Support Forum

Greetings!

Please excuse me if this post is considered in the wrong forum but I am facing a problem that may be solved by trivial means or represent fundamental inability of the software, I do not know.

My task is very simple: I have a set of fixtures that have RGBW channels that can be set from 0 to 127. If I choose any DMX value between 128 and 255 the output will be random. So, the challenges are:
1. Limit RGBW sliders on the fixture to 127 max. Global dimmer on the fixtures is also 0-127. I did not find any way to do so in the Styler or Fixture Creator.
2. Map Color table in the Styler so that color ranges fit into 0-127 range of output. No indication of such functionality or mention in the manuals or forums, unless I use non-conventional terminology in my search.

Please help me either solve the problem or stop wasting time trying.

Thanks!

You can use the custom sliders feature to create sliders with reduced numbers but you wont get a colour picker, I think that the color picker uses the '255' bits of information to make potentially 16 million colours? I think? because thats how computer colour pickers work

something to do with 16.7 million colour combinations

djSupport wrote: ↑May 1st, 2022, 10:18 pm You can use the custom sliders feature to create sliders...

I realize that but the point is to use values that are building the color. It is strange and unfair that my lights accept only 0-127 but I cannot change the hardware and have to deal with what I have.

djSupport wrote: ↑May 1st, 2022, 10:18 pm the color picker uses the '255' bits of information to make potentially 16 million colours...

True, in 8-bit RGB but with RGBW the pallete is even wider (x 256 times, i.e. 4.3 Billion colors!).
Obviously, neither 0-127 nor 0-255 ranges on the DMX channel will actually produce the gzillion of theoretical colors, especially knowing that the lights are non-linear, the gamma depends on the ambient temperature and previously dialed value, etc.
So, no matter how developers think that they are posting 8 bit per RGBW channel the output colors will be different from selected and wrong in general. So, there is obviously the space of a pallette with theoretical 16.7M colors per RGB (or more with W or Y) and there is a color space of a particular light which is defined and limited by many things, DMX Max value being one of them.
The 1:1 mapping according to what I see does not help producing any predictable result. Thus, the solution must be either in limiting the input gamut of the color palette due to limited output values or using the full input gamut and mapping it to the limited space. Either way has pros cons and may be a subject to a holywar but I cannot believe that there is no solution at all.

The only solution is to manually pick colours, record the values and save them into the colour window on fixture creator then you'll have your own presets ready to role and they'll look exactly the way you want them.

This software is free and developed in the developers spare time, your the only person I've seen request this in ten plus years so I doubt it would ever be coded in...

djSupport wrote: ↑May 2nd, 2022, 7:53 am This software is free and developed in the developers spare time, your the only person I've seen request this in ten plus years so I doubt it would ever be coded in...

I understand and appreciate the work, this is the whole new universe for me and I judge based on my experiences in totally foreign areas. Also I could not find much info on the lights that have a consistent limitation of 7 bits encoding. It may be the problem with the port configuration as much as the issue with my Enttec Open DMX dongle. If only I knew how to diagnose...

djSupport wrote: ↑May 2nd, 2022, 7:52 am ... save them into the colour window on fixture creator ...

The color window appears when I assign the Color Wheel channel and allows for only one channel-value configuration per color, does it not? In order to preset colors I need 5 channel values at least (Global shutter, RGBW) - this I do now in macros which I use to set limits for transitions. Very awkward but in the end it works.

Theoretically then you could use the macros window instead, use any fixture and using the sliders on the right pane adjust your colours until desired, write down the numbers then on the macros window you can add the values for each channel and adding the correct colour picture to the macro button.

djSupport wrote: ↑May 2nd, 2022, 6:49 pm Theoretically ... adding the correct colour picture to the macro button.

This is exactly what I ended up with! I do not use much intermediate colors and the extremum values are sitting in macros with correct color derived from photos.

Too bad that the light icon highliter is decoding DMX value back and shows nonsense but that is a minor thing of course.

In the theater, however, when I produce the color desired by the director I then have to tune tint. And that tuning using 0-127 of 0-255 in color sliders instead of visually picking from the gamut palette is a real pain.

Only solution, buy a better light

djSupport wrote: ↑May 3rd, 2022, 7:35 am Only solution, buy a better light

I sure will, when I own that (or, better yet another) theatre!