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www.chamsys.co.uk MagicQ Software Quick Start Quick Start Guide to MagicQ Software Introduction This document is intended to enable you to get up and running with MagicQ Software under Window, Linux or Mac OSX. It is designed to introduce the layout of the MagicQ PC software along with the key functions. It then runs through patching a show, recording Cues and Cue Stacks and show playback. This guide is not a substitute for the MagicQ manual.
www.chamsys.co.uk MagicQ Software Quick Start Simple Generic Console / Test Technician “Simple mode” provides a simple interface for controlling generic dimmers or for testing a single intelligent fixture. It hides the complexity of programming moving lights. MagicQ is still fully running – just the window view is much simpler. It is possible to change between the two modes at any time by pressing the Simple / Norm buttons in the top right corner.
www.chamsys.co.uk MagicQ Software Quick Start Normal Mode The MagicQ Normal Mode is designed to be as similar to the MagicQ console layout as possible to make it easy for users to transfer between the two. The central windows are exactly the same on MagicQ PC as on the consoles; the only difference is the emulation of the encoders, faders and buttons. Normal Mode There are additional modes which can be selected in the top right of the screen.
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www.chamsys.co.uk MagicQ Software Quick Start Screen & Encoders On MagicQ the main operation is controlled through the central window. Around the edge of the central window are soft buttons - there are 12 soft buttons along the top and 4 down each side. The buttons are referred to as soft buttons since their function changes according to the active window.
www.chamsys.co.uk MagicQ Software Quick Start Windows The area in the centre of the screen is the windows section in which the various control windows are displayed. There are two main types of windows – boxes style windows which have large boxes such as the Group Window and spreadsheet style editing windows such as the Patch Window. A window is opened by pressing the appropriate window button. Changing window does not affect programming or playback.
www.chamsys.co.uk MagicQ Software Quick Start In addition a complete configuration of windows called a Layout can be selected using CTRL and the top soft buttons. For example, to select the Palettes view (Groups, Positions, Colours and Beams) press CTRL and the first top soft button. Layouts 1, 2 and 3 are available directly on buttons in the Windows button section. When a window button is pressed, that window becomes the active window.
www.chamsys.co.uk MagicQ Software Quick Start The area around the two large rotary encoders is referred to as the head control area. It is used to alter the parameters of individual heads and apply effects such as fans over groups of heads. Head Control Section The NEXT HEAD and PREV HEAD buttons are used to select an individual head to modify. LOCATE is used to bring all the attributes of the selected heads into the programmer at their default values.
www.chamsys.co.uk MagicQ Software Quick Start The Playback area is situated directly below the touch screen and consists of 10 playbacks each with a fader and four buttons (FLASH, GO, STOP, SELECT). The area above each of the playbacks on the touch screen is used to provide information about the status of the playback. Playback Section The playback area also contains a Grand Master and a Sub Master, Page Select buttons and a Xfade Playback for taking control of Cue Stacks.
www.chamsys.co.uk MagicQ Software Quick Start Starting a New Show On normal starting of MagicQ PC you are presented with the introductory splash screen and the choice to start a new show or continue the current show. Choose Continue Show. MagicQ remembers all windows that were open when MagicQ was last used. To close all windows press SHIFT and CLOSE. Press SETUP to open the Setup Window.
www.chamsys.co.uk MagicQ Software Quick Start To start a new show press the NEW SHOW soft button. This will clear the current show from memory – shows that have been previously saved to disc will not be affected. You will be asked to confirm by selecting YES. There are four modes. • Normal - faders activate Cue Stacks. When recording, all data in the programmer is stored in recorded cues • Theatre non-track - faders operate levels only.
www.chamsys.co.uk MagicQ Software Quick Start Enabling DMX Outputs To enable output of channel data select the DMX I/O VIEW in the Setup Window. This windows enables configuration of the inputs and outputs for the 18 universes. All 18 universes can be used on MagicQ software without the need for a dongle or MagicQ interface. Using MagicDMX Simply connect the MagicDMX interface to the computer. MagicQ will automatically output Universe 1 to the MagicDMX interface.
