Quick Guide Owner's manual

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ETC

Quick Guide

Cobalt

™

Nomad, Cobalt Client, & Cobalt Offline

Cobalt Nomad, Cobalt Client, & Cobalt Offline Editor Page 1 of 16 Electronic Theatre Controls, Inc.

Corporate Headquarters



3031 Pleasant View Road, P.O. Box 620979, Middleton, Wisconsin 53562-0979 USA



Tel +608 831 4116



Fax +608 836 1736

London, UK



Unit 26-28, Victoria Industrial Estate, Victoria Road, London W3 6UU, UK



Tel +44 (0)20 8896 1000



Fax +44 (0)20 8896 2000

Rome, IT



Via Pieve Torina, 48, 00156 Rome, Italy



Tel +39 (06) 32 111 683



Fax +44 (0) 20 8752 8486

Holzkirchen, DE



Ohmstrasse 3, 83607 Holzkirchen, Germany



Tel +49 (80 24) 47 00-0



Fax +49 (80 24) 47 00-3 00

Hong Kong



Rm 1801, 18/F, Tower 1 Phase 1, Enterprise Square, 9 Sheung Yuet Road, Kowloon Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong



Tel +852 2799 1220



Fax +852 2799 9325

Service:

(Americas) service@etcconnect.com



(UK) service@etceurope.com



(DE) techserv-hoki@etcconnect.com



(Asia) service@etcasia.com

Web:

www.etcconnect.com



Product information and specifications subject to change.

4370M1300



Rev A



Released 2013-12



ETC intends this document to be provided in its entirety.

Cobalt

™

software, when installed on a personal computer (with the Windows

7 or Windows 8

operating system) running Cobalt software version 7.0.0 or greater, can be used to control a lighting

system, interact with an existing Cobalt lighting control system, or as an offline show file editor.

A computer with the Cobalt software and Nomad dongle installed may be used online as a server,

backup, or client to another Congo family product. Backup capabilities extend only to the number of

outputs available on the Cobalt Nomad installation (maximum 4 universes).

A computer with the Cobalt software and a Cobalt client dongle installed may be used on a Cobalt

lighting network to interact with another Cobalt product acting as server. This could be a Cobalt 20

console, Cobalt Light Server, or another computer running Cobalt Nomad.

A computer with the Cobalt software and no connected dongle may be used offline to edit or create

show files. Cobalt Offline Editor can communicate with visualization software, but the output will be

steppy.

The Cobalt Nomad kit contains the following:

• Cobalt Nomad dongle

• Tag with Nomad serial number and dongle number. Please keep this tag in a safe place.

• USB drive containing software, this quick guide, user manuals, tutorials, etc.

The Cobalt Client kit contains the following:

• Cobalt Client dongle

• USB drive containing software, this quick guide, user manuals, tutorials, etc.

Minimum Hardware Requirements

Personal Computer (laptop or desktop) with:

• Intel-based multi-core processor with clock frequency higher than 2.0 GHz

• Windows 7 or Windows 8 with 500 MB free disk space

• Display with resolution of at least 1280x1024

• 512 MB of RAM minimum (1 GB recommended)

• 64 MB Video Card with hardware accelerated OpenGL

• RJ-45 Ethernet Network adapter (required to communicate with a lighting network, DMX output

devices)

• Available USB port for the Cobalt Nomad or Cobalt Client Dongle

Note:

It is highly recommended that you check www.etcconnect.com/Cobalt for the

latest version of software as it is possible that patches or updates have been

released since this kit was manufactured.

Note:

Windows XP and Macintosh computers are not officially supported in this release.

It may be possible to use a Mac with Parallels

or Windows XP; however,

performance and connectivity to lighting networks cannot be guaranteed.

Note:

Using typical WiFi networks to transmit show critical data is not recommended.

Show critical data includes output levels to the rig and backup connections to

other consoles, Cobalt Nomad, or Client computers.

Summary of content (16 pages)

