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placed close to each other in some ideal convenient location, even if
they are each controlling fixtures that aim from different sides.
The distance and angle to the stage depends on the venue. For instance, to
track players at a stadium the TrackPod should not be located on the playing
field but rather on a central, very elevated bleacher (or VIP box!). On the other
hand, if you are tracking a small stage you may place the TrackPod on a short
platform or riser on the stage. One important rule: always place the TrackPod
higher than your performers.
The TrackPod connects to the PC ISA card via standard 3-pin cable used
for DMX. The PC is usually placed right next to the main lighting board
so it is easy to see and override what the TrackPods are doing. The
distance between TrackPods and the PC should not exceed 1 Km.
Tip: it is possible to place a TrackPod head on a threaded mount on a
truss. This is useful when there is little space for the tripod. It is worth
noting also that the head's panning plane does not need to be horizontal
nor the tilt plane vertical. The automatic calibration of the TrackPod
corrects for such situations.
TrackPod controller
Figure 4 shows the features of the TrackPod controller. The controller
allows an operator to perform a very wide variety of functions. Its faders
can be programmed to control any DMX channel for individual or
groups of fixtures, thus allowing manual selection of traditional follow-
spot parameters (e.g. dimmer, iris, or colour) or of new intelligent
lighting parameters (e.g. prism, rotating gobos or automated framing).
The controller allows the operator to load and browse maps, to bump
pages of fader assignments, to see detailed tracking data, to temporarily
blind the pan and tilt functionality and more. The controller is also used
to calibrate the TrackPod and may be used to calibrate the fixtures. Of
course, all or some of the features may be disabled so that the central
lighting board retains full control and override capability.
The setup button in the TrackPod controller is available at all times
(even when the TrackPod software is not running on the PC). The setup
allows you to change the brightness and contrast of the controller
display, to test the faders and buttons and to directly read the pan and tilt
encoder values to make sure they are working properly. You may lock
the TrackPod head in which case all the functions will be blocked until
you enter the security code, which is the number 1209.
Martin TrackPod 1.8
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