Chapter 39. Version 1.9.1.0

From v1.9.1.0 the selection of individual head elements for duplicated heads has been enhanced to enable selection of different elements from different heads using both the keypad and the Output window View Grid view.

This operates in addition to the existing global programmer elements selection which affects all selected heads. When using the keypad the element selection is global unless multiple dot operators are specified in the syntax or until elements are added to an existing selection.

When head element selection is in operation the title bar of the Outputs, Group and Palette windows shows the elements in the order selected, prefixed by "HE".

In the Output View when a Grid is set to Multi Head then selection of elements will always select individual head elements rather than global elements.

In the Output View multiple head elements can be selected by dragging over the required elements.

The selection of head elements is ordered, in the order that they are selected. When dragging over multiple elements, the initial drag direction determines the order - as per dragging over single element heads.

Operations such as changing attributes, selecting palettes, and applying times will only affect the selected head elements, not the full heads.

Normal head FX can be applied and will affect only the selected head elements and will respect the head element selection order.

The head element selection can be recorded into a Group - the Group will show HE followed by the number of heads in the top right corner - e.g. HE2 indicates that 2 heads have some head elements selected. When the groups are selected the head elements will be added or removed from the current selection in a similar way to direct selection from the Output Window.

Any Head that has a head element selected, or has had a head element selected since the last clear / deselect of heads will show in the Outputs, View Heads and Programmer windows as selected, but operations that support head elements will only affect the current head elements selected.

Pressing CLEAR, DESELECT HEADS, NEXT HEAD, PREV HEAD, ALL or SINGLE will revert MagicQ to the normal head selection. Entering a global element number (e.g. . 2 ENTER) on the keypad will also revert to normal head selection.

Keypad selection and setting intensities of elements using the dot syntax operates as before, except that when using the + operator at the start of a selection it enables per head element selection.

Palettes can be applied with times using the standard timed shortcuts (*, *+, *- , */ and *.) and will respect the head element selection order.

Note that Group FX on Groups with head element selection, will currently operate on the whole heads not on the head element selection.

The existing programmer elements can also now be used to apply timed palettes with element section order / priorities as shown in the Group, View Elements window.

Note that when setting intensities using the keypad using the @ syntax it is not possible to set heads with multiple head elements, only one dot is allowed in the command syntax.

A USB to Ethernet adaptor can be used on MagicQ consoles to provide a secondary network interface, enabling use of a network which is isolated from Art-Net/sACN and other lighting control traffic. It is ideal for connecting to a wireless access point for use with the MagicQ Remote App.

The control net is configured from Setup, View, Settings, Network.

The Control net mode setting allows using a static IP address, DHCP client or DHCP server.

A firewall is present on the Control net port and is enabled by default. This can be configured in Setup, View Settings, Network, Control Net firewall.

Note that the firewall affects the Control net only, not the primary network interface. The console can still make outbound connections to other devices on the Control net, regardless of this setting.

Protocols such as Art-Net and sACN can only be used on the primary network interface.

See the Networking of MagicQ systems documentation section for more information.

USB Ethernet adaptors are supported on MQ50, MQ70, MQ80, MQ500 and MQ500M.

A USB sound card can be used with MQ50, MQ70, MQ80, MQ500 and MQ500M.

This can be useful if a high quality, low noise balanced output is needed for audio playback. It will be particularly useful for MQ80 users, where there is no external audio output.

The external USB sound card can be selected in the Audio Input and Audio Output options in Setup, View Settings, Ports.

Note that a kernel update is required for use with MQ80. See the Audio documentation section for more information.

In addition to supporting USB audio interfaces, MagicQ now has an additional "Audio Output" option within Setup, View Settings, Ports. This option allows you to select between either the internal audio interface, or an external USB sound card when using a console which supports these.

The separate options in both the Audio input and Audio output settings of "Console inbuilt port" and "PC/Mac sound card" have been merged into a single option of "Internal sound card" as these were providing the same functionality across devices.

For Audio input options, there is an additional option of "Audio output loopback". This will feed the output signal from the console audio playback back into the audio analysis engine within MagicQ.

