ShowMagic AV, User Manual, Page: 91 / 233

four scanners, in a row, at the back of a stage. You want the scanners to trace a sine wave pattern to
and fro, in unison, across the stage, but you don’t want the beams to leave the stage area and blind
the audience:
1) Group the four scanners using a group button (
F1
to
F8
).
2) Move the pan and the tilt function faders for any one of the scanners in the group*.
3) Record a scene and then un-group the fixtures.
4) Highlight that scene button and click on the
FX
button to call up the FX generator panel.
5) Select the
Pan FX
Straight
and
Tilt FX
Straight
presets.
6) Set the
Pan FX
Speed fader to
20
, the
Pan FX
Slope fader to
FL
, the
Tilt FX
Speed fader to
60
and the
Tilt FX
Slope fader to
FL
- these settings will trace 3 sine waves to and fro across the
stage when run.
7) Run the FX scene, and whilst it is running you can drag the handles on the Range Limiter
box in the FX window to set a range and position that will keep the scanners’ beams
confined to the stage area.
* If you use
Pan FX
and
Tilt FX
presets, the initial stored ‘reference’ values of the pan and the tilt
faders become irrelevant - but you must still record a value for pan and tilt channels in order to
include those fixtures in the FX scene. It is only when you are using a
Shape FX
preset, such as a
circle that requires a central reference point to draw the shape around, or if you are going to use just
one or the other of the
Pan FX
or
Tilt FX
(and not both) that any stored pan and tilt reference values
are actually utilised.
The Fixture Presets
The last column on the bottom of the FX generator panel contains the
Fixtures
presets. So far we
have applied
Pan FX
and
Tilt FX
presets to the fixtures contained in the scene, but when we have run
the FX scene all the fixtures in the FX scene have traced the same shape in unison. Let’s assume
that six scanners on fixture faders 1 to 6 are contained in the scene - the
Fixtures
presets can select
the following options:
All
This preset is the default and it makes all the fixtures in the FX scene do exactly the same shape at
the same speed and in the same direction. This is what we have been using so far.
Individual
If this preset is selected then each fixture will trace the same pattern as the rest, and at the same
speed etc., but some are picked at random to trace the pattern in the
opposite direction. This can be
used to produce random, criss-crossing effects etc.
Section 7 - Lighting Scene Panel
79