Can you filter the fixture library on an Ion?

Jay Ashworth

Well-Known Member
It seems like it would be pretty handy to be able to filter down the list of available fixtures to just the ones you have; does Ion know how to do that? If so, how long has it known how?
 
In patch, the Show view shows only the fixtures that are reference by the show file. Active ones are highlighted.
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The Search function quickly narrows down the list.
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I think the answer is "yes" since that's exactly what the search function does. The search function was introduced at least as early as 2.6 (2+ years ago).
 
How would the console know what you have until you patch it in. That’s what the search is for.

Unless you are asking if you can only have your fixtures in the library and no others. Which again a simple 3 letter type and it should filter down the search immensely. Mac, aura, d40, VL etc etc etc.
 
Do you know: "the thing you want is a silly thing to want" is a viewpoint I expect better than from the people on CB?

Yes, I exactly want to only see the fixtures I presently own, because why the hell *wouldn't* I want that.

I don't want to delete the others, I simply don't need to see them, 99% of the time.

I guess I'll rethink asking what people like for Wireless this year, since I have a PO to cut.
 
What I want is for someone who knows how to patch, but does *not* know what *my house's inventory contains*, to only see the fixtures we actually have in inventory, when setting the type for a patch.

If they don't know what we have, they can't search for it, whereas if they see Showbar 660SL, they're pretty much gonna know that's a cyc strip. This seems to me like a pretty common use-case, and "you can search for a fixture you know the name (we used in our profile) of" doesn't exactly cater for it.

This is similar to the "gmail is great because you don't need folders; google is all about search and you can just search for it!" approach to email -- you *can't* always search for it, because *you don't know what you're searching for*... or there isn't anything to search for.

This is why you make a folder for "The Wedding", and put all the wedding-related email into that. The Gmail people simply hadn't spent enough hours using email in the real world to realize that this was important. :)
 
How would the console know what you have until you patch it in. That’s what the search is for.

Unless you are asking if you can only have your fixtures in the library and no others. Which again a simple 3 letter type and it should filter down the search immensely. Mac, aura, d40, VL etc etc etc.

Because you *patch* relatively often, and you buy new fixtures relatively rarely?

We're also ignoring "many fixtures with similar names" and "one fixture with multiple profiles, and we only use one" in the implications of that question, Amiers. :)
 
Yep. :)

Thanks for knowing what I do! I'm here to help if/when you do need me.

And man, I sooooo agree with your Gmail example. Many of the keywords I search for in email end up being in many people's signature, especially when people include line-card stuff there. So searching for it returns literally every email ever!

Gmail search doesn't ignore signatures?

Even when properly sigdashed?

For shame.
 
And to expand on what I just said to Amiers:

"What belongs in the list of patchable fixtures" is the domain of the TD.

"Patching" is the domain of the LD (and programmer).

These are somewhere between "sometimes" and "often" not the same person.
 
Maybe theres a way to finangle something like that in the patch screen IE have the default showfile with a patch of your entire inventory in unused addresses?
 
Maybe theres a way to finangle something like that in the patch screen IE have the default showfile with a patch of your entire inventory in unused addresses?

You can have the fixtures loaded into a different show file and then Browser > Merge > Fixtures to import those specific fixture profiles into the library.

If these are all house fixtures and you leave them at the same DMX addresses, it may even be worth importing their patch as numbers off in a range you don't typically use and then you can just buzz down the channel table updating their addresses accordingly. Most venues I know that have moved to LED never readdress their fixtures when the plot changes and would do something like this rather than patch from scratch every time.
 
Yep. :)

Thanks for knowing what I do! I'm here to help if/when you do need me.

And man, I sooooo agree with your Gmail example. Many of the keywords I search for in email end up being in many people's signature, especially when people include line-card stuff there. So searching for it returns literally every email ever!
@Jay Ashworth @theatrewireless @jfleenor Wait'll Neumann debuts their new U87 with wireless DMX remote pattern selection, pads and roll-off choices. I suspect they're going to beat AKG to market. @TimMc Are you up to date with this??
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard.
 
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I'm not in at the moment and I don't add new instruments often (although I frequent "patch > fixtures" (soft key) to list what's there and update if necessary (can't tell you how long I didn't know those fixtures weren't updating when I installed updates).

That said -- I could swear the list had a "favorites" (or something) section. No?

[EDIT] Just checked the manual. It's there. Something about a softkey that toggles between "Manfctr" and "Favorites" -- Top of page 13 here also: https://www.etcconnect.com/uploaded...ideo_Tutorial/Ion_L1_Workbook_v2.3.0_revA.pdf
 
Yeah, we have a grandfather file too -- in fact, we're just in the process of updating it, having added a bunch of new LED cyc and CS4's.

Thanks to John for spotting the "Favorites" item; I hadn't been looking in the front of the manual; I'll check and see if that's in 2.6.2; we're going to be updating to 2.8 in a couple weeks.
 

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