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Emulation Manual Emulation Manual Written for Emulation 1.03.24 January 2011 © 2011 Elation Professional All rights reserved. No parts of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any means - graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or information storage and retrieval systems - without the written permission of the publisher.
Emulation Manual Welcome to the Emulation user’s manual, this document describes the Emulation software and the basics of lighting programming. Table of Contents 1 Overview........................................................................................................................................................ 3 2 Installing Drivers........................................................................................................................................... 4 3 Options.............
Emulation Manual 1 OVERVIEW Emulation is a DMX-512 lighting controller for intelligent lights, LED, dimmers, lasers and various other efects. The program is platform-independent and available on Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows and Ubuntu Linux. The software is shipped with a USB-to-DMX adapter cable. Key to the design of Emulation is its intuitive graphical user-interface; it is specially designed to reduce the amount of time required to learn how to operate the software.
Emulation Manual 2 INSTALLING DRIVERS This chapter provides step-by-step instructions for installing the USB driver for the CueCable interface. 2.2 EMULATION ON MAC OS OR LINUX Illustration 1: CueCable Just connect the CueCable to a free USB port on your Apple or Linux computer; Mac OS and Linux do not require a specifc driver for the CueCable. 2.1 EMULATION ON WINDOWS Emulation comes with drivers for both 64-bit and 32-bit versions of Windows XP, Vista and 7.
Emulation Manual Installing under 32-bit Please make sure your CueCable is connected to the computer for installing the 32-bit driver and follow the instructions on your screen. Verifying the driver Run Emulation and check in the OPTIONS -> HARDWARE that the CueCable is detected.
Emulation Manual 3 OPTIONS The Options menu enables you to change preferences and view various settings. GENERAL This tab enables you to choose a language and a screen resolution. Emulation is updated regularly to provide you with improved features, bug-fxes and new or improved personality-fles. To check for updates, click CHECK NOW . To have Emulation check automatically at startup - only once a day – you should enable the CHECK FOR PROGRAM UPDATES check box.
Emulation Manual DMX MONITOR This tab shows you the DMX values that are currently sent out. MIDI Emulation supports various MIDI control surfaces; it allows you to control Emulation' user interface (UI) through the buttons and faders on the MIDI controller. The software ships with a list of predefned Midimaps. A midi-map fle describes the MIDI controller and how its features (buttons, faders, etc) are mapped to the Emulation UI.
Emulation Manual DISK The Disk tab allows you to load and save show-fles. A show-fle contains all information about the patch, playback assignments, cuelists, etc. You don't need to save your show-fle as Emulation will check for changes every few seconds and automatically save the fle if needed. By saving manually and choosing a name for the show-fle you can manage diferent lighting projects or create backup versions.
Emulation Manual 4 PATCH The PATCH view allows you to setup the DMX fxtures which are connected to Emulation. Add Click ADD to open the Add Fixture dialog. Browse the manufacturers list, and choose the MANUFACTURER of the frst fxture you would like to add. To quickly fnd a manufacturer, start typing the name of the manufacturer you’re looking for on your keyboard. While typing, the list will jump to the correct manufacturer in the list.
Emulation Manual Address Emulation automatically sets the DMX address when adding fxtures to the patch, by fnding the frst available DMX channel in your confguration. However, if you want to change the address, select 1 or multiple fxtures and click ADDRESS. Enter the new address and click OK. If you had multiple fxtures selected, Emulation will set the entered address for the frst selected fxture and will automatically have the next selected fxtures follow the previous ones.
Emulation Manual 5 PLAYBACKS Playbacks are an important element in a cuelist based lighting controller like Emulation. Cuelists are not activated directly, instead they are assigned to a playback. The playback allows the user to start (give the playback a 'Go') and stop ('release' the playback) the cuelist, as well as controlling other parameters like intensity, speed, attack, etc. Playbacks can also contain stacklists and groups.
Emulation Manual Alternatively, you can double-click on the 'indicator' just above a playback to bring up the Playback Settings view. Pressing the ASSIGN button in this dialog will bring up the assignment dialog. Finally, you can also assign by creating a new cuelist, stacklist or group in main view, this implicitly assigns the new cuelist, stacklist or group to a playback. Please refer to the Cuelist, Stacklist or Group chapter for an explanation on how this is done.
Emulation Manual Bundle You bundle playbacks together so they work mutually exclusive; i.e. only one playback is active at the same time. Whenever you start a playback it will automatically release any other playback in the same bundle. You can set up up to 20 diferent bundles. Bundles come in handy if you have a couple of playbacks controlling cuelists for the same fxtures, especially if those cuelists contain HTP attributes like dimmer.
Emulation Manual 6 GROUPS The Group menu enables you to create groups with fxtures and/or sub-fxtures. This makes selection of groups or (sub) fxtures easy and, when assigned to a playback, allows you to use sub-masters per group (see page 11 for more information on playbacks). 6.1 CREATING A GROUP Add a group with the ADD button on the left. Select the newly created group and add fxtures to it by clicking on the ADD button on the right. The following dialog will pop-up.
