QLab Light feature request/remarks

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aroom

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Nov 30, 2019, 12:56:43 PM11/30/19
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Hi


I work mostly as a light designer and it's the first time I'm using QLab to control light in a show. So the past few days I compiled some though during my encounter with this feature. I thought I'll share them with you here.


aroom


QLab Light feature request/remarks


  • A color picker with Lee, Rosco, Game color gel references
  • DMX Status with a 15 or 20 lines grid would make it easier to read. (Why 16?)



  • Light Patch:
  • A shortcut for light patch, like light dashboard
  • (already stated in previous topic). A possibility to quickly organise the patch list by number, name, instruments, groups by clicking on their respective columns. And also a way to organise them custom by dragging them.
  • We can’t create groups with SPACE between characters, but we can rename it with a SPACE.



  • Light Dashboard:
  • Make a sub or a group or an instruments pinned (maybe duplicated then). It would stay on top always visible when scrolling in light dashboard, easy to reach.
  • Stuff like a general master with blackout, dashboard master, scene level (light state from cue loaded) master would be nice.


  • Light cues:
  • (already stated in previous topic) the ability to choose to remove parameters from the fade tempo, that could be a way to handle movement in black, but also great for other effects.
  • (already stated in a previous topic) a possibility to have different timing for time in and time out. (can be done with the curve or with two cues, but would be great to have this “traditional” directly in the Action column)
  • maybe an option to create automatically two cues would be great to mimic this behavior: one cue with the instruments augmented and another.



  • Remote Light instrument check:
  • Having to scroll this list is inconvenient. A grid of tiles would be better when we need to go from the top of the list of instruments to the last.
  • Let us choose the intensity of the selected instrument (10 percent is sometimes too high with led fixtures)
  • And give us an on/off, so we can pause the focus, and get back to it. (Right now you have to scroll on top, an then re-srcoll to look for the right instrument)



  • Remote Dashboard keypad:
  • Text autocompletion (like in the software) is a must have. (could be problematic via wi-fi I guess)
  • Then a list of the light in iPhone would be nice too (great on iPad)
  • A slider to change the intensity (or other selected parameters) from the selected instrument would be nice. Like the wheel on a regular light board.
  • It would be really nice to have the same Light Dashboard on the iPad and iPhone, with all instrument and their respective sliders. It would be so convenient. Right now I’m struggling to get any result with the remote. I guess I need to spend a lot more time with it.



BUG/ISSUES?


-How to know if my USB-DMX node is connected? When I reboot my laptop, I have to remove and reconnect my USB node and restart QLab to get a DMX signal. Is Art-Net more reliable with QLab? Are USB-DMX node plug and play?


-when using a SUBMASTER during the show with the Light Dashboard open, sometimes it will stuck the state of the Submaster in the current Light Cue, even though I didn’t update it.


I’m not quite sure what’s happening, but I made a Submaster with the house light, and when I use it I have some mixed results. Is it possible that sometimes it behave like a LTP and kill all my the other state in the Light Dashboard?


And I have this issue that in my sequence, the house light will open at full even though the submaster is at 0 and the house light aren’t recorded in any of the light Cues running… I even remade a light cue with the house light = 0, press V to get the result and they wouldn’t go down. Maybe I had to clear the Dashboard to get it running. I’m not sure what’s going on with Submaster, I guess I didn’t understand how to use them and that they are really different from submaster on regular light board.


I am a bit anxious about this, because I’m running a show for the first time using QLab for light control, and I’m on stage not at FOH and can’t really see what’s happening…

sam kusnetz

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Dec 2, 2019, 1:12:21 PM12/2/19
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Hi aroom


Thanks for your comments. I'm filing some feature requests and bug reports directly, but I have some questions for you too!



A color picker with Lee, Rosco, Game color gel references

Noted, although I hope you understand that this is not a trivial feature to implement, and I do not expect it to happen particularly soon.

DMX Status with a 15 or 20 lines grid would make it easier to read. (Why 16?)

The DMX Status window, which is intended only as a troubleshooting tool, is sixteen items wide because one universe of DMX is neatly divisible into a 16 by 32 grid.

Can you tell me more about why 15 or 20 cells across would be easier to read?


A shortcut for light patch, like light dashboard

Noted. Do you feel light patch is more in need of a keyboard shortcut than other workspace settings?


Stuff like a general master with blackout, dashboard master, scene level (light state from cue loaded) master would be nice.

