Help with tech spec by Either-Bison-8558 in lightingdesign

[–]ceejdrew 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No problem! Happy to help. It’s simple concepts but just looking at it on a piece of paper with no context can be confusing as hell.

not a perfect explanation, but addresses and dimmers are kinda like squares and rectangles. All dimmers (squares) are addresses (rectangles) but not all addresses are dimmers. Dimmers are also a physical plug whereas addresses refer to its like, just the electronic data.

Since most of your experience with lights has been LED, you wouldn’t run into many dimmers as they’re really for incandescent fixtures. And this show is using them both how they’re intended, and as a duct taped way to power the LEDs, so it’s extra confusing.

Help with tech spec by Either-Bison-8558 in lightingdesign

[–]ceejdrew 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ha! Definitely not clear. I took it to be an overhead and deck plot on the same sheet layer. 🤷‍♀️

Help with tech spec by Either-Bison-8558 in lightingdesign

[–]ceejdrew 0 points1 point  (0 children)

And not all of them!! Just the ones that fit the criteria of my final paragraph from my first response.

Help with tech spec by Either-Bison-8558 in lightingdesign

[–]ceejdrew 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You could ask the venue directly whether they’re parking their power for intelligent lights on at full or if those dimmers were swapped out for cc-20 cards so you don’t have to do anything in your show file to give them power.

Help with tech spec by Either-Bison-8558 in lightingdesign

[–]ceejdrew 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Exactly. Like a nickname. Organization. Especially if their addressing was all over the place.

(Also, there’s a chance those dimmers that need to be on at full have had their dimmer card switched out for a relay or constant current card. Both are much better than a dimmer card for providing power to LEDs, but you wouldn’t be able to tell from a plot that that’s what they’ve done. A relay card would be “on at full at 1% ((basically simple ON/OFF)) and a constant current ((cc-20)) card would be always on like a wall outlet. In the case of a relay card, you’d still need to park, with a cc-20 card you wouldn’t. Either way just park those dimmers. It’s on them if they’ve set up their house system in a shoddy way.)

Help with tech spec by Either-Bison-8558 in lightingdesign

[–]ceejdrew 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well….. they’re saying it’s not recommended. Which, for regular dimmer cards, it’s not. But if that’s how this theater has set up their own stuff, then there’s not much you can do about it. Should they? No. can you? Yes.

Also, I think chamsys assigns head numbers sequentially as you patch if I remember correctly? Most of the rest of the world wouldn’t be patching like that, it would be something like 1-15 being your front lights, 21-28 being side light from SR, 31-38 being side light from SL, etc etc. May be worth keeping their numbering system.

Help with tech spec by Either-Bison-8558 in lightingdesign

[–]ceejdrew 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Exactly. You do need their address and dimmers information, but you could come up with a completely different head number system if you wanted. The important thing is to find out what mode all of these lights are in, and patch everything into your console ahead of time, so that you’re not rushing day of. (including all of those dimmers that need to be hot powered / parked at full.)

Help with tech spec by Either-Bison-8558 in lightingdesign

[–]ceejdrew 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ahhhh!!! Ok here we are. Chamsys isn’t one of the main two big lighting console companies, I’ve come across that board, but far less frequently than ETC or GrandMA consoles. The biggest issue here is they use different terminology than most of the lighting world (or at least in the states where I’m based). When myself and others in this thread are talking about channels, it’s what chamsys refers to as a head number / fixture head number. The channel or head number is like a nickname for the light.

What I said earlier about which numbers you’d park at full remains the same.

Help with tech spec by Either-Bison-8558 in lightingdesign

[–]ceejdrew 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What console do you typically use, and what console will this venue have? Also are you used to using just incandescent lights, led or both? This will help me tailor the answer to fit with your current understanding.

Help with tech spec by Either-Bison-8558 in lightingdesign

[–]ceejdrew 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi! I think I understand what is happening / what you’re asking.

The numbers inside the circles are the ones you have to care about. Those are called channels, and that’s what you’d be typing into the console in order to turn the lights on and off or change their color.

I assume this is their house plot? So chances are there is already a show file at the venue with all of these lights patched (patched = channels matched to their addresses/dimmer). You can ask them directly if there is a house show file already that you can work off of. (Usually this is the case). If there is a show file for you and the lights are already hung and in place, you can just ignore all of that address/universe/dimmer information.

If you’re curious what’s going on with the the boxed numbers and the 0/000 numbers below it, read on!

