Shining Light On: "Saving Seconds"

There are dozens upon dozens of my coworkers at ETC who are more qualified to discuss tricks to working quickly on lighting control consoles, but that concept shot right to mind when reading a new post on one of my personal favorite blogs, "Rands in Repose". In his latest post, the author discusses the perils of navigating computers using a mouse. He examines the efficiencies of navigating with keystrokes, and how, "...anyone who has a deep, meaningful relationship with a computer is constantly looking for a way to save a few seconds."

An ETC console may not be a Mac or a PC, but it's definitely a computer, and if you have used one of our consoles to make your living, you probably know all about deep and meaningful relationships.

Read "Saving Seconds" on Rands in Repose. I'm interested to know if it is at all relevant to lighting console users. If not, tell me, please.
 


 

Published 05-02-2008 1:32 PM by john.kuehl
Filed under: ,

Comments

# re: Shining Light On: "Saving Seconds"

It all comes down to the fact that if I have to look at something other then what I am lighting I am wasting precious time.  If I need to look for where a button is or where on a touch screen I am touching it takes precious seconds away from what I need to get done as fast as possible.  The mouse is one of the most wasteful items to ever grace a lighting console.  Touch screens are the next.  The most elegant solution to the touch screen problem so far is the EOS and it's button overlay panels.

There will always be things on the console that you need to look at your screens/facepanel but minimizing them is the best way to speed up programming and allow yourself to get on with the real work.

Andrew

Monday, May 12, 2008 4:00 PM by Druuka

# re: Shining Light On: "Saving Seconds"

Totally agree with you, Andrew.  

Ever since 1988 on the Expression, I've been programming Groups 1>24 to match Subs 1>24, as [sub] 1 [at] [full] didn't work. Just last week a colleague taught me: [group] [sub] 1 [at] [full].  To think of all the shows and time-wasted where I was copying and editing groups to match subs.

Mice are evil, as are trackpads, but I'll never give up my Kensington trackball, until I can control the cursor with my eye movements ;)

Saturday, May 31, 2008 6:44 PM by derekleffew