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Electronic Theatre Controls Inc

Recording focus points on Express consoles

You can create a focus point in Stage, Blind or Fader displays using all the same techniques available to create groups.

When working with moving lights, sometimes the attributes of several lights are stored together in a group and the group recorded into one or more cues. If the group changes, such as if the lights are repositioned toward another point on stage, the cues need to be manually updated or replaced to account for that change.

Focus points can be used to provide automatic updating in situations like this and others, such as when colors are changed after show programming is essentially complete. Channels referencing focus points that store color information automatically update when the color channels in the focus point change. If many references are made to these focus points in the show, all will change when the focus point changes, making widespread updating a convenient operation. The console allows up to 99 user-definable focus points.

You can create a focus point in Stage, Blind or Fader displays using all the same techniques available to create groups.

Recording a focus point in Stage

The following example illustrates the creation of a focus point containing settings for the intensity and position attributes of several fixtures. Note the use of Only to conveniently identify the position category.

Keystrokes: Action:
1. Press [Stage]. Selects the Stage display
2. Press [S8], Fixture, [1]. Selects fixture 1
3. Set intensity, pan and tilt levels.  
4. Press [+], [–] or [S8] to select another fixture.  
5. Repeat steps 3-4. Repeat procedure for all fixtures to be included in the focus point
6. Press [Record] [Focus Point].  
7. Press [3]. Enters number of focus point
8. Press [Enter]. Records focus point 3

Creating a focus point from a look on stage

To create a focus point from the look that is already on stage, follow these steps:

Keystrokes: Action:
1. Press [Stage]. Selects the Stage display
2. Press [Record] [Focus Point]. Prompt reads:
To record focus point, select number and press ENTER
To cancel, press CLEAR
3. Press [2]. Enters the focus point number you want to record
Corner reads: Focus 2
4. Press [Enter]. Records focus point 2
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