Can you tell me more about how you might use a Dashboard-only master? Can you tell me more what you mean by "scene level master" and how you would use that?


maybe an option to create automatically two cues would be great to mimic this behavior: one cue with the instruments augmented and another.

Can you help me understand what you mean by "instruments augmented" here?


Is Art-Net more reliable with QLab?

I would say Art-net nodes are more reliable than serial USB-DMX devices, period.


Are USB-DMX node plug and play?

Yes, generally. QLab uses macOS's built in serial drivers to communicate with USB-DMX devices so no software installation is necessary. Sometimes, other programs install drivers which can conflict with or override the built in serial drivers, and that can prevent plug-and-play from working properly.


when using a SUBMASTER during the show with the Light Dashboard open, sometimes it will stuck the state of the Submaster in the current Light Cue, even though I didn’t update it.

Can you give me a list of steps to take so that I can reproduce this issue? I haven't seen it happen before, although of course I believe you.


I’m not quite sure what’s happening, but I made a Submaster with the house light, and when I use it I have some mixed results. Is it possible that sometimes it behave like a LTP and kill all my the other state in the Light Dashboard?

Submasters are HTP controls with respect to levels set by cues, but LTP with respect to levels set manually in the Dashboard.


And I have this issue that in my sequence, the house light will open at full even though the submaster is at 0 and the house light aren’t recorded in any of the light Cues running

When you say the house light "will open at full", what exactly do you mean by that? Are you saying that when you open your QLab workspace, the house light will jump to full intensity? Is the home value of the house lights set to full? 

I’m on stage not at FOH and can’t really see what’s happening…

This is indeed very challenging. The more specific information you can give us, the easier it will be to help you figure out what's going on.

All my best,
Sam 

Jean-Etienne Bettler

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Dec 2, 2019, 7:12:07 PM12/2/19
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Hi Sam, 

thanks for the follow up.

DMX Status with a 15 or 20 lines grid would make it easier to read. (Why 16?)

The DMX Status window, which is intended only as a troubleshooting tool, is sixteen items wide because one universe of DMX is neatly divisible into a 16 by 32 grid.

Can you tell me more about why 15 or 20 cells across would be easier to read?

just for a better readability, with 10 - (15) - 20 column, it’s easier to guess the number of the channel in the row bellow, without having to move the mouse on the cell.


A shortcut for light patch, like light dashboard

Noted. Do you feel light patch is more in need of a keyboard shortcut than other workspace settings?

When I was programming on set, yes. The patch is a place where as a light designer I will often do modification during a few days, when rigging new lights or moving them around. The other settings are more set and forget, IMO. I mean once I have my audio, network, or midi patch done, it’s not moving a lot...

I would be also great to have the possibility to change the DMX output of all light instruments in one operation.


Stuff like a general master with blackout, dashboard master, scene level (light state from cue loaded) master would be nice.

Can you tell me more about how you might use a Dashboard-only master? Can you tell me more what you mean by "scene level master" and how you would use that?

This is just me being confused, because I didn’t spent enough time working with the light feature of QLab to fully comprehend it. So sometimes I’m a bit fighting with my old habits of more “traditional” light board and software approach.

As the dashboard is what we see (live), a dashboard only master would act as a general master I guess. And what I’m calling the “scene” is exactly what the dashboard is: the live state of lights level. Never mind.


maybe an option to create automatically two cues would be great to mimic this behavior: one cue with the instruments augmented and another.

Can you help me understand what you mean by "instruments augmented" here?

Time in and Time out tempo for light cues. Time in: the light goes up in x seconds (what I meant by “instruments augmented", as in intensity). Time out: the light goes down in x second

cue 1 : 1=10 2=20
cue 2 : 1=0 2=30 time in = 6 time out = 7

when you load cue 2, it will take 6 seconds for the channel 2 to go from 20 to 30% and 7 seconds for channel 1 to go from 10 to 0%
as QLab doesn’t let us set Time In and Out tempo, we could have a function to split the cue 2 in two different cues, with an auto follow, like this

cue 2-a 2=30 action 6 autofollow (in this cue, all the channel were the light level went UP)
cue 2-b 1=0 action 7 (in this cue, all the channel were the light level went DOWN)

we could do it manually of course. but having the option would be nice.


Is Art-Net more reliable with QLab?

I would say Art-net nodes are more reliable than serial USB-DMX devices, period.

I agree. I just don’t know why I need sometimes to restart QLab to get a DMX signal out of my USB-DMX node (from DMXKing), when I boot my laptop.


Are USB-DMX node plug and play?