PAGE 1
ETC® Quick Guide Cobalt ™ Nomad, Cobalt Client, & Cobalt Offline Cobalt™ software, when installed on a personal computer (with the Windows® 7 or Windows 8 operating system) running Cobalt software version 7.0.0 or greater, can be used to control a lighting system, interact with an existing Cobalt lighting control system, or as an offline show file editor. A computer with the Cobalt software and Nomad dongle installed may be used online as a server, backup, or client to another Congo family product.
PAGE 2
ETC Quick Guide Cobalt Nomad, Client, & Offline Editor U s i n g R e a l - Ti m e S o f t w a r e L i k e C o b al t N o m a d o n a P e r s o n a l C o m p u t e r Cobalt is an application that, when acting as a server, performs real-time fading of lighting levels to create a show. It is vital to the accurate performance of your show that the computer used for this purpose not be used for other activities, like gaming or web surfing.
PAGE 3
ETC Quick Guide Cobalt Nomad, Client, & Offline Editor Getting Started For Cobalt Nomad and Cobalt Client systems, connect the Nomad or Client dongle to a USB port on your computer. The dongle must be connected to and recognized by the computer before you launch the Cobalt application. For Cobalt Offline Editor systems, there is no dongle required and you can just start the Cobalt application normally. Note: The Cobalt Nomad and Cobalt Client dongles require software drivers.
PAGE 4
ETC Quick Guide Cobalt Nomad, Client, & Offline Editor Start Server/Start Backup Click {Start Server} option to start the Cobalt application and allow uninterrupted data onto the network for proper control of your lighting devices. If this option is not visible, the Cobalt Nomad dongle has not been recognized by your computer or the Cobalt application. Quit Cobalt and check that the dongle is recognized by your PC.
PAGE 5
ETC Quick Guide Cobalt Nomad, Client, & Offline Editor C o n n e c t i ng t o t h e N e t w o r k To connect to a lighting network, you may need to adjust the configuration of your Network Interface Connection. This may include changing an IP address or adjusting a proxy server setting. The details on what settings you may need to adjust can be clarified with the administrator of the network you are using. These settings are made in Windows itself.
PAGE 6
ETC Quick Guide Cobalt Nomad, Client, & Offline Editor Network Services Other network services are available in this dialog and are disabled by default. It is not recommended that you adjust these settings without suitable knowledge of what you are doing, as you could disturb an existing network’s configuration. Consult the administrator of the network you are using before enabling any additional Network Services.
PAGE 7
ETC Quick Guide Cobalt Nomad, Client, & Offline Editor Which protocol you use depends on the lighting devices you wish to control and the intermediate converter you may need to get data to those lighting devices. For example, if you want to control an ETC Sensor3 dimmer rack, you can connect the rack and the computer to an Ethernet network and communicate directly to the rack using the sACN protocol. No intermediate converter is required if all your lighting devices can communicate over Ethernet directly.
PAGE 8
ETC Quick Guide Cobalt Nomad, Client, & Offline Editor Once you have selected your network connection, determined your Ethernet lighting protocol(s) and logical network settings, these are displayed in the upper right corner of the welcome screen when you start the Cobalt application.
PAGE 9
ETC Quick Guide Cobalt Nomad, Client, & Offline Editor Using MIDI Panels by Others Cobalt software allows the connection of MIDI button and fader panels. To use these panels, consult the user documentation for the panel to determine how the panel must be programmed for use with Cobalt.
PAGE 10
ETC Quick Guide Cobalt Nomad, Client, & Offline Editor To use MIDI Panels with Cobalt Nomad, you must enable Direct Mode in the MIDI settings: Step 1: Start Cobalt. Step 2: Open an existing or create a new play file. If you create a new file, click {Let’s Begin} to close the startup dialog. Step 3: Press F11 to open the play settings. Step 4: Click the MIDI tab. Step 5: Click the box next to Direct Mode to enable the setting.
PAGE 11
ETC Quick Guide Cobalt Nomad, Client, & Offline Editor USB drive included in the Cobalt Nomad kit.
PAGE 12
ETC Quick Guide Cobalt Nomad, Client, & Offline Editor Console Key PC Equivalent Mac Equivalent Console Key PC Equivalent Mac Equivalent INSERT INSERT DELETE PLAYBACK X X (not backspace) LAST L L PRESET P P LOAD F6 F6 RECORD R R LIVE F2 F2 REFRESH V V MACRO Q Q RELEASE Ctrl R R MASK K K SAVE Backspace & U Delete & U MASTER F8 F8 SAVE AS Backspace & R Delete & R Master Keys 1- 10 1-0 along top of keyboard 1-0 along top of keyboard SELECT Shift Shift MOD
PAGE 13
ETC Quick Guide Cobalt Nomad, Client, & Offline Editor The Console Mimic Dock The Console Mimic Dock area is an on-screen emulation of the Cobalt console facepanel. It contains most keys and faders found on a Cobalt console and can be used to interact with the Cobalt Nomad as well. Cobalt uses a lot of two-key shortcuts for programming and you can use these as well by using CTRL-click to hold down a key in the console mimic.
PAGE 14
ETC Quick Guide Cobalt Nomad, Client, & Offline Editor Step 4: When the Console Mimic Dock is displayed, you can choose which portion of the console you want to work with by right-clicking in the blue background area of the dock. You can also use the zoom command (F4 + mouse scroll wheel) to adjust the size of the console content in the dock. Cob al t Noma d, Coba lt Cli en t, & Co ba lt Off l in e Ed it o r Pa ge 1 4 of 16 El ect r on ic T he at r e Con tr o ls , I nc.
PAGE 15
ETC Quick Guide Cobalt Nomad, Client, & Offline Editor Righ t-click “Context” Menus Right-click menus are found all over the software, providing direct access to functions that may be otherwise accessed by a console two-key command. These menus are described in the help system and Cobalt User Manual, but you might just try right clicking on the screens to see what commands are available in the various views.
PAGE 16
ETC Quick Guide Cobalt Nomad, Client, & Offline Editor Cobalt Help System/User Manual Press F1 to open the Cobalt Help system. This help system contains the entire contents of the user manual. This includes instructions on creating new play files, saving your data and exiting Cobalt, opening and playing back plays, as well as how to use all of the Cobalt system's various functions. To navigate the help system: • Use the up and down arrows on your keyboard to page through the help system.