on the port select button containing the icon depicting a MIDI socket This selects output from the MIDI port for that control event button and the details will then be shown in the details display 3 If you have more than one MIDI port on your ShowMagic PC then hold down Ctrl and then left right click to the right of Port to select the port you wish to use for that control event 4 Double click to the right of On and an Enter Midi CTRL string dialogue will appear 5 Type in the appropriate code in the On box for the Example C1 P27 964 V100N505457 MIDI command that you wish to send A list of valid codes to type in can be viewed in the String String Codes Codes drop down menu X Control Channel X1 to X15 Program Change GM Instruments 000 Piano 1 Please Note casal These codes are upper and lower case sensitive a lower case p has a completely different function from the upper case P both being used to send The enter MIDI control string different MIDI commands dialogue box Example Let us assume that the effects unit uses Program Change MIDI commands to select settings e g the receipt of a Program Change 1 MIDI command selects setting 1 on the unit which is for exa
247. t to Note Events Within Events It is not just the events stored in a sequence that you need to be aware of when using the same sequence in different desks it is also any events contained within the events stored in the sequence 132 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual Section 10 Device Control Panel The panel contains control event buttons to which these events can be assigned Bank selector buttons labelled A B etc with page selector buttons for each bank provides access to the available control events A details display and port select buttons are provided A sub master fader with mute button timer display and motor control buttons are also included Using MIDI Controllable Devices A typical MIDI device that you could control with ShowMagic would be a MIDI controllable audio effects unit For instance if you were a live performer using ShowMagic to play wave files as your backing click tracks with your lighting synchronized to each track via timed sequences for each song you could use MIDI control events to turn on off certain effects such as echo or reverb on an audio effects unit In this way the singers microphone could be fed into the effects unit and by dropping appropriate MIDI control events into the timed sequence echo or reverb etc could be applied to the vocals automatically at exactly the right moment in the song A MIDI cable must first be connected between the MIDI port on your PC and the MIDI controllable effects uni
248. taining a lighting scene has its sub master fader In and Out times both set to 1 second Section 9 Sequence Panel 117 The lighting scene event in that snapshot has it s own fade In and Out times set to 2 seconds on the scene panel That lighting scene event step is set to In in the snapshots step details display Now what happens when the snapshot is turned on The sequence sub master fader takes 1 second to fade up to full by this time the scene is at 50 and so it continues to fade up to it s stored levels over the remaining 1 second What happens when the snapshot is turned off The sequence sub master fader takes 1 second to fade down to 0 the scene has faded down to 50 by this time but the sequence has finished so the scene then goes off instantly So in effect the scene was simply forced to fade out over 1 second rather than 2 by the priority of the sequence sub master fader Out time Chase Setting the In Out on a snapshot to Chase allows you to Blend the channels used by a number of chases contained in that snapshot If you are running chases recorded into snapshots and these chases use the same fixtures the various scenes used in those chases will move smoothly between each others positions if those chases are set to In in their snapshot If you wish those chases to restart from their recorded start positions to jump there rather than blending then set them to On Experiment with these In and On settings to a
249. teps mimeesi Ne 119 Inserting Null Sequence DS ai caller eeorniees 120 Changing Event Settings Within Sequences siii ia ta tds 120 Adjusting Settings for Sound Event Steps ivscsesscssvevcvcincssceisccercevesseseacsctacenteaenseastoterscesascacdticaaes 121 Adjusting Settings for Lighting Scene Event StePS ooooonoccnnocnnocononcconncnonaconcconncconcconncconncnconns 122 Live Editing of Scenes in a Manual Segun iii tdi 122 Adjusting Settings for Chase Event StepS oooooooncononoconcconnaconcconnoconccnnnncononcononnn conan cn cnnnncaconnss 123 Creating a Sound Event Volume or Pan Change Step c cccsessssscscsrssseccseccescssnnseseeesacens 124 Auto Playlist PUC ia a Ns teeta beats 125 Po A EA 126 Continue From Mark sicario la ts 127 Text On ENCISO tad 130 Part Be ph UID SINE dara 131 Loading and Saving SEQUENCES ti a A 131 Section 10 Device Control Pannel sseecceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeseeeeeeeneeeeeeeeeeeeesscceeeeeeees 133 Using MIDE Controllable Devices uti da is 133 Deleting a CORO EV A A A 135 Copyina a Control Event o iii 136 Moymg a COTO E A a a e e a a en e 136 Section 11 Monitor Panel cnica 137 DUES A EN 138 MIDE ta 138 A A A 138 Section 12 Action Panel oir s 139 Action BUM ARE 140 Action Button LEDS dao ta 140 Assigning Events to Action BUON A A A Bibesnanene 140 vi Deleting Action Button Assim an sa 141 Acton Motor Control Buttons tance a a cee oy araa a Saale 141 Action P
