URGENT 2022 CHANGES!

Forum support for ESA Pro 2.0 (Legacy)

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EVOLVEINSTALL
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URGENT 2022 CHANGES!

Post by EVOLVEINSTALL » Tue May 17, 2022 6:04 pm

Think i've been asking for over a year now for these changes during programming

Just to jog the memory, push the limits!

1. Option to Solo Fixture or not whilst adding to timeline - Unless during programming you turn off all your non dims! (Not a tick box asking every time, just one option in the programming timeline window)

2. Do not Blackout/Null 0% the other zones whilst programming another zone

3.When you patch a fixture - Have an option so when you press/highlight the fixture, it makes those DMX Channels FL/255 so you can patch with ease - better still, a highlight feature which will bring the channel to FL/255 when pressed/Highlighted once on fixture patch window. Also, make it easier to see the DMX Channel on the Patch window without waiting for 1 second for the dialogue detail box to appear.

4. Dim and NON Dim for Single Channels - ESAPRO Can do this! Every channel can only dim.

5. Patch Fixture window to actually show PATCH information visually - Bit like view DMX Channels, Just shows 1-512 of live data only, no labels..just levels in 1 grey colour..partly useful, but could be so much better.

TomHat
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Re: URGENT 2022 CHANGES!

Post by TomHat » Tue Jul 05, 2022 9:52 am

Hello,
EVOLVEINSTALL wrote:
Tue May 17, 2022 6:04 pm
1. Option to Solo Fixture or not whilst adding to timeline - Unless during programming you turn off all your non dims! (Not a tick box asking every time, just one option in the programming timeline window)
I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean.
EVOLVEINSTALL wrote:
Tue May 17, 2022 6:04 pm
2. Do not Blackout/Null 0% the other zones whilst programming another zone
We now have added a new feature doing exactly that. You will eb able to chose whether you want the rest of your effects visible or not while editing ONE effect.
EVOLVEINSTALL wrote:
Tue May 17, 2022 6:04 pm
3.When you patch a fixture - Have an option so when you press/highlight the fixture, it makes those DMX Channels FL/255 so you can patch with ease - better still, a highlight feature which will bring the channel to FL/255 when pressed/Highlighted once on fixture patch window. Also, make it easier to see the DMX Channel on the Patch window without waiting for 1 second for the dialogue detail box to appear.
Thanks for this feedback. I'm adding this to the list of features to implement in the future.
EVOLVEINSTALL wrote:
Tue May 17, 2022 6:04 pm
4. Dim and NON Dim for Single Channels - ESAPRO Can do this! Every channel can only dim.
In ESAPro2, you can create a SingleChannel if you want to use it as Dimmer, of a White fixture if you want to use it as a color (for color effects).
EVOLVEINSTALL wrote:
Tue May 17, 2022 6:04 pm
5. Patch Fixture window to actually show PATCH information visually - Bit like view DMX Channels, Just shows 1-512 of live data only, no labels..just levels in 1 grey colour..partly useful, but could be so much better.
Do you mean that you want the PATCH view to show the names of the fixture's DMX channels too ? Like DIMMER, RED, GREEN, BLUE... ?

Regards,
TomHat
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ESA Pro 2 Support

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EVOLVEINSTALL
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Re: URGENT 2022 CHANGES!

Post by EVOLVEINSTALL » Tue Jul 05, 2022 10:22 am

Thank you TomHat.

1.If you alter a timeline in the same zone, not just a dimmer channel. It will Solo / kill out the rest of the spetrum.
So say DMX 001-DMX002 is LED RGB, And DMX512 is the NON Dim Relay to turn that driver ON/OFF.
If you have both fixtures in the same zone but on separate timelines, Red @ 255 and DMX512 @ Level 255 (Dimmer). If you select the LED Timeline to change it to Blue - DMX512 will go to Level 000.
Solo or not to solo..

2. Think your answer is more to do with Question no.1 - So if i'm editing on Zone 1 fixtures, Zone 2 fixtures will not blackout?

3. Great!

4. However a single channel Dimmer works at Level 000-255 Dimming, A non Dim should be 0-255 non Dimming - 0 is off and 255 or at 10% Level is the turn on trigger. The software should know the difference, so it acts differently - such as a Colour Wheel in a mover. Snaps, and not fades.

5. Personally, with Sunlite S3 you can open the different 'Pages' DMX Levels and it details it all.
With ESAPRO2, it's just 1x Grey and Light Blue colour of changing DMX Levels.
If its RGB, then maybe the instead of all light blue, it should be Colour red, Green, Blue, White is white and Grey can be for single channels. It just closes down the whole spectrum so you can quickly find what you need.
Text view would be difficult to read, however mainly its to do with matching RGB values for colour matching, fault finding..

TomHat
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Re: URGENT 2022 CHANGES!

Post by TomHat » Tue Jul 05, 2022 12:06 pm

Hello,

1. Okay, you mean that during the editing of ONE block, all the other values drop to 0, right ? Yeah, that is exactly what you can avoid now with the feature I mentionned as an answer to your second question.

2. The big issue for most users was that when you edited a block, ALL fixtures that were not affected by THIS block were turned OFF. Now you will be able to deactivate this behaviour, so that everything will stay as normal, even when you edit ONE block.

BUT ! When you edit a scene in ZONE 1, all fixtures which are NOT in this zone will still turn off.

4. Okay, I see what you mean now. This is a SSL profile issue. The channel shouldn't be considered "linear". In ESAPro2, you cannot yet edit channel settings to remove the "lenear" property. This needs to be done in a profile editor. You can get to the profile editor via the "tools" menu in ESAPro2.

5. Okay, thank you for this idea. I'll forward it so it can be discussed for further versions.

Regards,
TomHat
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EVOLVEINSTALL
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Re: URGENT 2022 CHANGES!

Post by EVOLVEINSTALL » Sun Jul 10, 2022 10:22 am

TomHat,

Just wanted to pick up on this editing or creating a fixture timeline on Zone 1 and Zone 2-10 will plunged into Blackout.

Why can the software not take a DMX Snapshot or freeze DMX outputs for other Zone fixtures during editing another zone?

Zone 1 is room i am editing, a room with no Windows
Zone 2 is a staircase with no natural light
Zone 3 is toilets with no natural light
Zone 4 is all my NON Dims, so a 240V relay Switch for zones 1-3.

it does create a health and safety hazard, it also means that editing can only be completed when no humans are on site on a working site. The odd, quick blackout is fine but sometimes it's never as easy as that.

I already have to disconnect my Relay from DMX during programming. And i've started to introduce a DMX Merger and an additional computer so i can keep some lighting on during editing in other zones - either that or constantly unwiring installed bare cable DMX devices in various DMX strings - or work at 3am in the morning to do my edits.

This above, should be something you NEED to find a solution for..not for the programmer to bring extra devices to site as a work around.

Even when updating a U11 from ESAPRO2, on first re-connection to power. The Device will keep all zones in 00, which is nothing. Have to go to each zone, select a scene and then when it's ready, it will follow the command ' trigger the last time trigger'. Presume because it is following the command 'Last scene played'.

Regarding Question 4.

Can you do some kind of Video for this? I know profile builder, and however i tell my single/mono fixture to not dim - it either doesn't work at all or always dims. I actually want to software to recognise that there is something different about this fixture - it's a simple DMX Value with conditions / behaviour during programming scenes. Again, a freeze option would be ideal.

TomHat
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Re: URGENT 2022 CHANGES!

Post by TomHat » Thu Jul 21, 2022 12:47 pm

Hello,

In Profile editor, this setting is located in the properties of your preset. Here is a screen capture for this :
Capture d’écran 2022-07-21 144448.png
Capture d’écran 2022-07-21 144448.png (52.7 KiB) Viewed 13909 times
Regards,
TomHat
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ESA Pro 2 Support

Mail : [email protected]

EVOLVEINSTALL
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Re: URGENT 2022 CHANGES!

Post by EVOLVEINSTALL » Sun Jul 24, 2022 10:21 pm

https://youtu.be/gIsrmXL0Tmg

Clearly doesn't work..

TomHat
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Re: URGENT 2022 CHANGES!

Post by TomHat » Wed Jul 27, 2022 2:01 pm

Hello,

Okay, I see that this "not linear" property seems to be ignored during the timeline computing. This is some issue we will look into.
In the meantime, could you email me at [email protected] to tell me in details what you wish to achieve with your SSL file ? I am not sure I understood exactly what you meant.

Regards,
TomHat
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ESA Pro 2 Support

Mail : [email protected]

EVOLVEINSTALL
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Re: URGENT 2022 CHANGES!

Post by EVOLVEINSTALL » Fri Jul 29, 2022 3:45 am

Thanks Thomas,

The point i'm trying to get over, is that ESAPRO2 does all this fancy RGB programming and should be improved than ESAPRO, yet some of the basics seems to be forgotten or not implemented.

I have not started exploring the Dina Range, however i presume Nicolaudie want to push all products into every Architectural installation.

I'm working on the ground, giving you exposure to the challenges i come up against. At the end of the day, it's a DMX Channel Signal of 0-255, and not all channels have the same behaviour, yet ESAPRO2 seems to treat all identically in Single channel mode. I know you have to work hard, as the work flows through all your software versions and i pick the right one for the job i have to achieve however it would be nice to stick to one solid version, an all in one solution.
its easier for small jobs to use a Stick and ESA2, PRO2 is really only for bigger installs and for more complex projects.

Non-Dim channels are not something new, however something needs to change when it comes to programming - either put them in a separate zone which 'Freezes' the programming output level, Or have ESAPRO2 see the a new 'Mono Channel' differently. This also refers back to zonal capabilities in programming mode, Be nice to have one or the other.
Sunlite has page priority, so we can 'tweek' channels to act in a particular way and freeze them. However Sunlite has its own purpose, anyway..Looking forward to Plasa 2022, would be nice to have a sit down.

Its like
SUITE 3 - we can not change Direction of a mover circle on Pan and Tilt - Can on Suite 2.
ESAPRO2 - we can not invert Pan and Tilt - Can on ESAPRO

nick
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Re: URGENT 2022 CHANGES!

Post by nick » Wed Aug 17, 2022 1:41 pm

Hi Rob,

I have been investigating using non-linear presets with ESA Pro 2. These are presets where 'Is linear' is deselected in the Profile Builder online app.

I remember you wanted to turn relays on and off. For this, I would use the 'Other' type for Channels and presets.

I have created a Single Channel Non-Dimmable ssl2 file ...
https://drive.google.com/file/d/16Q1VOF ... sp=sharing

And a demo showfile ...
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TCVA9c ... sp=sharing

And a video explaining non-linear presets ....
https://drive.google.com/file/d/16GljmQ ... sp=sharing

I tried ESA Pro 2 2022-07-20 and 2022-04-26.

With ESA Pro 1 you would create different static blocks for each value (i.e. there was no variation within the block). i.e. one block for 'open', one block for 'closed' preset. You can do that in ESA Pro 2 as well with Basic Blocks. Or, you can select preset values within one block.

Kind Regards,

Nik.
Nicolaudie Tech Support

EVOLVEINSTALL
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Re: URGENT 2022 CHANGES!

Post by EVOLVEINSTALL » Sat Sep 24, 2022 1:57 am

Thanks a very useful.

I had a DALI light which was a Dimmer control channel CH1 and a NON Dim Relay Channel for the Dali Light, CH2.
Creating a Blackout Scene with one fade time.
CH1 would dim should dim from 100% to 0% over 10 Seconds.
CH2 Would also dim however the NON Dim is On/Off Triggered at 128 DMX Level.
So at 5 Seconds, My CH1 would be cut short 50% Snap Off, Because it lost Power as CH2 was triggered.

I wouldn't of wasted a Zone for the NON Dim channels, I had none anyway. As i could of triggered CH2 to turn off at a later time trigger.

But now i can trigger the Switch upon the last Second. I think i could of done this before with a Dimmer level Block. However, it's called ESAPRO2 (Easy Stand Alone Professional 2), easy it was not.

I still think the point i was getting at, was that i needed my NON Dim Relay channels ON whilst programming a Zone. Because ESAPRO2 kills all OTHER Zones to DMX000 whilst we program a Zone, Non Dims/Relays in a separate zone will not work.
Now we can add the Non Dim/ Relay within a Scene, and whilst programming the scene we can keep the level ON. However, does it keep this level ON whilst you Duplicate a Scene? and open the new editing scene?
Why can i not just freeze the DMX Output for that Patch instead?
Why could i not disconnect the DMX wire from the DMX Relay? (Its been installed in the most high level Void space ever!) Plus its an installation.

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