www.chamsys.co.uk MagicQ Software Quick Start Using network protocols Art-Net / ACN / Pathport. Change the Output Type to Art-Net, ACN or Pathport. All 18 universes can be enabled. Choose which Art-Net / ACN / Pathport Universe you wish to output on each MagicQ Universe in the Out Uni field. MagicQ defaults to outputing MagicQ universe 1 on the first Art-Net Universe (Art 0).
www.chamsys.co.uk MagicQ Software Quick Start Patching Open the Patch Window by pressing the PATCH button. The Patch Window has three views, VIEW HEADS, VIEW CHANS and VIEW DMX. In this section we describe patching in VIEW HEADS. Patching a head is a two step process: first choosing the head, and secondly patching individual heads to DMX addresses. Choose the head you wish to patch by pressing the CHOOSE HEAD soft button. The Window will change to give you a list of manufacturers and heads.
www.chamsys.co.uk MagicQ Software Quick Start In Normal or Hog II Warp mode you specify the number of heads you wish to patch followed by @ and the DMX address you wish to patch them. The DMX address consists of a universe followed by ‘-‘ followed by the channel number. For example to patch 5 Mac250 mode 4 to Universe 2 channel 1 enter 5@2 -1 It is possible to specify the Head numbers at the same time as the DMX address.
www.chamsys.co.uk MagicQ Software Quick Start The gel field uses gel numbers. For Lee colours enter the gel number directly (e.g. 181 for Lee 181). For Rosco colours enter the gel number preceded by dot (e.g. .14 for Rosco 14). For no colour enter 0. If you would prefer to use colour names rather than gel numbers then simply enter the colour name. To test a patched head or dimmer, simply press the TEST MODE soft button (soft button C) and the head which the cursor is over will be tested.
www.chamsys.co.uk MagicQ Software Quick Start Groups MagicQ automatically creates groups when Heads are patched – a group for each type of head. In addition it is possible to generate further automatic groups using the Auto Group function in the Patch Window. Selecting a Group will make all the heads in the group selected. All other heads will be deselected. The title bar shows the heads selected – in this case Spot 1200 head numbers 55,56,57 and 58.
www.chamsys.co.uk MagicQ Software Quick Start Controlling Heads In order to control intelligent heads it is necessary to be able to select which heads to use. The MagicQ console keeps track of the currently selected heads to enable it to determine which heads to apply changes to. The currently selected heads are shown in the title bar of the Group, Position, Colour and Beam windows.
www.chamsys.co.uk MagicQ Software Quick Start Attributes are categorised into four types – Intensity, Position, Colour and Beam. On the MagicQ there is a window for each of these attribute types. Select the required heads in the Group window, then open the required window. You can quickly open all the Palette Windows by holding CTRL and pressing the top soft button marked Palettes – this opens the windows in the layout below.
www.chamsys.co.uk MagicQ Software Quick Start Each attribute is legended around the edge of the main window and can be modified individually using the associated encoder wheel or soft button. MagicQ consoles and Wings have physical encoder wheels. On MagicQ PC the encoder wheels are shown to the side of the main Window as half encoder images.
www.chamsys.co.uk MagicQ Software Quick Start In the Colour Window pressing the COL MIX / COL ATTRIBS button changes to the colour picker. Press COL TYPE to select standard colours, Lee colours, Rosco colours. Press the CLEAR button to clear all the values from the programmer and start making a different selection of heads and attributes.
www.chamsys.co.uk MagicQ Software Quick Start Palettes The Position, Beam and Colour Windows contain a list of all the associated Position, Beam and Colour Palettes. When heads are patched the system automatically generates palettes for each attribute type. You can record new palette entries, or modify existing ones as required. It is possible to view the contents of a palette by moving the cursor to the palette and pressing the View Palette soft button.
www.chamsys.co.uk MagicQ Software Quick Start Setting levels for Dimmers MagicQ treats Dimmers as a head with only one attribute – Intensity. From the keypad you can enter commands such as 1 @ 50 ENTER 1 THRU 4 @ FULL ENTER It is also possible to use the Intensity Window by pressing the INT button. This window displays a fader for each dimmer and head patched onto the console. Pressing the slider part of the fader sets the appropriate level.
