• grandMA3 User Manual
  • grandMA3 Quick Start Guide
    • 00 Welcome
    • 01 New Show and Setup
    • 02 First Patch
    • 03 First View Setup
    • 04 Control Simple Fixtures
    • 05 3D Fixture Setup
    • 06 Groups, Appearances, and Scribbles
    • 07 Macros
    • 08 Store Cues and Use Executors
    • 09 Add Moving Lights
    • 10 Presets
    • 11 Phasers
    • 12 Sequence with multiple cues
    • 13 Network and How to Output DMX
  • grandMA3 Quick Manual consoles
  • grandMA3 Quick Manual processing units
  • grandMA3 Quick Manual Nodes
  • grandMA3 Quick Manual Nodes DIN-Rail
  • grandMA3 Quick Manual onPC command wing XT
  • grandMA3 Quick Manual onPC command wing
  • grandMA3 Quick Manual onPC fader wing
  • grandMA3 Quick Manual onPC rack-unit
  • grandMA3 Quick Manual viz-key
  • grandMA3 Quick Manual I/O Nodes
  • Release Notes
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Version 1.6

View and Window Setup

In the previous chapter, we added some dimmer fixtures.

Now we need to see the fixtures and set up our screens to show the relevant windows.

Quick Interface Introduction

First, we need to have a quick look at the interface.

This is display 1 on the grandMA3 onPC:

There are six different areas indicated in the picture above. The areas have different purposes:

  1. Control Bar - Very useful when using the grandMA3 onPC. It has shortcuts to different windows and menus.
  2. Title Bar - This is the Windows/Mac title bar. It shows the display number, the software version, and the name of the show file.
  3. User-defined Area - This area is where you can create views with different windows.
  4. Command Line - This row has different indicators and buttons with quick access to different menus. The center part is the Command Line Input. Here you can write commands to the software.
  5. Encoder Bar - This area is often used to apply values to the different attributes of the fixtures. The right side has controls for the Grand Master for the console.
  6. View Bar - This bar has buttons, called ViewButtons, where we can store and recall different views.

The interface dynamically adjusts when you are using a grandMA3 onPC. The user-defined area can expand and contract based on the size of the display.

It can also be configured to hide some of the areas or scale the interface. This is done using the Configure Display pop-up. This can be accessed when the Menu selection pop-up is visible. Do this by clicking the gear icon () in the control bar. Then click Configure Display.

Here the different areas can be toggled On or Off. When something has a yellow text color, then it is On or selected. 

Width and Height define how many square fields the user-definable area has. Scale can be used to visually scale the entire interface.

Predefined Views

When we talk about a view, then it is the set up of windows in the user-defined area. These views can be stored and recalled. They can be assigned to the buttons like the one in the View Bar on the right side of the interface.

If you make a change to a view that you would like to keep, then you simply store the view again.

A new show file has some predefined views that can be very useful.

Click the one called Fixture.

Depending on your display size, you might see a view that is cut off on the bottom or on the right side. This is because the stored view is bigger than the current size of the user-defined area.

A brown thin frame indicates that the view is bigger. Scroll bars appear to allow you to scroll to other parts of the view. If you have touch screens then a three-finger touch and scroll also move the view around inside the user-defined area.

Fixture Sheet

We are going to create our own view. So the first thing we need to do is to get an empty user-defined area.

Again we can use the Menu selection pop-up. Click the gear icon () or press the Menu key.

All screens now have a small pop-up in the lower right corner. Click Delete This Screen in the small Display pop-up.

Now the user-defined area is empty.

We want to create a window that shows us the dimmer values of the fixtures in our show. So far we only have fixtures with dimmers.

Click the upper left corner in the user-defined area.

An Add Window pop-up appears. This pop-up gives access to all the different windows in the system, They are organized into different tabs. One of the tabs is called "All", this has all the windows in one alphabetically sorted list.

We need the window called Fixture Sheet. This can be found in the Common tab. Click Common and then Fixture.

Now we have a fixture sheet filling the entire user-definable area.

This window shows us the fixtures in rows and the attributes (in this case only the dimmer) in columns.

