Below are some Tricks and Tips for the Wholehog II operating system. Some are little known features and others are just tricks. In the future this section will be expanded.
If you have a trick, tip, or favorite feature you would like to share please contact us.
Live Programmer
Live Programmer is useful for 'on-the-fly' shows; when Live Programmer is
enabled in the Control Panel, palettes will respond to Fade times set in
the Default Timing Window when selected in the Programmer. Also
while Live Programmer is enabled, pressing a Palette with an empty
Programmer loads the Palette's contents into the Programmer at the default
fade times.
AutoExec View
On the Wholehog II console, enter v5 to trigger view 5 (or whichever view you
desire) when the show is loaded. This will pre-load a view thus
negating the need to select a view when the show is loaded. This is
very useful when programming the show for someone else to operate.
Highlight Palette
It is a good idea to create a highlight palette so that you can
define what happens when fixtures are highlighted. Here are some suggestions when making a highlight palette:
a. Name the palette "Highlight", then when fixtures are highlighted,
the palette name is placed in the output window.
b. Make the palette for one fixture of each type in your show. This way all fixtures of the same type will react the same way (unless you need unique highlighting on a fixture basis).
c. The following are some suggested parameter settings for Highlight:
1. Dim @100
2. All Colors at white
3. Speed at 0 (or whatever speed you like to move fixtures at)
4. All other channels untouched
Highlight UV
When updating or creating position palettes, it is often useful to have
all fixtures on in indigo, and only the highlighted fixture(s) is white.If you create a UV palette, this process is very simple:
a. Create a Palette that takes each fixture to indigo with dim at 100.(do
this with only 1 fixture of each type)
b. When updating positions, load the position palette into the
programmer (press Load then touch palette)
c. Select the UV palette. All fixtures will now change to indigo.
d. Turn on Highlight and hit next. Now update your positions normally.
1. As you hit Next, the fixture you are working with will be in white, while the rest will be in indigo.
e. When you finish with all fixtures in the palette, press Update.
Home Palette
By making a Home Palette, you can simply select the fixture and press this
palette to reset the fixture. Note: depending on your fixture type this may not be possible.
a. Make the palette for one fixture of each type in your show. This way all fixtures of the same type will be affected. (also you can import this to other shows).
b. Set the parameters of the fixture required for homing (strobe
closed and control to home, or dim channel to reset, etc).
c. Now when you need to home a fixture, just select the fixture and hit this palette. Remember to hit Clear once the fixture starts to home.
Fan Ranges
Some interesting effects can be created by fanning parameters
within the range of a built in effect. For example, the Studio Spot 250 has a function called ramp/ramp on the Iris parameter. By fanning your fixtures so that all fixtures are within this range on the Iris parameter, a fanned iris effect can be created. The key is to set all the fixtures to the middle of the ramp/ramp range (ramp/ramp 7) prior to fanning the fixtures, then to watch and make sure the first and last fixture of the group stay within the ramp/ramp range.
a. Remember that fanning occurs in the order of fixture selection (ie 1-6).
b. If you select your fixtures in a random order (4, 2, 5, 1, 6, 3) then fan, you will get randomized fan effects.
Linear fades
Many fixture functions are set with the default Xfade to snap. This is useful when jumping from an open iris to a built in effect in the fixtureÕs iris (random iris). However when you want the iris to slowly close over 10 seconds, you must change the Xfade path to Linear. There are many different fixtures and parameters that behave this way (it also depends on the library you are using). The best suggestion is just to remember that if a certain parameter behaves as if it is ignoring your Xfade time, then set the path for that parameter to Linear.
Clone - Fixture copy
You can copy parameter information from fixture to fixture within the programmer. First you must have both fixtures in the programmer. Now select the DESTINATION fixture (the one to be copied to). Press Pig+Copy. The command line should read: Clone From: Now enter the fixture number(s) to copy from. The selected fixture(s) will receive the information from the copied fixture(s). You can also use Masking prior to completing the Clone action.