The 7 band audio analysis engine has been improved to provide better frequency response to match the ChamSys Audio Interface.

The Audio file loading method has been changed so that it can now support longer audio files without the requirement for a system with more memory.

The behaviour of the RGB and hue/saturation faders has changed. These now indirectly mix colours inside a selectable RGB space; the default space is the "native" space of the fixture, using it’s RGB emitters. In this space, hue 0 is the fixture’s red emitter, 100% saturation is the most saturated colours the fixture can make, and 0% saturation is 6500K white. Pressing the RGB MODE soft button allows the user to select from three other colour spaces: sRGB, UHDTV, and Display P3.

The current RGB space is displayed on the colour chart as a black dashed line. Note that the user is not restricted to selecting colours from this space.

The Colour Picker window will now be laid out vertically (with the faders below the wheel) if the window is narrower than it is tall.

The gels view can now be navigated using the arrow keys.

The colour temperature and dUV faders now have reference marks to aid the user in finding useful values. The temperature fader marks show the colour temperatures of a variety of common light sources. The dUV fader shows marks for the equivalent plus/minus green gel number; for example, +½ indicates a "half plus green" gel.

A VIEW TIMELINE option has been added when in the VIEW TC view of the Cue Stack window.

The VIEW CUE STACK option and CHOOSE CUE STACK have been swapped to make it easier to switch back and forth between the Cue Stack and the Timeline windows.

Timecode Tracks can now be selected so that you can record to it using "INSERT TRACK".

Timecode tracks can be added using the new button "Add TC Track"

A lasso function allows you to hold shift (on console and PC) and drag a box selecting cues and macro steps.

Selected items can be copied within their cue stack or timecode track using the COPY button.

Selected items can now be deleted as a group using the REMOVE button.

The X Encoder "restart" option has been removed to prevent accidental restarting when using the softbutton.

Added the ability to enter timecode and update the playhead’s position while a track is running. Enter a +/- before your value to have it apply the calculation against the current time. A value with no +/- operator will set the position.

An option has been added to keep the playhead centred during playback. This is enabled via the "Centre Playhead" option on soft button Y. It defaults to "Off".

The Execute Window Coloured Appearance mode has been refreshed and merged with the Images Appearance. The box colours have been improved and the button layout adjusted to better fit the button title. A button type identifier has also been added to the top right of buttons. Button icons have been moved to the top left and will now scale with the size of the button. The font has been changed and a separate mono spaced font has been added for clock and time code boxes.

The fader has been updated to have a coloured fader knob and to have the percentage value at the top. The encoder has been updated to show the value in a separate box alongside as well as showing the value as coloured segment of the circle.

These new style faders are also used in the Intensity and Playback windows.

In the Patch Window, MagicQ now supports the ability to COPY HEAD DATA between Heads of different types in order to copy entire programming from one Head to another. Previously it was only possible to copy Head data to a Head of the same type and mode.

It is now possible to COPY HEAD DATA using keypad syntax to select Head Nos or Group Window to select Groups to make it easier to copy entire programming from several Heads to several other Heads. To copy both from and to multiple heads use the same method as for copying heads in the Programmer or in Cues, but in the Copy Options select COPY HEAD PROG.

As when using COPY HEAD DATA in the Patch Window, any programming for the destination Heads is first removed, before the new data from the source Heads is coped to the destination Heads. Programming for Groups, Palettes, FX, Cues and Cue Stacks is all copied. Note that the All Groups created when patching Heads will not be affected.

To copy all programming from Heads 1 to 4 to Heads 10 to 20 use

1 THRU 4 SHIFT COPY <CHOOSE COPY HEADS and COPY HEAD PROG> 10 THRU 20 ENTER

To copy all programming from Group 1 to Group 2 use

GROUP 1 SHIFT COPY <CHOOSE COPY HEADS and COPY HEAD PROG> GROUP 2 ENTER

Alternatively select Groups from within the Group window.

The Group and Head buttons are now more widely supported together with the INT, COL, POS, BEAM, FX buttons in general keypad syntax when setting attributes, copying heads in the Programmer or Cue and when including Cues.

