Compu Show Thread

what are the I/O ports going to be able to do on the back on the dongle?

Will the software allow us to take a contact closure as a trigger ?

Will I be also be able to output a contact closure of some sort to drive an external relay or contactor?

The reason this is is because the software has not been officially released yet. Our main reason to sell them right away was for our 64 bit pc users who needed a dmx interface. The compu cue and compu show interfaces work with both compu live and compu show.
If you have any questions about the compu show software ask away. I have been using it for a long time now.
Sincerely,

any manual for this yet?

I'm trying to get started with this and having a very hard time.

It's telling me I need to update firmware to my usb dongle... however the way in which it instructs me to do so is impossible for me to do ... i do not have a tools.exe to run in order to push the firmware to the box

where are the fixture library files under?

at this point I simply want to add one design spot 250 Pro fixture and patch it with a dmx address of 1, and get the dmx dongle online so that I can experiment with the software

No no manual yet. If your using compu show yes you have tools. Go to your main drive that the program is installed on. Find the compushowbeta folder and look for tools.exe. Once you find it click on the firmware tab and hit update firmware. After the update is successful your software will detect the interface. Give it a shot let mr know. Also I'll get back to you tomorrow about the I/O Contact enclosure ports. Also those were also available on our 1024ec and 2048 model interfaces aswell. So it's not new.
Sincerely,

Man I'm always gonna be a post behind your questions huh? For the top ribbon menu whee it says controller, page, button. Click page and select new page. From there you can browse the scan library.
Sincerely,

alright thanks for the help... that seems to have it got it connected.

How do I find the fixture profiles? and apply them?

lol now i'm a post behind....

ok found them thank you...

as far as patching goes?

ok... i have it patched correctly with the appropriate fixture profile...

what is the general strategy of programming with this software...

what is the equivalent of creating a normal scene, chase, show etc...

Then how do I apply those elements to sync them to audio on the timeline...

Did you ever use the compu live software? Well to find a individual profile file location on your hard drive the file path is , Start, computer, OS:C, Compushowbeta, Scanlibrary.

To add it into the software Click on the "Page" text at the very top left of the screen. Then click on the page curl icon called new page, Then a new window will appear with a list of folders such as _generic, _Varied, Etc. Navigate to the company profile you wish to add say you said a Design spot PRO. So scroll down to elation Pro folder and find the Design spot 250 PRO and then click on it. Now you will see the fixtures information load up to the right. It will have a moving head icon ad tell you the number of channels and the pan and tilt and beam angles. Click next and now you can patch it into the software. click on the arrows to get to the number drop down windows to select the relevant DMX universe and first dmx channel and how many fixtures. Or simply click on the icon of the fixture type in this case a moving head icon will appear. You can just click on it and drag and drop it onto the DMX universe grid to any number you want. you can even space out the address of the fixtures. Meaning you don't have to have a straight patch. once you do that hit the patch button if you didn't drag and drop fixtures into the grid, if you did drag and drop you simply need to just hit next. The next step will be to adjust the limit of pan and tilt range of the fixture(s). I won't go into this right now unless you ask me too. Lots to do and know about a lot of this stuff. so hit next and skip it. Now on step 4, where it says you can choose to crate pre-programmed switches from presets as defined in the scan library, Leave everything as it is. It's better that way. Also I can go into this more later on. Hit next and now step 5, you may now select the relevant Pre-Programmed scenes and adjust the moving area for the fixture. Again I'll skip this otherwise this post will be a novel to read if it's not already. So hit next. click finish to confirm the page. you can also check the box to automatically add the page to the master page. Once you hit finish your page will be patched and appear in the software.
so let all that sink in and if you need more details on anything let me know.

Also your my first official support request for this software congrats. No sorry you don't get a prize for that. But I can check. haha.
Sincerely,

No I have not used compu live previously...

I am familiar with actual consoles, elation sd 2 and 3 , op pro etc, Grand MA, Whole Hog, and so on...

I also have a Midicon on its way to integrate with this software. I was not aware the compu show software was still in beta, not happy to hear that.

at this point I need an overview of programming technique with this software.

I'm used to scenes, chases, shows, cues, multipart cues, waits etc.

cycles, switches etc mean nothing to me lol

I think your actually someone I used to communicate with on here years ago...

I forget what my actual name was on here .. it was most likely something like mikeylectrics or nightprowler09

I think you were just starting out in the lighting world at the time.

are you able to give me a call to go over a few things?

Is your name mike? Did you ever teach someone named jingles8302 about watts divided by volts equals amps? I will be more than happy to take your call tomorrow during business hours. I'm in WI so central time for me is 10am-7pm mon-fri. Direct line is 1-323-213-4590. Give me a call around the afternoon time and I'll be glad to go over a few things.
Sincerely,

yes it is... and that would be me.

compu show online helps takes you to a webpage with a fatal error... just an fyi for the programmers. Not sure if it's just pointed to the wrong website or if that particular link hasn't been created yet

finding lots of bugs in this beta...

anytime your under button/settings and then try and choose either easy show or multimedia program crashes.

Yup I remember you. Call me tomorrow and we can go over some compu show stuff. Ok?
Sincerely,

I'll check those bugs out and tell our dev team. What are your computers specs? And which windows OS are you running?
Sincerely,

Mike I got your voicemail however it cut out when you were saying your phone number. email me your phone number And we can set up a time to talk.
jamesk at elation lighting dot com
Sincerely,

hey man,

been trying to get in touch with you all day


left you another message with my number

... still trying to just get some tips and overview of the software.

also want to get the midi con linked up

Hey mike I hope our phone convo helped out. Let me know if you need anything else.
Sincerely,

helped somewhat...

still hundreds of questions at this point.

