Scripts for grouping and renaming Cues?

[Max Grande]

Dear Qlab-fellows,

I'm new to the script-topic, so I've not yet been able to figure out the following on my own:

Background: At theater I'm using MIDI cues to open and close Mics. In a separate Cue List I have predefined MIDI-cues (the 'open Mic1' cue is named "+1", mute Mic1="-1" etc.), which I copy and paste to the Main Cue List as needed. In order to make this workflow faster I'm looking for a way to script it.

My goal is to handle the following steps by scripts or even a single script. Any help/tips would be highly appreciated:

-----------

I.)  Make Group Cue (Timeline-Mode) containing the selected cues and colour the Group purple.

   At the moment I do this by setting the Group cue-template to "Timeline-..." and set the    colour to purple, before I create the Group using Shortcut "Cmd+=".

Which is ok, but sometimes another Group-template is active, ie when I'm working with audio-cues..

II.) The tricky part: Auto-rename the Group cue with combined names from the selected cues:

   Example 1:

       the 2 selected cues are named: "+1" and "+2"

       the resulting Group cue's name shall be: "+1,2"

   Example 2:

       the 4 selected cues are named: "+1", "+2", "-3" and "-4"

       the resulting Group cue's name shall be: "+1,2 -3,4"

   Example 3:

       the 6 selected cues are named: "-1", "-2", "+3", "+4", "-5", "+6"

       the resulting Group cue's name shall be: "+3,4,6 -1,2,5

III.) Set Mouse-cursor to the "Notes"-field and wait for text-entry,

   so I can instantly enter the actor's keyword for this cue.

-----------

The absolute dream-script would be the other way around:

if I typed "+3,4,6 -1,2,5" somewhere, and the script would create a Group with

all relevant cues.

Kindest regards,

Markus

[Simon VB]

Hi

I'm not anti-scripting, but ... Isn't trying to figure this out costing way more time than doing this manually?

What I would do is:

- Make a purple group cue in timeline mode, containing a bunch of start cues.

- Copy-paste this group X number of times at the bottom of your workspace, so you always have an 'empty' one ready. (This way, you can also make a different 'template' group cue (a set of copies) for your audio cues.)

- Set your view to show the cue lists and unfold the list with the MIDI commands.

- Drag the needed MIDI commands to the start cues so they're targeted. 

- I would (but YMMV) name the group cue with the scene number/name/description, so you always have an overview of the piece when rehearsing. Do you NEED to see the "+1,4,5, -2,3,6" list? I think I wouldn't. But then again, YMMV.

Like I said, I'm not anti-scripting, and maybe there's a very elegant solution for your problem. But I don't think doing this manually, on the fly, would be much slower - and maybe more transparent.
But I'm curious to see what the scripting wizards of this forum will come up with!

Best

Simon

[Max Grande]

Hi Simon!

For slow shows with not too many On/Offs I think you're absolutely right.

The thing is, we're doing a lot of fast "door open, door closed"-shows, so we are talking about 500+ Cues for "Mic On/Offs" only,

often they are between every sentence or even every word, so I really need to see the "+1,4,5, -2,3,6" in order to know who is coming next..

- Thank You for the idea with the start cues! My problem here is that my sessions are too big and scrolling down and up too time consuming, it has to be shortcut-based for me.

- "Dragging the needed MIDI commands": I'm afraid this doesn't work because dragging means to take the Cue and place it somewhere else - like cut&paste.

That's why I have to first select them, then copy, then click the right place in the Main Cue List and then paste the needed MIDI commands, which makes the process undesirably long. 

Thx man,

k regs,

Max

[Rich Walsh]

I haven’t really followed the whole context of this but I’ve had a script for years “Go ahead make MIDI” that batch creates MIDI cues. When I need lots of them I pre-populate a secondary cue list with all possible variations and number those cues, eg: cue 901 recalls desk scene 1 (and is named accordingly). In your main cue list you create a start cue, type “901” in its target and bosh: MIDI cue ready to go; no dragging. Scales indefinitely.

Rich

--
Contact support anytime: sup...@figure53.com
Follow QLab on Twitter: https://twitter.com/QLabApp
User Group Code of Conduct: https://qlab.app/code-of-conduct/
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "QLab" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to qlab+uns...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/qlab/8a2f2443-f292-4664-bf85-3f3330bbaa52n%40googlegroups.com.

[Rich Walsh]

I have read this properly now. Here’s the framework to make cues as you describe, up to a point. You can fiddle with the naming logic, or just accept that you’ll get “+1,+2,-3,-4” if that’s what your source cues are called.

Rich

[Max Grande]

Hi Rich!

Wow, your first tips alone were brilliant, but this Group Maker script is absolutely wonder- and powerful.. Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!!! :-D

As you say, the last thing will be the naming logic, but - compared to my old workflow - I think I can gladly live with that one..

1000+ Thanks,

kindest regards,

Max

[Max Grande]

It's beautiful now: I have simply erased the "+" signs from my Mic ON - source cues, so that the Group-names become less overkilled.

Let's say two singers have finished singing and are leaving the stage, when three other actors enter the stage speaking:

I just type: 

"G" -> "ARI and JOKI leaving stage,3,4,5,AMM,-1,-2,-fx1,-fx2,-mon3"

the script starts -> text is written to the Notes-field, Start Cues are created for: Mics 3,4,5 and the Automixer get turned ON; Mics 1,2, Reverb and Delay and Monitor 3 get muted.

Again big, big THX,

I'm really enjoying this :)

Max