DMX and Intimidator Help

[dthomasjr]

I am the lighting technician for my local theatre group. I am running 6 elation dimmer packs, an Par64 RGB and a Chauvet Intimidator 1.0. Everything works perfect fine except for the Intimidator. Whenever the inimidator is added to the mix, it seems like it takes control of the whole setup and does whatever it wants to do, and also cause my other lights to not work properly either. It actually cuts the dmx signal off totally for all other lights, even when the intimidator is at the end of the chain.

I'm tying everything into the Elation Compuware program, which I have used for multiple shows with no issues. The only issue that has developed is with the intimidator. Any ideas?

Just a couple more questions, mainly for opinions.

I would like to create a lightning bolt effect for the finale scene, any ideas on how I can do that, i can make a great scene that looks like lighting and great thunder effect, but am looking for a nice looking bolt.

Finally. on a side stage and main stage, I am trying to create a lighting effect on a white background to provide the time of day feeling, instead of having to paint different backgrounds and change them, I think the effect would look better if done by lights. Does anyone have any suggestions on the best way to do this, such as type of lights and number of lights needs to create the desired effect. I currently have all lights coming up from a lightbox made at the bottom of the vinyl, should i have some coming from the top and sides as well? I.E.: make it look like a sunrise, or like its a night sky just after the sun sets.

Just looking for some opinions, I have it mostly setup, I believe i need a few more lights though, but just checking to make sure I'm doing some things right.

Thank you for your help in advance.

[n1ist]

Last time I had to do lightning, I used a combo of a lightning gobo on one light and a few strobes triggered by pushbuttons, with someone sitting offstage pressing them. It took a little practice to get the timing right.

[Footer]

Check you dip switch setting on your scanner, they may be set to master and or slave, therefore they are putting out some type of info over the line and could be messing up your DMX chain. 99% of the time thats the cause when using DJ gear. As far as lighting goes, get a fixture that has a VERY fast response time, throw a gobo in it, and focus it, and bump it. If you have some strobes, throw them in. "realistic" lighting is not the easiest thing to do, but if you have some time on your hands to cue it properly, you can make a pretty good effect.