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Dataton TRAX® 3.0 Manual

1. Type in the two states Off and On for the Mute mode Then continue with the other modes and their states in the same way 296 Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers The Default State The order in which you enter the states in each mode is important Specifically the first state entered into each mode must match the default power up state of the device being controlled The driver won t send any data to the device to set it to its initial state It simply assumes that the power on state of the device matches the first state of each mode Which state is the default one in each mode is often not clear from the device s protocol list Check the user s manual for information about this or try to figure it out from the device itself Some devices may have switches that determine the initial state of some or all of the modes In this case you must be particularly careful to ensure that these switches are always set in the way the driver assumes when turned on Of course you can add cues at the beginning of each show that uses this device to set the desired initial state This complicates the use of the driver however and should be avoided whenever possible Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers 297 Command Strings Look up the description of the device s command protocol in its manual At the beginning of the protocol description there s usually some general information about the formatting and possible hand
2. sssscsseeeeseeesesesteseeees 312 11 SMARTPAX 5 j5 06050cccccci eset sssieenccrnesevnes 316 15 TRANSPAXG 00 o ee 369 Front Patel ccttecst eel hedstelathuclaelaudl mtathced 317 Tape SIQhGl Sosa gecucittencacteseecctedturadercralolalarihe 373 Rear Panell nie tetas sissy A eee Suse tes 324 Front PONG osre ices n ste ta 229 Nn 379 SMARTLINKS 0 ccccceeeseessceesceescesseesseeeeaes 326 Rear PORE al eitenina delved nel n lets nadeaces 388 Power Supply si 2yedseleacdsdi ticicaedancdartevactere 340 Tape Adaptors cccccccssssesesssscesssssseeseeeenes 392 Rack Adlon see oct e ahaa lalict atl abeloiatetan 341 Power Supply s s sssssssssssessesesesesesisessssssrsresee 393 12 TOUCHLINK 0 342 A News in TRAX 3 00000 394 OVEIVIOW On ARANE RARA tet 394 TIAIRUNK ce aen 346 Windows s ssssssseeeeeseisssisseesrrsrrsrissessressresresss 396 Transmitter s seeeeeeeeeeerererterereerererrerererer 346 A G1 REPRE CU TeECT EROER CC ROROR CREE OREE AUBIN ODP oD 399 RECCIVER ssc 82502564 aasv eee cde retells rl let de 351 DEVICES E 400 ET E E EE EEA EAEE 404 14 PAX 355 Preferences cotadetacceuleei cress ctu tuteatote 405 Front Panel c ccccccesssscccceesscceceesseceeseeetsees 356 Using Shows Made on TRAX 2 cccccccceeeces 405 Rear Paneler a N aeeai E A en a alan 363 Projector Adaptors s ssindswveesiveetwetocsteconselss 366 B Glossary 409 Switch Functions cceesceeseeesseesseesseeeseeeaes 367 Power Supply
3. After downloading you must configure each SMARTPAX port manually using the buttons on the front panel see page 321 Check these points if you run into problems while downloading e If downloading in automatic mode make sure that all port addresses used by the devices in the Device window are available in the system TRAX will tell you if it can t find a specific address e Ensure that all SMARTPAX units receive data from TRAX by checking the green DATA OK indicator on the front panel of each unit before you click the Download button e If you have selected the Interactive system mode in the Preferences dialog box see System Mode on page 112 you can only have SMARTPAX units connected to the primary system bus TRANSPAX or PAX must be on a secondary bus routed through a SMARTPAX port using the appropriate driver see the illustration on page 19 Chapter 3 TRAX Windows 69 If you have selected the Interactive system mode in the Preferences dialog box all SMARTPAX units must already have system software version 3 0 or later This version number is shown briefly in the SMARTPAX display when powered up If not select Backward Compatible mode before download ing see System Mode on page 112 As downloading also updates the system software in the SMARTPAX to the correct version you only have to do this once If downloading in manual mode you must connect a single SMARTPAX unit only to the computer If yo
4. The name is used to identify the device internally in TRAX If you make different shows using the same or similar set of devices you should use the same names for the common devices in all your shows This allows TRAX to correlate cues and other objects to the right devices if you copy objects from one show to another woe D Type aspecified v Information about chosen type Port Shows port assignment details Cancel Chapter 5 Devices 115 Device Type Use the Type pop up menu to specify which brand and model of device is being used This allows TRAX to automatically adapt its behavior to the requirements and specifications of the device For example once TRAX knows which slide projector model you are using it will be able to precisely calculate the time it should take for the slide projector to become ready after a dissolve with automatic tray advance Furthermore some devices may have type specific features which can t be accessed unless you ve selected the right type of device In addition to informing TRAX on the device s particular details your selection together with the port address is also used to determine which device drivers will be automatically downloaded into the SMARTPAX control units This is done using the Download button in the Device Support window see Device Support on page 63 Device Information Database The Information button next to the Type pop up menu
5. The precedence of the symbols is roughly equal to their order on the menu although some symbols are actually at the same precedence level Highest Ea LEON lt p Sp gt r 2y p F amp Lowest You can use parenthesis to override this built in order of precedence if desired For example if you would like the expression shown above to be evaluated as add 3 and 5 then multiply the result by 5 you can write it like this 3 5 4 This means the addition will be performed before the multiplication thereby achieving the desired order of evaluation If you re unsure about the result of an expression you can try it out as described under Evaluating Task Conditions on page 59 Chapter 4 Menus and Commands 97 Arithmetic Symbols The arithmetic symbols multiplication division addition and subtraction of whole and fractional numbers behave as you would expect Note however that an expression involving only whole numbers always give a whole number as its result for example 7 2 results in 3 In order to obtain any fractional part of the result at least one of the values must have a fractional part even if itis zero 7 0 2 results in 3 5 The Remainder symbol backslash gives the remainder of a whole number division suchas 7 2 In this case the result of the whole number division is 3 with one left over Thus 7 2 equals 1 When used with time values the type of the result
6. Chapter 7 Cues 215 Perform Conditionally Use this checkbox at the bottom of the Control cue s dialog box to ensure that all devices needed to successfully run the timeline are available i e not owned by other tasks with the same or higher priority If all devices assigned to the control cue are available the control cue will not be performed Conversely if any of the devices are not available the control cue will be performed This can be used for example to conditionally stop the timeline Or it can start another timeline instead providing an alternative function if all the required devices can t be accessed such as displaying a message to the operator user In addition to checking that all required devices are indeed available the control cue will also claim ownership of all those devices Thus after getting past such a control cue successfully you know that you now own all devices you need and you can proceed safely You may want to use this feature at the beginning of timelines where you know that other timelines may be using the same devices In this way you can make the timelines mutually exclusive based on a set of devices deemed to be critical for each timeline to perform successfully This set can include all devices to be used by the timeline or a critical sub set For example if you have a timeline that runs a slide show as well as controls the houselights you may want it fo run provided that all the slide p
7. EBU 25 fps SMPTE 30 fps Cancel Record Click the Record button in the status window to display the TRANSPAX Recording dialog box To play the timecode connect LINE OUT of the timecode track to the PLAY input on the TRANSPAX You can use the input either on the front or the back Set the timecode track to Play or Repro mode play the tape and adjust the play back level if possible until the TAPE OK indicator on the TRANSPAX front panel is steady Make sure the CODE selector on the TRANSPAX front panel is set in the SMPTE EBU position Chapter 15 TRANSPAX 375 Control Signal Recording JaJa ddjdd Je Timecodebeing Control signal read back being recorded The timecode will be displayed in the Position field of the tape device s status window If you re using the autolocator or remote control feature then start the tape using the play button in the status window rather than the play button on the player itself Please refer to Synchronizing to Timecode on page 223 for information on how to synchronize a timeline to the timecode The final show can be recorded onto a separate control signal track on the tape This allows you to run the show without using the computer simply by feeding the control signal into the first unit in the control unit chain This can be a TRANSPAX a SMARTPAX or a PAX as they re all equipped with a control signal input on the front panel The first unit in the
8. Modes and States Once you re done with the paperwork you can start entering the results into the Mode and State lists in the dialog box In the Before You Begin section you were encouraged to use a separate piece of paper for each logical group of commands Put a title at the top of each of these papers giving each group of commands the name of the mode they affect Mod Stat 2 2 s The list on the left shows some of the commands for the IN1224 with each Source Video 1 group titled with the proper mode name Video 2 The names of the modes and commands have been chosen to be as descriptive Video 3 as possible in order to simplify the use of the driver We re not yet concerned with the actual ASCII strings needed to perform these commands only with ROB Bypass the names of the commands and the modes which they control Mule oF The names of the modes will go into the Mode list in the dialog box Likewise On the names of each individual command will go into the State list It is called a Volume Valve zane state because the command when executed by the device will cause the spec ified mode of the device to be set to that state All the states within each mode Gamma Curve lt n gt must be mutually exclusive For example in the list to the left the Source mode Some of the IN1224 commands can only be in one of the possible states at a time it is not possible to select both Video 2 and RGB Bypass simultaneous
9. Show Device Status on the Object menu keyboard shortcut Command R SHORTCUT By selecting Double clicking Opens Device Status in the Preferences dialog box the status window can be opened by simply double clicking the device Close Box F te l To close any window click its close box or choose Close Window on the File menu 20 Chapter 3 TRAX Windows TRAX Main Windows File Edit Object Device Cue Symbol Window D w Pa a icons representing a O fa Ey SE rm wo e o devices in the system Chi Ch s ao Door Up D DO mae EA wot Tom Ch2 Ch4 chi Yol B Vol L Yol CD Device Support oon Tape Sony PUW 2800P window Haing al E Tape Sony SV0 5800 supported devices E Tape Sony SU0 5800P E Tape Sony UUW 1200 E Tape Sony UJW 1200P Task window listing all the tasks with their v m Tape Sony UVW 1400P on C Tape Sony UUW 1600 starting conditions and Ce Tape Sony UUW 1600 actions e aan Timeline window opened by double clicking the Action field of the first task in the list Chapter 3 TRAX Windows 21 Moving and Resizing Move a window to its desired position on the monitor or to another monitor Windows by dragging the window s title bar TRAX remembers the window s position and restores the window to its designated position the next time it is opened NOTE When opening the show on a computer with a smaller
10. greater than or less than symbols on the Chapter 3 TRAX Windows 59 Running the Tasks Click the play symbol in the Task window to start running eligible tasks Symbol menu see page 96 For example the condition Clock Time gt 7 00 00 will be considered true after 7 00 AM and could be used to start a task once at 7 00 AM assuming that its 1 0 pop up menu is set to Becomes True The more elaborate condition Clock Time gt 9 00 00 amp Clock Time lt 17 00 00 combined with While True will start the task repeatedly between 9 00 AM and 5 00 PM To activate the system run mode click the play symbol in the lower left corner of the Task window This causes TRAX to start scanning the list of Conditions activating any tasks whose starting conditions are met E Task My Show E SHORTCUT To activate the system run mode you can also press Com mand space bar from any non modal window in TRAX When a task is started its action field is highlighted For timeline tasks you can also see the timeline run if the timeline window is open While the system is running you may switch to other TRAX windows already on the screen or operate simulated panel devices through their status windows You may not however open new windows scroll windows or give any other commands Doing so will automatically terminate the system run mode 60 Chapter 3 TRAX Windows Re sizing
11. Any data outside this range is always displayed in the xx format You can force TRAX to display all bytes in the string in HEX form by checking the Hex check box in the main Serial Device Driver dialog box This is practical if you re working on a non ASCII driver for example to control a MIDI device it prevents TRAX from possibly displaying some data bytes using their ASCII orm This special character tells SMARTPAX to insert a numeric value at this position in the string The actual numeric value isn t determined until you use a Trigger cue to activate this command Use the fields at the bottom of the Driver String dialog box to specify the format and range of the numeric value This special character introduces a delay in the data stream which may be required by some devices If you notice that the device sometimes fails to execute commands properly when sent in rapid succession you should first look for any handshaking capabilities see Handshaking on page 275 If handshaking is not available you may still be able to adapt the driver to the device by adding the required delays The duration of the delay introduced by this special character is determined by the Delay in Strings field in the Driver Settings dialog box Inserting multiple successive delay characters increases the delay time by the corre sponding amount Different delay times may be required for different commands The Delay character is typically only
12. Page amp 1 Background 4 Color ij Ext People Limit Pagola in rogi Sow SINT line Finally adjust the task s starting condition to compare the visitor counter to the limit counter instead of a fixed value 260 Chapter 9 Interactivity Branching Starting point nm Jump IDO Passage If you want to create a traditional menu based interactive system where the user is led through a hierarchy of selections then use separate timelines for each branch Such a system usually leads the user through a number of levels with a choice to be made at each level Generally you should try to keep the number of levels as well as the number of choices at each level to a minimum to avoid confusion When designing such a system start by drawing the menu structure This is often depicted as a tree where the starting point is at the root Each branching point node is associated with specific information and buttons usually presented on a touch panel When the user makes a choice at a node that will take him to the next node This can be a direct jump or it can be a passage which presents some information along the way Such an interactive presentation can be created in TRAX using a TOUCHLINK touch panel for the user interface A TOUCHLINK page represents each node in the tree Timelines run the mini shows along the passages between nodes Most of the pr
13. Table of Contents 1 Introduction Welcome cccescessecessecessecsseeesseensecsseessseeesteess Computer Requirements scceesseeeeereeeeeeees 2 Software Installation c cccceeeseeeseeseeeseeeseeseees 3 Upgrading from a Previous TRAX Version 4 2 System Overview 0 ccc 6 Dataton Control Units c0 cssesosersssesoesesssoeees 9 Software Overview ccccceceesecesesseesseeseceeeeeees 12 System Modes cic caencacecinernccrecseaccnemenneonedaisacsexe 16 3 TRAX Windows 20 Device Window ss sssisiscsdassevsssvnsssessvessoessnsssessaees 23 Device Status Windows c cceccccsseesseseeseeeees 28 Timeline Window 0 cccccesscessesesseesseestseeesees 29 Task Window s 2 aescseiadodadsscsonsaosstesonssensdansecaaceos 51 Device SUpport siirre iis 63 4 Menus and Commands 72 File Menu c3 2 5 icaausenerass Atl cehca tahun ussesatesaees 73 Edit Menu erst css star cals vncdeveidewaniwetieesdadsdeds 77 Object Menu fencscscckacssaceceraueseaserenemserdmstuseataes 89 Device Menu ccccccccccccccccccccccccceceeeeeeeseenaneas 94 Cue MON careieni 95 Symbol Menu s sssssssssassesssesnsesrsrsisesesesssreesee 96 Window Menu s ccesesscssesssesosessessecsessssssesonees 102 New Timeline c0 ccccccesecesseesseeeseesseeeeseens 102 Timeline Settings ccccceseseseesesseseeseeeesees 103 LISP VIEW ccaececresreteecehauettouhicentouhcuter
14. These shortcuts can be used in list view as well The time position of multiple cues can also be changed using the Distribute Cues and Expand Compress commands see page 89 and page 90 Track Assignment Each cue in a timeline window is associated with one of 16 on screen tracks The track assignment is for your convenience only and has no effect on the cue s behavior or device assignment Nor has the track assignment any rela tion to the tracks on a multi track recorder if you choose to record a cue track If the show is recorded on tape all cues will be recorded onto a single tape track To change the track assignment of a cue simply drag it to another track in icon view Press the Shift key as you drag to avoid moving the cue in time SHORTCUT Pressing Command down arrow or Command up arrow moves selected cues down or up one track These shortcuts can be used in list view as well 182 Chapter 7 Cues Device Assignment Device assignment pointer Importing Customized Cues Most cues must be assigned to one or many devices in order to have any effect The exception is the Control cue which acts on TRAX itself rather than a device A cue is assigned to devices by first selecting the cue then selecting the desired devices in the Device window using the device assignment pointer The device assignment pointer is only shown when a timeline or the Task window is active and the pointer is within the Device window Vv
15. Tl eee mel IE z Introduction 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 SHORTCUT Command M tog gles between icon and list views 46 Chapter 3 TRAX Windows In List View the next cue to be executed corresponding to the current time posi tion in Icon View is indicated by a small square to the left of the cue s time display The width of the track cue and device columns can be adjusted by dragging the gray separator lines You can perform most editing functions in the List View just as you can in the Icon View including cut copy paste etc When pasting multiple cues keep in mind that they will be merged time wise with any existing cues at that point in the show which is different from how a word processor inserts text for example You can not drag cues around or re record cues in List View Use the keyboard shortcut Command M to switch back and forth between these views Introduction Drag the gray separator lines to re size the columns S E The box indicates next cue to a be executed Chapter 3 TRAX Windows 47 Selecting Cues in List View Shift click in the time column to select a range of cues Shift click here to select individual cues Selection of individual cues works in the same way in both list and icon views To select a range of cues in list view either drag across the cues vertically or Shift click in the time column to ex
16. Use the BANK selector to set the address range used by the PAX unit The setting of this switch corresponds to the entry in the Port field in the devices configuration dialog boxes BANK Addresses BANK Addresses 1L 10 13 4H 44 47 1H 14 17 5L 50 53 2L 20 23 5H 54 57 2H 24 27 L 60 63 3L 30 33 6H 64 67 3H 34 37 AL 70 73 AL 40 43 7H 74 77 When used with projectors addresses are assigned from left to right front view Thus the address of a projector connected to the leftmost port of a PAX set to 2H is 24 When used with relay functions addresses are assigned from right to left front view This is the opposite of the projector address assignment For a PAX set to 1L with projectors on the first two ports and relay functions on the other two the addresses are assigned like this 10 11 11 10 The last settings 8L and 8H are not used with TRAX Setting the BANK selector to any of these settings effectively disables that PAX unit and it will not respond to any commands from TRAX Chapter 14 PAX 361 LINE UP Button Manual Reset Press the LINE UP button to turn the projector lamps on and off in order to align the images on the projection screen PAX will sequence the projectors automat ically as you press the LINE UP button One of the projectors is left on throughout the line up sequence allowing it to be used as a reference for the others Using special alignment slides
17. Video 1 Video 2 RGB External 1 External 2 External 3 External 4 External 5 External 6 Table 1 270 Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers Alternatively you could view it as having only four states of which the last state takes a numeric value specifying the input number on the external switcher as shown in Table 2 Here lt n gt represents a number designating the input on the switcher If there are only a few inputs on the external switcher the first method may feel most natural However if the external switcher has 100 inputs a list with a separate item for each input would be impractical In this case the second method is certainly preferable Serial drivers can handle all of those combinations and then some but it is essential that you figure out all such details before you start entering the commands into TRAX Video 1 Video 2 RGB External lt n gt Table 2 Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers 271 Hardware Interface In order to get the driver to work you must also have the appropriate cable available In many cases one of the standard Dataton RS232 or RS422 smart links will work This is the wiring of some smartlink cables SMARTPAX Signal 4 TxD gt 2 RxD lt 5 DIR gt 1 Busy lt 3 RxGnd lt 8 TxGnd gt Wire 3480 3486 3487 3487 3488 Device Color 25 pin 15 pin 25 pin 9 pin 9 pin Signal male male female female male
18. on page 159 for more details Chapter 9 Interactivity 251 Virtual Devices System Status Tracking In addition to the real devices in your system such as a lighting dimmer or a video player TRAX also provides virtual devices These devices behave just like real devices from TRAX point of view but they don t have any physical counterparts in the system Such virtual devices serve two main purposes e They can keep track of some system status that isn t provided by a real device They allow panel items to be linked directly to starting conditions of tasks You can use a virtual Still Store device for example to track the number of people in a room By referring to this virtual device you could start a task when the number of visitors exceed a certain limit The value of the virtual Still Store visitor counter can be increased and decreased by turnstiles or other sensors at the entrance and exit doors In the example above you can see the counter named People Note that its counter value is displayed in the icon You also see the two sensors at the entrance and exit In the Task window you see the cues that increase and 252 Chapter 9 Interactivity decrease the counter when the inputs are activated as well as the timeline that s started when the number reaches 10 In this case you may also want to keep track of how much time has elapsed since the show was l
19. on the next page for another possible use Used with a suitable slide sequence the Zoom cue can create a sense of motion or a change in perspective It can start from a lit projector or with all projectors off You should be familiar with the Dissolve cue before using Zoom as many settings are similar In general the more projectors you have on a screen area the fancier zooms you can make As the projectors can t bring up new slides fast enough it is usually not practical to make a zoom that uses the same projector more than once through the effect Zoom Zoom rate seconds step Cancel Sequence Ascend Descend Lamp rate os seconds K Automatic Step to Next Slide ADVANCED OPTIONS O Different Lamp Down rate Lamp Down til Tray Step Delay Standard w Normal 2ZoomOnonly Zoom Off only 198 Chapter 7 Cues Lamp Rate Normal Zoom On Zoom Off HINT Applying a Zoom cue to a single projector makes a momentary flash effect with the capability of specifying a different lamp on and lamp off rate as well as the flash time Such brief flash effects are often used to highlight items in other images or for glow effects The time between each step in the zoom effect is called the Zoom rate and can be specified in increments of 0 01 seconds It is usually a small value around 0 1 second Normally you would have the zoom sequence in ascending order
20. Devices 145 Laserdisc Formats Just like video tape video discs come in PAL and NTSC formats In addition to these video standards there are also two methods of storing the video onto the disc CAV and CLV Many players support both methods The method used is usually stated on the disc CAV Constant Angular Velocity This is the preferred format as it provides access to all features of the laserdisc player It s also faster than the CLV format when locating video frames CLV Constant Linear Velocity This is commonly used for discs intended for domestic use as it allows more video to be packed onto the disc However most players have a very limited set of capabilities when used with CLV discs Common limitations are e Not able to locate exact frame numbers only to the closest chapter minute or second e Not able to show still images or to sit at the located frame waiting for a Play cue before starting to play e Not able to play backwards or at other speeds than normal Some advanced players work around some of these limitations using digital signal processing techniques There are also two variants of frame numbering on NTSC discs When trans ferring a movie onto an NTSC disc some transfer houses retain the frame numbers from the movie Thus while the video frame rate is 29 97 fps the frame numbering scheme of the disc uses 24 frames per second Use the NTSC 24 Frames or Film Time choices on the Time Format pop up men
21. e Choose Copy on the Edit menu e Open the Scrapbook by choosing it under the Apple menu e Choose Paste on the Edit menu The devices will show up as text in the Scrapbook This makes it easy to find the right set of devices for copying into other shows S Device m Scrapbook Projector 1 Device Kodak Ektapro 7000 Address 20 Screen 1 Sequence 1 Tape Beta Device Sony UVW 1400P Address 12 Can Locate Time Lamp Ch1 Device DMX 512 Address 10 1 Vol B Vol L Yol CD EEE Item 8 of 14 Type TRAX text Size 704 bytes 26 Chapter 3 TRAX Windows Printing Devices Editing Device Specifications Although TRAX doesn t have any built in print functions you can still print out the device arrangement of a show using virtually any word processor for example Simple Text To print the contents of the devices in text form copy the devices from the Device window as described above then paste them into your favorite word processor program for printing This can provide useful docu mentation for staging the show as the device list contains details such as the address and device driver specified for each device You may want to add further staging information manually before printing the document To print out the Device window as a picture zoom it to full screen size by clicking the zoom box in the upper right corner of the window Then press Command shif
22. master timeline can freely use all devices owned by the master timeline If you don t want this close relationship between the timelines simply un select the Synchronize To checkbox so that the target timeline will run on its own without any special relation to the starting timeline When synchronizing to a device you can specify an offset between the device s time position and the timelines If you choose Relative TRAX will compute an offset that matches the calculated device position and the current position of the target timeline This is particularly useful if you ve just used a Locate and a Play cue to start the device from a specific position Alternatively you may specify the time offset manually for full control You can specify either a positive or a negative offset This is useful for example when synchronizing a single timeline to timecode from multiple tape reels where the timecode on each reel starts at zero As there can only be one zero position along a timeline you will then have to offset the sync source time for all but the first reel Alternatively you may of course use separate timelines corre sponding to each of the reels The current offset relative the synchronization source for a timeline can be seen at the bottom of the Timeline Settings dialog box for that timeline see Current Control Cue Settings on page 105 This also shows the current synchroniza tion source for a timeline
23. the page using the background see Overlapping Items on page 158 Chapter 6 Panel Design 159 Linking Panel Items to Device Status Properties Linking a panel item to a device s status property 1 Select the panel item by clicking it using the arrow tool Make sure only one item is selected 2 Click on the device s icon in the Device window This displays a pop up menu allowing you to choose a status property An active panel item must be linked to a device in order to do anything Panel items are linked directly to individual status properties of devices For example a slider on a panel can be linked to the brightness of a lamp in a slide projector Or a button on a panel can be linked to the play function of a CD player causing it to play when the button is pressed Likewise an Indicator Bar Graph or Display item must be linked to the status property to be indicated You may for example want an indicator to turn on when a tape deck moves past a certain position on the tape mj Panel Page lt 2 1 Background amp Color _ a M GJH Output Level Numeric Position Transport a Stop Speed gt Pause Record 3 Play Reverse Rewind FastFuwd Locate 160 Chapter 6 Panel Design After linking an item to a device in this way you can further specify how the item and the device relate to each other by double clicking the panel item Your options will va
24. without the need to resort to separate cues for projectors to fade on and off For example a fast dissolve with a total time of 0 2 seconds may look better if the projector that comes on does so slightly faster than the one that goes off This compensates for the thermal lag of the lamp and may differ according to the model of projector used Another way to put some punch into a dissolve is to introduce a small delay a few hundredths of a second might be enough between the lamp that turns on and the one that turns off For fast sequences of slides or when slides are uneven in brightness you may need to override the tray advance delay choosing a shorter or longer delay time This only applies to the particular cue and doesn t affect other cues or the standard tray step delay set in the Preferences dialog box 196 Chapter 7 Cues Fade and Dissolve Curve Shapes The Dissolve cue results in a non linear lamp curve suitable for cross fades between projectors You can also fade a projector lamp using a Fade cue This results in a linear ramp appropriate for fading to or from black Light Light Time Time Nonlinear crossfade Linear fading using using a Dissolve cue a Set Fade cue Chapter 7 Cues 197 The Zoom cue acts as a kind of compound dissolve applying a number of successive dissolves to the selected slide projectors It is useful when you have more than two projectors on the same screen area see Hint
25. 2 Locate Fr PALFrames Time 942 LDP 0 06 40 1 Set Spot Rate 1 Level 58 Ch4 0 09 60 2 Trigger Play Play Speed Normal AutoLevel Beta 0 11 70 1 Set Down Rate 4 5 Level 36 13 9 9 16 26 Chi Ch2 Ch3 Ch4 ChS Ch 0 14 40 1 Set Rate O Level 0 Ich le Norma Oil 50 Chapter 3 TRAX Windows Task Window The Task window lists all tasks that make up your show together with the starting conditions that determine when each task will be started It also contains the play button for activating the starting conditions zm Task My Show EE Show Mode Numeric Position 2 ID Condition 1 0 Priority Action Click here to select the task Click here to activate the starting conditions Adding a Task The Action column contains the action that is performed by the task An action may be either a timeline or a single cue To create a task with a timeline choose New Timeline on the Window menu To create a task consisting of a single cue choose the cue from the Cue menu Link the cue to a device by first selecting the cue in the Action column and then selecting the device in the Device window see page 24 The new task will be inserted before the currently selected task in the list or appended to the list if there s no selection Editing the Task s Action To edit a task s action select it in the Task list and choose Specifications on the Edit menu or simply double
26. Analog voltage controlled dimmers are often a suitable low cost solution for small to medium sized lighting applications Serial data such as the standard DMX 512 and various other proprietary protocols are often used for larger applications Analog dimmers are connected to the Dataton system through an ANALOG SMARTLINK which provides a O to 10 V DC control signal suitable for most dimmers Chapter 11 discusses how to connect devices to SMARTPAX Lamp von Type uaspecitied vy a The current lamp level is also indicated in the device s icon blank when at 100 Most lamp devices allow the use of sub addresses see Sub address on page 118 When using more than eight sub addresses TRAX reserves additional main addresses This is indicated by a message appearing below the Port field The lamp s brightness level is specified as a value between O and 100 Use a Set Fade cue to program this value see page 190 A fading has been stopped by a Fade Stop cue see page 191 This feature is not supported for some lamp devices 148 Chapter 5 Devices Level Enlarge the window to increase the precision of the slider C Disabled Level b g Stopped Status window Configuration dialog box Boost Output The Level device basically provides the same functionality as the Lamp device but contains some features which make it more appropriate for applications involving moti
27. Chapter 11 SMARTPAX Power Supply Considerations Whether a pin on the DIGITAL SMARTLINK is used as an input or output is determined by its configuration It is possible to use a single pin both as an input and as an output for example to drive a feedback indicator in a button DIGITAL SMARTLINK can be powered by the SMARTPAX by strapping pin 35 to pin 34 and pin 37 to pin 36 In this case the common pins 33 34 will be connected to ground in the SMARTPAX You can draw up to 0 5 Ampere from SMARTPAX through pin 37 on the DIGITAL SMARTLINK to power for example small relays LEDs or small lamps controlled by the DIGITAL SMARTLINK IMPORTANT If you have multiple DIGITAL SMARTLINKs connected to the same SMARTPAX the total load must not exceed 0 5 Ampere Other smart links and devices such as ANALOG SMARTLINK or TOUCHLINK may also draw power from the SMARTPAX Additional power can be supplied to in dividual smartlinks if required using the 12V DC INJECTOR as shown on page 345 Alternatively you can power the DIGITAL SMARTLINK from outside To do so connect the power supply 12 to 24 V DC to pin 36 and the power supply ground to pin 34 Furthermore if the DIGITAL SMARTLINK is connected to the leftmost port front view of the SMARTPAX it will supply power to the SMARTPAX as well The current consumption will vary between 0 2 and 1 Ampere depending on the voltage and the load 24 V DC is recommended for reliable operation unde
28. Cut command Command X to remove objects SHORTCUT Pressing the backspace key usually has the same effect as choosing Clear on the Edit menu Duplicates the selected objects This can be used on cues devices tasks and panel items This command does not affect the Clipboard When duplicating devices TRAX changes the name and port address of the duplicates to avoid conflicts Chapter 4 Menus and Commands 81 Duplicating Cues A cue on top of another is indi cated by a thick line below the cues Press the Option key while drag ging to see the distance E Keyboard shortcut Command D When you duplicate cues the new cues will end up on top of the original ones This is indicated by the thick black line underneath the cue J Timeline 1 a Drag the new cues the desired distance to the right a Timeline 1 E 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 JM Subsequent Duplicate commands will now use this distance allowing you to step up any number of cues at specific intervals Timeline 1 32 82 Chapter 4 Menus and Commands Select to End Specifications Selects all objects in the active window Vv WARNING This command literally selects all objects in the active window even those currently off screen This command is available only while a timeline window is active It selects al
29. Design 167 Indicator An indicator is similar to a button in that it has two states called Off and On However it doesn t affect the status property it s linked to it merely indicates its state Most fields in the dialog box are similar to those in the Button dialog box described on the previous pages Indicator On v Above Shape Oval Rectangle Radius C pixels EJ Drop Shadow Indicator On Depending on what kind of status field you have linked the indicator to you can specify when it should indicate on and off using the pop up menu and the value field IMPORTANT You must link the indicator to a device status property be fore you can use the Indicator On pop up menu see page 160 168 Chapter 6 Panel Design The Sound button allows you to attach a sound to the indicator A sound attached to an indicator will be played when that indicator is turned on The Sound button brings up a list of all sound files available in the same folder as your show file and in your TRAX folder Only System 7 and AIFF sound file formats can be used The sound file must remain in the same folder as the show file or in the TRAX folder in order to play and download properly NOTE TRAX will only play the sound when the status window of the orig inating panel is the active window This is to avoid confusion as you may have any number of panel status windows open on the sc
30. Device window Devices shown in italics can not be chosen for downloading Display information about the highlighted device Downloads chosen device drivers The Device Support window contains a list of all the various brands and models of devices that can be controlled by TRAX It also contains buttons to obtain information about selected devices and to download device support functions to SMARTPAX and other units By downloading the appropriate device support functions to SMARTPAX you teach it how to talk to the devices Once down loaded the device support functions will remain in effect until you download again Device Support Pra jectar Kodak SAi 2030 Prajectar Kodak SAU ZG68 Projector SHAGE ZHHH Projector Simda 3262 Projector Simda 3462 Freojector SHBGEFIHHH Switch Dataton 12 volt output Switch Dataton fAirlink v Switch Dataton Digital Smartlink Switch Dataton Mictouch v Switch Batalon PAH E AUB Belay v Switch Batalon PAH E AUK Y Relay v Switch Batalon PAH Belay Download Everything v into Chapter 3 TRAX Windows 63 The Device List The devices are grouped under their various types such as slide projectors and video disc players as indicated by the icons to the left in the list A corre sponding list of devices is also available through the Type pop up menu in each device s configuration dialog box see Device Type on page 116 A checkmark
31. Device window as well as the internal status displayed in the device s dialog box will still update when you run the show but the actual device won t be affected SHORTCUT As an alternative to the Disabled check box you can also use the Disable Device command on the Object menu to disable multiple devic es in one go see page 93 In addition to the status window which allows you to see and manipulate the device s status each device also has a pop up menu for linking its status to tasks and panel items This pop up menu is displayed when you click the device in the Device window under these circumstances e You are editing a task s starting condition in which case you can use the device s status as part of the starting condition expression see Linking Conditions to Device Status on page 54 e You are editing a panel layout and have selected a single panel item such as a Button or a Slider This forms a two way link between the panel item and the status property of the device allowing either to control the other see Linking Panel Items to Device Status Properties on page 160 120 Chapter 5 Devices Device Ownership The ID number of the task that owns this device As TRAX can have many tasks running at the same time conflicts may occur whenever a task or timeline wants to use a device If the device is already owned by another task which has the same or higher priority than the new task trying t
32. Lamp Down til Tray Step Delay Standard w Lamp Up to Lamp Down delay oi seconds 194 Chapter 7 Cues Sequence Ascend Descend under Advanced Options on page 196 This extra delay is required to account for the thermal lag of the lamp in order to avoid chopping off the light at the end of the dissolve NOTE When making multiple dissolve wipe or zoom effects in rapid suc cession allow enough time for the projectors to advance to the next slide The projectors ready status is indicated by their icons in the Device win dow See Slide Projector on page 123 for more details When enabled selected projectors within the same screen area will sequence automatically using their designated sequence orders This means you don t have to explicitly specify which projectors to turn on and off for each single dissolve You simply select all the relevant projectors and let the Dissolve cue figure out the rest Use Sequence Descend if you want the sequence order reversed This can be used for example to dissolve forward through a set of slides without advancing the trays and then reverse the sequence dissolving back to the original slide again Sequence Ascend Sequence Descend No Sequence Before After Chapter 7 Cues 195 Advanced Options Fast dissolves or sequences of dissolves may need some tweaking before they perform the way you want The Advanced Options gives you this capability
33. Most professional laserdisc players allow you to play slower or faster than normal speed The speeds available depend on which model of Chapter 5 Devices 143 Position Chapter Status Field player you ve selected on the Device pop up menu as well as which type of disc is being used Other restrictions may also apply Check the device information for details Use the corresponding pop up menu in the Trigger cue to select the speed in conjunction with the Play or Play reverse command see Transport on page 207 HINT The Speed pop up menu in the device s status window shows the valid playback speeds for the device Check here if the device doesn t re spond properly to a speed you ve specified in a Trigger cue This field shows either the chapter number or the current time position of the disc depending on the setting of Position By in the configuration dialog box NOTE With some video disc players it is not possible to automatically de termine the correct setting for Position By This is due to the fact that these capabilities are also affected by the kind of disc being used see Laserdisc Formats on page 146 Click the information button to the right of the Type pop up menu for details on the selected model You can also use the Position Chapter status field to go to any position on the disc by entering this position and clicking the locate button next to the field or pressing the Enter key on t
34. O This property is read only Input On 1 if the input is activated This property is read only Controlling PAX Relays The switch device can also be used together with PAX for output only functions Each output on the PAX has two relays called W and Y You select these using the corresponding items on the Type menu in the switch device s configuration dialog box Choose PAX W Relay or PAX Y Relay if the same PAX is also used to control projectors If the PAX is only used for relay functions set its OBJECT selector at E AUX and use the PAX E AUX items on the menu NOTE Relay addresses are assigned from right to left on the PAX while projectors are assigned from left to right front view Thus you may have both a projector with address 10 and PAX relays with address 10 at the same time This is the only exception fo the rule that each device must have a unique address Refer to page 355 for further details on PAX 132 Chapter 5 Devices Tape TRANSPAX Connected to Computer This device handles audio as well as video tape Click the Type pop up menu in the device s configuration dialog box for a complete list of supported models Chapter 11 discusses how to connect devices to SMARTPAX using the appropriate smartlink cable Tape Type arpea O Position by Index or Song Number Time or Frame Number Time at Beginning of Tape O e This check box applies only to tape devices contr
35. RS232 break out box with LED indicators for the signals can be very useful when trying to figure out how a device is really wired The Busy input pin 1 on the SMARTPAX port is used to implement hardware handshaking see Handshaking on page 275 This must be connected if the device uses hardware handshaking to signal when it is ready to receive more data The DTR handshaking output signal from SMARTPAX pin 5 is not used by serial drivers If none of the cables above seem appropriate you can make your own cable based on an AUXILIARY CABLE product number 3450 see picture on page 339 This cable has the locking connector that plugs into the SMARTPAX already attached on one end and a pigtail on the other ready for soldering your own connector Avoid using other nine pin connectors in the SMARTPAX end of the cable as they don t lock securely into the SMARTPAX which may cause reliability problems later on Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers 273 Data Rate Parity etc You also need to find out how to set parameters that determine the data signal format Check the protocol manual for the device looking for the proper setting for the following parameters Baud rate Determines the speed of data transmission Common values are 1200 4800 9600 and 38400 Sometimes this is switch selectable on the device in which case you should generally use the highest available rate Parity This is a simple check bit that c
36. Volume Video 3 RGB Bypass 302 Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers This displays the Serial Device Driver String dialog box SMARTPAH Serial Device Driver String Video 1 Enter the string corresponding to Video 1 in the text field Vv IMPORTANT Don t forget fo enter the brackets around the command as specified in the overview section of the test device s protocol description Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers 303 Acknowledge Request At the end of the string you must enter the special character that tells SMARTPAX to stop and wait for the acknowledgment from the device Even though this is at the end of the command you must still instruct SMARTPAX to wait for the acknowledgment as any following command must not be sent until this one has been acknowledged Use the button to the right of the text field to enter the Acknowledge Request character at the end of the string Video 1 CHI Acknowledge Request character SMARTPAH Serial Device Driver String OK Cancel Bahia Format Bechnal vi ripis Hiii Ruto w i Minimum Value Maximum Value Click here to enter the Acknowledge Request character 304 Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers As the following command strings will look very much like this one you can save some time by copying this command string and using it as a template for the next few commands Select all the text in the text fi
37. Yellow 3 3 3 2 8 gt RxD Red 2 2 2 3 2 lt TxD Green 5 6 5 6 6 8 gt TxReady Brown 20 4 20 4 lt RxBusy Orange 7 1 7 5 7 lt Tx Gnd White 7 1 7 5 3 4 gt RxGnd In the table above all the cables are for RS232 except 3488 which is an RS422 cable The primary difference between RS232 and RS422 is that the former have a common ground pin for both the transmit and receive signals while the latter have separate ground pins This makes RS422 more reliable when used over longer distances and at higher speeds The terms male and female refer to the gender of the plug at the device end of the smartlink cable Thus if the device has a female connector on the back you need a cable with a male plug and vice versa NOTE The table shown above is to help you select the correct cable for your application It is not a complete wiring diagram of all the cables Some cables may contain additional components 272 Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers The lt and gt signs in the table indicate the signal direction Thus data is transmitted from SMARTPAX on pin 4 and is received on pin 3 by a device connected through a 3480 smartlink cable The description of signal directions can sometimes be misleading in the documentation for devices depending on whether the device is considered a DTE or a DCE Look for indications of signal directions in addition to the names of the signals An
38. a named mode However for devices that have one primary mode or devices which have only one mode like a simple video switcher with no other func tions using the Anonymous mode generally makes using the driver more convenient Assuming that you decide to use Anonymous for the various video sources then enter the command names in the State list like this Create Edit SMARTPAH Serial Device Driver Test IN1224 Settings Mode Add State Belete Video 1 Video 2 Video 3 RGB Bypass Set Change Cancel Save amp OK Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers 295 Click here to add a mode then enter its name here When entering the items of the State list type each item into the text field below the list and press the down arrow key Do not press the Return or Enter key after each item as this will open the Set Change dialog box If you do this by mistake click the Cancel button in that dialog box to dismiss it and press the down arrow key to continue entering the next state name When you ve entered all states of the Anonymous mode the dialog box will look like the one shown on the previous page Continue by adding the Mute mode Press the Add button next to the Mode title type Mute and press the Tab key to get back to the State list This list will now be empty as there are no states entered into the Mute mode yet P Create Edit SMARTPAH Serial Device Driver Test IN1224 a O Hex
39. a Kodak S AV wired remote control or compatible This provides basic dissolve functions using two three or four projectors and is suitable for simple speaker support presentations using slide projectors only The forward and reverse buttons on the remote control will dissolve sequentially to the next or previous slide The focus button on the remote control provides a slow dissolve which can be stopped at any point by releasing the button This allows you to superimpose one image on another The TAPE input accepts a standard Dataton control signal as recorded by the TRANSPAX tape interface see Recording a Control Track on page 225 This allows you fo run a presentation from a control track on an audio tape player rather than from a computer PAX decodes the control track signal and passes it on to any following units through the OUT connector as a high level digital signal As the signal that comes from the tape player is a relatively weak line level signal the cable between the tape player and the first unit in the chain should be kept as short as possible preferably no longer than two meters If longer cable runs are required you may instead place a TRANSPAX close to the tape player and then run a system cable from the OUT connector of the TRANSPAX to the IN connector of the first control unit Chapter 14 PAX 357 For final playback without a computer connected the control signal from the tape player must be connected to t
40. a presenta tion from the computer or record it onto a free audio track on an audio or video tape for later playback without the computer In its simplest form all you need to do to make a canned presentation is to put all the cues along a single timeline and run the timeline See Timeline Window on page 29 for details on how to use timelines See also Start Auto matically when Opened on page 108 to learn how to make your show start automatically when the computer is turned on A canned single timeline presentation is often combined with sound from a tape deck or other device This can be handled in either of the following ways e By controlling the audio device as part of the programming either free running or synchronized to the timeline e By synchronizing the timeline to the timing information provided by many intelligent professional audio and video players e By synchronizing the timeline to timecode recorded on a separate audio track e By recording a control signal on a free audio track on the tape for subse quent playback without using the computer 220 Chapter 8 Presentations Controlling the Device The most basic way to achieve synchronization between a timeline and an audio or video player is to simply control the player from the timeline Use a Locate cue to position the device at the desired starting position see page 186 and then use a Trigger Play cue to start it at the right moment see
41. a timeline to the sound on tape The timecode consists of a continuous stream of unique increasing numbers By reading these off the tape TRAX knows exactly where the tape is and can make sure that the timeline matches up TRANSPAX can record the following timecode formats e EBU 25 frames per second timecode PAL SECAM e SMPTE 30 frames per second non dropframe timecode NTSC These are industry standard timecode formats which can be used by most professional audio and video systems Choose EBU or SMPTE depending on which video standard is used in your country Before using either of these formats set the TRANSPAX CODE selector in the SMPTE EBU position 374 Chapter 15 TRANSPAX Recording Timecode TEE PETF JJI LILLI A Q N Timecode being recorded on a free audio track Playing Timecode Click the Record button in the tape device s status window to record the time code Connect the RECORD output of the TRANSPAX to LINE IN on the recorder and set the channel in record mode When recording make sure you begin the timecode at least ten seconds before the first cue s position Adjust the recording level if possible for a O dB readout on the VU meter Don t forget to record extra timecode at the end of the show as it is not possible to extend the timecode afterwards Otari Disabled Transport TRANSPAH Recording Control Signal Cue Track Time Code Start At 0 00 00
42. action of a new task see Adding a Task on page 51 NOTE The Cue menu may look different on your Macintosh than in the il lustration to the left On Macintosh models without Color Quickdraw such as Macintosh Plus SE and some early PowerBook models only the full height icons can be displayed This may cause the Cue menu to be chopped off at the bottom In addition to the basic cues on the Cue menu you can also create your own customized cues These cues will also appear on the Cue menu and can be chosen either by selecting them from the menu or by typing the name of the customized cue Using customized cues speeds up the cue entry process consid erably see To Menu on page 180 Instead of adding customized cues one by one you can import them from other shows using the Import Menu Cues command on the File menu Use the Delete from Cue Menu command on the Object menu to remove customized cues from the menu see page 93 Chapter 4 Menus and Commands 95 Symbol Menu Left Bracket Right Bracket Multipled by Divided by Remainder of Divided by Plus Minus Is Less than Is Less Than or Equal to Is Greater Than Is Greater Than or Equal to Is Equal to Is Different from AIM MAIS Oe Ae D pod a Use the Symbol menu when entering starting conditions for tasks in the Task window see Specifying the Starting Condition for a Task on page 53 The symbols c
43. after specifying a palette of only these eight basic colors black white red green blue cyan magenta and yellow Please refer to the documentation of the graphics program for details on how to set the palette and determine color rendering options often called dithering 250 Chapter 9 Interactivity Pages In designing your panel s user interface you may want to limit the number of options presented to the user at any one time This reduces the perceived complexity of the system and can also be used to guide the user in a desired direction Use separate pages in TOUCHLINK to group related options You can use a button to go to another page by linking the button to the page number status property of the panel itself as shown on page 160 or you can use a cue in a task or along a timeline to control it programmatically A Sometimes you need to present the same basic set of options across a range of pages This could for example be a common background picture or a button to return to the previous menu level Then use a background page to hold all nn those common elements Select that background page using the Background arrows on the foreground page When the foreground page is displayed the Background elements from the background page will also be shown and can be operated page in the same way See Pages on page 157 and Background Pages
44. also be deleted Changing a Task s Priority Use the Priority pop up menu in the Task window to change a task s priority The task s priority determines which task will be granted access to a device if two or more tasks attempt to use the same device For example in the Task window illustration on page 51 the task that opens the door has higher than normal priority and the task that closes it has lower than normal priority Assuming that the door is also controlled by cues in the 52 Chapter 3 TRAX Windows Specifying the Starting Condition for a Task Click in a task s condition column to edit the condition Main Show timeline these priorities would dictate that the door can be opened using the door switch while the show is running but it can not be closed IMPORTANT The priority of a task doesn t affect whether it can be start ed or not It only affects a task s ability to control devices currently in use by other tasks Whether a device is currently in use by a Task is indicated in the title bar of the device s configuration dialog box see Device Owner ship on page 121 You can use Control cues to make tasks start and stop each other A Control cue can also be used to verify that all devices required by a timeline are indeed available See Control on page 212 for more details A task will be started under the condition stated in the Condition column Such a condition is based on the various status
45. always put three characters at this point in the string For numeric values less than 100 SMARTPAX will add leading zeros as required If you leave the field width set to Auto SMARTPAX will only include 306 Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers as many characters as necessary to represent the number specified in a Trigger cue Examples Value Auto width Width 3 0 VOLO VOLOOO 7 VOL7 VOLOO7 25 VOL25 VOLO25 150 VOL150 VOL150 The Minimum Value and Maximum Value fields specify the permitted range for the numeric value This will be used to enforce the values entered in the Trigger cues that will eventually control the device Close the dialog box and move down to the Gamma mode Open its Driver String dialog box and enter the string Enter the Value character after GAM and before the closing bracket Don t forget to add the Acknowledge character at the end Leave the Field Width set to Auto and set the Maximum Value field fo seven Close the Driver String dialog box Click Save amp OK in the main dialog box to save the driver NOTE The Save amp OK button is not available unless you have entered at least one state into the State list The following is a detailed description of all the items in the Driver String dialog box Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers 307 Break This special character introduces an ES BUS standard break It can only be used as the first character