250. ter faders are shown in red to denote ASIO channels with orange buttons to denote output labelled 1 to 8 The page selector buttons can be used to select sub masters for all the available ASIO output channels In the SL Free Edition the number of ASIO output channel sub master faders is limited to the first 8 output channels The sub master audio faders These faders can be adjusted to determine the overall volume of the ASIO outputs and their orange buttons can be used to mute un mute the outputs by double clicking on them Master Output Faders An Audio Master fader orange is provided for controlling the master volume of all audio channels and double clicking on the audio master AM button toggles mute on and off on all audio channels as with all mute buttons it does not stop audio from playing it simply turns off the output volume A Grand Master fader is provided for controlling the master levels of lighting and double clicking on the grand master GM blackout button sets ALL lighting channels to 0 Hold Button Double clicking on this button will hold the current DMX lighting state This is useful if you want to load another Hold desk but keep the current lighting state running Black temporarily Similarly if you are programming lighting The hold scenes but need to maintain the current DMX output then button this button can be used to program blind The blackout button Blackout Button Double clicking
251. that are set Action sub group to groups B Cor D settings dialogue box DMX Settings Selecting this menu item will display a Dmx Settings dialogue box DMX Settings DMX Output Devices Enttec Settings Out1 No Device fi Refresh Rate 40 1to40 Break Time 9 9 to 127 MaB 1 1to 127 Set Default DMX Input Device Input No Device ae Threshold 005 F Merge Flash 255 F F Thru F r Record Scene 000 F Action Trigger On Grand Master 000 Audio Master DMX settings dialogue box Section 13 Main Desk Screen Options Menus 155 Any devices that ShowMagic sees either physically or via Windows registry entries are listed with the number of those devices found and any relevant Comm port that they occupy in the DMX Output Devices drop down menus DMX Output Devices To set the first DMX output device simply select it from the Out1 drop down menu and do likewise for Out2 Out3 amp Out4 if appropriate Ifusing FTDI type USB to Serial interfaces you will need to select the correct interface from the drop down menu as it is not possible for ShowMagic to interrogate them to distinguish between them This is due to limitations of the devices ShowMagic can only detect that a USB to Serial Interface is assigned to a comm port it cannot tell what type it is so it lists all possible devices that could be occupying that port s and it is up to
252. that you can use to make notes on desk specific items This notepad is saved along with the desk using the Save Desk and Save Desk As menu items so each time you load a desk file its notepad is loaded with it To use a notepad simply select one of the above type in your notes and then click on the Enter button If it is the System Notepad the contents will then be saved automatically to disk If it is a Desk Notepad the contents are saved when you save the desk Start Up Notepad This is similar to the Desk Notepad The difference is that it is used to display messages or instructions on a notepad dialogue box when ShowMagic is started up Selecting Start Up Notepad Edit from the Notepad menu will produce a notepad dialogue box in which you can type messages If you then tick the Start Up Notepad gt Enabled item from the Notepad menu this notepad will then automatically appear when ShowMagic is started Quit Notepad This works in a similar way to the Start Up Notepad but is used to display messages or instructions when quitting from ShowMagic Both the Start Up Notepad and the Quit Notepad are saved in the desk file so each desk that is loaded can have different Start Up and Quit notepad messages Section 13 Main Desk Screen Options Menus 161 Section 14 User Screen Please Note This section makes reference to scheduling features which are not available in the SL series of models The user screen has been designed as a simple
253. the Options gt Display Dip Switch menu item to tick it will replace the fixture Name with the correct dip switch setting to set on the fixture for that DMX address Clicking again on the Options gt Display Dip Switch menu item will un tick it and the dipswitch settings will be replaced with the fixture Name When assigning physical fixtures to fixture faders using the fixtures menu the necessary number of channels for that fixture is automatically patched once the start address is entered The figure shown in brackets is the DMX universe number 1 4 Patch and Copy Commands Another method of patching and copying fixtures is by using commands Patch and Copy commands are particularly useful if you are assigning and patching multiple fixtures that are not addressed consecutively to one fixture fader Let us assume that you are using 4 par cans whose individual dimmers are set to channels 10 12 15 and 17 and a GoldenScan HPE set to channel 50 and you wish to control the 4 par cans using a single fader The following is how you would patch those fixtures 1 We will start with an empty desk so select the Options gt Main Screen menu item select File gt New Desk from the main screen and click OK to confirm then select Options gt Patch Screen to return to the patch screen 2 Using the Library button select Make Generic Lamp Model Par Can for Fdr 001 and Make Clay Paky Model GoldenScan HPE for Fdr 002 3 Highlig
254. the left decreases the width dragging down from the centre increases the height and dragging up from centre decreases the height The Shape FX Speed fader is used to select how fast the fixtures in the FX scene trace the shape If set to 60 BPM the fixtures will trace 60 circles per minute 1 e one per second Section 7 Lighting Scene Panel 71 If The Shape FX Slope fader is set to FL then the circles will be traced continuously If set to 50 then the shape will be traced over half the speed setting the fixtures will then remain static for half a speed setting and so on Triggering a Shape FX using Sound To Light If the button below the Shape FX Speed fader is set to PK LF LM HM or HF respectively the shape will be traced at the speed set with the fader whenever that sound to light channel is triggered then it will remain static until triggered again and so on Using the Fixtures Presets with Shape FX Presets The Fixtures presets All Individual and Odds Evens work in a similar way with shapes as they do with Pan FX and Tilt FX patterns but it is the shape that will be traced in opposite directions e g If Shape FX Circle is chosen All will trace the circles on all the fixtures in the FX scene in a clockwise direction Individual will randomly pick the direction for each fixture s circle and Odds Evens will trace the odd fixtures circles clockwise and the evens circles anti clockwise Clipping Shape F
