Turning Mixes on an off

[LeeH]

So heres the senario. I have a cuelist playing back. I have two area of ColorWeb that I want to have the same and then different content on.
So i have two mixes. Mix two is overlaying Mix one.
However at times i only want Mix one on so i want to turn off Mix two completely. I want to do this via the cuelists though and not though Midi or DMX or any other protocol.
Can this be done? If not any other bright ideas?

Thanks

Lee

[Mr_P]

If you assign:
layers 1 to mix 1 only
and
layers 2 to mix 2 only
then this shoud do what you need...
ie by fading out layer 2, mix 2 will be black (or vice-versa)

Can you post a screen grab of your mix / pixel layout etc - it might make it clearer...

Simon

[prodigal2]

For mix 2 if you set mix type to flat locked to corners, and set the background colour to transparent. All you then may need to do is adjust your aspect of the layers going to that mix, if at all.

The default setting on the mixes gives a solid background, if you have other mixes behind, you need to change the mix type and then the background colour menu will have effect.

Phil

[prodigal2]

I forgot to mention that mixes take precedent over the layers priority, so you can have layers 1+2 in mix 2 sitting ontop of layers 3+4 in mix 1. And mixes have the same logic as layers so mix 2 will sit ontop of mix1 and mix3 will sit infront of mix2 etc.

Phil

[Mr_P]

I forgot to mention that mixes take precedent over the layers priority, so you can have layers 1+2 in mix 2 sitting ontop of layers 3+4 in mix 1. And mixes have the same logic as layers so mix 2 will sit ontop of mix1 and mix3 will sit infront of mix2 etc.

Phil

Not strictly true!..

Mixes can be set up to overlap in any order.
In this test there is 1 layer per mix layer1-mix1, layer2-mix2, layer3-mix3, layer4-mix4 (so as to identify the mixes)
In this example the mix 'stack' as shown on screen is as follows:
Mix3, Mix1, Mix2, Mix4
(see jpg)

However, it is true that when you restart catalyst, the priority will default to 1,2,3,4 1 at bottom, 4 at top... But mixes can operate in any priority if manually set-up.

Simon

[Mr_P]

Word of warning abut working with transparent mixes...

If they are not showing content and locked - ie 'invisible' and you enable the layers preview or libraries, for example, you will be able to see the whole of your control window (layers preview or libraries, for example) as oposed to it being obscured by mix windows.

However, if you try and click on a control than actually resides UNDER a transparent mix window (with no content in) it seems that the control doesnt respond!...

This is because the control is being displayed UNDER a transparent, locked, mix window....

Solution: move the (layers preview or libraries, for example) to another part of the screen, not populated by invisible mix windows...

Simon

[LeeH]

Thanks so far everyone but I dont think this solves my problem.
I am not able to get access to the Mac at the moment but here is the mixlayout that I need.
The problem is that whenever i fade out Layer 2 which is attached to mix 2 then the area remains black. What I want is for the area that is normally Mix 2 to show Mix 1 content that is attached to Layer one.
Does this make any clearer sense?
Thanks

Lee

[Mr_P]

I undertand
This is possible
As Phil mentioned, you should make mix to transparent.

Open mix-options
Select mix 2
For mix Type - slect 'flat locked to corners'
background colour = transparent
(adjust the mix size as required)

When you fade out layer 2 (in mix 2) it will go invisible and you will see whatever is in mix 1 (no black hole)

In the jpg attached it shows the setings for mix 2. I have set layer 2 at 60% to show the transparency. This was all done in V4m152

Hope this helps

Simon

[SourceChild]

I have always used DMX to run shows. Therefore I know most of my point might be outside of yor requests using just the internal cue control.

One consideration not taken into account here is positioning.

If I have a single output on a fixed projector then I tend to leave all layers out of any mixes so that cat puts them all on my output. I can them manually assign cues on my DMX console to position and scale each and all layers to a specific part of the screen. For instance, upper left or lower right.

When I make my content I take this into account. However, if for some reason I wanted to zoom a piece of content so that everything outside the frame of view didn't show up, I would use a submix as you're talking about.

I think this is what you mean when you're talking about using Layer 1 and Layer 2 over it, right?

If you are using the mix1 mix2 scenario for displaying small windows over your background. Remember you don't have to use a submix to do that. You can just scale and position your higher number layers.

I use submixes for three reasons I'll share below. I am interested in the feedback from other users as to what little tricks have worked for you and why.

How I use Submixes:

1. If use multiple outputs (as well as DH2G and TH2G) and want different or multiple layers on each.
2. I send the same layer to different projectors where the gain, keystone, and general settings are different for each projector.
3. I need different keystone and/or edge blending settings for a projectors (such as a DL1 shooting two different screens).

[Mr_P]

However, if for some reason I wanted to zoom a piece of content so that everything outside the frame of view didn't show up, I would use a submix as you're talking about.

I think this is what you mean when you're talking about using Layer 1 and Layer 2 over it, right?

If you are using the mix1 mix2 scenario for displaying small windows over your background. Remember you don't have to use a submix to do that. You can just scale and position your higher number layers.

You could use a layer - and position and scale it.
However, this then means that you cannot scale the content further within its position without changing its size

In this scenario, Lee is working with pixels - so the 'windowed' position probably doesnt have to move. So mix windows are better

If you are working with projection, (ie a DL1) then the layers method is valid on a cue by cue basis if the area you are projecting on to is dynamic, since mix position are not (yet) controllable

S