Posts by Jason Gardash

This will be the long road part of GDTF files. the back catalogue of fixtures. Not every Theatre or production house cares just the latest and greatest. more often its the last batch of middle of the road fixtures. With manufacture's not wanting to make GDTF files for older fixtures we will be relaying on user made profiles which is like the current state of news right now. some good and a lot with misinformation. so until the plank tips to the new generation of fixtures in use (I say 10 yrs from now) then with GDTF have a footprint to stand on. but in that time I figure people will distrust GDTF files and the whole format will fall flat once more. MVR I think is a keeper and will adjust to how users interact with it. but the GDTF format need to be made more user friendly, and more interaction from the manufactures.

I make my own GDTF files as way to learn and have what I trust as a profile. but even I get stumped on the way Prisms are handled and so I have 3 generic ones I made and use. so even mine are not 100% accurate but will work for what I need. down the line who knows may not work.

As to channels to talk to manufactures, Write both you local distributor and to the manufacture. use the distributor as a voice to request. and the manufacture to put a stance on needing the older files.

With the Viz Key,my understanding is it needs to be installed on the system you are integrating the MA3 system with. thus, making your Wysiwyg or Depence computer a node of the MA3 world.

Installing the Viz key on the MA itself will do nothing but grant you the 512 parameters. (unless you are using MAonpc with Wyg or Depence on the same machine)

Really MA included a nice thick book with the viz-key. But nothing inside it to explain how the viz-key interacts with the MA world or hooking up to different software pieces. Just. here is the viz key. place on pillow, connect with visualizer and be granted use of MA3 usage. Any one figured out what the 3 LED's on the front represent yet?

You need MA hardware to output ANY parameters from ONpc software.

Think of ONpc software as a lego kit. The shops have some great models on display and can even play with some of the lego in store. but if you want to build that model or take it home with you, you need to buy the lego set first to enjoy fully. same with MA stuff. want to see and try the software just download it. Want to use the software on a show you need to buy some hardware.

For the MVR import from Wyg, Cast uses a placeholder as they don't have GDTF as a library structure or at this point believe they want to spend the time convertings there vast library to GDTF. (Time and money thing I assume)

So current means is to import the MVR and then replace the placeholders with a fixture profile. MA2 seems to be the goto as GDTF has 20 manufactures and only fixtures from last year or two. and MA3 fixtures are growing but still on the low side.

It would be nice if the import of MVR would allow you to change up a fixture much like the cloning a show or PSR was handled in MA2 world (haven't tried cloning in ma3 yet think it's more swap, copy and paste now anyhow)

GDTF has a long way to go. I say there is under a 1000 fixtures total in the GDTF world off there website compare to the 10,000+ fixtures in Wysiwyg. and I'm not sure how Vectorworks stocks their GDTF's, but assume it would be pulled from the site or internal converter which be nice if they as part of the GDTF original members to upload onto the GDTF website.

Having chats with Cast-soft about GDTF, At this point with no real catalogue of fixtures in GDTF to pull from and they don't see a need to jump on board yet. or any signs that it will become a goto item.

As I see it, I'm using other profiles anyhow as maybe one or two GDTF fixtures exist in the catalogue out of the 30 or 40 fixtures a larger production house stocks if any for a small production house. and no real way to make a GDTF fixture without being online.

As Ryan said the patching, positioning and layering content follows thru. only real thing I found was the sidedness of venues which I brought up with both Ryan and Cast as with the idea to treat the merging of fixture more of a step part to the import procedure like the cloning in MA2 world.

MVR is a great tool. GDTF no so sure.

I understand development cycles, having been involved with video games in my early years,

New tech is always on a want list but most of the time you would offer what's there first then alter the new tech into it.
Breaking boxes and regrouping is nothing new. MA seems to have just tossed that out the window and and gone with what they wanted to show off and as a result they have something with a ton of 'not implemented' and non functional software which will just keep the hardware side of sales at its current pace.

Every release is a relearn of something as they move it around, toss the spoiled vegetable and introduce new food item into their kitchen.
They feel we want to cook our designs out when we really want a fast food delivery with banquette options.

They should of stuck to the 5-6 items for hardware then worked on the software instead of confusing the consumer with new hardware after new hardware and stall the software. there no base foundation with the ma3 it's more a quicksand mixture right now as we wait to figure out if it will hold you or not.

Three years since the announcement of the MA3 line and pretty sure more people still use the MA2 over MA3 for show use.

Not saying it won't get there. but it was definitely the wrong road to get there in my eyes.

lol
I've sent techs home for being this unorganised and not making headway.
Seems like a pattern for this MA3 build thing.
Sure why not finish one thing before we start reinventing wheels .....

since still no luck with 1.5 software ands midi was added to this release figure I repost question I asked last year.

