Martin TRACKPOD Getting Started page 24

if you have a shallow stage where the performer moves from left to
right mostly, then set the fixture in a central, frontal location with an
orientation such that only pan or tilt will swing for such movement.
• Moving head fixtures hung directly over the stage will "flip" 360
degrees as they track a performer and reach their pan limit (unless the
fixture is capable of continuous rotation). Solve this by making it
impossible for the performer to "walk around" the fixture and make it
reach its pan limit: a) hang the fixtures with their base vertical rather
than horizontal or b) hang the heads outside the interactive area.
• Use 16-bit mode. For Martin lights this means using mode 4.
• Set fixture specific parameters for tweaking performance. For in-
stance, control P/T Speed (or M Speed) to make movement smoother or
faster. For Martin fixtures, ensure that the pan and tilt offsets in the
adjustment > calibration internal menu are set to 127.
• Control iris, zoom and focus automatically so that the followspot has
the same appearance everywhere on the stage. These automated features
are only available for popular fixtures but they are very worthwhile.
• For very large stages you may want to automatically cross fade (with
cross-fade lines) so that "closer" followspots "take over" when the
performer approaches.
• You may want followspots to automatically dim whenever they are
directed at a certain region of the stage. For example, you may want
them to dim 50 per cent whenever they are pointed at a video screen.
• Use MANY followspots for cool effects. Granted, automated
followspots do not have the power, stability, linearity and throw that
normal followspots have. However, with the TrackPod system you can
have up to hundreds of followspots simultaneously on the same per-
former (this would get a little pricey the old way!).
• Automated followspots are used frequently for back or key lighting in
tandem with conventional followspots.
Page 24 Getting Started
www.audiovias.com