GrandMA3 Varilite VL5 Vision

[kamog20]

Hello everyone,

 

does anyone know how I can control the VL5 dimmer in Vision.

 

System: GrandMA3 Mac 1.9.2.2  grandMA3 processing unit M, Fixture VL5 Mode4 , VW 2023 , Vision 2023.

 

I can access all parameters of the lamp in Vision if I increase the DMX address in Vision by 1 (console address 101, Vision 102) but not the dimmer - lamp is always on. Do I need to change the fixture type in GrandMA3? Probably an easy one for GrandMA Operator but I don't see through it. I'm grateful for any input.

 

Cheers Kay

[bbudzon]

If not sure if you are running into this issue or not. But, you mentioned that the lamp is always on. I just wanted to point out that if the lighting device is selected in the Scene Graph, it will force the dimmer to 100%.

[kamog20]

1 minute ago, bbudzon said:

If not sure if you are running into this issue or not. But, you mentioned that the lamp is always on. I just wanted to point out that if the lighting device is selected in the Scene Graph, it will force the dimmer to 100%.

Hi, thanks for your reply..

no, the device is not selected in the scene graph....I think the problem is that these lovely lamps from the 80s have a separate dimmer channel. in the varilite history, the smart repeater was developed to control varilite products with DMX512 consoles and the legendary VL5 still requires an external dimmer for its light bulb - all dangerous half-knowledge :-) The fixture in GrandMA also has 2 DMX addresses - control and dimmer - hope there is an expert out there...Many thanks in advance...

[klinzey]

I think all of the Vision fixture profiles for the lights like the VL5 with an external dimmer use the first address of the fixture as the intensity channel.
You don't have the ability to assign the dimmer to address 101 and the fixture to 201, if the fixture is assigned to address 201 then 201 is the intensity channel and the rest of the attributes follow. This is the way the DMX charts are setup for the VL5, the first address is reserved for the dimmer even if the fixture does not have one internally.

[MWursthorn]

 

Hej

As just written by mail you can test the GDTF file. This could fit.

Stupid question on the side. Be the lamp then dimmed in the console (3D). You can, case not already made, Load  a MVR in the 3 grandma to see what goes on the channel. And best of all take the real lamp on the desk and see what it does. 
Maybe the problem is on the Desk side 

[kamog20]

14 minutes ago, klinzey said:

I think all of the Vision fixture profiles for the lights like the VL5 with an external dimmer use the first address of the fixture as the intensity channel.
You don't have the ability to assign the dimmer to address 101 and the fixture to 201, if the fixture is assigned to address 201 then 201 is the intensity channel and the rest of the attributes follow. This is the way the DMX charts are setup for the VL5, the first address is reserved for the dimmer even if the fixture does not have one internally.

 

Hi, thanks for the fast reply. Now I understand the basic procedure but it doesn't work between GrandMA 3 and Vision. If anyone has GrandMA 3 and Vision, the problem is easy to replicate. DMX Footprint Vision 13 CH, Footprint MA3 14 CH. Attached exemplary images of the channel list and the patch. I'll keep researching..Maybe there are answers from the MA forum... I think it is a MA Fixture Problem...

[kamog20]

37 minutes ago, MWursthorn said:

 

Hej

As just written by mail you can test the GDTF file. This could fit.

Stupid question on the side. Be the lamp then dimmed in the console (3D). You can, case not already made, Load  a MVR in the 3 grandma to see what goes on the channel. And best of all take the real lamp on the desk and see what it does. 
Maybe the problem is on the Desk side 

Hey Martin,

the GDTF file doesn't work either - no dimmer function...

[Mark Eli]

I think this is a combination of two things.

The VL5 was  originally created for version 1 of Vision, and used systems that have since changed to simulated the external dimmer Kevin pointed out. This is why the fixture is always on in Vision. So it will need to be updated in the future to include dimmer control. As a work around, I'd suggest using the VL5 Arc, which has an internal dimmer. The color will probably be different, but the modes and channel assignments are the same.

 

The second part is with how MA deals with these types of fixtures. I don't know much about MA3, but I do know a bit about MA2. From the look of things, they handle external dimmers the same.

 

In your screenshot on the left, you see Patch1 (1.059) and Patch2 (1.060). Assuming it's the same as MA2, Patch 1 is the external dimmer, and Patch 2 is the rest of the fixtures functionality. So it's assuming the dimmer takes 1 channel, and the rest of the functions take another 13, making the footprint 14, even though the actual fixture is only 13. You should be able to set both Patch 1 and 2 to 1.059, which should make things line up correctly. On MA2, it does show an error when I do this, but I ignored it and everything worked as I'd expect. Alternatively, you can use the VL5 Arc profile if it's available.

4 hours ago, kamog20 said:

 

 

[kamog20]

11 hours ago, Mark Eli said:

I think this is a combination of two things.

The VL5 was  originally created for version 1 of Vision, and used systems that have since changed to simulated the external dimmer Kevin pointed out. This is why the fixture is always on in Vision. So it will need to be updated in the future to include dimmer control. As a work around, I'd suggest using the VL5 Arc, which has an internal dimmer. The color will probably be different, but the modes and channel assignments are the same.

 

The second part is with how MA deals with these types of fixtures. I don't know much about MA3, but I do know a bit about MA2. From the look of things, they handle external dimmers the same.

 

In your screenshot on the left, you see Patch1 (1.059) and Patch2 (1.060). Assuming it's the same as MA2, Patch 1 is the external dimmer, and Patch 2 is the rest of the fixtures functionality. So it's assuming the dimmer takes 1 channel, and the rest of the functions take another 13, making the footprint 14, even though the actual fixture is only 13. You should be able to set both Patch 1 and 2 to 1.059, which should make things line up correctly. On MA2, it does show an error when I do this, but I ignored it and everything worked as I'd expect. Alternatively, you can use the VL5 Arc profile if it's available.

 

Hi Mark, it's working! Thanks a lot for your help. I'll get you a beer when I'm in the US.

 

It is in fact a mixture of 2 things - i have set both addresses to the start address in GrandMA3 and you have to replace the VL5  into a VL5 Arc as well.

Set the CT to 3200K - done...thank you very much...

 

Cheers Kay