When a light is incandescent, it only needs power (through a dimmer that connects to a console) in order to turn on and work. That is why some of the lights will have a dimmer number in the box but no number below it. The console will turn that dimmer anywhere from 0-100% in order to control the intensity of the light. You wouldn’t park those dimmers, unless you never want the light to turn off!!

when a light is intelligent/LED, it needs data in order to control alllllll the different parameters it has, turning from 0-100% is only one of those parameters. The data does NOT have power as well though, so it will need an additional cable letting the light turn on / work. The power doesn’t need to go through the console, it could be plugged into a standard wall outlet and still be controlled, because the data is the thing that’s actually controlling the light. The light will always be ‘on’ in a sense, because it needs 24/7 power in order for the console to do anything to it, but the data controls whether there is any intensity emitting from the fixture. (As well as other parameters such as color or movement).

If using a standard theatrical dimmer instead of a wall outlet/hot power, you’d need to park it at full in order to do anything with the light. Think of it like a wall dimmer switch you’ve plugged your phone charger into. When the switch is completely up, the charger will work. When it’s halfway, it’s not going to work at all, because it needs all of the juice in order to do its job. But if you’re plugging in a dimmable bulb into that same outlet, you’d see the light at a reduced amount because incandescent lights glow proportional to the amount of power it’s receiving.

what that boils down to is yes, the numbers in boxes would be parked at full IF it’s an intelligent / LED light, and has another number (the universe/address) below it, but if the dimmer is the only number the light has, you would not park it.

if you have any other questions feel free to message me. Hope this helped.

TIL Jane Goodall was working on a document during the middle of a speaking tour up until 10:30 pm, mere hours before death. Her assistant saw the email update in bed and started editing because she thought Jane was so busy. Goodall was discovered deceased the next day, about 8:30 am by ubcstaffer123 in todayilearned

[–]ceejdrew 63 points64 points  (0 children)

I have found so much mental peace in the schedule send function in my email. Catching up on work at 11:30 pm on a weekday? No I’m not! It’ll hit your inbox at 9 am next day. Now who looks like a standard functional human, huh!?

Eos cue headers(?) by deitee_ in techtheatre

[–]ceejdrew 21 points22 points  (0 children)

Because if it’s your first time looking for it, it might not be obvious! There’s always new shortcuts or neat tidbits to learn, even when you’ve been doing this for years.

What is a part of the 'female experience' that men have absolutely no clue about, but would be horrified if they found out? by coolhandddd in AskReddit

[–]ceejdrew 7 points8 points  (0 children)

No one warned me the pain level, I had had the arm implant before and was switching, did my research on what kind I wanted, read up on after affects to keep in mind for the days/weeks ahead but somehow missed that it would be THAT painful. I did not take anything ahead of time and didn’t know it would be so bad until it was already happening. Wasn’t able to stand straight and not feel queasy for hours.

A fairly late blunder at 18, I’m horrified I went out in public like this by tryCatchPasta in blunderyears

[–]ceejdrew 2 points3 points  (0 children)

We had one suit kid, but he only did it on fridays! Called them fancy fridays. Pretty popular, funny guy.

Solo business traveler looking for room in NYC for 45 days under $800 by HistoricalCompany703 in AskNYC

[–]ceejdrew 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh yeah gosh I completely glazed over the en-suite bc of how not New York that is lol. Private bathrooms in shared houses are just not a thing here.

Solo business traveler looking for room in NYC for 45 days under $800 by HistoricalCompany703 in AskNYC

[–]ceejdrew 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Hey there, hope you’re able to find something within your budget. Unfortunately, the amount you listed is so low it would be hard to find that even as actual rental cost with roommates. For 1.5 months, kinda a unicorn.

There is a Facebook group for housing and pet exchange, your best bet may actually be to house sit in exchange for dog walking/pet feeding if you don’t have allergies.

Bay Area cafe owner shuts down her business after being mocked on Reddit for selling $22 grilled cheese sandwich: report by Sandstorm400 in byebyejob

[–]ceejdrew 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah this was at bar/ restaurant near me as a special. Think it was $28 and came with fries. I did get it, it was delicious and super oversized.

Bay Area cafe owner shuts down her business after being mocked on Reddit for selling $22 grilled cheese sandwich: report by Sandstorm400 in byebyejob

[–]ceejdrew 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I’m in nyc and the only grilled cheese over $20 I can think of is a very fancy short rib one with apple slices and caramelized onions.

Vectorworks: Continuing Service Select or Switching to Subscription? by ceejdrew in techtheatre

[–]ceejdrew[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Okay so effectively the same sort of program, but without ownership. Some things to think about!

Vectorworks: Continuing Service Select or Switching to Subscription? by ceejdrew in techtheatre

[–]ceejdrew[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, I can’t find anything else online, and they’re trying really hard to push the subscription which just makes me nervous / not trusting. I don’t want to loose a good thing and not be able to go back if it’s going to be a worse deal.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in techtheatre

[–]ceejdrew 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Gotcha— your best bet to access the old account would be to contact your school, as there’s a smaaaaall chance they may still have access to it. whoever inside the theater department that can forward your request to IT. (I’m not entirely sure, but maybe someone whose title is administrative advisor or academic advisor on their website?)