255. the ports that you wish to enable for MIDI input Threshold When using the Vol M and Vol T settings for starting stopping and controlling the level of an event on an action button the minimum threshold MIDI value that will trigger the event can be set here Action Trigger On If this box is ticked then any action buttons set to be controlled by MIDI volume levels will be enabled If it is not ticked then any MIDI volume inputs are ignored by the action buttons 156 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual DMX to Midi If you are using a MIDI dimmer pack then you can select DMX to Midi On select the MIDI port to use for MIDI lighting control output from the drop down menu select the MIDI Channel Midi Ch 1 to 16 and the DMX address range 1 64 Now if any DMX fixtures have been set to the channels within that DMX address range they will receive lighting control instructions via MIDI rather than DMX Action Panel Menu Auto Increment On Spacebar If you are using the action panel on the left or the user screen and you are using Spacebar to trigger the currently highlighted action button ticking this menu item will cause the next action button to become highlighted ready for triggering In this way action buttons can be triggered sequentially using just the Spacebar key Disable Midi Note Changes If this item is ticked it will remove the keyboard icon from the action panel and prevent the current midi triggering options f
256. ther Settings Menu x 16 Bit Settings rom Ticking Enabled and then ticking the appropriate functions enables 16 bit operation for fixtures possessing fine channels such as fine pan fine tilt fine focus etc M Enabled Audio ASIO Settings 16 bit settings dialogue box Selecting this item produces an Audio ASIO Settings dialogue box on which you can select what ASIO drivers to use with ShowMagic Any drivers found by ShowMagic audio ASIO Settings are listed and are selectable from the drop down menu Once the ASIO Settings Driver Creative ASIO drivers are selected they are stored Outputs User Label and they will be remembered by oco Meik ShowMagic each time you run it Mono Wave Inputs User Label Analog Mix R There is an option to apply user labels to the DirectShow and ASIO DirectShow Settings audio input and output channels This Outputs User Label makes it easier to identify the Stereo SB Audigy 2 ZS Audio B000 Stereo Out A A A channels when using audio routing events etc To apply a label to each can channel simply select the channel from the drop down menu and enter l l the label in the box to the right of it Audio ASIO settings dialogue box If user labels have been applied to 154 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual channels then those labels will replace the default labels as used by Windows The labels are also shown running down the side of t
257. ticked a Reset button will appear on the user screen If the user double clicks on this Reset button all events will be stopped and any fixture faders on the desk will be cleared down Use Fader Buttons If ticked then the sliders on the user screen will be replaced by Up and Down buttons These buttons are easier to use on a touch screen then the regular faders Touch the Up button once to increment the level by one notch or touch the Down button to decrement the level by one notch If you hold either button then the level is constantly incremented or decremented As with the sliders the Up and Down buttons for the currently highlighted action button will appear in the color appropriate to the event stored on that action button If the event is a lighting scene the scene can be faded in manually using the Up button The audio master Up and Down buttons are always displayed in orange and the grand master lighting Up and Down buttons are always displayed in blue Clear Scenes Button Clear Seqs Button Clear Snds Button amp Clear Ctrls Button If any of these are ticked then a smaller version of that clear button as found on the Master Panel will be made available at the bottom of the User Screen Section 13 Main Desk Screen Options Menus 159 Page Selectors You can determine what pages of action buttons can be selected on the user screen by ticking the appropriate items here These pages can then be selected by the user via th
258. ting FX Scenes If you have created a number of FX scenes that used a particular reference position such as the centre of a dance floor in the earlier example and you later wanted to change that reference position for whatever reason maybe you have had to move the scanners on the rig then you can change the position quite easily without having to create all the FX scenes again from scratch Do the following 1 Use the scanners pan and tilt faders to re position them on the new reference position 2 Record that position onto a new scene button label it as e g Reference then run that scene button We are now going to store the new reference positions for the scanners as Cued by the running Reference scene in each of the FX scenes so set the scene panel s clear button to Clr N by right clicking on it so that when we are re recording the FX scenes the faders are not cleared down and the Reference scene is still left running 3 Set the scene panel s record button to Rec M recording mode using right clicks 4 With the Reference scene running click on the Rec M button to set it recording and then click on the FX scene that you want to store the new reference positions in 5 Repeat step 5 above for each FX scene that you want to re record 6 Turn off the Reference scene and set the clear button back to Clr Y if required Please Note Make sure that no FX scenes are running when you are re recording them otherwise the cur
