Control/Dimming Simple Lightning (LED) out the window (ETC EOS Nomad)

OK... Firstly--now here's an LD having to program his show. (please forgive me)

I have a row of Chauvet RGB bars US of the window flat. Just a simple random few flashes of "white" lightning outside the window. (rather like a 2-step-based full/off in random order)

As I have to do this several times in the same scene--would rather not have to Follow/Hang a 1000 point-cues.

Since these are rather basic LED instruments--I'm not able to create the effect the way I think I should.

Reading about all these different Beam Palettes, etc... (not figured that out either... not on an LED bar... a mover, yes. )

Any help out there for my seemingly simple delimma--I miss the big budget days of having a programmer just whip these things up in just a few seconds... rather than me taking all night for one-step!

THX! Preston
 
Lightning effect? Easy!

I like doing them as a linear effect. Open the effects editor, and make a new effect. Pick type linear. Hit softkey 1 (Edit), then softkey 3 (Clear). This clears away the graph on the left of the CIA. Using your mouse, draw a squiggly line (think EKG) then click apply. Next, click Parameters then intensity.

You can use the buttons on the right to change the attributes of the effect. Also, holding help and clicking on one of the parameters will give you a text explanation of what that attribute does.

As far as having this happen several times in the same scene - you could use "loop" to playback the cues a set number of times, or you could use "copy to" to copy point cues to another cue in the list.
 
Look into 'smoothing' functions in the fixture or the dimming curve you're using. The point of smoothing is to prevent sudden jumps in brightness as a fader moves or as DMX values change slowly. However they can foul strobe type effects so they look like they were done with a 1kw incandescent. If you have a strobe channel then playing an effect on it can be very effective. (pun unavoidable)

Eos family consoles are limited to 1/10 second timing in cues. That can be short enough, but you can do better with effects as above. You might also want to do several types of effects and/or cue lists. If there are a lot of lightning cues then the same trick starts to look repetitive. Once you get a good one just copy it and vary something a bit.

If you want to do it with palettes then you should look at Intensity palettes. They can be used in Absolute effects or Step effects to prevent the 1000 cues. Of course the software can handle thousands of cues, especially in multiple lists. So that isn't all that bad an idea. (Note the tracking features will keep you from having to play with all the other lights in the effect cues.)

I hope that helps!
 

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