Virtual Groups - was marking color scrollers

[Jeff Ward]

Zephan,

The key to my strategy for dealing with color scrollers is to set up "virtual group" macros. These macros "copy" the information from the scroller group in the current cue, and can "paste" those levels back into a prior cue to preset the scrollers. 

My experience with this has been on the Obsession (1 and 2) and the Light Palette. I do not know how the syntax would translate to the Insight, which is a board I am not familiar with. Also, please realize that I haven't programmed on Broadway for over a year, and am not sitting at a board, so forgive me for outlining the basic steps as opposed to a keystroke for keystroke description.

I came up with the "virtual group" concept about 15 years ago, and every designer I have used it with has asked me to write it down for them, so the idea should be fairly widely disseminated by now (Jules and Peggy keep losing it, and keep having to call me at home.) There might be easier, more elegant ways to do this on the newer boards, but this is a fairly sturdy work-around.

Let's say your show has 3 scrollers, Channels 401 > 403. They would have a corresponding group, say Group 101, whose contents would be Ch. 401 > 403 @ Full. This group would allow you to park the scrollers out, put them on a slider, and quickly take them all to the same color, etc.

But, suppose you are programming Q21 and the scrollers have been given differing levels:

ch 401 @ 56

ch 402 @ 15

ch 403 @ 87

How do you go back to a previous Q, (or write another Q - lets say Q20.3) to preset the scrollers at those levels? One simple way is just to type it into the new setup cue  (Q20.3) - ch 401 @ 56, ch 402 @ 15, ch 403 @ 87. That works fine - but what if you have 200 scrollers instead of three? Not so easy now, eh?

So, we create a new group, a "virtual", dynamic, group that we'll call Group 201. The contents of Group 201 want to duplicate the **current** levels of Group 101. That's easy - while sitting in Q21:

Record Group 101 @ Group 201

(but there is a fatal flaw in this, we'll come back to it in a minute.)

Group 201 contains the levels that Group 101 were at, at the the point Group 201 was Recorded. In this case they would be the levels from Q21:

ch 401 @ 56

ch 402 @ 15

ch 403 @ 87

Now you want to transfer those levels to Q20.3, a Q you are creating to follow Q20. Chances are, if you are under any sort of time pressure, and you don't want the scrollers flapping around and distracting the actors and director, you will work in Blind.

So go into Blind.

Q20.3 Follow Enter. 

You have just created a Q20.3 which will follow Q20. 

Sidebar - Default Time:

The cue time and the Follow time for Q20.3 will both be using your default time. This is very important. Under pressure, as you are blasting through writing cues, your designer will not always be able to specify a time for a cue before you Record. If you use a standard default time of 5 seconds, later you won't know if the designer called for a time of 5 seconds, or the time was left unspecified. But if you use a default time of 4.9 seconds, this will be an immediate flag on the cue sheet that the cue time has been left unspecified. 

This will also save the programmer's rear end big time when he is working in Blind, cleaning things up. If the programmer types in Q20.4 by mistake, while in Blind (and no Q20.4 exists), a Q20.4 is created - usually without his knowledge. A default time of 4.9 on the Cue List will alert him to the fact that something is wrong.

Ward's Axiom - The designer who lives by the Blind Cue, dies by the Blind Cue.

Back to Virtual Groups:

Okay, we have just created Q20.3. 

Still in Blind:

Group 201 @ Full.

This command has preset the scrollers to the levels from Q21:

ch 401 @ 56

ch 402 @ 15

ch 403 @ 87

You still need to check to make sure that there are no live scrolls, but you can create a Q20.2 (on a follow) to pull those units out.

The above scenario illustrates the concept of a virtual group (Group 201's levels will be constantly changing), but as mentioned, contains a fatal flaw. Now we'll get into the complications and nitty-gritty.

Problem 1 - 

When you Record the levels of  Group 101 (scroller group) to Group 201 (virtual group), any channels that are at 0 will not be recorded (carried into the virtual group). In the example below, the "hard zero" in ch 402 is not carried into Group 201.

For example, in Q27 the scroller channels are as follows:

ch 401 @ 32

ch 402 @ 0

ch 403 @ 43

Let's capture those levels of Group 101 and deposit them into Group 201.

Group 201 currently has the levels that we used setting up Q20.3:

ch 401 @ 56

ch 402 @ 15

ch 403 @ 87

Group 201 record Group 101.

The levels captured and recorded are:

ch 401 @ 32

ch 403 @ 43

So your channels wind up in Group 201 as a mish-mash:

ch 401 @ 32 - from group 101

ch 402 @ 15 - carried through from the previous Group 201 (levels set in Q20.3)

ch 403 @ 43 - from group 101

If you paste Group 201  (Group 201 @ Full) into a Q26.3 (scroller set-up cue), you will wind up with a live scroll in Q27 as Ch 402 goes from 15 to 0.

The solution is obvious:

While sitting in your capture cue (Q27) -

Delete Group 201

Record Group 101 @ Group 201.

Now there are no previous levels in Group 201 to fill in voids in the Group 101 levels.

Group 201 is now as follows:

ch 401 @ 32

ch 403 @ 43

Problem 2 - 

If you lay Group 201 down in Q26.3, whatever is in channel 402 will track through, because the "hard zero" in ch 402 is not carried into Group 201.

The solution is once again fairly obvious:

Blind Q26.3.

Group 101 @ 0.

Group 201 @ Full.

Group 101 @ 0 lays down a bed of zeros:

ch 401 @ 0

ch 402 @ 0

ch 403 @ 0

Group 201 @ Full fills in the needed info to set-up Q27.

ch 401 @ 32 (Group 201)

ch 402 @ 0 (from Group 101 @ 0)

ch 403 @ 43 (Group 201)

Now let's write the macros to accomplish this - 

Macro 101 will be the "Copy" macro, used to capture the scroller information:

Macro 101 - Delete Group 201. Group 101 Record Group 201.

Macro 201 will be the "Paste" macro, used to deposit the scroller info into the set-up cue:

Macro 201 - Group 101 @ 0. Group 201 @ Full.

If anyone has followed along this far they deserve a reward. And here it is - you can use this process to program moving lights on a conventional board. Each moving light gets it's own group and virtual group (and the associated macros).

I used this system to program John Doyle's 2006 Broadway incarnation of "Sweeney Todd", on an Obsession 1, with 6 moving lights. It was an interesting production, there was no orchestra, the actors all played musical instruments (Patty LuPone on a Tuba).

Regards,

Jeff Ward

Norwalk, CT

Currently an electrician on "South Pacific" at Lincoln Center, NYC