A newbie question - focus, zoom, gobo

[simonplights]

I feel a bit weird asking this newbie question. Despite being a touring lampy for several years, with experience on most major desks and full production tours as an LD under my belt, it's only recently that something has dawned on me - I don't fully understand the relationship between focus, zoom and gobo as well as I should.

 

I've always just set up beam palettes for specific uses in my shows - slow prism, gobo wheel 2, zoom @ 30 and focus to hard, then saved that as a preset. It's only recently where I've been tasked with making a mega-busk showfile that I've realised I don't understand this well enough.

 

How does everyone else set up their palettes (or presets - I'm mostly on MA2) so that when you are busking, gobos/open beams are always in focus no matter what zoom value you choose. Obviously, if I start with an open beam at 50% zoom and focus it hard, it needs refocusing when you change the zoom value. SO - I could create Focus presets with each zoom preset recalling the correct focus value as well, but that is then only valid for open beams. Put something from Gobo 1 in and the focus value needs to change for all of the respective zoom values.

 

My current workaround is a 4 x 4 grid of focus presets - top row is Thin, Narrow, Medium, Wide zoom with the focus set for open gobo, next row is Thin, Narrow, Medium Wide zoom with the focus set for Gobo 1, then the same for G2 and G3 respectively.

 

This is long-winded and not ideal for busking - how does everyone else do it please? Am I missing something very simple that just makes this work, or is it a case of just finding a compromise?

 

Thanks

 

Simon

 

P.S. I know about zoom-focus auto tracking, but only half of the lights in this rig have it, so not really the solution.

[indyld]

Record the hard focus with each gobo palette and the No Gobo. You can also duplicate each gobo with an optimal soft focus too. Depending on the fixture, these are often close enough at any zoom.

 

For my money, if it's getting to hard then you are trying to do too much with a busk setup. KISS etc.

 

http://www.onstagelighting.co.uk/console-programming/parkinson-and-pareto-ways-of-the-lighting-jedi/

[niclights]

As with Rob I have always recorded focus with the gobo (using the most common zoom level) and then had a few separate zoom palettes (ie. small, medium, large) and hope for the best! But it is probably fixture dependent. For some it might work better to have focus with the zoom instead of each gobo. One way or another there is going to be a compromise.

[alexforey]

Can't speak for setting up busking palettes, but it's worth adding that some fixtures have a parfocal optical system and some don't, which means that on some the focus stays constant while zooming, and others don't. Also different fixtures have the gobo at a different point in the optical chain, so sometimes you can't have the edge of the beam and the gobo in focus at the same time.

[Young Johnstone]

The way you currently do it is the way I do it too when I'm building presets.

Don't store focus to the gobo, it'll never be in focus at each end of the zoom range.

I wouldn't agree that you're trying to do too much with you're busking setup either, just trying to make it versatile.

I've had Pointes a lot this summer and they have a great variety of features, but too much to be creating presets to using on the fly.

Instead I create a cue (either list or executes) of the main looks I'll want the unit to do and busk using these instead.

If you think about the amount of attributes you need to change to go from a wide zoom with frost to tight slow rotating prism with the smallest aperture, you couldn't quickly do that whilst busking.

 

I dont always program every gobo or effect into a busking file, only the stuff I know I will use and will look right for the gig.

[Tomo]

In general, Focus is tied to the Gobo Wheel or open aperture in use, and (usually) the Zoom level.

 

So sharp focus of the gobos in Wheel #1 will (usually) all need the same Focus & Zoom combo, the gobos in Wheel #2 will need another, and Open will need a third pair.

 

Glass and Steel gobos in the same wheel may also need different values, though this is often close enough not to matter.

 

Soft focus is a different beast of course.

[indyld]

...

I wouldn't agree that you're trying to do too much with you're busking setup either, just trying to make it versatile.

...

 

If you think about the amount of attributes you need to change to go from a wide zoom with frost to tight slow rotating prism with the smallest aperture, you couldn't quickly do that whilst busking.

 

I dont always program every gobo or effect into a busking file, only the stuff I know I will use and will look right for the gig.

 

So, what we are both saying is that there is merit in being strategic with what you include AND exclude in your busk file and questioning if a million different individual palettes are the way to go about it....?

[simonplights]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts, it's made good reading.

 

I thinkit's worth clarifying that if I were setting up a busk file for myself only, Iwould simply create 5 or 6 essential beam palettes, with gobo, focus, zoom,prism etc all taken care of within. For my own busking, I prefer a streamlinedoperating environment with only the components I know I'll use, rather than theability to call up any combination in a split second. Something like... 1) 40%zoom, open, hard focus, 2) narrow/iris beam, mythos etc in beam mode 3) staticaerial gobo - a radial or a fan or something 4) big X-Factor spinny starbreakup 5) animation/linear/spare.

 

However -the context of my original post was actually setting up a house file forvisiting LDs. Of course some LDs will bring their own file, and those who don'twill change to their own taste, but I always try and make a decent startingpoint for people, if only for me to busk supports. There's no brief or need fortotal flexibility over and above my own curiosity and understanding - while Ihave the time I wanted to see how versatile (but useable!) I could make abusking environment. This is a series of headline events from now until the endof the summer, so it'll go to good use.

 

The rigfeatures Vipers Profiles and Mythos, of which the focus value for Open and G1of a Mythos for hard focus are the same, whereas on the Viper a different focusvalue is needed for Open, G1, G2 and G3 at each zoom value.

 

The following setup seems to work well so far - pick your gobo, move your finger to the right and pick what zoom you want it at. Gobos on the left are Mythos (which just has two wheels) and those on the right are Viper.

 

[indyld]

In the specific case of the fixture types and layout in the image, I would be putting the hard focus in with the zoom as assume you do now. There isn't a magic solution that involves fewer palettes and still achieves the "button for everything" level of flexibility sought here. At least all that takes care of the hard focus and provides a menu of possibilities for an incoming LD that they can use and ignore as needed. The number of "things" is more than I generally care to busk with in a fast paced show with quick turnaround, but at least I won't have to scrabble about programming something I do want from scratch.

 

If I arrived at this setup as an incoming LD, I'd be happy that there was stuff to work with and may start by either copying up a new set of windows with ONLY the gobos, wheels and zooms I fancied using or just resolving to not worry about using all 3 wheels of the Viper and keep it manageable. The main thing is that you have provided stuff in the desk that can be extracted if need be. If I wanted my own hard focus info somewhere, I could easily pull it out of the existing palettes and put it somewhere. If I'm easy with it coupled with zoom, it's ready to go and saves me a job.

 

e2a: I'd want a Open Gobo that cleared out all wheels. In the image, it looks like it just clears an single wheel which is fine for programming of complex beam looks but when busking I just wanna flick all gobos out at once. One button for all fixtures in case I want the whole rig to go together. In your file, does G1 include G2 and G3 at Open?