pathway choreo, User Manual

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113
Talking to the Lights with Natural Language
Control
Natural Language Control's objective is to provide an intuitive programming
experience and a versatile control system that when played back can actually
provide the operator information about the system it is controlling.
Natural Language Control does this by porting the control to an 'abstract' layer.
This has a number of benefits:
1. The 'handles' you use to control LEDs and moving lights are more
inline with what you would do to manipulate white light.
2. The numbers and 'words' you use to build cues will actually mean
something. You will have an idea of what you can do with the lights
and what is on stage by reading the display.
3. If you have mixed equipment, the methodology you use to
communicate is consistent regardless of the protocols defined by the
equipment manufacturers. The attribute controls are laid out the same
for every and any light.
4. Building a set of looks with one group of lights in your rig can be
copied to another groups, regardless of what type of lights they are.
5. The cues you have in your show file can be played back with any
equipment allowing you to swap out gear at the last minute if need be.
One of the key things in Point #2 above that bears repeating is that Natural
Language Control uses numbers and 'words' to control lighting. One might claim
that has been done for years with the use of 'named' palettes. For example,
moving lights desks can use labeled position palettes to build cues and the cue
displays these 'words' to make it easier to read. Don't lose sight of the fact that
palettes, like "Down Stage Center", are just placeholders for a combination of
values between 0 and 65535. The words themselves do not mean anything to the
desk. They are just displayed on the screen for convenience. In contrast, with
Natural Language Control, the words do mean very specific things within the cue
structure. Some of the words used include:
•
3200 Kelvin
•
15 degrees of pan
•
rotate counter clockwise at 6 RPM
•
strobe at 9 hertz
•
reset the fixture's driver