DMX dimmer resolution

VST Live
1

It seems difficult to achieve smooth fades. Even at the maximum resolution with the line tool there is a noticeable stepping with my fixtures. Entec Pro USB interface is being used. With hardware controllers the fixtures look much better as they slowly increase or decrease in brightness.

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2

… I can only guess how your project looks like. Therefore it’s very difficult to help at the moment. Can you please create a new project with a DMX Track and a Clip which shows your problem? Create a Archive with “VL / Menu / File / Save Archive …” to a new folder, zip that folder and drag the ZIP file here. Then we can analyse the problem.

Thank you,
Michael.

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3

Just an asking: did you leave “snap” on while drawing the ramp-up line?

Try w.o. SNAP enabled

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4

If you leave snap enabled, the Line will be quantized , without snap lines are very smooth!

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5

Thank you for your replies. Yes snap is disabled. It appears that the resolution of the line tool draw is approxiamately 1/32 note. This leaves visible stepping on the display and is visible on the lighting fixture.

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6

DMX FADE PROBLEM ARCHIVE.vlprj (103.6 KB)

Here is the archive. Is this the expected behavior Michael? Thank you!

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7

There are two snaps, we are talking now about editor window snap. Just asking twice because used it a few weeks ago and it was a straight line

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8

Yes I am referring to editor window snap which is off. The drawn segments using the line tool are at roughtly 1/32 intervals.

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9

… that’s only the project file. I need the full project.

  1. Start VL, Load Your Project
  2. Select “Menu / File / Save Archive…”
  3. Select an empty folder
  4. After the archive was created, zip the folder from [3] and drop it here.

Thank you,
Michael.

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10

Thank you Michael. Let’s see if this works.
dmx.zip (212.4 KB)

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11

Hello @fkalmus , I,ve notice the same issue that @GO56 points out.
The Straight line Tool inserts too few points for some transitions to look smooth, regardless of the status of the Snap in any of the windows
In “Windows” VSTL I have not been able to draw a ramp line, or at least something to give high resolution results. Don´t know if it applies to “OSX” VSTL as well.

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Thats exactly the most points I can get using the “Straight Line Tool”.
That been said, the “Draw Tool”, does let you freehandedly inserts enough points for the transition to be smooth, but you have to have surgeon pulse.

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Thank you for your replies. Yes I did notice that the draw tool gives you more points. I am using Windows VSTL. Is the line tool resolution greater on the OSX version?

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14

…at tempo 120, 1/32 is roughly 60 ms which is already close to the maximum (bulk) transmission rate of DMX. This may point to a different problem, are you sure that manually adding points really creates smoother outcome? But we’ll check in any case.

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15

Thank you for the information. Perhaps there is another issue if 1/32 at 120 bpm is close to maximum rate. I can tell you that when I connect the fixtures to a hardware dmx controller the dimmers are very smooth.

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16

Maybe a solution is to program your DMX in your console, or another program, and then play it into VL over ArtNet. This is what @fkalmus and myself did and, for me, it seems to work fine even when I used the “reduce DMX” feature in VL.

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Good idea CliveJ! I will give this a try and report back the results a.s.a.p.

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Let us know how you get on.
There are a lot of knowledgeable people on the forum - if you get into trouble don’t be afraid to ask :grinning:

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