Presets

A preset holds information about attribute-values for a selection of fixtures and may be referenced and re-used in cues or in the programmer. The value of a preset in the programmer or stored in a cue is marked with a sea green marker.

The principle of presets is to store a labeled reference in a cue, rather than the actual value itself. Or use presets for busking, where presets are called into the programmer on the fly.

Updating the preset means that the cues do not need to be updated since they reference the preset and not the actual preset values.

Presets are marked with a cyan marker. This maker is visible on cues that use preset and on the values itself, for instance, in the tracking sheet or the fixture sheet. Read more in the Marker topic.

Preset Pools

Presets are stored in pools. There are pools for each feature group. These pools have a default input filter that only allows the values for that feature group to be stored in the preset pool. There are also five preset pools called "All 1" to "All 5". These do not have a default input filter and can be used to store any attribute values. Learn more about the pools in the Preset Pool topic.

Preset Modes

Presets modes are used when the preset is stored (or updated) and when the preset is called.

There are three different preset modes Selective, Global, and Universal.

Each preset got letters showing the preset mode.

Example:

The three modes are:

• Selective (S):
  The data will be added as selective data for each fixture that has active data in the programmer.
• Global (G):
  The data will be added mainly as global data. If there are several fixtures of the same fixture type but with different values, then the global data will be determined by average, and selective data will be added for the other fixtures which have divergent data.
• Universal (U):
  Data will be added as global data, and the preset mode will be set to Universal.

When a preset is stored or updated, then there are two more options:

• Auto:
  When updating or storing into an existing preset, the preset mode of the preset will be respected.
  In the case of global preset mode, selective data will be added to the preset when at least one fixture that can use the preset is active with new values.
  When creating a new preset Auto mode will take the mode defined by the pool and use the rules for each mode.
• Force Global:
  Data will be added as global data, and untouched existing selective data will be discarded within the preset for the fixtures of the same fixture type.
  Force Global will discard the selective data when updating a preset or when storing with the merge option into an existing preset.

Each preset can store all three modes or some combinations of modes.

Each preset pool has a setting for a default mode. This mode is indicated by one of the letters in the upper right corner of the pool title field.

This default can be used when storing the preset or a different mode can be used.

Learn more in the Create New Presets topic and the Use Preset topic.

Absolute and Relative Values

Preset can store absolute and/or relative values. Relative values are often used with multistep presets but it is not limited to this use.

Example:

Presets with absolute values have a square dark red marker with rounded corners. Relative values are indicated by a dark pink square with rounded corners. Presets can contain both absolute and relative values. Learn more about the different programmer layers in the What is the Programmer topic.

Embedded Presets

A preset can contain a link to a different preset. It is the same as cues storing a reference to a preset - just for other presets. This can be useful for instance when a show is built using a set of general preset and other presets are created using these as building blocks.

Example:

In this example, there is a global color preset that has values for all fixture types. This is used to create a new selective preset for a smaller selection of fixtures. If the fixture type change, then only the original global preset needs to be updated. The selective preset links to the global preset values and do not need to be updated.

The "source" preset has a downward pointing arrow icon to indicate that this preset is referenced by other presets (or cues). The preset with embedded data has a single right pointed arrow icon to indicate that this preset uses referenced data.

If a new name is not defined then the name is also referenced (referenced names are in square brackets). This means that changing the name of the source preset also updates the name of the new preset. Learn more in the Create New Presets topic.

Recipe Presets

Preset can have recipe information. A recipe is one or more lines with information about a group, preset, MAtricks, individual fade, delay, speed, and phase values.

This information can be used to "cook" values into the preset. If the source information changes then the preset can be cooked again to reflect the changes. For instance, if a group is used in a recipe and it changes after the initial cooking, then the preset can be cooked again and it will now reflect the changes to the group. Learn more in the Recipe Presets topic.

Example:

A small pot icon indicates a preset with cooked recipes.

MAgic Presets

MAgic presets are presets where value points in a range are defined. This range can then be applied to a dynamic selection of fixtures. For instance, two fixtures are stored in a MAgic preset with dimmer values of 0% and 100%. MAgic presets need to be stored as a selective preset, but that does not mean that only the selected fixtures can use it - it only means that they contain values for a selection of fixtures. The MAgic preset uses the values to define the points in a range. A different fixture selection can be made and the range of values between the points are assigned to the fixtures when the MAgic preset is called into the programmer. These values are calculated based on the points and then taken into the programmer as hard values. There is no reference back to the MAgic preset.

There can be up to five defined points in the range (on each axis in the selection grid).

MAgic presets have a small wizard hat icon in the preset pool object

Example:

A path needs to be defined to control a color range from blue to yellow. The wish is to have the range go through the red area in a CIE color picker - instead of going through white. Three fixtures are needed to define the range.

The first fixture is blue, the second is magenta, and the third is yellow. This is then stored as a MAgic preset. Now this range through three points can be used by multiple fixtures to create the desired path.

Learn the details on how to create this MAgic preset in the Create New Presets topic.

Multistep Presets

Presets can contain values in multiple steps (Phasers). Presets with only one step usually have the values stored in step one.  If a preset has multiple steps then they are called multistep presets.

Example:

They have a three-dot icon to indicate multistep values.

The steps can get values from other presets using the Integrate keyword.

It can be a little hard to see but presets with integrated presets have a three arrow right-pointing arrow icon. The default color for this icon is dark blue.

Integrate is much like embedded. The difference is that integrate can be used to take step one value into other steps. Learn more about multistep presets and integrate in the Create Color Rainbow Phaser topic.

Filtered Presets

The entire preset pool has a default input filter - except the All preset pools. The default filter is on feature group preset pools. They automatically filter the attributes in the feature group.

The input filter can be changed to a custom filter for any preset pool including the All presets.

Besides an entire preset pool having an input filter it is also possible to have an input filter on individual presets. Learn more about input filters in the Edit Presets topic.

Example:

It can be hard to see the input filter icon because of the (default) dark blue color, but there is a downward pointing arrow with dots on the sides icon that indicates that the preset has an input filter.