259. tion button event is kept running via the following MIDI the action button will be turned on when an appropriate NOTE ON command is received via MIDI by holding down the appropriate key on an external MIDI keyboard or sending it from an external MIDI sequencer If the key on the external MIDI keyboard is released issuing a NOTE OFF command or if the appropriate NOTE OFF command is received from an external MIDI sequencer then the button goes off Spacebar Hitting Spacebar when the action button is highlighted and the action panel is on the left of the screen will turn it on Hitting Spacebar again will turn it off UNLESS the event assigned to the action button is a Manual sequence in which case subsequent presses on the Spacebar will trigger the next step in that sequence i e it will act as the Go button for that Manual sequence Go PI This option has been specifically included so that the steps in any Manual sequences that are assigned to action buttons can be triggered using Spacebar or various inputs If the event assigned to the action button is not a Manual sequence then Go PI works in exactly the same way as the On Off setting described above However if the event is a Manual sequence then Spacebar and MIDI Input the action button will be turned on when the appropriate trigger is received or Spacebar is pressed when the action button is highlighted and the action panel is on the left of the screen However furthe
260. ty frame box 02 is then shown in the second frame box Our current frame 6 With frame 02 highlighted right click once on the SX display short for Scroll on X axis and this will scroll the colors to the right 82 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual 7 Click on the green color in the palette and draw this down the first column 8 Double click on the frame 02 box to make a copy of that frame in the next empty frame box 03 and with frame 03 highlighted right click on SX to scroll the colors to the right select blue and draw it down the first column 9 Double click on the frame 03 box to make a copy of that frame in the next empty frame box 04 and with frame 04 highlighted right click on SX to scroll the colors to the right You will notice that the first column now contains the red color that was scrolled off the right of the grid 10 For this chase we want the red green and blue columns to appear from the left scroll right across the grid and then disappear off the grid to the right So for frame 04 simply select black and draw down the first red column this will set that first column in that frame back to black 11 Double click on the frame 04 box to make a copy of that frame in the next empty frame box 05 and with frame 05 highlighted right click on SX to scroll the colors to the right You will notice that the first column now contains the green color that was scrolled off the right of the grid Drag down the first col
261. umn to set it to 75 Click on the Dim 02 box and draw down the first blue column to set it to 50 The right red column is at 100 which is OK Select the frame 05 box and draw down the first red column to set it to 50 Click on the Dim 01 box and draw down the middle blue column to set it to 75 The right green column is at 100 which is OK Select the frame 06 box and draw down the middle red column to set it to 75 Click on the Dim 02 box and draw down the first green column to set it to 50 The right blue column is at 100 which is what we want Now when you run that ColorScene chase the colored columns will increase in brightness as they are scrolled from left to right across the grid Using ColorScene with Colored Generic Lights The dimmer function in ColorScene can be used effectively for generic fixtures Let us assume that you are using 8 par cans 4 on each side of a stage The innermost cans have yellow gels the cans next to them have green gels the ones next to those have blue gels and the outermost cans are red 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Select New Desk from the File menu to create a new empty desk Go to the patch screen and patch 8 par cans to fixture faders 001 to 008 Go back to the main screen highlight the empty scene button A007 and click on the CScn button to call up the ColorScene panel We will create a grid of 12 cells across by 12 deep so that we can represent our two lines of four can
262. umn with the mouse to make it black 12 Double click on the frame 05 box to make a copy of that frame in the next empty frame box 06 and drag down the last column with the mouse to make it black Now when you run that ColorScene the RGB columns will scroll into the grid from the left and out of the right You will notice that when you first run this ColorScene red appears in the first column instantly followed by green and then after the time determined by the ColorScene s speed setting blue follows after that and so on This is because the In and Out settings on the right of the top details display are both set to Scene and the scene fade In and Out times on the left of the details display are both set to 00 00 00 the default If you want the first frame to come in hold for the duration set by the speed fader followed by the second frame and so on then set both the In amp Out to Spd the initial In time when the ColorScene chase is first run and the last Out time when the ColorScene chase is told to go off will then be determined by the speed setting of that ColorScene chase Using Insert and Delete We should have had the first frame in the last chase we created set to black rather than the last frame so that when the chase is first run the grid begins in black then red appears followed by green etc This is no problem simply highlight the first frame box press Insert and confirm An empty frame will then b
