Fire Effect on ETC Express

[JDLX]

Hi All,

 

I was wondering if anyone has any experience with programming effects on an express? I have experience in plotting FX's on Strand 500 series desks, and at first look I thought it looked fairly similar to this. After messing with it last night for at least an hour however, I still could not get it to do what I wanted.

 

Basically I have a silk fire effect that I want to flicker (randomly preferably) between 20% and 35% in one cue, then it gets built up with some generics in another cue and the whole thing gets brighter and more intense. I would rather not have to run it on manual as I may have a relatively inexperienced board up some nights.

 

So if anyone has any advice on how I could achieve this it would be appreciated.

 

Cheers

[eamon]

Hi All,

 

I was wondering if anyone has any experience with programming effects on an express? I have experience in plotting FX's on Strand 500 series desks, and at first look I thought it looked fairly similar to this. After messing with it last night for at least an hour however, I still could not get it to do what I wanted.

 

Basically I have a silk fire effect that I want to flicker (randomly preferably) between 20% and 35% in one cue, then it gets built up with some generics in another cue and the whole thing gets brighter and more intense. I would rather not have to run it on manual as I may have a relatively inexperienced board up some nights.

 

So if anyone has any advice on how I could achieve this it would be appreciated.

 

Cheers

 

 

I only wish the effects on an express were as straight foward as a 520! That said here is how I do them

 

YOu have 2 options of running effects. You can either record them as a cue or a submaster. I think you should record them as a cue well out of of your cue range & then slot them in place when you need too. The cue is actually the FX as opposed to attaching an Fx to a cue which may have other functions.

When you record them as a cue it is easy enough to then make them a sub.

 

You can record the Fx cue in either LIVE or BLIND.

I prefer to record them in BLIND. I have found it much easier to do.

 

In BLIND

 

1) Hit RECORD cue no

 

2) Before you hit ENTER, hit REC MODE(may be REC TYPE) this button is beside the CUE button on the front of the console. You are presented with 3-4 modes, XF, MF, AF & FX. Hit the number corresponding to the FX and then hit ENTER. The cue now knows it is an FX cue. The screen is very different from a normal cue view.

 

3) The next trick is to add the channels.

The soft keys S1-S8 come into play here. Making sure you are in the FX cue, Hit STEP(S1) and then enter 1. This is presuming this is your first step etc. This will create the 1st step. Next hit type in the range of channels you wish and hit ADD CHANNELS(S8) and then you enter the level of the channel using the AT function. It is very important that you hit S8 otherwise it will not accept the channel info.

You have to hit the ADD CHANNELS soft key everytime you change the level or want to add a new channel.

 

You repeat the process for all the other steps.

 

4) To change the properties of the FX, ie timing etc, I always do it after I have created all my steps. Being in BLIND allows you to use the 4 x arrow keys. This is a much faster way to manipulate the information.

 

5) Remember to record the FX before you exit BLIND. It is quite an annoying thing to do............

 

You can record a submaster in the same way just select SUB instead of CUE etc.

 

Known quirks!!!

It will not accept a value of FULL( well never has for me). I always enter 1 thru 10; S8(add channels) and then AT 99%

Maybe it is just me.

 

It is a very button specfic record feature especially when deleting steps etc. Having to hit S8 etc is cumbersome.

 

It sometimes tracks channels from previous cues. I have not sure why. I have recorded it correctly but find some channels have tracked into the FX albeit I have not asked them!!

 

Beware of making a dummy step when using the arrows to flash through the steps in blind. For example, Say STEP 10 is the last for your FX. IF you cursor down past this it will automatically create a blank STEP 11. It is the type of thing that might catch you off guard.

 

IF you want a small chase as part of large scene ie fire in the corner, There are a couple of ways to do it.

 

1) The whole cue is the FX so you have to make the steps the same with just the FX changes!!!!!

 

2) You could place the FX on a second playback and run it that way.

