Using Effect Generator in Live

[Gregory_D]

I really often use Effect Generator in Live mode for all cases where i didn't created a scene in advance. But i have difficulties to use it if i want to do other things when the effect is running in live.
Not sure i have the best method, i'm looking for something better, here it is how i'm doing actually :

In Live mode for some reasons i want to add an effect (or multiple) i didn't plan before in my scenes.
So i select my fixture family under the correct fixture tab (at the bottom of the screen) and select all fixtures i want to in the plan view (or with group).
I select the effect (or multiple effects) and set settings to them. I do not generate it (because i don't want to create a new scene, just want to see an effect just running in live).
So the effect (or effects) is playing correctly on all fixtures i want during my live. I still can select/deselect other scenes if i want.

BUT now, if i go to another fixture family (another fixture tab), the effect that was correctly playing is stopped and no longer displayed in live. If i come back to the right fixture tab, it will play again, until i remove all effect i created or deselect my fixture on the plan.
The only workaround i found is to do the same procedure, but only under General tab of fixture, without selecting a fixture family tab. In this way, i can generate multiple effects, on multiple fixtures i want, and while doing other things if i want on other fixture.

But it's not practical at all, because in general tab we do not have all things from Palette view, and not same Fader view. In addition, effects settings are not dedicated to the fixture channels but general.

So i tested to do the same, but clicking "Generate" to generate in live the scene, but the created scene is put under a random group of scenes (generally the last group of scenes used in Edit mode), which is not practical too, and we can't be sure to run this new created scene without stop playing other scene from the same group of scene...

So only 2 solutions would be :
- to being able to play Effects without generating them, under a specific fixture family tab, but still playing even if we change of fixture family tab, until we remove all effects.
Or
- to being able to choose where the created scene will be put, in wich group of scenes, if i generate the effect (with or without live levels)

Those 2 solutions are not possible for now.

Pretty complicated explanations but simple problem i can assure you.
Anyone, and/or DS team can give me the best method to use effect generator in Live ?

Just tell me if i'm not clear in English, i can explain you in French

Thank you for your help.

[Gregory_D]

Any feedback from some users or official advice about this please ?

[Gregory_D]

Another question : it seems switching/changing fixture family tab disables all effects generated in live for the primary fixture family tab selected. How to do to avoid this ? Is this a bug ?
I just want effects i'm creating in live are still rolling in background when i switch the fixture family tab, and effects stop only when i remove the effect live.

[TomHat]

Hello Gregory,

Interesting issue you have here. It seems indeed there has been a misconception on our side as :
- The effect generator was made to temporarily show currently edited effect before they are generated
- It is completely tab-specific, so shifting tab will hide the current temp effect
- ( BONUS ) all sound-based effects are LIVE-only (as in : there's no way to generate a sound level based effect into a scene, as sound effects only use LIVE sound levels)

I must admit this was not the best choice on our part and I can promise you we will be taking this into consideration when creating next version of our Daslight solution.

That being said, here are a few things that could maybe help you for now :

- to being able to play Effects without generating them, under a specific fixture family tab, but still playing even if we change of fixture family tab, until we remove all effects.

Have you tried creating your effects in the General tab ? Maybe this could be a good compromise ?

to being able to choose where the created scene will be put, in wich group of scenes, if i generate the effect (with or without live levels)

The scene group your new effect scene will be created in depends on the last scene you clicked (to start or stop it, it'll work just the same). For every scene you click, the "target group" gets updated. Maybe knowing this you can create an empty "flash" scene in the target group and use it to select your effect scene's target group... Well that's just one idea.

Another question : it seems switching/changing fixture family tab disables all effects generated in live for the primary fixture family tab selected. How to do to avoid this ? Is this a bug ?
I just want effects i'm creating in live are still rolling in background when i switch the fixture family tab, and effects stop only when i remove the effect live.

Sorry, as I wrote earlier, this is not possible with D4. But again we'll keep this in mind when creating next version of our Daslight solution.

Hope this help.

Best regards,

[Gregory_D]

Thanks for your answer Mr TomHat, much appreciated. I'm really looking forward this new version of Daslight, Hoping it will come up soon !

(...)

- to being able to play Effects without generating them, under a specific fixture family tab, but still playing even if we change of fixture family tab, until we remove all effects.

Have you tried creating your effects in the General tab ? Maybe this could be a good compromise ?

Yes, i tried that and it worked well, all effects are still running like that on different fixture family, but i don't use often this trick since it seems to slow down the software (or the interface i don't know)

to being able to choose where the created scene will be put, in wich group of scenes, if i generate the effect (with or without live levels)

The scene group your new effect scene will be created in depends on the last scene you clicked (to start or stop it, it'll work just the same). For every scene you click, the "target group" gets updated. Maybe knowing this you can create an empty "flash" scene in the target group and use it to select your effect scene's target group... Well that's just one idea.

Great idea, I never thought to really click generate and create for real the effect in Live tab, i see what you mean with the group selection trick and will test it tomorrow. Maybe it can be a workaround to create and save some effects i'm creating during a Live show to keep them for the next time.

Another question : it seems switching/changing fixture family tab disables all effects generated in live for the primary fixture family tab selected. How to do to avoid this ? Is this a bug ?
I just want effects i'm creating in live are still rolling in background when i switch the fixture family tab, and effects stop only when i remove the effect live.

Sorry, as I wrote earlier, this is not possible with D4. But again we'll keep this in mind when creating next version of our Daslight solution.

I guess no deadline on this new Daslight version or compatibility information withe the current interface ? This new version of DS will be awesome reading all suggestions made on this forum over the months and years.

Thanks again,
GREG