For fixtures that have more emitters than just RGB, we have always intelligently mixed colours using our internal “Virtual RGB” playback engine algorithm, converting a given RGB colour to RGBA, RGBW, etc, by extrapolating the additional values based on relevant emitter levels. However, the calculated level for White or Amber was not always the desired choice for programmers, and we found that we had users clamouring for the ability to specify the exact levels of each of their emitters. To that end, we implemented Direct Colour.
Those of you familiar with Designer would have noticed a change to our Fixture Library from version 2.7. A new fixture type was added, labelled … (Legacy), such as LED – RGB 8 bit (Legacy). These are the same fixture types as we offered before, that used the same rules that our users were experienced with. The “non-legacy” fixtures were utilising a new method for this control; Hue Tables. This is an alternative way of calculating how to display given RGB values to fully embrace all the emitters available to us.
Once you have added a Direct Colour controllable fixture to your layout, Direct Colour will be enabled in two features; a new Direct Colour Preset in Timelines, and a Direct Colour Control in https://pharoscontrols.com/why-pharos/designer-features/intelligent-programming/Scenes.
In the example project, we will be using a LED – RGBWA 8 bit, an LED – RGBAWUv 8 bit and an LED – RGBL 8 bit.
Scenes
Once a scene has been created, and a Direct Colour controllable fixture has been selected, you will see a toggle at the top of the Colour tab.
Changing this to Direct Control will allow you to set each emitter that is available for the selected fixtures. For example, with the RGBWA fixture selected, our options are as such:
With multiple fixtures selected, each offering different emitters, we will show all emitters available for all selected fixtures in the same list, as follows:
The fields that do not affect a fixture simply here will not affect that fixture, so the red, green and blue will be shared, but the lime, for instance, will not.
Timeline
The Direct Colour preset that we offer works slightly differently. As we have no way to determine which fixtures the preset will be dropped on, we will display all available emitters that are present in the project.
This works by the same principle as the scenes; any emitter that does not apply to the fixture simply will not output.
Between the standard RGB and Direct Colour selection methods, you should have all the control flexibility you need.
