Setup Tab Wish List

[colonelcline]

I'm old and get confused easily. It would really help me if there were a "Notes" tab on the setup screen so I can easily see what that Universe controls. I'm right at 20,000 and even with Excel, it takes some hunting. Dunno maybe a tie in with Models? e.g.  e1.31   192.168.0.112  78  Channels 18485 to 18634  Mini RGB Tree

Thanks

[flyinverted]

If you named a model "Tree U5 CH4110-5220" I bet you'd know what universe and channels it was on.

[colonelcline]

If you named a model "Tree U5 CH4110-5220" I bet you'd know what universe and channels it was on.

Yes that would help but make it more difficult to "rearrange" things. I added an RGB star to a mega tree and had to use some channels from the mega tree rather than buy another controller. That changed all the channels numbers down the line. Even worse I added 16ch to my com port channels and that changed them all.

[sean]

we have this now on the SETUP tab
Example: 32 universes of 510 channels

e1.31 univ 1   ch 1-510
e1.31 univ 2   ch 511-1020
...
...
e1.31 univ 31  ch 15301-15810
e1.31 univ 32  ch 15811-16320


Would it help if we added
e1.31 univ 1   ch 1-510.                 Univ 1, Ch 1-510
e1.31 univ 2   ch 511-1020.           Univ 2, Ch 1-510
...
...
e1.31 univ 31  ch 15301-15810.   Univ 31, Ch 1-510
e1.31 univ 32  ch 15811-16320.   Univ 32, Ch 1-510

I guess we assumed people would understand the ranges. I could the same info to the TEST tab

[nzlongfellow]

we have this now on the SETUP tab
Example: 32 universes of 510 channels

e1.31 univ 1   ch 1-510
e1.31 univ 2   ch 511-1020
...
...
e1.31 univ 31  ch 15301-15810
e1.31 univ 32  ch 15811-16320


Would it help if we added
e1.31 univ 1   ch 1-510.                 Univ 1, Ch 1-510
e1.31 univ 2   ch 511-1020.           Univ 2, Ch 1-510
...
...
e1.31 univ 31  ch 15301-15810.   Univ 31, Ch 1-510
e1.31 univ 32  ch 15811-16320.   Univ 32, Ch 1-510

I guess we assumed people would understand the ranges. I could the same info to the TEST tab

Sean, I do not believe that would be too helpful as model numbers are continuous not in bunches of 510.
I get around it by adding spare universes between my model groups and also one can configure most controller outputs to a unique universe.
I had 41 models with over 20,000 channels this year and found your continuous numbering system worked well for me but i have been mistaken in the past and am open to new ideas.

[tpctech]

we have this now on the SETUP tab
Example: 32 universes of 510 channels

e1.31 univ 1   ch 1-510
e1.31 univ 2   ch 511-1020
...
...
e1.31 univ 31  ch 15301-15810
e1.31 univ 32  ch 15811-16320


Would it help if we added
e1.31 univ 1   ch 1-510.                 Univ 1, Ch 1-510
e1.31 univ 2   ch 511-1020.           Univ 2, Ch 1-510
...
...
e1.31 univ 31  ch 15301-15810.   Univ 31, Ch 1-510
e1.31 univ 32  ch 15811-16320.   Univ 32, Ch 1-510

I guess we assumed people would understand the ranges. I could the same info to the TEST tab

[tpctech]

we have this now on the SETUP tab
Example: 32 universes of 510 channels

e1.31 univ 1   ch 1-510
e1.31 univ 2   ch 511-1020
...
...
e1.31 univ 31  ch 15301-15810
e1.31 univ 32  ch 15811-16320



Oh ya!  that will make the brain hurt less doing base 510 math to setup a sandevice card

looking forward to new XL this year!!

Would it help if we added
e1.31 univ 1   ch 1-510.                 Univ 1, Ch 1-510
e1.31 univ 2   ch 511-1020.           Univ 2, Ch 1-510
...
...
e1.31 univ 31  ch 15301-15810.   Univ 31, Ch 1-510
e1.31 univ 32  ch 15811-16320.   Univ 32, Ch 1-510

I guess we assumed people would understand the ranges. I could the same info to the TEST tab

[sean]

we have this now on the SETUP tab
Example: 32 universes of 510 channels

e1.31 univ 1   ch 1-510
e1.31 univ 2   ch 511-1020
...
...
e1.31 univ 31  ch 15301-15810
e1.31 univ 32  ch 15811-16320


Would it help if we added
e1.31 univ 1   ch 1-510.                 Univ 1, Ch 1-510
e1.31 univ 2   ch 511-1020.           Univ 2, Ch 1-510
...
...
e1.31 univ 31  ch 15301-15810.   Univ 31, Ch 1-510
e1.31 univ 32  ch 15811-16320.   Univ 32, Ch 1-510

I guess we assumed people would understand the ranges. I could the same info to the TEST tab

Sean, I do not believe that would be too helpful as model numbers are continuous not in bunches of 510.
I get around it by adding spare universes between my model groups and also one can configure most controller outputs to a unique universe.
I had 41 models with over 20,000 channels this year and found your continuous numbering system worked well for me but i have been mistaken in the past and am open to new ideas.