46. and maximum values that will be allowed when using this command from within a Trigger cue Use this feature to limit the range of values according to the device s protocol specifications Once you have added all required commands to the driver click Save amp OK in the main dialog box Connect the SMARTPAX to your Mac and to the device to be controlled Download your new driver by clicking the Download button in the Device Support window See Downloading in Manual Mode on page 69 for more details on selecting and downloading drivers Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers 311 Using Your Driver To use your new device driver add a Serial device to the Device window open its dialog box and choose your new driver on the Type pop up menu Serial one Type Test IN1224 y i Port Choose Cancel Clicking the question mark button to the right of the Device pop up menu shows the origin of the driver i e the name of the file it came from as well as its version number which you can set in the Driver Settings dialog box Don t forget to change the version number if you make any significant changes to the driver in the future as it allows you to easily determine which version you have on a particular computer or in a SMARTPAX unit Click the Status button in the configuration dialog box to display the status window of the device This window lists all the modes you entered into the driver as we
47. box i e it must be in the range 10 through 77 and neither digit can exceed 7 In addition you can disable a SMARTPAX port by setting its address to 00 Chapter 11 SMARTPAX 321 DEVICE Button The DEVICE button allows you to change the device driver selection for the currently selected port choosing from the drivers available in that SMARTPAX Which drivers are available depends on how they were loaded as described on the next page Selecting a device driver on the SMARTPAX is a three step procedure Select the proper device type by pressing the upper or lower part of the DEVICE button until the correct icon is displayed The icons at this level correspond to the Device menu in TRAX page 94 Press firmly on the middle of the DEVICE button to move down to the manu facturer level Then press the upper or lower part of the Device button to choose the device manufacturer e Press firmly on the middle of the DEVICE button again and select the model name Press firmly on the middle again to confirm your selection Some drivers may have additional levels Once you reach the last level the driver will be activated and its version number will be displayed briefly The driver version number can also be seen from within TRAX by selecting the driver in the Device Support window and clicking the Info button see page 65 The version number is found at the bottom of the text field This method allows you to see if the driver you have in
48. but going backwards descending order can be useful if you want to reverse a zoom effect using the same slides The Lamp rate of a zoom is usually set to a small value equal to or smaller than the Zoom rate You can use a zero second Lamp rate and a Lamp Down rate of a few tenths of a second to make a tail effect on the zoom The Automatic Step to Next Slide and Delay parameters are the same as for the Dissolve cue page 194 Use Zoom On to leave all projectors involved in the zoom effect with their lamps on This can be useful if you want a very long tail effect on the zoom You can then use a second Zoom Off cue to take out the desired projectors Zoom On and Zoom Off can also be used to create rapid builds more akin to a wipe on a single screen area than a zoom This could for example be an image broken up into horizontal stripes each projected by one projector Chapter 7 Cues 199 Wipe This is also a kind of compound dissolve just like the Zoom cue It applies a number of successive dissolves to slide projectors on selected screen areas It can only be used when you have multiple slide projector screen areas A Wipe is a good alternative to a straightforward panorama dissolve as it introduces a sense of motion or creates a reveal effect You should be familiar with the Dissolve before using the Wipe as many settings are similar Just as a Zoom is more effective with more projectors per screen area a Wipe
49. can supply a PAX from other power sources as well PAX will accept either DC or AC voltage in the range 15 to 24 Volt The current consumption varies between 0 2 and 1 Ampere depending on the supply voltage and external load NOTE When used with slide projectors DC power can not be used Fur thermore the AC power supply must be plugged into the same power outlet as any projectors connected to that PAX unit in order to avoid phasing problems Chapter 14 PAX 365 Projector Ada ptors A variety of slide projector adaptors are available for interfacing PAX to most projectors equipped with a dissolve control connector See the latest Dataton product catalog for a list of available projector adaptors or contact your Dataton dealer for details In addition to controlling basic functions such as tray cycling and lamp bright ness some projector adaptors may also support advanced features such as shutter control electronic home sensing and tray cycle sensing for maximum speed NOTE Use only projectors of the same kind connected to one PAX Use of different kinds of projectors on different PAX units is possible but generally not advisable due to differences in the projectors performance PAX EKTA ADAPTOR 3432 connects PAX to Kodak Ekta graphic Ill slide projectors 366 Chapter 14 PAX Switch Functions Any output port on a PAX not used for controlling projectors can be used to control two switch relay functions Suc
50. chain will decode the control signal and then pass it on to the other units through the system cable bus as a high level digital signal As the signal from the tape player to the first unit is a weaker line level audio signal this cable should be kept short preferably no longer than two meters If the tape player needs to be located farther away from the system a separate TRANSPAX can be used up front to decode the control signal and then pass it on through a longer system cable to the first control unit Vv IMPORTANT To record a control signal TRANSPAX must be connected directly to the computer see Connecting TRANSPAX on page 369 and the system must be in its backward compatible mode You can not record a control signal while in Interactive mode See System Modes on page 16 for more details To record the control signal connect the RECORD output from the TRANSPAX to LINE IN of the track to be used for the control signal Set that track in Record mode and set the recording level in the same way as for timecode recording 376 Chapter 15 TRANSPAX Control Signal Playback see page 375 Make sure that the PLAY input on the TRANSPAX is still connected to LINE OUT of the timecode track Start the tape in record mode either by clicking the record button in the tape device s status window and choosing Control Signal in the TRANSPAX Recording dialog box or if your recorder isn t connected to the TAPE CO
51. control units is 100 meters The system cable bus is optically isolated in each control unit to avoid ground loops and interference Presentation Devices The presentation devices such as tape decks disc players lighting equip ment projectors etc are connected to the back of the control units using the appropriate cables Please refer to the list in the Device Support window in TRAX for a full rundown of supported devices Support for new devices is added continuously as new device drivers are developed Please contact your Dataton dealer if you need to control a device not shown on the list TRAX also contains a built in database with information on each supported device Select a device in the Device Support window and click the Info button to view its database information see Getting Information on Devices on page 65 8 Chapter 2 System Overview Dataton Control Units SMARTPAX The control units act as intelligent hubs or junction boxes allowing up to four presentation devices to be controlled from each unit In addition to simply distributing the information from TRAX to the devices the control units also monitor the devices continuously in order to make sure that they do what they have been told The control units also provide information back to TRAX such as user input or feedback from presentation devices SMARTPAX is the most flexible Dataton control unit It can be adapted to h
52. disc When used with video discs this usually means one full frame per revolution See also CLV The process of synchronizing one device the slave to another device the master This is typically performed using an autolocator to position the slave according to timecode recorded on both devices and then using vari speed to fine tune the slave s position while playing to make it match the master s posi tion See also autolocator timecode vari speed Constant Linear Velocity A format used for disks where the density of informa tion is the same all over the disk Thus to read information on the outer tracks at the same speed as on the inner tracks the disk must rotate at a slower speed This results in the ability to store more data on the disc When used with video discs this translates into 60 minutes per side versus 36 minutes for CAV disks PAL See also CAV 410 Appendix B Glossary condition condition variant constant control signal control unit cue cue track data rate DCE An expression in the Condition column of the Task list which together with the condition variant specifies when the task s action is to be performed This expression is evaluated as a mathematical formula If the result is a non zero value the condition is considered to be true See also task expression action condition variant true Information entered in the 1 0 column of the Task list that specifies whether the task sh
53. either to a device or to another timeline Or it can be free running which means that it isn t synchronized to anything at all except the computer s internal clock Synchronizing to a device allows you to lock a timeline to the time position of any device that can provide such timing information This includes most tape and disc players that can locate arbitrary time or frame positions You must assign the Control cue to the synchronizing device This device doesn t have to be owned by the timeline to be syncronized When using a Control cue on a timeline to start another timeline you have the option of specifying that the starting timeline is to act as a synchronization source for the started timeline This keeps the timelines interlocked until one of them is stopped This allows you to use a timeline as a macro from another timeline e g to repeat a sequence of cues by simply triggering the sub timeline rather than duplicating the cues every time you need them along the master timeline 214 Chapter 7 Cues Synchronization Offset The target timeline in this case becomes more like an extension of the starting timeline than an independent timeline on its own As the starting timeline owns the target timeline it also owns all devices controlled by the target time line The starting timeline will continue to own those devices even after the target timeline has stopped Furthermore a timeline synchronized to such a
54. else O 128 Chapter 5 Devices Switch Real vs Virtual Switch Device The switch device provides a basic on off function It can be used to control anything from a low voltage on off output to mains voltage power relays A switch device can also be an input to TRAX providing input signals from sensors push buttons MIDI keyboards or wireless remote control see AIRLINK on page 346 The DIGITAL SMARTLINK see page 328 is the most common way to interface with basic switch closures In this case you can use up to 32 sub addresses corresponding to the 32 output and or input signals available on that smart link see Sub address on page 118 Switch Kind Real Device Virtual Device Type unspecified v G Function Output D O Output Mutually Exclusive in Group Status Cancel You can use a virtual switch device for example to link a button on a TOUCHLINK panel to a task in the Task list You can also use it to keep track of some state of your system that can t be deduced from any other device status This information can then be included in starting conditions for tasks see Conditions Based On Multiple Status Properties on page 54 Chapter 5 Devices 129 Function Output Input Both Some types of switch devices can be used either as outputs or inputs or both This includes for example the DIGITAL SMARTLINK These choices are made available as appropria
55. etc Used together with the Multiple Faders option this provides a virtual lighting or mixing console NOTE As soon as you close the dialog box the levels will revert to their correct values at this point on the timeline Play the timeline to see the new values take effect in conjunction with other cues Chapter 7 Cues 193 Dissolve Dissolve Rate Automatic Step to Next Slide The Dissolve cue applies only to slide projector devices It is used to create cross fades between projected images It provides detailed control over the dissolve characteristics as well as the sequencing of projectors Determines the time it will take to dissolve from one image to the next in 0 1 second steps For very fast dissolves in the range 0 1 to 0 5 it is often a good idea to specify a slightly slower Lamp Down rate or a small delay between the Lamp Up and Lamp Down parts of a crossfade see Advanced Options on page 196 Select this option to make any projectors that are fading down automatically advance to the next slide position The delay between when the lamp current is turned off and the tray is actually advanced is entered in the Preferences dialog box page 110 but may be overridden should the need arise as described Dissolve iz ras all Dissolve rate i seconds Cancel x Automatic Step to Next Slide To Menu EJ Sequence Ascend Descend ADVANCED OPTIONS O Different Lamp Down rate seconds
56. fading to the specified target level Use a Set Fade cue to program a specific light level or to suspend a fading see page 190 The light level is also implicitly controlled by the Dissolve Wipe and Zoom cues as part of these effects Using a Dissolve cue to fade the projector lamp results in a different fading curve compared to the Fade cue as illustrated on page 197 126 Chapter 5 Devices Hard Snap Soft Snap Light Using Soft Snap to create a flash fade Flashing This check box indicates that the mechanical shutter of the projector is closed Use a Snap cue set to Hard Snap to control this function see Snap on page 204 NOTE Hard Snap can only be used with projectors that have a controlla ble shutter snap such as Kodak Ektapro models Kodak Carousel S AV 2030 2050 and 2060 Simda and Elmo models Specifically it doesn t work with Kodak Ektagraphic models Soft Snap is similar to Hard Snap but is simulated by chopping off the power to the projector s lamp rather than closing a mechanical shutter Thus unlike the Hard Snap this effect can be used with all kinds of slide projectors Any dissolve or fading in progress when the Soft Snap is performed will continue even though the lamp is turned off Whenever you de activate the Soft Snap the lamp will resume its fading at the proper point This can be used to create flash fade and ripple dissolve effects by using multiple Soft Snap cues
57. gets more impressive the more screen areas you have There is no point in making a wipe on a single screen although you may use a Zoom to create a wipe like effect on a single screen with multiple projectors see the hint on page 199 Wipe Sp Name Wipe rate seconds step Cancel Wipe direction D OKK OK OK Lamp rate os seconds Automatic Step to Next Slide Sequence Ascend Descend ADVANCED OPTIONS O Different Lamp Down rate seconds Lamp Down til Tray Step Delay Standard v 200 Chapter 7 Cues Wipe Direction Wipe and Lamp Rates Wipes can be done from left to right right to left center out or from the sides towards the center the last one being the least common Which one to choose depends on the image or images and what kind of motion they convey For example a panorama over a race track with the cars going from right to left should probably be wiped in from left to right as the leading car is on the left side A front view of people running towards the viewer should be wiped in from center and out adding a sense of depth to the transition The wipe s direction depends on the Screen Area numbers set for each projector involved not its physical position in the Device window Indeed these may be opposites if you re preparing a rear screen presentation viewing it from the projector side during production The Wipe rate is the time between each step of
58. input leftmost port only 12V Out switched Common In Common Out Serial Data In Serial Data Out Clear To Send Request To Send Clock Wiring of one SMARTPAX port Power can be supplied to SMARTPAX through the leftmost of the four ports front view Most devices are not capable of supplying power to the SMARTPAX however Thus in most cases a separate power supply is required NOTE Input terminals are optically isolated 324 Chapter 11 SMARTPAX Connect an ACPAX or ACPAX ADAPTOR here for power supply Dataton rack adaptors page 341 have built in power distribution allowing you to power up to ten units from a single ACPAX using an 11 UNIT RACK ADAPTOR or two units from an ACPAX ADAPTOR using a 2 5 UNIT RACK ADAPTOR Vv CAUTION When disconnecting the 24 V AC cable always pull the con nector not the wire The connector is mechanically secured in the recepta cle Pulling on the wire may cause damage or result in bad contact and malfunction later on You can supply a SMARTPAX from other power sources as well SMARTPAX will accept either DC or AC voltage in the range 15 to 24 Volt Current consumption varies between 0 2 and 1 Ampere depending on the supply voltage and output loads AC PAX ADAPTOR product number 3337 and AC PAX product number 3338 power supplies Chapter 11 SMARTPAX 325 SMARTLINKS Use a suitable smartlink cable to connect SMARTPAX to the device A wide variety of smar
59. is highly recommended NOTE If PAX receives any instruction through the TAPE on IN connector during the line up which causes a slide tray to move then the line up se quence will be aborted and all lamps set to their programmed levels Press the LINE UP button firmly for about two seconds to force all projectors to turn off their lamps and return the slide trays to their home positions This allows you to manually reset all projectors for example at the end of a speaker support presentation using a remote control connected to OUT RMT IN NOTE Manual reset can t be used while PAX receives data through the IN or TAPE connectors as this data will immediately restore the projectors to their programmed states Use a Trigger Reset cue instead 362 Chapter 14 PAX Rear Panel PAX Relay Functions Wiring Diagram Power can be supplied to PAX through the leftmost of the four ports front view Most slide projectors are capable of supplying power to the PAX in this way Check the documentation for the particular projector adaptor for details If the projector can t supply power to the PAX a sepa rate ACPAX or ACPAX ADAPTOR is needed The four ports on the back of the unit connect to the slide projectors or other devices being controlled using the appropriate projector adaptor cables or AUXILIARY CABLE see picture on page 339 24V AC W switch power supply Y switch leftmost port only i Switeh Common IN
60. it is not electrically connected to ground or any other parts inside the PAX The four ports are galvanically separated from each other as well as the internal parts of the PAX allowing them to be used for totally separate functions Chapter 14 PAX 367 AUXILIARY CABLE 3450 Power Supply Include VARISTOR 6028 whenever switching inductive loads such as relays and motors a Mount the varistors 1 Brown close to the 2 Red Y Switch load 3 Orange W Switch Le 4 Yellow Le 5 Green Switch Common T Blue Z Violet 8 White 9 Black There are two ways to supply power to the PAX e From a slide projector through the leftmost port front view e Through the 24 V AC EXT POWER connector at the back PAX normally takes its power from the slide projector connected to the leftmost port Check the documentation for the projector adaptor appropriate for your slides projectors NOTE Only the leftmost port front view can be used for powering the PAX in this way The 24 V AC EXT POWER input at the back of the PAX is an alternative way of powering the PAX Use this method if your projectors aren t capable of supplying power or when using PAX for relay functions only See 24V AC EXT POWER on page 365 for more details 368 Chapter 14 PAX Connecting TRANSPAX TRANSPAX TRANSPAX interfaces most open reel and cassette recorders to the Dataton control system It has four main p
61. its window The timeline is created with a default name Use the Timeline Settings command to rename the timeline see page 103 See Timeline Window on page 29 for more details 102 Chapter 4 Menus and Commands Timeline Settings Opens the dialog box for specifying the name and other details related to the currently active timeline window This option is only active when the frontmost window is a timeline window To change the settings for a timeline in the Task list first open the timeline s window by double clicking the timeline s name in the Action column of the Task list gt Timeline Settings Name Introduction Go to 0 05 40 Relative Cancel Tab Key Time 0 00 10 Timeline Start 0 00 00 End 10 00 00 O Stop After Last Cue Plus Time EJ Autoscroll While Running O Current Track Locked 3 click to change Current System Cue Settings Sync Source None Free Running To jump to any time position along the timeline enter the time value here and press Enter To jump relative to the current time position enter a positive or negative time value and select the Relative checkbox SHORTCUTS Typing a or a in a timeline window opens this dialog box allowing you to type in a relative time You can also double click the numeric time readout in the timeline window to bring up this dialog box Chapter 4 Menus and Commands 103 Tab Key Time Timeline Start End Pressing
62. list and click the Download button see Downloading in Manual Mode on page 69 This will restore SMARTPAX to its normal state Some severe system errors may result in a flashing display but no error message Even so performing a manual download usually corrects most such errors If the error is related to a specific port you must select that port using the PORT button in order to see the error message 320 Chapter 11 SMARTPAX PORT Button Press the PORT button to cycle through the four ports as indicated by the four dots in the lower left corner of the display The same symbols are shown next to each port at the back of the SMARTPAX leftmost port a selected As you change the port selection the address and device icon in the display a front view change accordingly Changing the port selection has no effect on the operation of the SMARTPAX ADDR Button The ADDR button changes the address of the currently selected port This must be set to match the Address field in the Choose Port sub dialog box of the corresponding device in TRAX see Port Assignment on page 117 Set the addresses of all ports on your SMARTPAX units before downloading the device drivers This allows TRAX to determine which device drivers should go where and assign them to the ports accordingly The address selection on the SMARTPAX conforms to the same restrictions as the corresponding field in the Choose Port dialog
63. off half the time Once started the flash effect will continue regardless of other fading and Flash ia Start Flashing Lamp On rate 1 __ seconds O Sequence s2 O 8es lt F Time _0 2 w sec Ratio _50_v Stop Flashing O Fade out first Bate seconds 202 Chapter 7 Cues Using Soft Snap to Start and Stop a Flash Effect dissolve cues until explicitly told to stop Thus you can fade the lamp up and down while still flashing Use a new Flash cue to stop the flash effect but now select the Stop Flashing part Decide if the flash should simply stop possibly with the lamp still on or if the light should be faded out before the flash effect is stopped If you select the Sequence option for Start Flashing TRAX will attempt to stagger the flash effects of the selected projectors so that the lamps will be flashed in order This can be used to create a simple alternating flash between two projectors on the same screen area or a sequential animation using three or more projectors Such an animation combined with the right images will introduce a sense of motion This can for example be three pictures of a wheel taken from the same spot but with the wheel rotated to three successive angles For such animations you would normally use a rather slow flash rate i e high Time setting at a 50 or 30 ratio depending on the number of projectors involved and the degree of overlap you desi
64. on page 111 then you must specify which computer port this particular device is controlled through here You can ignore this field if you ve chosen one serial port in the Preferences dialog box If you then attempt to choose the other port TRAX will accept your Chapter 5 Devices 117 Address Sub address new choice and remind you to activate Both ports in the Preferences dialog box The entry in this field must match the address you have set for the output port on the SMARTPAX or other control unit to which the device is physically connected An address is a number in the range 10 through 77 where no digit exceeds 7 See the chapters describing the control units later in this manual for details on how to set the addresses Some types of devices allow the use of sub addresses Sub addresses are used for example to address individual output pins on the DIGITAL SMARTLINK which provides 32 separate outputs Although they all originate from the same port on a SMARTPAX these signals may be used for very different purposes in your system Hence they are represented by individual devices in the Device window All such devices associated with one SMARTPAX output port will have the same main address but different sub addresses Whether you can use sub addresses or not depends on the particular brand and model of device selected on the Type pop up menu in the device s config uration dialog box When sub addresses are allowe
65. or command received from the SMARTPAX Handshaking is a method by which the device can tell SMARTPAX that it is currently busy with a command and will notify SMARTPAX when it is through In this case errors may occur if SMARTPAX insists on sending new commands to the device before it is ready It is important that you select the right hand shaking method for such devices If a device does not require handshaking leave this pop up menu set to None The Hardware mode is the most reliable and is preferred whenever possible In this mode the device will activate a separate signal wire to tell SMARTPAX that it is busy This signal must be connected to pin 1 on the SMARTPAX port see Hardware Interface on page 272 SMARTPAX will not send any data to the device while pin 1 on the port is being held low in relation to pin 3 Vv IMPORTANT Make sure that the handshake pin is actually connected to a live read busy output on the device before activating this mode If the pin is not connected or if there s no signal on the pin to which it is connect ed SMARTPAX will not transmit any data at all Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers 287 The Xoff Xon mode is similar to the hardware mode in concept but is imple mented in a different way When the device becomes busy it transmits a special busy command back to the SMARTPAX This command is referred to as Xoff HEX 13 ASCII DC3 and tells SMARTPAX to stop sending data
66. page 207 For devices that can locate accurate time or frame positions you can choose any location as the starting point TRAX will then also make sure that the device is positioned appropriately even if you start the timeline from any point after the Play cue as TRAX can calculate the desired position of the device With most professional devices you can run the device and the timeline free running for an extended period of time before any drift becomes noticeable This is due to the fact that both the timeline in TRAX as well as the playback rate of the device are locked to very precise crystal frequencies This includes all digital audio devices CD DAT etc as well as most video devices Analog audio players are generally not as accurate however For some devices TRAX may be able to control the speed of the device and thereby ensure accuracy even over very long time periods This applies to some audio devices as well as high end videotape devices normally used for editing Please check the device information database for details on your device see Getting Information on Devices on page 65 Chapter 8 Presentations 221 Synchronizing to an Most professional audio and video devices controlled using bi directional Intelligent Device serial data RS 232 RS 422 or similar can also provide accurate timing infor mation back to TRAX This can be used to synchronize a timeline to the device while it is playing
67. presentation media e Acting as a front end for an AV rack provided by a rental company allow ing the client to control some or all functions from a wireless remote or a touch panel e Acting as glue for devices that are not designed to work together The use of AV media in the corporate environment has proliferated due to the widespread use of computer generated presentation graphics and multi media video projection teleconferencing etc Although most of these media are almost infinitely flexible in terms of their applications the practical imple mentations are often limited by poor integration or inflexible control solutions In order to get the most out of a room full of presentation equipment start by defining the purposes of the room such as e Board meetings Sales and R amp D meetings e Staff training e Customer training e Corporate presentations to customers shareholders school children etc e Visits by sales people and others giving presentations in your facility Chapter 8 Presentations 235 AV Rental Applications Considering the many possible uses for such room the variety of people that will utilize it and the amount of equipment needed it s easy to see the need for control system to bring it all together TRAX can run on a small computer installed in a rack together with most of the other sound and video equipment TOUCHLINK panels can provide an attractive user interface Separate bu
68. provides access to additional information about the device such as model specific features or limitations switch settings programming hints etc This information can also be obtained using the Help Info button in the Device Support window see Getting Information on Devices on page 65 116 Chapter 5 Devices Port Assignment Address assigned to the port using the buttons on the front panel of the SMARTPAX or other control unit Composite representation of the port assignment Computer Port The port assignment associates the device icon with an output port on a SMARTPAX or other control unit When adding devices to the Device window TRAX automatically assigns unique names and port assignments You can change these by selecting the device and choosing Specifications on the Edit menu However you must make sure that the name and address remain unique If not a message will be displayed informing you about the conflict You can either type the port assignment directly into the Port field or use the Choose button next to the field to enter it interactively Choose Port L11 Only used if you ve selected Both serial ports in the Preferences dialog box Computer Port Address 11 Sub address or Pin number 1 Sub addresses are used for some types of devices Port 11 1 When using both serial ports of the computer to communicate with the control units see Serial Port
69. remote a MIDI keyboard or a hard wired push button Most such inputs show up as Switch devices in the Device window For some of these devices you must specify that it is an input or a bi directional signal after choosing the device type see Input Switches and User Feedback below You program the functionality of the inputs in the Task window Add an action either a single cue or a timeline as described on page 51 Then link the Task s Condition to the Input On status property of the switch as described on page 54 See Compound Conditions on page 245 for more details on how to create more elaborate input conditions You can connect a push button or a toggle switch through a DIGITAL SMART LINK connected to a SMARTPAX see DIGITAL SMARTLINK on page 328 Due to the bi directional capabilities of the DIGITAL SMARTLINK the same wire can work both as an input for the button and as an output to drive an indi cator in the button providing feedback to the user Such immediate user feed back is important in all interactive systems in particular if the result of the user s input may take more than a few tenths of a second to appear Wire the switch to the DIGITAL SMARTLINK as shown under Digital Input Functions on page 331 or Combined Input Output Functions on page 332 Add it to the Device window in TRAX and set it either as Input or Both in 242 Chapter 9 Interactivity Sen
70. s the projection distance Do you have the right lenses to handle it Check the room at about the same time of the day as your show will run to ensure that it s dark enough Locate the curtains blinds and light switches If you can t turn all the lights off for example at an exhibition or a shopping mall perhaps you should consider rear screen projection This requires spe cial screen material as well as turning all the slides around 180 degrees If you are using a video projector check that it is capable of rear screen pro jection Is there enough power capacity for your slide projectors Figure out how many power strips you need then bring twice that number as well as some heavy duty extension cords If using PAX dissolve units always power all projectors connected to the same PAX unit from the same outlet in order to avoid phasing problems usually indicated by projector lamps that won t go off This restriction doesn t apply to SMARTPAX Are you going to use your own sound system or plug into an existing sys tem Make sure the speaker cables are long enough and tape them to the floor to avoid accidents If you re going to tap into an existing system check what kind of connectors are used Bring some line level signal transformers to break up any ground loops that may cause unexpected hum when con necting the two systems together Give yourself plenty of time to set up Rehearse everything thoroughly Last but definitel
71. screen or different screen configuration TRAX may have to relocate windows to en sure that all windows remain on screen HE Device Zoom box Many windows can be resized by dragging the size box located in the lower right corner of the window Clicking the zoom box located in the upper right corner of some windows zooms the window to full screen size Click it again Size Box to return the window to its previous size and position Only one window can be active at a time The active window is indicated by stripes in the title bar Most commands apply to the active window or to the objects contained in it To activate a non active window click in it Device assignment pn NOTE The Device window is sometimes an exception to this rule as click cursor ing inside the window is also used to link devices to cues buttons or other E objects This is indicated by the device assignment or device linkage cur Device linkage A ATEA i aces sors In this case clicking inside the Device window will not select the win dow but rather alter the device linkage of the selected object in the active window To activate the Device window in this case click its title bar in stead or choose Device on the Window menu 22 Chapter 3 TRAX Windows Device Window Device E mman Vol B YVol L Vol D Adding Devices Device assignment gt cursor Device linkage cursor All the device
72. shows where you typically use a single timeline driven by the time code from an open reel recorder which also contains the soundtracks Chapter 8 Presentations 223 This can be accomplished using a startup task that establishes the tape device as the sync source for the main timeline e Add a Control cue to the Task list assigning it to the Tape device e Open the Control cue and target the timeline you want to synchronize using its name Main Timeline in the example below e Put 1 into the Condition field of that Control cue task to make it auto start e Press Command space to run the system causing the single cue task to run which locks the Main Timeline task to timecode from the Tape device Device used as sync source Transport 2 ener lt lt ET gt Lo Name Lockeain Dump te timers _ o Cte Ofun Pause Stop the Timeline Name of target timeline Started in Pause mode waiting for the timecode EJ Syncronize To Device Assigned to This Cue w Offset Absolute 0 00 00 Relative CO Perform this cue only if some of the devices assigned to it are in use by another timeline Put 1 here to make the Control cue auto start see Making a Task Start Auto matically on page 58 224 Chapter 8 Presentations Recording a Control Track Pee JJJ JJ Judd Mn A Q N Timecode Con
73. signal level see TAPE Connector on page 318 NOTE The tape signal quality is only indicated by the first unit in the chain to which the tape player is connected This is due to the fact that the first unit will remove any bad data received from the tape so it will not be passed onto the following units Chapter 11 SMARTPAX 319 CONFIGURATION Display Address Port Device System software version Error Q Download message Failure The configuration display shows the current device driver selection and address assignment for the four ports on the back of the SMARTPAX See below under ADDR and DEVICE for details on changing the address and device driver When SMARTPAX is powered up the display briefly indicates the system soft ware version This is normally the same as the version of TRAX used to down load the device drivers If an error occurs SMARTPAX will flash its display and show an error message There are two kinds of error messages system errors and device driver errors The Download failure message as shown to the left is an example of a system error This particular message means that an error occurred while downloading drivers to SMARTPAX from TRAX To recover from a download failure connect the SMARTPAX directly to the computer open the Device Support window in TRAX and select Device Drivers Manual Mode on the pop up menu Make sure that at least one driver is checked in the
74. sometimes called a cue track first quit TRAX then play the control signal into TRANSPAX When playing a Dataton control signal through TRANSPAX a re generated signal is available on the RECORD output for tape duplication purposes TRANSPAX decodes the timecode or control signal and passes it on as a high level digital data stream As the signal that comes from the tape player is a relatively weak audio level signal the cable between the tape player and the TRANSPAX should be kept as short as possible preferably no longer than two meters 380 Chapter 15 TRANSPAX You can monitor the quality of the received tape signal by watching the TAPE OK indicator Although the other units in the chain also have TAPE DATA OK indicators only the first unit s indicator will accurately indicate the tape signal s quality The indicator should remain on all the time while playing the tape Intermittent flickering indicates poor quality or a weak signal Try adjusting the playback level to correct the problem Here are some specifications of the PLAY input which might be helpful when troubleshooting an installation Input sensitivity 150 mV peak relative ground Input impedance 10 kOhm Tape speed tolerance control signal 20 timecode 15 NOTE Due to the sparse modulation scheme used by the Dataton control signal it appears as very weak on most regular VU meters or when using an averaging volt meter connected to the tape o
75. started automatically as soon as the system run mode is activated see Running the Tasks on page 60 58 Chapter 3 TRAX Windows Evaluating Task Conditions Command click the check mark or press Command Enter to display the result of the condition formula while editing it Sometimes a starting condition may not work as intended and you may want to take a closer look at the result of the condition To evaluate the expression you ve entered into the Condition field first click it to activate it this also acti vates the edit field at the top of the Task window then press the Enter key on the keyboard while holding down the Option key This displays the result of the condition In the example below the simple expression Clock Time evaluates to the time of the day Result 14 33 41 00 X v Clock Timd ID Condition i 1 0 Priority Action When deciding if the result of the condition should cause the task to be started TRAX only considers whether the result is true or false A result that is zero is considered to be false anything else is considered to be true Thus the result shown above would be considered true Actually since this is a contin uously running clock it will only be considered false for a hundredth of a second after midnight To make a useful condition based on a time value like the one shown above you would typically use one of the
76. such as the lamps video projector slide projectors video players touch panel etc are represented in TRAX by icons Cues are placed along timelines or in the Task window and determine what should happen when and to which devices See Software Overview on page 12 for more details The TRAX package includes one grey TRAX cable used to connect the serial port of the computer to the first control unit in the chain The TRAX cable can be extended up to 20 meters using Dataton system cable see page 8 You can double the capacity of your system by using two TRAX cables one for each serial port on your computer You will also need additional TRAX cables when making installations using the TRAX Runtime 6 Chapter 2 System Overview h Devices being controlled A Ealesor 090 e U A Control Fal Power unit supply T TRAX cable System cable Wireless remote f Chapter 2 System Overview 7 System Cables Dataton system cables are used to link one control unit to the next These black cables are available in 0 3 1 2 and 5 meter lengths as well as in a kit that allows you to make custom lengths of up to 100 meters The maximum cable length between two
77. t be easily sent using a terminal emulation program Refer to the manual for the terminal program to see if and how non ASCII characters can be sent The proper formatting of numeric parameters in non ASCII protocols can also be difficult to figure out If you encounter problems you re always welcome to contact your Dataton dealer You can also use Dataton s HotFax technical support line at fax int 46 13 10 24 51 or send e mail to support dataton se Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers 277 Editing an Existing Driver Select Device Drivers Manual Mode to reveal the Create and downioad Edit buttons To familiarize yourself with the look and feel of a serial driver you can open one of the sample serial drivers included on the TRAX distribution disk To open the driver move it to the same folder as the TRAX application then start TRAX by double clicking the application program NOTE You can t open driver files by double clicking the file itself You must move it to the TRAX folder before you start TRAX and then open it from within TRAX SS Device Support 5 Serial Barco Vision 1200 fv Serial Barco Vision 1600 fv Serial Barco Vision 700 fv Serial Extron Switcher 8 Serial Grass Valley Model 110 fr Serial Inline IN1222 fv Serial Inline IN1422 fr Serial Inline IN1510 fr Serial Inline Pathfinder fr Serial Kramer UIS 4 4 fr Serial Sierra Model 44 fr Seria
78. tape device 135 with video disc device 143 145 turn key installation 114 twinkle 202 type pop up menu in device 116 U undo command 77 ungroup command 91 unlock command 92 upgrading from TRAX version 2 4 394 user bits in timecode 337 422 v value field in Serial device 154 value substitution in cues 181 value for device specific mode 139 Video Disc device chapter 144 configuring 143 disc formats 146 playback speed 143 position of 144 status properties 140 video output 145 video disc device playing backwards 143 virtual devices 122 252 422 virtual Switch device 129 volume control 335 volume of audio disc device 142 Index 439 WwW weekday 258 window menu 102 windows closing 73 moving and resizing 22 note 398 399 opening and closing 20 102 tape control 397 402 wipe 200 direction of 201 lamp rates 201 with slide projector 126 wireless remote control 346 Z zoom 198 lamp rates 199 sequencing of 199 with slide projectors 126 440 Index
79. the Ahead option TRAX will first attempt to search ahead from the current time position of the target timeline If the named con trol cue isn t found it will then also search backwards So this option will find the named control cue regardless of where it is on the target timeline You can use the Control cue to create loops on a timeline by jumping back to a point earlier on a timeline and repeating a section of cues To exit the loop either use the QuickFind feature see page 88 or a Control cue in the Task window or on another timeline forcing the looping timeline past the loop back cue See page 229 for an example of how to program a loop Chapter 7 Cues 213 Run Pause Stop Runs pauses or stops the target timeline This is similar to clicking the corre sponding buttons in the lower left corner of the timeline window Stopping the timeline also releases any devices owned by it so they can be used by other tasks Vv CAUTION If you pause a timeline and it then remains paused indefinitely it will retain ownership of all its devices This can cause problems if other tasks need fo access those devices Thus when you don t want a timeline to continue to run any longer you should select Stop rather than Pause Use Pause only when you intend to re start the timeline again shortly Synchronize To This pop up menu allows you to determine the synchronization source for the target timeline A timeline can be synchronized
80. the current track Introduction Chapter 3 TRAX Windows 43 If the cues are scattered over several tracks or if you just want to re record specific cues in the middle of the show then manually select the cues before you click the record symbol in the bottom left corner of the timeline window If you want some pre roll before synchronizing the first cue type a minus sign and the desired pre roll time after selecting the cues This will move the current time position back by the specified amount without deselecting the cues To start re recording click the play symbol in the lower left corner of the time line window then tap the spacebar to re record each cue IMPORTANT If the timeline is synchronized to a device which can not be controlled by TRAX such as a tape deck interfaced through a TRANSPAX not using a locator adaptor or remote cable you must press the play button on the tape deck instead of the one in the timeline window When you click the play symbol the selected cues are temporarily moved into a synchronization stack with only the topmost cue visible Tap the space bar to re record each cue If you make any mistakes while re recording the cues simply choose Undo on the Edit menu to restore all the re recorded cues to their previous positions NOTES Cues retain their tracks when re recorded Grouped cues are re recorded together with one tap of the space bar Re recording is not avail able in
81. the Tab key while a timeline window is active moves you forward along the timeline by the amount specified in this field Pressing Shift Tab moves backward by the same amount This is convenient if you often work with a particular amount of time like the time corresponding to one video frame Setting the Tab Amount to 0 04 allows you to move forward or backward one video frame at a time assuming a PAL video rate use 0 03 to approximate one NTSC frame You can nudge cues by the amount specified here by first selecting the cues and then pressing Command Tab moves forward or Command shift Tab back wards These fields determine the beginning and the end of the timeline Normally the timeline starts at 0 00 00 However if used with timecode from tape you may want to offset the beginning of a timeline to match the starting time of the time code The End field is initially set at ten minutes It will be moved forward automati cally by one minute if a cue is placed closer than fifteen seconds from the current end point Pre setting the end of the show before you start program ming assuming that you know the length of the final show in advance keeps the display of the horizontal scroll bar along the bottom of the timeline window consistent throughout the production process making it more useful as a time of show indicator It is not possible to set the end point closer to the starting point than ten minutes 104 Chapter 4 Menus and
82. the columns Drag here to re size columns To run an individual timeline without running the entire system open the time line window and click its play button See Running the Timeline on page 41 for more details HINT To activate the system run mode automatically when the show is opened choose Start Automatically when Opened in the Preferences di alog box see page 108 The columns in the Task window can be resized by dragging the gray sepa rator lines BEE Task My Show HINT To see long condition expressions click on the task This causes the condition to be displayed in the edit field at the top of the Task window Chapter 3 TRAX Windows 61 Referring to Tasks by ID Number The ID number of the task that owns this device Each task is identified by a number in the leftmost column of the Task window This number unambiguously identifies the task as the owner of a particular device or in error messages pertaining to the task To see if a device is owned by a task open the device s configuration dialog box by selecting it in the Device window and choosing Specifications on the Edit menu Video Disc Owned by Task ID 2 gt Type Position by Chapter Number Time or Frame Number Cancel 62 Chapter 3 TRAX Windows Device Support A device driver automatically chosen for downloading according to the current configuration of the devices in the
83. the corresponding devices inside TRAX see Digital Input Functions on page 331 This information can then be combined into arbitrarily complex starting condi tions for the tasks see Specifying the Starting Condition for a Task on page 53 NOTE TRAX must be in its Interactive system mode in order to use such inputs See System Modes on page 16 Another kind of active input which goes hand in hand with multiple timelines is the ability to synchronize any timeline to any device in the system capable of supplying timing information This includes most tape and disc devices See Synchronizing a Timeline to a Device on page 42 Touch panels are commonly used in both interactive applications and for more traditional environment and remote control functions TRAX version 3 includes all you need to design an elegant user interface for your presentation as well as integrating it into the system seamlessly Learn all about this in Chapter 6 Appendix A News in TRAX3 395 Timeline Window Timeline Settings Some specialized windows from TRAX version 2 such as the Note and Tape Control window have been removed Their functionality has been incorpo rated into devices as described below Most other windows have been enhanced There s one small but important change in the timeline window it now has four buttons in the lower left corner instead of three The Pause button is new and corresponds function
84. the documentation for your drawing program for details Chapter 6 Panel Design 175 Picture Options These options apply only to mono chrome pictures Click this button to restore the picture to its original size Although most aspects of pictures can t be changed in TRAX there are some details you can influence You can for example re size the picture by drag ging any of its four corners Sometimes this may result in a jagged picture depending on the origin of the picture Pictures from Draw programs usually look better when re sized than pictures from Paint programs You can use the Reset Size button in the picture s dialog box to restore the original size of a picture Picture Monochrome Picture Options me l Color E Background Transparent l Color Color Allows you to colorize the pixels of a monochrome picture Background Colorizes the background of monochrome pictures By default the background of monochrome pictures appears transparent NOTE The settings inside the Monochrome Pictures Options box apply only to originally black and white pictures 176 Chapter 6 Panel Design Testing a Panel Downloading Your Panel Design to TOUCHLINK There are two ways you can test your panel within TRAX without actually using a real physical panel device e By running the panel on its own controlling only the devices directly linked to its items e By runni
85. the driver name is replaced by a space in the file name You can freely change the name of the driver s file from the Finder without affecting the name of the driver itself To change the name of the driver open the Driver Settings dialog box and enter a new name Vv IMPORTANT Do not move the driver file away from the TRAX folder TRAX will not recognize driver files unless they are in the same folder as TRAX when the program is started Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers 283 Version Enter your name here When the driver is first created TRAX automatically enters the name from the Owner Name field in the Mac OS Sharing Setup control panel This number identifies the version number of your driver You should update this number whenever you make any significant changes or additions to the driver The version number is shown in the SMARTPAX display when the driver is selected using the DEVICE button on the front panel If you have made enhancements to a driver it s easy to tell which version is being loaded into a particular SMARTPAX unit by choosing it and reading the DrvVer xx that s briefly shown in the display see DEVICE Button on page 322 TRAX also uses the version number when choosing among multiple drivers having the same type and name Although it is not advisable it is possible to have two files with different file names containing a driver with the same name In this case TRAX will chose
86. the front as described on the next page In order to use it with TRAX for fully interactive applications you must connect the receiver to the back of the SMARTPAX and use the appropriate device driver Chapter 13 AIRLINK 353 Connecting to PAX or Connect AIRLINK RECEIVER to the IN port on a PAX or SMARTPAX for direct SMARTPAX for Slide Control control of up to four slide projectors see Slide Projector Control on page 349 If you re using PAX then set its BANK selector at 1L and its OBJECT selector according to the type of projector being used see Chapter 14 Connect the projectors using the relevant projector adaptor cables starting with the leftmost port front view If you re using a SMARTPAX then select the appropriate device driver and address beginning with address 10 for the first projector see Chapter 11 for details Connect the projectors with the relevant smartlink cables starting with the leftmost port front view Vv IMPORTANT When turning on the system you must make sure that all projectors are turned on before or at the same time as the power to the PAX or SMARTPAX If the control unit is powered from the projectors this is normally not a problem The easiest way to do it is by turning on all projectors using a common power switch If you turn on the projectors one by one you must turn on the projector connected to the leftmost port front view last as this projector supplies power to the PAX SMAR
87. the list to navigate to other disks and folders Opens an existing show This will bring in all its devices tasks timelines cues etc It will also open and position the windows exactly as they were when the show was last saved If Start Automatically when Opened was selected when the show was saved it will also be started automatically see Start Automati cally when Opened on page 108 S Dataton TRAH Y Steve s Shows As TRAX can only have one show open at a time the current show will be closed before opening the new one If you have made any changes to the current show you will be prompted to save those changes before opening the new show 74 Chapter 4 Menus and Commands Save Saves the entire show including all the elements listed under Open Show on the opposite page The first time you use the Save command a dialog box prompts you for a name Subsequent saves will save the show under this name Dataton TRAH Y HD Choose a folder to save into Desktop or create a new folder Save show as Enter the name for the show here fe save and click the Save button NOTE When saving a show TRAX first writes to a temporary file named TRAX_TMP_xx with xx being a unique character combination Once the save is completed the original file is deleted and the temporary file re named with the correct name This two tiered approach protects you in the unlikely event of a power f
88. the recording level The output signal on the RECORD connector is 1 V peak over 10 kOhm The signal frequency varies between 1 and 3 kHz depending on type of signal This input serves the same purpose as the PLAY input on the front Use only one of these inputs at a time Chapter 15 TRANSPAX 391 Tape Adaptors A range of adaptor cables is available for controlling most professional tape recorders through the TAPE CONTROL output This offers the following capa bilities e Auto present functions using cassette or open reel players for fixed instal lations Use the MODE selector to choose the desired function for stand alone operation or program the transport functions through TRAX e Basic remote control functions using the device s status window in TRAX e Full autolocator capabilities together with most professional open reel re corders equipped with a locator or synchronizer socket The autolocator feature is a great time saver when producing presentations As you move along a timeline the tape can be automatically positioned accord ingly For recorders not equipped with autolocator capabilities you may be able to use a simple remote control cable for basic tape transport functions This also allows you to take advantage of the auto present functions built into TRANSPAX See TAPE CONTROL Connector on page 388 for more details Contact your Dataton dealer for information on compatibility with specific tape re
89. the wipe effect and is usually in the range of tenths of a second A higher number results in a slower wipe The Lamp rate is the dissolve rate used for each screen and may be greater than the Wipe rate You can specify a Different Lamp Down rate resulting in a tail effect However too much of a difference may make the transition look clumsy You may also use a smaller value here to remove the old image first before the new one comes up for example a zero second Lamp Down rate on a one second Lamp up rate See the Dissolve cue on page 194 for the remaining settings Chapter 7 Cues 201 Simple Flash Effects Stopping a Flash The Flash cue applies to slide projectors only It initiates a flash effect that can be used either for a single projector flash i e to highlight a city on a map or a sequential flash effect used in multi projector animations To make a simple flash effect select the projector or projectors to flash and make sure that the Sequence option in the Flash dialog box is unchecked Specify the Lamp On rate for projectors that are to be turned on this param eter has no effect if they re already on Use the Time and Ratio pop up menus to fine tune the flash effect The Ratio parameter determines the duty cycle of the projector lamp For fast flash effects this primarily affects the brightness but for moderate and slow flashes the duty cycle is readily apparent It is normally set to 50 on half the time and
90. they are The two buttons in the bottom right corner of the Device Support window allow you to create and edit Serial device drivers Such drivers can be used to control most devices equipped with some kind of serial data input RS232 RS422 MIDI etc This is useful if you need to control this kind of device when there is no standard driver available Please refer to Chapter 10 for details on how to create such drivers NOTE These buttons are only visible when Device Drivers Manual Mode is selected on the pop up menu at the bottom of the Device Support window Chapter 3 TRAX Windows 71 4 MENUS AND COMMANDS This reference chapter describes all the menu related commands in TRAX as well as the dialog boxes accessed through menu commands ending in an ellipsis New Show Open Show 0 Close Window W The menus can be grouped into four kinds Save S Save As e The File menu provides standard system wide functions like saving and loading from disk quitting the program etc Import Menu Cues i e The Edit and Object menus provide the commands used to manipulate the various objects These commands operate on selected objects in the active window The Edit menu contains standard editing commands such as Cut and Paste available in most Macintosh applications while the Object menu contains more TRAX specific commands such as Disable Device and Distrib ute Cues Quit 30 e The De