263. ure s pan and tilt channels are set to Y they will not be affected when the Black button is used In lt This Y or N flag indicates whether this function has been inverted or not When a function is inverted the value becomes 100 when the function fader is down and 0 when it is fully up Clicking or right clicking on the Ind and Inv Y or N flags with the Ctrl key held down toggles them between Y and N Profile Different makes of lamps and dimmer packs have certain level characteristics i e DMX values of 25 and 50 may not produce corresponding brightness levels of 25 and 50 Some dimmers may reach an actual 25 brightness level with a DMX value of 35 and at a DMX value of 75 the brightness level could be 73 and so on These non linear curve characteristics are referred to as profiles and an appropriate profile can be selected by left right clicking on this item whilst holding down Ctrl If Full 1 10 20 30 40 or 50 are selected any value equal to or higher than that percentage on that fader will produce 100 output This can be used to make a channel on a dimmer pack a switching channel rather than a dimming channel ideal if you are using a channel to supply mains power to physically turn fixtures on or off or to control motors Notes on Matching Fixture Fader Numbers to DMX Channels When patching single channel fixtures connected to switching dimmer packs to fixture faders it is a good idea to
264. ut it and then let go of the button to drop it Style Conventions The following style conventions are used throughout the manual Ctrl Keys to be pressed on the keyboard e g press the key marked Ctrl Normal Non ShowMagic items e g names of devices RS232 input strings etc Italics Editable commands values labels and filenames Bold Faders buttons menu items and other non editable objects Bold Italic Non editable but selectable options Underline Fixed titles step numbers etc Where steps are given as part of an example they are shown 1 Step 1 2 Step 2 etc Similarly lists of the options or information available are shown a Option 1 b Option 2 etc The numeric keypad on the right of your keyboard can be used for setting channels and entering values for faders etc The Num Lock key should be used to ensure that Num Lock is kept on at all times Times Where timings are used with ShowMagic events these timings are in the following format Hours Minutes Seconds and Frames shown thus HH MM SS FF a frame being 1 25 of a second shown from 00 to 24 e g 12 frames equals half a second Where HH are the hours MM are the minutes SS are the seconds and FF are the frames e g 09 08 07 06 9 hours 8 minutes 7 seconds and 6 frames Where hours or hours and minutes are not appropriate the timings MM SS FF and SS FF respectively are used x1 Section 1 Overview The ShowMagic ra
265. utton B002 is labelled All MiniMacs Color 1 and so on Section 7 Lighting Scene Panel 61 10 Next press the F2 key to select group F2 on the fixture panel then right click on the buttons for fixture faders 13 then 15 to turn them red and include them in the group i e this group now contains the Odd fixtures 11 Now with either of the odd fixture faders 13 or 15 highlighted click on the Color function fader for that fixture to highlight it select the third page of scenes in bank B scenes B049 to B072 click on the Rec button on the scene panel hold down the Ctrl key whilst clicking on scene button B049 and the Scene Generator dialogue box will appear 12 This time type Odd MiniMacs in the Label Prefix box and click on the Generate button ShowMagic will then generate another 31 scenes on scene buttons B049 to B079 but these scenes will now contain color presets for the odd MiniMac fixtures fixture faders 13 and 15 the color functions for the MiniMacs on fixture faders 14 and 16 are not included in these scenes 13 Follow steps 10 to 12 above but use group F3 to group the even MiniMacs fixture faders 14 and 16 and record the generated scenes starting on scene button BO97 onwards So within literally seconds we have recorded all the possible color scenes for the MiniMacs in three combinations for all four fixtures for odd fixtures and for even fixtures You could have created groups for the outside
266. uttons turn dark grey if they contain any Scene ADDS Scene A016 Scene A024 recorded scenes medium grey indicates the Bank or Page is empty The lighting scene panel You can apply a short label 1 to 3 characters to any bank or page selector button by double right clicking on it and entering the label Applying Icons To Bank and Page Selector Buttons If you wish to order your scenes into banks and pages then graphics can be selected for any of the boxes provided above the bank and page selector buttons for easy recognition When you have created possibly hundreds of scenes for various fixtures a quick way of finding them is desirable For instance you could use bank A for storing scenes related to scanners and you can apply a scanner graphic to that bank button to denote Scanner scenes You could then subdivide bank A into different function scenes for the scanners bank A page 1 A001 to A024 could be used for storing scanner gobo scenes and bank A page 2 4025 to A048 for scanner color scenes A gobo graphic can be applied to the page 7 selector button and a color graphic to the page 2 button Section 7 Lighting Scene Panel 43 o OHOO Bank and page selector icons To apply a graphic to the box above a bank or page button simply double click on the square button above the bank or page button and the scene buttons will be replaced with a selection of graphics Click on the graphic you require and