Emulation Manual 7 CUELISTS A lighting scene is stored in a 'Cue' and cues are stored in 'Cuelists'. Each cuelist can contain one or more cues. You can create multiple cuelists that each control a part of your show, or you can create one single cuelist that addresses all your lights. You can either create and change cues in the main view or use the CUE menu. This chapter discusses both approaches. 7.1 TRACKING Cuelist based lighting controllers can be either tracking or non-tracking.
Emulation Manual wheel to fne tune a fader's value. Flip A moving light of the yoke type – not a scanner – is, by using its fork and head, able to reach a certain position through two diferent pan/tilt confgurations. When the programmer is containing position values for one or more fxtures you can use the FLIP button to reach exactly the same position by using the opposite pan/tilt values.
Emulation Manual 7.3 MODIFYING A CUELIST VIA THE MENU Next to working in the Main view, you can also edit cuelists via the CUE menu. Although you can create a new cuelist in the CUE menu, the menu is more setup for modifying cuelists once created in the Main view. To change an existing cuelist, open the CUE menu. Select a Cuelist and click EDIT to open the Cuelist editor. Here you can edit the properties of the CUELIST and the individual cues.
Emulation Manual Halt The cue will be triggered when you press the GO button. Follow The cue will be triggered as soon as the previous cue has fnished fading. Wait The cue will be triggered autocratically after the previous cue has been triggered. Cue Timing To explain the diferent timings in combination with the Cue Condition, see the following diagram: Delay The delay time (in seconds) is the time between the cue being triggered, and the cue actually starting to fade.
Emulation Manual Edit The values in a cue can also be edited in the Cue Editor. Select a Cue and click EDIT. Insert Use Insert to add an attribute to the cue. Delete Use Delete to remove an attribute from the cue. The attribute's column will still show until it is removed from every cue. Change Select one or multiple values and click Change to change the value. 7.5 WIZARD The wizard can automatically create typical cuelists that might have taken quite a while to program if done by hand.
Emulation Manual 8 STACKLISTS Stacks can be used to combine multiple cuelists into one efect. You could use it on-the-fy to start multiple cuelists in sync, or you can program a stacklist and assign it to a playback. 8.1 USING STACKS LIVE To trigger multiple playbacks at the same time during live operating, press the STACK button and click on the PLAY buttons of the playbacks you want to trigger at the same time. As soon as you press STACK again, the selected playbacks will trigger simultaniously. 8.
Emulation Manual 9 GLOBALS On the main screen of Emulation, you’ll notice 3 GLOBALS for FOG, STROBE and BLINDER. These buttons can be instantly used without programming individual cuelists. When patching fxtures, the software automatically recognizes strobes and fog generators and allocates them directly. Fog All fog machines in the confguration will be activated for as long as you keep the button pressed.
Emulation Manual 10 TEMPO CONTROL All Cuelists with property CHASE enabled, are synced to the Tempo. You can fnd the controls for the Tempo on the bottom left of the Emulation window . Using the TEMPO button below the tempo display, you can tap to the music to change the tempo in Emulation. You can also click the tempo display and drag up (tempo UP) or to the right (tempo DOWN). Break Click the BREAK button below the tempo display to pause all chases. Click again to continue all chases.
Emulation Manual 11 HOT-KEYS Depending the current view, menu or dialog, the most used mouse operations are also assigned to the keyboard's keys. Using these 'hot-keys' can speed up your tasks signifcantly. Below is a summary of the major views in Emulation.
Emulation Manual 12 MIDI CONTROLLERS MAPPINGS Emulation supports various MIDI control surfaces. The buttons and faders on those controllers are assigned to features in the Emulation User-interface in a pre-defned midi-map. The following diagrams illustrate those assignments. Generic Midi-map Next to the hardware specifc midi-maps, Emulation also ofers a generic midi-map in which all the software functions that can be controlled through MIDI are assigned to Note or Control Change message.
Emulation Manual Behringer BCF-2000 The Behringer BCF-2000 is supported Plug & Play: However, for optimal use we’ve included a Sysex-fle that can either be found in the “Program Files/Elation/Emulation/Sysex/” folder on Windows systems. The Sysex fle can be uploaded to the BCF-2000 using one of the following (free) tools: – Midi-OX for Windows: http://www.midiox.com – SyEx Librarian for Mac OS X: http://www.snoize.
Emulation Manual Livid Instruments Ohm64 The Livid Instruments Ohm64 is supported Plug & Play.
Emulation Manual Novation Launchpad The Novation Launchpad is supported Plug & Play.
Emulation Manual Korg nanoKontrol The Korg nanoKontrol is supported Plug & Play.
Emulation Manual 13 IPHONE REMOTE This chapter explains, step-by-step, how to set up your iPhone to use the Remote function as described on page 7. Step 1 Make sure the computer running Emulation and your iPhone are connected via WIFI (for example via a simple WIFI router as displayed). Step 2 In Emulation, go to Options -> Remote and turn on ENABLE REMOTE CONTROL. Step 3 On your iPhone, browse to the address displayed in Emulation.
