Skypanel gel mode dmx

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mikeyray
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue May 02, 2017 9:27 am

Hi
is it possible to give more value for each colour and start with a small no colour section eg :
000-010 - no colour
011-015 - colour 1
016-020 - colour 2 etc

as the current way is so close together that its extremely difficult to select a number that precise on some dmx consoles
especially since there is 92 - 255 unused
mike
Mike Wagner
Posts: 57
Joined: Mon Nov 23, 2015 8:42 pm
Contact:

Hi Mikey,

The gel selection via DMX is set up with very small increments for several reasons.

1. Lighting consoles require a set increment so that it becomes easy to advance from one gel to the next. If the increments are uneven, the lighting console does not know how to respond.

2. Some of the gel categories have so many gels in them that it is not possible to be able to select a gel only via DMX percentage. It has to be done via DMX value. This sadly means that some consoles without great precision will have a difficult time using the gel DMX modes (Mode 16 or 17). The gel must be picked using DMX values.

I hope this information helps.

- Mike Wagner
Senior Product Manager, Lighting
mikeyray
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue May 02, 2017 9:27 am

Hi Mike
I realise this as I have been a console operator for 20 years , however your comment about uneven doesnt really make any sense to my question , what I was saying was give a bit more tolerance to each colour and also start with a blank No filter so we can start with just plain light
also every gel type has a large unused section at the end which can be adjusted at a later date should new gel be added
I work with both Gog 4 and MA2 and it is still difficult to adjust such fine tolerances for each colour meaning we dont end up using it on set in the UK and use Mode 6
mikey

Mike Wagner wrote:Hi Mikey,

The gel selection via DMX is set up with very small increments for several reasons.

1. Lighting consoles require a set increment so that it becomes easy to advance from one gel to the next. If the increments are uneven, the lighting console does not know how to respond.

2. Some of the gel categories have so many gels in them that it is not possible to be able to select a gel only via DMX percentage. It has to be done via DMX value. This sadly means that some consoles without great precision will have a difficult time using the gel DMX modes (Mode 16 or 17). The gel must be picked using DMX values.

I hope this information helps.

- Mike Wagner
Senior Product Manager, Lighting
Mike Wagner
Posts: 57
Joined: Mon Nov 23, 2015 8:42 pm
Contact:

Hi Mikey,

It is possible to select a "No Color" filter using the DMX protocol. You can do this with the "Color Matching" channel. If this channel is set to 171 to 255 DMX value, you will have a No Color output of the light. The benefit of this is that you can keep the gel selection in the Gel channel and simply "bump" the Color Matching channel up to 100% to see the output without the filter implemented.

In regard to the DMX value ranges, this was done for several reasons. First, we wanted to keep the same range regardless of the category selected. This gives predicability. The category with the largest number of gels is LEE, Color Filters with 89 gels. Currently we have 2 DMX values assigned per gel: 0 to 1, 2 to 3, 4 to 5, etc, etc. With 89 gels in this category at 2 DMX values per gel - that takes up 177 DMX values. If we were to increase this to 3 DMX values per gel (in order to achieve the larger tolerance you suggest), this would take up 266 DMX values which is obviously larger than the 255 DMX values available for each channel.

Hopefully this demonstrates why we constructed the channels in the way we did. From our experience, a Hog 4 and a MA2 should be very capable of selecting precise DMX values. I am unsure why you are having difficulty with this.

Please let us know if you have any other comments or questions.

- Mike Wagner
Senior Product Manager, Lighting
mikeyray
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue May 02, 2017 9:27 am

Ah I didnt realise the top calues did no colour
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