www.chamsys.co.uk MagicQ Software Quick Start Adding in FX To add a FX to some heads, select the heads then from the Group Window or the Prog Window press the ADD FX soft button. Choose the Waveform FX to add. MagicQ has two types of Waveform FX – those that are designed for specific attributes – for example circle is always applied to pan and tilt, and Waveform FX that can be applied to any attribute – for example Ramp, Since, Cosine.
www.chamsys.co.uk MagicQ Software Quick Start Recording Recording a Cue To record a look onto a Cue, first set up the look, then press RECORD and press the SELECT button of the Playback to record the Cue onto. To test the Cue, first clear the programmer by pressing CLEAR then raise the Playback fader or press the Playback flash button. Note that recording a Cue onto a Playback, generates a Cue Stack with a single Cue.
www.chamsys.co.uk MagicQ Software Quick Start In Theatre and Hog II Warp Modes the default timing is Cue Timing – individual Fade times on each step with GO stepping from one step to the next. The timing mode can be changed, so that the Cues play back in a theatre style using the GO / STOP buttons. Select the VIEW OPTIONS view and press the CUE TIMING and CHASE TIMING soft buttons to modify the timing mode.
www.chamsys.co.uk MagicQ Software Quick Start Saving your show MagicQ uses the hard disk to enable storage of a virtually infinite number of shows. When you are programming a show the show is stored in memory. In order to store your show on the disk you need to press the SAVE SHOW soft button in the Setup Window. Whilst programming, you should regularly save your show, so that if the unexpected happens and the power fails your show data is not lost.
www.chamsys.co.uk MagicQ Software Quick Start Troubleshooting If MagicQ is not operating as expected then press OUT to open the Output Window to determine what data MagicQ is outputting. The View Heads view shows an overview of the Output data split down by attributes. To view the raw DMX data being output (after dimmer curves, inverts etc...) select View Chans, View DMX. No outputs Check whether Magic is operating correctly by opening the Outputs Window, View Heads.
www.chamsys.co.uk MagicQ Software Quick Start MagicQ software not responding Is the time changing in the status window? If the time is not changing then a reset is required. Use CTRL, ALT, DEL to shut down MagicQ PC. If the time is changing then the software is running fine.
www.chamsys.co.uk MagicQ Software Quick Start Backup Archives By default MagicQ stores an archive of the show files for every quarter of an hour of the day, and for every day of the week. This enables the user to revert to a previous copy of their show. Archive files are only made when MagicQ auto saves – so if auto saves are disabled then no archive files will be generated. If MagicQ is set to “auto save on changes” then archive files will only be stored when changes are made.
www.chamsys.co.uk MagicQ Software Quick Start Tutorial 1 : Windows This tutorial introduces MagicQ, showing you how to open and close windows and perform simple operations using the MagicQ interface. It uses the capture.shw demo show which is included in the MagicQ installation. • Start up MagicQ software. The “Welcome to MagicQ” window should be shown. Chose the “Lighting Demo” option. • If the “Welome to MagicQ” window does not appear then press the Setup button (towards the top right).
www.chamsys.co.uk MagicQ Software Quick Start • Hold down CTRL and press the Palettes soft button to select the Palettes layout. The Group, Position, Colour and Beam windows should open each in a quarter of the window space. • Use the shortcut Layout 1, Layout 2 and Layout 3 buttons to quickly change the layout view. • Hold SHIFT and press CLOSE to close all the windows.
www.chamsys.co.uk MagicQ Software Quick Start Tutorial 2 : Soft Buttons & Encoders This tutorial explains how the soft buttons and encoders around the edge of the main MagicQ window work. • Click on the “All Mac 250” Group in the Group Window to select the Mac 250 moving light heads. Note that the title bar of the Group Window shows you which heads are selected.