Trying to figure out if it's bugs in the software or user error on somethings at this point lol

I would still like a good explanation of the differences between a scene, switch , and cycle. I'm still unclear as to the functionality differences between them and their proper usage times.

Also having issues with easy step. I believe this is something i'm doing wrong and not a software issue... however I can't seem to program multiple steps with let's say different pan values.

Hey mike, Let me try to explain this again.
Scene: a.k.a. Cue. Can either be static or have several steps (multiple cues) stacked inside of it. these steps can be programmed to generate sequences however not entire shows. Scenes are the main way to program on this software. You will be making scenes almost 90% of the time.

Switch: These can be used for quick over ride effects such as quick color chases across multiple fixtures without interrupting the current programming of the current scene except for the channels you have modified in the switch. Is that a better explanation?
Cycle: or you could very well call this your cue stack or cue list. This is where you assign and in order all your scenes and switches in the order in which you want them played back for your show or whatever your doing. So these would be like your Show buttons on a Show Designer. Except you create your fades on the scenes and switches and not in the cycle. you can also assign all your cues in the cycle to "Go" and use one single button on your midi con to trigger the entire cycle.
Let me make a screen video of easy step for you in a little bit and I'll give you a link to download it. Let me know if this post helps.
Sincerely,

Thanks James,

That gives me something to go off of and clarifies a few of the questions I had.

Video would be great... appreciate your time

Hey Mike, I got two videos for you to download. first one is palette types instructional. I made this awhile ago for somebody else but check it out. The second video is for using Easy Step.
Palette types.wmv: http://db.tt/FGMWEi3

Easy Step: http://db.tt/63rVUq1

Any questions at all Let me know.
Sincerely,

wasn't able to open them... windows media said it couldn't play it.

ok it loaded that time ... videos are extremely blurry though...

give me a call if you can I'd like to share my screen through skype so I can show you a few things I have questions on.

Also, any repsonse to the midi con locking up whenever trying to assign a channel??

I haven't heard back from Gines today

Just letting the record show i talked to you on the phone for about an hour today. I'll talk to you tomorrow.
Sincerely,

OK, I got the dongle, loaded the beta and it looks pretty cool and e will be using it here at the club.

I would like a manual as well, there are some things that while are the same it seem a little hard to find.

Some new features that seem cool. Does he color palette work with RGB color mixing? it seems like its for CMY.

If I have too many issues with the beta can we go back to compulive?

It will be put in use come Monday. I hope to have questions before you go to LDI. BTW, pretty jealous here, I cant go this year...BIG Halloween show to get ready for.

Thanks again for the call!

Mark

Hey mark. Glad you got it up and running. Yup color mixing wheel works for rgb and cmy. In fact the wheels are "smart" say you want to change the color of a rgb and a cmy fixture together you can do so in the same color wheel. Just select your led and cmy fixture and move the picker. Both will change. Too bad your not going to LDI. Should be a good show. Any questions at all let me know.
Sincerely,

Ya its a shame about LDI. I worked in Vegas for 10 years, I wouldn't have to pay for squat!

I do have a few more questions though. I will try to make them brief and to the point.

1.resizing windows - is there a way to resize the scene and switch windows inside the master window without affecting the other? If i try to resize the master window it changes the size of the windows inside the main window.

2.How can i move the compressed pages inside the scene or switch window to sort them my way?

3.inside the master window the pages are in a column format, can i make them into a row like compulive?

4.How can i put other pages inside the master widow?

5. I believe it was in the color palette window or the preset section where i found preset colors, a lot of them i like this but what fixture will it work with? just color mixers or static types?

That's all for now, I don't want to over load you too soon

I am sue that i will have more soon though.Will you be able to be on the forum during LDI?

Mark of the Wild

OH BOY!

So far the new system is going pretty good, but there a few issues that i need to work on ASAP.

1. Cycles do not work. The imported one from compulive does not work so i went to make a new one. I go to button, new cycle, press it and all it does is gives me a cycle button in sequential order ascending. OK. So i figure just edit the button, but no dice. when i activate the cycle button and press edit nothing happens. Any thoughts or ideas or is this a bug?

2. is there a chase module in this version? if so how do i get to it?

3. I would like to position the compressed scenes, switches etc...in a way that is more user friendly to me and other DJ's here. is there a way to do this? Along the same line I would also like to make the same in a row like in compulive not a column like compushow. I have been playing with the layers function but it seems a little vague.

4. In compulive you were able to right click on a button and activate as long as the you held the click. no can do with compushow. Bug or feature?

I know you have been at LDI but any help with these asap will be appreciated

PS. will there be a actual forum for compushow? A never ending thread can be a pain! haha

Thanks

Mark

Hey mark. Can you please send me your compu live show ad I'll try to import it into my compu show. Also I'll go over these issues myself on Monday when im back at my normal PC. I'm typing this on my iPhone in the airport in Vegas right now. So I really won't have a chance to investigate these issues untill I get back home.
Sincerely,

Quick question...

What do the 3 buttons on the dongle do??

mark

They are used to scroll through zones !-E of the easy stand alone memory function. So you have 5 zones with up too 99 scenes in each zone. And you can have one scene playing from each zone playing at the same time as long as the DMX data doesn't conflict with a different zone. Make sense? I got your file. I'll test this ASAP.
Sincerely,

is the design spot 250 pro profile that comes with the software the same profile for the latest version of software in the Design Spot 250 Pro's version 1.3 ?? Or is the profile referencing earlier software versions

Agreed a compu show forum would be ideal.

The profile is based off the dmx traits. I'm unaware of any changes to the dmx traits in the latest firmware 1.3 of the DS250PRO.

I'll look into making a new forum section for compu show.
Sincerely,

I read a post on here that i will try and locate again about there being differences...