Emulation Manual 14 PERSONALITY FILES Most fxtures difer in the way how they are controlled by DMX. Emulation reads 'personality fles' (sometimes referred to as 'profles') to determine a fxture's DMX traits. When you patch a fxture you need to choose your fxture from a list of supported personalities (as described on page 9). This chapter describes how to obtain additional personality fles in case your fxture is not yet present in our list. 14.
Emulation Manual 15 PERSONALITY BUILDER The Personality Builder is a software program that you can use to create or modify the personality fles used by Emulation. It is available on Mac and Windows and you can download it free of charge from http://www.elationlighting.com. This chapter will describe the Personality Builder software by guiding you through the software. This text is written for Builder version 1.01.6. 15.
Emulation Manual 15.2 DMX DIAGRAM In the DMX diagram you can see what channels are being used and which are not. You are also able to see if there is any DMX overlap; this would mean that there is an error.
Emulation Manual 15.3 MANAGING PERSONALITIES Although you cannot edit Factory Manufacturers directly, you can copy them to your User Manufacturers and then change them from here. Duplicate Factory Manufacturers If you would like to add a new model to a Factory Manufacturer you have to copy the manufacturer to the User Manufacturers. To do so, select the Factory Manufacturer and click on the >>. Since the manufacturer is now in the User Manufacturers you are able to change and add models.
Emulation Manual button. Creating a new model Select a User Manufacturer and click on the ADD button next to the “User Models” section to add a new model. To rename the model, click RENAME and enter the new name of this fxture. Saving the personality fle When you have fnished editing a personality you can press the save button next to the User Manufacturers section, this will save the manufacturer to your disc.
Emulation Manual 15.4 MODEL PROPERTIES In the main overview, select the model that you want to edit and click PROPERTIES. This dialog allows you to enter the following properties: Alias The Alias feld defnes a default name when patching this model in Emulation. If you leave this feld blank it will use the name of the model instead. Angle Pan Maximum pan movement, when the light is not a moving light you do not need to change this.
Emulation Manual 15.5 EDITING MODELS In the main overview, select the model that you want to edit and click “Edit”. Modes Please create modes if the fxture has multiple modes in which it can operate. When you need to add multiple modes you can defne the parts that all modes have in common in the “[Main]” mode. For example the Clay Paky Mini Scan HP3, this model has two modes, an 8-bit mode and a 16-bit mode. Please take a look at the picture below.
Emulation Manual Subs Some fxtures use subs to control a part of the whole fxture, a dimmer for example has multiple Subs. Each Sub can have its own part and can be individually selected and programmed in Emulation. For example the Elation Cyber Pak: this fxture has 4 diferent subs which all have their own dimmer. Parts To start adding Parts to your model click ADD on the parts section. A list with all the available parts will come up, select the part that you would like to add and click Ok.
Emulation Manual Position Add a position part if a fxture features pan & tilt movement. Select the element from the AVAILABLE list and click on the >> button. Once included in the list on the right, you can change the CHANNEL Once the element is added to the personality fle you can change the CHANNEL and the RANGE values of the element. MSB/LSB The acronyms MSB (Most Signifcant Byte) and LSB (Least Signifcant Byte) are frequently used when creating new personality fles.
Emulation Manual Frost Frost has two modes of operation, some fxtures use the Control (LSB) ranges while others only have an on/of option for the frost function. ColourMix The ColourMix part can hold the RGB, CMY, White and Amber ranges. To quickly add RGB to the fxture you can use the ADD RGB button. ColourFix When a fxture has a wheel with fxed colours, you can use the ColourFix to defne the slots in the colour wheel. You would need to add slots for each colour position.
Emulation Manual Prism Add a prism part if your fxture has a wheel with prisms. Prisms are identifed by their number of facets. The most typical prism has three facets, select a one-facet prism for open or no-prism. Lamp To strike the lamp via DMX you can use the Lamp control. You can defne an On and an Of range for the lamp. Some fxtures require the lamp on/of control to hold for a specifc amount of time. This can be set in the “Time” section of the Lamp part.
Emulation Manual Frame Some fxtures have DMX controlled shutter blades (sometimes also called “framing”); use the Frame part to control this function. For example the Martin MAC 2000 Performance features framing. Custom When a function is not defned in one of the above parts, you can use a Custom. When defning a Custom, you can choose a name for the Custom which will be displayed under the fader in Emulation.
Emulation Manual 15.6 USING PERSONALITIES Once created you can start using your new personality fle yourself or share it with others. Uploading to Elation Please consider sending us your work after you have tested your personality fle. This way we can include your personality in the factory library for the next release. We appreciate your help making this personality library the largest and most reliable in our industry. You can send your models to us using the “Send” button in the main overview.
Emulation Manual NOTES p43
Emulation Manual INDEX 16-bit.................................................... 38 Fader Start............................................12 MIDI....................................................... 7 32-bit...................................................... 5 fash button..........................................11 MIDI Clock ........................................... 22 64-bit..................................................... 4 Flip........................................................
Emulation Manual Swap pan tilt........................................ 10 Uploading............................................ 42 Zoom....................................................38 Sysex.................................................... 25 Virtual Dimmer..................................... 10 ...................................................... 6, 12p. Test Sequence...................................... 19 Wait...................................................... 18 Tracking..........