 

3) You could place the FX on a sub and bring it in when you need it. The SUB buttons also latch when you hit them. Very handy for triggering & stopping the FX.

 

4) Another way is to attach a macro to the cue which can trigger the effect. I have not used this way myself but it seems to be the most powerful way etc. An LD I know did this as she up to 20 different FX cues!! and it worked for her.

 

 

 

There are other workarounds in using the FX. They can be a tempermental thing to do. Best to give yourself some time for plotting. Best not done on the fly.

 

 

Hope that helps.

 

if you need more just shout

 

 

eamon

[mar]

Known quirks!!!

It will not accept a value of FULL( well never has for me). I always enter 1 thru 10; S8(add channels) and then AT 99%

Maybe it is just me.

 

The default when you add a channel is for it to be at full. When you see the list of channels for a given step they will be something like this

 

_2_____5____10____11____14

75____50__________10____99

 

Where the top row is channel numbers and the bottom row is intensities. If no number is listed then the channel is a full (rather than displaying FL as you'd expect) so in my example above, channel 10 is at full.

 

If you are going to start programming FX on the Express I would recommend allowing some time to play with them and get them right as it can be fiddly. I would recommend you download the manual from the ETC site linky so you cna refer to it while plotting, partcularly for 'atributes' which might be very helpful in producing the effect you want as it can allow oyu to build in an element of randomness that works well for fire effects.

 

Hope that help

 

Michael

 

edit: tidied example and added link

[eamon]

Hi Michael

 

That makes sense. I always assumed its default would be zero until you added the value. Never thought that it would automactically be FL. Hence the 99% workaround. Whenever I hit the FL button it would de-select the channel in question.

 

 

Cheers

 

 

eamon

[JDLX]

Thanks for the replies guys.

 

Unfortunately what you have mentioned is about as far as I had got already. The problem I'm having is I cant get the fx to run at random intensities without it dropping below the minimum channel levels. I tried loads of different things including different random rates but it always dropped below my 20% minimum level.

[eamon]

Hi

 

I am a bit unsure what you are saying.

 

Do you have a minimum & maximum amount on each steps.

 

By this, I am referring to the Lo-Hi options at the end of the Step screen

 

eamon

[JDLX]

Hi

 

I am a bit unsure what you are saying.

 

Do you have a minimum & maximum amount on each steps.

 

By this, I am referring to the Lo-Hi options at the end of the Step screen

 

eamon

 

Yes, but when I set the effect to positive random type, the channels still drop below the minimum level.

[eamon]

Hi JD

 

 

The Lo-Hi options at the end of each step are percentage rates of the levels in the step. They are true rates of level. When you put the Lo Hi values in, they are a percentage of the channel levels recorded in that step. eg if Lo-Hi are set say at 40-100, the lowest rate is 40% of its recorded value. I have Channel 6 at 30 in the step. The level will drop to 40% of 30 which will be a level of 12.

 

You would be forgiven for thinking that the Lo-Hi values are indicative of maximum & minimum intensity levels as opposed to a percentage of.

 

You will obviously need to change the Lo-Hi percentage levels etc.

 

 

I hope I am answering what you have asked and this makes sense

 

 

eamon

[JDLX]

Hi JD

 

 

The Lo-Hi options at the end of each step are percentage rates of the levels in the step. They are true rates of level. When you put the Lo Hi values in, they are a percentage of the channel levels recorded in that step. eg if Lo-Hi are set say at 40-100, the lowest rate is 40% of its recorded value. I have Channel 6 at 30 in the step. The level will drop to 40% of 30 which will be a level of 12.

 

You would be forgiven for thinking that the Lo-Hi values are indicative of maximum & minimum intensity levels as opposed to a percentage of.

 

You will obviously need to change the Lo-Hi percentage levels etc.

 

 

I hope I am answering what you have asked and this makes sense

 

 

eamon

 

Ah I see, thanks for clearing that up. As it happens I ended up running the fire sequence manually across 6 submasters - but hopefully I will have a bit more time to play with the programable side next time ;)