Effects fade out on Express

[Scenemaster60]

OK CB hive mind, I have a question that is causing me a bit of trouble...

I cut my teeth on the Light Palette 3 in college and then went away from theater for 20 years doing other things.
When I came back about 3 years ago I encountered the ION and the Element and the GIO. They all talked "Light Palette" language and I took to them like a duck to water...

Right now I am programming a show that includes some "simple" LED light effects on an Express board. I have written the effects as using color "groups" and assigned them to submasters and am firing them with bump button macros.

My question is: Is there a way for these effects to fade out when they are done instead of simply "cutting out" on a 0 count? When I apply a macro link to a cue to stop the effect sub, it just stops. Cold turkey. Boom.

My board op for this show would be hard pressed to boil water, so I need the fade-out to happen on the GO button of the A/B fader. Any thoughts?

 

[RonHebbard]

OK CB hive mind, I have a question that is causing me a bit of trouble...

I cut my teeth on the Light Palette 3 in college and then went away from theater for 20 years doing other things.
When I came back about 3 years ago I encountered the ION and the Element and the GIO. They all talked "Light Palette" language and I took to them like a duck to water...

Right now I am programming a show that includes some "simple" LED light effects on an Express board. I have written the effects as using color "groups" and assigned them to submasters and am firing them with bump button macros.

My question is: Is there a way for these effects to fade out when they are done instead of simply "cutting out" on a 0 count? When I apply a macro link to a cue to stop the effect sub, it just stops. Cold turkey. Boom.

My board op for this show would be hard pressed to boil water, so I need the fade-out to happen on the GO button of the A/B fader. Any thoughts?

Grasping at straws for you here and I have no way to test this for you. What if you create an inhibitive sub and load all of your effect channels in it. At this point the inhibitive sub would need to be at 100% for your effects to operate normally. Then what if you use a cue to fade the inhibitive sub to zero over the run time of the cue? Just planting a seed of an idea with no promises. Maybe I'm reinforcing my "Doofus" status in print. Gotta go. I need to get back to trying to boil water. I've found inhibitive subs to be VERY useful at times although you often need a little 'warped thinking' to maximize their usefulness.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard.

 

[Scenemaster60]

Intriguing idea, Ron. I will have to see if an inhibitive sub can be put into a cue...

 

[Amiers]

I run an expression 3 and I have an act right now that has an effect cue before a normal lights up cue and it fades smooth between the two with my go button.

Ar the fixtures in the effect also in the next cue or are they special?

 

[John Palmer]

One way to do this would be to write a series of cues (9xx-9yy so that they are at the end of the cue list) with the colors changing, and link them into a loop.
Then you write a macro that loads that link of cues into the CD fader and starts it.
You write a second macro that clears the CD fader. You can then control the rate of fade out by changing the fader clear time in set-up. The downside is the effect will stop and fade out the fixtures in the last color of the step.
The inhibitive sub with a time added to it will allow the effect to continue as it fades out.
If you are going to use the effect a lot, you can also create a subroutine.
Hope that helps,
John

 

[Scenemaster60]

I actually figured this out. It was less complicated than I thought. I didn't realize that you COULD put a fade up and fade down time on an effect submaster.

 

[RonHebbard]

I actually figured this out. It was less complicated than I thought. I didn't realize that you COULD put a fade up and fade down time on an effect submaster.

Hello SM60; Does your method freeze the effect then fade it out frozen in the step in which it stopped or does it allow the effect to continue running until the fade is completed? I suspect the inhibitive sub method will let the fade run all the way down to zero intensity.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard.