I’d like a way to exclude some fixtures from the grand master/blackout controls. Things like fixture power relays, hazers, house lights, etc. don’t need to change when those controls are used. I know you can park the fixtures but then you can’t control them again without unparking.
Make a Group with everything apart from these fixtures/relays etc, put it on a fader and make it an inhibit fader and a flash -
it will act like a GM for just that group and the flash - will act like a DBO fro that group
Thanks! I’ve used workarounds like that in the past, but that still leaves a completely useless fader/knob and button on my consoles. Especially since the MV and EX have whole dedicated GM faders, I’d like to put them to use doing something.
The post is more inspired from frustratingly unusable hardware controls than the inability to adapt the software.
I’m trying to do this but it seems to not be working. I added my house lights to the group and put it on a fader and it turns into a HTP fader and I can’t change it to intensity fader. I turn on my GM and it also turns down the house lights. I’m using the new R4 1621 build
Hello, I just went through this for a relay on a ETC SR3 rack. The way I did if was make a custom fixture with one channel set as “Custom Misc” which is an attribute that gets ignored by GM/DBO.
You will still have to set the cuelist or group it is in to ignore release all though.
Here is the link to the profile: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/xqp8z88memwv5qunk8jqr/relay-custom-misc.v3f?rlkey=c5mxkr9xk0twmfvc0cuwty7mj&dl=0
1 Like
Another option for something you want to remain at a static level is to park it that will ignore everything including the GM
@Robert_Price Parking the fixtures is an option, but not really ideal for something like fixture power relays that you might want to control occasionally. That being said, parking them and hiding the fixtures and then using a DMX node that goes to black when no signal is received makes for a great way to have your fixtures automatically turn off and on whenever Vista is open, and I’ve seen this done with excellent results in the past.
But in this case it sounds like @OP wants to be able to control these fixtures occasionally (especially the Hazer example, which obviously needs to be controllable during the show but shouldn’t follow GM). That’s why I really like @wbellevueproduction’s solution, as it perfectly solves this issue through a controllable property that also is ignored by GM.
Drew
2 Likes
The only down side on this is you can’t operate this fixture as a “Intensity” dimmer anymore (I mostly use the intensity for hazers and smoke but also for relais because it much faster to operate then looking in the custom fixture controlls) but also for house lights, it can be hassle to use them “normally” with this work around.
Or am i missing something?
In an earlier post i suggested somthing that might help depending on what your trying to acomplish
GM will Always affect everything by design
But there is nothing stopping you making a GM group
Select all your fixtures apart from the ones you wish to exclude and store a group,
Then put it on a fader and attach a sacle - fader function to it, this is now an inhibit fader for all those fixtures, essentially a GM
Apart from the ones you want to exclude as they are not in the group
They can still be used with the GM group fader down
I do want to point out here that you can still put those fixtures in a cuelist with the custom property set to 100, or whatever your max value is, and then assign them to a fader on a playback surface. Then, go into your cuelist properties and set the fader type to “all features” instead of intensity only. This will allow you to control hazers/smoke using a fader on your surface exactly as before, but will ensure that they remain at the desired value even during a blackout.
To be honest with you, the only fixture types I would use this approach for are hazers/fog/smoke and fixture power relays. If you want a blackout button that excludes house lights, or front lights, or floor package, or something else like that, then I would recommend @Robert_Price’s approach to create a GM group.
Hopefully that makes sense. These are just some different options of how to achieve what you want to do depending on the type of fixture.
Drew
1 Like