Yes, generally. QLab uses macOS's built in serial drivers to communicate with USB-DMX devices so no software installation is necessary. Sometimes, other programs install drivers which can conflict with or override the built in serial drivers, and that can prevent plug-and-play from working properly.

It could be the case. Having a DMX connection status in QLab would be great (if such a thing exists?)


when using a SUBMASTER during the show with the Light Dashboard open, sometimes it will stuck the state of the Submaster in the current Light Cue, even though I didn’t update it.

Can you give me a list of steps to take so that I can reproduce this issue? I haven't seen it happen before, although of course I believe you.

It can be 100% an user related issue. I most certainly did something wrong.

If I have some times in the next weeks, I’ll try to reproduce it.



I’m not quite sure what’s happening, but I made a Submaster with the house light, and when I use it I have some mixed results. Is it possible that sometimes it behave like a LTP and kill all my the other state in the Light Dashboard?

Submasters are HTP controls with respect to levels set by cues, but LTP with respect to levels set manually in the Dashboard.

And I have this issue that in my sequence, the house light will open at full even though the submaster is at 0 and the house light aren’t recorded in any of the light Cues running

When you say the house light "will open at full", what exactly do you mean by that? Are you saying that when you open your QLab workspace, the house light will jump to full intensity? Is the home value of the house lights set to full? 

no. nothing with the home value either. It’s just that when I launched a Group with different Cues, the house lights would go straight to full, even though they weren’t programmed in any of the Cue in the group.

but could be entirely my fault, it’s just that I didn't figured yet what was happening.




Another question : I’m having huge lag when controlling a Sub with MIDI CC? I can see the level lagging in the Light Dashboard? Do you know what could give me this? USB-A to C adapters? I’m on a 2018 MBP and my midi controller is a nanokontrol 2


thanks

Jean-Etienne


Joshua Langman

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Dec 2, 2019, 10:11:39 PM12/2/19
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You can use the curve shapes to do a split fade. In the Curve Shape tab, drag the start and end nodes on the up/down times to start later or end earlier than the other part of the cue.

aroom

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Dec 3, 2019, 3:21:03 AM12/3/19
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I know but it looks more like a trick than a well implemented feature. Splitting Time In and Out in two different Cues would also let us use wait time on Time In or Time Out, another traditional feature missing in QLab.

Sam Kusnetz

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Dec 3, 2019, 10:32:10 AM12/3/19
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On December 3, 2019 at 3:21:07 AM, aroom (aroo...@gmail.com) wrote:
I know but it looks more like a trick than a well implemented feature.

You’re certainly entitled to your opinion on whether it “looks like a trick” rather than a feature, but I assure you that adjusting fade curves is indeed a feature, and Joshua’s suggestion is definitely supported use of this feature.

Best
Sam
—
Sam Kusnetz | Figure 53

Aroom The Doomed

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Dec 3, 2019, 11:02:19 AM12/3/19
to 'Rich Walsh' via QLab
Don’t take me wrong I’m not judging anything or anyone.

What I meant is it’s nice to be able to adjust curve on any cues. But il would be nice to have time in and out for light cues.  I know how they are many possibilities to get a result.

And if you wanna talk about light curve, we can also talk about that and how convenient it would be to be able to adjust the curv to linear, linear d, square, etc...

They are nothing personal in my remarks and I’m not shutting anyone off.



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Sam Kusnetz

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Dec 3, 2019, 11:03:51 AM12/3/19
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No offense taken!

Best
Sam 

Gmail

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Dec 3, 2019, 8:28:59 PM12/3/19
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To me, the Fade Curves would be more useful for solving odd dimmer responses like trying to smooth a pop at the top of a fade.

I haven’t played too much with the lighting package yet, but it seems to me that you could achieve a split fade using multiple fade cues in group.  It’s not quite as direct as the feature available on many lighting consoles, and would take a little more management to make changes.  It does, however, operate as the QLab equivalent of Part Cues you find on many consoles and could be used as a split fade and more.  I also think they’re a little simpler to program than Part Cues on the ETC equipment I normally use.

aroom

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Dec 5, 2019, 7:15:31 AM12/5/19
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Hi Mike,

That's exactly what I'm talking about! The Fade Curves is amazing for curves purpose.

And regarding the Time In and Out, that's exactly how I wish QLab could operate. Imagine if we had the option when selecting a light cue, to break it in a group of 2 Cues, with all theUp and Down split.

Like you said, by going this way we would still stay in QLab overall ergonomic and we would have the option to add wait time to either de Up or Down. This would be awesome!




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