Before using your console, you should read and familiarize yourself with the concepts defined below. These concepts are important for understanding both how your console functions, as well as how you will interact with your system.
Jump to a concept using the list below:
A channel is a single numerical name that is used by your console to control a dimmer, a group of dimmers, a dimmer and a device, or a complete automated fixture.
A fixture is defined as a group of related addresses that together control a device. An example of a fixture would be an ETC Revolution. This automated fixture contains 31 parameters that together allow you to perform various functions such as pan and tilt. Each of these attributes is addressed by a different output.
Eos family consoles treat fixtures and channels as one and the same, assigning each fixture a single channel number. Individual parameters are then associated with that channel as additional lines of channel information.
When you select a channel number, all of the controllable properties or parameters of that channel are available through the keypad, level wheel, encoders, or Moving Light (ML) Controls (Tab5).
Note: Multicell fixtures are handled differently. They are fixtures made up of multiple channels and addresses. See Patching Multicell Fixtures and Multicell Fixtures.
Addresses are numerical identifiers set on the actual dimmers, automated fixtures, or other devices you want to control. To connect addresses to channels, you will need to use the Patch function. For more information, About Patch.
Note: You can patch more than one address to a single channel, but you cannot patch multiple channels to a single address.
Most instructions can be entered into your console through the command line. The command line expects instructions to be entered in a specific structure, or syntax.
Generally speaking, the order of syntax can be described as:
Naturally other commands will be used in the course of programming your show, but most other functions are modifiers of these three basic steps: modifying the channel(s) you are working with, determining what parameters of those channels you are impacting, and what value you want them to assume. When working with Record Targets , the syntax is similar.
Note: Not all actions must be entered from the command line, although many will result in a command line instruction. Other actions bypass the command line entirely.
Since the command line can receive multiple edits and instructions at once, it is necessary to let your console know when you have completed your instruction in the command line. This is done with the [Enter] key.
There are some commands which are self-terminating, and therefore do not require [Enter] to be pressed. Some (but not all) of these commands are:
Eos family consoles divide fixture parameters into four major parameter categories: Intensity, Focus, Color, and Beam.
These are the parameters in each category:
Note: Throughout this manual, non-intensity parameters will be referred to as "NPs."
A record target is any data location that you can store data using a [Record] command. Examples of record targets are cues, palettes, and macros.
Note: Throughout this manual, the word "target" is used to refer to any container of data.
A cue is a record target comprised of channels with associated parameter data, discrete (channel/parameter level) timing, cue timing, and cue attributes (such as preheat, follow or hang instructions).
Eos family consoles are, by default, tracking consoles. This means two things. First, tracking relates to how cue lists are created. Once data is in a cue list, it will remain a part of that cue list, at its original setting, until a new instruction is provided or until it is removed from the cue list using filters or null commands.
Secondly, tracking relates to how changes to cue data are handled. Unless otherwise instructed by a Cue Only command, changes to a parameter in a cue will track forward through the cue list until a move instruction (or block command) is encountered.
It is possible to change the default setting of your console to “Cue Only” in About Setup. This prevents changes from tracking forward into subsequent cues, unless overridden with a track instruction. See Track.
Eos family consoles also have a [Q Only / Track] button that allows you to record or update a cue as an exception to the default setting. Therefore, if the console is set to Tracking, the button acts as Cue Only. If console is set to Cue Only, it behaves as a Track button.
When you create a new cue, any unchanged channel parameter data from the previous cue is tracked into the new specified cue. Any changes in this new cue will also track forward into subsequent cues until a move instruction or a block flag is encountered. In the example below, the gray boxes indicate tracked values and the white boxes indicate move instructions.
When in tracking mode, edits made to an existing cue will track forward through the cue list until a move instruction is encountered. Changes made to cue 3 will affect the cue list as shown below in bold.
The [Q Only / Track] key is an exception to this behavior. [Q Only / Track] button combined with [Record] or [Update] modifies standard tracking behavior. When you record a cue in the middle of the cue list, using the [Q Only] button will prohibit new information from tracking into the subsequent cue, and will protect the previously tracking levels by adding a move instruction into the next cue for those levels. When you rerecord or update a cue, the modifications will not track forward. Using [Record] <Cue> [3] [Q Only] [Enter] would affect the cue list as shown below.
{Trace} works just like Tracking mode, except it allows changes to be tracked backwards though the cue list, until it sees a move instruction. In the example below, the channel levels have been adjusted while cue 3 is live on stage. Using Trace will take those adjusted levels and update them into the cues as follows: channel 1's new level is recorded into cue 2, channel 2's level is recorded into cue 1, and channel 3's level is recorded into cue 3. This is because the move instruction for those channels are contained in those cues. In the case of channels 1 and 2, their new level will track into cue 3.Using [Record] <Cue> [3] {Trace} [Enter] would affect the cue list as shown below in bold.
