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Chamsys show file to ETC


frazer

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Hi there,

 

I'll soon be transferring an opera show to a venue running an ETC Eos TI. Problem is the show was plotted on a Chamsys. Does anyone knows how to export a show file from a Chamsys desk to a format that can be read by ETC desks?

 

Thanks in advance,

Frazer

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Hi

 

This sounds a tricky one.

 

Is the rig generics or do you possess moving lights/Leds or anything using a fixture profile?

 

I do not know the cueing structure of the chamsys but it "may" be technically possible to extract cue stack info and levels. Someone with real chamsys knowledge would need to advise here. Once the information is extracted into a readable format,you would probably be able to mod a text file.

 

The above would only work for generics imo. Movers et al are often laid out in manufacture specific format. How does the chamsys determine pan/tilt positioning etc?

 

Having done a large amount of file conversions between the main etc-strand desks, experience has taught me to not bother with fixture info et al and concentrate on the generics only.

 

If this is a large opera with fixtures, I would plumb for bringing the original console or expect a long session of replotting from scratch. If the venue has an EOS Ti, they should have net 3 gateways that will allow you access to their network. Am of the belief that chamsys can speak sACN as native. Again, I am not familiar with the desk.

 

It all depends on how much time, budget etc you have to allow for a replot etc? Whilst needing a decent chamsys op, you may also require an etc programmer (decent lampie!!)for the quirks.

 

If you want, you can send me the file and I can have a look. No promises but am used to doing a lot of conversions.

 

TBH, if the budget is realistic, probably best to bring the desk.

 

Eamon

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As a starting point, if you enable the web interface in the Chamsys, you can view a lot of info via a web browser. From there, I'm sure data can be copied and pasted in to a spreadsheet. Whether that's of any use to EOS is beyond me though!

I've not explored it much yet but there's a video

showing the web view. In French but you get the gist.
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The only (more or less) standardised way of transferring show files between different console families is via USITT ASCII Text Representation for Lighting Console Data format (March 1992).

 

Usually .asc or .alq extension, it's an ASCII (ISO/IEC 646) text file and starts "IDENT 3:0"

 

However, USITT ASCII only has full support of dimmer-only shows (it's from 1992), so you'll generally get the dimmer patch, group, submasters, and cues - but only intensities.

Everything else is done using manufacturer-specific extensions of varying levels of support.

 

Eos supports quite a few different manufacturer-specific extensions, so can load a lot more data from those.

 

In general:

If the console can export USITT ASCII format (perhaps using an offline editor or other tool), Eos (and many other consoles) can import at least some of it.

Whether it's really enough to be useful depends on your show.

 

If a console doesn't have any way of creating a USITT ASCII export, then probably it isn't going to be able to transfer to any other console at all.

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  • 2 weeks later...
This can be done and exporting as ascii is the way, but it is very basic, part fades and moving lights won't get transferred, the most acurate way would be to get both off line editors and replot if that is practical, then update in the relight session at the venue
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  • 2 weeks later...
the really interesting topic here is that if it was the other way round you can cue by cue record DMX into Chamsys, which I think is amazing, so cue by cue the show can be recorded and the patch created either before or afterwards, but I do not know if this can be done with ETC consoles.
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the really interesting topic here is that if it was the other way round you can cue by cue record DMX into Chamsys, which I think is amazing, so cue by cue the show can be recorded and the patch created either before or afterwards, but I do not know if this can be done with ETC consoles.

 

Does it measure and store the fade times? That would be even more amazing!

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  • 2 weeks later...

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