91. to the device When the device is again capable of receiving new commands it signals this by sending an Xon command HEX 11 ASCII DC1 This hand shaking mode is not very common though In the Wait for Echo mode SMARTPAX will automatically assume that the device is busy after each byte sent and await a byte back from the device before sending the next byte Owing to the obvious risk for a deadlock if a byte is never received back for example if the device is temporarily switched off in the middle of a command SMARTPAX will automatically resume transmission again after a time out of ten seconds This mode differs from the previous two in two ways Handshaking is always performed for each byte sent by the SMARTPAX not just when the device has received enough bytes to become busy e It is initiated automatically without any action required on the device s be half Don t confuse this byte level handshaking with the block mode handshaking described next Make sure a byte is indeed sent back by the device for every byte received before you select this mode 288 Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers Although not on the Handshake pop up menu there is actually a fourth method referred to as block mode handshaking This is similar to the Wait for Echo mode but here a response is returned for every command rather than every byte sent to the device This is an important distinction since a command may consist
92. used at the end of command strings Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers 309 Acknowledge Value Format Decimal f Hexadecimal Byte hirlo Value Format Byte lo hi This special character causes SMARTPAX to stop sending data to the device and await a response before proceeding This implements a form of hand shaking known as block mode handshaking You may insert multiple Acknowl edge Request characters into a string You would normally only use this special character at the end of each command NOTE Do not use this special character unless the device s manual explic itly states that it sends a response back after each command If the device fails to send a response SMARTPAX will not send any more data to it for about ten seconds This pop up menu allows you to specify which format to use for the numeric value The first two formats are ASCII encoded and the last two are binary The decimal ASCII format is most common As some protocol manuals list each command as a sequence of HEX bytes it is often difficult to tell whether you should use the hexadecimal format or the binary In general if the manual shows values as hexadecimal numbers and the other parts of the command consist of regular ASCII characters you should use the hexadecimal value format You must also specify the field width for the He Common field widths for hexadecimal ASCII parameters are two and our If the entire command consists
93. varies with the kind of symbol and what s on the other side of the symbol time number The product as a time 1 50 2 equals 3 40 00 time number The quotient as a time 1 50 2 equals 0 55 00 time number The sum as a time 1 50 2 equals 1 52 00 time number The difference as atime 1 50 2 equals 1 48 00 When used with a numeric value to the left and a time to the right the result is always the same as if a fractional number had been used on the right hand side with the value equal to the number of seconds in the time value That is 3000 1 10 00 is the same as 3000 70 00 since 1 minute and 10 seconds equals 70 seconds 98 Chapter 4 Menus and Commands Type and Range of Values When used with time values on both sides the following combinations produce useful results time time The quotient as a number 3 30 1 00 equals 33 5 time time The sum as atime 1 50 1 50 equals 3 40 00 time time The difference as a time 3 40 1 50 equals TeS 00 When used with whole numbers the maximal numeric range that can be handled is about 2 billion When used with fractional numbers TRAX truncates all values to two fractional digits and the maximum range is about 20 million All the symbols can be used with numeric as well as time values although the results obtained by some combinations may not be very useful The maximum time range tha
94. your computer is the same version as the one loaded into a SMARTPAX unit NOTE If you make your own device drivers as described in Chapter 10 remember to increase the version number of the driver if you revise it This is done in the Serial Device Driver Settings dialog box page 282 If you forget to do this you will not be able to tell the difference between an old and a revised driver by their version numbers 322 Chapter 11 SMARTPAX Device Driver Availability When downloading device drivers using the automatic driver selection method as described on page 68 TRAX downloads only the required drivers into each SMARTPAX unit Alternatively you may use the manual driver selection method as described on page 69 In this case you can specify exactly which drivers that will be downloaded NOTE SMARTPAX must be connected directly to the computer with no other units connected after it in order to use the manual device driver selection method After downloading use the DEVICE button on the SMARTPAX to choose which drivers to actually activate as described on the previous page Chapter 11 SMARTPAX 323 Rear Panel 24V AC EXT POWER The four ports on the back of the unit connect to the devices being controlled using the appropriate smartlink cable The symbol above each of the four ports corresponds to the port indicator in the lower left corner of the front panel display 24V AC or DC power
95. 100 level should correspond to O dB no gain or 30 dB the input signal is boosted by 30 dB when at 100 level Level Kind Real Device Virtual Device Type Dataton Audio Smart w 4 Initial Value 0 Function Output O Boost Output by 30 dB Select this checkbox to amplify a weak audio signal by 30 aB Chapter 11 SMARTPAX 335 DMX SMARTLINK The DMX SMARTLINK product number 3485 provides control of up to 32 DMX 512 lighting channels The DMX 512 control protocol is supported by most dimmer manufacturers particularly in staging and theater environments Use up to 32 Lamp or Level devices to program the DMX 512 channels page 149 You can mix Lamp and Level devices allowing you to for example use a Lamp device to control the brightness and Level devices for the positioning of a movable light Please refer to the device information database for further details on how to connect and configure specific dimmers and lights As the DMX 512 protocol is standardized you can most likely use the DMX SMARTLINK to control devices even if they are not listed in the Device Support window If so please refer to the manufacturer s documentation on how to connect and configure the device PMX SMARTLINK The PMX SMARTLINK product number 3456 provides control of up to 32 PMX lighting channels The PMX control protocol is supported by most dimmers and lights manufactured by Clay Paky Pedrengo Italy and Puls
96. 156 Chapter 6 Panel Design Editing Items Each panel can have up to 99 pages Each page can contain any number of buttons or other items Use the Page arrows to move one page at a time in the desired direction You can also use the following keyboard shortcuts Command 1 Go to first page Command 2 or Left Arrow Go to previous page Command 3 or Right Arrow Go to next page Command 4 Go to last page Click the page number to jump directly to a specific page Likewise you can jump to the background page if any by clicking the background page number see Background Pages on page 159 Use a Locate By Number cue see page 187 to program a panel to go to a page from a task or a timeline You can also use a button to go to a page by linking the button to the Page Number status property of the panel see Linking Panel Items to Device Status Properties on page 160 To draw a new item first click the appropriate tool in the tool bar along the window s left edge then drag diagonally across the page using the selected tool To edit existing items first click the Arrow tool then select the desired item Items can be cut pasted duplicated etc as usual They can also be grouped and locked using the corresponding commands on the Object menu Use the Send to Back and Bring to Front commands on the Edit menu to change the layering of overlapping objects see page 84 Chapter 6 Panel D
97. 212 creating 102 jumping to a time position 213 news in TRAX version 3 396 pausing 214 priority 52 settings 103 starting 214 starting from other timeline 228 stopping 214 synchronizing to a device 223 timers 153 259 toggle button action 164 touch panel 246 342 TOUCHLINK 10 246 buttons on side 165 cable extending 345 color fidelity of pictures 175 contrast adjusting 343 Graphics Sampler 3 motion sensor 165 mounting accessories 344 power supply 344 sound 169 specifications 343 wall mount kit 344 tracks 421 in timeline window 32 locking 33 105 renaming 32 TRANSPAX 11 autolocator 372 CODE selector 384 connecting 133 369 control signal 376 front panel 379 HOME button 387 IN connector 379 MODE selector 382 OUT connector 379 PLAY connector 380 391 power supply 388 393 rear panel 388 RECORD connector 391 remote control 392 signal types 373 system modes 369 tape adaptors 392 TAPE CONTROL connector 388 TAPE CONTROL output 392 TAPE OK indicator 382 timecode 374 375 translating control signals 378 transport functions 207 TRAX cable 6 438 Index TRAX runtime version 419 TRAX_TMP_xx file 75 tray advance 194 tray advance delay overriding 196 trigger 206 device specific mode 139 208 eject 139 209 off 206 on 206 output control 207 play 207 pulse 206 record mode 208 reset home 209 serial driver 313 switch 206 toggle 206 transport 207 with serial device 154 with
98. 276 290 delay in 309 downloading 311 editing existing 278 field width 311 handshaking 287 hex data 308 modes 269 293 numeric value 309 numeric value formats 310 numeric values 270 302 306 parity 286 Index 433 settings 282 states 293 stop bits 291 trigger cues 313 using 312 value 309 value formats 310 value changing in status window 315 value limiting range of 311 value specifying in trigger cue 314 version 284 serial number of TRAX 4 serial port 2 111 set to button action 164 set fade 190 level 193 live edit 193 multiple faders 192 rate of 191 single fader 192 start a fading 191 stop and resume 191 with audio disc device 142 with lamp device 148 with slide projector 126 with Video Disc device 145 show creating new 73 opening 74 saving 75 starting automatically 114 show device status 93 show slide numbers 110 shuttle slider 138 side buttons of TOUCHLINK 165 slide projector 123 194 busy 125 cycle time 125 flashing 125 preferences for 110 remote control of 349 sequencing 124 status indication 125 status properties 128 slider item on panel 170 434 Index smartlinks analog 334 audio 335 digital 328 DMX 336 extending 326 IR 338 mac 337 making your own 339 MIDI 327 PMX 336 relay 333 RS232 327 RS422 327 serial 327 system in out 338 tape 337 SMARTPAX 9 316 ADDR button 321 DEVICE button 322 device drivers available 323 display 320 download failure 320 d
99. 448 AIRLINK MAC ADAPTOR 3440 Connects to the ADB bus connector The topmost oversized key on the AIRLINK transmitter corresponds to the down arrow key on the computer s keyboard It will run the timeline up to the next cue on the current track see Timing of Events on page 226 The three keys below correspond to the left up and right arrow keys Both the left key and the middle key in this row reverse to the previous cue on the current track The right arrow key skips ahead to the next cue on the current track The remaining nine keys correspond to the F5 through F13 function keys on the Apple Extended keyboard They can be used in conjunction with the QuickFind feature see Jumping to Show Sections on page 230 Chapter 8 Presentations 231 Live Events Repeatability Manual Control You can use TRAX to assist your crew for live events such as conferences theatres musicals rock concerts etc These kinds of presentations typically combine the aspects of canned and speaker support presentations Some segments may run totally pre programmed while others require manual control either by a speaker or an operator Such events typically call for lighting sound reinforcement and playback computer graphics video projection and source switching tape rolls plus a number of operator cues that have to be performed manually for safety reasons or for increased flexibility One of the chief reasons f
100. 8 Presentations General Equipment Glue Due to its open design and ability to accept and provide a variety of control methods TRAX can also be used as a general way of interfacing seemingly incompatible pieces of equipment This allows you to integrate all kinds of devices in creative ways using standard off the shelf hardware and software components You could for example Synchronize a computer graphics presentation to timecode from an audio tape Run multiple computer graphics systems in parallel to create electronic vid eo walls Start a number of tape decks at the same time from a single push button Provide a custom made user interface to control a number of different de vices from one location using a single TOUCHLINK touch panel Trigger MIDI based sound effects and lighting from motion detectors and other sensors in the room Play video clips off a laserdisc from a MIDI keyboard Use some buttons on your lighting console to trigger sound effects from a CD player By using TRAX in a creative way you can solve a number of control and inter facing problems that otherwise would require expensive tailor made solutions This saves you time and money in the first place Furthermore once the job is finished you can re use the same equipment for other applications Chapter 8 Presentations 237 Staging Shows Here is a basic checklist for staging a show using slide and or video projec tion Make sure you
101. Commands Current Track Locked Current Control Cue Settings Select this option to make the timeline stop automatically the specified amount of time after the last cue on a timeline This causes the timeline to stop and relin quish control over the devices it has acquired See Stopping vs Pausing a Timeline on page 42 as well as Device Ownership on page 121 for more information on the relationship between tasks and devices If this option is selected the timeline window will automatically scroll while the show runs thus keeping the current time position centered in the window If you re working on a large monitor where you may be able to see a suffi ciently long time span without scrolling you may want to turn this option off This check box allows you to lock the current track selection When not locked the current track selection will change whenever you select a cue just like the current time moves to the time of the cue This is usually what you want when creating new cues However it can cause problems when using a track as a stop track for speaker support applications In this case it s important that the same track stays selected all the time as it contains the cues at which TRAX will stop and wait for a new key press from the speaker before proceeding See Speaker Support on page 226 for more details This area of the dialog box shows the status of two settings controlled by Control cues You can t ch
102. Connector __ To control tape transport from TRAX connect a tape remote or a locator adaptor cable from the TAPE CONTROL output to your recorder Most profes sional recorders have a remote control socket on the back for basic tape trans 388 Chapter 15 TRANSPAX port functions High end open reel recorders often have a more sophisticated connector intended for connecting an autolocator or synchronizer STOP PLAY REWIND RECORD FORWARD PAUSE Common BOT Sense BOT Sense Wiring diagram for the INSIDE TAPE CONTROL connector TR A N S PAX Chapter 15 TRANSPAX 389 A transmissive beginning of tape sensor A wide range of cables suitable for most brands of professional tape recorders is available see the Dataton product catalog Check with your Dataton dealer for details on specific models For basic remote control functions you may also be able to make a simple cable based on the AUXILIARY CABLE product number 3450 which comes with a pigtail at one end for soldering the appropriate connector see the picture on page 339 When using an autolocator adaptor cable you must also configure the corre sponding Tape device in TRAX accordingly You may also have to adjust the autolocator parameters for your recorder as described under Configuring the Autolocator on page 372 A beginning of tape sensor can be connected to TRANSPAX to improve relia bility when using open reel rec
103. Cues General Cue Characteristics All cues have a common set of characteristics a name a time position and a track In order for a cue to have any effect it must be assigned to the device to be affected the only exception being the Control cue which doesn t control devices directly Locate The name of the cue is specified in the name field of the cue s dialog box This name is displayed as part of the cue s icon in a timeline window or to the right of the icon in the Task window It is also used to refer to the cue when it s installed as a customized cue on the Cue menu see To Menu on page 180 For many cue types you can specify a partial name consisting of some char acters followed by an ellipsis See Cue Name and Value Substitution on page 181 for more details Chapter 7 Cues 179 To Menu Locate Set Fade nisome MM installed on the Cue menu This button installs the cue including all its specifications on the Cue menu This saves you from re entering the same or similar specifications repeatedly Simply enter it once and put the cue on the menu Then choose the cue from the menu or type its name on the keyboard to use it again To create a customized cue start by selecting a basic cue type from the menu or an existing cue in a timeline window Open the cue s dialog box Enter a suitable name configure the cue s specifications as desired and click t
104. DATA OK indicator will be turned on when data is received either through the IN or the TAPE connectors This is very useful when troubleshooting an installation as it allows you to follow the data signal from unit to unit ensuring that all units indeed receive data If the unit receives its data from a control signal played into the TAPE input of that unit the TAPE DATA OK indicator also indicates the quality of the signal If the indicator flickers frequently this indicates a poor quality or low level control signal NOTE The tape signal quality is only indicated by the first unit in the chain to which the tape player is connected This is because the first unit will re move any bad data received from the tape so it will never be received by the following units Use the OBJECT selector to adapt PAX to the kind of projector or relay func tions being controlled You will need a small flat screwdriver to turn the selector Select the corresponding projector model on the Type pop up menu in the projector s configuration dialog box see page 123 SAV All Kodak Carousel S AV models SAV NH All Kodak Carousel S AV models when electronic home sensing is not desired NH No Home EKTA Ill All Kodak Ektagraphic III models EKTA III NH All Kodak Ektagraphic III models when electronic home sensing is not desired NH No Home EKTA II This position isn t used Chapter 14 PAX 359 LIN 1 All linear tray projectors equi
105. ER can be extended if required using Dataton system cable e When connected to the ADB port on a Mac five meters maximum using SYSTEM CABLE 3415 As Apple doesn t recommend extending the ADB bus try to avoid this where possible by moving the computer instead e All other cases twenty five meters maximum using five SYSTEM CABLE 3415 or a custom made cable using SYSTEM CABLE KIT 3420 For basic speaker support functions connect the AIRLINK RECEIVER to the ADB i e keyboard port on the back of the TRAX computer You can connect the receiver either directly to the ADB connector on the back of the computer or to the loop through connector on the keyboard Some computer models have only one ADB port leaving no port available for the AIRLINK RECEIVER if you want the mouse connected at the same time In this case use an ADB expan sion box or Y cord to connect the receiver Although the PowerBook models only have one ADB port they don t have this problem as both the keyboard and the trackball trackpad are connected internally Vv IMPORTANT Always connect the AIRLINK RECEIVER to the ADB port be fore turning on the computer Connecting the receiver while the power is on may cause serious damage to your computer Chapter 13 AIRLINK 351 AIRLINK is specifically designed to work with TRAX but it can also be used with other applications that use a similar set of keystrokes to perform the desired functions Using a macro program such
106. For sets of cues begin the set with a Note cue that says what the set does You will then be able to see this note in the Scrapbook Grouping and Locking Cues When a set of cues perform a specific function it is useful to group them together Grouped cues will always stay together maintaining their internal time relationship To group a set of cues first select them then choose Group on the Object menu Once grouped all members will be selected when you select one of them See Group Ungroup on page 91 for more details Once you re finished tweaking the cues on one part of the timeline you may want fo lock the cues to avoid changing them by mistake If you try to change a locked cue in any way TRAX will display an alert box to warn you To lock a set of cues first select them then choose Lock on the Object menu See Lock Unlock on page 92 for more details 184 Chapter 7 Cues Printing Cues Although TRAX doesn t have any built in Print functions you can still print the cues of a timeline using virtually any word processing program The printout has the same format as the list view of the cues To print the cues select the cues to be printed and choose Copy on the Edit menu then paste them into your favorite word processor See Printing Cues on page 50 for more details To print the cue icons as a picture choose Icon View then zoom the timeline window to full screen size by clicking the zoom box in the upper ri
107. HORTCUT Pressing the or keys while a timeline window is active au tomatically opens the Timeline Settings dialog box and selects the Relative mode This is a quick way to jump forward or backward a specified amount of time Double clicking the numeric time readout in the Timeline window is another shortcut for opening this dialog box Pressing the Tab key in a Timeline window makes it jump forward by the amount of time specified in the Timeline Settings dialog box Pressing the Tab key while holding down the Shift key makes it jump backward by the same amount When the current time position is scrolled out of view the numeric readout is displayed in italics and shows the time of the displayed section rather than the current time position Use the Jump Back button in the upper right corner of the timeline window to display the current time position You can specify the start and end point of a timeline in the Timeline Settings dialog box Normally the start point is 0 00 00 However if you re synchro nizing to an external timecode source you may want to set another start time in order to match the timecode If you know the final length of the timeline you re working on it s a good idea to set the end time of it before you start programming In that way the scroll bar along the bottom of the timeline window will match the length of the final show all the time making it easier for you to see where you are If you don t specify the
108. IMPORTANT Be careful how you use the device assignment pointer as it changes the device assignment of any selected cue If you want to work with the devices only first select the Device window by clicking its title bar You can use all the standard selection techniques to assign devices to a cue page 24 When assigning devices to an existing cue make sure that the cue is selected before you start clicking devices When creating new cues you can select the desired devices before creating the cue however HINT You can change the device assignment of multiple cues using the Find Replace command page 85 First select the cues you want to change then use the Find Replace command by selecting the All at Once Device Assignment and Selection options Type the name of the old device into the Find field and the new device into the Replace With field As a complement to creating customized cues one by one you can also import entire sets of customized cues from other shows using the Import Menu Cues command on the File menu See Import Menu Cues on page 76 for more details Chapter 7 Cues 183 Saving Cues in the Scrapbook Sometimes you may have a set of cues rather than an individual cue which together perform a desired effect These cues can be stored in the Scrapbook for later use e Select the cues e Choose Copy on the Edit menu e Open the Scrapbook under the Apple menu e Choose the Paste command on the Edit menu
109. List View 44 Chapter 3 TRAX Windows The Jump Back Button The Jump Back button is located in the upper right corner of the timeline window It serves two purposes e It causes the window to scroll to the current time position if this has been scrolled out of view This is indicated by the double arrow symbol in the Jump Back button I e It makes the window jump back to the show s last start position indicated by the single arrow symbol in the Jump Back button When the current time position is scrolled out of view the double arrow symbol in the Jump Back button indicates in which direction the current time is located In this case the numeric time readout in the timeline window is italicized and shows the time position of the displayed show section rather than the current time position in the show Chapter 3 TRAX Windows 45 List View While the standard view of cues provides excellent timing information about the cues and their relationships to each other it does not show all cue details In order to see which devices are assigned to a cue you need to select the cue and to see its various settings you must double click it to open its dialog box In both cases you can only see the details for one cue at a time Switching a timeline window over to List View using the command on the Window menu changes all that In the List View you can see all details for all cues currently visible in the timeline window
110. Locate Time cue ready to be restarted by the button as soon as the timeline is finished You can use a virtual Still Store device in a way similar to the timer described in the previous section This can be used to count the number of times a certain option is chosen the number of visitors or other statistics Chapter 9 Interactivity 259 Buttons to adjust the number of people required to start the show The value of the counter can be shown on a panel using a display item simply by linking the display item to the counter device It can also be used to make decisions by including it in starting conditions for tasks See the example under System Status Tracking on page 252 That example shows how the counter value is matched against a fixed limit Sometimes it may not be possible to determine the correct limit in advance but you may want to be able to adjust it as needed This can be handled using two counters one driven by the sensors and the other controlled by buttons on a touch panel To do this use virtual Still Store devices for the counter and for the limit value Add cues triggered by the sensors to update the visitor counter as shown in the example on page 252 and use two buttons on the panel directly linked to the limit counter Choose Increase and Decrease respectively on their Action pop up menus Add display fields to show the current counter and limit values m P11
111. NTROL output of the TRANSPAX by pressing the appropriate buttons on the recorder Run through the show as usual the control signal is recorded as you go NOTE The level indicated by the VU meter may fluctuate and show a lower level while recording the control signal This is due to the sparse modulation scheme used by the control signal Do not compensate for it by increasing the recording level Refer to Recording a Control Track on page 225 for more details on recording the control signal To play the control signal connect it to the PLAY or TAPE input of the first unit in the system and start the tape For final playback you generally don t need the TRANSPAX In this case disconnect the TRANSPAX from the rest of the system and connect the control signal directly to the first control unit If you prefer to keep the TRANSPAX connected then quit TRAX and discon nect the computer from the TRANSPAX NOTE You must quit TRAX before disconnecting the TRANSPAX If you forget this you can momentarily disconnect the power to the TRANSPAX in order to make it play the control signal properly While playing a Dataton control signal through a TRANSPAX in this way a re generated copy of the control signal is provided on the RECORD connector This can be used to duplicate a tape with its control signal Chapter 15 TRANSPAX 377 Other Control Signals TRANSPAX can play but not record control signals or cue
112. Note cue assigned to the Text device These check boxes allow you to change the font size and the background color of the status window for the Text device This is useful for example if you use the status window as a prompter in a dark room You can use the status pop up menu to link the text from a Text device to a Display field on a panel This allows you to show text messages on the panel using Note cues See Display on page 172 for more details Chapter 5 Devices 151 Time BZ Clock C Disabled Date 30 WeekDay Month E _ Status window Configuration dialog box Suppress Seconds Use the Time device to obtain the current time of day date etc for use in starting conditions for tasks or for display on a touch panel Alternatively use it for general purpose timer and countdown functions When used with the appropriate device driver the Time device will also allow you to bring in timing information from external sources Time Kind Real Device Virtual Device Type Apple Macintosh Sys w 4 Time Format Standard v Icon Display J Suppress Seconds az Specifies the time format to be used in the status window and inside the icon in the Device window see Time Formats on page 137 Select Suppress Seconds to display the time properly in the icon when the time may exceed one hour such as when displaying the time of
113. ONFIGURATION 0 PORT ADDR DEVICE The IN connector links SMARTPAX to TRAX or the previous unit in a chain of multiple control units Use Dataton SYSTEM CABLE to link units together This cable is available in 0 4 1 2 and 5 meter standard lengths A system cable kit is available for making custom length cables When connected to TRAX the cable between SMARTPAX and TRAX may be extended up to 100 meters When connecting to the DATA IN port on a TRANSPAX or AIRLINK RECEIVER the maximum cable length is 25 meters This limitation is due to the fact that SMARTPAX in these cases will supply power to the connected device The TAPE DATA OK indicator shows when data is being received by SMARTPAX through the IN connector This is very useful when installing a system as it allows you to follow the signal from one unit to the next making sure that all units receive data The OUT connector allows you to daisy chain multiple control units You can connect units in any order The maximum cable length between units is 100 meters see above under IN Connector for more details The data sent to the next unit through the OUT connector is a high level digital signal The signal is optically isolated and re shaped in each unit to ensure maximum reliability even in very large systems Chapter 11 SMARTPAX 317 TAPE Connector The TAPE input accepts a standard Dataton SYNCODE control track as recorded by the TRANSPAX tape interface This allo
114. Q DERO y e he ay A DAAE Chapter 11 SMARTPAX 341 TOUCHLINK is a color LCD touch panel that can provide an attractive user interface for your TRAX based system It connects to a port on a SMARTPAX You can use any number of TOUCHLINK units in a system 342 Chapter 12 TOUCHLINK Specifications 320 x 240 pixel backlit color LCD display High resolution touch surface 2 MB non volatile FLASH memory 0 5 MB RAM memory Up to 99 pages of buttons sliders indicators etc Custom graphics Two fonts three sizes two weights Motion sensor controlling the display backlighting plus programmable function Three programmable mechanical push buttons on the side Loudspeaker with 11 kHz 8 bit sampled audio Power requirements 12 V DC 500 mA maximum Rugged solid aluminum housing 2 meter black cable that connecting TOUCHLINK to SMARTPAX This can be extended if required by up to 30 meters see Power Supply on page 344 NOTE The contrast of the LCD screen can be adjusted by keeping the small side button pressed while pressing the top or bottom part of the large side button This works regardless of any programmed functions of these buttons Chapter 12 TOUCHLINK 343 Design and Programming TRAX provides all that is needed to design the appearance and functionality of TOUCHLINK as well as to download this to the device All user input is sent back to TRAX which then carries out the va
115. RTPAX port remember to enter the address of that port in the Port field When connected directly to the computer it doesn t have a user selectable address and the Port field is gray Configuring the Autolocator If you use the autolocator feature of the TRANSPAX i e your tape recorder is connected to the TAPE CONTROL output of TRANSPAX using a locator adaptor cable you may need to configure the autolocator This is done using the Pulses Retardation and Reversed modes of the tape device which can be seen at the bottom of the tape device s status window f Otari C Disabled TRAMSPOrt sereeesrreretrrereeesen K CCS Enter a time value and click this button to test the autolocator Pulses Autolocator settings Retardation Reversed All three of these parameters are initially set to Auto In this setting they use default values supplied by TRAX suitable for the selected model of recorder under normal conditions 372 Chapter 15 TRANSPAX Tape Signals However if you use smaller reels or a different tape speed than normal you may need to adjust these values For example if you choose to run your tape at half speed you need to explicitly specify the correct number of tacho pulses per second using the Pulses mode Likewise if you use smaller or lighter reels than the standard ones or a shorter tape you may need to tweak the Retarda tion value You can tweak these settings in the status window Tr
116. S Cues are the active elements of TRAX they tell the devices what to do and when to do it The what part is determined by the kind of cue chosen as well as its internal specifications The when part is determined by the cue s position along a timeline or in the Task window Cues are assigned to the devices to be controlled using the mouse Cues are entered into a timeline or the Task window by selecting them from the Cue menu or by entering the name of a customized cue using the keyboard timelines only See Timeline Window on page 29 for details on how to select cues use tracks etc See Adding a Task on page 51 for details on using cues as task actions The Cue menu shows the basic cue types Customized cues appear as secondary pop out menus next to each basic type on the Cue menu See Customized Cues on page 95 for more details Once a cue has been entered into a timeline or the Task window you can change its specifications using its dialog box The remainder of this chapter discusses the contents of each cue s dialog box in detail To open the dialog box first select the cue then choose Specifications on the Edit menu or simply double click the cue HINT You can only open the dialog box of a single cue at a time You can however change various specifications of multiple cues in one operation using the Expand Compress and Find Replace commands see page 90 and page 85 respectively 178 Chapter 7
117. SIDE PAX Chapter 14 PAX 363 PAX Projector Functions Wiring Diagram Vv IMPORTANT All projectors connected to one PAX unit must be powered from the same out let in order to avoids phasing problems Projector lamps will not turn off properly if connect ed to power outlets that are on different phases Projectors con nected to different PAX units however may be connected to different outlets or mains phases without any restrictions 24V AC power from projector leftmost port only Snap Reverse Slide tray Forward home sense signal Common Lamp triac triggering INSIDE PAX Lamp triac triggering Slide tray circuit uae relay Snap relay _ Slide tray forward relay 364 Chapter 14 PAX AC PAX ADAPTOR product number 3337 and AC PAX product number 3338 power supplies Connect an ACPAX or ACPAX ADAPTOR to this connector for power supply when not powered by a slide projector Dataton rack adaptors have built in power distribution allowing you to power up to ten units from a single ACPAX power supply using an 11 UNIT RACK ADAPTOR page 341 or two units from an ACPAX ADAPTOR using a 2 5 UNIT RACK ADAPTOR Vv CAUTION When disconnecting the 24 V AC cable always pull the con nector not the wire The connector is mechanically secured in the recep tacle Pulling on the wire may cause damage or result in bad contact and malfunction later on You
118. System Modes on page 16 Likewise a SYSTEM IN SMARTLINK is required to connect a MICTOUCH to a SMARTPAX for use with TRAX 338 Chapter 11 SMARTPAX Other Smartlinks Use AUXILIARY CABLE product number 3450 for making special ized interface cables Other smartlinks may be available for specialized purposes and new smart links are under constant development Please contact your Dataton dealer for the latest news on available smartlinks and supported devices Specialized cables can be made using an AUXILIARY CABLE which provides the snap locking plug at the SMARTPAX end and a pigtail at the other end Here you can attach the connector required for the device at hand This assumes that a standard hardware interface such as RS232 or similar is being used Device drivers for such devices can be made using the Serial device driver editor built into TRAX see Chapter 10 1 Brown 2 Red 3 Orange A Yellow 5 Green 6 Blue 7 Violet 8 White 9 Black NOTE The wiring diagram for a SMARTPAX port is shown on page 324 Chapter 11 SMARTPAX 339 Power Supply AC PAX ADAPTOR product number 3337 and AC PAX product number 3338 power supplies There are three possibilities for supplying power to the SMARTPAX e Through the 24 V AC EXT POWER connector at the back e Through the leftmost device port front view using selected smartlinks and devices e Through the DATA OUT connector on the front panel f
119. TPAX If you supply power to the control unit through its 24 VAC EXT POWER socket on the back then turn on all the projectors before or at the same time as you turn on the power to the control unit If the control unit is powered before all the projectors have been turned on AIRLINK may not recognize the projectors 354 Chapter 13 AIRLINK mue 4 PAX PAX is a dedicated slide projector control unit It handles up to four electro mechanical slide projectors and can be adapted to most kinds of projectors equipped with a dissolve unit connector which use straight or rotary slide trays NOTE Use SMARTPAX for controlling slide projectors equipped with an RS232 control port When used with a TRANSPAX PAX can play back shows originally created on other multi image systems including Arion and Kodak PDC MATE TRAC AVL Procall 5 and Procall X and Electrosonic Alphasync See Chapter 15 for details PAX can also be used to control up to eight switch functions providing two relays on each of the four ports A port can be used for either two relay func tions or a slide projector but not both at the same time Chapter 14 PAX 355 Front Panel IN Connector The IN connector links PAX to TRAX or the previous unit in a chain of multiple control units Use Dataton system cable to link units together This cable is available in 0 4 1 2 and 5 meter standard lengths A system cable kit is avail able for making custom le
120. The Minimum and Maximum fields at the top of the dialog box can be used to limit the range so that the user can t turn the controlled status property fully on or fully off The size of the knob and slot can be changed by dragging their corners You can also choose whether the title caption should be displayed above or below the slider Most other fields are similar to those in the dialog box for the Button item see page 163 170 Chapter 6 Panel Design Bar Graph The Bar Graph item is very similar to a Slider item as described on the previous page However it can only indicate a value not change it You can link it to any numeric or time value IMPORTANT You must link the bar graph to a device status property be fore you can set the Range fields see Linking Panel Items to Device Status Properties on page 160 Bar Graph Eil Range From 1 00 00 To 0 00 00 EJ Show Title Above Below Font Style OA A Bold Frame HE M Bar M Cancel OK HINT By setting the From value higher than the To value in the fialog box you can make the indicator go backwards The same applies to the Mini mum and Maximum fields in the Slider s dialog box Chapter 6 Panel Design 171 Display The Display item allows any text or numeric value to be displayed Arbitrary text strings can be displayed by linking the display to a Text device and assigning a Note cue to that device Other values suc
121. This is the reverse of what s described above where TRAX was the master and the device the slave Which method to chose depends on the capabilities of the devices at hand To synchronize a timeline to a device use a Control cue assigned to the device see Synchronize To on page 214 Before synchronizing to the device make sure the device is playing for example by putting a Trigger Play cue just before the Control cue Likewise before stopping the device use another Control cue to make the timeline free running See the enclosed tutorial show named Timecode Synchronization for an example of how this can be programmed Disengage synchroniza Control tion using a control cue serie A fe a Name Sune Cancel Nothing before stop ping the device O Jump To oO This control cue me s 4 Run Pause Stop the Timeline activates the Fr J Syncronize To Device Assigned to This Cue w synchronization pee ran Offset Absolute Relative of the timeline a RT RARE E era Re ER as seen in the C Perform this cue only if some of the devices dialog box assigned to it are in use by another timeline 222 Chapter 8 Presentations Synchronizing to Timecode Synchronizing an Entire Timeline Some devices most notably analog audio tape devices can t provide such inherent timing information as described on the previous page In order to control and synchronize to s
122. Type pop up menu This calculation will only be correct when going from fully on without any interruptions Applying a Flash Start cue on the projector causes the Flashing status When you ve used a Flash Start cue on a projector you must use a subsequent Flash Stop cue to turn off the flashing or the projector will still be flashing the next time you turn its lamp on The Hard and Soft Snap states are controlled by Snap cues They also remain in effect until explicitly turned off by a corresponding Snap Open cue It is not possible to use Flashing and Soft Snap on a projector at the same time Chapter 5 Devices 125 Slide The Slide field indicates the current slide number in the range 0 80 The button to the right of the Slide field increases or decreases the value TRAX assumes that the home position in the slide tray is zero NOTE If you re using straight tray projectors there will be a one slide off set between the displayed and actual values as straight tray projectors start at slide number one Use a Locate cue to go to a slide see page 186 The slide number can also be automatically advanced by the Dissolve Zoom and Wipe cues Light The Light field indicates the target value for the light level This will usually match the current light level of the projector but may differ if you ve inter rupted a fading with a Fade Stop cue as indicated by the Fading Stopped check box In this case uncheck the check box to resume
123. X PAX and SMARTPAX units in any order on the primary system bus Run one or many preprogramming timelines either free running or syn chronized to LTC SMPTE or EBU timecode received through a TRANSPAX Record a control signal cue track onto an audio track of a tape recorder for later playback without the computer Interact with the system using an AIRLINK connected to the ADB port of your computer function or control keys on the computer s keyboard or a simu lated TOUCHLINK panel on the computer s monitor You can not Receive feedback signals such as switch closures or similar from inputs connected to SMARTPAX units in the system Synchronize timelines to other devices such as laserdisc or betacam decks controlled through SMARTPAX Use the TOUCHLINK interactive touch panel 16 Chapter 2 System Overview In backward compatible mode you can mix TRANSPAX PAX and SMARTPAX on the primary A gt system bus To additional SMARTPAX and PAX units Chapter 2 System Overview 17 Interactive Mode The interactive system mode unlocks many of the new capabilities of TRAX version 3 and allows you to e Receive feedback signals such as switch closures analog faders or similar from inputs connected to SMARTPAX uni
124. _Sony RM 1271_ ww 4 Configuration port 5 e dialog box Use a Trigger cue to program the device see page 208 If the device you need to control isn t available on the Type pop up menu please contact your Dataton dealer for information on how to obtain addi tional IR device drivers Chapter 5 Devices 155 me 6 Panel Status Window Hand Try out the panel Arrow Edit panel items Create Button Create Indicator Create Slider Create Bar Graph Create Display Draw Line Draw Frame Draw Oval Draw Static Text PANEL DESIGN In this chapter you will learn how to employ Panel devices to create an attractive front end for your media control system It tells you how to use text graphics sound buttons and all the other tools provided in the panel window s tool bar Start by adding a Panel device to the Device window or select any already existing panel device Then choose Show Device Status on the Object menu to open the panel s window The status window for the panel device doubles as its design and editing window It also allows you to try out your design either on its own or in concert with all other functions in your show uo P10 Page amp 1 0 Background 9 Color Open the panel device s ere Oe E configuration dialog box DiR A elcome To i Change the page s color PTF Assign a background page to the current page Select a page to edit
125. a separate part of a larger screen or on a separate screen The Sequence 1 f lle g P images from multiple projector groups on a large screen may be totally sepa Sin ET rate edge to edge or overlapping to create seamless panoramas Sw Sz Ea All projectors on the same screen area should have the same area number These area numbers are designated from left to right so that the leftmost screen Screen Area 2 3 AA vo from the audience s viewpoint is number one the next number two and so Using nine projectors on three on This makes it possible for TRAX to automatically calculate horizontal screen areas effects like a Wipe Within each screen area the projectors themselves must be designated a sequence order number TRAX uses this to calculate the order in which projec tors ought to dissolve when a sequential mode is selected for a cue When a single stack of projectors is used on a screen the projectors are normally sequenced from top to bottom l e the top projector is number one in the sequence order the next is number two etc When using more than one projector stack on the same screen area try to sequence the projectors in a circular fashion This minimizes the effect of Using nine projectors on keystoning perspective distortion when dissolving from one image to the next one screen area Remember to take this into account when loading the slides into the trays 124 Chapter 5 Devices Slide Proj
126. after the command name on the pop up menu indicates that the command requires a value The value field to the right of the pop up menu becomes active when such a command is selected allowing you to type in the value 314 Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers Select the command in the list to activate the Value field If a command has a value then the current setting of that value is displayed in the device s status window You can change the value in the status window by selecting the command and typing another value into the Value field at the bottom of the status window Mute on Change the value and press Return NOTE Such changes made in a status window of a device that is owned by a timeline are only temporary The status will revert back to the pro grammed status as soon as you return to the timeline See Device Owner ship on page 121 for more details Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers 315 SMARTPAX SMARTPAX acts as an interpreter between the standard Dataton language spoken by TRAX and the individual languages spoken by each brand and model of device The device driver software loaded into SMARTPAX handles the syntax of each device s language The smartlink cables connecting SMARTPAX to the devices handle the physical interface ensuring that the proper kind of signal reaches the device 316 Chapter 11 SMARTPAX Front Panel IN Connector OUT Connector TAPE C
127. ailure or similar mishap during a save operation In this case the temporary file may be left on the disk and must be removed manually Chapter 4 Menus and Commands 75 Import Menu Cues Saves the current show as a new show using another name This new name will be used for subsequent saves Use this command when you want to start making a new show based on an old one Allows you to import customized menu cues from other shows It imports only the customized cues on the Cue menu not cues on timelines If you want to import cues into a timeline window from another show use the normal method of Copy and Paste A good way to use Import Menu Cues is to keep your favorite cues in a sepa rate show file You can then conveniently bring them into other shows whenever you need them You can import cues from any number of show files However as there must be no duplicate names on the Cue menu a dialog box will prompt you to choose between new and existing cues if there is a name conflict When importing cues TRAX also attempts to import the original device assign ment for those cues For this to work you must make sure that the relevant devices exist in the new show and that they have the same names as in the show from which you re importing If not the cues will still be imported although their device assignment will be lost See the hint on page 180 for some more details Ends your TRAX session and returns you to the Finder or
128. ake sure you have the complete and up to date command list of the device If any details in the protocol are unclear try hooking up the device to a regular computer or a terminal and experimenting with the commands This works best if the protocol is ASCII based The protocol manual offen contains the proper wiring for connecting the device to a PC or a Mac Use a communications program to put the device through its paces Make sure you set the communi cations parameters baud rate etc according to the device s specifications 276 Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers Points to watch out for when evaluating the protocol in this way are how the commands begin and end and how numeric parameters are sent if appli cable Some protocols use special lead in and lead out sequences such as brackets special control characters or a carriage return character These are often discussed up front in the protocol listing and then omitted in the descrip tion of each command which may be misleading If some commands take numeric parameters make sure you understand how they are sent If ASCII encoding is used and the number can be greater than nine check to see if leading zeros are required for numbers that don t use all digit positions Sometimes numeric parameters are expressed as ASCII encoded HEX bytes again with or without leading zeros Binary protocols i e non ASCII are the most complicated to evaluate as such data can
129. al percentage values 193 frame item on panel 174 freeze 128 191 function keys 88 217 G gang cue 210 gangs 28 110 414 maximum number of 211 graphics on panel 249 grid for panel items 150 ground loop 414 group command 91 H handshaking 275 287 415 hard snap cue with slide projector 125 hard disk space required 2 hardware interface 272 Hasselblad PCP80 360 HEX encoding 267 hexadecimal 267 308 310 415 hold level 191 home cue 209 l import command 76 importing cues 183 importing older TRAX shows 405 increase by button action 164 indicator 168 invisible 169 sound 169 tile 169 with time device 153 infrared remote control 338 346 inputs 242 installing TRAX 3 intelligent device 415 interactive mode 18 interactive presentations 234 241 interactivity 261 428 Index invisible button kind 165 IR SMARTLINK 338 items on panel 415 J jumping to a Control cue 217 to a cue 227 to a timeline position 213 K Kodak PDC 378 386 Kodak slide projectors 359 L lamp curves 197 lamp device configuring 148 status of 148 laserdisc formats 146 level device boosting output level of 149 configuring 149 initial level value 149 status of 149 level setting or fading to 193 lighting 336 lighting console 192 line item on panel 174 linking 415 conditions to device status 54 device status properties 160 panel items 254 list view of timeline 46 106 little endian 310 live editing 193 live eve
130. alled Video Disc The port assignment previously called Address can still be typed straight into the Port field of each device s configuration dialog box However an addi tional dialog box is now provided for entering the various parts of the port assignment in a more intuitive way This dialog box is accessed by clicking the Choose button next to the Port field in the device s configuration dialog box Here two radio buttons let you select which computer port to use previously this was done by adding 100 to the address 400 Appendix A News in TRAX 3 Device Ownership Virtual Devices Switch Device As TRAX 3 can have many timelines running at the same time conflicts may occur when a timeline wants to use a device If the device is already owned by another timeline with the same or higher priority than the new timeline trying to access it the new timeline will not be granted access to the device The device is said to be owned by a task see Device Ownership on page 121 Thus when a device doesn t work the way it s supposed to check if it is already owned by some other timeline This can be done by opening the device s configuration dialog box If the device is currently owned the owner s ID number will be stated in the title bar of the configuration dialog box Open the Task window and look up the task by its ID number Some devices can be designated as virtual devices using a radio button
131. ally to the Stop button in TRAX version 2 The Stop button now permanently stops the timeline This is indicated by a gray numeric time readout in the timeline window While a timeline is stopped in this way it doesn t control any devices Thus you may move back and forth along such a timeline without affecting the devices In TRAX version 2 going back to the beginning of the timeline automatically reset all the devices to their home positions This is not necessarily the case in TRAX version 3 as the status of the devices may have been set by other means before the timeline was started i e by another timeline or directly by the user through a touch panel Instead each device used by a timeline regards the status it had when the timeline first took control over it as its correct home posi tion If you want the devices to always return to their home positions at the beginning of a timeline put a Trigger Reset cue at the beginning of that time line and assign it to all those devices See Reset Home on page 209 The Timeline Settings dialog box is displayed by choosing the corresponding command on the Window menu when a timeline window is active see Time line Settings on page 103 In this dialog box you can name the timeline and specify other details such as its beginning and end 396 Appendix A News in TRAX 3 Tape Control Window A checkbox allows you to determine whether the timeline should stop auto maticall
132. an be included with each data byte Most devices don t use parity checking If used it may be either Odd or Even Data Bits The number of information bits sent in each packet of data Virtually all devices use eight data bits Stop Bits Each data packet is surrounded by a start bit and a stop bit to indicate its beginning and end Some devices may require two stop bits but this is very unusual Handshaking This determines how the device signals it is busy to the SMARTPAX Most devices don t use handshaking Delay An additional delay that may be needed between commands Most devices don t need any extra delay see Delay on page 276 274 Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers Handshaking Handshaking is sometimes used as a way for the device to tell SMARTPAX that it is currently busy and unable to receive any more commands In this case SMARTPAX can be configured to wait until the device signals it is ready before sending the next command If the device requires handshaking check which method is used These are some common handshaking methods Hardware A separate wire in the cable is used to signal that the device is busy This has to be wired to the Busy input on the SMARTPAX see Hardware Interface on page 272 Xoff Xon A special character is sent by the device to signal it is busy This is only used with ASCll based protocols The busy character is 13 DC3 and the ready cha
133. an be used on cues devices tasks and panel items as well as text and graphics ZB E Timeline 1 ee 1 05 70 Track 1 i Track 2 Opem pal Copies the selected object or set of objects and places the copy on the Clip board The Clipboard holds only one set of objects from the most recent cut copy operation the next cut copy will replace the contents of the Clipboard From the Clipboard the objects can be pasted to another place in the show or into another show HIS Timeline 1 Track 2 78 Chapter 4 Menus and Commands Pastes a copy of the contents of the Clipboard into the active window When you paste devices or panel items they will enter the window at the orig inal location of the object So if you copy and then immediately paste the copy will appear on top of the original To see both the original and the copy you must drag the copy to a new position in the window When you paste cues they will be entered with the first pasted cue at the current time When pasting a single cue it will be entered on the current track When pasting multiple cues they will retain their original track positions Chapter 4 Menus and Commands 79 Copying Between Shows Using the Scrapbook You can copy and paste objects within the same show or between shows When pasting devices TRAX will change the names and addresses of the pasted devices to avoid conflicts if necessary When copying cues
134. an be used together with device status properties both input and output properties and constants to create mathematical expressions very much as you would do in a spreadsheet or database program The symbols can be divided into three groups e Arithmetic symbols and e Relational Symbols lt lt gt 2 and e Logical Symbols amp and Of these the relational and logical symbols are perhaps the most useful ones in task conditions But the arithmetic operators can also come in handy from time to time For example assume you want a task to be started if the number of people in a room is more than 75 percent of a preset limit then you could set up the condition like this Count Numeric Position gt Limit Numeric Position 0 75 where Count and Limit are two virtual stillstore devices used to keep track of the number of people in the room as well as the current limit The limit value can be adjusted from a touch panel in the reception desk and the counter driven by turnstiles at the entrance and exit doors 96 Chapter 4 Menus and Commands Symbol Precedence When combining multiple symbols to form an expression some symbols take precedence over others For example in the expression 3 5 4 The multiplication is calculated before the addition So the result of the above expression is 23 5 times 4 and then add 3 not 32 as would have been the case if evaluated strictly left to right