I am not saying we will change our continuous channel number SETUP, in fact we wont. I am saying , if it helps, we can get people to see how any channel gets decoded back t a universe and channel when it gets output.
Every universe could have different numbers.

You could define Renard controllers, build models, create sequences. You could then decide to switch to e1.31. You just change the setup tab, you dont need to redo any sequences..

Sequences output to models. Models output to channels.
Only if turning on lights do we then take channels and map to controllers.

This is why it is so easy to share sequences. We sequence to models and that is independent of the controllers someone is using.

[colonelcline]

The additional information would be helpful but I guess I am whining about having to change all my models starting channels every time I make a change. I added some to a com port and now all my models are off and I have to edit each one.

[flyinverted]

There is a one time fix for this that you can do.

Insert a ghost/placeholder controller at the beginning of your network setup and have it use channels 1-9999.
Set your non-com port models to start on CH-10,000
When you need to add models in your com port range you'll have the 1-9999 range to use and your other models that now start on CH-10,000 and up will not be affected. 

Granted you won't be using all channels in the 1-9999 range and that will only affect imported sequences as they need to be mapped to contiguous channels.

[Gilrock]

Yeah I've disliked having to use the global channel assignment for the start channel in my models but I understand why it works well for the software.  When I was creating my models I already had it mapped to the hardware controllers so I had my universes memorized but when assigning start channels I couldn't just say this ribbon tree starts on Universe13 I had to keep jumping back to the setup tab to find the global number.  And then I'm out in the yard trying to turn on an element with the Pi for testing and I know in my head its Universe 27 chan 1 but I gotta jump to a lookup table to figure out what number to type in on the testing page.  I remember typing in 8471 in the test page. Also my ribbon tree on the right has every ribbon on it's own Universe so I know the ribbons are Universe 1 thru 12.  Now if I wanted to turn on the bottom pixel on every ribbon to test them there is no way I'm figuring out channel numbers in my head but I know they are Univ 1: chan1, Univ 2: chan1, Univ 3: chan1, etc.  So yeah I keep track of everything in my head in the universe channel numbering system and always have to lookup on the setup tab and use a calculator if its not near channel 1.

[dkulp]

At one point, we had the name of the model on each channel in the Test tab, but that broke a lot of the export routines.   I'd definitely like to revisit that a bit, but have other v4 things that are a higher priority.

When I setup my outputs this year, I used much larger outputs than I planned to use.   For example, my DMX universe 1 I only planned on about 30 channels, but I has it set to 96 channels in the Setup.  DMX universe 2 was similar, had 64 planned channels, but setup for 96.   DMX 3 was my "komby wireless" universe where I originally planned on 4 Raptors (48 channels) but was setup for 192 channels.   When I then moved some stuff from DMX universe 2 to MiniRens on the wireless, there was plenty of room and didn't need to re-order things.  Yes, there are a bunch of blank channels being output, but that's OK.  Doesn't really affect anything.

One hint:  keeping outputs in multiples of 3 allows for the RGB testing to be a bit easier as the RGB channels would line up correctly if you "select all".   Thus, 96, 192, etc work well, but 128 doesn't.

[Gilrock]

Yeah I actually use all E1.31 and every universe in setup I create with 512 channels so that if I populate an unused channel it won't throw off all my other universe starting numbers.  I figure might as well define channels on setup using the max capability of your hardware.

[sean]

i also set 48 universes of 512 channels, i dont use them all.

There is one downside to this, if you do an export out to LSP,PS,HLS, Vixen we export all the channels that are in SETUP, we do not just export the model ranges. This was needed because you could have imported data into the xseq file.

i think in v4 we will revisit what channels we export. This will work if we start using a *.grid file, create a *.grid when u import a file. we then know the channel ranges of imported data.

Because of export sending all channels out on export, i recommend to people using XL 3.6.x to do the MODEL export, in that case only the channels of that model are exported.

[colonelcline]

I'm old and get confused easily.

Now that I am setting up 2015, I can clarify what I was whining about. Like on my spreadsheet attached, if a "Model" column were added to setup and there exists a model by that name, the channel number(s) would be at least pre-populated in the actual model screen. If the model name did not exist maybe it would create it? Empty channels would have to be put in setup but that would make adding models easier? That would save boku time in model setup and any additions or changes that might occur.

Thanks.