Stevens R. Miller
Well-Known Member
I wrote about a similar problem in another thread, but that focused on possible issues with the control console. This time, I have eliminated the console from the equation.
I'm working with a number (19, actually) of Chauvet COLORdash Par-Hex 7 instruments. Very nice lights with a wide range of colors. The director wants a slow fade to black in some scenes, and an immediate black-out in others. The immediate black-out works great. But, when I fade slowly, the lights gradually fade down (which is what I want), but suddenly drop from a farily bright level to black at the low end (which I do not want).
I swapped the ColorSource 40 console for my computer and an OpenDMX. This way, I could be sure that I was sending an exact value of 1 to an instrument. At that level, it was surprisingly bright. going to 0, of course, turned it off. At the backpanel, one can select any of three "dimming curves," but none of these seems to change the amount of light emitted at level 1 (it appears they don't change the level-to-intensity function but, instead, introduce a lag when the level changes, to simulate the persistence of incandescent bulbs).
The instruction manual describes a 16-bit mode, which I have never used. Is that likely to give me access to lower levels of light? At it is, when doing a slow fade, it seems like the lights fade to a low level, then it's like someone just flips a switch and off they go.
If the 16-bit mode would help, I'm willing to pursue it, but I'm not sure the ColorSource 40 can handle it. Also, each instrument would use up 13 addresses to get at that mode. That would consume 247 in total, and those 19 pars are not my whole universe.
As often happens, I'm stuck at a point where I'm accessing a lot more theory than I have practice.
Can anyone advise me?
I'm working with a number (19, actually) of Chauvet COLORdash Par-Hex 7 instruments. Very nice lights with a wide range of colors. The director wants a slow fade to black in some scenes, and an immediate black-out in others. The immediate black-out works great. But, when I fade slowly, the lights gradually fade down (which is what I want), but suddenly drop from a farily bright level to black at the low end (which I do not want).
I swapped the ColorSource 40 console for my computer and an OpenDMX. This way, I could be sure that I was sending an exact value of 1 to an instrument. At that level, it was surprisingly bright. going to 0, of course, turned it off. At the backpanel, one can select any of three "dimming curves," but none of these seems to change the amount of light emitted at level 1 (it appears they don't change the level-to-intensity function but, instead, introduce a lag when the level changes, to simulate the persistence of incandescent bulbs).
The instruction manual describes a 16-bit mode, which I have never used. Is that likely to give me access to lower levels of light? At it is, when doing a slow fade, it seems like the lights fade to a low level, then it's like someone just flips a switch and off they go.
If the 16-bit mode would help, I'm willing to pursue it, but I'm not sure the ColorSource 40 can handle it. Also, each instrument would use up 13 addresses to get at that mode. That would consume 247 in total, and those 19 pars are not my whole universe.
As often happens, I'm stuck at a point where I'm accessing a lot more theory than I have practice.
Can anyone advise me?