User manual

Rev. 9 8 Stage Designer™ 50
Common Terms
The following are common terms used in intelligent light programming.
§ Blackout is a state where all lighting fixtures’ light output are set to 0 or off, usually on a temporary basis.
§ DMX-512 is an industry standard digital communication protocol used in entertainment lighting equipment. For
more information read Sections “DMX Primer” and “DMX Control Mode” in the Appendix.
§ Fixture refers to your lighting instrument or other device such as a fogger or dimmer which you can control.
§ Programs are a number of scenes arranged one after another. It can be programmed as either a single scene
or multiple scenes in sequence.
§ Scenes are static lighting states.
§ Sliders are also known as faders.
§ Chases can also be called programs. A chase consists of a number of scenes arranged one after another.
§ Scanner refers to a lighting instrument with a pan and tilt mirror; however DMX controllers can use this term to
control any DMX-512 compatible device as a generic fixture.
§ MIDI is a standard for representing musical information in a digital format. A MIDI input would provide external
triggering of scenes using midi devices such as a midi keyboard.
§ Stand Alone refers to a fixture’s ability to function independently of an external controller and usually in sync to
music, due to a built in microphone.
§ Fade slider is used to adjust the fade time between scenes within a chase.
§ Speed slider affects the amount of time a scene will hold its state. It is also considered a wait time.
§ Shutter is a mechanical device in the lighting fixture that allows you to block the lights path. It is often used to
lessen the intensity of the light output and to strobe.
§ Patching refers to the process of assigning faders to a DMX channel within a fixture.
§ Playbacks can be either scenes or chases that are directly called to execution by the user. A playback can also
be considered program memory that can be recalled during a show.