Presets
Presets are like super palettes. You can think of them like Submasters, in that they can contain an entire look, but they’re like Palettes in that you can quickly assign values to a selected set of channels.
Presets can utilize any combination of channels, values, effects, and settings; so for example, could set focus, intensity, and zoom but ignore color and gobos.
The flexibility is really quite complex and powerful; but the concept is simple: what are settings that you use again and again? This should be recorded as a preset.
Let’s try it out.
If we wanted to create a look using our cross back lights; before selecting colors we would need to do the following …
- Group 51 at Full
- Group 51 Focus Palette 10
- Group 51 Beam Palette 3
- Group 61 at Full
- Group 61 Focus Palette 10
- Group 61 Beam Palette 3
Or … set all of Group 60 to Preset 10, [Group] [60] [Preset] [10] [Enter]. This will do all of the above in one command. If you thumb through the Live Table display or just look at the fixtures that have been selected in Augment3d; you’ll notice that the center three movers (Channels 721, 722, 723) have been selected, but aren’t on – this is because Preset 10 has no information for them; so they just get ignored.
If we were to switch presets now by pressing [Preset] [99] (which will assume the same channel or group selection) you’ll see that these three center lights are now in use because Preset 99 does have values for them.
Alright. Let’s make a Preset; maybe one that uses movers, gobos, colors, and effects. This is one of my favorite uses for Presets; to have a turn-key cool look that I can layer on top of a cue.
So let’s start by turning on Group 601 and focusing all 6 lights into a circle. Remember that you can do this by long clicking Augment3d. Here’s what mine looks like …
Next let’s give them a rotating gobo and a series of colors. You can do whatever you want! But here’s what I’m doing …
And now I’m going to add some effects. Remember you can double tap the [Effect] button to see the current list of available effects, or here you can quickly check the Magic Sheet provided for you in this chapter.
I’m going to use Effects 901 and 918. And maybe I’ll add the figures back in with channels 1001 through 1004. Oh, and take down the ambient light.
Like this!
Now, we’ll say [Group] [601] [Record] [Preset] [21] [Label] {Crazy Pills} [Enter]. This will record all the values for channels 601 and ignore any other captured channels (such as the figures).
Now we can create a look that covers the whole stage and then layer Preset 21 on top whenever we think it might be appropriate. Like this …
Again, the true purpose of Presets is to quickly restore values for various lights; making your programming work quick and efficient.
Just remember, it takes a bit of time on the front end to set it up. So you’ll have to balance spent time now with saved time later.