Road Hog : 250 Entours : 250 Washes

Hey all,

I have been running the Road Hog for a couple of months now and really like the console. I am having a couple of various problems, if anyone has the time to lend a hand:

I am running the Road Hog, 12 250 Entours, and 10 250 Washes, plus pars.

1) What is the best way to program a movement effect, so that the fader acts as a manual fader, and fades the speed of the effect?

I have tried doing this a couple of different ways, but none seem to work that well for me.

Another problem I have with this, is that when I use the Manual Fader option, it gets stuck to it's full speed at the top of the fader. Then when I release the fader, the fader acts backwards: So that the top is now 0 and the bottom of the fader is full. Is there anyway to keep this from happening, because the switching of the fader confuses me.

2) With the 250 Entours, I am trying to create a color cuelist with all of the colors in the color wheel in order. When I create the cuelist of the colors in order of the wheel, or even press the colors in order of the color wheel, the colors sometimes snap to the next color, and sometimes they slowly scroll.

I have tried fixing this also to no avail. And it seems everytime I program it, another set of colors work. I don't mind if they either scroll, or snap, but I would like them all to do the same thing.

If my color wheel in order is OPEN - CTC - Yellow - Blue - Magenta, and I press the GO button, it will : OPEN CTC Yellow Blue Magenta. Any ideas?

3) Finally, how do you create an effect so that the 250 washes will COLOR SCROLL in the same order of the color wheel of the 250 Entours? I wasn't sure if this were possible, but I would love to have a color scroll that scrolls every light in order.

Thanks ahead of time for the help, and look forward to speaking to you all!

~deegster :ninja:
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    Deeg,

    "1) What is the best way to program a movement effect, so that the fader acts as a manual fader, and fades the speed of the effect?"

    Cue 1 speed at 0
    Cue 2 speed at fast
    Set for manual crossfade.


    "Another problem I have with this, is that when I use the Manual Fader option, it gets stuck to it's full speed at the top of the fader. Then when I release the fader, the fader acts backwards: So that the top is now 0 and the bottom of the fader is full. Is there anyway to keep this from happening, because the switching of the fader confuses me."

    When this happens in the new setup hit the GO button to reverse it.

    Another downside is if you do a pig release.


    "2) With the 250 Entours, I am trying to create a color cuelist with all of the colors in the color wheel in order. When I create the cuelist of the colors in order of the wheel, or even press the colors in order of the color wheel, the colors sometimes snap to the next color, and sometimes they slowly scroll. "

    It depends on what DMX range you were operating in when you programmed the color. As many have said here before, READ the manual for the fixture, especially the DMX protocol.
    For instance;
    0-143 is Continuous scroll (smooth)
    156-207 is Stepped scroll (stepped)

    Now you can program both scrolls!


    "3) Finally, how do you create an effect so that the 250 washes will COLOR SCROLL in the same order of the color wheel of the 250 Entours? I wasn't sure if this were possible, but I would love to have a color scroll that scrolls every light in order."

    Not sure i got the question, but here goes...
    Set all the fixtures to a desired color and record that to the pallet.
    Repeat for all the colors of the wheel in the Entour.
    Then build a cuelist chase.

    Cat

    :hogsign:
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    1) What do you mean by the "new setup"?

    2) hmm i will check the manual, but I'm not sure that really answered what I was looking for though. Thanks!

    3) The chase will work perfectly, Thanks! I just wasn't sure if you could do it via the effects engine or some other way without clogging up a fader
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    Sorry, by "new setup" I was thinking from your description that you were trying to do the manual crossfade with a sinlge cue programmed for fast. the "new setup" being the two cue method.

    In the two cue method if you end up upside down you can reverse it with the GO button.

    Yea, its Friday, and I'm tired.

    Cat
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    Very understandable, but that reverse function aggravates the crap out of me, because while programming on the fly, I don't have time to figure out which way I'm supposed to be going.

    I wish I could just disable it so that the top is always full, and the bottom is zero.

    I am trying to make a prism manual crossfade, so the top is fullest prism rotation. The "new setup" works (except for that reverse), but is there a way to make it release when the fader reaches Zero (without having to release it with buttons)?
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    Chris,

    For color, I programmed the lights by just moving the wheel and recorded that color into the pallet, not by using the step buttons that show up when I hit the color button.

    I checked the manual, and yes stepped and continous colors are seperated, but I am not really sure how to program colors the correct way. When I made a chase cuelist, with the colors in order of the gobo wheel, I still get the same effect - The colors chase and will snap at some colors, and then slowly scroll at other colors. Is there a way to program with the Road Hog by just calling DMX Parameters?

    deegster
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    It depends on what DMX range you were operating in when you programmed the color. As many have said here before, READ the manual for the fixture, especially the DMX protocol.
    For instance;
    0-143 is Continuous scroll (smooth)
    156-207 is Stepped scroll (stepped)

    Now you can program both scrolls!


    I guess my question is, how do I know what range I am in while I am programming?
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    You can view the "raw DMX" data by pressing SETUP and then DMX. This will open the DMX window where you can view the Output DMX values.
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    ok that sorta helped. now as i turn the color wheel, i see two numbers change. the first number makes sense it's the dmx value showing what color, but i have no idea what the second number is for.

    also, say i can see the continous dmx values, but i want to program stepped values, is there a way to manually enter or edit the dmx values?
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    Deegster,

    The two numbers you see changing are the two dmx channels that fixture uses to control the color wheel. In this case of the Entour Extended it is channel 4 for the MSB (most significant byte) and channel 5 for the LSB (least significant byte). As you slowly turn the parameter wheel you will see channel 5 go from 0 to 255, then when it goes back to 0 channel 4 will go to 1. And so on until channel 4 is at 143.

    I just jumped in Hog3PC and dig a quick check. I patched an Entour onto universe 2 at address 1. The Library for the Entour Extended only lets you operate in the 0-143 range. Sorry I had told you before that you could program in both ranges. It probably doesn't matter.

    The timing you use from cue to cue will determine whether it steps instantly (0 seconds) or smoothly/continuously (like say 2 seconds).

    So, check your cuelist that has some snap and slow and see what the fade times are.

    Hope this helps.

    Cat
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    Yea I have checked that and just don't get it. And everytime I reprogram the colors, I get a different set of colors that will step or not. I have all fade times to zero so I know that isn't the case, but whenever I go from color to color it snaps sometimes and is a smooth rotation the next time.

    Now I checked the Entour manual and it shows that 0-143 is continuous, and 144-255 is stepped, but there isn't a way to get to those stepped values? I wouldn't mind them all snapping, but it stinks during a show to have some values snap, and then when I go to another color it takes 2 seconds to scroll to it. weird. . . . maybe this should be an Entour forum question. hehe Thanks for the help though!
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    Hi,

    We only use the 'continuous scrolling' portion of the DMX channel within the HOG3 libraries. Simple reason being that in theory there should be no difference between using DMX value from the 'stepped' range vs using a DMX value representing the center point of the colour slot from the 'continuous' range. You can quickly access the the center point from choosing the appropriate colour slot from the slot toolbar.

    I've been trying to reproduce your problem of sometimes scrolling and sometimes snapping between colours and so far I'm unable to do so. Certainly from viewing the DMX output window, all appears to be functioning as expected. It would be worth viewing the DMX output window when transitioning from cue to cue to see if the DMX values are also snapping or fading accordingly.

    If possible, you could send me a sample show exhibiting this problem as currently I'm unable to repro it here.

    Thanks,

    Steve
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    Sounds good Steve, that makes total sense. It does look like the numbers stay within the continuous spectrum, but I haven't tried viewing the DMX channels as I run the colors to see if they show a continuous fade.

    Im going up there in about 2 hours so I will check and see, and if I can't get it to work then I will try and send you the show. I might need to call Martin and see if they have answers, because maybe there is a setting or something that is off, and I'm also not sure if they use any type of filtering, but I don't believe that's the case.
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    In theory, I should be able to put a fade time between one color slot and the next color slot, and get a true fade transition into the next color right? Because what I'm getting right now is a 2 second pause, and then a snap to that color.
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    Indeed that's the theory. Although, you should also ensure that you have set the path to 'Linear' and all should be good.

    Thanks,

    Steve
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    Steve,

    My paths are set to linear, and when I press the Go button on the cuelist and watch the DMX Output, regardless if they snap or are a smooth transition, they still show a snapping number. So instead of the colors that are smooth going say, from 0 2 4 6 8 10 11, it just jumps from 0 to 11.

    I didn't get a chance to copy the show, but I will make a copy and send it to you later this evening.
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