The topic Timing discusses three methods of setting cues times. Independent timing is the most exacting way of giving each attribute of each fixture its own fade and wait times. This method, although not complicated, is most often used in advanced programming situations.
Generally, when you write a cue, each attribute family will use fade and wait times as specified in the cue list columns:
If any attribute family does not have a time (such as the Lens family shown in this example), then these attributes will use Cue Time. Although this timing method is very convenient, its limitations are that all attributes of all fixtures in the cue must use the time specified.
Alternately, you can use Part Cues to separate groups of fixtures involved in the cue into new rows to give slightly more flexibility:
Again, the limitation is that all the fixtures in each part must use the same attribute family timing and further still, individual attributes within a family are forces to use the same time. Note, Marquee is limited to 26 cue parts. Independent Timing frees you of these limitations.
To access the Independent Timing display, press [SHIFT][EDIT]. Alternately, you can use the mouse or touch screen to press the Times button:
The Fixture Grid and Attribute Grid look very similar, except that the numbers that appear are in seconds rather than degrees or hertz etc.
The topics Selecting and Setting Fixtures and Controlling Moving Lights outlines methods of setting attributes of fixtures. Once you understand the Command Line Syntax for addressing individual attributes of fixtures, much of the same syntax is used to set individual times.
For example, while in the Times display, to set the Pan fade time to 3 seconds, you could type [1] [THRU] [20] [S2-Pan] [3] [ENTER] which would appear as:
To achieve the fanned (or spread out) intensity times as shown in the image of the grid above, you would type in the command line [1] [THRU] [20] [@] [0] [-] [5] [ENTER] which would appear as:
All moving light softkeys put text into the command line. That is, if you press [S5-Position], the text Position Time will appear, which will set both the Pan and Tilt times. If the individual attributes are currently not visible on [S1] through [S4], just continue pressing [S5] through [S9] (or the dedicated moving light buttons to the left of the encoders) until you see the specific attributes you want control over.
When you have finished setting attributes and times, record the new cue or update an existing cue. Be sure to include the TIME filter in the Attributes masking:
Often, when teching a show, you may have just run a cue and want to add a second or two to a fade. If you have a large number of fixtures already using staggered independent times, such as in the image of the fixture grid above, adding one second to each fixture's fade would be a monumental task. The command line syntax to add a second to a range of fixtures, using their current values as the starting place is [1] [THRU] [20] [@] [+] [1] [ENTER] which would appear as:
This would make the cue shown in the grid above appear like this:
Taking this one step further, you can stagger the relative offset by typing [1] [THRU] [20] [@] [+] [2] [-] [0] [ENTER] which would appear as:
If you used the grid above as a base, the result would be:
Note how Fixture 1 had 2 seconds added to it and Fixture 20 had nothing added to its time.
You can also shift a range of fixtures in the negative directions using the syntax [1] [THRU] [20] [@] [+] [-] [3] [ENTER]. This is a little odd to type because you have a [+] followed immediately by a [-] but on the command line it looks like this:
That would make the above grid look like this:
The Independent Time command line syntax for Wait and Fade times is the same as you would use when editing with the Blue Box. The notation is Wait/Fade. So, if you wanted to set Fixtures 1 through 20 to Wait 1 second then fade in 4, you would type [1] [THRU] [20] [@] [1] [/] [4] [ENTER] which would appear as:
The Fixture grid would look like this:
Using staggered timing, you can have all fixtures in the cue finish their fades at the same time if you typed [1] [THRU] [20] [@] [0] [-] [5] [/] [5] [-] [0] [ENTER] which would look like this:
This would result in this Fixture grid:
Note how Fixture 1 does not wait at all but takes 5 seconds to fade, whereas Fixture 20 waits a full 5 seconds then snaps to its value.
Now, say you wanted to add a 1 second Wait to all of these fixture and not fuss with the Fade times. Type [1] [THRU] [20] [@] [+] [1][/] [ENTER] which would look like this:
Note that the syntax is [Wait] [/] [ENTER]. The [Fade] entry is intentionally left blank. The Wait/Fade times would then appear as:
The combinations of this syntax are almost endless. One more example that shows the power of this command line would be [1] [THRU] [20] [@] [+] [/] [-] [2] [-] [0] [ENTER] which would look like this:
This will leave the current Wait times alone while Relatively Shifting the Fade times down using a fanned range:
All these examples only used Intensity Time on the command line. This was achieved by using the [@] key. If you wanted to use any other attribute or attribute family, you would use the dedicated moving light softkeys or [S1] through [S10] as described above or in the topic called Command Line Syntax. Note that [S10] is All Time.
[S11-Cue Time] (described below) is used for removing independent timing.
If you run cues while in the Times display, you will see live countdowns on both the waits and fades. When the cue has completed, the white numbers on the screen represent the recorded independent times whereas the grey numbers are the times that come from the time columns in the Cue List. Only the most recent fades appear; that is, tracking attributes do not show Wait or Fade times.
Times shown with a dark blue background are from currently un-selected cue lists. See Fixture Colors and Symbols.
If you are in the Times display and you adjust an attribute value, you will see a white delta triangle:
If you have not already adjusted the Level in the Levels display, the attribute will get a delta on its level value too. The reverse is not true. That is, just because you are adjusting an attribute value, it does not mean that you will see deltas in the Times display.
If you do have deltas in
both the Levels display and the Times display, you can still filter either
out TIME during record, update, move and copy commands using the Attribute
Filtering button 
In some instances, you may want to remove the Independent Timing from an attribute. While in the Times display, the [S11] softkey is Cue Time:
The syntax above suggests you enter a number after using the [@] key for setting Intensity times (or any of [S1] through [S9] to set other moving light attributes). If you want to remove the independent time that is already in place, press [S11-Cue Time][ENTER].
Tip:
If you want to remove all the independent timing for a specific fixture, press[S10-All Time][S11-Cue Time][ENTER].
If a cue has fixtures using Independent Timing, the Cue Time field will have a clock icon in it:
If you move the Blue Box to this field and press [EDIT], [S11-Clear Ind. Time] will to remove all Independent Timing in the cue. A confirmation dialog box will appear:
If you are sure you want to have all fixtures follow the times as set out in the Cue List columns, press [ENTER]. If you want to cancel the operation, press [REL].
Note:
The [S11-Clear Ind. Time] softkey is only visible when you are editing the Cue Time field in the cue list.
If you specify Time in the Command Line when typing in specific attribute values, these times will be entered in the TIMES display as well.
See Also: