ETC showfile portability

[Judge]

I am relighting a show that is due to go out next month. Its a small rig but there is no LD as such, instead the projectionist (for its the projection that really makes the show - LX is very much a supporting role) will be supervising the house crew to set up lights and plot. Then he will be calling the show.

My job is to make sure it is as easy and consistent as possible. It is going into theatres to its probably safe to assume that most of them will have an ETC console of some type.

So if for example its plotted on an Ion - what else can read that file? Presumably Element, Gio and Eos but what else? Congos are a different beast I know, but is there a converter for show files? No moving heads, just 40 or so channels of dimmers.

I have plotted on a few ETCs but they are generally outside of my comfort zone. Any intel gratefully received.

Thanks

J

[JDLX]

If there is no moving lights it should be cake.. you can export the show file to ascii which pretty much any console will be able to import - some will require an offline editor of sorts to do this though. I can't remember off the top of my head if you can save directly as an ascii file to usb from eos - I'll have a look tomorrow. Do you know what consoles the venues will have?

[jonathanhill]

Depending on the size of the show and the venues that it will be visiting, assuming that all of the venues will have an ETC running Eos/Ion software could be a big mistake.

 

There is only one way to make absolutely sure that each venue has the right board, and that is to tour it. You could plot it on an Eos and tour an Element (within reason).

 

A lot of larger venues (most ATG for example) have moved to Eos, some are still Strand, others may be Avo. The smaller the venue, the more random the choice of desk.

 

I would phone/email/look up the venues tech spec on the web, compile into a list and make a decision based on fact rather than assumption.

[Judge]

Oh yes of course, I shall not assume anything and all venues will be advanced by me beforehand. Initially I expected the tech to have to rebuild the cue stack for every show - however I am just wondering if...if perhaps say 50% of venues have some kind of ETC - which is possible - would it be possible to use a showfile. Its not going to be complicated really, probably will not involve tracking, in fact its better if it does not. (most) Tracking consoles can work in non-tracking mode, but not the other way around.

Really I just want about thirty self contained cues with fade times.

[indyld]

The issue for me would be how "easy" making the show work on each desk even if it would import. Faffing about making a house patch fit for less than fifty complex cues (that need editing in each location anyway) is a bit off a toss-up.

 

And for, say, half the venues only? Presume the projectionist has to manage the other 50% of the time. Sometimes, seemingly simpler is more prone to foul up and more time consuming.

[Judge]

Yup, probably right there Rob. Just considering my options here really.

[ianknight]

Depending on the size of the show and the venues that it will be visiting, assuming that all of the venues will have an ETC running Eos/Ion software could be a big mistake.

 

There is only one way to make absolutely sure that each venue has the right board, and that is to tour it. You could plot it on an Eos and tour an Element (within reason).

 

A lot of larger venues (most ATG for example) have moved to Eos, some are still Strand, others may be Avo. The smaller the venue, the more random the choice of desk.

 

I would phone/email/look up the venues tech spec on the web, compile into a list and make a decision based on fact rather than assumption.

 

Definitely this - depending on the venue you might encounter Sirius 48 or even Strand LX/GSX so a list is the only way to proceed without any embarassment.

 

It's an oft used argument "Oh - it's theatre so it MUST have ETC" (which goes with the other argument "Oh we need a new desk - it has to be ETC because every theatre has ETC" :P), well sorry - not the case I'm afraid. For the sake of a couple of hours bumping out eMails, it will save a lot of heartache when the wagon shows up at the first dock door.

[david.elsbury]

For 60 quid, would the MagicQ dongle be an option? You'll have to edit a patch at every venue anyway, and if it's a single cuelist type show, I can see how this could be an attractive option?