Re: [LCtalk] Fixture patching

[Matthijs van Duin]

First of all, you still seem to be somewhat confused about how patching 
works.  Patching isn't actually associated with any fixture, it's part 
of the DMX Output.  It's a 512-entry table that specifies for each DMX 
output channel which "source" light channel it should output.

For user convenience, the Fixture Setup dialog allows you to access the 
same data from a different perspective.  This feature was added later 
on, and unfortunately still has some quirks.  I agree that the "refusing 
removal" part can be confusing (though harmless) so I'll see if I can do 
something about it for LCedit 3.4.

And yes, it is harmless.  In the real world, the slightly awkward 
behaviour of the patcher is never noticed because of how people work in 
real-life situations.

There are basically two cases:

1. Fixed assignment:  In this case, you just set the base channel of 
every fixture to its actual base DMX channel.  The patcher is completely 
ignored and left at its default (1:1 mapping for channels 1-512).

2. Variable assignment:  This may happen for example for a show on the 
road, where every time it's set up the fixtures may end up on different 
DMX channels.  In this case, during the first-time setup you perhaps let 
LCedit+ assign light channels sequentially (since they're going to get 
remapped anyway).  Upon arrival at a new location, you completely wipe 
the patcher to all-zeroes and re-patch every fixture to its new location 
via Base DMX Addr in Fixture Setup, which works without a hitch.

In neither situation will you run into any of the problems you ran into.  
Yes, I agree that right now it might be too easy to get things messy if 
you keep repatching fixtures, but why would you do that anyway?

Anyway, while I agree improvement is possible, you're making more of 
this than it is in practice.  And to be honest we do have bigger issues 
to pay attention to.

--
Matthijs van Duin  --  May the Forth be with you!