Controlling dimmer effect with slider 1 and controlling master dimmer with slider 2

[Bala]

Hey guys. I have kind of a big problem here that I cannot solve for weeks. I have made RGBMatrixes and i set them to Mask blend mode. I want to achieve that master dimmer slider will work as normal when sldier for effects is down(0%), and when I raise effects slider, I want it to "take" dimmer from master.
In practice: If master is 100% and effect slider is 0%, all lights will be on at 100% without any effects.
When master is 100% and effect slider 50%: Effect will work as normal at 100% but lights that are not affected by the effect will be on 50% brightness.
Master 100%, effect slider 100%: Lights will do only the effect.
Mater 50%, effect slider 100%: effect will shine but only on 50% brightness
Master 0% effect(it does not matter): Lights will be off

My friend is using something like this on his MA2 console. I dont know how to achieve this. I achieved only this: when i put master 100% and effect 50% the effect will shine on 50% but lights that are not affected by effect will not be on.

Thanks for your answers.

[MichelSliepenbeek]

Attached example will show you what you can do with the different Blend Modes.

The top frame sets the level of the 4 spots and uses a submaster to set the overall level.

The bottom frame has 4 sets of buttons for Launching RGB Matrices in the four Blend Modes that are available.
The submaster in this frame works differently for each of the Blend Modes:
- Subtract. With the sub master in the Top Frame you set your basic level and with the sub master in the bottom frame you define how much you want the effect to subtract from that basic level.
In order to notice anything your basic level should be in the range of 127 - 255 (if you set your basic level to 0, you can't subtract anything from it).
- Add. With the sub master in the Top Frame you set your basic level and with the sub master in the bottom frame you define how much you want the effect to add to this basic level.
In order to notice anything your basic level should be in the range of 0 - 127 (if you set your basic level to 255, you can't add anything to it)..
- Mask. With the sub master in the Top Frame you set your basic level. The RGB matrices will use this basic level as a Maximum. With the sub master in the bottom frame you define the level of the effect
(being between 0 and the value you did set with the Top Frame Fader).
- Standard. With the sub master in the Top Frame you set your basic level. if you launch any of the effects, they will ignore this basic level.
The sub master in the bottom frame is now used to define the level of the effects.

Just play around with the buttons and sliders, the Fixture Monitor will show you what i tried to explain above.


Be aware that i used 4 solo frames, one for each Blend Mode. This makes it possible to launch up to 4 effects together.
It is up to you to use this possibility in a sensible way (or otherwise copy all the effects buttons to one solo frame).

On top of the bottom frame you will find two Speed Dials: one for Run Time and one for Fade Time.
You can set 5 default values by using the buttons (X-Fast .. X-Slow). If you Press the Maximise Button, you can use two sliders to Fine Tune both Speed Dials.

The Buttons and Sliders for the Speed Dials use Loopback (so you need to put the QXI file in your user library to make it work).
I extracted this example from another workspace (that should explain the "Strange numbers" of the LoopBack Channels. If i made it from scratch i probably would have used channels 1 ..4).

[Bala]

Thanks a lot for your answer. I understand it bit more what can I do with blend modes. Although I cannot understand the principle of the Loopback in general and the loopback you used. I know it is hard to explain through internet. And I probably do not need this type of knoweledge with my 30 fixtures . But you know I am passionate about QLC+ and I want to be better in it and this Loopback plugin is big point in improving. I tried to search for some tutorials and also I read the text that is directly in QLC and unfortunately I still cannot understand the principle. It would be amazing If you tried to explain it to me from scratch. I woud appreciate it so much. I can send you my QLC+ file and you can tell me what to improve becouse you seem you know much more about QLC than myself . (Of course I would pay you something if you help me so you would not waste your time).

Thanks a lot.

[MichelSliepenbeek]

If you have a closer look to the widgets you can use on your Virtual Console, you will notice that they all have an option to use an External Controller.
So you can for instance attach the real buttons and sliders of a Midi Controller (like an Akai APC Mini, Korg Nano Control, Behringer X-Touch or BCF200, elation Midicon, ..... ) to it (but you can also use this to interface with other Software, like CuBase, Ardour, Reaper,.....).
In order to tell QLC and yourself what the different channels (of this Midi Controller or other Input Device) are meant for, you need to use an Input Profile (QXI flie, read the Manual: https://docs.qlcplus.org/v4/input-output/input-profiles).

The buttons and sliders you create on your Virtual Console are basically meant to be used for output (they start functions like scenes, RGB matrices or EFX's that produce DMX output).
With LoopBack you can realise that the output of a whole Universe will (not be send to an output device, like an USB-DMX Dongle or an ArtNet Node, but instead will) return as Input (to be used as External Controller by the functions in other Universes).
So it is important to know that you need to create the Fixtures you want to use for LoopBack in a separate Universe (in my example the actual fixtures are in Universe 1 and Universe 3 is used for LoopBack).

You can use LoopBack to customize your Virtual Console (make it more User Friendly or just look better), solve 1 to many or Many to 1 situations and many more.

You can find more examples overhere: viewtopic.php?t=16694

[Bala]

Thanks a lot. I understand it a loot more. Also I want to ask you something off topic. I have six fixtures I want to go on Beat. But on some RGBMatrixes I can set duration but only for individual steps not for RGBMatrix as a whole. In Virtual console there is a solution by multiplying/dividing duration of time but there are no odd numbers ( I want 1/6 so RGBMatrix on my 6 fixturs is on beat). I found one solution here on Forum but only for multipliers, not dividing and I dont know how would I solve this.

I know I am asking too much but I have show in 3 days and I want to make my lights more advanced becouse now everything is out of sync with music. I am not saying it is bad but I want it on next level.

[MichelSliepenbeek]

If you remove "you" from your 3rd line: "Also I want to ask you something off topic", your changes will be a lot bigger.

i use the Factor from the Speed Dial in a different way: if i have a number of RGB matrices that i want to control with one speed Dial and one is slower (read: gives me the feeling to be slower) than the others, i give that one a factor 2 (and in the same way, if another one is faster, i slow it down with factor 1/2).
In other words: in most cases i use presets Fast, Medium and Slow, and for each RGB matrix i try to find the right factor (if i press Slow it should be slow, if i press Fast it should be fast).

My advice would be: not to set the timing on the RGB matrix itself, but instead add a Speed Dial widget to your VC (add your RGB Matrix to it), use the TAB button to set the beat and then find the matching factor.
https://docs.qlcplus.org/v4/virtual-console/speed-dial

I'm not sure whether RGB matrices are the best option, If you really want your lights to be on the beat.
I guess that using Chasers or Sequences (in this example with 3, 6 or 12 steps) are a better option.

By the way: if your fixtures do support it, you can also use the EXF Functions to run in RGB mode (or Dimmer mode). A lot to learn in 3 days.