267. ve but enter 0 for the new address This will clear the address back to 000 000 Fader List The Fader list display shows the following information for each of the fixture faders Section 3 Patch Screen 13 Edr The fixture fader number is shown under this title The number for the first fixture fader on each page of fixtures on the fixture panel on the main desk is highlighted in white Fixs The number of fixtures assigned to that fader is shown under this title Up to 24 individual fixtures or banks of fixtures if they share the same DMX channels can be patched to a single fixture fader but they must be of the same generic type par cans fresnels etc or the same make and model for multi channel fixtures Please Note If you assign more than one fixture to a single fixture fader then you cannot control each of those fixtures individually all those fixtures will always do the same thing as the others If you want independent control of fixtures then those fixtures must be assigned to separate fixture faders Label The label for that fixture fader is shown under this title Like all items shown in yellow this label can be edited allowing you to give fixture faders meaningful names To edit any labels simply double click on the label and an Enter Label dialogue box will appear Edit the label and then press Enter or click on the Enter button to enter the label As an example double click on the label Par Can edit it
268. vent button and hold down Ctrl before dropping it If the original sound event button is used in any sequences those sequences will be updated with the new sound event button number Using ASIO Drivers and Multiple Input Output Soundcards S ASIO Technology by Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH ShowMagic includes ASIO driver support for multiple input output soundcards such as the M Audio Delta series On the SL Free Edition model this facility enables you to play up to 8 synchronized wav sound events out to channels 1 to 8 for multi track backing track or DIY surround sound type applications On all other models you can play up to 16 synchronized wav sound events out to channels 1 to 16 You can use a multiple output soundcard along with a normal SoundBlaster compatible soundcard in the same ShowMagic PC In this case the SoundBlaster compatible soundcard can be treated as the primary soundcard and the multiple output soundcard can be treated as a secondary soundcard In this case compressed audio files such as mp3 and wma files can only be played on any available DirectShow channels they cannot be played on the ASIO channels Uncompressed wav files can be played on both the DirectShow and the ASIO channels Section 8 Sound Panel 101 You can play multiple wav files at the same time on any of the ASIO channels You can also play multiple audio files in compressed and un compressed file formats on the de
269. vers PC MIDI files can be useful for some applications as these files are very much smaller than wave files 5 1 and 7 1 surround sound files can also be played using a suitable 5 1 7 1 soundcard interface On a standard Soundblaster compatible PC soundcard Digital line level microphone level inputs and MIDI files are all played through the same default DirectShow stereo outputs on the card the volume mixing of each of these can however be set independently via the ShowMagic desk Full control of volume fade in and fade out and stereo balance for each sound event each of the audio channels or the master volume for all audio channels is also available via the desk The start and stop playback positions of digital audio and MIDI files are also selectable For instance you can start playing a wave file from any point to the nearest 25 of a second into the sound file 8 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual Control Events Control commands can be sent and received using MIDI via any MIDI port s available on your PC which enables ShowMagic to control MIDI controllable devices such as audio effects units audio mixing desks etc Sequences Sequences can be used to group and run multiple events for a wide variety of purposes For example a series of lighting scenes can be run to simulate flashes of lightning whilst at the same time thunder sound effects can be played in exact synchronization to complete the effect Alternatively particular
270. verwrite warning will be given if appropriate Moving a Sequence To move a sequence from one sequence button to another drag the button onto another empty button and hold down Ctrl before dropping it If the original sequence button is used in any sequences those sequences will be updated with the new sequence button number Deleting Sequence Steps To delete a step within a sequence click on it to highlight it in the step details display and then press Delete You will then be asked to confirm or cancel Section 9 Sequence Panel 119 Inserting Null Sequence Steps If you wish to insert a Null Step empty step at the end of a sequence so that actions times etc can be set ready for events to be dragged in later then highlight any blank step at the end of the sequence and press Insert The Null Step will then be added after the last non empty step and automatically labelled as End When recording sequences in real time Null Steps will automatically be inserted at the current end of the sequence if no Null Steps already exist there for each click of the Go button until the sequence is stopped If you wish to insert a Null Step between two steps containing events then highlight the step that you wish to insert the Null Step in front of and press Insert All the steps from the highlighted step will then be moved down one with step numbers automatically incremented and the Null Step will be inserted
271. wever you can use the Pan FX and Tilt FX presets in conjunction with Shape FX presets to move the shapes around a specific area instead The range limiter box defines the area that the shapes will move around in and the rate of movement of the shape is defined by the Pan FX and Tilt FX Speed fader settings Here s an example 1 Select the Shape FX Circle preset and drag the centre handle to make the circle quarter size 2 Select the Pan FX Straight and Tilt FX Straight presets A Pan FX Speed fader and Tilt FX Speed fader will then be accessible These are used to set how fast the shape will move around the area defined by the Range Limiter box These speeds are relative to the Shape FX Speed Slide both of these to FL to set the fastest speed 3 Run the FX scene and you will see the fixtures moving around the range limit as they trace the circles Section 7 Lighting Scene Panel 73 4 Select Tilt FX Random and you will see the shapes moving between randomly picked tilt positions but sweeping to and fro on the pan 5 Select Pan FX Random and the shapes will move between randomly picked pan and tilt positions Now that you have learned the principles of the FX generator experimentation should provide you with plenty of effects and enable you to find the effect you require To leave the FX generator panel and return to the normal scene panel simply click on the EXIT button Changing the Reference Positions in Exis
