I’m new to Photon, and I’m wondering if I’m on the right track or not. What I’m trying to do is to map three different Cameo fixtures, which are not found in the current device list. When doing this I’ve got some questions which I’m wondering about, before I’ll show what I’ve done so far.
The control table for the first light, a Cameo Q Spot 40 RGBQ (model no: CLQS40RGBW), I’m working with is:
I created my device in “Custom devices”, and afterwards saw that I could add it directly to the Cameo folder. Can I move my custom device into that folder, or do I have to recreate it?
For the strobe channel I’ve created a custom effects channel, and assigned the various channels to buttons and sliders. These will not match the default strobe controller in Photon will it? Would it be better to have a custom effect for the non-standard strobe thingies on channel 3, and then add a default strobe control for channel 3, values 128-250? Is this even legal?
Similarly, I’ve created a custom effects for the colour macro with loads of (grey) buttons to match the various colours, and some sliders on the last two colour animations. Could I get to colour my buttons? Would it be better to use gobos somehow? And how do I access the gobos?
The colour effect added to this fixture, is also going to be the same on a different fixture (which has an 13CH mode with various stuff included). Can I copy a custom effect from one device to another? And if so, how do I do that?
If/when I’m satisfied with my device setup, can I somehow share it for others to use?
The dimmer of this fixture is 16bit, is that possible to map in Photon? If so, how? (Currently I’ve just mapped the main part, and set the “fine dimmer” to a static value of 0.
The faders currently display all values in percentages, is it possible to get it to display the actual value it outputs?
That was a lot of questions, and I’m hoping they’re understandable, and that someone have the time to answer them. I wanted to add some screen shots to illustrate my current attempt, but as a new user I’m only allowed one image.
By the way, I’m still working on configuring the Eurolite DMX node and the dedicated network, so I’m not able to tell whether my current configuration works or not, but within a day or two I reckon I’ve got it up and running. Just wanted to get some indications whether I’m doing it correctly, so far.
I’ll try to answer all your questions, I’ill doing my best !
All fixtures you will create in Photon will be added to the “Custom devices” folder. It is not possible to move by yourself your own device in the manufacturer folder. If you want to do that you can create the fixture and then share it with the community (swipe the list item on the left and touch the arrow icon) and it will be added by administrators (thank you ). So no worries, you don’t have to recreate it.
For the strobe I think it will be better to create “shutter” strobe to channel 128-250 and add a “OPEN” value to 0 and “CLOSE” to 10.
Yes it is a good idea to add colors macros in “custom properties” because there is no native interface for that in Photon. When you choose a “color property” it will be control only with the color picker in the group view. Unfortunately it will not be possible to find your colors gobos in the interface. Moreover it is not possibile to choose the color of a button… Several users have already made us aware of these problems and we will try to provide answers in a future version
No you can’t
Yes, refer to bullet 1., you can swipe the list item.
No it is not possible, but it is a good idea, we could add it to the fixture creator. It is the good way to fix the fine channel to 0.
very good idea but it is not possible, I note that in our TODO list.
Just keep me in touch when you will configure your Eurolite DMX, you can also send us pics of yours devices runing with Photon that encourages us a lot !
Feel free to ask us if you want and we will try to help you as much as possible.
Thank you all these suggestions, they are really good and they are timely! We have been working hard on a next major version of Photon (v2) for several months and I hope you will enjoy it.
Thanks for the reply, and as you reckon I would also like for the opportunity to copy a custom effect configuration to another device.
I’ve now managed to get it all up and running, will post photos next week, but I’m having a slight issue, which might be just the way Cameo has programmed their lights, not sure. It’s related to how the Colour Macro channel overrides the RGBW channels.
The issue is that if I choose a colour macro using a custom button, or the custom faders, it keeps propagating these changes even after I change the RGBW values. To get the RGBW faders to work again, I need to either hit the “Colour jumping stop” button (values 126-127) or the “Colour off” (value 000-005). When using actual faders this kind of goes naturally as you swipe past the “colour jumping stop” when going towards zero.
Have you guys encountered similar problems like this, and have a way around it? Or do I just have to train myself and the other light technicians to always hit the “Colour off” button when leaving the colour custom effect tab?
The same applies to my custom strobe effect, that if I don’t hit the “strobe off” button, it’ll keep applying the strobe effects.
Hi !
Of course it will be a pleasure to see some pictures of your Cameos installation working with Photon
For the moment I think that you can’t do something better than unselect your custom button before touching the color picker. Customs controls are not linked with Colors controls. in your case it is not really practical but indeed the customs controls are totally uncorrelated.
What is your Photon use case ? Theater, cinema, music stage… ?
). So no worries, you don’t have to recreate it.