135. andle virtually any kind of device ranging from simple relay switches to sophisticated video effects devices Its flexibility comes partly from the library of downloadable software device drivers built into TRAX and partly from the SMARTLINK interface cables While some smartlinks are just simple cables others come with their own built in intelligence and interface circuits Each SMARTPAX controls up to four devices or sub systems Some devices provide input functions which can be used with TRAX interactive capabilities See Chapter 11 SMARTPAX for more details Chapter 2 System Overview 9 TOUCHLINK TOUCHLINK is an interactive graphically oriented user interface for TRAX It can be used in all kinds of installations requiring direct user interaction such as in a museum visitor center exhibition or corporate boardroom TOUCHLINK combines a color LCD display with a touch sensitive surface sampled audio playback and a motion sensor It connects to a SMARTPAX port just like any other presentation device It holds up to 99 pages of pictures text graphics buttons sliders and a variety of other interactive elements See Chapter 12 TOUCHLINK for more details on the hardware You use TRAX both to design the TOUCHLINK user interface and to test it TRAX can simulate all functions of one or many TOUCHLINK units while also managing all other aspects of your presentation This means that you don t even need to own a TOUCHLINK i
136. ange these settings in this dialog they re included for information purposes only Use a Control cue to change these settings at the appropriate points along the timeline Both these settings are related to synchronizing timelines to devices or other timelines See Control on page 212 for more details Chapter 4 Menus and Commands 105 Sync Source Offset Relative Sync Source List View The Sync Source field shows the currently selected synchronization source for the timeline By default this is set to None Free Running Using a Control cue either on the timeline itself or in another task you can change the sync source for a timeline at any point For example you may want to start a timeline free running and then after starting to play a device synchronize the timeline to that device When you re about to stop playing the device you may switch back to free running again A timeline can also be slaved to a master timeline so that whenever the master timeline is re positioned the slaved timeline goes with it This relationship must be established in the Control cue in the master timeline that starts the slaved timeline and it can not be changed while the slaved timeline is running See Control on page 212 for more details This time value which can be positive or negative is used when synchro nizing a timeline to a device Often the time positions of the device and the timeline d
137. any timecode source Initially there are no device drivers available for this purpose See Time on page 152 for full details about this new device Most cues have not changed from TRAX version 2 A new use of all cues is that they can also be entered into the Task list This allows you to create single cue tasks The Trigger cue has three new functions e Reset devices to their power up status e Record e Eject NOTE Initially few of the device drivers support Record and Eject Check the device information database entry for individual devices for the latest news In addition both the Locate and Trigger cues apply to the new Time device when used as a programmable timer To use it as a programmable timer open 404 Appendix A News in TRAX 3 Note Cue Preferences Using Shows Made on TRAX 2 the Time device s configuration dialog box and select Virtual see Timer on page 259 The Control cue formerly called System cue has been enhanced significantly in order to manage the multiple timelines as well as the ability to sync timelines to different devices Read all about the revised Control cue on page 212 The Note cue looks like before except that the Don t display in Note window checkbox has been removed Instead the Note cue can now be assigned to one or many Text devices By keeping the Text device s status window open you will get the same effect as the old Note window The Preferen
138. apter 4 Menus and Commands Logical Symbols The logical symbols amp and are often used to combine several other sub expressions using the relational symbols for example Logical symbols are sometimes called Boolean operators For example if you want a task to run repeatedly while the time is between 8 00 AM and noon you could do it like this Clock Time gt 8 00 00 amp Clock Time lt 12 00 00 Here the and symbol is used to combine the results from the first sub expres sion Clock Time gt 8 00 00 with the second sub expression Clock Time lt 12 00 00 NOTE While we humans might shorten a statement like the above to The time is greater than 8 00 00 and less than 12 00 00 that doesn t work with computers You must specify the Clock Time reference explicitly as part of both sub expressions Likewise you can use the or symbol to start a task repeatedly if the time is either before 8 00 AM or after 5 00 PM Clock Time lt 8 00 00 Clock Time gt 17 00 00 Both examples above assume that the starting condition variant While True is selected which will keep re starting the task repeatedly for as long as the condition is true instead of running it just once when it becomes true You can combine the And and Or symbols in the same expression But keep in mind that the And symbol has higher precedence than the Or symbol You can override this using parenthesis i
139. ar Cambridge U K Use up to 32 Lamp or Level devices to program the channels page 149 You can mix Lamp and Level devices allowing you to for example use a Lamp device to control brightness and Level devices for positioning Please refer to the device database for further details on how to connect and configure specific dimmers and lights 336 Chapter 11 SMARTPAX TAPE SMARTLINK MAC SMARTLINK The TAPE SMARTLINK product number 3458 provides a programmable time code output according to the SMPTE and EBU LTC timecode standards This can be used to control any device capable of synchronizing to external time code a feature often referred to as chase lock In addition to programming the timecode stream you can also program the user bits which are part of those timecode standards These user bits are some times used to provide additional control over the device Use a Tape device to program the TAPE SMARTLINK page 133 choosing the Timecode SMPTE device driver You may need to use Trigger cues to configure the parameters of the device driver according to the device Please refer to the device information database for more details The MAC SMARTLINK product number 3457 provides control of most presentation graphics software running on Apple Macintosh computers and compatibles It connects through the ADB port and works by emulating the keyboard to control the presentation program Use a Still Store d
140. as CE Software s QuicKeys you can further customize the behavior of the keys making for example the function keys switch between different applications AIRLNK BEE H AIRLINK TRANSMITTER RECEIVER 3449 3448 AIRLINK MAC ADAPTOR 3440 Connects to the ADB a bus connector Sh Please refer to Speaker Support Applications on page 347 for details on how to use AIRLINK in this configuration 352 Chapter 13 AIRLINK Connecting through SMARTPAX for Interactive Applications Select Dataton Airlink Enter the key number as shown in the picture on page 348 as the sub address For fully interactive applications connect AIRLINK RECEIVER to a port on a SMARTPAX using the enclosed SYSTEM IN SMARTLINK cable Add a number of Switch devices to the Device window in TRAX corresponding to the number of AIRLINK buttons you intend to use Choose Dataton Airlink on the Type pop up menu inside those switch devices Download the device driver to SMARTPAX to activate the receiver Switch Kind Real Device Virtual Device NOTE You must select the Interactive system mode fone page 112 in order to use AIRLINK in this way Function input O Status Cancel See Fully Interactive Applications on page 348 for more details V IMPORTANT Don t confuse connecting the AIRLINK RECEIVER to a port on the back of a SMARTPAX with connecting it to the DATA IN connector on
141. asks using the same button by combining the input switch with for example the day of the week using an and symbol Ej Task My Show Ej xf StartShow Input On amp Clock Mode WeekDay Tuesday k ee Condition Please refer to Symbol Menu on page 96 for a full rundown of all the symbols you can use in task conditions 54 Chapter 3 TRAX Windows Editing Conditions When you click in the condition field of a task this also activates the edit field at the top of the Task window If the task already has a condition the condition is displayed in the edit field This can be used to view long conditions without changing the column width of the Condition column Most items in a condition can be entered using the mouse either by selecting properties from devices or by selecting symbols from the Symbol menu see Symbol Menu on page 96 Existing condition items can be edited using the mouse which displays a pop up menu with the other choices available for the clicked item For example clicking the Clock Mode Week Day Tuesday item in the task with ID 7 displays a pop up menu showing the other status prop erties in the Clock device as well as the possible settings for the currently selected property x StartShow Input On amp D Condition Year Number Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Chapter 3 TRAX Windows 55 Clicking a condition item als
142. ast started and then start the show if it s more than 8 minutes ago provided that there s someone in the room even if there are fewer than 10 people This can be accomplished by using a second virtual device acting as a timer see Timer on page 259 This timer will be re started from zero at the beginning of each show You can then add a task to the task list consisting of a single Control cue that will start the main show time line when the elapsed time is more than 8 minutes and there s someone in the room Task FE Chapter 9 Interactivity 253 Panel Item Linking You can control device functions from a panel by linking the buttons and other items directly to the devices to be controlled However sometimes you may want to start a more complex action or a sequence of events rather than just controlling a single device This can be accomplished using a virtual device as an intermediary between the panel item and the task For single buttons use a virtual Switch device Link the button to the switch and set its Action pop up menu as follows e Use Set To when you simply want the button to start a task Put a cue on the timeline to turn the switch off again e Use Momentary if you want an action to be performed for as long as the button is held down or to activate single cue tasks To make the task run repeatedly as long as the button is being held down select While True in th
143. ata Terminal Equipment A device that is an origin or destination of data as compared to a DCE which only forwards the data On such a device a signal named TRANSMIT is an output from the device See also DCE Data Terminal Ready A handshaking signal that s part of the RS 232C stan dard See also handshaking Appendix B Glossary 413 EBU evaluate expression false finder fps full duplex gang ground loop half duplex European Broadcasting Union The European equivalent of SMPTE Sometimes used as a generic name for the 25 fps timecode standard See also timecode fos SMPTE The process of calculating the result of an expression such as the starting condition of a task in the TRAX Task list You can manually evaluate such expressions by selecting the expression and pressing Command Enter A simple mathematical formula giving a single result See also condition eval uate sub expression logical expression One of the two possible results of a logical expression See also true logical expression The part of the Mac OS that is used to move files and icons start applications etc See also Mac OS Frames per second Usually used to describe a video signal Common frame rates are 25 PAL and 29 97 NTSC frames per second See also timecode The ability to communicate in both directions at the same time See also half duplex RS232 RS422 A set of devices that have been combined using a Gang cue in o
144. ate PAX which must be set to BANK 1L and OBJECT E AUX Arion PAX pin 1 3 2 2 3 4 Pin 5 on each PAX port is common for all three relays on that port Use this position to play shows originally produced on AVL equipment using the Procall 5 or Procall X control signal formats PosiTrak TRANSPAX does not read shows produced on Enhanced Procall Connect up to five PAX dissolve units to the OUT connector of the TRANSPAX and set their bank selectors at 1L 2L 3L etc according to the original show programming Each PAX unit can control up to three slide projectors when running AVL shows 386 Chapter 15 TRANSPAX HOME Button NOTE Shows using more than 15 projectors use a second tape track In this case an additional TRANSPAX is needed to play the show If the program uses auxiliary relay functions these are also emulated using the fourth output port on each PAX AVL PAX pin L 3 R 2 Pin 5 on the PAX is common for both relays In the AVL position TRANSPAX uses the full set of features supported by that system The other three positions can be used for special purposes or for compatibility with older shows NP The NP position located just above the AVL position disregards the Posi Trak tray positioning information S2 Selects the Sequence 2 mode for compatibility with old two projector shows In this case use only the first and third port on each PAX NP This p
145. ate your own drivers for devices controllable by serial data such as RS232 RS422 or MIDI These devices are then con trolled using Trigger cues that refer to the names of the various commands in your driver Such drivers may also use the numeric value field if desired See Chapter 10 for details on creating your own drivers This option resets all status properties of the assigned devices to their power up state This kind of Trigger cue can be used with all kinds of devices This is particularly useful at the beginning of timelines when you want some or all devices to always start at their home positions This option causes the device to eject its medium This can be useful in semi automatic presentations where an operator is supposed to change media at pre determined points in the presentation NOTE This feature is not supported by all devices or device drivers Please check the Eject button in the device s status window If it is grayed out it does not support this feature Chapter 7 Cues 209 Gang Gangs are useful in shows that use lots of devices where you may want to execute a particular cue simultaneously on multiple devices Normally when executing a cue assigned to multiple devices TRAX sends a separate instruc tion through the system data bus to each device If you send a cue to a large number of devices this may result in a noticeable timing difference between the first and the last device This can be avoided by
146. avoid selecting another track by accident This is particularly useful when using the current track as a stop track for speaker support purposes see Speaker Support on page 226 To lock the current track first select the track then choose Timeline Settings from the Window menu and check the Current Track Locked check box When locked the name of the current track will appear in italics To change the current track either remove the lock first by un checking the check box or click the name of the desired track while holding down the Command key Timeline Settings Go to O Relative Tab Key Time Timeline Start 0 00 00 k End O Stop After Last Cue Plus Time EJ Autoscroll While Running Locks current track so it can t be ep Current Track Locked 3 click to change changed by mistake Current S O Introduction Italics indicate locked current track Command click to select another track Chapter 3 TRAX Windows 33 Creating Cues To add a cue to a timeline first make sure that the timeline window is activated then choose the desired cue type from the Cue menu The new cue will be entered into the timeline window on the current track and at the current time position If any devices are selected in the Device window when you create a cue the cue will be assigned to those devices see Assigning Devices to Cues on page 40 PPS a Chi Cha ChS Ea LDP Ost l Sle he 98 e Er e e C
147. aying and entering time positions This pop up menu is only available when Position By Time or Frame Number is selected in the device s configuration dialog box see page 134 Poss Standard x Standard Time in hours minutes seconds and hundredths displayed as Film time HH MM SS hh This is the native TRAX time format all times are internally ae stored with this resolution regardl f the displayed f t SMPTE non drop regardless of the aisplayea rormat SMPTE drop frame SMPTE 30 Tps Film time 24 fps Time in hours minutes seconds and frames displayed FAL frames as HH MM SS FF Twenty four frames per second are normally used for movie TEE T ames films Itis also sometimes used on NTSC format laserdiscs transferred from film NTSC 24 frames EBU time 25 fps Time in hours minutes seconds and frames displayed as HH MM SS FF Twenty five frames per second is the standard video rate in countries using PAL or SECAM video systems This format is sometimes referred to as SMPTE 25 SMPTE non drop Time in hours minutes seconds and frames displayed as HH MM SS FF Thirty frames per second is the standard video rate in coun tries using the NTSC video system There are two versions of this format The non drop format is often used for non broadcast applications SMPTE drop frame This is the second version of the SMPTE format It is commonly used for broadcast applications where the video time has to match real time T
148. back ordering of panel items 158 Chapter 6 Panel Design Items on a background page such as the two green buttons above are also visible on other pages that uses that page as a background A page can be used as a background of another page This allows items common to a number of pages to be entered only once and then re used by simply making all those pages refer to the same background page Of course you could also copy and paste the same set of items across a number of pages But by combining common items on a background page there will be only one page to change should the need arise To create a background page first use the Page arrows to go to an empty page Then draw the items that will be common across a range of pages Finally go to the first of the pages that is to use the background page you have just created and click the Background arrows to select the background page s number If you no longer want a page to have a background then use the Background arrows to set the number equal to the foreground page number This causes the background page number field to show indicating that no background is used NOTES When using a background page only its items will be shown on the page that uses it not its color All items from the background page will be drawn under the items that are on the page using the background Ac tive items from the background page may not be overlapped by items on
149. but not required A color monitor is particu larly useful when making TOUCHLINK touch panel designs 2 Chapter 1 Introduction Software Installation Disk Before installing the software please take a few moments to fill out the regis tration card and return it to Dataton either by fax or by mail Registering your copy of TRAX gives you the following benefits e A Dataton T shirt e Free support by fax or e mail Notification when new versions of TRAX become available Substantially reduced prices on upgrades or even free upgrades to fix bugs or other minor details e Free subscription to News amp Views Dataton s user magazine with news from the field of multimedia around the world To install TRAX on your computer insert the TRAX 3 diskette as shown to the left in your computer and follow these steps e Double click the Dataton TRAX Installer icon e Navigate to your hard disk or any folder where you want to install TRAX e Click the Extract button This will install TRAX and its accompanying files in a folder at the location you specified No other files will be installed or modified Follow the same procedure to install the TOUCHLINK Graphics Sampler Vv IMPORTANT Do not install the Dataton TRAX Runtime diskette on your computer Chapter 1 Introduction 3 Personalizing TRAX The first time you use TRAX after installing it you will be asked to enter your name and serial nu
150. c Text items to add labels to sliders buttons and other items when the flexibility of the built in text captions for these items is insufficient You can write several lines of text and the text can be justified in four different ways Click here to force a new line at the insertion point NOTE The alignment color and other settings are not reflected by the text in the dialog box Move the dialog box to the side to see the actual text item in the panel s status window 174 Chapter 6 Panel Design Pictures Color Fidelity of Pictures In addition to the basic drawing shapes you can also import pictures from most drawing and painting programs Simply copy the picture from the other program and paste it into the panel s status window This allows you to use a larger variety of fonts as well as flags maps and other symbols The example below shows four pictures the map and the three flags The drop shadows of the flags are drawn using the Frame tool and filled with black The three lines connecting the flags with the map are drawn using the Line tool and then colored as appropriate z P13 Page 2 Background 4 Color _ Owing to the limited number of colors available on the TOUCHLINK panel you may run into problems with some kinds of pictures Sometimes mixing color pixels with alternating colors often referred to as dithering can improve the colors Check
151. can also move the cues by the current Tab value by pressing Command Tab or Command shift Tab see Tab Key Time on page 104 If two or more cues on the same track are very close together in time you may not be able to see some of them in the 0 3 or higher Time Scale modes This is indicated by a thick gray line below the cue icons To see the cues underneath zoom to a smaller Time Scale value or switch to List View A thick black line below the cue icons indicates that two or more cues are located at exactly the same time and track In this case it won t help to zoom in as they will still be on top of each other You must move the topmost cue to another track or switch to List View in order to see each individual cue This command brings up a dialog box allowing you to change the name of the current track It is only available while a timeline window is selected See Tracks on page 32 for more details Chapter 4 Menus and Commands 107 Preferences Start Automatically when Opened Brings up the Preferences dialog box allowing you to specify miscellaneous settings Note that these settings are stored with the show and not in a separate preferences file So if you bring your show to another computer it will retain all its preferences The disadvantage of this method is that some parameters like the serial port selection may differ on the other computer although this is very unlikely the printer port is typically us
152. ccesseeeseeesseeeee 234 Bar Graphies seriereeks 171 General Media Integration ccccccceeeeees 235 Disglavi snoa etc po 172 Staging SNOWSid c0n tees ou sot ee 238 Line Frame and Oval 0 ccccceecceceeseeeenseeees 174 Automatic Start ccccccccccccecsecesersceesseeeetseeees 240 Static ext coset 174 CL E PEPEE 175 Q Interactivity 241 Testing a Panels saccade decal eieiei 177 PUS ee a a suse a idaade tan 242 TOUCHAP GIG Ss cate cexcun tetas talealeleamcautsecsteueleve 246 TD ot soli i i A Si icee aa eee 178 Virtual DEVICES 8 c ssecitteeisiceel eeeaeeeeae 252 General Cue Characteristics 0 c ccccccceeeees 179 Timingi a Sahara Ea 257 lcat eae a A ads 186 Branehing aeee n a a i as 261 Set Paes eh at use eeeateaer es eecoanedsnneranoaces 190 Dissectena ene 194 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers 264 LOOM IEE E ENNEN E RE eaee 198 Before You Beginivc cczdasce sctsscniess citstisrtesctes 268 T E N oct 200 Editing an Existing Driver 11111111111 1 278 EE A E rch acd 202 Creating a Driver 280 Chup arate EET 204 Driver Settings sssssesseessssssssnssesseeseeneens 282 PAGET eroria E EEEE EE EREE AR 206 Entering the Commands s sesssseserseseseses 292 GONG oiiae i i p a 210 Comiineinel SM Ings sie tiet tera tn kaa daa 298 CORTON paectaca E 212 Downloading the Driver ccseseeeeeen 31 Note ie scossosstossnvedevelisedevedesdevedactiaatisntinctineias 218 Using Your Driver
153. ce To actually start recording you have to click the play button The record function is not available for all devices NOTE For devices controlled through TRANSPAX the record button also provides access to timecode and cue track recording See Chapter 15 for more details The record function can be programmed using a Trigger cue Note however that the Trigger cue will then start recording immediately when executed Position Index This field shows either the index number or the current time position of the tape depending on the Position By setting in the configuration dialog box You can also use this field to go to any position on the tape by entering it and clicking the locate button next to the field or pressing Enter on the keyboard The format used to display and enter a time position is determined by the pop up menu above the field see Time Formats on page 137 which is only available if Position By Time or Frame Number is selected in the device s configuration dialog box Use a Locate cue to program the position of the device see page 186 If the device can locate arbitrary time or frame number positions then use By Time otherwise use By Number Next or Previous Some tape devices can t locate at all see the device information for the selected type of device for details 136 Chapter 5 Devices Time Formats The time format pop up menu determines the format used for displ
154. ce command again This time configure it exactly as shown in the second Find Replace dialog box to the left This will replace all blank device assignments of selected cues with an assign ment to the device named Note Finally open the status window for the Note device using the Show Device Status command on The Object menu and run the timeline to verify that the note cues display properly You can select a larger typeface or black back ground in the configuration dialog box for the Text device if desired 408 Appendix A News in TRAX 3 action ADB port address arc suppression ASCII autolocator auxiliary relay background page balanced signal GLOSSARY A timeline or cue in the Action column of the Task window performed when the task s start condition is satisfied See also task condition Apple Desktop Bus Connector on Apple Macintosh and compatible computers for connecting an ADB mouse keyboard AIRLINK RECEIVER etc A two digit octal number in the range 10 through 77 used to identify a port on a control unit See also port control unit octal The process of preventing high voltage spikes from damaging electrical components such as switches Such high voltages are generated when the power to an inductive load such as a relay or a motor is cut off The arc suppression is performed by an electrical component such as a varistor which short circuits the high voltage spike See also varisto
155. ces dialog box has one important addition the System Mode radio buttons allow you to switch TRAX 3 between its Interactive and Back ward Compatible modes This is an important distinction since it determines both the physical arrangement of control units SMARTPAX PAX TRANSPAX in the system as well as the capabilities in terms of interactivity and active inputs See Preferences on page 108 and System Modes on page 16 TRAX version 3 can open shows created using older versions of TRAX However due to the number of changes in TRAX 3 such shows may not always perform as expected without manual adjustments For this reason it may be a good idea to keep your previous version of TRAX on your hard disk as well Shows saved by TRAX version 3 have a different icon than shows saved by earlier TRAX versions This allows the Mac OS Finder to start the correct TRAX version when you double click a show file Appendix A News in TRAX3 405 Add a Tape Device If you choose to keep both the new and old TRAX versions on your hard disk in this way there are a few things you should keep in mind Don t run both TRAX versions at the same time Only one program at a time can use the serial port on the computer Always use TRAX version 3 to download device drivers to SMARTPAX if you re using both versions with the same rig TRAX version 2 can use most drivers that have been downloaded using version 3 but not vice versa Thi
156. ch cases this simply means that the device is capable of receiving and processing all commands at full speed without ever becoming busy There are however devices that are not capable of this and which do not support handshaking To handle such devices extra delays can be introduced at the appropriate points in the data stream As a general rule of thumb devices performing some kind of mechanical action in response to a command need the time it takes to execute the task before they can receive any further commands The same goes for commands requiring a lot of internal processing in the device such as switching a video projector from one source to another causing it to change its scan rate V IMPORTANT The Delay parameter by itself doesn t introduce any delay into the data stream It simply specifies how long any delays will be To ac tually introduce a delay in the data stream insert the special Delay charac ter at the desired positions in the string see Delay on page 309 If the device needs different delay times for different actions enter the shortest delay time required into the Delay field and then use multiple delay characters in the string to obtain longer delays For example set the delay time to 100 milliseconds and insert three successive delay characters to make a 300 milli second 0 3 second delay 290 Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers Data Bits Stop Bits This setting determines the
157. click the action item When opening a timeline action such as Main Show in the illustration above it opens to a timeline window which can then be left open if desired When opening a single cue action for editing you must finish editing the cue before you can proceed Chapter 3 TRAX Windows 51 Selecting and Moving Tasks To select a single task click its ID number or action field To select a range of tasks start by selecting the first task then select the last task while holding down the Shift key To select or de select individual tasks hold down the Command key while clicking Tasks can be moved in the task list by selecting the tasks to be moved choosing Cut on the Edit menu selecting the task at the line where you want the tasks to go and choosing Paste on the Edit menu You can also copy tasks from other shows When copying a task containing a timeline all cues on that timeline will be copied as well Vv IMPORTANT When copying tasks or individual cues between shows make sure that all devices referenced by the tasks exist in the target show and have the same names If not cues will not be assigned properly to the devices If necessary first copy the devices to the other show then the tasks or cues Deleting a Task To delete a task first select it as described above then choose Clear on the Edit menu Vv CAUTION When deleting a task whose action item is a timeline that time line and all its cues will
158. containing a sequence of cues Each cue has a time posi tion along the timeline and sits on a track By running the timeline the cues are applied to their assigned devices causing them to perform as programmed A timeline can be synchronized to a device to another timeline or free running A timeline can be paused or re positioned When re positioned it will calcu late the correct status of its devices at the new position See also cue track action priority device assignment 1 A horizontal part of a timeline along which you can place cues see also timeline cue 2 A separate audio channel on an audio or video tape The other of the two possible results of a logical expression See also false logical expression Appendix B Glossary 421 unbalanced signal user bits variable vari speed varistor virtual device VITC A signal sent over a single wire relative a common signal ground This method is used by the RS 232C serial data standard It is more susceptible to noise than a balanced signal such as RS 422 See also balanced signal RS 232C Extra data bits included with timecode as defined in the SMPTE EBU timecode standards The purpose of these bits vary with the application You can program these bits from TRAX by using a TAPE SMARTLINK A value in an expression that may change between evaluations In TRAX the status properties of the devices act as variables This may be a status property of a real dev
159. corders 392 Chapter 15 TRANSPAX Power Supply An AC PAX ADAPTOR product number 3337 or AC PAX product number 3338 can be used to power a TRANSPAX There are two ways to supply power to TRANSPAX e From a PAX or SMARTPAX control unit connected to OUT e Through the 24 V AC EXT POWER connector at the back TRANSPAX normally takes its power from the next unit connected through the OUT connector In this case the maximum length of the cable between the TRANSPAX and the next unit is 25 meters The 24 V AC EXT POWER input at the back of the TRANSPAX is an alterna tive way of powering it Use this method if the control unit to which the TRANSPAX is connected isn t capable of supplying power or if a longer cable than 25 meters is required See 24V AC EXT POWER on page 388 NOTE When connecting a TRANSPAX through a SMARTPAX port see Connecting TRANSPAX on page 369 it does not receive power from the SMARTPAX port If there s no control unit connected to the OUT connec tor on the TRANSPAX you must supply it through its 24 V AC EXT POWER connector Chapter 15 TRANSPAX 393 Overview Multiple Timelines NEWS IN TRAX 3 This appendix describes the main differences between TRAX versions 2 and 3 If you ve used TRAX version 2 this appendix may be particularly helpful as it contains pointers to other relevant parts of this manual which you need to read in order to take full advantage
160. ction keys you can use those for this purpose by entering F1 through F15 as names of Control cues Pressing one of the assigned function keys will then instantly jump to that Control cue Alternatively you can use control key combinations by entering cA through cZ as Control cue names and pressing the letter while holding down the Control key HINT Nine of the keys on the AIRLINK wireless remote control act as func tion keys F5 through F13 This can be used in conjunction with the Quick Find feature to jump directly to specific points in the show see Chapter 13 for details As this feature depends on function keys or control key combinations it can not be used on Macintosh Plus which doesn t have any of these keys 88 Chapter 4 Menus and Commands Object Menu Distribute Cues Distribute Cues Expand Compress Group 326 Ungroup U Lock L Unlock Disable Device Enable Device Show Device Status ER Delete from Cue Menu This menu is similar to the Edit menu in that it allows you to manipulate the selected objects However while the Edit menu contains general commands such as Copy and Paste the Object menu contains more TRAX specific commands Distributes selected cues evenly along a timeline That is all selected cues except the first and the last ones will be moved so that the time between them is equally distributed Use this for example when you want a certain number of actions to occ
161. ctions can also be used to advance a single frame Vv IMPORTANT In this case you must make sure that the time format pop up in the video disc device s status window is set to match the frame rate of the video standard being used This is important as this setting is then used to calculate the time position of the device The Normal setting assumes the 25 fps PAL frame rate Use By Number with discrete position devices to locate a particular image song chapter or other numeric position Some time continuous devices are not capable of locating time positions but may be able to locate discrete numeric positions This includes most audio disc players which often allow you to select a song number as well as some video disc players using chapter numbers NOTE Do not use By Number to locate frame numbers on video In stead use By Time and set the Displayed Time Format to one of the Frames settings Use By Time with devices capable of locating arbitrary time or frame posi tions such as many professional tape and disc players Make sure that the Position by Time or Frame Number is selected in the device s configuration dialog box see Position By on page 134 Chapter 7 Cues 187 Out Time The double arrow Locate button to the right of the In field allows you to imme diately go to the specified position for example to adjust the position using the shuttle slider As soon a
162. d You may want to skip ahead in a show if you have a time continuous medium e g videotape or CD running until something else starts happening the exact timing of which can t be determined in advance In this case you would first program enough running time between the cues to cover the worst case situation at this point You then put a named Control cue at the end of the running time Put a function key or control key name into this Control Cue see Jumping to Show Sections on page 230 When you run the show simply press the assigned function key to skip ahead to this point as required NOTE As TRAX always searches forward when performing a QuickFind you can use the same function or control key name at several points in the show to perform the skip ahead function Timeline 0 20 30 40 50 0 10 20 30 40 50 0 10 20 30 30 50 o JM Chapter 8 Presentations 227 Using secondary timelines The Locate cue positions the device and the following Control cue starts the secondary timeline named Play a Clip The priority of the secondary time line must be higher than the main timeline s in order to take control over the device An alternative to the skip ahead method discussed in the previous section is to use a separate timeline to run the video or sound clip while the main timeline waits for the user to proceed The advantage of this method is that it gives you greater control over the transit
163. d TRAX will automatically append 1 to the Port field in the configuration dialog box You may then change the sub address to any allowable value The actual number of sub addresses handled by the device varies TRAX will tell you if you enter a sub address that is out of range Only some Switch Lamp and Level devices support sub addresses 118 Chapter 5 Devices Device Status Windows m P12 C Disabled Slide ZA Light 100 o Hard Snap o Soft Snap o Flashing go Fading Stopped Example of a status window for a slide projector See each individual device in this chapter for a description of its status window In addition to the configuration dialog box each device also has an associated status window You can open the device s status window using any of the following methods e Click the Status button in the device s configuration dialog box see page 115 e Select the device s icon in the Device window and choose Show Device Status on the Object menu see page 93 e Double click the device s icon while holding down the Option key Select Double click Opens Device Status in the Preferences dialog box see page 109 and then simply double click the device s icon This status window shows the current status of the device and allows you to change the status It also displays far more detail than the icon representing the device in the Device window For example a sl
164. d Control cue after the loop giving it the name of a function key or control key see Jumping to Show Sections on page 230 Then simply press the designated key to exit the loop The third Control Cue may use the same function or control key combination as in other skip ahead cues as TRAX always starts a QuickFind in the forward direction see Using QuickFind on page 88 Timeline Track 1 Loops back indefinitely until you press F5 Alternatively you can also use a secondary timeline for the loop similar to the method described on page 228 This can provide better control of the termina tion of the loop Chapter 8 Presentations 229 Jumping to Show Sections Some presentations may call for even more flexibility requiring show segments to be chosen in any order rather than run in a linear sequence This can be accomplished in various ways For example using the QuickFind feature in TRAX you can jump instantly to any point along the current timeline This can be controlled from the AIRLINK wireless remote control or you can use function keys on the computer s A keyboard as well as control key combinations The bottom three rows of keys on AIRLINK correspond to function keys F5 through F13 on the computer s keyboard giving you direct access to nine cue points in the show You can use en He this feature of the AIRLINK even if your keyboard doesn t have function keys by ctrl si
165. d by a starting condition in the Task window just like other actions see Specifying the Starting Condition for a Task on page 53 Timelines can also start each other using Control cues When a timeline starts another timeline you have the option of locking the target timeline to the orig inating timeline making it perform more like an extension of the originating timeline or to start it as an independent timeline This is determined by the Synchronize To option in the Control cue used to start the timeline see page 214 Chapter 9 Interactivity 257 Time of Day Actions can be started at a certain time of day using the clock built into the computer as a time source To access this clock add a Time device to the device window and choose Apple Macintosh System Clock on the Type pop up menu Name the device Clock See Time on page 152 for more details To start an action at a certain time of day add the action to the Task list as either a single cue or a timeline Then refer to the Time status property of the Clock device in the Condition field as shown in the example on page 53 HINT If you want an existing timeline to be started under a number of dif ferent conditions simply add single Control cue tasks each with its own starting condition Specify the name of the target timeline and choose Run inside those control cues see Target Timeline on page 212 Date Day Month Yo
166. d device C Disabled Light Level s_ Status window for a Lamp device Delete from Cue Menu Use Disable Device when you want to keep a device stationary while working on other devices or parts of the show A disabled device will operate normally on the computer s monitor but the physical device will remain as it was prior to disablement The disabled state indicated by these menu items is the same as the one shown by the Disabled checkbox in the status window for each device Furthermore the icons for disabled devices will appear crossed out in the device window Vv CAUTION While it is possible and often convenient to select devices to be disabled or enabled from within a timeline window be careful not to alter the device assignment of a cue First click away from all cues to make sure that none will be affected by your device selection This command opens the status window for the selected device Use the status window to see the detailed status of a device or to manipulate it manually The status window can be left open on the screen while the show is run To open the status windows for a number of devices first select all the desired devices in the Device window Please refer to Chapter 5 for a detailed description of the status window for each device Allows you to delete customized cues from the Cue menu A dialog box tells you to choose the cues to be deleted from the Cue menu When you have finished deletin
167. day You may want to de select this option if for example you use the Time device as a countdown timer This affects only the way the time is displayed inside the icon It doesn t affect the time value itself or its display in the status window 152 Chapter 5 Devices Time of Day Functions Timer and Countdown Func tions To use the Time device for obtaining time of day day of week etc choose Apple Macintosh System Clock on the Type pop up menu The values displayed in the status window will then be obtained from the clock built into your computer The date month year etc are displayed as device specific modes see Device Specific Modes on page 139 All properties are read only i e you can t use cues to set or stop the time You can still refer to all status properties in starting conditions for tasks and in panel items You could for example display the time of day in a Display field on a panel see Display on page 172 Select Virtual Device in the configuration dialog box to use the device for internal timer and countdown functions only Then use a Locate By Time cue to set the time see page 187 and use a Trigger cue to play the time forward or backwards see page 207 You can display the current value of the timer on a Panel device using a Display Bar Graph or Indicator item Remaining Time Ra Chapter 5 Devices 153 Serial State with This is a general
168. device for which you are about to create a driver The name normally consists of two parts the manufacturer and the model separated by a colon Enter Test instead of the manufacturer s name to avoid any conflicts with an already existing driver for this device Create New Custom Serial Driver The main dialog box of the serial driver editor appears This is where you will enter the names of all the device s commands Before you start entering commands click the Settings button to configure the data rate and other communications parameters P Create Edit SMARTPAH Serial Device Driver Test IN1224 Settings eo e a Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers 281 Driver Settings The section about communications protocol in the technical reference manual for the IN1224 our case study device states 8 data bits 1 stop bit No parity check 1200 baud factory default setting Incidentally this matches the default settings of a serial device driver so you don t have to change any of the communications settings The Delay setting specifies additional delays that can be introduced into the command strings un the character You can ignore this field in this case as we won t use this eature Our case study device features block mode handshaking acknowledging each command that is properly received and executed by sending OK back to the SMARTPAX Block mode handshaking isn t specified on th
169. device to put messages into display fields e Use a virtual Switch device to turn a simple indicator on or off If using several pages or more than one panel you can provide the same information on them all by simply linking their items to the same device status property When the status of the device changes this will be automatically reflected by all panel items linked to that device status property 256 Chapter 9 Interactivity Precision Timing TRAX excels at combining event based and time based actions more tradi tional interactive authoring tools typically only provide the former In addition to the precision timing provided by timelines you can also have actions occur based on time of day calendar or user specified timers Use one or many timelines when actions must be triggered with the highest possible timing precision Those actions represented by cues along the time lines can be placed with an accuracy of 0 01 second one hundredth of a second See Chapter 3 to learn more about timelines Furthermore a timeline can be synchronized to any device in the system capable of supplying timing information This provides excellent long term precision as the timeline will track the external device even if its speed varies slightly or drifts over time See Synchronizing to an Intelligent Device on page 222 and following pages for more information on how to synchronize a timeline to a device The timeline is triggere
170. dotted rectangle displays a list of ready made icons Select an icon in this list and click OK If possible the icon will be shown above the text in the button If there s not enough room above the text the icon will instead be shown to the left of the text If it won t fit there either no icon will be shown In this case make the button large enough to show both the icon or the text or turn off the text display using the Text checkbox You can also copy icons and small pictures from other programs or make your own using a drawing or paint program Icons can be up to 32 pixels high and 56 pixels wide To transter an icon or small picture from another program copy it from the other program then click the Paste button next to the dotted rectangle If the picture you attempt to paste is too big it will be scaled to fit within the maximum size The icon can be colorized differently for the Up and Down states of the button using the Icon color pop up menus To see the button as it looks in its down state without closing the dialog box click the Sample button using the mouse This only shows the visual appear ance of the button it doesn t perform its action When using a large font for the text in conjunction with an icon the sample button may not accurately reflect what the real button will look like You can move the dialog box to the side so you can see the real button with its actual size Chapter 6 Panel
171. dress port A part of an expression that in itself forms a proper expression e g the part 5 6 ofthe expression5 6 9 2 See operator The black cable running between Dataton control units going from the OUT connector of one unit to the IN connector on the next This bus carries a full duplex optically isolated balanced serial data signal See running the task list 420 Appendix B Glossary task time continuous device timecode timeline track true An entry in the Task window consisting of the following parts condition condition variant priority and action See also condition condition variant priority action multi tasking running the task list A device that has a position that changes in linear relation to time such as the current position of a video tape See also discrete position device A method to mark the medium of a time continuous device with equally spaced increasing numbers These numbers are often expressed in hours minutes seconds and frames according to the SMPTE or EBU timecode stan dards Alternatively it can be a simple count such as a frame number on a video disc Using this data it is usually possible to tell an intelligent device to locate an arbitrary position e g a specific video frame as well as to know exactly where the device is in order to synchronize for example a timeline to the device See also SMPTE EBU time continuous device A kind of task action
172. e only in the status window This causes panel items to snap to the drawing grid making it easy to align buttons and other items Turn off this option for precise positioning of panel items HINT As an alternative to turning off Snap to Grid hold down the Op tion key while dragging the item The current page number is available for use in task triggering conditions and direct linkage to panel items You can for example link a button to the page number in order to go to a specific page when the button is pressed 150 Chapter 5 Devices Text E T10 C Disabled This message comes from a Note cue assigned to the Text device Status window Configuration dialog box Enlarged Font and Black Background Status Pop up Menu ABC 2 Text Use a Text device to display text messages in the device s status window on a Panel device or on an external device connected through a SMARTPAX such as a printer or LED sign When this is used for on screen messages only e g operator notes or for messages to be displayed on Panel devices choose Virtual Device in the configuration dialog box Use a Note cue to put text into a Text device see page 218 aR C Disabled Kind Real Device Virtual Device This type _Wepecitied i message a T10 C Disabled This message comes Status Window Enlarged Font O Black Background Status Cancel from a
173. e Cues Find Replace Find Note One at a Time All at Once O Replace With Search O Name Only Control Cue All O Name Only Any Cue Cue Contents as Text Assignment Find Replace Find One at a Time All at Once A Replace With O Name Only O Name Only Any Cue O Cue Contents as Text Backward OForward Selection The separate Note window of TRAX version 2 has been removed in TRAX version 3 The new Text device takes over its functionality To make the text from a Note cue show up in the status window of a Text device simply assign the Text device to the Note cue After creating a new Text device named Note you can automate the process of assigning all the Note cues to it using the Find Replace command Start by selecting the timeline window and making a Find on all cues that contain the word Note as shown in the picture to the left Be careful to set all options exactly as show to the left After that first Find command all the Note cues along the timeline should be selected You may scroll the window back and forth to confirm that your note cues have been selected Don t leave the window though as doing so will de select those cues Next you can replace the blank device assignment of all those cues with the name of your new Text device Assuming that you gave the text device the name Note use the Find Repla
174. e DC INJECTOR connects between SMARTPAX and TOUCHLINK close to TOUCHLINK You may extend the TOUCHLINK cable by up to 5 meters on the TOUCHLINK side of the DC INJECTOR The cable between the DC INJECTOR and the SMARTPAX can then be up to 25 meters SMARTPAX 12 VDC 12 VDC 2 m cable on ADAPTOR INJECTOR TOUCHLINK Up to 25 m 5 m optional extension cable extension cable Chapter 12 TOUCHLINK 345 Transmitter AIRLINK AIRLINK is a wireless remote control system It can be used for many different applications ranging from controlling a few slide projectors to large scale multimedia systems and interactive applications e Use it for speaker support applications by connecting it directly to the com puter running TRAX e Use it for interactive applications by connecting it to a SMARTPAX port e Use it with PAX or SMARTPAX for direct control of up to four slide projec tors with full dissolve and random access capabilities The AIRLINK TRANSMITTER product number 3448 has 13 keys Individual keys can be labelled according to their function or removed to simplify the layout The enclosed AIRLINK OVERLAY KIT provides labels for customizing the transmitter with numbers texts and symbols for most applications A special outsize key that is easy to find even in total darkness is normally used for the most basic function of the application such as START NEXT or ON OFF The transmitter uses proprietary power pulse modula
175. e Handshake menu in this dialog box it is specified by entering a special character into the command strings at the point where an acknowledgment is expected see Acknowledge on page 310 SMARTPAH Serial Device Driver Settings C Device Test IN1224 Version 1 Date 96 08 08 Data Rate 1200 v Parity None v Handshake None sw Data Bits 8 O7 Delay in Strings ms Stop Bits 102 282 Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers Device The following is a complete description of each field in the Serial Device Driver Settings dialog box This is the name of the device driver as it will appear in the list in the Device Support window The name consists normally of two parts the name of the manufacturer and the model name of the device being controlled The parts are separated by a colon Using the actual name of a device rather than a generic name makes it easier to find the right driver The colon in the device name also creates a hierarchical organization of drivers This is used when choosing a driver with the DEVICE button on the SMARTPAX front panel see DEVICE Button on page 322 Note that you can t change the name of a driver simply by changing its file name in the Mac OS Finder When the driver is first created the filename is based on the driver name you enter However owing to limitations in the Mac OS file system file names are not allowed to contain colons Hence any colon in
176. e Task window e Use Toggling if you want different actions to be started when turned on and off Select Becomes True and Becomes False in the Task window to specify whether the action is to be started when the button is turned on or off 254 Chapter 9 Interactivity Multiple Choices Use a virtual Still Store device to manage a set of buttons representing a multiple choice selection such as a language menu including English French German and Spanish Make one number represent each language e g 1 is English 2 is French and so on The numeric value O can in this case indicate that no choice has been made yet Link all the language selection buttons to this virtual Still Store device select Set To on the Action pop up menu in each button s dialog box and enter the number corresponding to each language in the field next to the Action pop up menu To start the desired action based on the user s choice test the value of the virtual Still Store device in the starting conditions for the tasks using the Is Equal to symbol specifying the number of the appropriate language choice Chapter 9 Interactivity 255 Feedback to Panels You can use virtual devices to provide feedback information through the panel e Use a virtual Still Store or Time device in conjunction with a display or bar graph item as a clock countdown timer or progress indicator e Use a virtual Text
177. e computer s operating system or other information that never changes This memory is retained when the computer is switched off See also RAM non volatile A memory technology used in TOUCHLINK that is non volatile and semi permanent A specific procedure is required to alter the contents of a FLASH memory which is significantly slower and more complicated than changing the contents of a RAM memory The process of temporarily removing cues from a timeline and restoring them one at a time by pressing the space bar while the timeline is running This can be used to synchronize the cues with for example a soundtrack A logical expression using the relational operators such as lt and gt resulting in a true or false value Such expressions are used to compare variables to other variables or constants See also logical expression variable constant An unbalanced full duplex serial data communication standard commonly used by intelligent devices modems etc Suitable for shorter distances up to a few meters See also unbalanced signal intelligent device full duplex serial data A balanced full duplex serial data communication standard used by some professional intelligent devices Suitable for longer distances than RS 232C but may still have problems with ground loops See also balanced signal intel ligent device full duplex serial data ground loop 418 Appendix B Glossary RS 485 running the tasks list
178. e device will turn its output level off before locating the spec ified position In the case of a slide projector this means turning the lamp off When applied to a video player it means turning the video output off if possible Chapter 7 Cues 189 Set Fade Use this cue to set or fade the output level of a device to a specified level When used with a slide projectors or lamps this means fading the lamp level When used with an audio device the volume is controlled if possible When applied to a video player the video output level is controlled if possible Use 0 and 100 only for video devices and set the Rate field to O When used with slide projectors the Fade cue uses a linear lamp curve while the Dissolve Wipe and Zoom cues use a nonlinear curve The linear ramp of the fade cue makes it suitable for fading to or from black while the nonlinear curve of those other cues is tailored to make smooth transitions between images Set Fade Name Fading Start Stop Resume Faders Single Multiple Rate 0 _ s Leve 0 O Live Edit 190 Chapter 7 Cues Fading Stop Resume Select this option to start a new fading then enter the rate and target value of the fading in the corresponding fields You can also choose whether to fade all assigned devices to the same level or to independent levels using the Single Multiple controls Allows you t
179. e movement of selected cues press the Shift key while dragging the cues Don t press it before you start to drag as that will toggle the selection state of the clicked cue Pressing the Option key while dragging cues horizontally changes the numeric time readout in the Timeline window to indicate relative time indicating how far you have moved the cues as you drag them Introduction SOO Press the Option key as you move the cues to see the relative time distance E Chapter 3 TRAX Windows 37 Moving Cues using the Pressing the up or down arrow keys while holding down the Command key Keyboard moves selected cues up or down one track at a time Pressing the right or left arrow keys in conjunction with the Command key nudges them horizontally in steps of 0 01 seconds Pressing both the Shift and Command keys moves them in 0 1 second steps Command Tab moves the selected cues by the Tab Key Time specified in the Timeline Settings dialog box see Tab Key Time on page 104 Command Shift Tab moves the cues backwards by the same amount NOTE This can be used for example to move cues one video frame at a time by setting the Tab Amount to the corresponding time 38 Chapter 3 TRAX Windows Changing the Time Scale Window Device Task 37 Device Support 8 New Timeline 9 Timeline Settings 3J List View Time Scale Track Name Preferences Using the Time Scale com