www.chamsys.co.uk MagicQ Software Quick Start • Click on the top part of the X grey encoder wheel to increase the value of the encoder and to select different gobos – click on the bottom part of the wheel to decrease the value. • It is also possible to click in the window with the legend for the encoder – clicking below the gobo icon moves to the next gobo on the gobo wheel. Clicking above the icon moves the previous gobo.
www.chamsys.co.uk MagicQ Software Quick Start Tutorial 3 : Starting a new show with moving lights This tutorial starts a new show and patches some Martin Mac 500 moving lights. We will use four Martin Mac 500s in mode 4 configured to respond to DMX addresses 274, 290, 306 and 322 on Universe 2. • Close all the windows by holding SHIFT and pressing CLOSE. • Open the Setup Window by pressing the SETUP button. • Change the View to VIEW SETTINGS using the first top soft button.
www.chamsys.co.uk MagicQ Software Quick Start • Patching moving moving lights takes two steps – first choose the moving light, then second, patch it. Press the CHOOSE HEAD soft button. MagicQ will show a list of moving light manufacturers. Use Page Up and Page Down to move up and down the list. • Chose Martin. MagicQ now shows a list of lights for the manufacturer. Select Mac 500. MagicQ now shows the possible modes for that light. Select mode 4.
www.chamsys.co.uk MagicQ Software Quick Start Tutorial 4 : Starting a new show with dimmers This tutorial starts a new show and patches 44 dimmers. • Close all the windows by holding SHIFT and pressing CLOSE. • Open the Setup Window by pressing the SETUP button. • Change the View to VIEW SETTINGS using the first top soft button. • Press the NEW SHOW soft button • You will then be prompted to erase the show from memory.
www.chamsys.co.uk MagicQ Software Quick Start • Patching dimmers takes two steps – first choose the dimmer, then second, patch it. Press the CHOOSE DIMMER soft button. MagicQ will choose the Generic Dimmer personality. Note that the window heading shows the Generic Dimmer. • Now press the PATCH IT soft button. MagicQ asks you to enter the number of lights and the DMX address. In this case we will patch 44 dimmers at the address 1-1. Type 44@1-1 followed by ENTER.
www.chamsys.co.uk MagicQ Software Quick Start Tutorial 5 : Using Technician Test Mode This tutorial demonstrates how to test a fixture in technician test mode. We will test a Varilite VL3500 Spot. • Start up MagicQ software. The “Welcome to MagicQ” window should be shown. Chose the “Technician Test Fixture” option.
www.chamsys.co.uk MagicQ Software Quick Start • Use the Page Up and Page Down keys on your keyboard to go to move up and down the list. Choose Varilite. MagicQ will now show you a list of lights. Choose VL3500 spot. • MagicQ now creates a new show with just one Varilite VL3500 Spot patched at DMX address 1. MagicQ automatically creates up to 10 Playbacks with useful test functions including Lamp On, Locate, and tests of the movement, colour and beams.
www.chamsys.co.uk MagicQ Software Quick Start • The top 48 faders allow you to control the individual channels of the light. Hold the SHIFT key if you wish to have higher accuracy on the faders. The Output values are shown in the Outputs section. Press CLEAR to clear the changes you have made with these faders. • If you have a ChamSys MagicDMX interface you can connect this to a USB port and control the fixture directly.
www.chamsys.co.uk MagicQ Software Quick Start Tutorial 6 : Recording a Cue and a Cue Stack This tutorial will show you how to record a Cue and a Cue Stack (sequence of Cues). • Start up MagicQ software. The “Welcome to MagicQ” window should be shown. Chose the “Lighting Demo” option. • If the “Welome to MagicQ” window does not appear then press the Setup button (towards the top right). Then press the top soft button View Settings.
www.chamsys.co.uk MagicQ Software Quick Start • Initially the Cue Stack has no name – so MagicQ displays the number of the Cue Stack (in this case CS38) above the fader. The number in the top right is the number of steps in the Cue Stack – in this case (1). • To name the Cue Stack press the SET button and then press the S button of the Playback. MagicQ opens a keyboard where you can enter in the name. In this case we will name it “Test”.