272. wn as normal but all tagged function buttons are also un tagged as well Rec F This is short for Record Fixture When set to this the state of ALL the function faders for a selected fixture or group of fixtures even if they are at 000 are recorded to a scene This recording setting is most commonly used with the Live operating mode whereby when the scene is run you know that ALL the function faders will go to the settings recorded in that scene irrespective of what scenes that might be using some of those functions were run beforehand Overwrite Recorded Channels Only Option If you right click on the scene panel s Rec button you will see an Overwrite Recorded Channels Only option The setting of this only has an effect when you are re recording overwriting scenes If this is ticked then only the channels that were recorded in the original scene that you are now overwriting will be re recorded to that scene In this case the recording mode of the Rec button RecM RecT etc is ignored This feature is particularly useful when using the Live Edit feature described in Live Editing of Scenes in a Manual Sequence p 122 Section 7 Lighting Scene Panel 47 Desk Precedence Makes and models of hardware lighting desks differ in their operating logic some operate using what is called latest takes precedence logic others operate using highest takes precedence logic and so on For flexibility th
273. xeteveata sesh os tonsavaats alba E EEE AREE coast T E AEAT ERREEN 45 Record Button The Different Recording MOdES oooconooccnoconoccconcnconncnonononcconnnconccnno nano connccanccnns 47 Overwrite Recorded Channels Only Opio ld 47 Desk Precedente 5 Soy fet nno a a e a aE a a 48 Norm l and Live Modest a A E O A RR 49 Summary of the Different Recording ModesS vciinciii iii 50 Cled BUOD k r EAN SUS Et E E E EEE N 51 Scene Details LIISA yaur enson n T a E EA AEA AEE a RT E aa AEA at 51 Recording SCENES A ta 53 Setting PACS Times fora o lt dias 53 Mu lti Part Scenes ts o dy dos e a o R ieat 55 SUD M ster Co a a A AS ia iaa 56 Recording Scenes With Sub Master Control ci ssccsoce sandastiscesiensiomnnedonceeeeeisarsdorsbacuabdesttamelandeteds 57 Using the Fixture Panel s Centre and Locate Butt iii nica l 57 Play and Quick BOTAS a aria 58 Wndo sand Store Buttons LA A AA 58 E ON 59 Flashing ana Releasing ON idas 59 STA SCENE DUO A A AA AS AA 59 Deleting ASCER 60 COPE CNS ia 60 Moving a Scenes iunte E RN 60 Scene Generator Functions a ue aaa e a A ae E aan En 60 iv Scene Generator OI etilo 62 EXC o la land od 63 Creating an EX CM taachneayaienn EE sta uctuadisactevessiecnsedetatacwnnecs Mux Ra 63 The Pant FX Pres dan 65 TASTE Presets e ate ioe es 66 The FX Window and Range Limiter BOX ii 67 Ebi BARS Pr E RA E EE ia 69 The Delay Offset Pad a E E E N a a E EAE iaaa a 70 Triggering Pan FX and Tilt FX using Sound To Light ono
274. xtures vary by make and model Because there are so many Lee Rosco presets they are spread across a number of pages that can be accessed using the numbered buttons at the bottom of the panel Certain function preset buttons are shown in white and these are used as labels for indicating the functions depending on the fittings dip switch settings etc of the preset buttons below them they are not used to select anything they are there purely for reference To remove the presets panel simply take your finger off the Shift key The Trackball The Trackball on the right of the function buttons can be used to alter both the pan and tilt settings of fixtures by simply holding down the left mouse button when the cursor is situated over the ball and then dragging the cursor up down left and right Holding down the Ctrl key whilst dragging with the left mouse button on the Trackball or on any fader will alter the mouse movement sensitivity to enable finer adjustment If you want to move the pan and tilt The functions to their central positions 50 then simply double click on the trackball Trackball To clear the pan and tilt functions back to 00 double right click on the trackball If you want to move the pan and tilt functions to their central positions 50 and lock them in that position see The Fader States p 45 for a description of Locked mode then double click on the trackball whilst holding down the Ctrl key To cle
275. y as the Centre button However all of the function faders for that fixture s are set to a moved state so if a scene is then recorded using Rec M all the functions are recorded to that scene Play and Quick Buttons Scenes can be previewed sequentially by clicking on the scene button for the first scene that you wish to preview this will highlight the button and clicking on the Play button or pressing Spacebar if the scene panel is on the left will activate that scene and the next Play and quick buttons scene button will become highlighted ready for previewing when the play button is clicked again or Spacebar is used and so on Scenes are thus automatically incremented so that any number of numerically sequential scenes can be previewed easily Please Note If two panels containing Go or Play buttons are displayed on the desk at the same time the panel on the left is the Spacebar active panel that pressing Spacebar will affect This means you can be triggering events on the left panel with the Spacebar whilst selecting panels and clicking Go or Play buttons with the mouse on the right hand side at the same time Clicking on the Quick button will toggle the button on and off When set to on it is shown in red when off it is grey If the button is on when the Play button is clicked or Spacebar is used any Wait fade In Hold and fade Out times set for the scenes are ignored enabling quicker testin
