Some Programming Hints - Leviton 600 User Manual

Chapter 10 Automated Devices

Some Programming Hints

• There are many different ways in which lighting operators and designers
program automated devices in their consoles. Depending on the show
requirements and your personal preferences, you may choose to just create
individual looks which can be quickly recorded into cues for playback later.
Or you may choose to start recording groups or "palettes" of colors,
positions, gobos, etc. from which you can later choose from during the
design process of the show, much like how a painter lays out his palette of
colors before he starts to paint. Although this may seem more time
consuming in the beginning, in the end it will save you time if you have to
update cues later on, plus you will have palettes to choose from for the
next show you work on.
• As there are many details involved when working with automated devices
it is quite important to be as organized as possible. For instance, one
organizational method of recording a group of colors from a device's color
wheel is to organize your color groups in the same sequence in which the
colors are installed on the color wheel. For example, if the first position on
the wheel is open white, create group 101 as open white also, if the next
color on the wheel is red, create group 102 as red, etc. Working this way
will allow you quick, logical access to your color palette as you build cues
and keep you more organized. This technique can also be applied to other
traits of an automated device; for instance, the numbering of your position
groups could represent the Stage Right to Stage Left or Upstage to
Downstage focus points on stage. For more information on programming
with groups, see the
Chapter 6 Groups
• Another programming technique is recording "Marked" cues. These are
cues where lights that are "Off" are moved to position and a color or gobo
is set as an un-seen cue prior to fading up the devices. One example of
using marked cues would be if you would like your devices to fade up in a
cue without visibly scrolling through the color or gobo wheels. For instance,
if you had Cue 1 in blue and wanted to later fade up Cue 2 in magenta
without seeing the colors in between, you could record Cue 1.5 as a
blackout cue which also moves the color wheel into it's new position before
Cue 2 is triggered. Refer to the
chapter and
• The best way to learn the intricacies of programming automated devices
is to practice. When first learning, it is best sometimes to keep it simple and
use a small number of devices before expanding to a larger amount. As
mentioned earlier in this chapter, knowing how your automated devices are
supposed to operate is very important to your success.
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Using Groups
.
Recording Cues
Chapter 5 Cues
for further information.
section earlier in this chapter and
section earlier in this
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