To force that channel’s new value to go backward in the cue list, {Trace} {Trace} can be used.
For information on using [Update] and {Trace}, See Update Using Trace.
A move instruction is any change to a parameter from its previous stored value, such as changes to a channel’s intensity, pan or tilt, color mixing, etc.
Manual data is any value set for a channel via the command line in Live. Manual data will remain at its value until a move instruction is provided for it.
Move fade is a lighting control philosophy which determines how cues are played back on Eos family consoles.
In a move fade system, parameters do not change from their current setting until they are provided a move instruction in a cue or are given a new instruction manually.
Move fade systems allow for fade-within-fade behavior. Fade-within-fade means that you can start a long fade in one cue, and the following cues will not affect the long fade as long as none of the following cues contain move instructions for the channels in the long fade cue. A blocked value is considered a move instruction. Additionally, manual changes to channels will not be removed by pressing [Go] unless the incoming cue contains a move instruction for those channels.
Example:
In cue 1, channel 1 has been given an intensity value of 50%. This value does not change until cue 20, where channel 1 is moved to 100%. Therefore, channel 1 has a tracked intensity value of 50% in cues 2-19. If the user applies a manual intensity value of 25% while sitting in cue 5 (for example), that channel will stay at 25% until Cue 20 is recalled - because 20 is the next cue in which channel 1 has a move instruction.
Note: Multiple cue lists are not available on Element 2 and Element Classic.
Most Eos family consoles are capable of running multiple cue lists. Cue list ownership is determined by the cue from which a channel is currently receiving its value. In Live, a parameter is considered to be “owned” by a cue list when it is receiving its current value from that cue list.
When alternating between cue lists in sequential playback, an active cue list does not necessarily own a channel unless that list has provided the last move instruction for that channel. For example, assume a channel is owned by cue list 1 and is at a tracked value. If a cue from another cue list is executed and provides a move instruction for the channel in the new cue, the channel is now owned by the second cue list. It will not return to cue list 1 until that cue list provides a move instruction for the channel.
Assert may be used to override this default behavior, allowing a cue list’s control over a channel to resume, even when the channel’s data is tracked.
This rule is not followed when executing an out-of-sequence cue. An out-of-sequence cue is any cue that is recalled via [Go To Cue], a Link instruction, or manually changing the pending cue. In general applications, the entire contents of the cue (both moves and tracks) will be asserted on an out-of-sequence cue.
Note: Assert is not available on Element 2 and Element Classic.
Blocked channel data is an editing convention only, and it prohibits tracked instructions from modifying the associated data. Blocked data has no impact on playback; the channels will continue to play back as though they were tracks. Assert is used to force playback of a tracked/ blocked value.
Live and Blind are modes in which to view and edit data in your show files. When you press the [Live] key, the screen will show you the live display. When you press [Blind], you will see the blind display. In either case, you may use the [Format] key to alter how the data is displayed (see Using [Format]).
When in Live, the data displayed represesnts the data being sent from the console at that moment. In other words, the parameter data that is “live” on stage. When you edit data in live, those changes will become active and visible on stage as soon as the command line is terminated.
When in Blind, the data displayed represents data from the record target you choose to view (cues, presets, palettes, and so on). When you edit data in Blind, changes will not automatically appear on stage, since the data you are modifying is not live. This is true even if the record target you are modifying is active on stage. It is possible to play a cue in Live, then switch to Blind and edit that cue in blind without affecting levels on stage. Edits in Blind do not require a [Record] command to be stored. They are considered stored when the command line is terminated. Any display that is not the Live display is considered Blind, and the Blind LED will be illuminated. For example, if you open patch, the blue LED on [Blind] will be lit to show that you are in a Blind display.
HTP (Highest-Takes-Precedence) and LTP (Latest-Takes-Precedence) are terms used to define the output of a channel parameter that is receiving data from multiple sources. Cue lists can operate as HTP or LTP for intensity parameters only. Non-intensity parameters (NPs) are always LTP. Submasters can operate as HTP or LTP for intensity. The default is HTP. The default cue list setting for intensity is LTP.
HTP is only applicable to the intensity of a channel. HTP channels will output the level that is the highest of all inputs. HTP channels are also referred to as “pile-on”, because as control inputs are added (for example - you may bring up cues and multiple submasters that all have the same channel recorded at various levels), the system calculates which input has the highest level for that channel and outputs that level for the channel. As control inputs are removed (you pull some of the submasters down to zero), the console will adjust the channel level, if required, to the highest remaining level.
LTP is applicable to any parameter of any channel. LTP output is based on the most recent move instruction issued to the channel parameter. Any new values sent to the channel will supersede any previous values, regardless of the level supplied.
Once an Eos console determines the LTP value for a channel, it can be overridden by any HTP input values that are higher than the LTP instruction. This can then be modified by manual control.