Theatre Programming Quick Guide

If you are used to programming other theatre-style consoles, you will be more familiar with using a keypad/syntax style interface, rather than the Titan touchscreen. But fear not because you can program a theatre show on Titan using keypad syntax and this is how you do it.

• Labelled buttons on the console are shown like this: Enter.
• The @ button is the one next to the numeric keypad.
• The Cue button is labelled Connect or Connect/Cue on some consoles.
• The Thru button is labelled Thru or Through on some consoles.
• The And and Thru buttons are not provided as fixed buttons on some consoles, softkey And and Through options are provided instead.

Dimmers/Fixtures have a User Number (which is equivalent to the Channel Number on other consoles), shown in the top left corner of the fixture button. This is the number n shown in the keypad commands below. You can change this number using the Set Legend softkey, see section Changing the Patch. Groups also have a User Number.

Setting Dimmer/Fixture Levels

Keypresses	Action
n @ @	Set fixture n to 100%
n @ v Enter	Set fixture n to v% (you need to enter 2 digits so "50" for 50%)
n Thru m @ v Enter	Set fixtures n - m to v%
n And m And p @ v Enter	Set fixtures n, m, p to v%
Group n @ v Enter	Set fixtures in group n to v%
Clear	Snap release edited channels back to programmed state - like Cheat on ETC
t Clear	Release edited channels fading over time t

Setting Other Attributes of Intelligent Fixtures

Keypresses	Action
n Enter	Select fixture n for control
n Thru m Enter	Select fixtures n to m for control
Group n Enter	Select all fixtures in group n for control

Once you have selected the fixtures:

• Press one of the Attribute Bank buttons Colour Gobo etc. The current function of the wheels is shown bottom right on the screen. Press the same Attribute Bank again to page through different attributes e.g. if there are 2 gobo wheels keep pressing Gobo to access the other attributes.

• Use the wheels to set the value. Or press the @ button next to the wheel and type in a value on the keypad.

Programming Cues

Titan can have multiple cue lists. To start a cue list press Record then select Create Cue List from the touch screen. Then press a Select button above the fader where you want to store the cue list.

When programming, Titan uses a concept called "the Programmer". This keeps track of the dimmers/fixture attributes which you have manually changed (or changed with a palette) since you last pressed Clear.

The Record Mode softkey lets you choose the following ways of programming changes:

• Record by Channel will record the individual attributes of fixtures which are in the programmer. So if you have a fixture where you have only changed the pan/tilt, only the pan/tilt will be recorded and the other attributes will not be affected by the cue. This is best for cues which are used to modify other cues (for example a colour-changing cue).

• Record by Fixture will record the complete state of fixtures which have any changed attributes in the programmer. So if you have a fixture where you have only changed the pan/tilt, all the other attributes of the fixture will be recorded as well. This is best for cues where you want to be sure that the fixture looks like it was when you programmed it, regardless of its previous state.

• Record by Stage will ignore the programmer and record everything which has its intensity set above zero.

Note this means that if you put up another playback, that won't get recorded unless you are using "Record by Stage" mode, since the playback isn't in the programmer (see Creating a Cue). You can use the Include function to get a playback into the programmer for recording elsewhere.

In addition to the above, if you have Tracking Mode enabled for the Cue List (the default setting) then the console will not record dimmers/attributes unless they have changed from the previous cue in the Cue List. This is the normal operation of theatrical lighting consoles and makes editing cues easier, since you only have the change the cue where the attribute was originally set.

Keypresses	Action
Record fader select fader select	Record the next cue onto the end of the cue list on this fader
Record Cue n Enter	Record cue n (will prompt for merge/overwrite if it exists already)
Time t Enter	Set fade time into programmer (does not affect stored cues; will save with the cue when you record it)
Delete Cue n Enter Enter	Delete cue n (2^nd^ Enter confirms)
Copy Cue n @ Cue m Enter	Copy cue n to new cue m
Copy Cue n @ Enter	Copy cue n onto the end of the cue list
Open/View fader select	Show the list of cues on screen, click on individual times to edit them

• For the copy commands, you can use Move in place of Copyto move cues. For consoles which don't have a Move button you can press (Avo and Copy) together to get Move.

• You can select multiple cues using Thru, And and Not. For example to copy cues 3, 4 ,5 ,7, 10 into a new block of cues starting at cue 20 you could do

  Copy fader select **3** Thru **7** Not **6** And **10** @ **20** Enter

• To make a Block cue (changes from previous cues do not track), view the cue list as above, in the Tracking column click the cell for the cue you want to change and select Block from the softkeys.

• To link cues so they automatically run after each other, the easiest way is on the screen. Click on the "Link" cell (which normally shows "Wait For Go". Then select from the softkeys

  Link After Previous Cue or Link With Previous Cue. For Link After, set the "Delay Out" time to set how long the cue will remain before the next cue starts.

Running Cues

Push up the fader of the cue list to make it active. Titan calls this the connected cue list and the control buttons such as Go will operate on this cue list.

Keypresses	Action
Cue fader select	If another cue list is active, connect this cue list as the current list
Go	Run next cue with programmed times
Cue n Go	Go cue n with programmed times
t Go	Next cue go with fade time t
n Cue t Go	Jump to cue n with fade time t

• If you want moving fixtures to automatically position themselves ready for the next cue, enable the Move In Dark option, see Move In Dark. This option is Off by default.

Updating Cues

You can update a single cue with the contents of the programmer, or add the same changes to a range of cues.

Keypresses	Action
Record Cue n Merge	Update cue n with the contents of the programmer (will add the cue if it does not already exist). You can press Enter twice instead of Merge.
Cue n Time t Enter	Set fade time of cue n to t seconds
Record Cue n Through m Merge	Merge the contents of the programmer into cues n to m inclusive. (Will add any whole number cues which are missing in that range)
Record Update Cue n Through m Update	Updates cues n to m inclusive with the contents of the programmer (Will not add any whole number cues which are missing, but will add attributes which were not originally in the cue)
Update Cue n Through m Update	Updates cues n to m inclusive with the contents of the programmer (Will not add any cues or any attributes which were not originally in the cue)

• For the Update commands you can decide whether or not you want to add attributes which do not already exist in the cues using the Add Channels option. If this is set to On, then new attributes will be added to the cue, otherwise only pre-existing attributes will be updated.

Editing Cues While Running

Often you need to make changes to cues while the cue is active in a running show. Press Clear before you set your changes in the programmer, to be sure that the programmer does not contain any unwanted previous changes.

Keypresses	Action
Record Cue Cue	Update current cue by merging programmer
Time t Enter Record Cue Cue	Set fade in time of current cue (It is probably easier to use View and click on the time on screen to edit it)

Effects/Shapes

You can't select Effects/Shapes from the keypad on Titan, but it's still easy:

1. Select fixtures for control

2. At the top level menu press Shapes and Effects, Shape Generator, Create

3. Select the type of shape Dimmer, Pan/Tilt etc

4. Select a shape from the softkeys or from the Shapes window which appears

5. Set the Speed, Size, Spread using the wheels

Shapes will record into cues, and will track through subsequent cues. You can deactivate tracked shapes in the Playback View, or set the Shape Tracking in the Playback Options.