Operating Concepts & Terminology
Clarity
Operator Manual
Page 208
39.8.3
Mark Cues (Move in Black)
A Mark cue is a special type of cue that you can insert in a cue-list. Mark cues are also known
as “move in black” and are used to pre-position fixture attributes without their movements or
changes being seen on stage.
When you insert a Mark cue, Clarity looks at the previous cue and selects any fixtures that
have an intensity of zero. Then, using that fixture selection, it looks at the following cue and
copies all the attributes of those fixtures, except intensity, from the following cue and inserts
them into the new Mark cue which is placed between the two cues.
When the cue-list is played back and the cue prior to the mark cue finishes its fade, the Mark
cue is automatically executed. It will move all of the attributes (except intensity) to their
settings in the following cue. They therefore move in black. When the next cue is executed, the
fixtures fade up, but nothing else changes because all other attributes were pre-set by the
Mark cue. Mark cues have a default fade time of 0.5 seconds.
Mark cues are inserted by right clicking on a cue in the Control Booth window and selecting
“Insert mark cue”.
39.9
DMX 512
DMX512 is the industry standard for the transmission of digital control signals between lighting
equipment. It utilizes just a single pair of wires on which is transmitted the level information for
the control of up to 512 DMX slots. As the DMX512 signal contains the level information for all
slots, each piece of equipment needs to be able to read the level(s) of the slots(s) that apply
only to that piece of equipment. To enable this, each piece of DMX512 receiving equipment has
an address that you can set. This address is set to the first slot number to which the equipment
is to respond.
The end of the DMX line is terminated (120
Ω
) to prevent the signal reflecting back up the line
and causing possible errors.
39.10
DMX UNIVERSES
If more than 512 DMX slots are required, then more DMX outputs are used. The slot numbers
on each DMX output are always 1 to 512. To differentiate between each DMX output they are
called Universe1, Universe 2 etc. Clarity’s internal DMX universes are designated as Universe A,
B etc.
39.10.1
DMX Slot
A moving light, colour scroller, dimmer or any other DMX controlled device is known as a
fixture. Every Fixture has a selectable DMX starting slot and this is patched to that same DMX
SLOT number on Clarity. Clarity
will then automatically patch all of the remaining DMX slots for
that Fixture according to the information in the library for that particular Fixture.
39.10.2
Attribute.
Each brand and model of Fixture has a specified number and order of control channels. An
attribute
is one or two DMX control channels (two channels used for higher resolution) that
uniquely controls one of the physical motions of the Fixture. The manufacturer’s specification of
a Fixture lists each attribute and its control channel number(s).
39.11
HTP (HIGHEST TAKES PRECEDENCE)
If the value for an attribute is emanating from several places at the same time then the highest
of all those values will be the value at the output. HTP is typically used for intensity control.
39.12
LTP (LATEST TAKES PRECEDENCE)
The value on the output will always be the value from the place where the latest
action took
place. LTP is typically used for movement control.
39.13
RDM
RDM stands for Remote Device Management. It is an “extension” to DMX.
Since the inception of DMX it has always been a ‘one way' control system. Data only ever flows
in one direction, from the lighting controller outwards to whatever it may be connected to. The
