Ready… GO

If you’re anything like me, then the OOPS key is probably your favorite key on the desk. Because the OOPS option is actually fairly processor intensive on the console, you might want to think about optimizing your settings.

Pressing the SETUP key will take you to the Setup menu, where you will want to locate the “Oops Settings” option on the right side of the screen under “Misc.” Here are your options:

GENERAL (Enabled vs. Disabled)
General Enabled: Allows you to use the OOPS functionality to undo errors you made in your Commandline.
General Disabled: Turns all OOPS functionality off.

Oops for Views: Lets say you hit the wrong View button, well if Oops for Views is Enabled, you can simply hit OOPS to go back to your old screens.
Oops for Programmer: Enabling this option extends your Oops functionality for fixture editing to include selections/deselections in the Fixture Sheet along with attribution activations.

Ever wonder what that whole note at the bottom regarding “loud environments” is all about? Well, it has to do with the line above it regarding permanent hard disk access. Having permanent hard disk access in an environment with a lot of vibrations is very very difficult to pull off because of the mechanics of your basic HDD. In some clubs, operators would find that the vibrations were causing so much trouble that the console’s speed would drop significantly. Turning off OOPS functionality releases the permanent access resulting in a much faster console. If you’re in a quiet theatre, this won’t be a problem for you. Also – if you have a grandMA2, this also won’t be a problem because you’re lucky enough to have a Solid State Hard Drive!

So, which options are best for you if vibrations are not an issue? It’s up to you, but I like to use General: Enabled and Oops for Programmer: Enabled leaving the Views option Disabled. This isn’t cause I never hit the wrong View button – believe me, if there’s a contest for hitting the wrong keys, I could probably go Pro. It’s just that it’s too easy to simply hit the correct View Button afterwards!

Quick Tips are exactly what the name should imply. We’re adding these to our blog in an effort to help programmers and operators of all levels. If you’d like to suggest a Quick Tip, drop us a message on this blog, or on our Facebook page, or even via Twitter.

This week’s tip comes from Joe Cabrera, Director of Software Support at ACT Lighting.

Lately, we’re seeing more and more show files of bigger and bigger size. It’s not unheard of when you have an extensive rig (especially a large number of LED’s and/or media servers) and a band with an extensive catalog of songs. At a certain point, multiplying lots of parameters by numerous cues starts to add up.

Building habits for effective data usage can help stop your file size from spiraling out of control. Two big keys (when used efficiently) that will help you to keep your show size down are the Tracking and User Profiles.

Unblocking any unnecessarily blocked cues (trusting tracking to maintain the correct stage picture) can remove quite a bit of excess data from the show file while maintaining all of the truly necessary values. Unblocking can be done directly within the Tracking Sheet (right-click on any value in the sheet) or with Commandline syntax (look for the Unblock key in the QuicKey Pool).

They may seem pretty innocent, but User Profiles (especially their Views) can take up quite a bit of space. If you imagine that the setting of every possible display option for any sheet on the screen must be saved within the view, and that you can have multiple sheets on a screen, and that a view can contain all of these settings for up to all five screens, you can see how this data starts to pile up. Deleting any unneeded views from within your profile, and of course any unused profiles altogether, can also save quite a bit of space.

Quick Tips are exactly what the name should imply. We’re adding these to our blog in an effort to help programmers and operators of all levels. If you’d like to suggest a Quick Tip, drop us a message on this blog, or on our Facebook page, or even via Twitter.

Welcome to the MDG Atmosphere APS haze generator. This short video serves as an introduction to the product and shows how easy it is to change the CO2 canister. The MDG Atmosphere is used world wide in theatre, concert touring and in professional installations.

Today, you’ll find updated versions of software for the following products, along with Release Notes detailing the updates:

grandMA Series 1
grandMA Console Software Version 6.520
grandMA1 onPC Version 6.520

grandMA Series 2
grandMA2 Console Software Version 1.9
grandMA2 onPC Version 1.9

Visualizer
grandMA 3D Version [1.9.0][6.5] (compatible with today’s console software releases)

Video Processing Unit
grandMA VPU Software Version 4.5

Please visit our Downloads page to access these updates and the Release Notes.

Thanks!
The ACT Lighting Software Team

Temporary windows are those that can be called up independent of a View, and don’t require that you clear off the desktop to open them. Accessing them is easy. To do this, press and hold the LIST key and press any of the following keys to open the corresponding window:

CHANNEL opens the Channel Sheet
FIXTURE opens the Fixture Sheet
GROUP opens the Group Pool
SEQUENCE opens the Sequence Pool
EXECUTOR opens the Executor Sheet
MACRO opens the Macro Pool
VIEW opens the Views Pool
EFFECT opens the Effects Pool
PAGE opens Channel Pages*

Tip: Some of these keys are associated with multiple windows, which means that by holding the LIST key and hitting certain other keys twice, you’ll open other windows. The PRESET key is a great example of this. Each time you hit PRESET while holding down the LIST key, you’ll be given a new PRESET window (Dimmer, Pan/Tilt, Color, etc).

*Also try holding the LIST key and pressing keys like CHANNEL, FIXTURE, GROUP, EXECUTOR, PAGE and EFFECT more than once…

All temporary windows can be closed by pressing the ESCAPE key.

Quick Tips are exactly what the name should imply. We’re adding these to our blog in an effort to help programmers and operators of all levels. If you’d like to suggest a Quick Tip, drop us a message on this blog, or on our Facebook page, or even via Twitter.

Ever work with on a show where you need to adjust the speed of your chases on a nightly basis? This could be because the performer chooses to play a song faster or slower each night… or maybe because you want to use the same chase for two different portions of your show at different times, or you just want the chase to speed up or slow down during the same number. An easy way to adjust the speed of your chase live and on the fly is by using the LEARN key.

Now, there is a hard key labelled LEARN, but I recommend changing one of the keys on your Chaser Executor to LEARN. You can do this in the ASSIGN menu of the Executor (in the SETTINGS tab). Once you have that, you can simply tap your new LEARN key as if you were tapping along with the music. You’ll need to tap it at least 3 times, but once you’ve stopped – the chase will remember the duration between the taps and treat it as BPM, or Beats Per Minute. You can even change this live while it’s playing.

Also note: Try using the LEARN option with your Effects as well…

Quick Tips are exactly what the name should imply. We’re adding these to our blog in an effort to help programmers and operators of all levels. If you’d like to suggest a Quick Tip, drop us a message on this blog, or on our Facebook page, or even via Twitter.