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--- personality:create_vis_from_d4 [2020/01/04 13:05] – [8.4 remove redundant ranges] icke_siegen
+++ personality:create_vis_from_d4 [2024/08/24 08:14] (current) – icke_siegen
@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 ====== Creating vis files from d4 personalities ======
-<fs small>**(This is NOT an official documentation but simply based on my personal experiences - it might be not complete or even simply wrong in some aspects. Please give feeback if you find anything what you think should be improved.)**</fs>
+<fs small>**(This is NOT an official documentation but simply based on my personal experiences - it might be not complete or even simply wrong in some aspects. Please give feeback if you find anything that you think should be improved.)**</fs>
 Even though the old visualiser is now superseded by Capture it might be useful for some - and as personalities for the visualiser are not made any more, here are some hints how you can make them from d4 Titan personalities.
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 ===== - Identify the correct d4 file =====
-We assume that a d4 personality for your fixture already exists. Luckily they usually have verbose file names - have a look in the personality folder (with the PC suite installed it is ''C:\Program Files (x86)\Avolites\Titan\FixtureLibrary''). If you don't find what you need then search at https://personalities.avolites.com/ or https://www.avolites.de/downloads/d4find for the correct filename. If you still don't find anything then request the personality for Titan or build it yourself (this might be explained on another day).
+We assume that a d4 personality for your fixture already exists. Luckily they usually have verbose file names - have a look in the personality folder (with the PC suite installed it is ''C:\Program Files (x86)\Avolites\Titan\FixtureLibrary''). If you don't find what you need then search at https://personalities.avolites.com/ or https://www.avofixturefinder.com for the correct filename. If you still don't find anything then request the personality for Titan or build it yourself (this might be explained on another day).
 If you have found the correct d4 file copy it to ''\Avolites\Titan\FixtureLibrary'' in [[personality:create_vis_from_d4#prepare_a_skeleton_folder_structure|the folder structure]].
@@ Line 62: / Line 62: @@
 If there is no entry then you need to make one yourself:
-  * albeit max. 11 characters yre allowed you make your life easier if you use max. 8 characters
+  * albeit max. 11 characters are allowed you make your life easier if you use max. 8 characters
   * no spaces, no special characters, no umlauts, no symbols - just characters and numbers
   * a good habit:
@@ Line 96: / Line 96: @@
 Now, one by one, Personality Builder scans each mode. For each mode, two files are created: an .R20 file (like he classic pearl files) and a vis file which is the actual visualiser personality. However, things usually don't go that smoothly.
-The next prompt asks where the file should be saved - usually we can just confirm this (the filenam is created from our **unique** reference...):
+The next prompt asks where the file should be saved - usually we can just confirm this (the filename is created from our **unique** reference...):
 {{:personality:save_m1.png|}}
@@ Line 119: / Line 119: @@
 {{:personality:name_too_long.png|}}
-Here, you need to comply - shorten the given fixture name as only 11 characters can be displayed in the visualiser. This needs to be done per mode - it's a good idea to use something like 'm1', 'm2' or such to distinguish the modes. Here, I set the given name to ''FLAT PRO 12 m1''.
+Here, you need to comply - shorten the given fixture name as only 31 characters can be displayed in the visualiser. This needs to be done per mode - it's a good idea to use something like 'm1', 'm2' or such to distinguish the modes. Here, I set the given name to ''FLAT PRO 12 m1''.
-Now the next mode is parsed and checked. Again we get the prompt asking for the filename. **This time it really needs to be checked and corrected** as it again suggest the name derived from mode 1. Change the filename for the one which refers to the reference of mode 2 (as suggested in the prompt's title bar):
+Now the next mode is parsed and checked. Again we get the prompt asking for the filename. **This time it really needs to be checked and corrected** as it again suggests the name derived from mode 1. Change the filename for the one which refers to the reference of mode 2 (as suggested in the prompt's title bar):
 {{:personality:save_m2.png|}}
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 ===== - Edit R20 files =====
-Usually the R20 files - originally personalities for the Classic consoles - do not need to be edited. I had a coupld of times where I needed to do this in the past in order to make the visualiser working properly. If I come across such a fixture again I will add this to this section.
