Announcement: Online fixture editor

[DaveB]

Hi all,

I have been working on an online editor for creating (and eventually,
sharing) DMXIS fixture files. An experimental release is available
immediately for everyone to try:

http://fixtures.dmxis.com

Usage is (I hope) straightforward:

* Create an account and log in.

* Click "New" in "My fixtures" - the main "Fixture Editor" appears.

* Enter the manufacturer, fixture name & any description you like.

* Click "New" in "Fixture Modes" to create a mode (e.g. 3 channel, 6
channel, as specified in your fixture manual)

* Highlight your new mode, then click "New" in "Channels" to build the
list of channels. Some standard channels are available (e.g. Pan/Tilt,
RGB) to save time. Double-click on the table cells to edit the channel
names.

* Highlight each channel, then create the ranges for that channel.
Double-click on the cells to edit the range data. Simple channels
(e.g. Pan) may have a single variable range from 0-255. Complex
channels (e.g. Gobo wheels) may have a number of fixed & variable
ranges. Again, this is all defined in your fixture manual.

* Once finished, click "Export for DMXIS" to get your finished DMXIS
fixture file.

There is no "Save" or "Save As" option, all editing is automatically
saved to the online database as you type (so if you lose your
connection or your browser crashes, you shouldn't lose any work). The
"Duplicate" option in the Fixture Mode list lets you create a backup
copy of a fixture mode, if you want a safety net while editing an
existing fixture.

Comments and suggestions most welcome in this thread.

Dave.

[John]

FWIW,
The url does not work with the latest Firefox beta. It works ok in
Chrome and is spotty on IE 8 (very slow).

[DaveB]

>
> The url does not work with the latest Firefox beta.  It works ok in
> Chrome and is spotty on IE 8 (very slow).
>

Thanks for the info. Firefox 4 beta has removed a feature critical to
the underlying AJAX libraries (upon which the fixture editor is
built). That's the risk of running beta browsers alongside bleeding-
edge websites, I'm afraid. Stick to Chrome, Safari or Firefox 3 for
the moment, I'm sure the AJAX libraries will be patched before the
public release of Firefix 4.

I'm not seeing much slowdown with IE8 on my Vista laptop, perhaps your
network connection was running slow at the time?

Dave.

[Damien]

Great! Now it's easier to create a fixture.

I didn't find bug, but I couldn't create a account with Hotmail. I
used another.

[Kevin Callery]

Dave,
I'm trying to create a profile for the NJD Spectre a 3 channel colour
changer.
I've added the name and description and put "3 channel" into the
fixture mode section
but as soon as I try to enter the channels it brings up an error
message.

The channels should be as follows:
1 - Dimmer
2 - RGB
3 - Fade time

Can you help me as to what I'm doing wrong?

Cheers,
Kevin.

[DaveB]

>
> I've added the name and description and put "3 channel" into the
> fixture mode section
> but as soon as I try to enter the channels it brings up an error
> message.
>

Click on "3 channel" to highlight it, then add your channels.

Dave.

[30 West]

Hi Dave,
I've created a simple 5 channel par can profile for a StageApe LED PAR
38. Everything worked perfectly as explained and I exported the .dmx
file. I placed it in the fixtures folder, but when I assign it to a
fader I get an error message that simply says "Fixture file contains
errors!". Any idea where to go from here?

Thanks!

[DaveB]

Your fixture loads fine for me in DMXIS 1.1.0, on both Win7 & OSX
10.6.4. Suggest we discuss this problem offline, since it probably
isn't a general issue for the group. Can you start by emailing me the
fixture file from your local disk? I'd like to check if it has become
corrupted during the download or unzip process.

Dave Brown
da...@db-audioware.com

[30 West]

Thanks Dave..... I found my issue and got it resolved. Working
beautifully now.

[Dave Brown]

On 25/10/2010 23:35, 30 West wrote:
> Thanks Dave..... I found my issue and got it resolved. Working
> beautifully now.
>

Can I ask what the issue was? (You should never be able to download a
broken fixture file, as the online editor checks your data as you type.
So I'm guessing I need to add a missing rule to the editor...)

Thanks,
Dave.

[30 West]

Dave,
Not sure what this means, but I originally had values 1-15 of the
first channel in the fixture set to 'blackout'. I did that because the
1-15 value is 'off' on the fixture in question.

In trying to find possible fixes, I edited the fixture and set the
1-15 values to 'variable'. Once I did that, it worked fine. I just got
busy designing scenes and forgot to log back in to update the thread.
When you downloaded it, I believe I had already made that edit which
is why (I think) it worked for you. I apologize for not updating you
quicker. I'm still not used to manufacturers responding as quickly as
you do!! :)

Hope that helps.

[Damien]

I forgot one channel ranges while creating a fixture.
We need to add buttons "up" and "down" to easily add the channel in
the middle of the other.

[Damien]

It should be possible to create a new type in Channel Ranges. I have a
"Random strobe effect with decreasing speed", it is necessary that the
numbers go from 100 to 0; or now, I can only from 0 to 100 with
"Variable" type.

Thanks!

[DaveB]

I have created a short video to explain the workflow of the online DMXIS fixture editor:

   http://www.screencast.com/t/Zvp6hfD4aeBl

Dave

[James Hepler]

I keep getting an error when trying to edit my fixture:

"Database Error: Local Error 1: Local time-out expired for save_channels"

And when I try to export the fixture to DMXIS I get an error saying:

"Fixture file contains errors!"

Am I doing something wrong?

Fixture: American DJ Revo 4, 256 channels

The fixture is plugged in and configured properly.  When I bring up the faders in DMXIS, each fader brings up the appropriate channel.  They just aren't labeled or anything.  I can't use it this way.

[DaveB]

Is anyone else seeing this database time-out error? It would occur about 10 seconds after editing the channel name or short name. The editor appears to be working fine for me this morning.

I've attached a corrected fixture file for the 256 channel mode of the Revo 4.

Out of curiosity, what kind of programming are you planning to do in the 256 channel mode? This mode is really designed to be used with a pixel-mapping controller or a media server. It will be rather time consuming to program this using 256 individual DMXIS faders - although I can see that you could potentially create some nice tempo-synced effects using the DMXIS oscillators.

Dave.

[James Hepler]

Wow, thanks so much for doing that!

Yeah, I just wasn't entirely pleased with the built-in programs,
particularly the timing. I want all of my effects to happen on the
beat, and I've found the DMXIS Oscillators to be really helpful
there. I also want to be able to divide the revo 4 into 4 quadrants,
so I'm thinking of editing the .dmx file so that I'll be able to
highlight the LED's by quadrant. I was a little surprised to find
that there were only two modes to the Revo 4. It would have been nice
for them to include each LED PLUS faders for pre-programmed chases and
patterns, not unlike the ADJ Megapixel.

Thanks again! I have an oscillator question as well, but I'll make a
new thread for that.

>  Revo 4 256 Channel Individual.dmx.zip
> 1KViewDownload