180. e output voltage the load impedance should not be lower than 20 kOhm The output precision is based on a 12 bit D A converter resulting in up to 4096 discrete steps TRAX takes full advantage of this high precision by allowing you to use fractional percentage values in the Set Fade cue Use Level or Lamp devices to program the outputs page 149 See the device information database for more details Common Analog output for all 32 channels channels O 10V pin 33 34 35 pin 1 32 19 Q 37 TTT TATT 20 INSIDE ANALOG 10 bit DA t 2 SMARTLINK O bi converter 32 channel 334 Chapter 11 SMARTPAX AUDIO SMARTLINK product number 3493 is an eight input two output audio mixer four stereo pairs Two additional fixed inputs allow multiple units to be cascaded for increased input capacity LEDs indicate overloading resulting in distortion of the audio signal Max input level is 10 dBU unbal anced 10 kQ input impedance The unbalanced outputs can drive 600 Q Use Level devices to program the AUDIO SMARTLINK channels page 149 There are two device drivers available for controlling AUDIO SMARTLINK one treats the eight inputs as eight independent levels while the other one treats them as four volume and four balance levels see the device information data base entry for each device driver for more details A checkbox in the device s configuration dialog box allows you to determine whether the
181. e players equipped with this feature Vv IMPORTANT The operation of the shuttle slider as well as the validity of the time displayed in the position field depends on whether TRAX receives data from the device about its current position If no data is forthcoming the shuttle slider will be grayed out to indicate this Furthermore when using TRAX in its Backward Compatible mode this indication is valid only while the status window is the active window 138 Chapter 5 Devices This button lets you eject the tape or disc in the device This feature is not supported for all devices Use a Trigger cue to program this function see Eject on page 209 The list at the bottom of the status window shows the device specific modes available for the selected type of device Use the triangle above this list to show or hide the list If the triangle appears grayed out the chosen type of device doesn t have any such modes To change a mode click on the box that indicates its current state and choose from the pop up menu Some states may take an additional numeric value which can then be entered in the Value field at the bottom of the window Use a Trigger cue to program the device specific modes see Device Specific Mode on page 208 For more information about the modes available for specific models click the information button next to the Type pop up menu in the device s configuration dialog box Chapter 5 Dev
182. e used as the sync source see Synchronize To on page 214 42 Chapter 3 TRAX Windows Re recording Cues Clicking the re record button with no cues selected selects all cues ahead on the current track In addition to positioning cues manually along the timeline by dragging them with the mouse it is also possible to position them by tapping the space bar in real time as you run the timeline This is referred to as re recording the cues as the cues to be positioned are temporarily removed from the timeline and then re recorded again one by one as you tap the space bar You can use this method either to re record cues in relation to other cues or to an external timecode source coming from a device see Synchronizing a Time line to a Device on page 42 Re recording relative to a device is particularly useful as it makes it easy to achieve good timing between the audio and the visuals Before you start you must decide which cues to re record This can be done either manually or automatically The automatic method selects all cues ahead on the current track This method is appropriate after adding new cues to the end of the timeline and all cues to be synchronized are on the same track To use the automatic method first click on the time ruler at the point from which you want to start re recording then click the record symbol in the bottom left corner of the timeline window This automatically selects all cues ahead on
183. e used to divide the system into two buses for other reasons such as controlling two floors in a museum from the same computer Chapter 4 Menus and Commands 111 Paste Open Picture After selecting Both you can specify which serial port each device is attached to using the Choose Port button in each device s configuration dialog box see Port Assignment on page 117 The System Mode options allow you to choose between Backward Compat ible for maximum compatibility with older Dataton control units such as PAX and TRANSPAX and Interactive The interactive mode unlocks all the inter active features such as active inputs multiple timecode sources etc See System Modes on page 16 for more details This button allows you to specify a picture such as your company s logo that will be included with all shows saved using your copy of TRAX To use this feature follow these steps e Copy the picture such as your company s logo possibly from another program e Click the Paste Open Picture button e Save the show as usual The next time that show is opened your picture will be displayed 112 Chapter 4 Menus and Commands Security Options Password The Security Options button in the Preferences dialog box brings up the dialog ox shown below If your show is already protected by a password you will be requested to enter it before you can access the Securit
184. ect devices to SMARTPAX using the appropriate smartlink cable Audio Disc Type a Position nib o Sona Number Time or Frame Number cant Please refer to the description of the Tape device beginning on page 133 for general information on the configuration dialog box and status fields See below for details specific to audio disc devices This field shows either the song number or the current time position of the disc depending the Position By setting in the configuration dialog box You can also use this field to go to any position on the disc by entering the position and clicking the locate button next to the field or pressing Enter on the keyboard NOTE As there s no feedback from the device in Position by Song Num ber mode TRAX will not know when the disc moves on to the next song It will simply display the number of the last song you ve told it to locate Chapter 5 Devices 141 Volume Status Field The format used to display and enter a time position is determined by the pop up menu above the field see Time Formats on page 137 which is only available if Position By Time or Frame Number is selected in the configura tion dialog box for the device Use a Locate cue to program the position of the device If the device can locate arbitrary time or frame number positions then use By Time else use By Number Next or Previous see page 186 Some devices may no
185. ect one of the generic Dataton TRANSPAX types Select this checkbox if TRANSPAX is connected directly to the computer on the primary system cable bus backward compatible mode only If all you want to do is to record and play timecode and control signals then choose Dataton TRANSPAX on the Type pop up menu If your tape recorder has provisions for remote control and you have the correct tape adaptor cable page 392 you should instead choose Dataton TRANSPAX with remote on the Type pop up menu Tape Otari 5050 B02 v TRANSPAX Connected to Computer Position by Time or Frame Number Time at Beginning of Tape 0 00 00 If your tape recorder is capable of autolocator control and you have the appropriate locator cable you should choose the specific brand and model of tape deck on the Type pop up menu such as the Otari 5050 BQ2 in the example above If you use TRAX in its backward compatible mode you have the option of connecting TRANSPAX either directly to the TRAX computer on the primary system cable bus or on a secondary bus through a SMARTPAX see Connecting TRANSPAX on page 369 You must tell TRAX how Chapter 15 TRANSPAX 371 TRANSPAX is connected using the checkbox in the configuration dialog box This option is not available if TRAX is in its interactive mode in which case TRANSPAX must be connected through a SMARTPAX port If connected through a SMA
186. ector Status Indica tion Light Fully Off Light Fully On Light at Intermediate Level Projector Busy Flashing Hard Snap Soft Snap Status indicated by the device s icon in the Device window aes 6 9 OG fa P12 C Disabled stide 4 JA Light 100 o Hard Snap o Soft Snap o Flashing o Fading Stopped To see the full status of a projector open its status window Some status information is indicated by the projector s icon in the Device window The lens of the projector indicates the lamp snap and busy status The Intermediate Level indicator will be shown when the projector lamp is at a level between fully on or off as programmed by a Set Fade cue or when you ve used a Fade Stop cue to stop any Fade Dissolve Wipe or Zoom before completion As the indicator only shows the target level it won t change during the course of a dissolve or fade effect The Busy status in the projector s icon in the Device window is shown whenever you make a dissolve wipe or zoom effect that causes the projector lamp to go off and the tray to step forward The busy indicator is shown as soon as the cue is executed and remains on until the tray has advanced to the next slide The status indicator then changes to the normal Light Off state The busy status time is an estimate calculated by adding the lamp down rate the tray step delay and the cycle time of the projector as determined by your choice on the device s
187. ed the fractional part of the value will not be shown in the display The Time Suppress Seconds and Always Show Hours options are only available when linked to a time value The Time pop up menu determines the displayed time format allowing you to for example display the current frame number from a Video Disc device as a frame number instead of as a time The Always Show Hours option forces a leading 0 to be displayed even if the hour is less than 1 which is typically what you want for a time of day display You can use the Suppress Fractions checkbox to suppress the display of hundredths of seconds This option is also implied by selecting Suppress Seconds Chapter 6 Panel Design 173 Line Frame and Oval The Line Frame and Oval tools are used to draw graphics to improve the ayout of a page You can use frames to group related buttons together or use lines as dividers between groups of items You can change the look of these items by double clicking them just like any other panel item Static Text Use Static Text items to add labels to sliders buttons and other items when the flexibility of the built in text captions is insufficient You can write several lines of text and the text can be justified in four different ways Text Font Style A OA Size _Small__ Color J Bolid Aiignment B left centered right or fully justified alignment Use Stati
188. ed equipment MIDI unlike most other digital standards uses separate connectors for data input and output The male DIN connector on the MIDI SMARTLINK provides the output data going from SMARTPAX to the MIDI IN port on the device The female DIN connector is used for data coming from MIDI OUT on the device going to SMARTPAX The device information database in TRAX provides additional information on how to configure the device in order to be used with SMARTPAX You can create your own specialized MIDI device drivers using the Serial device driver editor built into TRAX as described in Chapter 10 assuming you have all the details about the protocol of the device to be controlled Chapter 11 SMARTPAX 327 DIGITAL SMARTLINK product number 3491 provides 32 solid state switch outputs inputs These outputs inputs are connected to pin 1 through 32 Pins 33 34 are common for all the outputs inputs Each output is capable of switching up to 0 5 Ampere 50 Volt DC DIGITAL SMARTLINK has built in arc suppression meaning that inductive loads such as relays and small motors can be controlled directly without any additional components Power to DIGITAL SMARTLINK Yo 12 24V DC pin 36 34 Power from Common terminal Digital outputs SMARTPAX ale for all 32 channels 32 channels 12V DC pin 33 34 pin 1 32 JN d gt PLT EEE EEE gt coe 32 solid state INSIDE switches DIGITAL and SMARTLINK sensors 328
189. ed to talk to a printer or an AppleTalk network S Preferences for Current Show 55 O Start Automatically when Opened O Double click Opens Device Status EJ Play Panel Sounds Max Number of Gangs m Slide Projector Options svvnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn oO Show Slide Number Instead of Device Name l Standard Step Delay _1 0 second v rSerial Port i Interactive i S Bot i g O D O Backward Compatible Security Options Paste Open Picture Causes the show to start running automatically when it s loaded from disk By placing the show or an alias of it in the Startup Items folder located in the System Folder of the startup disk the show will be automatically loaded and started when the computer is turned on 108 Chapter 4 Menus and Commands Double click Opens Device Status Play Panel Sounds By default double clicking a device icon in the Device window opens its config uration dialog box The configuration dialog box is used for the initial config uration of the device but is then rarely accessed again The configuration dialog box can also be opened by selecting the device s icon and choosing Specifications from the Edit menu In addition to that configuration dialog box each device also has a status window By selecting the Double click Opens Device Status option the status window will be opened instead of the configuration dialog box whe
190. eld then copy it using the Copy command on the Edit menu Click OK to close the Driver String dialog box Move down to Video 2 in the State list and press Return to open its dialog box Paste in the string you copied from Video 1 and change it to select CH2 Continue in the same way with the other members of the Anonymous mode entering the corresponding strings from the list under Command Strings on page 300 When you have entered the strings for all the source switching commands then select the Mute mode in the list to the left Enter the command strings corre sponding to its Off and On states Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers 305 Numeric Values Value character Select Volume in the Mode list and open the Level state s dialog box This command takes a numeric value You can t enter all the characters in the command now as three of them aren t known until you eventually set the volume using a Trigger cue Instead put a Value character at the point in the command string where the number will go Volume Level Click here to VOLA Cancel enter the Value Break character Value Format Field Width 3 wv Minimum Value o e Maximum Value 255 When you enter the Value character into the string the fields at the bottom of the dialog box become available Specify a field width of 3 characters and a minimum and maximum value of O and 255 The field width setting tells SMARTPAX that it must
191. em bus Ii cJ 00009 ooo 6 U gt gt gt Wy SYSTEM OUT Secondary To additional PEM SMART SMARTLINK 3478 system bus PAX units To additional SMARTPAX units Chapter 2 System Overview 19 Eee TRAX WINDOWS The various objects manipulated in TRAX such as cues and devices are kept in their respective windows This chapter tells you how to use these objects and their windows Opening and Closing You can open as many windows as you like On a small monitor there s a Windows practical limit to the number of windows you may want to have open at any one time Most Macintosh computers and compatibles allow you to connect a larger monitor and or multiple monitors which will provide more space for your windows The three main windows in TRAX are opened using their respective commands v Device 86 at the top of the Window menu v Task 7 Device Support 388 To open the timeline window for an existing timeline first open the Task window using the Task command on the Window menu then double click the timeline s name in the Action column To create a new timeline and open its window choose New Timeline on the Window menu To open the status window for a device select the device in the Device window and choose
192. em or condition is selected and choosing the status property on the pop up menu See also condition item device status property 412 Appendix B Glossary device status property dialog box discrete position device dissolve control unit dithering DMX 512 downloading DTE DTR An attribute of a device which can be affected by cues and panel items and can be used as a variable in task conditions Some status properties are read only and can not be changed by cues or panel items See also property item task cue device status linking A window on the computer s monitor used to provide information in order to perform a command See also modal window non modal window A device that has a position that varies in discrete steps such as the slide number in a slide projector See also time continuous device A control unit specifically designed to handle slide projectors e g the PAX See also control unit A process by which intermediate colors can be simulated by using multiple pixels with alternating colors See also pixel A digital serial data protocol for controlling dimmers and other lighting instru ments Standardized by USITT and supported by most lighting equipment manufacturers See also serial data RS485 The process of transferring data such as device drivers or graphics from the computer to the control units and panel devices Performed using the Down load button in the Device Support window D
193. emain on all the time while playing the tape Intermittent flickering indicates a poor quality or weak signal Try adjusting the playback level to correct the problem If the tape is old you may have to replace it with a new tape While the human ear may get used to gradually decreased audio 318 Chapter 11 SMARTPAX TAPE DATA OK Indicator quality resulting from a worn out tape the SMARTPAX isn t as adaptable and will eventually fail to read the signal reliably These are some specifications of the TAPE input which might be helpful when troubleshooting an installation Input sensitivity 150 mV peak relative ground Input impedance 10 kOhm Tape speed tolerance 20 NOTE Due to the sparse modulation scheme used by the control signal it appears as very weak on most regular VU meters or when using an aver aging volt meter connected to the tape output Use an oscilloscope to check the output level if required The TAPE DATA OK indicator is turned on when data is received either through the IN or the TAPE connectors This is very useful when troubleshooting an installation as it allows you to follow the data signal from unit to unit ensuring that all units do indeed receive data If a control unit receives its data from a tape control track played into the TAPE input of that unit the TAPE DATA OK indicator also indicates the quality of the signal If the indicator flickers frequently this indicates a poor quality or low
194. end point or specify a value that s too small TRAX will automatically increase the end time by one minute whenever you place a cue within 15 seconds from the current end point Chapter 3 TRAX Windows 31 Tracks A timeline window contains 16 horizontal tracks initially named Track 1 through Track 16 New cues are added to the current track which is indicated by an underlined track name To change the current track click the desired track name or select a cue on the desired track To change the name of a track first select the track then choose Track Name on the Window menu or simply double click the track name Current track indicator Double click to rename track You can use the tracks in any way you see fit For a show that uses many media it may be a good idea to put cues that control for example lighting on one track and cues for video on another and name the tracks appropriately For a show using a lot of slide projectors you may want to dedicate separate tracks to the individual screen areas or simply use them as parallel timelines in order to simplify complex cue sequences on multiple projectors Another way to use the tracks is to have one track for new cues Once the cues have been edited and synchronized you can mix down that track onto another track with finished cues see Moving Cues on page 37 32 Chapter 3 TRAX Windows Locking the Current Track You can lock the current track to
195. ependently when jumping forward or backward along a timeline This would be impossible if all commands were entered en masse Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers 265 ASCII Encoding There are many ways in which the data bytes sent to the device can be encoded Many devices controlled through RS232 or RS422 serial ports use ASCII Char Binary Form ASCII encoding for their commands However devices controlled through MIDI SPACE 00100000 ports never use ASCII encoding The methods described in this chapter allow you to create most kinds of serial data drivers regardless of whether they use amp 00100110 ASCII encoding or not 00110001 ASCII stands for American Standard Code for Information Interchange and is 2 00110010 a standardized way of encoding alphanumeric information into computer data A 01000001 bytes such as those transmitted over a serial data communication line Serial drivers transmit such data bytes to the device being controlled Each data byte z 01111010 consists of eight data bits The table to the left shows some ASCII characters as Examples of ASCII encoding well as their corresponding binary values You never need to deal with the data in its binary form when creating serial drivers ASCII encoding is assumed by default For devices not using ASCII encoding you can use HEX encoding to represent the data bytes ASCII and HEX are the most common ways of describing serial data One of these two f
196. er This is a detailed description of all the steps involved in creating a serial driver The IN1224 from Inline Inc La Habra CA USA is used as a case study This is a combined video audio switcher and scan doubler equipped with an RS232 control port To create a serial driver start by opening the Device Support window via the Window menu Select Device Drivers Manual Mode on the pop up menu at the bottom of the window This reveals the Create button located at the bottom of the window Our case study the Inline IN1224 switcher decoder scan doubler HES Device Support Level MIDI Control Change Input Level Niche ACM Level Yamaha ProMix 01 Panel Dataton Touchlink Jime Aipple Macintash System feck fv Serial Altinex MHS608RS fr Serial Autopatch 4 DM Serial Barco Data 1100 fr Serial Barco Data 1101 fr Serial Barco Data 3100 fr Serial Barco Data 5000 fr Serial Barco Data 5100 fr Serial Barco Data 7015 Select Device Drivers Manual fi Serial Barco Data 8000 n D e ee E Mode to reveal the Create button Spano Create button IMPORTANT In Manual mode SMARTPAX must be connected directly to the Mac 280 Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers Use a fake name here to not inter fere with a name of an existing serial device driver Click the Settings button Click the Create button This displays a small dialog box where you enter the name of the
197. er cue Chapter 7 Cues 207 Record Mode Use this checkbox in conjunction with the Play transport button to start recording NOTE This feature is not supported by all devices or device drivers Please check the Record button in the device s status window If it is grayed out it does not support recording Device Specific Mode Device specific modes include such features as sound channel selection audio muting index display etc and can be used with many tape video and audio disc devices This option is also used with Serial and IR devices This button and the pop up menu next to it are only available when the Trigger cue is assigned to a device that has such modes See Device Specific Modes on page 139 for more details In order to use this button the Trigger cue must be assigned to the device before opening this dialog box When assigned to multiple devices they must all be of the same type Vv CAUTION If you change the device assignment of such a Trigger cue or if you change the Type specification in the device s configuration dialog box the Trigger cue may no longer make sense TRAX tries to match up the mode using its name If a mode with the specified name can t be found you will be notified 208 Chapter 7 Cues The value field next to the pop up menu becomes active if the selected mode requires a value This again depends on the device to which the cue is assigned HINT It s possible to cre
198. ering the corresponding name into a Control cue Whenever you press the corre sponding key on the keyboard or the AIRLINK TRANSMITTER the show will instantly jump to that position See Using QuickFind on page 88 for more details Chapter 13 AIRLINK 347 Numbering of AIRLINK buttons when connected through a SMARTPAX port Connecting the AIRLINK directly to the computer as described on the previous page provides convenient and direct control over the active timeline window without any additional programming However for fully interactive applica tions this kind of fixed functionality may be too limited For increased flexibility you can connect AIRLINK RECEIVER through a SMARTPAX port as described under Connecting through SMARTPAX for Interactive Applications on page 353 Add a Switch device to the Device window corresponding to each button on the AIRLINK and program the behavior of the buttons through the Task window You program the AIRLINK buttons in the same way you would program other inputs to the system See Inputs on page 242 for more details NOTE In addition to providing more flexibility this way of connecting the receiver also allows you to connect more than one AIRLINK to the system for example for use in different rooms Furthermore the receivers can be located farther away from the computer as they are connected through SMARTPAX units which can be distributed throughout the building rat
199. es you only need to type the first few letters of the keyword lt is not however possible to change the time track or device assignment of a cue in this way To change the device assignment click the devices as usual Switch to the icon view Command M to change the time or track of a cue or use the nudging commands Command arrow key or Command Shift arrow key Chapter 3 TRAX Windows 49 Printing Cues Use tabs to align the columns Although TRAX doesn t have a print command as such you can use any word processor to print out the cues just as you see them in List View Select the cues you want to print and choose Copy on the Edit menu You can then paste them into your favorite word processing program There s a tab and a vertical line between each field in List View Add corre sponding tab stops in your word processor to align the columns The example below shows how to format the cues in Microsoft Word Note that the leftmost tab is right aligned while the other three are left aligned It might be a good idea to save the word processor document as a stationary document to re use this format for future print outs a Untitled e E EES ieee sim BE Eri To FE to 0 01 60 1 Set Off Rate 3 Level 0 Chi Ch2 Ch3 Ch4 ChS Ch 0 01 90 2 Locate Num Number 1 1 1 2 83 0 03 20 2 Dissolve D Rate 2 Ascend Step Standard Delay O 1 2 3 0 05 40
200. es at any point along a timeline As you can now have multiple timelines it would be impractical to have all devices in the system return to their home positions whenever a new timeline is started Instead each timeline will accept the initial status of the devices as their correct home positions Thus when you return to the beginning of that timeline all devices used by it will be reset to the position they had when the timeline was started If you want all devices to be reset to their power up positions at the beginning of a timeline you must explicitly say so using a Trigger Reset cue page 209 To take full advantage of the new features in TRAX version 3 you must activate its Interactive mode see System Modes on page 16 This is done in the Pref erences dialog box as shown on page 112 Before activating the Interactive system mode you must make sure that only SMARTPAX units are connected to the system bus originating from the computer Any TRANSPAX and PAX units must be on a secondary bus connected through a SMARTPAX port see Connecting TRANSPAX on page 369 You must also make sure that all SMARTPAX units in the system have been upgraded to system software version 3 or later see page 320 This can be done by performing an automatic download before activating the Interac tive system mode see Downloading in Automatic Mode on page 68 Appendix A News in TRAX 3 407 Using a Text Device to Display Not
201. es must be set aside for use as gang addresses When you reserve addresses for this purpose they are allocated from the highest address 77 and downwards These addresses can t be used by any device in the Device window The maximum number of reserved Gang addresses is eight corresponding to the eight gang letters shown at the bottom of the Device window when gangs are activated See Gang on page 210 for details on how to program using gangs The Show Slide Number Instead of Device Name checkbox displays the current slide number inside the icon of slide projectors in the Device window This number is shown instead of the projector s name which can often be deduced from its position in the window The Standard Step Delay option determines the delay used by slide projec tors when advancing to the next slide following a Dissolve Zoom or Wipe cue in which the Delay After Light Out Til Tray Step pop up menu was set at Stan dard Normally you would set the Standard Tray Step Delay to the most suit able value for the kind of projectors you are using As a general guideline 1 second is suitable for projectors with low voltage 250 W lamps for example the Kodak S AV range For projectors with high voltage lamps like the Kodak Ektagraphic or Ektapro models use 0 6 seconds 110 Chapter 4 Menus and Commands Serial Port Using Both Ports However depending on various factors such as the slides themselves the i
202. esent the various devices used to run the presentation Use the Device menu to add devices to this window see Device Menu on page 94 The icons show basic status information such as whether a tape deck is playing or not For a more detailed view of the status of the devices you can open individual device status windows as described below All devices are described in detail in Chapter 5 Device Status The window titled Beta is a status window associated with the device of the same name in the Device window Each device has a status window which can be used to view or change the device s status See Chapter 5 for a full descrip tion of the status window for each kind of device Panel Window Interactive elements can be added to a presentation by using a touch panel such as the one shown in the lower right corner of the screen The tools along the left hand side of the Panel window allow you to add elements and function ality to the panel as well as testing the panel See Chapter 6 Panel Design for information on how to design a touch panel user interface 14 Chapter 2 System Overview Task Window Timeline Window Device Support The window titled Task Example Show on page 13 holds all the tasks that make up the presentation Tasks can be short consisting of a single action such as the Light On and Light Off tasks Or they can be longer such as the Introduction and New Products
203. esign 157 Colors Overlapping Items Open a selected item s dialog box by choosing Specifications on the Object menu or by double clicking the item The item s dialog box allows you to change its settings such as its shape color text caption or action See the description of each item in this chapter for details You can apply colors to all elements on panels including the pages To set the color of the current page click the color swatch located next to the Settings button in the panel window The page s color is used to fill all areas not covered by any panel items This means that if you paste a large picture onto a page as in the example on page 156 you will not be able to see the page s color To color the various items open the item s dialog box and choose from the swatches available for the various parts of the item See the description of each item later in this chapter for more details There are two basic kinds of panel items active and passive These are divided by a dotted line in the tool bar The active items are Button Indicator Slider Bar Graph and Display The passive items are Line Frame Oval Text and Picture Passive items may overlap other passive items Active items may overlap passive items However active items should not overlap each other or be over lapped by passive items Use the Bring to Front and Send to Back commands on the Object menu to control the front to
204. ettings in the device s configuration dialog box Output On This check box indicates the output status of the switch Click here to close the switch Use a Trigger cue to program the switch see Switch on page 206 Last On In Group This read only status indicates whether this switch was the last one activated in a group of switches that all have Mutually Exclusive in Group selected see page 130 It is sometimes useful to know which output in the group was most recently activated since that will tell you whether for example a controlled curtain is open or closed Input Status Shows whether the input of the switch is currently activated or not This is only applicable if Input or Both is selected in the device s config uration dialog box see page 130 The icon in the Device window shows most of this information However if the switch is both an input and output you will not be able to tell which function is activated simply by looking at the icon In this case open the status window to see all details Chapter 5 Devices 131 Status Pop up Menu The following status properties are available for use in task triggering condi tions and for direct linkage to panel items see Device Status Linkage Menus i f Output On on page 1 20 7 Last On in Group l Output On 1 if the output is activated else O Last On in Group 1 ifthis output was last activated in a mutually exclu sive group else
205. evice directly using a panel button or slider But sometimes you may want the button fo start a timeline or other task In this case you could use for example a virtual Switch device as it is only used as a way to link the button to the task see Linking Conditions to Device Status on page 54 While this may seem overly complicated at first this solution facilitates access to the same function from more than one page or panel a definite advantage for large systems Still Store Kind Real Device Virtual Device A virtual Still Store device used to count the number of visitors BeseeciHee v 122 Chapter 5 Devices Slide Projector Slide projectors are controlled either through SMARTPAX or PAX You can mix both kinds of control units in the same system but be aware that the lamps may respond differently in projectors with different types of lamps See Chapter 14 for further details on controlling slide projectors through PAX Likewise Chapter 11 discusses how to connect and configure projectors controlled through SMARTPAX Projector ne Type unspecified v G Screen 1 Sequence order 1 Chapter 5 Devices 123 Screen Area and Sequence In addition to the name and port assignment a slide projector must also be Order designated a screen area number and a sequence order within that screen area In large presentations projectors are often grouped so that each group works on
206. evice in TRAX to control the Macintosh page 147 Choose your presentation software on the Type pop up menu in the device s configu ration dialog box Please refer to the device information database for more details NOTE PC and Windows based presentation software can be controlled in the same way using a PC SMARTLINK product number 3487 Chapter 11 SMARTPAX 337 IR SMARTLINK SYSTEM IN OUT SMARTLINK SYSTEM OUT The IR SMARTLINK product number 3453 can control most devices equipped with an infrared remote control by emulating the functions of the remote It is used by some Audio Disc Video Disc and Tape devices as well as generic IR devices including video projectors Please refer to the device information database for each device for more details In addition to the IR drivers built into TRAX itself TRAX also comes with addi tional IR driver libraries These libraries provide basic support for many domestic AV devices To activate these libraries move them to the same folder as the TRAX application and re start TRAX Specialized IR device drivers can be supplied Please contact your Dataton dealer for further information Use SYSTEM IN SMARTLINK product number 3477 and SYSTEM OUT SMARTLINK product number 3478 to connect a Dataton product to a SMARTPAX port For example you need a SYSTEM OUT SMARTLINK to connect TRANSPAX and or PAX to a TRAX system when used in the Interac tive system mode see
207. f desired Chapter 4 Menus and Commands 101 Window Menu v Device v Task 8 Device Support 8 New Timeline 9 Timeline Settings 3J List View 38M Time Scale gt Track Name Preferences New Timeline The items on the Window menu control the visibility and appearance of the windows If you look for a certain window and can t find it on the screen this is the place to go You can also get to some miscellaneous dialog boxes from this menu These commands provide access to the three primary windows in TRAX Choosing one of these commands opens the specified window or moves it to the front of other windows A checkmark next to one of these items indicates that the window is already open An underlined menu item indicates that the window currently is the active window Click the close box in the upper left corner of each window to close it Refer to Chapter 3 for a detailed description of each of these windows From within the three primary windows you can open additional windows on objects contained within those windows For instance to open a timeline window associated with a task in the Task window double click the timeline s name in the task s Action column Likewise to open a window associated with a device double click the device s icon or select the icon and use the Speci fications or Show Device Status commands Creates a new timeline adds it to the Task list and displays
208. f the cue s name When displayed as part of the cue s icon the ellipsis will be replaced with the cue s primary value The primary value is typically the first field in the tab order following the name field Dissolve __ ve Dissolve rate 2 seconds Cancel This feature is particularly useful in conjunction with customized cues see To Menu on page 180 When choosing a customized cue using the keyboard you can simply enter the value directly in place of the ellipsis rather than going through the dialog box seconds Cancel Dissolve rate When selecting a cue ending in from the menu the dialog box will open automatically with the primary value selected Chapter 7 Cues 181 Time Position The time position of a cue is displayed in the upper left corner of the timeline window when the cue is selected You can see the time positions of multiple cues by switching to list view see List View on page 46 To change the time position of cues simply drag them along their track It is not possible to change the time position numerically in list view SHORTCUTS Pressing Command right arrow or Command left arrow moves selected cues forward or backward in 0 01 second increments When combined with the Shift key the cues are moved in 0 1 second incre ments You can also move the cues by the current Tab time by pressing Command Tab or Command shift Tab see Tab Key Time on page 104
209. first assigning the devices to a gang Once a set of devices has been assigned to a gang any cue sent fo all those devices will be sent as a single gang instruction rather than several individual instructions thereby avoiding any time delay In effect the Gang cue assigns an additional address to the specified devices and then sends the instruction to this common address instead of each device s individual address The Gang cue works in conjunction with the Max Number of Gangs field in the Preferences dialog box see page 110 In order to use the Gang cue you must first set that field to a value greater than zero To assign a set of devices to a gang choose a Gang cue and select one of the settings A through H in the dialog box shown above Assign the devices to the Gang cue as usual You can change the gang assignments of the devices using Gang Assign Devices to Gang OA OB Oc OD OE OF OG OH None 210 Chapter 7 Cues additional Gang cues if desired The None option in the Gang cue removes the gang assignment from the devices assigned to the cue so they no longer belong to any gang The gang assignment of a device remains in effect until changed by another Gang cue NOTE The gang assignment is part of the device s status just like the trans port state of a video disc player or the current slide number of a projector Thus you must enter a Gang cue on a timeline prior to the point where
210. g 43 time position of 182 track assignment 182 value substitution 181 customized cues 180 customized cues importing 76 cut command 78 D data rate 274 285 411 date 258 day 258 DC ADAPTOR 345 DC INJECTOR 345 Index 425 decimal format in Serial drivers 310 decrease by button action 164 delay in serial driver 276 delete from cue menu 93 descend dissolve cue option 195 device assignment 412 device information database 65 412 device menu 94 device ownership 412 device specific modes 139 208 device status linking 412 device status properties 413 linking to panel items 160 device status windows 14 28 device status at the beginning of a timeline 42 device support window 63 Device window 23 device window 14 23 devices 412 adding 23 94 address 400 configuration dialog box 115 conflicts 27 creating multiple 24 crossed icon 120 disabling 93 120 double clicking icons 109 editing specifications 27 gangs 28 general characteristics of 115 getting from other shows 25 getting information on 65 information database 116 ownership of 121 401 port assignment 117 printing 27 resetting 209 selecting and moving 24 status of 93 status property 420 status window 119 status windows 28 storing in scrapbook 26 time continuous 186 421 type pop up menu 116 virtual 122 252 401 422 device specific mode 412 digital inputs 331 digital outputs 330 DIGITAL SMARTLINK 129 328 dimmer 336 disable device 93 Disabled c
211. g cues click OK in the dialog box Deleting cues from the menu has no effect on the cues in the show itself Chapter 4 Menus and Commands 93 Device Menu Projector Switch f Tape Audio Disc Video Disc Still Store Lamp Level Panel Text Time Serial IR 3N New e The New command creates a new device of the kind currently marked with a bullet Use this menu to add new devices to the Device window See Chapter 5 for a description of each kind of device and associated windows NOTE The Device menu is only active when the Device window is selected To activate the Device window click its title bar New devices are automatically given a unique port assignment and name You can change any of these specifications as well as other details particular to each kind of device by choosing Specifications from the Edit menu However you must make sure that the name and port assignment of each device is unique the only exception here is the Switch device whose port assignment may in some cases coincide with slide projector devices see Switch on page 129 for details The New command at the bottom of the Device menu adds a new device of the kind last chosen from the menu as indicated by a bullet to the left of the icon In the example shown to the left the New command will add another video disc The type name port assignment and other specifications for the dev
212. g the first device and setting its various specifications as desired before creating the remaining devices of this kind see Editing Device Specifications on page 27 This will save you from setting the specifications individually for devices as they will inherit their settings from the most recently edited device of that kind SHORTCUT Use the New command on the Device menu to create addi tional devices keyboard shortcut Command N This command creates a new device of the same kind as the last one chosen from the Device menu The new device copies many characteristics specified for the previous device Selecting and Moving Devices Select a device by clicking on it with the mouse when the Device window is active Multiple devices can be selected or deselected by clicking each device while holding down the Shift key Use the Select All command on the Edit menu to select all devices in the window To select larger groups of devices drag across the device window from a point outside all devices enclosing the desired devices with the selection rectangle Drag from here fo here You can move device icons in the window by first selecting them and then drag ging on one of the selected icons To constrain movement to horizontal or vertical directions only press the Shift key as you drag If you drag outside the 24 Chapter 3 TRAX Windows Getting Devices from Other Shows window content area the window will sc
213. ge is a Dataton TRAX Runtime diskette and a license to install the runtime version on any number of computers This allows you to run a show from a computer at a client s site or other installation without leaving the full TRAX package behind The TRAX runtime version does everything the full TRAX package does except saving onto disk If desired you can also block other functions such as the ability to stop the show using a password see Password on page 113 To install the Runtime version on a computer insert the Dataton TRAX Runtime diskette and follow the same procedure as outlined above under Installing TRAX Vv IMPORTANT Do not install the Dataton TRAX Runtime on a computer that already has the full version of TRAX installed If you do the Mac OS Finder may choose to launch the runtime version instead of the full version when you double click a show file Chapter 1 Introduction 5 Dataton TRAX Software TRAX Cable SYSTEM OVERVIEW The illustration to the right shows how a system can be hooked up based on TRAX and some Dataton control units The type and number of control units required depends on the size of the system and which kinds of devices you need to control With TRAX you can create and edit presentations of virtually any size incor porating all kinds of presentation media TRAX is based on a device task and timeline metaphor The devices being used in the presentation
214. ght corner of the window Press Command Shift 3 to take a snapshot of the screen The snapshot ends up as a picture file on your hard disk which can then be opened and printed from your word processor paint program etc HINT Double clicking the resulting picture file will automatically open it using Simple Text ready to be printed Chapter 7 Cues 185 Locate Locate button Shuttle slider Use the Locate cue to locate specific positions on a device s medium This can be used with most devices that have a position such as a slide number in a slide projector a picture in a computer graphics program a frame number on a video disc a time position on a video tape or a song number or specific time position on an audio disc These devices can be grouped into two categories discrete position devices and time continuous devices Slide projectors and computer graphics programs fall into the former category while many players fall into the latter Locate O Next Previous Position CO Turn Level Off Before Starting to Locate 186 Chapter 7 Cues Next Previous Position By Number Use these selections with discrete position devices to locate the next or previous position for example to step one slide forward or reverse on a slide projector On video devices capable of reproducing still images such as most video disc players the Next Previous sele
215. h as numbers and time positions can be displayed by linking the Display item to the desired status properties Display styls A OA Ceo Ream gt W Displayed Text Style A OA CBold oO Size Alignenents B Left centered right or fully justified alignment Frame TE Color rm Background C Color r E a Suppress F Fractions Time Standard The time i is C Suppress Seconds oO Always Show Hours om fame oo You can choose to display the title of the display item above below or next to the display field You can set the color and text style of the title separately from the display content The alignment of the title however is always the same as that of the display content If desired you can turn the title off by unchecking the Show Title checkbox and supplying a title separately using a Static text item see Static Text on page 174 172 Chapter 6 Panel Design Determines the font style size color and alignment of the contents of the display Note that the alignment setting also applies to the title of the display se under Title on the previous page for more details Determines the width and color of the frame as well as the background color of the display This checkbox is available when the display is attached to a device status prop erty that has a fractional part such as a time or the level of a Level device supporting fractional percentage values When select
216. h functions are commonly used for various purposes such as rewinding the tape at the end of the show controlling motorized screens or curtains etc The two relays on each port are called W and Y Use a separate Switch device in TRAX to control each relay page 129 Use the Type pop up menu in the Switch device s configuration dialog box to specify which relay to control Choose Dataton PAX W Relay or Dataton PAX Y Relay when the same PAX is also controlling projectors Use Dataton PAX E AUX W Relay or Dataton PAX E AUX Y Relay when using relays only from a PAX with its OBJECT selector set at E AUX Enter the port s address into the Port field in the configuration dialog box see BANK Selector on page 361 V IMPORTANT Switch function addresses are allocated right to left on PAX front view as opposed to left to right for slide projectors as shown on page 361 Use a Dataton AUXILIARY CABLE to connect your own functions to the PAX relays When controlling inductive loads such as relays or motors make sure you use the arc suppression components included with the AUXILIARY CABLE to protect the PAX relays from the high voltage spikes cause by such loads Connect the arc suppression component across either the load or the PAX relay as close to the load as possible The maximum load for each relay is 24 Volt AC or DC 1 Ampere Although one side of both relays is connected to the same pin on the nine pin connector
217. h slide projectors 349 Alphasync 378 385 ANALOG SMARTLKINK 334 animate 202 anonymous mode 294 arc suppression 328 333 409 Arion 378 386 arithmetic symbols 98 ascend dissolve cue option 195 ASCII 266 409 Audio Disc device configuring 141 status properties 140 AUDIO SMARTLINK 335 audio synchronization 220 autolocator 372 388 392 409 automatic mode downloading in 68 automatic start 114 240 AUXILIARY CABLE 339 auxiliary relay 129 206 409 AVL 378 386 B background pages of panels 159 251 409 backward compatible mode 16 balanced signal 409 bar graph 171 bar graph item use with time device 153 bau drate 285 baud rate 274 410 beginning of tape sensor 390 big endian 310 big notes 399 blend 194 block mode handshaking 304 boardroom 235 boolean operators 101 boost output in level device 149 branching 261 Eee 423 bring to front 84 button 163 action 161 164 colors 166 icon 167 kind 165 linking to a numeric status property 161 shape 166 text 167 byte hi lo 310 o cable length maximum between units 8 calendar functions 153 canned presentation 220 CAV disc format 146 410 CD player 141 chapter numbers on laserdiscs 144 chase lock 410 choose button in device 117 Clay Paky 336 clear command 81 clipboard 78 clock 153 258 CLV disc format 146 410 colors of panels items 158 comments 218 computer port selection in device 117 condition 411 conditional execution of c
218. h2 device Che Yol B Vol L Vol D 2 Choose a cue 3 The cue is entered at the current time and track Trigger Gang Control E Note 3N 34 Chapter 3 TRAX Windows Selecting Cues Drag from here fo here This section discusses how to select cues in Icon View which is very similar to selecting files in the Macintosh Finder For information on how to select cues in list view see Selecting Cues in List View on page 48 To select a single cue simply click it with the mouse Clicking an unselected cue automatically deselects all other cues To deselect all cues click in the white space between cues Press the Shift key while clicking a cue to toggle its selec tion state without affecting the selection state of any other cues When selecting individual cues in this way be careful not to move the mouse while clicking as this may accidentally move the cue in time If this happens immediately choose Undo on the Edit menu to restore the cue to its proper position To select a group of cues drag across them diagonally from a point outside all the cues All cues touched or enclosed by the selection rectangle will be selected To select or deselect additional groups of cues press the Shift key before dragging the selection rectangle Introduction Chapter 3 TRAX Windows 35 Advanced Selection To select all cues within a range of time drag horizontally across the time ru
219. have at least one extra duplicate of the show tape and disk You should preferably have an extra copy of all other unique material in your show as well videotape disks slides etc Carry some blank tapes and disks spare lamps slide mounts etc Make a detailed drawing of the entire system showing how all the parts are interconnected which addresses are assigned to which ports etc If the SMARTPAX units aren t installed in a rack then mark them clearly so you know which unit goes where Number slide mounts with their tray number and positions Use a felt tip pen and write directly onto the mounts don t use labels as they may peel off and jam the tray Check the room in advance Are you going to use an existing screen Is it large enough Is it of the right material for your kind of presentation Some screens may cause uneven illumination or hot spots If you bring your own screen check the ceiling height to make sure it will fit Figure out where to place your projectors Place them high enough to avoid interference from people s heads Make sure the table or shelf is rock solid and that no one in the audience can sit stand or lean on it If you re mixing slides and video projection using regular three gun CRT based video projectors don t place the slide and video projectors close to each other as the magnetic field from the slide projectors will distort the video image 238 Chapter 8 Presentations What
220. he TAPE input of the first unit in the chain the control signal will not travel backwards through the system cable You should never use both the IN and TAPE connectors of a PAX at the same time always disconnect the computer before playing a control signal through the TAPE input of a PAX You can monitor the quality of the received signal by watching the TAPE DATA OK indicator of the unit to which the tape signal is connected Although the other units in the chain also have TAPE DATA OK indicators only the first unit s indicator will accurately indicate the control signal s quality The indi cator should remain on all the time while playing the tape Intermittent flick ering indicates a poor quality or weak control signal Try adjusting the playback level to correct the problem If the tape is old you may have to replace it with a new tape as the PAX will eventually be unable to read the signal reliably The following specifications of the TAPE input may be helpful when trouble shooting an installation Input sensitivity 150 mV peak relative ground Input impedance 10 kOhm Tape speed tolerance 15 NOTE Due to the sparse modulation scheme used by the control signal it appears as very weak on most regular VU meters or when using an aver aging volt meter connected to the tape output Use an oscilloscope to check the output level if required 358 Chapter 14 PAX TAPE DATA OK Indicator OBJECT Selector The TAPE
221. he To Menu button The Cue menu flashes briefly to indicate that a cue has been added Click OK to close the dialog box Pull down the Cue menu to see your new cue next to its basic type see Customized Cues on page 95 You can now use your customized cue either by selecting it from the menu or by typing its name on the keyboard HINT Customized cues can retain their device assignment To use a cus tomized cue s original device assignment ensure that no devices are select ed when choosing the customized cue If any devices are selected when the cue is chosen they will take precedence over the original device assign ment The To Menu function is particularly useful in conjunction with the value substitution feature described on page 181 It allows you to create generic cue types where the actual value is specified when the cue is entered into a timeline window rather than when it s put on the menu The name of a customized cue can t be blank or contain any blanks Nor can it contain any of these characters l lt 180 Chapter 7 Cues Cue Name and Value Substitution It may be useful to have the name of the cue as shown in its icon reflect its primary value For example a Dissolve cue named D3 indicates that it is a 3 second dissolve or L341 is a Locate to position 341 Rather than creating each individual cue with its value appended to the name field you can simply type an ellipsis at the end o
222. he clip as the range of the bar graph See Bar Graph on page 171 for more details EJ Show Title Above Below Font Style A OA O Bold Font Size Frame HE Bar E Tape 248 Chapter 9 Interactivity In the same way you can also use a display field to show numeric information Do this by linking the display field to the status property to be shown Sound feedback can be provided by the Indicator panel item which can also light up to indicate the status of some function It is similar to a button but doesn t respond to the user pressing it See Indicator on page 168 for more details To provide text messages link the display item to a Text device Use Note cues assigned to that Text device to provide the text to be displayed You can fine tune the look of the display inside the display item s dialog box See Display on page 172 for more details If there s no suitable device in the device window that can provide the feedback information you can add a virtual timer or counter device see Timer on page 259 and link the indicator to that device TOUCHLINK supports both basic graphics elements such as lines frames and backgrounds as well as graphics imported from other programs To add basic graphic elements draw using the last four tools in the tool bar of the panel window These graphics can be further customized after drawing them by double clicking the graphic and adj
223. he difference between a Soft Snap and a plain Set cue is that the Soft Snap doesn t affect the imaginary lamp intensity Any fading in progress will continue and the bright ness can be restored using Soft Snap Open This is similar to a Flash cue but provides greater control over the sequencing of events Snap Hard Snap shutter Soft Snap lamp Open Close Sequence Ascending order Descending order 204 Chapter 7 Cues Open Close and Sequence Using Soft Snap with Flash Use Open or Close to specify what the projector should do Use Sequence when you just want the Hard or Soft snaps to change their states or to sequence themselves within one or many screen areas see Sequence on page 199 Using the Sequence mode of a set of successive Soft or Hard Snap cues you can create a sequential animation with detailed control over the speed and other characteristics This is done by creating the first Soft Snap cue using its Sequence mode assigning it to the projectors to animate and then dupli cating this cue for the desired duration of time see Duplicate on page 81 You can use the Expand Compress or Distribute Cues commands to alter the duration and speed of such an animation afterwards HINT Whenever you can do an animation effect using a Flash cue do it If you want a slower speed than can be achieved by a Flash or greater con trol use a string of Soft Snap cues set to Sequence t
224. he keyboard NOTE As there s no feedback from the device in Position by Chapter Number mode TRAX will not know if the disc moves on to the next chapter It will simply display the number of the last chapter you ve told it to locate The format used to display and enter a time position is determined by the pop up menu above the field see Time Formats on page 137 which is only 144 Chapter 5 Devices Video On available if Position By Time or Frame Number is selected in the device s configuration dialog box Use a Locate cue to program the position of the device If the device can locate arbitrary time or frame number positions then use By Time else use By Number Next or Previous see page 186 Some devices may not be able to locate at all See the device information for the selected type of device for details This check box in the status window allows you to turn the video output from the player on or off if this function is supported by the player This can be done explicitly using a Set cue or implicitly by selecting the appropriate check box in the Trigger and Locate cues see Output Control on page 207 and Turn Level Off on page 189 respectively When using a Set cue set its Level to either O or 100 and the Rate to O see page 191 IMPORTANT The Video On checkbox controls the video output This must be activated in order to see the video Chapter 5
