help with MagicQ personalities/Freestyler scene fading

[graystreet84]

Hey guys. I am new to stage lighting so please excuse my lack of knowledge! I recently ordered 20 led par 64's from this company out of California called Omez Lighting. They were super cheap and the manual sucks! The first issue is that the manual says they are 7 channel lights but on the phone they tell me that they are 6 channel lights. Either way I have no idea what channel does what so I have no way of knowing how to make a fixture personality in MagicQ. I have only been playing with Magicq for a couple of days and it definitely seems pretty hard to use, however I have figured out how to patch lights I just cant find a preset personality that will work for these lights. Im pretty sure they are six channel lights and I'm also pretty sure that channel one is the main dimmer. Can anyone give me any advise on how to patch these CHEAP LIGHTS!

I have also been playing around with a program called freestyler which seems to be waaaay simpler. I had everything patched and working in a matter of minuets. What my ultimate goal is, is to be able to have static scenes that fade from scene to scene. This lighting system is going into a church and i want to be able to have one scene say all blue and when we go to the next song i would simply like it to fade to my next scene, say all red. My question is.... Can i fade between static scenes in freestyler? Im pretty sure i can do this in magicq but it just seems really hard to use.

Last question... does anyone know of any software that will work for what i'm wanting to do (fade between static scenes) that is free or really cheap besides magicQ?

Just so you know I am using the ENTTEC USB PRO as my DMX to USB interface. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!! I have to have this system up and running in the next week and I am getting SUPER stressed out!!! Thanks for taking the time to read all of this and i hope i am posting this to the correct spot. I am new here and just looking for some friendly advise. Thanks and God bless!!

 

[dbaxter]

The LED fixtures I am familiar with all have channels 1,2, and 3 as the color, usually red, green, blue, in that order. Then the intensity is either 6 (or 7) in your case. The other channels are for special effects like strobing, automatic color changes, and possibly responding to sound. For a solid color you can fade (0>255) either the color - with intensity at full - or have the color already at 255 and fade the intensity channel. I can tell you that Cue Player Lighting will do what you describe for scene changes.

 

[graystreet84]

Thanks so much for the advise! I will definitely check out Cue Player Lighting.

 

[JohnD]

What is the model number for the lights? Is it this one?
FloodPar
The specifications for that light are:
Ch1-on/off
Ch2-Red
Ch3-Green
Ch4-Blue
Ch5-Color variation, Sound active
Ch6-Speed control

 

[graystreet84]

JohnD, that is the right light. The internet is way different than the manual though. And there are no number values on the website like there are in the manual. Im pretty sure the website is probably correct but I still don't really understand how to make a fixture personality with that info. I have tried and tried with no luck :/ because I am so new to dmx and lighting in general I have no idea what to put for type... is it LTP or HTP I also dont know what to put for the attrib no or what to put where it say's ENC. I really don't know how to enter the ranges either. I know it sounds like i dont know much but thats because i don't! Again sorry for my lack of knowledge but I have only been trying to figure out how to use Magicq for a few days with no lighting experience at all. Is there anyway someone could possibly build me a personality for this fixture based on the info on there website and email it to me? I know that's asking for a lot but it would be GREATLY appreciated!! : )

 

[bishopthomas]

First of all, you need to figure out without a doubt which channels do what on the fixture. Set the fixture to DMX 1, patch 10 dimmer channels in MagicQ (Patch, Choose Dimmer, Type "10@1" then hit Enter, Patch It), and run the faders up (press INT to access the intensity channels) to see what they do. Get back to us with confirmed functions and I'll be glad to build you a personality. It's actually super easy to do, took me about 5 minutes to build one for a 15 channel moving light. Was a nice surprise coming from the Avolites personality builder.

 

[graystreet84]

bishopthomas, WOW, that worked great! So channel 1 seems to be a master intensity. Channel 2 is red. Channel 3 is green and channel 4 is blue. Channel 5 is the strobe and it goes faster and faster as you turn it up and I cant get channel 6 to do anything. The website says they are 6 channel lights and the manual says they are 7 channel lights but it seems to me they may only be 5 channel lights. I hope this helps. Thanks so much for your help so far!!

 

[bishopthomas]

This should do the trick.

 

[graystreet84]

My email is [email protected] thanks a ton!! Hmmmm... My email seems to not be showing up in this post. I may need to send it to you in a private message. I'm not sure.

 

[bishopthomas]

I see your email. But my edited post seems to not be showing up for you either. I zipped the file and attached it here. Let me know if you don't see it and I'll email it to you.

Also, put the file in the folder under Chamsys "Shows/heads"

 

[graystreet84]

That worked great! So I finally have the fixtures working but I am still having one issue. I cant seem to figure out how to fade between scenes. I know how to set up a look and hit rec then select a playback fader and clear the programmer. I can set up a different look on each fader I just dont know how to fade evenly between the scenes. Can anyone please tell me what to do? Thanks