Setting up the Rig
Setting up the Stage and Rigging
To help you see what your rig will really look like you can add fixed elements of staging and rigging.
Open the Capture Visualiser Settings window by double pressing Open/View, then select Visualiser Settings from the window select buttons (or you can use the Open Settings context button in the Capture window.) Click the Stage tab.
"Floor" and "Back Wall" are provided by default. You can add other objects by clicking the + button at the bottom of the list.
Click on the object in the list on the left hand side to position and angle the object using the controls on the right. You can either type exact numbers by clicking on the buttons down the right hand side or use the sliders. You can set a legend and colour for each object.
Setting up Fixtures
Fixtures are automatically placed into the visualiser when they are patched if the Auto Update switch in the Capture Settings "Show" tab is set to On.
If you load a Titan show from a previous version, or have some patched fixtures which are not placed in Capture, use the Edit Fixtures Update Personality option on the Patch menu to place missing fixtures into the visualiser. The Exchange Fixtures function may also be used to help with this situation.
Fixtures are positioned using the wheels. Select one or more fixtures using the Fixture select or Group buttons and turn them on by pressing Locate. Press the Position - Orientation context menu button to switch the wheels to Visualiser mode (or press Softkey G at the top level menu until the display shows Wheels-Visualiser).
Select Position attribute, then use the wheels to change the X/Y/Z position of the fixture(s). If you select multiple fixtures, pressing the Scale-Fan context menu button or the Fan button allows you to evenly spread out the fixtures. The Fan curve/group/split options also work.
Touch above or below the wheel value to nudge the setting up or down by one step. For rotation this will be 45 degrees.
If you are viewing the stage from the front then:
| Axis | Action |
|---|---|
| X | moves left and right |
| Y | moves up and down |
| Z | moves towards and away from you |
Press Position a second time to switch the wheels to Orientation mode. The wheels will now pivot the fixtures in the X/Y/Z axes. Again you can use the Fan button to give a spread of angles on multiple fixtures.
The X/Y/Z rotation operates like a 3-axis camera gimbal - imagine the fixture within three pivoting rings (see left hand picture below). In some orientations, the X and Z rotation will seem to do the same thing and some rotations seem to be impossible to achieve - this is called gimbal lock and happens when two of the "rings" are lined up with each other (right hand picture below). Change the Y rotation by 90 degrees to enable you to achieve other angles.
Illustration by MathsPoetry
Press Position a third time to switch the wheels to Rotation mode. Rotation mode only works if you have multiple fixtures selected, and the fixtures rotate as a group about the middle fixture.
- For rotating single fixtures you need to select Orientation mode. Rotation mode only works when multiple fixtures are selected, it does nothing when a single fixture is selected.
It's easier to see what position fixtures are in if you change the tilt angle so they aren't pointing straight down (or up). It's always useful if you can have an actual fixture of each type connected to help you get them pointing the right way, but you can change this later if not.
Setting Fixture Options
You can set some options within the visualiser which control how the simulated fixture works. Different options are available depending on the type of fixture.
To set these options, press the bottom softkey at the top level menu until the option shows Wheels=Visualiser, or press the Position-Orientation context menu button. Then select one or more fixtures to set and use the wheels to adjust the settings.
Dimmers (generic fixtures)
| Attribute | Wheel | Function |
|---|---|---|
| Colour | A/B/C | RGB light colour - Allows the colour of the light to be set (if the real-life fixture has a colour filter fitted) |
| Beam | A | Zoom - Sets simulated beam angle from 5 to 90 degrees |
| " | B | Focus - Sets simulated focus |
| " | C | Throws Light (see note below) |
| Effect | A | Horizontal Frost - spreads the beam horizontally |
| " | B | Vertical Frost - spreads the beam vertically |
Other fixtures
| Attribute | Wheel | Function |
|---|---|---|
| Beam | A | Throws Light |
| " | B | Invert Pan |
| " | C | Invert Tilt |
- The Throws Light option can be useful with pixel/eye-candy type fixtures to reduce rendering load on the console - only the illumination of the fixture itself is shown, the light cast by the fixture is not shown.
- The Invert Pan / Tilt options can be used to change the simulated fixture so it responds in the same directions as the real fixture.
Setting up Cameras (Views)
Four cameras (selectable views) are provided by default but you can add more.
The context menu buttons provide camera options.
Camera controls are in the Capture Visualiser Settings window which you can open by double pressing Open/View to show the workspace window buttons, or using the Open Settings context button.
The view buttons across the top select the four default views (shown below). Press the + button at the right hand side to add a new view.
The top button on the left toggles between single view or quad split mode. If quad split is selected, the other 4 buttons select which view you are controlling.
The left hand pad moves the camera left and right, and towards and away from the stage.
The middle pad moves the camera up and down.
The right hand pad can be set to rotate or orbit mode
Rotate: turns the camera to face left, right, up, down
Orbit: orbits the camera around the stage in a circular path keeping it pointed at the same object.
Press the Move Camera context button to link camera movement to the wheels. This also opens the Set Coordinates menu with softkeys allowing you to enter numeric camera positions.
Press the Rotate Camera or Orbit Camera context buttons to link camera rotation or orbit to the wheels and allow numeric entry on the softkeys.
Capture Appearance options
The Appearance tab of the Settings window allows you to set the following parameters:
- Ambient lighting (background light level)
- Smoke density (called Atmosphere in full Capture))
- Smoke variation (also called Atmosphere contrast - mix between haze and moving smoke effects - 0%=all haze, 100%=all smoke)
- Smoke speed (also called Atmosphere speed - rate of change of moving smoke effect)
- Exposure adjustment (camera brightness control)
- Bloom amount (visible halo around lights)
- Rendering settings detail (this affects the refresh rate of the simulator. If you have a lot of beams visible you may need to change this to Low to improve the refresh rate).