Functions Panel

The Functions panel controls the channels of the selected fixtures. It reads the current selection, groups the channels by what they do and gives each one a fader, a value field and a set of presets.

1. Category sidebar. Switches between function groups.
2. Function card.
3. Card title. Icon and channel name.
4. Fader. With an arrow above and below and the value field underneath.
5. Preset column. Quick values for this function.
6. Disable button. Releases the card's values, only visible while the card holds a value.

8. Pan/Tilt pad. On the position card.
9. Color picker. First card in the Color group.

Function groups

The sidebar lists All plus every group present in the current selection:

Groups only appear when the selection actually has those channels. If the active group vanishes because you selected different fixtures, the panel falls back to All.

A function card

Each card covers one function, which is usually one channel plus its fine channel. The title shows a colored icon and the channel name, and the card gets a blue ring while it's active and holds a programmer value.

A orange ring instead means the value comes from a preset applied in the programmer, not from a fader you moved. Setting the fader by hand takes it over, since manual values render above preset references.

An orange warning triangle marks a channel flagged as constant, where changing the value may have unexpected results.

A grey ring means the channel applies to the whole device rather than to the selected pixels, for example Pan or Tilt on a pixel bar. Setting it with several pixels of one device selected still writes a single value. See Subfixtures.

While Prepare Mode is on, the whole panel gets an orange border. What you set here is not rendered until you press Execute.

Faders

Every fader has an up arrow, the fader itself, a down arrow and a value field.

Values run from 0 to 255. The Phase fader is the exception and runs to 360.

Disabling a value

While a card holds a value, an x appears at the bottom of the preset column. It releases every fader on the card, coarse and fine.

Middle-clicking a fader releases only that one, which is how you drop a fine channel or a single axis without touching the rest of the card.

Presets

Every card has Top and Bottom, which set the maximum and zero. What sits between them depends on the channel.

Stepped channels

Gobo wheels, color wheels, color presets and other channels can be stepped, meaning their range is divided into named slots. The preset column shows three buttons that move through the slots:

• Next jumps to the following slot.
• Current shows the slot you are on, highlighted with a ring.
• Previous steps back to the slot before.

Each carries a color swatch when the slot has a color. If the value sits between slots, for example while a wheel spins, the middle button just reads Current and is disabled, while Next and Previous still take you to the nearest slots.

For the full list of slots at once, right-click the fader.

The fader dialog

Right-clicking any fader opens the value dialog for that channel.

Steps lists every capability of that channel with its name, its DMX range and a color chip when the step has a color. The step containing the current value is highlighted, and clicking a step jumps to the start of its range.

Presets are one-click expressions, applied immediately:

Changes made on the fader or in the value field only apply when you press Save.

Value input syntax

The value field accepts far more than numbers.

n stands for the number of selected fixtures, which is what makes 0..360-360/n spread an even phase no matter how many fixtures you picked.

A relative value goes from the fixture's programmer value, or from what is currently rendered if the programmer holds nothing for that channel.

Previewing an input

Settings → Appearance → Preview Fader Input marks the values an expression will set while you are still typing it. For example, 255/2 shows a mark at 127.

The setting is off by default.

The Pan/Tilt pad

The position function merges pan and tilt into one card with a pan/tilt pad next to the faders. Drag the crosshair to aim, and hold Shift while dragging for fine movement. On fixtures with fine channels the pad uses the full 16 bit resolution.

Settings → Appearance has Invert Pan/Tilt X-Axis and Invert Pan/Tilt Y-Axis, which reverse the drag direction of the pad.

The color picker

When the Color group is active and the selection contains an RGB fixture, a color picker appears as the first card. It sets the color mixing channels of every selected fixture at once.

The R G B and H S V fields take the same value input syntax as a fader. Each field sets only its own component and leaves the others as they are on each fixture, so 0..360-360/n on H spreads a rainbow across the selection while every fixture keeps the brightness it had, and setting S afterwards keeps those hues. Hue counts in degrees up to 360, Saturation and Brightness in percent up to 100.

Unlike the wheels and bars above them, these fields apply on Enter or when you click away, since an expression only means something once it is finished. HEX takes a single color, not an expression.

Phase

When an effect is selected, a Phase card appears in All and Effect, titled after the effect, for example Phase for Curve 1. Its fader has a range of 0 to 360 and offsets fixtures in the effect.

Phase is stored on the effect rather than on a DMX channel. It takes the full input syntax.

Related

• Set Fixture Values
• The Programmer
• Create Effects