276. y button and set the start address Now by using the first 3 function faders you can set the red green and blue color mix Note all the Chroma fixtures connected to the unit will then display the same color The 4 function fader can be used to select one of the pre programmed chases built into the ChromaZone unit use the Presets panel as normal to view the preset chases available The 5 and 6 function faders can be used to adjust the speed of the selected chase and adjust the intensity of the colors in that chase Using 9 Channel Mode In this mode the ChromaZone unit uses the following 9 channels 1 Red 2 Green 3 Blue 4 Chase 1 5 Speed 1 6 Dimmer intensity 7 Chase 2 8 Speed 2 amp 9 Dimmer 2 Select Make Pulsar Model ChromaZone Option 9 Channel using the fixture Library button and set the start address The first 6 functions work as in 6 channel mode above but in addition a secondary chase can be run with the first using channels 7 to 9 to produce some mixed chase effects Using 36 Channel Mode In this mode the ChromaZone unit uses 36 channels to control the Red Green amp Blue 3 channel settings independently for up to 12 fixtures 3x12 36 channels i e Ch 1 Red on fixture 1 Ch 2 Green on fixture 1 Ch 3 Blue on fixture 1 Ch 4 Red on fixture 2 Ch 5 Green on fixture 2 Ch 6 Blue on fixture 2 and so on up to Ch 34 Red on fixture 12 Ch 35 Green on fixture 12 and Ch 36
277. y event step in a sequence s step details display will put that event s panel on the other side of the desk with that particular event button highlighted to enable quick access to that event and its settings 110 ShowMagic SL Series User Manual Creating Sequences In order to understand how certain settings are made it is easier if you have a small sequence created which you can work with so to create a simple sequence do the following 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Create 4 simple scenes e g A001 to A004 using the fixture and scene panels or use scenes A001 to A004 on the demo desk Leave the scene panel on one side of the desk and select the sequence panel on the other Highlight any one of the empty sequence buttons by clicking on it Click on the Edit button or right click on the empty sequence button to remove the sequence buttons and view the Live and Step Details displays contents of that sequence Put the first scene into the sequence by dragging the scene button into the bottom of the step details display the step where the event will be placed is highlighted as you move the dragged event over it Dropping it elsewhere such as back on the same scene button will cancel the operation If you wish to add the scene to the end of the sequence it can be dropped anywhere below the current last step To copy it to a particular step number simply drop it on that number s row Do likewise for scenes 2 to 4 Th
278. you select the correct one Art Net ExPERIMENTAL If you have installed Art Net on your PC and are using any Art Net interface s then these will also be displayed in the DMX Output Devices drop down menu General Settings If you are using low cost DMX fixtures with an FTDI type DMX interface and you are experiencing problems with those fixtures such as twitching it is possible that the default DMX Refresh Rate 40 per second is too fast for those fixtures To remedy this you can try reducing the refresh rate using this section of the dialogue box The Break Time and MaB settings should not need to be changed If you are experiencing problems where the DMX interface is locking up due to mains power fluctuations faulty DMX fixtures sending spikes back down the DMX line etc Then ticking the Reset On Error item in this section will instruct ShowMagic to attempt to reset the interface if it finds that it has lost communication with the interface Please Note Due to the nature of such errors it is not always possible for ShowMagic to reset the interface and in any case the cause of these errors should be discovered and rectified at the source MIDI Port Settings Midi Output Devices A list of the available MIDI ports that ShowMagic has found is given here Click on the ports that you wish to enable for MIDI output Midi Input Devices A list of the available MIDI ports that ShowMagic has found is given here Click on
279. ystem of soft patching is very useful if the fixture faders are not in an order that actually corresponds with the physical layout of the fixtures It is also a means by which you can have say 4 detached 3 by 3 matrices of LED fixtures 36 LED fixtures and soft patch them all onto the one ColorScene grid any effects patterns Chases can then be applied across those separate matrices to achieve a unified effect across different areas of a venue Section 7 Lighting Scene Panel 77 Soft patch Presets Because we have assigned the ChromaPanels to the fixture faders in a linear manner on the patch screen and patched their DMX addresses accordingly we can make use of one of the preset soft patching options that are available namely the second icon option below the upper options display that is a soft patch from left to right top to bottom shown as Grid LR LR when the icon is selected To use this preset soft patch simply highlight fixture 001 on the fixture panel select this icon and then double click anywhere in the active grid all 9 cells in the active block will then be soft patched according to that soft patch preset The soft patch preset icons denote the order of patching using an arrowed line with the blue part of the line showing the first fixture Presets 2 to 5 have been provided for the most common patching orders used If the fixtures you are using are not physically ordered in any of these consecutive patterns then the first

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