I have written a bunch of
fixture profiles for the 300/500 series that have been posted here. The
fixture library file is pretty self explanatory and easy to edit. I bet if you do a little searching you might find a copy on CB. [edit by DL: See the Collaborative Article:
http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/...-creating-strand-300-500-fixture-library.html .] If not, I would be happy to post it so that you can look at it. Writing your own profiles is pretty simple, even with some of the more complex fixtures.
In terms of actually using them, if you have two displays on your
console already, you will be happy. If you have a second video card in but don't have a second display, get one if you can. Seeing all the channels and attributes at one time is much easier than having to
page all the time. As adude23 said, you will want to have a trackball
mouse around. The more buttons, the better. The Microsoft Intellimouse
line works well, and I know that the Logitech ones work too. You will want to make sure that you have "Tracker" mode on in settings, as this allows you to see the
fixture attributes on the
channel display. You will probably also want to turn on "Auto Move While Dark" which presets your fixtures for the next
cue, if they are off in the previous. If your show is a
theatre production, you probably want to work in
Tracking mode (as opposed to
Cue-Only) as it will make for less cleanup work on loving light attributes after the show is recorded.
Just keep asking questions if you need more help!