ETC LED Fixtures & SeaChanger on Element

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taylors

Member
I am a high school student and my school recently built a new performing arts center. All furbished with ETC products. No one has been properly trained and the first musical is coming up and I am the lighting desiginer. I learn everything on my own on the internet. I need help with ETC Selador Lustr Series & Vivid R series. I do understand that some of them are daisy chained and I understand that part. I am looking to create a new show and start from scratch. I understand that each led fixture has 8 channel componets. How do I patch these and do I have to patch each of the 8 channels separatly? I have no concept of the LED lights, the address, fixture addreess, and then patching these address and finally being able to contol them. Could some one please explain in beginners language of what this is and how to do this? Thanks.:neutral:

On a side not, I just found out we have 4 Ocean Optics SeaChangers (4channel). And I understand that these have mutipule address also. How do I patch those and controll those properally? Beginners language is great and any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks! :rolleyes:
 
re: ETC LED Fixtures & SeaChanger on Element

Oh one more question, when you patch them why is it 2/1, 2/9, 2/17. I understand the 1, 9, 17 part, but where does the two come from? Thanks so so so sos sos soooo much!@
 
re: ETC LED Fixtures & SeaChanger on Element

On the back of the Element are two female 5pin XLR DMX512 outputs, probably labeled DMX1 and DMX2. Usually, DMX1 (Universe 1) controls dimmers, and DMX2 (Universe 2) controls other devices. (It doesn't have to be that way, and in fact both ports can be set up to both output the same.) Now the DMX dimmers and devices don't know and don't care what universe they're on, but obviously the console does. Thus you can have a dimmer addressed as 001 (to the console 1/1), and an LED as 001 (2/1), but they are on different universes.
 
re: ETC LED Fixtures & SeaChanger on Element

Makes so much more sence and now I remember reading about universes. I think that all of the LED fixtures are daisy chained by rows. But not 100% sure. If i addressed all the LED fixtures 1, 9, 17 so on and so on will I be able to controll them one by one or will one effect all because of the daisy chain?
 
re: ETC LED Fixtures & SeaChanger on Element

Exact process of patching your equipment depends on the light board you have and should be covered in its manual well enough. You say all in your venue is from ETC so I assume your control desk is either from Eos or Congo family, both are quite easy to patch and do have fixture personalities of lates (well, all) ETC products (at least with the latest software version you can easily download from the company´s site).

You say you understand what daisy-chaining means so I asume you understand the basics of DMX control, DMX universes, maximum of 512 control channels per universe etc.

Basically, what you need to know when working with any multi-channel devices is that with modern consoles the term "channel" has two different meanings - first being actual DMX channels used to comunicate between the console and a fixture, second being dedicated channel number by which the console recognizes your input and translates it further.

So, when you patch, say a Lustr, you have to set its starting address (number of the first of 8 DMX channels it uses). That will become the fixture address, though it actually uses more addresses (consecutively). In the concole´s patch you enter the "console channel" (number you want that single Lustr being referred to when programming your cues) and patch the address of the fixture (as you have set it). Both Eos and Congo family consoles´ patch asks you whether the patched channel is a dimmer or anything else. That´s when the fixture libraries comes in. You simply tell your console what is on that address you are patching and it will automatically set the corresponding number of DMX channels (addresses) to parameter controls.

That way, when programming, you only need to enter the "console channel" number to control ALL the fixture´s parameters (that are in fact controled by all those DMX channels you set in the patch) via encoders or GUI (e.g. color picker).

So, no, you only patch the starting address of whatever you are patching. Console takes care of the rest (of course if you do not have an aged Express in a newly furbished art centre for whatever reason).

That would be the very basic (and a little over-simplified) concept of multi-channeled fixture control. Details depend on what you actually have.

taylors said:
If i addressed all the LED fixtures 1, 9, 17 so on and so on will I be able to controll them one by one or will one effect all because of the daisy chain?
Click to expand...

If you patch them as separate channels, you are able to control them separately.
 
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re: ETC LED Fixtures & SeaChanger on Element

I am working with the ETC Eos Family - Element.

So each Lustar do I have to add eight to the address i assign? Like 1, 9, 17. Then I just patch address 9 @ whatever channel, select the product and it will do the rest? Or do I have to patch 2/1, 2/9. 2/17 or is that just uneeded work because the element can do it by its self? Thanks very much.
 
re: ETC LED Fixtures & SeaChanger on Element

taylors said:
do I have to add eight to the address i assign? Like 1, 9, 17. Then I just patch address 9 @ whatever channel, select the product and it will do the rest? Or do I have to patch 2/1, 2/9. 2/17 or is that just uneeded work because the element can do it by its self? Thanks very much.
Click to expand...

Yes, you have to leave out as many addresses as number of control channels the fixture takes. So yes, on the first universe it would be something like 1, 9, 17 etc. if you start from one and the address range you chose is empty (nothing else is patched there).

I am not familiar with software differences between Element and the rest of the Eos family, but I see no reason why should this be different - on Eos family consoles you do not enter DMX universe number, you add 512 to the address set on fixture for every universe it is linked to above one.

So, if you set addresses to 1, 9 and 17, you patch them as such if they are on the first universe, 513, 521 and 529 on universe 2, 1025, 1033 and 1041 on universe 3 and so on (though I am pretty sure Element has no more than two DMX universes).

EDIT: Checked on Element offline (1.9.11) - I was right, you set the correct universe by adding 512.
 
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re: ETC LED Fixtures & SeaChanger on Element

taylors said:
I am working with the ETC Eos Family - Element.

So each Lustar do I have to add eight to the address i assign? Like 1, 9, 17. Then I just patch address 9 @ whatever channel, select the product and it will do the rest? Or do I have to patch 2/1, 2/9. 2/17 or is that just uneeded work because the element can do it by its self? Thanks very much.
Click to expand...

Element's fixture library includes a number of entries for the Desire line. Find the one that matches the way the fixtures have been configured and use it. The console knows how many DMX addresses to allocate to each fixture and will take care of the offset for you. To simplify your life, use one of the HSI personalities.

To patch a range of fixtures to universe 2 starting at 1, the syntax would be:

1 [Thru] x {Type}{D40 Lustr+ HSIC Str} [Address] 2/1 [Enter]

On a side note, I'm finding it a little unusual that the lights would be hanging, and cabled, possibly focused, but not patched in a school installation. Are you sure there isn't a show file on the system already that has things patched?
 
re: ETC LED Fixtures & SeaChanger on Element

IMO, the universe/address format is the easiest way to patch to a universe other than 1. If my fixture is on universe 3 and addressed at 25, it's much easier for me to remember 3/25 than 537.
OP: Check with your teacher. At my new venue, the installers gave me a "ticket" to use to schedule training. I get two days of Eos training and one day for the Ion (seems a bit much to be honest). I would think that your install came with some amount of training from ETC.
 
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The company that installed the unit patched it their way and we only had a 2 hour traning, which didnt really get us any where. So I decided to start from scratch and do it the way I wanted it and make it comfortable. So thanks for all of the help!
 
If you have not done that already I would highly recommend downloading the off-line editor (it´s free) and fiddle with it as much as you can. Read the manual and try every single function until you feel familiar with them and then repeat. And repeat. And... yes, repeat. Try to imagine situations when different functions would be handy. Excessive self-education is IMHO better than any training.

Good luck!
 
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