+Usually the R20 files - originally personalities for the Classic consoles - do not need to be edited. I had a couple of times where I needed to do this in the past in order to make the visualiser working properly. If I come across such a fixture again I will add this to this section.
 Editing R20 files is done with a standard text editor. Make sure the editor really works with plain ASCII text without interfering with the character set, encoding or whatsoever. For starters, Windows Editor (a.k.a. Notepad) does work. Personally I prefer [[https://notepad-plus-plus.org/|Notepad++]] - but there are many such programs available.
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 ==== - remove redundant ranges ====
+(will be explained when I have a suitable example)
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 ===== - copy to correct folders =====
+Having everything edited and saved it is time to go live: copy all files to their designated folders:
+  * all R20 files go to ''C:\Program Files (x86)\Avolites\Visualiser\Personalities''
+  * all Vis files go to ''C:\Program Files (x86)\Avolites\Visualiser\Extensions''
+  * the d4 personality goes to ''C:\Program Files (x86)\Avolites\Titan\FixtureLibrary''
+Sounds familiar? Well it should - that's why we started with a special folder structure. You can do all at once by copying the Avolites folder of our folder structure into ''C:\Program Files (x86)'', choosing 'merge' when being prompted to merge the folder into the one which already exists.
+I recommend to **copy** the files instead of moving. By purpose. It is always better to do changes in your working directory, i.e. in the folder structure, and only copy the files once you are done. Additionally most likely your Windows security settings prevent you from editing files in the ''C:\Program Files (x86)'' subfolder. Of course you may do as you think it's best - for me, the described way turned out to be the best.
+Additionally you can put the d4 personality into your user personalities folder by opening it in the personality builder again and doing ''Save to Fixture Library'' from the File menu. This way it won't get overwritten next time you update the library. You have to patch the fixture with ''(User)'' in its name in this case.
 ===== - test =====
+Everything in place? Fasten your belts, start the Simulator (or whatever Titan thing you use), start a new show, patch the fixtures in the modes you have prepared, open the visualiser window and be surprised:
+{{:personality:test.png?600|}}
+Here, I patched 3 fixtures of each mode, selected all and located them. Additionally I opened the Attribute Editor window so that I can have a little play. Here are some results:
+  * the good thing: all fixtures appear in the visualiser, all light up, no error messages or oddities - Yay!!!
+  * the first mode's Colour Macro channel locates to Red. Turns out that this is set in the d4 file - you may change this to Locate = White (and probably also Power On = White) there.
+  * mode #2 and #3 do work correctly, wow. Even our added colour scroll ranges do work.
+  * mode #4 works but is always orange, adding this to the colour set in the colour picker. This is due to the Amber definition which the Visualiser cannot handle (as like as the White definition).
+  * mode #5 suffers from the same Orange problem like mode #4.
+  * finally, while Colour Macro does work for mode #1 if selected separately it doesn't work if selected together with the other modes. This cannot be changed as technically these are are two separate attributes with - coincidally - the same name. Either change the d4 file, or leave it like it is, because it is very unlikely that you want to us these fixtures simultaneously in real life, isn't it?
+Hence, what we do now is deleting the Amber and White definitions from the mode 4 and mode 5 files. Such small changes can easily be done offline, then copy the file to the correct location again - and even with Titan running simply close and re-open the visualiser window and it works.
+Please find here my final files for the {{ :personality:cameo_flat_pro_12_ip65.zip|Cameo Flat Pro 12 IP65}} which this example refers to.
+Some more examples, based on this one:
+<nspages personality:visualiser_examples -r -h1 -textPages="">