225. he reason for this is that the NTSC frame rate is actually 29 97 fps and not exactly 30 fps The drop frame mode overcomes this discrepancy by dropping frames in the counting sequence SMPTE 30 fps This format corresponds to black and white NTSC i e a frame rate of exactly 30 fps It is sometimes used for non TV applications Chapter 5 Devices 137 Shuttle Slider Pos Standard w grayed out PAL frames Displays the position as a simple frame number starting from frame number 1 and assuming a frame rate of 25 fps NTSC frames Displays the position as a simple frame number starting from frame number 1 and assuming a frame rate of 29 97 fps i e standard color NTSC video NTSC 24 frames This format is sometimes used on NTSC laserdiscs origi nating from film NOTE Your choice of time format only affects the displayed value TRAX calculates and stores all time positions with a resolution of 0 01 second re gardless of the display format The arrows and the slider below the position field is used to single step one frame at a time or to wind the tape in the direction you drag the slider Not all players support this Specifically analog audio tape players and many simple video players can t do frame by frame stepping The shuttle control is useful when you re looking for a specific starting point Similar controls are also available in the Locate cue which is used to locate time positions on tap
226. heckbox 120 discrete position device 186 426 Index display 172 frame 173 suppress fractions 173 text style 173 time value 173 title 172 with time device 153 displayed time format 189 dissolve 194 advanced options 196 automatic step 194 curves 197 rate of 194 sequence 195 using different lamp rates 196 with slide projector 126 distribute cues 89 dithering 250 413 of TOUCHLINK pictures 175 DMX SMARTLINK 336 DMX 512 336 413 downloading 413 automatic device selection 66 failure 320 in automatic mode 68 in manual mode 69 manual device selection 67 of panel designs 70 troubleshooting 69 drawing grid in panel 150 duplicate command 81 82 duty cycle of flash effect 202 E EBU 137 337 384 414 edit menu 77 eject 139 209 Ektagraphic slide projector 359 Electrosonic 378 385 ellipsis use in cue names 179 enable device 93 error message in SMARTPAX 320 evaluating and expression 414 events 232 expand compress cues 90 expression 414 F fade cues 190 copying between shows 80 fade rate 191 fade stop cue with slide projector 125 128 fading stopped checkbox 126 128 fax software problems with 111 feedback 247 256 file menu 73 film time format 137 Index 427 find replace 85 flash 202 duty cycle of 202 momentary 199 sequencing 203 stop 202 use with Snap cue 203 205 with slide projector 125 127 flash fade 127 font size in text device 151 forward 187 fps 414 fraction
227. her than directly to the computer 348 Chapter 13 AIRLINK You can use AIRLINK to directly control one two three or four slide projectors without using any computer at all Using the numeric keys on the AIRLINK you can directly locate any slide by number When used with two or more projec tors AIRLINK will make smooth dissolves between projectors both forwards and backwards Label the buttons on the AIRLINK TRANSMITTER as shown to the left If you don t want slide number random access the related keys can be removed and covered with the blank labels This safeguards against pressing the wrong key and sending the projectors to another slide If you re not using fast random access projectors this could take quite a while and can be very annoying in the middle of a presentation Press the NEXT key to advance to the next slide If you re using two or more projectors this will be done by a one second dissolve If you re using only one projector it will simply advance the tray Press the minus key to go back one slide Chapter 13 AIRLINK 349 Use the numeric keys to go to a slide by number This works with all slide projectors but is particularly useful with fast random access slide projectors such as the Simda and Kodak Ektapro models First enter the desired slide number using the numeric keys then press NEXT to go there Press CLEAR to cancel the numeric entry if you make a mistake HINT This numeric acce
228. hs up to a maximum of 100 meters Dataton system cable has a male connector at one end and a female connector at the other which makes daisy chaining multiple cables easy The OUT connector links to the next control unit in the chain The cable between the OUT connector on the TRANSPAX and the next unit must not be more than 25 meters as TRANSPAX takes its power from the next unit through the cable Alternatively you can supply TRANSPAX locally through its 24 V AC EXT POWER input in which case the system cable can be up to 100 meters long see Power Supply on page 393 NOTE When using the system in its interactive mode any PAX units must be connected as a secondary bus through the OUT connector of the TRANS Chapter 15 TRANSPAX 379 PLAY Connector PAX This applies to PAX only not to SMARTPAX See Connecting TRANSPAX on page 369 for more details The data sent to the next unit through the OUT connector is a high level digital signal The signal is optically isolated and re shaped in each unit to ensure maximum reliability even in very large systems The PLAY input accepts most timecode and control signal standards as deter mined by the CODE selector page 384 When playing timecode the timecode is sent backwards through the IN connector to the computer either directly or through a SMARTPAX port where it can then be used to synchronize a timeline with the audio tape When playing a control signal
229. ial driver is simpler in its structure than most of the standard device drivers it can still provide much of the power and functionality of a standard driver For many types of devices a serial driver s performance is good enough for all kinds of applications Indeed some of the standard drivers supplied with TRAX are made along exactly the same lines as a custom made serial driver 264 Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers When you create a serial driver you tell TRAX which commands the device can handle as well as which data bytes need to be sent to the device so that it performs these commands Each command is given a descriptive name which is later used when accessing the command from within a Trigger cue By grouping commands together into modes you tell TRAX which commands work together and how For example most modern video projectors have several video inputs In the serial data control protocol for the video projector there are commands to switch between the various inputs Although these are separate commands they all affect the source mode of the projector That s why it makes sense fo group them together and collectively call them the Source Mode The projector may have other modes such as Stand By which has only two commands On and Off Grouping commands according to function makes it easier to use the driver It also makes the operation of the device more reliable as TRAX keeps track of the state of each mode ind
230. ice for which a physical counterpart exists in the system or virtual device See also expression evaluate constant virtual device The ability to gradually change the speed of a time continuous device for example in order to chase timecode coming from another device See also time continuous device chase lock An electrical component with the ability to drastically change its own resistance when the voltage across it exceeds a certain threshold Used to prevent the high voltage spikes caused by inductive loads such as relays and motors which could otherwise result in arching and component damage See also arch suppression A device in the TRAX Device window which doesn t have any physical counter part in the system Used as a variable for example to keep track of statistics in order to use this in a task condition or for presentation on a panel See also device variable Vertical Interval Timecode A method by which timecode data can be included as part of the video signal by putting it in the vertical blanking intervals between video frames See also timecode LTC 422 Appendix B Glossary Index Numerics 1 0 column in Task window 57 12V DC ADAPTOR 345 12V DC INJECTOR 345 A AC PAX 340 acknowledge in serial driver 304 action 409 ADB port 409 address of device 118 409 AIRLINK 10 88 231 244 346 receiver 351 speaker support applications 347 transmitter 346 use in fully interactive applications 348 use wit
231. ice being created are based on the most recently edited device of the same kind Thus when creating multiple devices it s a good idea to start by creating the first one and set all its specifications before creating the remaining ones They will then be configured based on the first device s specifications An alternative way to add devices is to copy them from another show See Copying Between Shows on page 80 for more details 94 Chapter 4 Menus and Commands Cue Menu dwjup Locate set Fade F Dissolve Zoom gt gt Wipe hunn Flash eal Snap lt 0 Trigger an Gang Control 5 Note installed on the Cue menu Use this menu to add cues to the current window Cues tell the assigned devices what to do and when to do it The what part is determined by the kind of cue chosen as well as its internal specifications The when part is determined by the cue s position along the timeline or its starting condition in the task list Cues must be assigned to one or more devices in order to have any effect This is described in Chapter 7 where you ll also find a detailed description of each cue type and its various settings The Cue menu is only active when a timeline or the Task window is selected New cues are entered at the current time and on the current track of a timeline see Creating Cues on page 34 When entering a cue into the Task window the cue will be entered as the
232. ices 139 Status Pop up Menu The following status properties are available for use in task triggering condi tions and direct linkage to panel items see Device Status Linkage Menus on page 120 Time Position Output Level The current video and or audio out level as a annor number between O and 100 ransport Adi Time Position The current time position of the device if applicable wee as a time Loa Numeric Position The current numeric position of the device i e song or index number if applicable Transport The current transport mode The Reverse mode applies only to some video disc devices Speed Playback speed Applies only to some video disc devices Record 1 if currently recording else O Device specific Device specific modes are listed below the grey line modes Their names and values vary with the type of the device NOTE This set of status fields is shared among the Tape Audio Disc and Video Disc devices Some fields apply only to specific types of devices 140 Chapter 5 Devices Audio Disc A15 O Disabled Bl Transport Kemana Dam ial O aC Eject b Audio disc status window Position Song Status Field This device handles audio discs of various kinds including CD and minidisc devices Click the Type pop up menu in device s configuration dialog box for a complete list of supported models Chapter 11 discusses how to conn
233. ices to a cue see Selecting Devices on page 24 When assigning devices to existing cues make sure that the cue is selected before you start clicking devices When creating new cues you can select the desired devices before or after creating the cue Vv IMPORTANT Be careful how you use the device assignment pointer as it changes the device assignment of any selected cue If you want to work with the devices only first select the Device window by clicking its title bar 40 Chapter 3 TRAX Windows Running the Timeline Gray time readout indicates a stopped and inactive time line Click the Stop symbol to make the timeline inactive Click the Play symbol to acti vate and run the timeline To run the timeline from the current time position click the play symbol in the lower left corner of the timeline window The current time indicator will start to move in the timeline window When the time indicator reaches the middle of the track area the window will auto scroll to keep the current time centered This feature can be disabled using a checkbox in the Timeline Settings dialog box see Autoscroll While Running on page 105 Introduction To stop running the show click the pause symbol or any other object on the screen or press a key SHORTCUT Press the space bar to toggle between the play and pause mode of a timeline Chapter 3 TRAX Windows 41 Stopping vs Pausing a There s a
234. ide projector icon will look the same whether the level has been faded to an intermediate value explicitly or stopped by a Level Stop cue Opening the status window for the device will reveal what has actually happened This may be helpful when you don t under stand why a device behaves as it does You can also use the status window as a remote control for the device by changing its status there These changes remain in effect until you re activate the timeline that owns the device if any In order to change the status of a disabled device you must first make sure the Disabled check box is unchecked After making the changes you can check the Disabled check box if desired This forces your changes to remain in effect until the device is re enabled Chapter 5 Devices 119 Disabled The icon for a A disabled device Device Status Linkage Menus e 2 Output On Last On in Group Input On The device function linkage menu for a Switch device The Disabled check box in the device s status window allows you to tempo rarily disable the physical device While disabled the physical device will not be affected by any actions in your show nor by any changes in the status window itself This is useful if you want to work with only a few of the devices in your rig without disturbing or being disturbed by the others Simply set the state of the device as desired then click the Disabled check box Note that the icon in the
235. ific needs This can mean anything from a small kiosk style presentation used by a single person at a time to a multi floor visitor center using buttons motion sensors or other kinds of inputs While traditional interactive applications based on menus and branching can certainly be managed by TRAX you can also create more elaborate and complex interactions typically not supported by other software packages For example using multiple timelines running asynchronously you can choose new paths without necessarily stopping already started actions It is also easy to provide other kinds of inputs than keyboard mouse and touch screen TRAX supports a variety of digital and analog inputs as well as MIDI In addition to responding to the audience you may want to exert a certain amount of control over the audience For example making sure they keep moving along a predetermined path or maze while interacting with the system along the way Please refer to Chapter 9 for full details on how to create interactive presentations using TRAX 234 Chapter 8 Presentations General Media Integration Meeting Room Control Although primarily designed for show applications TRAX can also be used when you simply want to integrate a complex and potentially confusing set of equipment under a single system e Controlling the environment in a meeting room including lighting curtains screens and sound levels as well as various
236. ime for the segment about to be played The Out time field is used like the In field but specifies the end point for the next Trigger Play cue This lets you to take advantage of the 188 Chapter 7 Cues Displayed Time Format Turn Level Off play to frame feature built into most video disc players as well as some tape players If you select this option the device will automatically stop in still mode at the specified position The advantage of this method over simply putting a Trigger Pause cue at the end of the segment is that it guarantees that the end position will be exactly the right frame while using a Trigger cue to stop it may be off by a few frames due to timing differences between the computer and the player NOTE You must use a separate Trigger Play cue to actually start playing the tape or disc Some players impose restrictions on available playback speeds when using the play to frame feature The time fields in this dialog box can use a variety of standard formats See Time Formats on page 137 for a detailed description of the time formats NOTE The time format chosen in the Locate cue only affects how the values are displayed Thus it is not necessary to use the same time format in the Locate cue as in the device being controlled You may for example freely switch between Frame formats and the Normal format in order to calculate the real time duration or starting time of a segment When checked th
237. in their Configuration dialog box This includes the Switch Level Still Store Text and Time devices Such a virtual device works like a real device in most aspects except it has no physical counterpart Hence it does not need a port address and can only be used internally in TRAX see Virtual Devices on page 122 These devices are useful primarily together with panels and as variables in starting conditions for tasks See the example under System Status Tracking on page 252 The Switch device has been enhanced to support both output and input func tions Input functions are supported for DIGITAL SMARTLINK AIRLINK and MIDI note on off messages See Switch on page 129 To activate the input function open the device s configuration dialog box select the device driver on the Type menu then select Output Input or Both as Appendix A News in TRAX 3 401 Tape Device appropriate Some devices may support only input or output functions in which case the other options will be grayed out NOTE TRAX must be in its Interactive system mode in order to use such inputs See System Modes on page 16 The Mutually Exclusive in Group option in the Switch device allows you to specify that only one switch in a group of switches may be activated at a time This is useful for example when controlling curtains or screens where you do not want to activate both the open and close switches si
238. in a string ES BUS is a common protocol standard for equipment used in professional broadcast applications It normally uses the RS422 communications standard Hex This special character causes the following two characters to be interpreted as a HEX encoded data byte see HEX Encoding on page 267 Use this to enter Sher the data for non ASCII drivers such as drivers for MIDI and ES BUS devices which don t use ASCII encoding of their commands SN ae You can also use this button to enter control characters such as Carriage Return CR Line Feed LF etc These characters are sometimes used to delimit ASCII CR 0D command strings The table to the left shows some common control characters LF SOA and the Hex format you would use to enter them into the string STX 02 You also need to use this method for non standard ASCII characters such as A A O B etc The actual code for such characters varies depending on the ETX 803 character set used by the device Look for a list of character codes in the ESC 1B device s manual BS 08 BEL 07 HT 09 VT 0B NUL 00 308 Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers Forcing Hex Format String C Hen Set Change TRAX will by default display any data byte in the range 20 space to 7E tilde in its ASCII character form Thus even if you enter 41 into the string TRAX will convert it into an A 41 is the HEX code for the ASCII character A
239. included with Mac OS In addition to opening text files it can also open pictures such as those captured from the screen by pressing Command Shift 3 See also Mac OS Appendix B Glossary 419 SMPTE starting condition state status property stop track sub address sub expression symbol system cable system run mode Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers the North American equivalent of EBU Sometimes used as a generic name for the timecode stan dard maintained by the organization See also timecode fps EBU A logical expression in the Condition column of the Task window which together with the condition variant can cause the task s action to be started See also logical expression condition variant task A named setting of a mode States in a mode are mutually exclusive See also mode device specific mode mutually exclusive See device status property A track along a timeline containing cues at which the timeline will pause auto matically Used for speaker support presentations controlled with the down arrow key on the keyboard or an AIRLINK remote control An additional address used to further qualify the physical counterpart of a TRAX device This can be used to specify for example a pin number on a DIGITAL SMARTLINK or a specific channel on a lighting dimmer controlled through a SMARTPAX port The sub address is separated from the main address digits by an apostrophe See also ad
240. ine should be synchro nized See Synchronizing to Timecode on page 223 See Chapter 15 for more details on how to use TRANSPAX with TRAX Appendix A News in TRAX 3 397 Device Status Windows Device Support Window The Note window is gone together with its associated settings at the bottom of the Window menu Its functionality has been taken over by the new Text device and its status window see page 151 This window is new It is the home of all the new sophisticated multitasking in TRAX version 3 See Task Window on page 51 Each device in the Device window has a new status window that can be opened and if desired left open on the screen This is in addition to its configuration dialog box The status window is opened by selecting the device s icon and choosing Show Device Status on the Object menu Refer to each device in Chapter 5 for full details The old SMARTPAX Drivers window has been re named Device Support It now lists all devices even those controlled through PAX and TRANSPAX All non SMARTPAX devices are shown in italics This window also manages downloading of panel designs to TOUCHLINK A pop up menu at the bottom of the window allows you to specify what you want to download before clicking the Download button See Device Support on page 63 for more details Vv IMPORTANT It is not possible to download device drivers to SMARTPAX units equipped with system software version 2 3 o
241. ion from the video audio roll on to the following segment Simply skipping ahead may be too abrupt This can be accomplished by running the video audio from a secondary time line which is started by the main timeline using a Control cue The secondary timeline contains the Trigger Play cue that starts playing the video as well as any other cues required for the initial transition to the video clip By putting the Locate cue that cues up this clip on the main timeline you can use the same secondary timeline over and over to run different clips Configure the secondary timeline so that it stops automatically after the last cue see Stop After Last Cue on page 105 allowing the main timeline to regain control over the device when it proceeds Main Timeline 228 Chapter 8 Presentations Programming Loops In some extreme cases you may not be able to tell if the unspecified duration will be one minute or say three hours All you know is that there should be some action going until you press a button In this case you can create a loop which will be repeated indefinitely until you press the skip ahead button Put a named Control cue at the beginning of the loop content Then put another Control cue at the end of the loop telling TRAX to jump back to the named Control cue and run again This will cause TRAX to repeat the segment between these two Control cues indefinitely To get out of the loop put a thir
242. ion of products TRANSPAX and PAX aren t capable of coping with this protocol However by putting them onto a separate secondary system cable bus they can still be incorporated into the same system In this case the device driver in the SMARTPAX acts as a medi ator between the two buses Putting a TRANSPAX on a SMARTPAX port also has the benefit of giving ita unique address in the system While the TRANSPAX itself doesn t have an address the SMARTPAX port to which it is connected has This allows you to use more than one open reel deck in a system which is not the case when TRANSPAX is connected on the primary system bus You must tell TRAX whether the TRANSPAX is on the primary system bus or on a secondary bus by using the checkbox in the Tape device s configuration dialog box see next section In order to use TRANSPAX with TRAX you need to add it as a Tape device to the Device window and specify the proper device type on the Type pop up menu in the configuration dialog box TRANSPAX can be used at three levels of sophistication e Simply recording and reading timecode and control signals e The above plus basic remote control of the tape deck play pause record etc Both the above plus the ability to locate specific positions on the tape using the recorded timecode as well as other feedback from the tape recorder auto locator 370 Chapter 15 TRANSPAX Choose your tape deck here or sel
243. ities and Features OPEN Can locate accurately to time positions on CAV disks This player i tia EL k FORBES SMARTLINK 3480 RS232 25 pin male ia ee i Device Settings BEEEBEEE swe The function switches SW 1 and SW2 provided on the back panel i gt oa eT So of the laserdisc player should be set like this i SW1 1 SW1 3 SW1 SwW1 2 SW1 4 5 SW1 6 Notes Communication parameters 9600 Baud 1 stop bit no parity Chapter 3 TRAX Windows 65 Automatic Device Selection Device drivers chosen for downloading into SMARTPAX are tagged with a checkmark in the list This choice can be made automatically or manually To make TRAX choose device drivers automatically select Download Everything or Device Drivers Only on the pop up menu at the bottom of the window In the automatic mode TRAX will choose all device drivers required for control ling the devices that are in the Device window according to their configuration This is appropriate when you already have a full complement of devices in the Device window The devices must have been set up properly in their respective configuration dialog boxes 66 Chapter 3 TRAX Windows Manual Device Selection The manual selection mode is activated by choosing Device Drivers Manual Mode from the pop up menu at the bottom of the window m Device Support Level Niche ACM Level Yamaha ProMix 01 v Panel Dataton Touchlink Jime ipple Matintash S
244. k window e Double click the task s name Chapter 3 TRAX Windows 29 Current Time Position Enter a time to go to Pressing the Tab key in the time line window jumps ahead by this amount of time The current time position of the timeline is displayed numerically in the upper left corner of the timeline window It is also indicated by the gray vertical line through the cue area New cues will be entered into the show at the current time position To move to another time position in the show click a cue or click at the desired position on the time ruler Alternatively use the Timeline Settings command on the Window menu to go to a position by entering its time numerically The time can be entered either in an absolute or a relative way If you specify relative enter a negative time value to move backwards in the show by that amount of time See Timeline Settings on page 103 for more details Timeline Settings Name Introduction Go to 0 05 40 Relative Cancel Tab Key Time 0 00 10 Timeline Start 0 00 00 End 10 00 00 O Stop After Last Cue Plus Time EJ Autoscroll While Running O Current Track Locked 3 click to change Current System Cue Settings Sync Source None Free Running Offset Relative Sync Source None Select Relative to jump forward or backward by the specified amount of time 30 Chapter 3 TRAX Windows Setting the Length of the Timeline S
245. l Sierra Model 44C Serial Sony DFS 500 IMPORTANT In Manual mode SMARTPAX must be connected directly to the Mac 278 Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers 1 Choose the Device Support command on the Window menu 2 Select Device Drivers Manual Mode on the pop up menu at the bottom of the window to reveal the Edit button Scroll down to the serial drivers Select the driver you wish to open Click the Edit button at the bottom of the window to open the driver NOTE Only drivers that exist as separate driver files in the TRAX folder can be edited in this way You can t edit any of the standard drivers built into TRAX itself The Edit button is only active when you have selected an editable driver in the list naou Use the Settings button in the upper right corner of the serial Device Driver dialog box to see the communication parameters Browse among the various modes and states in the two lists to see the data strings corresponding to the commands For more details about a data string click the Set Change button at the bottom of the Device Driver dialog box Finally click Cancel to leave the Device Driver dialog box without saving any changes you may have made You can use this method to edit any drivers you have made or drivers made by other TRAX users The next sections describe the driver editor dialog boxes in detail Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers 279 Creating a Driv
246. l cues from the current time position to the end of the timeline This can be used to insert time in the middle of a timeline e Use the Select to End command e Drag the cues forward to open up some space for new cues Opens the selected object s dialog box allowing you to see and edit its name and other characteristics See chapters 5 6 and 7 for detailed descriptions of all the dialog boxes related to devices panel items and cues SHORTCUT Double clicking the object has the same effect as selecting an object and choosing Specifications You can also use the Enter or Return keys to open a selected object s dialog box Chapter 4 Menus and Commands 83 Bring to Front Send to Back Use the Bring to Front and Send to Back commands to change the front to Select an object choose Bring to Front back ordering of layered objects such as graphics on a panel Page amp 1 gt Background 4 0 gt Color _ Page 1 gt Background Color 84 Chapter 4 Menus and Commands Find Replace This command is only available when a timeline window is selected It allows you to find and optionally replace various items using the same text form syntax as displayed in the List View By default the Find command will search only the name field of Control cues This allows Control cues to be used as labels to l
247. ld lets you set the home position of the tape This is useful if the tape has timecode that doesn t start at 0 00 00 In this case enter the time corre sponding to the beginning of the tape here TRAX will then tell the tape to go to this time rather than the nonexistent 0 00 00 time whenever you reset the device to its home position V CAUTION If you don t enter the right starting time in this field the tape may not be able to find its correct position and will continue to search in definitely 134 Chapter 5 Devices Status Window This symbol in the device s icon in the Device window indicates the current transport mode Basic transport functions Current time or index position The five buttons at the top of the status window provide basic transport func tions rewind stop pause play and fast forward These functions can be used on all kinds of players and are programmed using a Trigger cue see Trans port on page 207 NOTE When Position By Time or Frame Number is selected in the de vice s configuration dialog box see page 134 you can not use the Rewind and Fast Forward modes of the Trigger cue Use a Locate cue instead to tell the tape where to go Record button Time format pop up menu Locate button Shuttle slider Timeline mt List of Device Specific Modes Chapter 5 Devices 135 Record Button This button activates the record mode of the devi
248. ler Techniques To select a wide range of cues first click the time ruler at the beginning then shift click at the end To select all cues from the current time position to the end of the show choose Select to End on the Edit menu Command E To select all cues on specific tracks drag vertically across the track titles Press the right or left arrow keys to select the next or previous cue on the current track Pressing these arrow keys in conjunction with the Shift key selects the next or previous cue on any track This allows you to single step through the show one cue at a time In the same way you can use the down arrow key to run in real time up to the next cue on the current track This uses the current track as a stop track see Speaker Support on page 226 Hold down the Shift key as you press the down arrow to run to the next cue on any track Use the Find command on the Edit menu to select cues matching a certain search criteria for example all cues referring to a particular device or having a specific dissolve rate You can use multiple Find commands to apply addi tional search criteria See Find Replace on page 85 for more details 36 Chapter 3 TRAX Windows Moving Cues Cues can be moved by simply dragging them with the mouse Press the Shift key while dragging to constrain movement This makes it easier to move cues from one track to another without shifting them in time NOTE To constrain th
249. les add a Switch device for each input choose MIDI Note Input on the Type pop up menu in the device s configuration dialog box See the device information database for more details Likewise to read a MIDI Continuous Controller input add a Level device and choose MIDI Control Change on the Type pop up menu For such analog inputs you need to use one of the relational symbols and a threshold value to determine when to start the associated task 244 Chapter 9 Interactivity Compound Conditions You may sometimes want to combine multiple inputs to create a more complex triggering condition For example you may want a task to be started when a button is pressed but only if a specific sensor is also activated or only if it s before five o clock in the evening Such conditions can be programmed into the Condition field of the task in the Task window using the symbols on the Symbol menu The most common symbol in this case is the and symbol which performs the task if both input signals are available For example to trigger a task if both the Sensor and Sensor2 inputs are on enter a condition like this Sensorl Input On amp Sensor2 Input On You can also use the comparison or relational operators For example to start the task when Sensor is activated and Sensor2 is not activated do this Sensorl Input On amp Sensor2 Input On 0 Or assuming you have a system clock device named Clock you could make i
250. line to create the actions according to the user s choice As the starting condition for each such timeline you need to combine the page number with the choice number using an and symbol While running a lengthy timeline it s a good idea to display another page on the touch panel indicating that the presentation is running This could provide a Stop button as well as some progress information for the presentation segment that is running At the end of the timeline return to the page that started it and set the virtual choice device back to zero to re set the choice buttons Chapter 9 Interactivity 263 The Purpose of a Serial Driver CREATING SERIAL DEVICE DRIVERS This chapter describes how to create serial drivers to control devices equipped with an RS232 RS422 or MIDI control port This is useful if you need to control a device for which there isn t any readily available device driver The informa tion in this chapter assumes a basic knowledge of serial data communication By creating a serial device driver you can teach TRAX and SMARTPAX how to control a device for which there is no standard driver available Although stan dard drivers are available for many devices the ability to make custom drivers can prove useful if you quickly need to control a new device Assuming that you have all the relevant information at hand you can have your serial driver up and running in a matter of minutes Although a ser
251. ll as their current states See page 154 for more details on the Serial device E The value field at the bottom of the status window becomes active if you select a command which requires a numeric value such as the volume level Commands that require a numeric value are tagged by a number sign 312 Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers Using Trigger Cues To program the device as part of your show open a timeline window make sure that your Serial device is still selected in the Device window and choose a Trigger cue from the Cue menu Open the cue s dialog box and choose the desired command from the Device Specific Mode pop up menu Video 3 RGB Bypass Mute ort Volume Level PA d V IMPORTANT Remember to select the Serial device before creating a new Trigger cue If a device is not assigned to the cue then the Device Specific Mode button will not be available C Disabled m Select the Mute On command close the dialog box and run the cue by pressing the space bar Notice how the device s status window is updated to reflect the current state of the Mute mode Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers 313 Specifying a Value To use a command that takes a value first choose the command on the pop up menu then type the value in the numeric field to the right Switch The number sign indicates that this command requires a value Enter the value here The number sign
252. lly describe these elements The menus in the menu bar along the top of the computer screen provide access to most commands in TRAX See Chapter 4 Menus and Commands for details on each menu File Commands for saving and opening presentations Edit Standard editing commands such as Cut and Paste as found in most Macintosh applications Object Additional editing commands more specific to TRAX Device Adds new devices to the Device window You must select the Device window in order to use this menu Cue Add new cues to a timeline or the Task window Symbol Inserts symbols into expressions used as starting conditions for tasks in the Task window Window Opens or selects another window or changes its appearance The Apple menu on the far left as well as the Application menu on the far right contain system wide functions according to your computer s configuration 12 Chapter 2 System Overview Anatomy of TRAX Menu bar File Edit Object Device Cue Symbo Window Device Example Show wee FS Device window Device icon Beta LDP cD Door1 Notes Barco wo e o Device status window o er Down x PPoint Device support window xl Jevice Support Task window roa Gomi ee Pioneer io v2200 Panel Task fi EE Cue Panel window Timeline window Cue Chapter 2 System Overview 13 Device Window The icons in the window titled Device Example Show on the previous page repr
253. lp r kepu pja In addition to the Device window which shows icons representing all devices you can also open an individual status window for each device This shows the full status of the device and allows you to change the status manually Please refer to Chapter 5 for full details on the device status window associated with each type of device 28 Chapter 3 TRAX Windows Timeline Window Numeric time readout Time ruler Cue Current track indicator Stop Pause Run and Re record buttons Creating a New Timeline Window Opening a Timeline Window A timeline window represents the flow of your presentation To make a device do something at a specific time you place a cue with the desired functionality at that point on a timeline and assign it to the device or devices to be affected Introduction Jump Back button en Current time indicator You can create new timeline windows using the New Timeline command on the Window menu Individual timelines can be started and stopped indepen dently allowing you to use separate timelines to control different areas of a larger presentation environment such as a museum Or you can use separate timelines to break up your show into independent sections If you close a timeline window you need to go through the Task window to open it again e Choose Task on the Window menu e Locate the name of the timeline to be opened in the Action column of the Tas
254. ly Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers 293 The Anonymous Mode States of the anonymous mode corresponding to the video source selection Named modes As you can see there s already a mode in the list called Anonymous Use this mode if the device has a primary mode which is used more often than the others In the IN1224 case the Source mode is probably a good candidate The states of the Anonymous mode will appear at the top level of the pop up menu in the Trigger cue that will eventually be used to program the driver thereby making them more accessible States of named modes will appear on secondary menus Except for this cosmetic difference there are no differences whatsoever between the Anonymous and other explicitly named modes Assuming you would enter the states of the Source mode under the Anonymous mode this is what the pop up menu choices would look like lidean 1 Video 2 Video 3 RGB Bypass EA n States of the Mute mode Volume Gamma la 294 Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers Named Source mode EUU ideo 1 Mute Video 2 Volume H Video 3 Gamma gt RGB Bypass States of the _ Source mode If you decide not to use the Anonymous mode but create a separate named Source mode the pop up menu will look like the example shown to the left Again there s no functional difference between using the Anonymous or
255. mage size and the lighting conditions in the room a shorter delay may be sufficient This can be useful for very fast paced shows that often need to get to the next slide very quickly Individual cues can override the standard step delay whenever required using the Delay After Light Out Til Tray Step pop up menu in those cues Allows you to choose which serial port to use for communicating with the Dataton control units Normally you would use the Modem port the one indi cated by a telephone symbol but you may want to substitute the Printer port When you try to select a serial port in the Preferences dialog box TRAX will check to see if that port is available If not an alert will be displayed telling you about the problem NOTE TRAX may say that there s no port available even though there is indeed one In this case the problem may be another program you ve run before starting TRAX which has used the serial port without closing it prop erly Some background programs or system extensions such as AppleTalk Remote Access ARA and some fax software may also cause such problems If the serial port appears to be in use by such a background program TRAX gives you the option of stealing the port Use this option with great care as it may cause the other program and or TRAX to fail Selecting Both ports makes it possible to control twice as many devices as it doubles the addressing capacity of the system It can also b
256. mands on the Window menu you can zoom in or out on the timeline Smaller time scale values give better precision in moving cues with the mouse and allow you to see cues that are close together Larger time scale values provide a better overview and make it easier to select a long time range Command 1 through 5 correspond to the five time scales 36 39 42 4548 Chapter 3 TRAX Windows 39 Editing Cue Specifications To change the specifications of an individual cue first select the cue as described earlier then choose Specifications on the Edit menu Command l or press the Enter or Return key Refer to Chapter 7 for details on each cue type SHORTCUT Double clicking the cue has the same effect as selecting it and choosing the Specifications command You can change specifications of multiple cues simultaneously using the Expand Compress and Find Replace commands see page 90 and page 85 respectively Assigning Devices to Cues You have to assign the desired devices to a cue in order for it to have any effect This is done by first selecting a cue and then clicking each device using the Device assignment pointer device assignment pointer The device assignment pointer is only shown when the Task window or a timeline window is selected and the pointer is within the Device window You can use all the standard selection techniques to assign dev
257. match your intentions For example there may not be enough time left after the compression to advance to the next slide If you choose to change Effect Rates and By Time the time value will be added to or subtracted from the cue s effect rates This can be used to decrease all dissolve rates in the selected cues by a specified amount Expand Compress Cues HINT You can offset the By P tage onc i By Percentage DHH time positions in Locate By Time sd Time cues using the Effect What to Change PPPE L POE C SEOEL EIEN TAE j Rates option with By Time Cue Positions Effect Rates Both 90 Chapter 4 Menus and Commands Group Ungroup Selecting any object in a group selects all group members The Group command lets you link several objects together to form a group This command can be used with devices cues and panel items i e buttons etc A set of cues may for example have been carefully arranged to perform a certain effect Or you may want a Note cue fo always stick to the cue whose function it describes Once you ve grouped a number of items they will always stick together when they are moved copied re recorded or otherwise manipulated When one object in the group is selected all others are selected automatically Introduction You can also use grouping to form a group of mutually exclusive switch closure outputs By doing so TRAX will ensure that only one of the
258. mber The serial number can be found on the original diskette as well as on the registration card All shows saved using your personalized copy of TRAX will carry your name which will be displayed when the show is opened Furthermore you can add your own copyright message and logo or other picture as well as an optional password to the show using the Preferences command on the Window menu see Preferences on page 108 Berading from a If you re upgrading from a previous version of TRAX you should follow the Previous TRAX see alse as ae on page 3 Keep this new version of TRAX in its Version own folder so you can tell them apart HINT To tell the old version from the new one in case you get them mixed up select the application s icon in the Finder and choose Get Info from the File menu Due to the extensive changes in TRAX version 3 compared to earlier versions you should keep the old version on your computer as well Although TRAX version 3 can read files created with older versions of TRAX not all functions are fully upward compatible Shows saved from TRAX version 3 have a 3 in their icon and the right version of TRAX will automatically be launched when you double click a show Example Show file See News in TRAX 3 on page 394 for further details if you re upgrading from an older version 4 Chapter 1 Introduction Installing TRAX Runtime on a Computer Included in the TRAX packa
259. modes 16 112 T tab key in timeline window 31 104 tape control window 397 402 Tape device configuring 133 recording 136 status of 135 status properties 140 tape remote cable 392 tape signals 373 TAPE SMARTLINK 337 task 421 Task window 15 436 Index tasks adding 51 copying between shows 52 deleting 52 editing action of 51 ID number of 62 121 moving 52 priority 52 priority vs panel items 162 running 60 419 selecting 52 starting 420 starting automatically 58 starting condition 53 text 218 text device putting text into 151 status of 151 text items on panels 174 time arithmetic 98 Time device configuring 152 displaying on panels 153 status of 152 time format for 152 time device setting 153 starting stopping 153 time format in locate cue 189 in time device 152 time of day functions 153 258 time scale of timeline 107 time displaying on panels 153 timecode 223 337 374 375 384 421 timecode signal 373 time continuous devices 186 421 timeline 421 creating 29 current time position of 30 device status 42 end of 104 grey time readout 41 jumping to time position 103 opening window 29 running 41 scrolling while running 105 setting the length of 31 slaving to another 106 start time 104 stopping automatically 105 stopping vs pausing 42 synchronizing 214 synchronizing to a device 42 tab key 31 time scale 39 107 window 15 29 Index 437 timeline settings command 103 timelines control cue
260. mplete system To use the automatic mode select Download Everything on the pop up menu at the bottom of the window Vv IMPORTANT Before clicking the Download button make sure that all SMARTPAX units referred to by devices in the Device window are connect ed powered and have their port addresses set properly il Downloading Device Support Functions Downloading device drivers to SMARTPAH at address 10 TRAX first analyzes the system to make sure that all port addresses referred to by the devices are available a warning will be displayed if TRAX can t find an address TRAX then downloads all drivers required for each SMARTPAX and assigns those drivers to their respective ports based on the address specified for each port Finally TRAX also downloads any panel designs see Down loading Panel Designs on page 70 To skip downloading of panel designs select Device Drivers Only on the pop up menu 68 Chapter 3 TRAX Windows Downloading in Manual Mode Troubleshooting Sometimes you may just want to download a certain set of device drivers into a SMARTPAX without first adding and configuring those devices in the Device window This can be accomplished by selecting Device Drivers Manual Mode on the pop up menu at the bottom of the Device Support window Vv IMPORTANT In manual mode you can only download to a single SMARTPAX unit which must be connected directly to the computer
261. mply putting the name of the key into the name of a Control cue See Using QuickFind on page 88 for more details Another possibility is to use the Find command to locate any Control cue by entering its name see Find Replace on page 85 This has the advantage of offering even more cue points along the current timeline with easy to remember names The disadvantage is that it entails more typing than the QuickFind method and it can t be used while the timeline is running You can also insert programmed jumps into the show This allows you to re arrange the order in which the various segments are run without actually moving the cues around Use a Control cue and select one of the Jump To options Jumping to a named Control cue is preferable as it means you will automatically find the right spot in the show even if it is moved during editing Alternatively modularize your show using separate timelines for each show segment and then call these in the desired order from a main timeline see Using secondary timelines on page 228 HINT For even more interactive capabilities please refer to Chapter 9 230 Chapter 8 Presentations To use the AIRLINK wireless remote control with TRAX for speaker support applications connect the AIRLINK receiver to your Macintosh as described under Connecting to the Computer for Speaker Support on page 351 AIRLINK m E semeemsemeemeenan AIRLINK TRANSMITTER RECEIVER 3449 3
262. multaneously page 130 The Tape device has been enhanced to handle TRANSPAX related functions This made it possible to remove the separate Tape Control window TRANSPAX can be connected directly to the computer as before when the system is used in its Backward Compatible mode page 16 This is specified by a checkbox in the Tape device s configuration dialog box page 133 Alternatively TRANSPAX can be connected through a SMARTPAX port as a kind of open reel smartlink This is the only way to use TRANSPAX when TRAX is used in its Interactive mode The Tape device also has the ability to record timecode The ability to locate Index numbers has been added to the Tape device Recording and Eject functions have been added to the Tape Video and Audio Disc devices as well as in the Trigger cue NOTE Initially few of the device drivers support these features Check the device information database entry for individual devices for the latest news 402 Appendix A News in TRAX 3 Panel Device Text Device The new Panel device is used together with TOUCHLINK Its status window provides all the tools for creating and editing buttons sliders graphics and other panel items The functionality is provided either by direct linkage to devices or through tasks in the Task window The panel design is downloaded into TOUCHLINK in the same way as device drivers are downloaded into SMARTPAX See Chapter 6 and Chap
263. n important difference between stopping or just pausing a timeline Timeline When a timeline is stopped it becomes inactive and relinquishes control over its devices thus freeing those devices to be used by other tasks See Device Ownership on page 121 for more information on the relationship between tasks and devices You stop a timeline by clicking the Stop symbol in the lower left corner of the timeline window The timeline can also be configured to automatically stop a specified amount of time after its last cue see Stop After Last Cue on page 105 A stopped timeline can t control any devices you must first activate the timeline by selecting pause or run Initial Device Status When you start a timeline after having been in stop mode it will accept the current status of the devices as their correct initial position This device status will be restored whenever you jump back to the beginning of that timeline In some cases you may want to have more explicit control over the initial device status for a timeline You may for example want all slide projectors controlled by a timeline to go to tray position O and turn their lamps off To accomplish this use a Trigger Reset cue as described on page 209 Synchronizing a Timeline toa A timeline can be synchronized to the time position of any device capable of Device supplying such information Use a Control cue at the beginning of a timeline assigned to the device to b
264. n of 156 downloading 177 pages 157 sound 109 169 status of 150 status window 156 testing 177 tool bar 156 window 14 panel items 171 button 163 246 colors 158 display 172 drawing new 157 editing 157 fame 174 graphics 249 indicator 168 kinds of 158 line 174 linking to device status properties 160 254 oval 174 overlapping 158 passive vs active 158 picture 175 priority of 162 slider 170 246 static text 174 status indication by 162 text 174 parity 274 286 password 4 113 paste command 79 pause 207 PAX 11 auxiliary relays 367 BANK selector 361 disabling 361 front panel 356 IN connector 356 LINE UP button 362 manual reset 362 OBJECT selector 359 OUT RMT connector 357 port wiring diagram 363 power supply 365 368 projector adaptors 366 read panel 363 switch functions 132 367 TAPE connector 357 TAPE DATA OK indicator 359 personalizing TRAX 4 Index 431 picture item color fidelity of 175 options 176 picture displayed while opening a show 112 picture on panel 175 play 207 PMX SMARTLINK 336 port 417 port field in device 117 Positrak 386 power supply 345 precedence of symbols 97 preferences command 108 pre programmed presentation 220 presentation software controlling 337 presentations canned 220 interactive 234 241 live 232 speaker support 226 staging 238 previous position 187 primary value 417 primary value field 181 printer port 2 111 417 printing 27 printing c
265. n order to try it out Please refer to Chapter 6 Panel Design for details on how to use TOUCHLINK AIRLINK Remote Control AIRLINK consists of the AIRLINK TRANSMITTER product number 3448 and AIRLINK RECEIVER product number 3449 It allows you to control the presen tation from a distance for speaker support or interactive applications See Chapter 13 AIRLINK for more details 10 Chapter 2 System Overview TRANSPAX acts as an interface to most professional open reel and cassette audio recorders TRANSPAX handles tape transport control as well as recording and playback of a variety of timecode and cue track standards See TRANSPAX on page 369 for more details PAX controls most electromechanical slide projectors including both profes sional circular tray projectors and straight tray projectors PAX supports features such as controllable shutter electronic home sensing and fast random access of slides A range of projector adaptors is available for various projector models PAX can also be used for simple on off switch functions as each of the four ports can control either a slide projector or two relay functions See PAX on page 355 for more details Chapter 2 System Overview 11 Software Overview Menu Bar The illustration on the right shows a typical TRAX screen The following pages give you a quick overview of the various windows and menus with references to the sections of this manual that fu
266. n the Action pop up menu e Link your task triggering condition to the Output On status property of the virtual switch device In addition to this indirect way of linking a panel button to a function you can also link panel items directly to specific device functions For example if you 246 Chapter 9 Interactivity User Feedback want to make a button start a tape deck simply link it directly to the Trans port Play status property of the tape deck Analog numeric or time status properties can be controlled either using buttons or sliders When using buttons you can choose any of the Action modes for example make the value increase or decrease as long as the button is pressed For more information see Button on page 163 Slider on page 170 and Linking Panel Items to Device Status Properties on page 160 The importance of instantaneous and clear user feedback can not be over stated in interactive applications Of course the best feedback is that the user s input gives and immediate and apparent result However sometimes this is not possible for practical reasons In this case providing tentative user feedback on the touch panel itself is a good idea Furthermore the user s attention is focused on the panel when making the entry so this is a good place to present some feedback There are two kinds of feedback you may need to provide e Immediate acknowledgment e Indication of pr
267. n the device icon is double clicked The status window can also be opened by selecting the device s icon and choosing Show Device Status from the Object menu HINT Pressing the Option key while double clicking the device s icon tem porarily reverses the double click behavior By default any sound attached to an indicator in a panel device will be played when that indicator is turned on and the panel s status window is selected However some computers may have problems playing sounds while keeping all other aspects of TRAX running without interruptions If you run into problems that seem to be related to the playback of such sounds you may want to turn off those sounds by un checking the Play Panel Sounds option NOTE This option affects only the playback of sounds in simulated panels in TRAX It does not affect the playback of sounds downloaded into TOUCHLINK panels Chapter 4 Menus and Commands 109 Max Number of Gangs Slide Projector Options The Gang setting determines the number of reserved gang addresses in the system Gangs allow you to have multiple devices responding simultaneously to a cue This is done by assigning those devices to a gang using the Gang cue which essentially assigns them a second address Later when sending a cue to all members of that gang TRAX optimizes this cue by sending it to the gang address instead of each device s individual address In order for this to work some address
268. ndrews at Inline Inc for kindly providing the information on the IN1224 for the case study in chapter 10 The TRAX software was produced on Apple Macintosh computers using Metrowerks CodeWarrior This manual was produced on Apple Macintosh computers using Microsoft Word Adobe Illustrator PhotoShop and FrameMaker Photographs were scanned using Kodak Pro Photo CD technology Printed in Sweden Document number 3943 mo j Welcome About This Manual INTRODUCTION Welcome to DATATON TRAX the heart of the Dataton media integration and control system TRAX transforms your Apple Macintosh or compatible computer into a powerful tool for creating and running shows incorporating virtually any combination of presentation media The control system expands and enhances your Mac s capabilities while maintaining the precise timing and synchronization that is the hallmark of all good presentations This manual is organized into four main sections The first section consists of this chapter and the following one entitled System Overview These two chapters give you a quick introduction to TRAX as well as the rest of the Dataton control system The subsequent five chapters make up the reference section of this manual They go through all the different aspects of TRAX such as windows menus commands devices and cues This is where to look for detailed information related to a particular part of TRAX The following two chapte