The Blinders fixture is collapsed and does not show the child fixtures. This can be changed by clicking the white triangle arrow either at the top of the left column or the arrow next to the Blinder name.

When we are only interested in looking at the dimmer values, then we can change how the window looks. This is done in the Settings for the window. All windows have an MA logo in the upper left corner. Click this to open the settings for the window.

Different windows have different settings. Some are common settings and some are individual for a specific type of window. The settings are often organized into different tabs. We want to change a setting called  Sheet Mode. It is found in the Display tab. Click SheetMode until it says Channel.

The settings should look like this:

Now the Fixture Sheet is changed and it only shows tiles with the FID and the dimmer value.

This window is much bigger than it needs to be and we can adjust it to match our needs. The lower right corner of the window looks like this: . This can be used to resize the window.

Click and hold the resize corner and move it to a new location in the user-defined area. Release the mouse button (or screen) on a location where the window looks nice to you.

Store the View

We want to store the new view on one of the ViewButtons on the right side.

Let us begin by clearing a button for our new view.

We need to press the 'Delete' key. If you use a grandMA3 onPC, then there is an on-screen version of the physical keys of the Command Area of the consoles. This can be opened by clicking the  icon in the command bar on the left or by pressing F3 on a keyboard. It can be closed again by clicking the X in the upper right corner or by pressing F3 again. I am going to write "press" a key. This might mean that you open this on-screen representation of the command keys and click the representation of the key. But I am going to write about them as if you had the physical keys on a console.

So, Press Delete and then close the Command Area pop-up, and then click the top ViewButton on the right. Now the ViewButton should be empty.

Next is to store the current look of the user-defined area on the empty ViewButton.

Instead of pressing the 'Store' key, we are going to use the command line input.

Click the command line input where it says "Admin[Fixture]>". Now write Store so the command line looks like this:

Admin[Fixture]>Store

Now click the empty ViewButton.

This opens a Store View Options pop-up.

Here we can see that we are currently storing the windows on display "Internal 1" and we can give the view a name or label. Write Dimmer as the name/label and click OK.

The view is now stored on the button and it can be recalled anytime by clicking the view button.

Command Line History

Another view that can be useful to have visible is the Command Line History window.

Often it can be an advantage to see how the console reacts to your input. The Command Line History window continually gives you a lot of information. It shows how our user input is interpreted by the software and it shows if the input is not understood or gives an error.

Do not be confused about all the information. We will go through it when needed.

Let us create the window.

When we made the fixture sheet we clicked in the upper left corner and the window took all the available space. Now we are going to try a different technique.

Click and hold below the fixture sheet and drag a square of the size you want the window to be. Now release the mouse/screen.

Now the Add Window pop-up appears again and in the Common tab click Command Line.

Now you have a Command Line History window.

You can still adjust the size if you are not happy with the size you made.

A window can be moved around by clicking and hold the title bar and dragging the window around. If there is not enough space, then the window will resize automatically on the right and bottom sides.

Update the View

When you are happy with the size, location, and look of the windows, then we can store the view on the view button again.

Use any of the methods you have learned to get the Store command in the command line and then tap the view button. Confirm the name and the store action by clicking OK in the Store View Options pop-up.

Here is my result. I have changed the #Columns option in the fixture sheet settings to 15. This makes the fixtures align nicely in the sheet.

When you look at this you might wonder "Why are there two fixtures 1 in the sheet". The one in the lower right corner is actually a virtual universal fixture that the system automatically creates. It is not "Fixture" 1, it is "Universal" 1. The universal fixture contains some of the most generic functions in fixtures. For now, all you need to do is ignore it and do not worry about it.

You should save your show.


Recap

In this chapter, we had a brief introduction to the user interface and the command line input.

We also looked at creating windows in the user-defined area and store the windows, their settings, and their arrangement on a view button.

The manual has an entire section with details about the windows and view. It is called Windows, Views, and Menus.

The fixture sheet is described in detail in the Fixture Sheet topic.

The command line and the Command Line History window are described in detail in the Command Line topic.

In the Next Chapter, we are going to control the dimmers.


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