I have a bunch of macros on the MA2 to trigger timecode playbacks on Reaper using the Midinote command.
MidiNote 1.1 127

Just wondering if MidiNote command been changed in MA3 or is it part of the HUGE list of 'not implemented yet' items?
OSC not the road I want to travel with this setup.

Thanks.

Fixture 101 Thru 105.5 Thru .9
I think is the wording you need to select just cells 5 thru 9
But may need main fixture call to access dimmer. dependson the fixture profile.

Ringen I agree totally on that. That's why it thru me off guard at first. Always thought it was a decicated screen encoder, which I never use as well.

I haven't tried your press and turn yet. may get achance later today.

Ringen... Lost me here. You saying that you set up your 5 encoders to act as attribute controlers? I always thought the 5th encoder was for internal display movement only.

Never Mind.. Learn something new today lol. Never realized you could turn on off in a custom user profile.

Without the vizkey you will need to connect to Capture via artnet or sCAN

If by Blue and Black you mean USB port colors.

Blue is USB 3.0 which is the fastest of the three. Black is USB 2.0 and If I recall correctly White is USB 1.0 The slowest of the three.
Some devices can be picky as to which they are connected to.

In general they all can downgrade so plugging a usb 1.0 stick or device into a usb 3.0 port will still work but going the other way may not always work. A usb stick may work but a usb capture card may not. Being a USB 3.0 stick or card into a usb 2.0 port.

In odd cases you may have a device that is usb chipset specific but I only encountered this once out of all the hardware I ever used.
As for hubs as the origin of this question was. it generally is either a chipset or power to hub issue in the end.

humm will be worth following to see how it turns out then.
Guessing may be worth sending a request to your distributor or MA themselves and see how they respond.
Could be a usb chipset issue or some silly reason the data doesn't like hubs. (my guess security issue thing knowing MA)
It's nice to have to Viz Key option. but still think it was a greedy and wrong way to deal with the pre viz control.

May need a powered hub to supply the Viz-key. as most direct from USB power would be more for Mice and keyboards over outboard gear.
Not a Mac guy so can't recommend any models for you or even if on the right track. Just going from other touch screen and sound card issues I run into in the past.

It's really starting to annoy me that every time I come here to look for help or just to see what others are talking about We are faced with more and more crap adds or junk postings that have nothing to do with Ma3.
Never noticed this in all the years of using ma-net.
I know both Forums are ran by different administrators,
Any way to get the ma-net guys to look after this forum as well.
Seems Ma is focused on releasing hardware bits than taking care of the software and online help sections.
Spread bit too thin me thinks.
I rather ma-net deal with forums and welcome the object oriented discussions instead of passing or clearing flags to erection crap every day I visit this site.

I always had this thing if the patch section didn't allow you to edit or make profiles well on the fly then why move any further .
Reason I make profiles with a bit of customization, saves me from messing around when I just want to program.

Much like any new app now a days there is always a period of release waiting.
I have other consoles I can keep playing with while I wait.

Guess it will sit until bug is fix.
No point in using if patch section not working properly
See if they do so in next release.

I been working on my own media server profile to help with my style of workflow.
I have laid out some feature groups and attribute definitions to help with encoder wheel assignments.

However when i leave the patch and reload the show or profile or come back to reedit the profile I find that the attribute definitions resets every time. thus throwing my encoder wheel order out of wack.
Also is there an easier way to select which attribute order you like to have other than order you select them under the feature column?

TIA

Jason.

Little late to the party here but with some info.
HAAKKE
so Cast is working on a MVR as stated in this post they released in September.

What's next for Wysiwyg.

Ryan,
Any word on when the 3rd party visualizers will be implemented in MA3? I know it was a back burner item last year but with current situation I can see it as a forefront item with so many Ma3 users looking for ways to learn the MA3 software.

The MVR will be a great addition to Wysiwyg when available or any 3rd party lighting app. But I still will be relaying on wysiwyg for my pre-vis over the MA3D. I just don't like the output of MA3D. It doesn't have the same vision or output I wish to sell to my clients. It does have its use still (MA3D) for that quick on the spot onsite programming session or stage reference which MVR will help greatly in transferring a design between different platforms.

The current setup of needing hardware to use 3rd party visualizers really only downgrades my decision to select MA3 at the moment. I'm locked to only so many parameters. makes it tough to prepare for a show or festival if it will be larger than what I have on hand or if it's over the MA3 onpc specs. That was a nice thing about Ma2, that I could work freely in on a laptop without the need of nodes or wings. kept my bus mates happy

This was an item I brought up to both MA and Act before I bought into the Ma3 line. just surprised it was pushed back so far on the list.
It is something I see Ma and Act glide over as you did above. you did answer the MVR question but nothing on Hakkee first question on the status of 3rd party visualizers. Feels like MA is really wanting to lock users into using only MA3D for visualizing there designs.

Thanks Hoss and Ryan

Sent Ringen a message and will look bit more at the osc thing.
Do have streamdeck as a work around for now. saves the long arm reach to pause and start