269. nel Design 163 Action Use the Action pop up menu to specify what should happen when the button is operated Set To Sets the status property to the specified value when the button is pressed The button will light up while the device is at the specified value Increase By Increases the value of the status property by the specified amount for as long as the button is depressed Decrease By Decreases the value of the status property by the specified amount for as long as the button is depressed Toggle Makes the status property toggle between the two stated values The button lights up while the device is at the first specified value Momentary When pressed sets the value of the status property to the value specified in the first field When released sets it to the value specified in the second field The button lights up while the device is at the first specified value IMPORTANT You must link the button to a device status property before you can use the Action pop up menu see page 160 164 Chapter 6 Panel Design Invisible 4 Motion Sensor Top of Large Side Button Bottom of Large Side Button 0 Small Side Button The Kind pop up menu allows you to designate the button as a regular button or as a special button These include invisible buttons used to create touch sensitive areas in pictures the motion sensor and the side buttons Normal A regular visible button displayed on the panel It is pressed b
270. ng the full system possibly starting timelines and other tasks The first method is useful if you just want to see what it looks like when the panel is operated Select the hand tool then click the buttons and drag the sliders Pressing the space bar toggles between the hand and arrow tools Linked devices will be controlled by the items unless they re owned by tasks in which case they can t be controlled by panel items as described under Priority of Panel Items vs Tasks on page 162 The second method allows you to run the entire system including all currently open panel windows Click the Play button in the Task window or press Command space to activate the system run mode You can then operate panel buttons and observe the system s response to your actions See Running the Tasks on page 60 for more details The panel design is downloaded possibly together with the SMARTPAX device drivers using the Download button in the Device Support window You can choose to download just the panel design using the Panels Only choice on the pop up menu in the Device Support window See Downloading Panel Designs on page 70 for more details After downloading to the panel you can test your design using the real phys ical panel device In order to run the full system first click the Play button in the Task window or press Command space Chapter 6 Panel Design 177 Editing a Cue s Specifications mea CUE
271. ngth cables Vv IMPORTANT When connecting PAX to a primary system cable bus TRAX must be set to its backward compatible mode If you are using the in teractive system mode PAX must be on a secondary bus connected through a SMARTPAX port This port must use one of the TRANSPAX or open reel related device drivers See System Modes on page 16 and Connecting TRANSPAX on page 369 for more details When connected to TRAX the cable between PAX and TRAX may be extended up to 100 meters When connecting PAX to a TRANSPAX or AIRLINK RECEIVER the maximum cable length is 25 meters This limitation is due to the fact that PAX in these cases will supply power to the connected device The TAPE DATA OK indicator shows when data is being received by PAX through the IN connector This is very useful when installing a system as it allows you to follow the signal from one unit to the next making sure that all units receive data 356 Chapter 14 PAX OUT RMT IN Connector TAPE Connector The OUT connector allows you to daisy chain multiple control units You can connect units in any order The maximum cable length between units is 100 meters see IN Connector on page 356 The data sent to the next unit through the OUT connector is a high level digital signal The signal is optically isolated and re shaped in each unit to ensure maximum reliability even in very large systems Alternatively this connector can be used with
272. nically separated from the electronic parts of the sensor itself This is usually handled by a relay at the output of the sensor In this case it behaves just like a switch closure and can be connected to DIGITAL SMART LINK in the same way Chapter 9 Interactivity 243 Using Electronic Sensors Some electronic sensors may provide an output that is not separated such as an open collector transistor output You can use those outputs provided that The open collector can pull a positive voltage of up to 12 V DC to ground e The ground of the open collector output can be wired to the ground terminal of the DIGITAL SMARTLINK without causing a ground loop or other unwant ed current path Provided these criteria are met you can wire most open collector outputs in the same way as a switch that closes to ground using a pull up resistor as shown under Digital Input Functions on page 331 Wireless Remote Control You can use an AIRLINK wireless remote control as an input Connect the AIRLINK RECEIVER to a SMARTPAX port and configure it as described under Connecting through SMARTPAX for Interactive Applications on page 353 Each button on the AIRLINK will appear in the Device window as a separate input switch Link task starting conditions to the switches as desired MIDI A MIDI keyboard pedal or continuous controller fader wheel etc can be used as an input For keyboards and other MIDI devices including some lighting conso
273. ns the Play Speed pop up menu located to the right of the six transport buttons becomes active allowing you to specify the desired playback speed This can be used with video disc players that have this capability Some speeds may not be available on some players see the corresponding pop up menu inside each video disc device s dialog box for information on available speeds Some video disc players impose further restrictions on available playback speeds when playing to a target time using the Out field in the Locate cue Most video disc players are incapable of playing backwards or at other than normal speed when used with CLV discs See Video Disc on page 143 as well as the device information database entry for your device for more details The Rewind and Fast Forward buttons are used with simple players such as most consumer VHS players and audio cassette decks which can t locate specific positions Do not use these buttons with devices that can locate time i e which have Position by Time or Frame Number selected in the device s configuration dialog box use a Locate By Time cue instead When selected the output level sound and or video will be automatically turned on or off as appropriate for the selected transport button Play will turn it on Stop Pause Rewind or Fast Forward will turn it off Alternatively you can use a separate Set Fade cue to control the output level independently of the Trigg
274. nts 232 locate 186 by number 187 by time 187 displayed time format 189 frame number 187 next 187 out time 188 previous 187 turn level off 189 with tape device 135 136 with time device 153 locating a position of a device 186 locator adaptor 392 lock command 92 logical symbols 101 logo displaying while loading a show 4 loops 213 229 LTC 415 Index 429 M Mac OS version required 2 MAC SMARTLINK 337 manual mode downloading in 69 Mate Trac 378 386 meeting room 235 melt 191 menu cue 95 device 94 edit 77 file 73 object 89 symbol 96 window 102 menu tree 261 MIDI 244 415 MIDI SMARTLINK 327 minidisc 141 mixer 335 mixing console 192 modem port 2 111 416 modes 293 416 momentary button action 164 month 258 motion sensor in TOUCHLINK 165 multiple faders 192 multi tasking 241 mutually exclusive switches 130 N new show command 73 new timeline command 102 news in TRAX version 3 394 next position 187 normal button kind 165 note cue 218 with text device 151 note window 218 398 399 NTSC frames 138 numeric position 187 numeric values in serial drivers 270 309 0 object menu 89 offset relative sync source 106 215 open show command 74 operator prompting 233 operator in expression 416 optically isolated 417 out time of locate cue 188 oval item on panel 174 430 Index P pages of panel device 157 251 417 PAL frames 138 panel background pages 159 configuring 150 desig
275. number of data bits per byte transmitted by the SMARTPAX to the device You can choose between seven and eight data bits Most devices use eight data bits Don t select the seven bit mode unless explic itly stated in the protocol manual for the device Devices using seven bit data typically use ASCII encoding of the commands This is possible since the standard ASCII character set doesn t use more than seven bits to represent each character anyway This is another seldom used setting Most devices need only one stop bit Adding a second stop bit generally doesn t hurt it simply slows down the communication slightly Indeed selecting two stop bits can be used as a way to introduce a small delay after each byte sent The delay time is fixed to the time corresponding to a single bit which can be calculated by dividing one by the data rate Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers 291 Entering the Click the OK button in the Driver Settings dialog box in order to return to the Commands main Serial Device Driver dialog box P Create Edit SMARTPAH Serial Device Driver Test IN1224 Main serial device driver editing dialog box Seiri henge Saue amp BK Now it s time to start entering the names of the various modes and commands To do this you will need the pieces of paper carefully prepared for this purpose in the section titled Before You Begin on page 268 292 Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers
276. o digit HEX byte with a sign like this 7A Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers 267 Before You Begin Understand the Device Before you start making the driver make sure that you have all the required information at hand including The actual device itself The user s manual of the device or someone thoroughly familiar with the device The wiring of the serial port The communication parameters of the serial port data rate stop bits par ity handshaking etc A complete and up to date list of all commands showing either the ASCII characters or the HEX codes to be sent to the device The most crucial aspect of creating a serial driver is the grouping of commands into modes Before you can do this you must have a thorough understanding of how the unit works as well as how it will be used in your application If you re new to the device spend some time getting acquainted with all aspects of the device and how its various functions relate to each other 268 Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers Commands and Modes It s a good idea to start with pen and paper List all the commands you intend to use by writing all closely related commands down together Each such group of commands is called a mode Each command in a group sets the mode into a specific state In a video projector for example the commands for the Input Mode could set it to one of the states Videol Video2 and RGB Mode
277. o access it the new task will not be granted access to the device The device is said to be owned by the first task See Changing a Task s Priority on page 52 for more details Thus if a device doesn t respond to cues or other actions you can see if it is already owned by some other task by opening the device s configuration dialog box If the device is currently owned that will be stated in the title bar of the device s configuration dialog The device in the example shown below is currently owned by Task ID 2 To find out who that might be you would then need to open the Task window and look up the task by its ID number See Referring to Tasks by ID Number on page 62 for more details Video Disc Owned by Task ID 2 nome F E Type Pioneer LD 04100 v G Position by Chapter Number Time or Frame Number ca Chapter 5 Devices 121 Virtual Devices Some devices can be designated as virtual using a radio button in their configuration dialog boxes This includes the Switch Level Still Store Text and Time devices A virtual device works like a real device in most aspects except it has no physical counterpart Hence it does not have an address and is only used internally in TRAX These devices are used primarily together with Panel devices Items on a panel must be assigned to a device function in order to become operational In many cases you can control a function of a d
278. o create the desired ef fect Soft Snap can be used after a Flash cue in order to start or stop the flash effect in a specific way See Using Soft Snap to Start and Stop a Flash Effect on page 203 for more details Chapter 7 Cues 205 Switch Pulse On Off and Toggle func tions used with Switch devices Play speed pop up menu Device specific mode value field The Trigger cue is used to perform many functions in a way similar to pressing buttons on the devices being controlled such as resetting the device control ling switch closures tape or disc transport functions or control of other device specific modes and functions The four buttons in the Switch area allow you to pulse turn on or off or toggle Switch device outputs This can be a relay switch or a solid state switch The Pulse button causes the output to be momentarily activated for 0 2 seconds The On and Off buttons causes the output to be turned on or off continuously The Toggle button will turn on the output if it is currently off and vice versa 206 Chapter 7 Cues Transport Rewind EJ Play reverse m Stop u Pause D Play Fast Forward Output Control The six buttons in this area control basic transport functions related to tape video or audio disc devices Not all buttons are applicable to all devices for example only video disc players are capable of playing backwards When selecting one of the Play butto
279. o device link can only be used to control devices that are not owned Tasks by any task However the status indication discussed in the previous para graph always works regardless of whether the device is owned or not HINT If you need to control a device from a panel regardless of whether it s currently owned or not you can do this indirectly through a task Use a virtual Switch device to trigger the task see Virtual Devices on page 122 then link the button to the virtual Switch instead Set the priority of the task to High and put the action you want to be performed into the Action field of the task This will allow you to take control of that device at any time un less it s already owned by a high priority task To Learn More About Interac Please refer to Chapter 9 for more examples on how to use panels and other tivity devices to create interactive presentations 162 Chapter 6 Panel Design Button The Button is the most basic kind of panel item It can perform an action when pressed such as starting a CD setting the brightness of a lamp or showing another page on the panel Which action it performs depends on what kind of device status property it is assigned to and how it is configured Open the configuration dialog box of the button by double clicking it with the arrow tool Button Shape Oval Rectangle Radius 5 Sample Chapter 6 Pa
280. o highlights the corresponding text in the edit field at the top of the window Thus to replace one device reference with another first click the old reference in the condition then pick a property from another device The cross and check mark symbols to the left of the edit field serve as Cancel and OK buttons for the edit field Click the check mark to accept the entry Pressing the Enter or Return keys has the same effect Furthermore the check mark also indicates the validity of the condition as entered into the edit field If you enter a condition that doesn t make sense the check mark symbol is grayed out Pressing the Enter key in this case displays an error message and selects the offending item in the edit field LE Task My Show SPIE f clock Tme G10 o ooo O alem ee Gray checkmark indicates error in condition formula Error in formula Expected a value here 56 Chapter 3 TRAX Windows Condition Variants The pop up menu in the 1 0 column allows you to specify whether the action should be started when the condition becomes true or when it becomes false In the example below the Open task will be started when the switch is turned off and the Close task will be started when it is turned on Becomes False 0 While False Choosing While True or While False causes an action to be performed repeatedly for as long as the condition is true or false in
281. o play shows originally produced on Electrosonic equipment using the Alphasync control signal format This format is used by the ES 4000 series of control units Older Electrosonic equipment use other formats which are not compatible with TRANSPAX Connect up to eight PAX dissolve units to the OUT connector of the TRANSPAX and set their bank selectors at 1L 2L 3L etc according to the original show programming Each PAX unit can control up to three slide projectors when running Electrosonic shows If the program uses auxiliary relay functions those are also emulated using the fourth output port on each PAX ES PAX pin A 3 B 2 4 Pin 5 on the PAX is common for all three relays Chapter 15 TRANSPAX 385 Auxiliary relay functions on separate PAX set to IL and E AUX Use this position to play shows originally produced on Arion equipment using the Mate Trac format This format is also used by the Kodak PDC two projector dissolve unit and some other manufacturers Connect up to four PAX dissolve units to the OUT connector of the TRANSPAX and set their bank selectors at 1L 2L 3L and AL according to the original show programming Each PAX unit can control up to four slide projectors NOTE If the show is programmed for multiple two projector control units the same number of PAX units are needed to run the show If the program uses auxiliary relay functions those are also emulated using a separ
282. o stop and resume a fading already in progress an effect also known as a Freeze This can be used as a way to fade to an intermediate level by timing the relation between the cue that starts the fading and the Fading Stop cue This allows you to hold the brightness of a Dissolve Wipe or Zoom cue at an intermediate value Alternatively you can use a Fade cue with the desired target value Determines the rate of the fading in seconds The value can be specified with an accuracy of 0 1 second Not all devices are capable of fading the level in which case the Rate value will be ignored For devices controlled through SMARTPAX except slide projectors the rate value determines the time taken to reach the new target level from the current level Thus a three second fading will always take three seconds regardless of the starting and ending levels For slide projectors and devices controlled through other control units the rate value determines the slope angle of the fading assuming a fading from 0 to 100 percent Thus performing a fading from O to 50 takes half the specified time with these devices Chapter 7 Cues 191 Faders Single Multiple The Single fader selection will make all assigned devices fade to the same target level Selecting Multiple Faders however enables you to enter an indi vidual value for each assigned device This selection provides separate level sliders for each device making it suitable for lighting and
283. ocate various points in a show For example if you re making an awards show you may have different show segments pre programmed for the various possible winners When the name of the winner is read out you have to locate the appropriate show segment By putting the various potential winner s names into the Name field of Control cues marking the beginning of each such segment you can quickly locate the right segment simply by entering the person s name into the Find field Find Replace One at a Time All at Once O Replace With Search p ESENE E R Name Only Control Cue All i O Name Only Any Cue Backward O Cue Contents as Text OForward O Device Assignment Selection Chapter 4 Menus and Commands 85 Search Extent Field to Search in By default the Find command will only find replace the next occurrence This is determined by the One at a Time radio button When the Search option is set to All TRAX will first search in the forward direction and then if not found it will search in the reverse direction Choosing All at Once will find and select all occurrences and then jump to the first selected cue Use this to select a set of cues matching a search criteria when you want to copy move or expand them for example The Search radio buttons determine the extent of the Find Replace command If All is selected all cues in the timeline will be searched When Backward or F
284. of HEX bytes i e two character pairs each preceded by a character it is more likely that the binary format is used for the value MIDI is a typical example here where most values for example note numbers are encoded as binary data bytes in the range 0 127 i e 00 7F In this case choose either Byte hi lo or Byte lo hi The hi lo format causes the most significant byte of multi byte values to be sent first In the lo hi format the least significant byte is sent first 310 Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers Field Width Auta Minimum and Maximum Value Downloading the Driver The Field Width pop up menu specifies the width of the numeric value in char acters In the Auto mode the field width will be automatically adapted to the number of significant digits in the value Many devices however require a fixed number of digits when supplying numeric values as part of commands In this case specify the required number of digits using this pop up menu SMARTPAX will then add leading zeros as required when sending the numeric value to the device Make sure the width you specify is wide enough to hold the largest value If you specify a width of for example 3 characters and then send 1000 as the numeric value SMARTPAX will not be able to express the value correctly You can prevent this by limiting the maximum numeric value using the Maximum Value field These fields allow you to specify the minimum
285. of several bytes in a row The response sent by the device after each command is referred to as an Acknowledge The reason for not including this mode on the Handshake menu is that the desired definition of a command is sometimes different in TRAX compared to the protocol specification of the device being controlled What appears to be a single command on the TRAX side may sometimes be a sequence of sub commands each requiring its own acknowledge byte from the device s point of view The ES BUS protocol commonly used for professional broadcast equipment is a typical example of this where each command consists of several individually acknowledged sub parts To handle such situations block mode handshaking is evoked by including a special Acknowledge Request character in the command string This character isn t sent to the device but rather instructs SMARTPAX to stop sending further bytes at this point and await a byte back from the device before proceeding see Entering the Command Strings on page 302 Vv IMPORTANT When using block mode handshaking set the Hand shake pop up menu to None Specify the handshaking in the driver strings using the Acknowledge Request character see page 310 Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers 289 Although handshaking is the most reliable method for ensuring that the device has enough time to process each command not all devices support hand shaking In most su
286. of the new features introduced in version 3 Most of the new features in TRAX version 3 revolve around three things e The ability to run multiple timelines and other tasks simultaneously e Active inputs to TRAX from the outside world such as buttons and sensors e The TOUCHLINK touch panel In TRAX version 3 you can have as many timelines as you want New timelines are created using the New Timeline command on the Window menu page 102 To open an already existing timeline double click its name in the Task window see Opening a Timeline Window on page 29 A timeline can be started either manually by pressing the space bar while the timeline window is active or automatically according to its starting condition in the Task window see Specifying the Starting Condition for a Task on page 53 394 Appendix A News in TRAX 3 Active Inputs TOUCHLINK As each timeline can potentially control any devices a number of mechanisms have been implemented in order to keep things straight e Device Ownership see Device Ownership on page 121 e Task Priority see Changing a Task s Priority on page 52 e Task Life span see Stopping vs Pausing a Timeline on page 42 The ability to run multiple tasks would be of little use if there were no inputs to TRAX by which these tasks could be started Hence TRAX version 3 supports active inputs through SMARTPAX which feed back information from the system to
287. ogramming required for such an interactive presentation can be done in the panel window Simply draw the pages representing each node in the tree then program the buttons to jump to the desired pages or start the desired timelines Buttons that jump directly to other pages can be linked to the page number in the panel s icon see the picture on the next page In the same way you may want to provide a button that jumps back to previous pages This gives the user a way out in case the wrong choice was made Chapter 9 Interactivity 261 For buttons that are meant to result in the presentation of some information link the button to a virtual Still Store device see Multiple Choices on page 255 As the user can only be at one node page at a time you can use the same virtual Still Store device for all the nodes Simply give each choice a number and program the button to set the choice device to that number Ifa button simply jumps to another page then link the button to the desired page number of the panel itself Open the button s dialog box and enter the page number into the field next to the Action Set To pop up menu For buttons that should result in the presentation of some informa tion link the button to a virtual Still Store device Combine the page and the choice in the Task window to start the timelines when appropriate 262 Chapter 9 Interactivity Use a time
288. ogress The immediate acknowledgment can take the form of an indicator or the button itself lighting up a sound being played or a text message being displayed If there s going to be a noticeable delay before the desired action begins or concludes some kind of progress indication is also a good idea This can take the form of a bar graph or a count down text Chapter 9 Interactivity 247 Specify the tape range to be indicated here The indicator can be oriented horizontally or vertically on the panel The sample in the dialog box however is always shown vertically In case of delayed start this indicates that the system is working on providing the requested action It also gives a hint to how long it will take before some thing starts to happen For actions that will take a while to complete such as a video clip it can also be a good idea to provide feedback on the remaining running time If the user can t tell whether such an action is going to take 5 seconds or 10 minutes to complete this can make her feel out of control and possibly frustrated A TOUCHLINK touch panel provides several progress feedback capabilities You can use a bar graph or a display field linked to a time or numeric status property of a device For a video clip for example you can provide running time feedback by linking a bar graph to the Time Position status property of the video player itself and setting the starting and ending times of t
289. olled through a TRANSPAX control unit such as most open reel tape decks and is then only available when Backward Compatible is selected in the Preferences dialog box see System Mode on page 112 When checked it allows the TRANSPAX to be connected directly to TRAX on the primary system cable bus This feature allows TRANSPAX to be used in a way similar to how it was used in version 1 and 2 of TRAX see illustration on Chapter 5 Devices 133 Position By Time at Beginning of Tape page 17 Note however that this will not allow you to use the interactive features of TRAX The Port field can not be used if TRANSPAX Connected to Computer is selected as the TRANSPAX itself doesn t have an address If this option isn t selected TRANSPAX must be connected through a SMARTPAX port See System Modes on page 16 for more details This option determines how to locate specific starting positions on the tape Most professional tape devices allow you to locate a precise position using timecode or similar Some DAT or DCC tape players may allow you to locate specific index or song numbers As very few tape devices can handle both these options TRAX will usually be able to make the right selection here automatically in which case the other option will become unavailable grey If the selected model can t locate specific starting positions at all both options will become unavailable This fie
290. on t match By specifying an offset in the Control cue that establishes the synchronization you can compensate for this discrepancy See Control on page 212 for more details Choosing this menu item toggles the current timeline window between icon view and list view In the icon view each cue is shown as a box with a name and an icon representing the cue type along a horizontal timeline In list view cues are displayed vertically one line per cue and all information is displayed as text The List View command is only available while a timeline window is selected See List View on page 46 for more details 106 Chapter 4 Menus and Commands Time Scale Time scale Cues on top of each other Cues almost on top of each other Track Name This menu item reveals a second menu that allows you to change the time scale of the current timeline window while in Icon View The standard time scale of one second gives you an overview of about twenty seconds Choosing 3 sec or 10 sec gives a good overview but sacrifices detail and precision for dragging cues Choosing 0 3 or 0 1 gives better preci sion and allows you to see cues that are close together which might otherwise overlap too much SHORTCUT Regardless of the current time scale you can always move the selected cues in 0 01 second steps using Command right arrow or Com mand left arrow add the Shift key to move in 0 1 second steps You
291. on and sound control Just like the Lamp device the output level is specified as a value between 0 and 100 The current level is reflected by the indicator in the device s icon Some devices support enhanced resolution allowing the level to be specified in steps of 0 01 Check this in the device information by clicking the informa tion button to the right of the Type pop up menu Lepe E The current level is also indicated in the device s icon Kind Real Device Virtual Device Type Dataton Audio Smart w G Initial value 0_ Function Output O Boost Output by 30 dB Status Cancel The initial value for the level Used when the show is loaded from disc or when you apply a Trigger Reset cue This boosts the maximum output volume by the specified number of decibels It only applies to certain audio volume control devices Chapter 5 Devices 149 Panel Visible drawing grid in status window Status Pop up Menu Page Number A touch panel device can be used to add an end user interface to your system Please refer to Chapter 6 for full details on how to design and use panels Panel Type Dataton Touchlink v G gt Show Drawing Grid J Snap to Grid zones This option displays a drawing grid in the panel s status window and can be used as an aid in laying out the panel items The drawing grid is not displayed on the real panel devic
292. ons of which only one can be in effect at any one time A window or dialog box that can be left on the screen while you continue working with other functions in the same program E g a device status window in TRAX See also modal window dialog box A technology by which information stored in the memory of a control unit or other device can be retained even while the device is switched off See also RAM ROM A number in the range O through 7 used to represent a group of three bits See also bit address hexadecimal A symbol such as and lt used to combine constants and variables in expressions See also expression constant variable 416 Appendix B Glossary optically isolated page pixel port primary value field printer port priority property A technology by which a data signal can be transferred a short distance using light This is done to break up the electrical connection between pieces of equipment such as two control units in order to avoid noise and ground loop problems See also ground loop balanced signal control unit A page is used on a panel to combine related items Those items can be accessed by telling the panel to display that page See also background page Picture element The smallest part of an image displayed on a computer monitor On a black and white monitor each individual pixel can be either on or off On a grayscale monitor each pixel can also take on intermediate value
293. ontrol cue 216 conditions 245 editing 55 evaluating the result of 59 variants 57 411 constant 41 1 constants using in conditions 58 contact closures 130 242 328 control cue 212 finding by name 85 jump to 213 pause 214 perform only if 216 run 214 special names of 217 stop 214 synchronization offset 215 syncronize to 214 target timeline 212 control signal 16 18 225 357 373 376 384 411 converting older TRAX shows 405 copy command 78 copying between shows 80 copyright notice while opening a show 4 114 countdown timer 153 259 counter 259 crossfade 194 cue menu 95 180 424 Index cue track 16 18 225 373 376 411 cue types control 212 dissolve 194 flash 202 gang 210 locate 186 note 218 set fade 190 snap 204 trigger 206 wipe 200 zoom 198 cues 178 411 adding to menu 180 adding to the menu 180 assigning to devices 40 black line below 107 creating 34 95 178 customizing 95 180 deleting from menu 93 device assignment 183 distributing 89 duplicating 82 editing 178 editing in list view 49 editing specifications 40 expanding compressing 90 general characteristics of 179 gray line below 107 grouping 91 184 importing from other shows 76 183 locking 92 184 moving 37 moving using the keyboard 38 name of 179 primary value 181 primary value field 417 printing 50 185 re recording 43 saving in scrapbook 184 selecting 35 selecting in list view 48 storing on menu 95 synchronizin
294. or using a control system for live events is that it improves the repeatability of the performance It is hard to achieve the same degree of precision when relying solely on operators and intercoms Even when the show actively involves people such as in a theater the repeat ability makes their jobs easier because they know that they can rely on the system to perform consistently time after time While you can run the presentation directly from the computer it is also possible to control it from remote locations using for example TOUCHLINK or AIRLINK Using multiple TOUCHLINK units you can provide manual control override functions and feedback to your operators This allows them to manu ally control some aspects of the presentation if required You can also use input signals to trigger functions automatically as an actor moves past a sensor Or for conferences have the speaker control the pace of the presentation using a button on the lectern 232 Chapter 8 Presentations Modularity Operator Prompting The modularity of the system both in terms of hardware and software makes it suitable for live events For example many conference type events require equipment and crew both in the back of the room as well as behind the screen Lighting and sound control is usually handled from the back of the room where the operators have a good overview Video rolls projection and computer graphics on the other hand are typically r
295. orders in fixed installations Without this sensor the tape can accidentally be rewound off the take up reel The sensor can be retro fitted to most open reel recorders and can be implemented using either transmissive or reflective methods In either case it usually consists of a light source and a sensor often integrated into one component Wire the sensor to the TAPE CONTROL input in such a way that it will apply 5 V DC across pin 7 and 1 when at the beginning of the tape 390 Chapter 15 TRANSPAX RECORD Connector PLAY Connector In addition to this sensor the tape must be prepared by splicing in a trans parent or reflective leader Make this leader at least 12 meters 40 feet long to guarantee that the tape will stop gracefully even when winding at maximum speed and with large tape reels When TRANSPAX receives the beginning of tape signal it will stop the tape If the rewind was triggered by reaching the end of the control track as deter mined by the MODE selector TRANSPAX will proceed according to the MODE setting page 382 This output is used to record timecode or control signals onto tape Connect it to the LINE IN input on the desired tape channel Proceed as described under Tape Signals on page 373 NOTE While recording a control signal the level indicated by the VU meter may fluctuate and appear to be lower than a timecode signal level This is normal do not compensate for it by increasing
296. ormats is normally used in the protocol listings that describe the communication language of a serially controllable device 266 Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers HEX Encoding HEX encoding is often used for devices that don t use ASCII encoding HEX encoding is closer to the actual binary representation of the data In the HEX HEX Digit Binary Form encoding scheme each eight bit data byte is represented by two digits with 0 0000 each digit representing four bits 1 0001 As four binary bits can accommodate sixteen different values our normal ten digits are not sufficient to represent all 16 values This is solved by simply 2 0010 adding six more digits at the end by using the first letters of the alphabet 3 0011 Vv CAUTION Do not confuse the HEX digit A with the ASCII character A A 0100 They do not have the same binary value as you can see in the tables 5 0101 As four bits can be represented by one HEX digit it takes two HEX digits to 6 0110 represent an eight bit data byte Hence a byte is written as two digits This table shows the ASCII character code the binary value and the HEX value of 7 0111 some data bytes 8 1090 ASCII Character Binary Form HEX Form 9 ree Space 0010 0000 20 A ea amp 0010 0110 26 B in 0011 0001 31 1109 2 0011 0010 32 2 He A 0100 0001 41 Ho z 0111 1010 7A F 1111 To distinguish HEX bytes from normal characters TRAX precedes each tw
297. orward is selected only cues in the past or ahead of the current time position will be searched The Selection choice limits the search to the currently selected cues This can be used as a way to apply multiple search criteria to a set of cues for example first find all Dissolve cues using the All mode then from the result of that first Find command find all cues referring to projector A5 The radio buttons in the Field area determine which part of the cue will be searched for a match The default selection here is Name Only Control Cue which is appropriate when using the Find command to locate named positions in a show The Name Only Any Cue radio button is similar but searches the Name field of any cue not just Control cues The name field is the topmost field in each cue s dialog box 86 Chapter 4 Menus and Commands Replace With The Cue Contents as Text option searches all text in the Cue column of the list view including the name This allows you to search for dissolve rates frame numbers etc NOTE Although it is easiest to use the Cue Contents as Text option with list view activated it will still work if you are in icon view mode Choosing Device Assignment causes the Find command to only look at the contents of the Device column in List View This makes it easy to find all cues referring to a particular device Again this option is easiest to use with list view activated but i
298. osition located just above the S2 position combines the NP and S2 modes Press the HOME button on the TRANSPAX to reset all devices to their home positions The indicator below the button will light up when the button is pressed and will go off when all devices are ready NOTE This button doesn t work while TRAX is active Instead use TRAX to home all devices using a Trigger Reset cue page 209 Chapter 15 TRANSPAX 387 Rear Panel RECORD PLAY H Q 24V AC EXT POWER j 24V AC EXT POWER Connect an ACPAX or ACPAX ADAPTOR here for power supply if this is not supplied by the next unit in the chain Dataton rack adaptors have built in power distribution allowing you to power up to ten control units from a single ACPAX power supply using an 11 UNIT RACK ADAPTOR as shown on page 341 or two units from an ACPAX ADAPTOR using a 2 5 UNIT RACK ADAPTOR V CAUTION When disconnecting the 24 V AC cable always pull the con nector not the wire The connector is mechanically secured in the recepta cle Pulling on the wire may cause damage or result in bad contact and malfunction later on You can supply a TRANSPAX from other power sources as well It will accept either DC or AC voltage in the range 15 to 24 Volt The current consumption varies between 0 2 and 1 Ampere depending on the supply voltage and external load POWER CONTROL Connector The POWER CONTROL connector isn t supported by TRAX TAPE CONTROL
299. ote control cable or locator adaptor STOP Stop the tape at the end of the control signal REW Rewind the tape at the end of the control signal REW PLAY Rewind the tape and re start it REW WAIT PLAY Rewind wait and then re start it 382 Chapter 15 TRANSPAX The action performed according to the setting of the MODE selector is trig gered by the disappearance of the control signal Thus if you manually stop the tape TRANSPAX will also perform the selected action To avoid this simply disconnect the TAPE CONTROL connector When using any of the rewinding modes with an open reel tape player the player must be equipped with a beginning of tape sensor This tells TRANSPAX when to stop rewinding the tape See TAPE CONTROL Connector on page 388 for more details The REW PLAY mode will automatically re start the tape If a beginning of tape sensor is used the tape will be re started as soon as the beginning of the tape is reached If a sensor isn t used for example if you re using a cassette player TRANSPAX will re start the tape two minutes after initiating the rewind The REW WAIT PLAY mode is similar to the REW PLAY mode but adds an eight minute delay between the end of the rewind and the re start If you re not using a beginning of tape sensor this means that there will be a ten minute break between shows as the rewind time is then fixed at two minutes If you use a sensor the total time will be the actual re
300. other application If there are any changes to the show you will be prompted to save the show to disk before quitting 76 Chapter 4 Menus and Commands Edit Menu Use the commands on this menu to edit the contents of the currently selected window It contains the same basic editing commands as found in most Mac OS applications Undo Redo The Undo command reverses the last editing change in the current window The following operations can be undone Cut Paste Clear Create Edit Move Duplicate Undo Move a zi Create refers to creating new cues devices or other objects u Copy 2C Edit refers to any changes done through the dialog box shown by double iid clicking an object editing a cue in list view or changes to the device assign Duplicate 98D ment of a cue or panel item Select All sen Undo Movewill undo all kinds of moves including re recording of cues and the Select toEnd E effects of the Expand Compress command When you undo something the menu entry changes to Redo allowing you to undo the Undo command itself There is only one level of undo You must choose Undo immediately after you edit paste move etc and before you leave the current window You can make a change run the show to see what it looks like and then undo the change Specifications Find Replace Chapter 4 Menus and Commands 77 Removes the selected object or set of objects and places it on the Clipboard This c
301. ould be started when the condition is or becomes true or false See also task expression action condition A value in an expression that never changes such as the number 5 See also expression variable A data signal recorded onto an audio tape track that contains all information needed to run a presentation This control signal track can be fed into the PLAY input of the first SMARTPAX or PAX control unit which decodes it and forwards it to the rest of the system A device such as a SMARTPAX PAX or TRANSPAX that can control presen tation devices See also dissolve control unit device A package with instructions to be performed by one or many devices Can be placed either in the Task list or along a timeline See control signal The speed at which data can be transferred from one place to another usually expressed in bits or bytes per second See also bit byte serial data Data Communications Equipment A device used to adapt a computer to a communications network e g a modem On such a device a signal named TRANSMIT is an input to the device See also DTE Appendix B Glossary 411 device device assignment device icon device information database device ownership device specific mode device status linking A piece of equipment used to run a presentation such as a laserdisc player or a slide projector Icons representing the devices are kept in the Device window in TRAX See also device icon virt
302. pped with 150 Watt halogen lamps LIN 2 All linear tray projectors with 250 Watt halogen lamps RA Random Access projectors with rotary slide trays E AUX For controlling switch relay functions only Use this setting when no projectors are connected to the PAX There is an additional unmarked position just above the E AUX position for use with the Hasselblad PCP80 slide projector NOTE When used with the Hasselblad PCP80 projector it is recommend ed that you use a separate ACPAX ADAPTOR to supply power to the PAX If not you may have to press the LAMP buttons on the projectors to activate them The No Home positions for the S AV and Ektagraphic III modes defeats the electronic home sensing built into these projector models This can be useful when running older shows made on other multi image systems which do not support this feature Any port not used for controlling a slide projector can be used for two relay functions This applies to all OBJECT settings except LIN 1 and LIN 2 PAX will automatically sense whether a projector is connected to the port or not Use the E AUX position of the OBJECT selector if the PAX is being used for relay func tions only See Switch Functions on page 367 for more details on how to use a PAX port for relay functions 360 Chapter 14 PAX BANK Selector 24 25 26 27 BANK selector at 2H using projectors only BANK selector at 2L using relay functions only
303. pply 36 Switches Ground NOTE The output load i e the lamp or resistor LED in the example above also doubles as a pull up for the input function 332 Chapter 11 SMARTPAX RELAY SMARTLINK RELAY SMARTLINK product number 3494 provides two independent single pole double throw electromechanical relays The relays are housed inside a 15 pin female D sub connector Two LEDs indicate the status of the relays Each relay is capable of switching up to 2 Ampere 24 Volt DC or AC For each relay both the normally closed and normally open terminals are accessible The drawing below show both relays in their passive states i e normally closed In addition to the two relays there are also two built in arc suppression varis tors intended to be wired across the relay switch when switching inductive loads such as motors or other relays Use two Switch devices to program the relays page 129 See the device infor mation database entry for Dataton Digital Smartlink for more details Switch 2 Switch 1 nc no nc no 8 O 15 9 INSIDE RELAY Varistors SMARTLINK Chapter 11 SMARTPAX 333 ANALOG SMARTLINK product number 3492 provides 32 independent 0 10 V DC analog output channels pin 1 through 32 Pins 33 34 35 are common for all the output channels Each output channel is capable of sinking and sourcing up to 10 mA However to achieve the highest accuracy on th
304. properties of the devices in the Device window For example the Close task in the Task window shown below will be started when the Input On property of the DoorSwitch device becomes true The Door Switch device is a simple contact closure input connected to a mechanical toggle switch Task My Show Ej 0i Priority Action Chapter 3 TRAX Windows 53 Linking Conditions to Device Status Device linkage cursor Date Number WeekDay gt Month gt Year Number Conditions Based On Multiple Status Properties To link a task to the device status property that should start it first click in the Condition field of the task then click the device in the Device window When you press the mouse button on the device s icon it displays a pop up menu listing the various status properties of the device You can refer to any status of any device both input and output in order to construct starting conditions for tasks For example to have a task started at a certain time of the day add a Clock device to the Device window then link the task s condition to its Time status This is shown in the Lights On task on page 53 which will be started at 7 00 AM every day Vv IMPORTANT When referring to time values always use the is greater than or is less than symbols Do not use the is equal to symbol as the task may then not be started In the same way you can start different t
305. purpose device allowing you to control equipment fitted with an RS232 RS422 MIDI or similar control port This could for example be a video projector switcher or special effects device The functions available are shown in the list in the status window and are entirely determined by your selection on the Type pop up menu in the configuration dialog box see Device Specific Modes on page 139 eria EEM numeric value Name s3 S Device Type _Sony DFS 500_ WJ 4 Configuration fi pate port 13 dialog box specific Direction g i modes Freeze Value field Status window Some functions may take a numeric value as indicated by a trailing number sign on the pop up menu in the list In this case the value field at the bottom of the status window becomes active allowing you to enter the value Use a Trigger cue to program the device see page 208 If desired you can create a Serial device driver yourself as described in Chapter 10 154 Chapter 5 Devices Status Status window The IR device lets you drive most kinds of equipment that use infrared remote control by simulating the signals from the remote Just like the Serial device the functions available in the list in the status window are entirely determined by your selection on the Type pop up menu in the configuration dialog box see Device Specific Modes on page 139 E aaI PQSEEEE___ Type
306. r American Standard Code for Information Interchange The most common stan dard for representing the characters in the English alphabet plus numbers and punctuation marks in binary form using seven bits of information See also bit byte A device capable of automatically locating an arbitrary position on a tape An extra relay provided on a dissolve control unit for user defined functions A page on a TOUCHLINK panel that s displayed as a background of other pages See also page A signal sent over two twisted wires where the polarity of the signal is inverted in one wire compared to the other The receiver uses the differential voltage Appendix B Glossary 409 baud rate bit boolean expression byte CAV chase lock CLV between the wires to decode the signal This results in a signal path that s less susceptible to noise Examples of such signals are the RS422 and RS485 serial data standards See also unbalanced signal optically isolated See data rate Binary digit The smallest possible unit of information It can only take on two states often represented by O and 1 See also byte See logical expression A group of eight bits Sometimes called an octet Often used to represent an ASCII character Typically expressed using hexadecimal notation See also bit ASCII hexadecimal Constant Angular Velocity A format used for disks where the same amount of information is stored on each cylinder of the
307. r earlier when TRAX is in its Interactive mode The SMARTPAX system software version is shown brief ly in the display when the SMARTPAX is switched on If you have problems downloading device drivers you may have to temporarily set the system mode to Backward Compatible in the Preferences dialog box page 16 398 Appendix A News in TRAX 3 Window Menu The menu structure of TRAX version 3 is similar to version 2 with only minor alterations All tape and timecode related commands on the File menu have been removed These functions are now incorporated in the Tape device see page 375 The ability to import devices has been removed You can import devices from other shows by copying them and pasting them into the new show The ability to run using the mouse as a remote control has been removed Speaker support presentations can be run from an AIRLINK remote control unit instead The new Send to Back and Bring to Front commands are used to change the front to back ordering of panel items such as buttons and sliders See Bring to Front Send to Back on page 84 The new Show Device Status command is used to open the status windows of the selected devices Alternatively you can Option double click on the device to open its status dialog box There s also a check box in the Preferences dialog box that allows you to reverse the behavior of double clicking a device so that it will by default open it stat
308. r heavy load conditions Vv WARNING Do not strap pin 35 34 and 37 36 when powering the DIGITAL SMARTLINK from the outside through pin 36 Chapter 11 SMARTPAX 329 Digital Output Functions Pin number 37 12V 36 Lamp jel 34 Ground To drive a lamp or a relay from a DIGITAL SMARTLINK connect it between the desired output pin pin 1 in the example to the left and the positive pin of the power supply i e pin 37 if you draw power from SMARTPAX else the posi tive output from your external power supply When the output is activated the DIGITAL SMARTLINK pin will be pulled to ground causing the lamp or relay coil to be turned on When driving several lamps or relays in this way you must add the current consumption mA of all the loads to determine the power requirement You can not draw more than 0 5 A i e 500 mA from a single SMARTPAX see Power Supply Considerations on page 329 If your total load exceeds this limit you must use a separate power supply to supply the current to your load and the DIGITAL SMARTLINK See the illustration under Combined Input Output Functions on page 332 for an example of how this can be done 330 Chapter 11 SMARTPAX Digital Input Functions Pin number 37 12V 36 10 kQ pull up resistors Switches 35 34 To use a DIGITAL SMARTLINK for input functions such as push buttons or relay closures connect the buttons relay switches as shown in the illust
309. racter is 11 DC1 Byte Echo The device sends each data byte back to the SMARTPAX once it has received and processed it Thus SMARTPAX will automatically consider the device to be busy after each byte sent until it receives a byte back Note that the byte returned doesn t have to be the same byte as the one sent any data byte will do Acknowledge This is similar to the Byte Echo mode but in this case the device sends a special acknowledgment byte or sequence of bytes back once it has completed the last command which may have consisted of multiple bytes This is sometimes called block mode handshaking Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers 275 Protocol Listing Some devices need extra time after a command before they will reliably execute the next command This should ideally be indicated by handshaking Unfortunately handshaking is not always implemented in which case adding some extra delay after commands can work wonders This is one of the trickier parameters as it is not always described in the manual for the device You often only find out by trial and error that the device behaves unreliable if commands are sent too rapidly If you do come across this first double check if the device supports any handshaking If it doesn t you must try to figure out how much extra delay is required between commands to make them work reliably The delay time may vary according to the command Before you can start you must m
310. ration to the left Note that the switches close to ground The DIGITAL SMARTLINK considers an input as activated when the input pin pin 1 and 2 in the example to the left is grounded Conversely to make the DIGITAL SMARTLINK detect when the input switch is no longer pressed a pull up resistor is needed to pull the input pin away from ground You must connect a separate pull up resistor to each input pin as shown to the left A 10 kOhm pull up resistor is recommended if the pin is used only for input functions When using the same pin both as an input and output the output load can usually double as the pull up as well as shown in the example under Combined Input Output Functions on page 332 If you are driving a DIGITAL SMARTLINK input from an active source i e a source that can actively output O and 12 volt a pull up resistor is not required Chapter 11 SMARTPAX 331 Combined Input Output Func By selecting Both in the configuration dialog box for the switch page 130 tions you can make the same pin act both as an input and an output This can be used for example to control a lamp or LED built into the button used to acti vate a function Vv IMPORTANT When the same pin is used for both the input and output functions it is not possible to detect if the input is activated while the output is on See Input Switches and User Feedback on page 242 for more details DIGITAL SMARTLINK Pin number 12V su
311. rder to perform operations simultaneously on all the gang members An unwanted current path where current flows through the ground and a communication cable between two pieces of equipment This can result in unre liable communication or damage to the equipment See also optically isolated The ability to communicate in both directions but not at the same time In this case a protocol must be established that manages the direction of communi cation See also full duplex RS485 414 Appendix B Glossary handshaking hexadecimal icon intelligent device item on panel LCD linking logical expression LTC Mac OS MIDI The procedure by which a device can tell a control unit if it is ready to receive new commands A method of expressing all sixteen possible values of four bits using the numbers O through 9 plus the letters A through F Such hexadecimal digits are often combined to form 8 or 16 bit quantities consisting of two or four hexa decimal digits See also bit byte A small symbol representing a file a device etc on the computer s monitor See also device finder A device that has a built in microprocessor and supports two way communica tion See also device An object on a page in a panel such as a button slider or picture Liquid Crystal Display The display technology used in TOUCHLINK See device status linking An expression that results in either of two values true or false In TRAX a res
312. re More complex animations involving multiple projectors and different animation rates and or ratios can be created using the Snap cue as described on the next page If you want fo start an animation from an image already on the screen you must first prepare the other projectors to be included in the animation by closing their Soft Snaps using a Snap cue and turning them on using a Set cue As the soft snaps are closed no light will reach the screen until the Flash cue is performed This trick avoids the additional delay caused by the Flash cue if it has to turn the lamps on before starting to flash them You can also use Soft Snap to stop a Flash or animation effect in which case the imaginary light levels will remain on but the Soft Snaps will be closed Chapter 7 Cues 203 Snap There are two kinds of Snap cues the Hard Snap and the Soft Snap The Hard Snap uses the mechanical shutter built into most professional slide projectors This gives a very sharp abrupt effect compared to simply turning off the lamp Remember that when you turn a projector lamp off it takes a few moments for the light to die away completely owing to the thermal lag of the lamp Vv CAUTION To use the Hard Snap you must have a slide projector with a controllable shutter A show that uses Hard Snap cues will not run properly on projectors that don t have this feature Soft Snap A Soft Snap Close cue turns the projector lamp off instantly T
313. re having trouble communicating with a device and can t find any switches on the back of the unit check the technical manual for information about DIP switches or jumper settings The MIDI data rate at the bottom of the pop up menu corresponds to 31250 bits per second which is the standard rate used for MIDI data Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers 285 Parity The Parity menu allows you to add a parity bit to the data bits of each byte transmitted In most cases parity is not used so you can leave this set to None None ee E Even Parity is a simple method of checking for communication errors on a serial odd data line It was originally devised to catch single bit errors in modem to modem communication over telephone lines However when controlling a device over a simple cable such single bit errors should never occur Some devices may still require parity or may have the option of selecting parity using DIP switches or jumpers In this case set the Parity according to the manufacturer s recommendations V IMPORTANT The parity setting of both the driver and the device must match or the communication won t work at all You can t improve the reli ability of the data line by activating parity in the driver if the device doesn t support this 286 Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers Handshake Hardware Hoff Hon Wait for Echo Many devices need some extra time to process each byte
