Getting Started Guide - Making more cues in main cue list

Now we are going to make more cues in the main cue list and we are going to look at how to play them back.

Do this:

Group Up Stage At 5 0 Please

Store Time 3 Please

This should give you a pop-up with different possibilities.

Select the one called Create a second cue.

That created cue number 2 with a fade time of 3 seconds instead of the default time of 0 seconds.

Try to run the cue to see the fixtures in group 5 fade in.

Let's try to use the command line input instead of the keys.

Locate this on screen 1:

This is the command line input. Here we can type commands using the keyboard (on screen or external). When you press it you'll get the Command Line view. here you can see previous executed commands and other feedback from the console.

Write this:

And finish with a press on Enter. In the future, you can just finish the examples I write with Enter or a Please.

Now do this:

Let's have a look at the response from the console and talk about what we just did.

The response to the first command is this:  

So we can see that the "g" is a shortcut for "Group". So we took the fixtures in group 2 except the ones that are also in group 9 at put them at 75%. The "Executing" part is just the console telling you that it actually did it.

Next line was more complex:

The first part is like the other one but then we see that "f" is interpreted as "Fixture" and "t" is "Thru". So we took the fixtures from group 4 except the ones that are also in group 9, then added fixtures 9 to 12 and gave the selection 20% more than they had.

Let's store this using the commands:

Here's the response:

So again there are shortcuts to most words. We created cue number 3 with a fade time of 5 seconds.

We can also see that the dot2 is running a macro when you store. This macro removes unnecessary values in your cue list.

 

Cue number 4 is a darker cue, so we are going to take 40% of everything that's currently on. Currently we have group 5 and 8 on..

This is the key presses needed:

Group 5 + 8 At - 4 0 Please

We are going to make it cue 4 using these keys:

Store 4 Time 2 Time 6 Please

Now something extra happened. Look at the response from the console:

By using the Time key we have stored the cue with a fade time of 2 and an outfade time of 6. 

Next cue should be the same as cue 3, so we can just copy it:

Copy cue 3 at 5 Please

In the pop-up you select Copy or just press Please again to confirm.

No we need a black out:

Group 1  .   .  (remember the double press on the dot key gave us the "Zero" shortcut).

Store Please (this stores the next available cue with the default time of zero seconds).

That was cue 6.

The last cue we are going to make (for now) is a cue that brings back the light. Basically it's cue five again. But instead of copying we are going to try something different.

Use the Go- and Go+ keys below the main executor to move to cue number 5. Notice that the active cue have a green background color in the cue view and a blue background in the small executor view above the executors.

So this is the look we need in the new cue 7. We are going to use a function called "StoreLook". You get this by pressing and holding the MA key while you press Store. Here's the commands:

+Store Cue 7 Time 3 Please

Try to press Go+ to see how cue 6 and 7 work.

Notice that this time we specified what cue number (we have done that previously). If you don't specify, then it will automatically use the next available whole number - so we didn't need to do it in this example.

Also notice that when we use StoreLook it creates a protected cue - There's a "Yes" in the protected column. Protected cues have a white line above the cue. This is to indicate the values that we might store in one of the previous cues will not track into the protected cue. E.g. if we add a fixture in cue 2 at 50% then it will also be at 50% in 3 to 6 but in cue 7 it automatically goes to 0% (or what value it might have been stored at).

Editing the cue list

Remember when we edited the name of the first cue? Now we need to change the name of the rest of them:

Number:	Name:
1	Behind Curtain
2	Curtain Up
3	Build
4	Solo
5	Return
6	BO
7	Curtain Call

We would like that the third cue runs automatically when the second cue is finished. This is a function called "Follow". In stead of the trigger being a Go from us, it needs to be Follow. Edit the 'Trig' cell on the third cue. The window that opens allows us to select a different trigger. Press Follow. Try it out. Press the Go+ until you get to cue 2. When this cue is done then it automatically runs cue 3. 

We are going to look at one more of those options. We want cue number 7 to run four seconds after the black out (cue 6). So we need to change this trigger to "Time". When you do this you get a number in the "Trig Time" column. This needs to be changed to 4. Try it out with the Go+.

Now, I'm the lighting designer of this little show, and I changed my mind about cue number five. I want us to change this cue so it uses the cold colors instead of the warm colors. So do this:

Goto Cue 5 Please

Group 2 + 4  .   .  

Fixture 2 + 4 At 7 5 Please

Fixture 6 + 8 At 6 0 Please

That's the changes we need, now we can store this to cue number five:

Store Cue 5 Please

In the pop-up you need to select Merge to confirm this choice.

That's it for now. 

Remember to save your show (often).

 

In the next chapter we are going to add some more interesting fixtures.