Previously MagicQ has required holding of INT, COL, POS, BEAM and FX or using SHIFT COPY or SHIFT INCLUDE to copy and include with masks, or to copy or include selected heads.

When setting attributes

When copying heads

When including Cues

Include from a playback uses the current Cue unless a Cue ID is specified.

Note that the HEAD button is mostly optional but is required in some of the Include syntax above to distinguish from existing syntax for including Cue IDs - it enables MagicQ to tell when the user is specifying a Head instead of a Cue ID.

Currently, mixing of GROUP and HEAD in the same command is not supported.

The TIME button can now be used to specify times in the Programmer, in Cues and when setting intensities and recording Cues. On consoles without a physical TIME button use ALT + THRU for TIME.

To set fade times in the Programmer (before recording a Cue) use TIME followed by the time, optionally with INTENSITY, POS, COLOUR, BEAM, FX to specify which times to set. By default times for all attributes are set.

The same syntax can be used when recording a Cue, prior to selecting the Cue to record, similar to the way that name can be set when a Cue is recorded.

Use TIME followed by the time, optionally with INTENSITY, POS, COLOUR, BEAM, FX to specify which times to set.

To set fade times in one or more Cues in a recorded Cue Stack use SET followed by TIME with similar syntax to the above. Optionally a range of Cues can be specified.

By default the Cue Stack on the current playback is used. The Playback can be selected by pressing the S button instead of pressing ENTER in the above syntax.

To set times within the Cue Stack window the fade time or split intensity fade time can be set directly into the Fade fields.

To set a Position, Colour, Beam or FX time directly from the Cue Stack window, type SET and click / press ENTER on the field in the Cue Stack window, followed by TIME and then the Position, Colour, Beam or FX and times then ENTER. Alternatively type SET TIME followed by the time information and then click the field in the Cue Stack window.

To set intensities and attributes for specific heads with a time then use

Note that the Setup option "Auto enter on intensity set" should be set to No.

Colour temperature can now be set onto CTC, CTO, Col1 and Col2 colour attributes in the Colour Window, and the current colour temperature will be show shown based on the range name info in the Head personality. For example, typing SET 3500 and pressing the soft button for CTC will attempt to set the CTC attribute to be 3500K. Turning the encoder will show the colour temperature as per the range names, interpolating between the different ranges.

On Windows, MagicQ now auto selects USB stick from drives F, E and D in File Manager and when saving to USB in order to make it more plug’n'play. If the user sets a specific USB drive other than D, E or F then behaviour is unchanged.

Head Editor, DMX Options, Max DMX now auto changes when inserting/removing channels and when setting the number of channels in the DMX options.

In Setup, View Monitors the MQ80 DVI option has been changed to HDMI/DVI to reflect physical connectors now available on MQ80.

The selection order in Window titles now shows the global element selection order (e.g. .1.2.3.4.5 or .5.4.3.2.1)

The Media Player menu now contains an option to load a demo show file of the MagicHD Quick Mode.

Added extra text sizing options including VERY LARGE and VERY LARGE CAPS. Also added non capitalised version of LARGE.

Added additional colour scheme Dark (White Info) which is the same as the Dark scheme, but with the informational channel displays in Outputs, Prog, Cue and Palette View windows shown with white background to make them easier to read in bright situations.

Improved the display of empty space in the spreadsheet views so that it is easier to see which values line up with the column headings.

On macOS, MagicQ can now communicate with all ChamSys USB devices without changing the Wing Type option from the default of "Yes, auto DMX".

On macOS, all ChamSys USB devices can be plugged in and replugged after MagicQ has started (except for PC Wing and MagicDMX which already support this).

A new option has been added to the Encoder Mode setting in Setup, View Settings, Keypad & Encoders. When set to Maintain Hard Keys, the INT, POS, COL, BEAM, FX, GROUP, HEAD, PAGE buttons no longer open the respective windows. To open the window press SHIFT and the button, or press the button twice.

Added a "Preserve frames" and a "Preserve media duration" option for use when converting a file in the CMV conversion menu.