314. re more than one This allows you to use the same key over and over again along the timeline to exit loops as described under Creating Loops on page 213 Chapter 7 Cues 217 Note Use the Note cue for your own programming comments or for sending text to Text devices page 151 By keeping the status window for the Text device open you can also use it as a speaker prompter or for manual operator cues see Enlarged Font and Black Background on page 151 for some additional hints Furthermore a Text device can be linked to a Display item on a Panel device allowing text strings to be displayed on the panel NOTE Pressing the Return key while in the text field of this dialog box forces a new line in the text rather than dismissing the dialog box Press the Enter key or click OK to dismiss it Note Name Cancel Note Text Cancel 218 Chapter 7 Cues Emm PRESENTATIONS This chapter discusses different kinds of presentations and shows how you can handle the various aspects of them using TRAX Examples of presentation methods include Fully automatic single timeline canned presentations These run from be ginning to end just as you would normally play a video tape Speaker support presentations These typically also run from beginning to end along a single timeline but you can control the pace of the presentation as well as skip ahead or review any section Live presenta
315. reen each with its own sounds Furthermore all panel sounds can be turned off in the Prefer ences dialog box see Play Panel Sounds on page 109 If you just want the sound and not the visible indicator you can create an invisible indicator and attach it to the function that is to be indicated by the sound Such an indicator will show up in the panel s status window as a gray crossed rectangle but will not be visible at all on the real panel device Although the title text can be displayed in the indicator you may prefer to put a text label next to it This can be done using a Static Text item see page 174 Chapter 6 Panel Design 169 Slider A slider is used to control a level or other numeric value It can also be used to control the time position of devices that can locate arbitrary time or frame number positions such as a video disc player A slider can be oriented vertically or horizontally on the panel but the sample in the dialog box will always be shown vertically You can move the dialog box to the side to see what the real slider looks like without closing the dialog box Slider Set to Minimum 0 Maximum 90 Title ceiling Color EJ Show Title Above Below Font A OA M Bold Drag here to re Frame GE OO sot OM size the knob Knob HJ _ Drop shadow Drag here to re size the slot Oval Rectangle Radius pix zeon
316. rious functions as programmed This provides control over the devices in the system as well as feedback to TOUCHLINK Please refer to Chapter 6 for full details on how to design and program your TOUCHLINK application Mounting Accessories _ TOUCHLINK comes with a clear plastic tilt stand This stand raises the back of the unit making it more suitable for desktop use It can be easily detached for handheld operation Alternatively TOUCHLINK can be mounted on a wall using the optional TOUCHLINK WALL KIT product number 3551 This fastens the unit securely and it can only be removed using the included tool Furthermore it hides the connector and cable making it impossible to unplug the unit Power Supply TOUCHLINK normally takes its power from the SMARTPAX to which it is connected However under some conditions this is not possible such as e When the cable between the SMARTPAX and the TOUCHLINK needs to be extended by more than 5 meters e When there are more than one TOUCHLINK connected to the same SMARTPAX e When there are other devices connected to the same SMARTPAX which also may draw power from SMARTPAX such as DIGITAL SMARTLINK as shown in the example on page 330 344 Chapter 12 TOUCHLINK Supplying power separately to a TOUCHLINK using 12 VDC INJECTOR In these cases power should be supplied to TOUCHLINK separately using a 12V DC INJECTOR product number 3419 and a 12V DC ADAPTOR product number 3334 Th
317. rivers creating new 71 front panel 317 IN connector 317 OUT connector 317 PORT button 321 port wiring diagram 324 power supply 325 329 340 rear panel 324 TAPE connector 318 TAPE DATA ON indicator 319 version of system software 320 wiring 324 SMARTPAX drivers window 398 SMPTE 137 337 384 420 snap 204 close 205 open 205 sequence 205 use with Flash cue 203 205 sound synchronization 220 sound in panel indicator 169 speaker support 226 347 420 specifications command 83 staging a presentation 238 standard step delay for slide projector 110 standard time format 137 starting automatically 108 114 240 starting condition of task 53 420 state of mode 293 420 static text items 174 status property of device 420 status see device status step delay 196 Index 435 Still Store device configuring 147 first position of 147 status properties 147 stop 207 stop track 105 420 stopping a fading 128 191 stopping a flash effect 202 sub address of device 118 420 sub expression 101 420 switch 206 switch closures 242 328 Switch device configuring 129 input 130 mutually exclusive in group 130 output 130 status of 131 status properties 132 virtual 129 symbol menu 96 symbols 420 arithmetic 98 logical 101 precedence of 97 relational 100 synchronization 220 337 offset 215 synchronizing a timeline to a device 42 214 synchronizing cues 43 system cable 8 420 System cue 405 SYSTEM IN OUT SMARTLINK 338 system
318. ro through seven if you include the GAMO command which could be considered just one more of the GAMx commands All the commands are indeed sequences of ASCII characters Even the nu meric values where applicable are encoded as decimal format ASCII encoded data The default i e power up setting is Input 1 and Gamma Disabled Commands that belong together begin with the same characters such as the commands CH1 through CH4 and GAMO GAM This helps us group the commands into independent modes with mutually exclusive states as shown in the table to the left Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers 301 Numeric Values The Volume and Gamma commands take a numeric value In the Volume case this value must have three characters whether they are used or not so leading zeros must be added for values less than 100 In a way the Mute command also takes a value zero and one However as there are only two values it s probably better to give them descriptive names such as Off and On and treat them as separate commands Entering the Command To enter the first command string select the corresponding name in the State Strings list As the channel switching commands are grouped under the Anonymous mode you must first select this mode in the list to the left Then select Video 1 in the list to the right and click the Set Change button Create Edit SMARTPAH Serial Device Driver Test IN1224 Mute Video 2
319. rojectors are available even if some other task is currently controlling the house lights To accomplish this assign the control cue to the slide projectors and select the checkbox at the bottom of the control cue s dialog box to perform it condition ally in case some slide projectors can t be accessed 216 Chapter 7 Cues Special Control Cue Names By giving a control cue a special name it is possible to instantly jump to this cue by pressing either a function key or a control key combination while the timeline containing it is the current window This is useful if you don t know in advance in which order the segments along a timeline will run or if you have a number of different sections that can be chosen depending on the circum stances If you for example put F5 in the Name field of a Control cue you can jump directly to this cue at any time by pressing the F5 function key on the keyboard If your keyboard doesn t have function keys or if you need more than 15 direct access points you can use control key combinations Pressing A while holding down the Control key will jump to the Control cue named CA See Using QuickFind on page 88 for more details When searching for a Control cue on a timeline TRAX first scans forward from the current position of the timeline If not found it scans backward from the current position Thus it will always find the closest cue ahead with a given name in case there a
320. roll automatically You may want to zoom the Device window to full screen size before re arranging the devices in order to avoid accidental scrolling Use the scroll bars along the bottom and right edges of the window to view other parts of the Device window or to scroll back to the top of the window HINT Pressing the arrow keys while holding down the Command key nudges the selected devices in that direction Holding down both the Shift and Command keys moves them in larger steps Use the Copy and Paste commands on the Edit menu to copy devices from one show to another e Open the show that contains the devices e Select the Device window by clicking its title bar e Select the devices you want e Choose Copy on the Edit menu e Open the show you want to copy them to or create a new one using New on the File menu e Select the Device window in the new show and choose Paste on the Edit menu When copying devices from other shows or from the Scrapbook you must make sure that all names and addresses are unique by editing any conflicting devices see Editing Device Specifications on page 27 Chapter 3 TRAX Windows 25 Storing Devices in the As an alternative to copying device arrangements directly from other shows Scrapbook you can store recurring device arrangements in the Scrapbook e Open the show that contains the devices Select the Device window by clicking its title bar Select the devices you want
321. rom the next SMART PAX in the chain The 24 V AC EXT POWER is the primary way to supply power to the SMARTPAX Use this method unless the documentation for the device or smart link tells you otherwise Normally you would connect an ACPAX ADAPTOR or an ACPAX here either directly or through the power distribution feature built into Dataton rack adaptors Other power sources can also be used if desired see 24V AC EXT POWER on page 325 Currently only the DIGITAL SMARTLINK and the SIMDA slide projectors are able to supply power to the SMARTPAX through the leftmost device port The DIGITAL SMARTLINK then has to be connected to an external power supply as described under Power Supply Considerations on page 329 NOTE Only the leftmost port front view can be used for powering the SMARTPAX in this way The ability to take power through the DATA OUT port is provided as a safety feature only If the power supply for the SMARTPAX fails it may be able to get enough power from the next unit further down the chain to keep working until the problem has been resolved This supply may not be sufficient under heavy load conditions and is not recommended for normal use 340 Chapter 11 SMARTPAX Rack Ada ptors Rack adaptors are available with capacities ranging from two to ten units with room for power supply and integrated power distribution The illustration below shows the 11 UNIT RACK ADPATOR product number 3505 MK
322. rop shadow a few pixels to the right and below the button This distinguishes the button from other passive items on the page Title Line Fill and Icon There are two sets of Title Line Fill and Icon items in the dialog one for when the button is Up and the other for when it is Down This allows you to make the button change colors or title when pressed The title field gives the button a name To display its name inside the button you must also select the Text checkbox If desired you can give the button a separate title for its down state for example making it alternate between On and Off If you don t put anything into the Down title field the button will display the Up title in both states HINT It s often a better idea to use colors or line width instead of different texts to indicate that a button is activated For example if you alternate be tween ON and OFF texts some users may think that the function will be turned ON by pressing the button labelled ON while this in reality may in dicate that the function is already on 166 Chapter 6 Panel Design The Text items allow you to specify the type and size of the font used for the text on the button as well as to turn the text display off using the check box The color of the text is specified individually for the up and down states as described above Selecting the Icon checkbox or clicking the
323. rs entitled Presentation Methods and Interactivity give you an overview of the kinds of presentations you can create as well as some tips and hints related to each kind of presentation The remaining chapters cover the hardware parts of the control system in detail Look here for information on SMARTPAX PAX and TRANSPAX control units and their interface cables as well as TOUCHLINK the interactive touch panel and the AIRLINK wireless remote control Chapter 1 Introduction 1 Computer Requirements You can run TRAX on any Apple Macintosh Power Macintosh PowerBook or compatible running Mac OS version 7 0 or later Mac OS version 7 5 3 or later is recommended and is required for some functions You must have at least one megabyte of free RAM memory after loading your System software and extensions Substantially more memory may be required to use graphics and sounds with TOUCHLINK You need at least 5 megabyte of free hard disk space in order to install TRAX and its accompanying files A free serial port such as the modem or printer port is needed to connect TRAX to the rest of the Dataton system For large systems TRAX can use two serial ports simultaneously to double the number of control units and devices that can be connected This feature can t be used with computer models that have a combined printer modem port or no external modem port e g some PowerBook models A color monitor is recommended
324. runtime version SCSI serial data Simple Text A balanced half duplex serial data communication standard used by some professional intelligent devices This is basically a half duplex variant of the RS 422 standard DMX 512 is a variant of RS 485 which improves upon the RS 485 standard by requiring each device to be isolated from the bus in order to avoid ground loops See also DMX 51 2 half duplex serial data ground loop Activating the full multi tasking abilities of TRAX causing it to evaluate all conditions in the task list and start eligible tasks This is done by clicking the play symbol in the lower left corner of the Task window or by pressing Command spacebar from within any non modal TRAX window See also eval uate condition task multitasking A limited version of TRAX which allows you to run a show but not make changes to it Small Computer Systems Interface A standardized way of connecting periph eral devices such as hard disks and scanners to a computer Used on most Mac OS computers A method of transferring data by sending it one bit at a time thereby reducing the number of wires needed for the communication This method is used by most data communications standards such as RS 232C and RS 485 An alter native method is to send multiple bits at the same time using individual wires That method is used for example by the SCSI standard and by the internal bus in a computer A simple text editor that s
325. ry depending on the kind of status property you linked the item to as well as the kind of the item In the example on the previous page there are no options to set since the only thing you could possibly do to the Play status of a CD is to activate it To stop the CD use another button linked to Stop However if you link a button to a numeric or time property e g the song number of a CD or the position of a laserdisc you have more options as that property can take on a range of values The illustration below shows the top part of the configuration dialog box for a button that has been linked to the song number of a CD player Decrease by Toggle Momentary The Action pop up menu lists all actions that can be applied to the status prop erty to which the button has been linked See Action on page 164 for more details IMPORTANT You must link the button to a status property before you can use the Action pop up menu in the dialog box Chapter 6 Panel Design 161 Status Indication The button both controls and is controlled by the status property to which it is lin ked Whenever the status changes the button is automatically updated to reflect its new status For example a button controlling the play function of a tape deck will automatically light up whenever that device begins to play even if the play command comes from elsewhere such as from a cue on a timeline Priority of Panel Items vs The item t
326. s On a color monitor each pixel can have its own color The number of grayscale levels or colors that can be displayed by each pixel depends on its depth which is sometimes expressed as the number of bits used to store the pixel in the computer s memory See also bit dithering A connector on a computer or control unit used to transfer data See also modem port printer port control unit The value field inside a cue which holds its most prominent value e g the dissolve rate in a Dissolve cue or the position to be located by a Locate cue The communications port on the back of a Mac OS computer marked with a printer symbol See also port modem port The ranking of a task This is specified in the Priority column in the Task window Determines which task will get precedence when two tasks try to use the same device See also task device An attribute of a device cue or other object which can be changed by the use such as its position color level or rate See also status property Appendix B Glossary 417 ROM FLASH memory re recording relational expression RS 232C RS 422 Random Access Memory The part of the computer s memory that holds tran sient data such as application programs and the objects they manipulate The RAM memory is usually cleared when the computer is switched off See also ROM non volatile Read Only Memory The permanent part of a computer s memory typically containing parts of th
327. s is particularly important if you use the Interactive system mode of TRAX 3 If you choose to convert an older TRAX show for use with TRAX 3 these are the steps you need to take Add a Tape device to replace the old Tape Control window if used Add a Control cue up front on the main timeline to establish the synchroni zation relationship to the tape recorder if applicable Add a Trigger Reset cue at the beginning of the main timeline to ensure that all devices start out at their home positions Add a Text device to replace the old Note window if used Activate the Interactive system mode in the Preferences dialog box to take full advantage of all the new features The following is a detailed description of each of those steps The separate Tape Control window in TRAX version 2 has been removed in TRAX version 3 Instead add a Tape device and configure it for your recorder as described in Chapter 15 406 Appendix A News in TRAX 3 Add a Control Cue to Synchronize the Timeline Add a Trigger cue to Reset the Devices Activate the Interactive System Mode There s no implied synchronization between the tape device and the timeline in TRAX 3 as was the case in version 2 You must establish this explicitly using a Control cue as described under Synchronizing to Timecode on page 223 This not only allows you to have different timelines synchronized to different devices It also allows you to switch sync sourc
328. s es Sitst 106 Time SCONE aicscaistasciiaiiass letedeanseieseseigatiawanteedes 107 Track Name ccccceccccesecesseesseesseeesseecsseenees 107 Preferences cccccccessesseeseeseesseessesseeeseeseens 108 Security Options cccceeeceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeens 113 Devices l rererere 115 General Device Characteristics 0 cc c0eee 115 Slide Projector caciicdedicesstacseceiedtelessicaeloneceaetce 123 Switch wacereaascaseasacscacsasascasstesscesneasaccravledtealed 129 E EE A E EEA 133 Audio Disc viieciissiaducssacsdesecasesssesasacsssasvevesavernve 141 e CORDI spi cassecnacdacs skeceiodeoleietoieieasnaaaale 143 Still SHOPS a ssscsactscsescsecsaaieasscsiaciaatussedsinntnaens 147 GIMP sexacecsescsaansnadssacas eecasecesanecadacevanatesevacests 148 Level ooo ceccceeceseecesccesseessecssseeseesnseessseaes 149 Paneli aaeeei eee e e aden 150 TON AEE EEE E EEEE EA EENT 151 n N E E E EEE 152 Serial een ee NT eR NTR Te RTE Se naan EEE 154 e EES ENE EE AET 155 6 Panel Design 0 00 eee 156 8 Presentations 000 cece 219 Panel Status Window ccccccccesssceesseesseeesees 156 Canned Presentations 0 ccc cccsseesseeseeeeees 220 BUHO ione iadaaa a a 163 Speaker SUppoMt cs 05sssedsscse Meenas 226 lI CONONS acriterlicouenn enw Aeaclaecrcecundetnerneed 168 Live EVES 25 ceeecseats force tentaenatraateta coeeeue Co 232 SHOE Giana ae elie echoes 170 Interactive Presentations c0
329. s in your system are represented by icons in the Device window The icons can be arranged in the Device window to match the physical arrangement in the room or in a rack The device icons serve three main purposes e They allow you to link a cue to the devices to be controlled by clicking the devices with the mouse see Device Assignment on page 183 e They provide basic device status information allowing you to see for ex ample if a laserdisc is playing or if a relay is closed e By double clicking a device icon you access its dialog boxes in which you can configure the device as well as control it interactively and see all its sta tus information To add a device to the Device window first select the Device window by clicking its title bar or choosing Device on the Window menu Then select the desired device type from the Device menu NOTE You can not always select the Device window by clicking inside it as this action sometimes implies assigning devices to cues panel items or tasks This is indicated by the device assignment or linkage cursor Instead you must click the Device window s title bar or one of its inactive scroll bars When a device is created TRAX will assign it a unique name and address These can be changed as described under Editing Device Specifications on page 27 Chapter 3 TRAX Windows 23 Creating Multiple Devices When creating multiple devices of the same kind start by creatin
330. s typi cally consist of mutually exclusive states Use a separate piece of paper for each mode If you when looking at one of these pieces of paper find that two or more of the commands could very well be in effect at the same time you will have to think again There are three typical kinds of modes e Modes with multiple states such as the various video inputs on a video pro jector e Modes with only two states typically On and Off The Stand By mode of the video projector would be a typical candidate e Modes with only one state that is augmented by a numeric value This could for example be the Brightness mode of a video projector Combinations of the first and the third kinds are also possible Indeed in some cases it is mostly a matter of taste if you decide to think of a mode as a number of independent states or one state with a numeric value Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers 269 Commands with Numeric Consider for example a video projector which has an external video switcher Values This is a common way to extend the capacity of high end video projectors The control protocol then typically includes commands to switch between the various internal video modules and then an extended set of commands to switch to any of the inputs on the external switcher box Assuming that the external switcher has six inputs the Source Mode of the projector could be considered as having nine states as shown in Table 1
331. s you dismiss the dialog box the device will return to the position it had before the dialog box was opened The shuttle slider below the In time field is used to wind the device s medium in the direction you drag the slider The speed at which the device will wind depends on how far you drag the slider assuming that the device supports variable speed winding The arrow buttons at each end of the slider single step the device one frame at a time In order to use the shuttle slider and frame step buttons the device must be connected to a properly configured SMARTPAX The time position displayed in the time field while using these controls is retrieved from the device being controlled NOTE If multiple devices are assigned to the Locate cue only the first de vice will be operated interactively from the dialog box When running the cue however all assigned devices will locate the specified position In order to adjust an existing time position using the shuttle slider first click the double arrow Locate button next to the In time field then wait for the device to locate before you start using the shuttle slider If you click the shuttle slider before you click the Locate button the field will be set to the current position of the device This can be used to pick up the current position in order to use it as an in point for a contiguous play to frame command see next section Selecting the Out option allows you to specify an out t
332. set to Sequence A similar effect can be obtained using the Flash cue although the Soft Snap cue gives you greater control over the sequencing of the flash effect over multiple projectors You can t use Flashing and Soft Snap at the same time on the same projector Use a Snap cue set to Soft Snap to control this function see Snap on page 204 Flashing means that a Flash Start cue has been applied When you ve used a Flash Start cue on a projector you must use a subsequent Flash Stop cue to turn off the flashing or the projector will still be flashing the next time you turn its lamp on Chapter 5 Devices 127 Status Pop up Menu Light Slide Hard Snap Soft Snap Fading Stopped This indicates that a Fade Stop cue has been applied to the device In this case the Light field indicates the target level that would have been reached if the Fade Stop cue had not been used Use a Set Fade cue set to Stop to program this function See Fading Stop Resume on page 191 for more details The following status properties are available for use in task triggering condi tions and direct linkage to panel items see Device Status Linkage Menus on page 120 Light The current light level in percent Slide The current slide number Hard Snap 1 if the mechanical shutter is closed else O Soft Snap 1 if the soft shutter is closed else O Fading Stopped 1 if fading stopped by a Level Stop cue
333. shaking of the device If you are lucky there are also some complete examples of a full command sequence that will make the device do something useful The initial description is usually followed by a list of commands sometimes with detailed descriptions of each command Usually this list only includes the central parts of each command where the standard parts which are identical for all commands are simply inferred from the general description of the protocol Protocol Format The description in the technical manual for the IN1224 our case study switcher scan doubler is a typical example All commands sent to the unit must contain a leading code the command code and an ending code Each command must be completely executed before the unit will accept a new command When a command is completed the unit provides a response code OK indi cates the command was received and executed A complete command consists of The leading code CH4 The command code In this case CH4 would select Input 4 the RGB input The ending code Sample command code CH1 Selects Input 1 298 Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers This clear and concise description of the protocol format translated into TRAX terms means e The protocol is entirely ASCII based you won t need to deal with any HEX or binary numbers e Each command must be enclosed within square brackets Block mode handshaking is implemented The device
334. sors its configuration dialog box see Function Output Input Both on page 130 Select Both if you want to provide user feedback for the button Vv IMPORTANT While the user feedback is activated i e the output func tion of the switch device is on it is not possible to detect any input signals The switch s input status property will indicate that it is on true for as long as the feedback is activated You must turn off the feedback in order to de tect new user input If the button starts a timeline then turn on the feedback at the beginning of the timeline and turn it off at the end In this way the indicator will not only show that the sequence is started but also when it is finished If the button is part of a group of buttons that represent a multiple choice such as choosing a language then the feedback in one button should be turned off when another button in the group is pressed In this case pressing the button while its function is already activated shouldn t have any effect so it s OK for the button s indicator to remain on indefinitely Various kinds of sensors can be wired through a DIGITAL SMARTLINK in the same way as described in the previous section This includes for example most infrared motion sensors of the kind often used for burglar alarms as well as limit switches magnetic door sensors etc When using electronic sensors you must determine if the output from the sensor is galva
335. sound control appli cations Combine the Multiple Faders mode with the Live Edit check box for fully interactive editing of lighting sound motor positions etc Set Fade Fading Start Stop Resume Faders Single Multiple Rate 2 5 s Lever 27 Backi Live Edit Multiple Faders selected Back 1 Back 2 Cent 1 Cent2 Cent3 Cent4 Cent 5 Cent6 Left 1 Left2 192 Chapter 7 Cues Live Edit This value determines the new level for the device at the end of the fading If the rate field is set to O the level will immediately be set to the Level value For increased precision the level value can be specified with an accuracy of 0 01 percent this is not supported by all devices As an alternative to entering a numeric value in this field you can also use the level slider located below the Level value field When the Multiple Faders option is selected the Level field shows the value of the currently selected fader The name of the currently selected fader corresponds to the name of its assigned device and is also displayed next to the Level value field Some devices e g video devices can t handle intermediate values in which case any level except 0 will be considered as on When selected the assigned device s will immediately take on the specified level value s This allows you to set for example light levels pan and tilt posi tions volume levels
336. ss feature can be used to home the slide projectors by pressing O and NEXT When returned to the zero position the lamps will go off as well In order to make dissolves AIRLINK uses all available slide projectors sequen tially Thus if you have two slide projectors the first slide will be in tray posi tion one in the first projector the second slide is in position one in the second projector the third is in position two in the first projector and so on This must be taken into account when loading the trays and when entering the slide number using the numeric keys Thus the number entered corresponds to the slide s sequential position in the show not the number of its slot in the tray unless you use only a single projector of course It also means that it isn t easy to add another projector to the show when you run out of tray slots If you must add a projector then you must also shuffle all slides around to match the new sequencing order 350 Chapter 13 AIRLINK Receiver Connecting to the Computer for Speaker Support The AIRLINK RECEIVER product number 3449 can be connected to SMARTPAX PAX or the ADB port on the TRAX computer Its application varies according to how it is connected as described below The receiver is very sensitive providing maximum operational range and reli ability Avoid placing it close to incandescent lamps or in direct sunlight The standard two meter cable on the AIRLINK RECEIV
337. st a computer screen For instance a visitor or several could enter a room to trigger an action a musician could strike a chord on his synthesizer or a performing artist could move over a sensor in the floor Individual inputs can be located throughout the environment This can be anything ranging from simple push buttons through temperature sensors all the way up to the ubiquitous touch panel including sound and graphics Another major advantage of TRAX is its ability to trigger any number of inde pendent actions and have them perform at the same time In most traditional interactive software authoring systems you move along a single timeline or through a menu tree Having totally independent actions happening simulta neously is usually not possible in such systems However when creating an interactive environment such limitations are not acceptable You may for example want to control lighting in one part of the room triggered by a motion sensor At the same time another person could press a button in the opposite corner of the room to see a small slide show while a third person wants to run a video clip Such concurrent actions can easily be handled by TRAX through the Task list and using independent time lines Chapter 9 Interactivity 241 Programming the Inputs Input Switches and User Feedback In order to create an interactive system you need to provide inputs to TRAX such as a touch screen an AIRLINK wireless
338. stead of just once when it becomes true or false The action will run until its end is reached before being re started For single cue tasks this is usually in the range of a tenth of a second For timelines the duration can be specified using the Timeline Settings command on the Window menu see Timeline Start End on page 104 Chapter 3 TRAX Windows 57 Using Constants in Conditions You can use constant numeric and time values in conditions such as in the time of day example in the illustration on page 53 Use the keyboard to enter a numeric value into the text field at the top of the Task window First click in the Condition field of the desired task then type the desired value into the text field When entering time values you must use the standard time format see Stan dard on page 137 To convert from other time formats you can use the time format pop up menu in for example a Locate cue s dialog box Vv CAUTION When entering time values remember that TRAX interprets a time entered as 7 30 as 7 minutes and 30 seconds not as 7 30 am To enter the time 7 30 am type 7 30 00 Making a Task Start Auto As TRAX considers any condition that evaluates to a non zero result to be true matically you can make a task start automatically by putting a non zero constant value for example 1 into its condition field and setting its 1 0 pop up menu to Becomes True Any task configured in this way will be
339. switches in the group is activated at a time See Output Mutually Exclusive in Group on page 130 for more details Use the Ungroup command to break a group making the objects individually accessible again HINT You don t have to ungroup an object in order to edit its contents Simply double click it using the mouse Once you finish editing the object the other group members will automatically be re selected again Chapter 4 Menus and Commands 91 Lock Unlock These two commands are similar to the Group Ungroup commands in that they allow you to protect selected objects However the Lock command is even stronger in that it won t let you make any changes at all to the locked object unless you really insist as described below A checkmark is displayed next to the Lock or Unlock menu commands if all selected objects are locked or unlocked Whenever you try to do anything that will affect a locked object a warning is displayed Some of the selected objects are locked Do you want to proceed anyway You can then cancel the change before it is applied or proceed if you want This soft lock allows you to make any necessary changes without first unlocking the cue Thus you can lock a section of cues as soon as you re finished with them while still being able to go back and make minor changes later on if necessary 92 Chapter 4 Menus and Commands Disable Enable Device The icon for a A disable
340. t start on Sensor provided it s before 5 00 PM Sensorl Input On amp Clock Time lt 17 00 00 See Conditions Based On Multiple Status Properties on page 54 for more details Chapter 9 Interactivity 245 Touch Panels Buttons and Sliders A TOUCHLINK touch panel provides the ultimate flexibility in terms of user interface You can use buttons like you use hard wired input switches You can also use sliders to control analog values such as light or sound levels Feed back can be provided to the user b y highlighting buttons and indicators as their functions are activated or using bar graphs showing analog values You can also use sounds numeric readouts text and graphics Furthermore TOUCHLINK also contains a motion sensor which you can program to perform any system function when activated The red buttons on the right hand side of TOUCHLINK can be programmed in the same way The following sections provide some examples of how to use TOUCHLINK Please refer to Chapter 6 for more details A button on a TOUCHLINK can be used in the same way as a hard wired button Follow these steps to create such a button e Add a Switch device to the Device window e Open its configuration dialog box and select Virtual Draw the button on the panel Link the button to the Output On status property of the virtual switch e Open the button s dialog box and select the desired action usually Mo mentary o
341. t 3 to take a snapshot of the screen The snapshot ends up as a picture file on your hard disk which can then be opened and printed from your word processor paint program etc HINT To print the picture select the picture file in the Finder and choose Print on the File menu This will print the picture using Simple Text To change the specifications of a device first select the device using the mouse then choose Specifications on the Edit menu Vv IMPORTANT The name and address of each device must be unique You must manually change names and addresses of imported devices to avoid conflicts If there are any conflicts you will be notified when you try to leave the Device window You must correct these before you can proceed Refer to Chapter 5 for information on each device s dialog box Chapter 3 TRAX Windows 27 Device Gangs Gang Letters Device Status Windows P12 C Disabled stide 4 JA Light 100 o Hard Snap f C Soft Snap The status window C Flashing for a slide go Fading Stopped projector device The letters along the bottom of the device window represent the eight device gangs The gang letters are only displayed when Max Number of Gangs is set to a non zero value in the Preferences dialog box See the description of the Gang cue on page 210 for details on how to use this feature ml E Device Beta LDP cD esi chi A Ch YVol B YVol L Yol CD al
342. t be able to locate at all See the device information for the selected type of device for details This field controls the level of sound Use a Set Fade cue to program this func tion see page 190 NOTE Many audio disc devices don t support this function 142 Chapter 5 Devices Video Disc pio C Disabled Transport sence KK 00A Speed Audio 2 Internal cx Video disc status window This device handles video disc players such as laserdisc CRV and hard disk video systems Click the Type pop up menu in the device s configuration dialog box for a complete list of supported models Chapter 11 discusses how to connect devices to SMARTPAX using the appropriate smartlink cable Video Disc ne Type uaspecitied v G Position by Chapter Number Time or Frame Number Status Cancel Please refer to the description of the Tape device beginning on page 133 for general information on the configuration dialog box and status properties See below for details specific to video disc devices This button in the status window allows you to play the video backwards Use a Trigger cue to program this function see Transport on page 207 Whether this is actually possible depends on the selected model of player as well as the format of the disc used see Laserdisc Formats on page 146 The Speed pop up menu controls the video playback speed in Play or Play Reverse mode
343. t can be handled is 99 59 59 99 through 99 59 59 99 that is 99 hours 59 minutes 59 seconds and 99 hundredths See the description of each symbol below for more details Chapter 4 Menus and Commands 99 Relational Symbols The relational symbols are offen useful in starting conditions for tasks see Specifying the Starting Condition for a Task on page 53 For example you could use the gt symbol is greater than or equal to to start a task at 8 00 AM Clock Time 8 00 00 This assumes that there is a Time device named Clock in the Device window and that the starting condition variant Becomes True is selected for the task Expressions using relational symbols always produce a true or false result where true is represented by 1 and false by 0 For example the expression shown above would produce the numeric result 0 i e false before 8 00 AM and the result 1 true after 8 00 AM When used in starting conditions for task any non zero result is considered true and zero is considered false In general you should use relational symbols to compare values of the same type i e compare a time with another time If you mix time and numeric values the numeric value will be interpreted as seconds For instance the expression Clock Time 2 800 becomes true 13 minutes and 20 seconds past midnight as 800 seconds equals 13 minutes and 20 seconds 100 Ch
344. t works identically with list view turned off The Replace With field allows you to replace the text found with any other text Vv WARNING Use the Replace option with care The safest way to use it is in conjunction with Search Selection to ensure that no unwanted side effects occur As this command simply replaces one text string with another its uses are unlimited You can for example replace all Tray Step Delays for a range of dissolve cues with another delay time replace all references to one laserdisc player with another one You can even work on partial items For example assume you name your slide projectors with a letter followed by a number where the letter specifies the screen area You can then transpose a set of cues referring to screen A to screen C simply by replacing A with C in the Device Assignment field Chapter 4 Menus and Commands 87 Using QuickFind D0 Normally when you choose the Find Replace command the dialog box comes up empty However sometimes it may be desirable to re use the specifications of the last Find Replace command without having to re enter all the details Do this by holding down the Shift key while choosing the Find Replace command or press Command Shift F A special QuickFind feature similar to the Find command described on the previous pages allows you to search for Control cues in the current timeline window using a single keystroke If you have a keyboard with fun
345. tasks See Task Window on page 51 for more details Lengthy tasks are represented by timelines such as the Introduction timeline shown in the lower left corner The timeline in its turn is made up of cues which represent the individual actions to take place along the timeline These cues can be put onto separate tracks to simplify editing See Chapter 7 for the full story on cues and Timeline Window on page 29 for more information about the timeline window The Device Support window appears behind the other windows in the screen picture Choose Device Support on the Window menu to show this window It contains a full list of all the models of devices supported by TRAX It also provides access to the built in device information database which contains further information about each particular device To view this information select a device in the list and click the Info button See Device Support on page 63 for more details Chapter 2 System Overview 15 System Modes Backward Compatible Mode In order to maintain compatibility with older Dataton control units such as PAX and TRANSPAX TRAX can be used in Backward Compatible mode This is the default mode when starting TRAX In order to take full advantage of all the new interactive capabilities of TRAX you must activate the Interactive mode in the Preferences dialog box While in backward compatible mode you can Mix TRANSPA
346. tasks or panel items between shows the names of the devices which they refer to must be identical in both shows This is because TRAX uses the device names to correlate the device assignments If the names are not identical you can still paste the objects but you will then have to re establish the device assignments manually Vv CAUTION Be particularly careful when copying Fade cues with multiple faders between shows If any devices referenced by the cues are not avail able in the new show not only will you lose the device assignments for those devices but also their corresponding fader levels As an alternative to copying directly between shows you can also use the Scrapbook under the Apple menu to hold the objects until needed This allows you to build a library of useful device arrangements cues or panel items for easy retrieval When pasting objects into the Scrapbook only their text repre sentation will be shown not their icons or other properties HINT For sets of cues begin the set with a Note cue that says what the set does You will then be able to see this note in the Scrapbook 80 Chapter 4 Menus and Commands Duplicate The Clear command removes the selected objects without placing the selection on the Clipboard Use this command only when you have something more important on the Clipboard that you don t want to overwrite as the Clipboard can only hold one set of objects at a time Normally you should use the
347. te according to your selection on the Type pop up menu The input state of a switch is made available for use in task triggering condi tions through the pop up menu displayed when linking a task triggering condi tions to the switch See Linking Conditions to Device Status on page 54 for more details Output Mutually Exclusive in This option allows you to specify that only one switch in a group of switches Group may be activated at a time This is useful for example when controlling curtains or screens where you must not activate both the open and close switch simultaneously To use this feature open the configuration dialog box for each Switch device in the group and select Output Mutually Exclusive in Group Then select all the switches to be grouped in the Device window and choose Group on the Object menu see Group Ungroup on page 91 Now whenever one of the switches in the group is activated any other previously activated switch will be released automatically 130 Chapter 5 Devices Status Window C Disabled e o O Output On Last On in Group No Input Status Off z Not activated Last activated in group Activated Pulsed Status indicated by the device s icon in the Device window The status window allows you to monitor the device s status and to manually control the device if applicable Certain items in the status window may be inactive depending on the s
348. tend a selection Switch back to icon view to select cues on specific tracks or other more complex combinations You can freely switch back and forth between the two views without disturbing the selec tion state of the cues Using the Find command on the Edit menu allows you to select cues based on any text string that appears in the Cue or Device fields You can for example copy a part of a cue s text see Editing in List View on page 49 and paste that into the Find dialog box to select all cues that contain that text in the cue column See Find Replace on page 85 for more details Introduction Locate Fr et Spot Rate 1 Le 48 Chapter 3 TRAX Windows Editing in List View Drag across a value to edit it You can edit cues in List View either using the cue s dialog box just as in icon view or by highlighting the text in the Cue column This is particularly useful to change values such as lamp levels dissolve rates or frame positions To edit a value in a cue in list view drag horizontally across the value This selects the value and allows you to type over it without going through the dialog box Press Enter or Return when you ve finished editing or press Escape to cancel the editing In this way it is possible to change or enter any information in any cue using the syntax displayed in List View When entering keywords i e words that are names of specific fields or named valu
349. ter 12 for full details The new Text device has three purposes e To substitute for the old Note window You can now have as many note win dows as you want To put text into display items on panels e To talk to LED signs printers data monitors and other similar devices Ini tially there are no device drivers available for such devices The Note cue must now be assigned to a Text device in order to have any effect in TRAX version 2 the Note cue was implicitly assigned to the Note window Checkboxes in the Text device s configuration dialog box allow you to specify larger font or white on black text as previously specified using items on the Window menu Vv IMPORTANT When importing TRAX 2 shows into TRAX 3 you must manually add a Text device and assign all Note cues in the show to it or the notes will not be displayed See Using Shows Made on TRAX 2 on page 405 See Text on page 151 for all details about this new device type Appendix A News in TRAX 3 403 Time Device Locate and Trigger Cues The new Time device has the following purposes e To allow tasks to be triggered depending on the time of day day of week month etc e To act as a general purpose timer It can be set using a Locate cue and started and stopped using a Trigger Play cue just like a Tape or Disc device e To provide a generic timecode input to TRAX from the outside world allow ing a timeline to be synchronized to
350. the driver with the highest version number The version number of any driver custom made or standard can be seen by selecting the driver in the Device Support window and clicking the Info button The version number and the name of the file containing the driver is displayed at the bottom of the scrolling text field 284 Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers Data Rate 150 300 600 2400 4800 9600 19200 38400 MIDI When a driver is created Date is set to the current date according to the clock built into your computer You may want to change this field if you revise the driver The Data Rate pop up menu allows you to specify the data rate or baud rate for communicating with the device This must be set according to the device s specifications before the device will recognize any commands Some devices have switches or jumpers allowing you to set the data rate Generally speaking you should set the highest data rate possible on the device and then configure the driver accordingly In some cases however there s a factory default setting If this is specified then use this rate rather than the highest possible as it will allow you to use a brand new unit if the old one should go down without the need for re configuring it Furthermore some devices may work less reliably at high data rates Some manufacturers put switches for selecting communication parameters inside their products If you
351. tion in the main Prefer ences dialog box you must enter the password in order to stop the show or access any other window on the screen This only applies after opening the show file not after starting it manually You would typically use this last option to create a turn key installation by putting the show file or an alias to it into the Startup Items folder located in your System folder The message you enter here will be saved with the show and displayed while opening that show If you select the Ask for Password to Stop the Show After an Automatic Start option see above your message will remain on the screen until the correct password is entered 114 Chapter 4 Menus and Commands mee 5 p General Device Characteristics Device configuration dialog box Device name Brand and model of device Port assignment Opens the device s status window DEVICES This chapter provides detailed descriptions of the various kinds of devices and their dialog boxes Please refer to Adding Devices on page 23 for a description of how to create and manipulate the device icons in the Device window General characteristics are similar for all devices and include the name type and port assignment These attributes are specified in the device configuration dialog box opened by selecting the device icon and choosing Specifications on the Edit menu Each device must have a unique name and port assignment
352. tion technology to provide unmatched operational range while using very little power The built in high energy lithium cells will last for ten years under normal conditions 346 Chapter 13 AIRLINK To control a TRAX timeline using an AIRLINK TRANSMITTER first connect the receiver to the computer as described under Connecting to the Computer for Speaker Support on page 351 Then press the large key on the transmitter to run the timeline to the next cue on the current track This utilizes the current track as a stop track as described under Timing of Events on page 226 vV IMPORTANT The timeline window must be the active window in order to be controlled by AIRLINK The four buttons at the top the large key plus the three below mimic the arrow keys on the computer s keyboard Thus you can use the up arrow or the left arrow key to rewind the timeline to the previous cue on the stop track Use the right hand arrow key to skip ahead to the next cue The down arrow key runs in real time to the next cue Use the Current Track Locked check box in the Timeline Specifications dialog box page 105 to prevent the current track selection from being changed accidentally while you are using it as a stop track The remaining nine buttons on the transmitter mimic function keys F5 through F13 on the computer s keyboard They can be used to jump directly to any position on the timeline using the QuickFind feature by simply ent
353. tions such as theaters musicals and other events TRAX can cooperate with your crew automating many functions and increasing the precision and repeatability of the presentation Interactive presentations such as in a museum or a visitor center Here the audience plays a more active role and can choose what should happen or interact in various ways using touch panels buttons and other sensors General media integration and control Whenever you need to provide an easy to use and well integrated front end to a heterogeneous set of audio visual devices lighting etc This could be for example in a fixed installa tion such as a corporate boardroom or in a conference rental situation While this chapter discusses these kinds of presentations separately you can of course mix and match these techniques as you see fit in order to create your own unique applications Chapter 8 Presentations 219 Canned Presentations Audio Synchronization A canned presentation runs the same way every time just as a videotape or an audio cassette Basically all you can do is start it and stop it This is the simplest form of presentation you can create using TRAX Although useful on its own such a pre programmed presentation is also commonly used as part of larger more interactive presentations A canned presentation is often programmed using a single timeline corre sponding to the extent of the presentation You can either run such
354. tlinks are available ranging from simple RS232 cables to sophisticated active smartlinks with their own built in intelligence Refer to the Dataton product catalog or contact your Dataton dealer for the latest news on available smartlinks Extensions You can extend a smartlink by up to 10 meters using EXTENSION CABLE available in 1 2 and 5 meter lengths RS232 SMARTLINK 3480 ANALOG SMARTLINK 3492 326 Chapter 11 SMARTPAX SERIAL SMARTLINKS MIDI SMARTLINK Various RS232 and RS422 smartlinks are available for connecting SMARTPAX to devices using these communication standards In most cases you will be able to tell which smartlink to use by looking up the device in the database built into TRAX see page 65 If you re making your own device drivers using the Serial device driver editor built into TRAX then see the description of the various RS232 and RS422 smartlinks under Hardware Interface on page 272 for wiring information You can also make your own interface cable using a Dataton AUXILIARY CABLE product number 3450 This cable has a snap locking SMARTPAX connector at one end and a pigtail in the other for soldering your own connector see page 339 MIDI SMARTLINK product number 3470 is used to interface SMARTPAX to devices equipped with a MIDI standard port common on most professional synthesizers and many other audio devices The MIDI standard is also used on some lighting consoles and relat
355. to the left of an item in the list means that it is chosen for down loading into a SMARTPAX control unit Items displayed in italics in the list are associated with the PAX control unit or other devices not directly controlled through SMARTPAX and can not be chosen for downloading Vv IMPORTANT Don t confuse merely selecting a device driver with choos ing it for downloading To select a device driver simply click it with the mouse Device drivers chosen for downloading into SMARTPAX are tagged with a checkmark to the left of its icon in the list Drivers can be chosen automatically or manually as described on the following pages 64 Chapter 3 TRAX Windows Getting Information on Devices Device information database built into TRAX Hardware configuration of the device such as DIP switches special wiring etc HINT The same information can also be obtained by clicking the information button in each de vice s configuration dialog box To obtain information about a device first select it in the list then click the Help Info button at the bottom of the window The information displayed tells you among other things what cable you need to connect the SMARTPAX to the device to be controlled how to set various mode switches on the device if applicable etc YideoDisc Pioneer LD 6100 PAL Built in audio and video routing capabilities Audio channels can be switched on and off independently Capabil
356. tra In these cases the timing and sequence of events may vary from one presentation to the next and offen can t be fully determined in advance Depending on the circumstances you may want to slow down the TRAX part of the presentation or speed it up It is also possible to have optional show parts which can be skipped entirely or presented in any order There are two ways to regulate the pace of the TRAX controlled aspects of the show you can force TRAX to skip ahead on the timeline or you can have TRAX stop at predetermined points and wait for a speaker or operator before proceeding To make TRAX stop and wait use one of the tracks in the timeline as a stop track Lock the current track selection so it can t be changed by mistake Put each cue at which TRAX should stop on this track During your presentation use the down arrow key on the computer s keyboard to run to the next cue on the stop track make sure the timeline window is the active window Timeline Track 1 226 Chapter 8 Presentations Skipping Ahead Jump to the end of the video roll by hitting function key F5 or the corre sponding key on an AIRLINK remote control The top outsize button on the Dataton AIRLINK wireless remote control can be used in the same way as the down arrow on the Macintosh keyboard see Remote Control on page 231 The up arrow key allows you to skip back ward one stop at a time The right arrow key lets you skip forwar
357. tracks produced by most other professional multi image systems using any of the following formats Procall 5 and Procall X AVL e Mate Trac Arion and Kodak PDC e Alphasync Electrosonic To play a show recorded in any of these formats set the CODE selector accordingly and play the control signal into the TRANSPAX TRANSPAX decodes and translates the signal into an intermediate format which is then further interpreted by the PAX dissolve unit When receiving this signal PAX will emulate all aspects of the original show including dissolve curve charac teristics flashes loops and other features specific to each system Y IMPORTANT This feature works only in conjunction with the PAX dissolve unit Specifically it does not work with SMARTPAX even if used with slide projectors only 378 Chapter 15 TRANSPAX Front Panel IN Connector OUT Connector When using the system in its backward compatible mode page 16 connect the computer to the IN connector using the gray TRAX cable If you re using both ports on the computer page 111 then connect TRANSPAX to the modem port When using the system in its interactive mode page 18 connect IN to a SMARTPAX port using a SYSTEM OUT SMARTLINK product number 3478 See Connecting TRANSPAX on page 369 for more details The cable connected to IN can be extended using a Dataton system cable 0 4 1 2 and 5 meter lengths or the SYSTEM CABLE KIT for custom lengt
358. trol signal being read being recorded You can record a control signal also called a cue track onto a free audio channel This control track can then be played back directly into the PLAY input of the first control unit in the chain You can record the control signal onto the tape containing your sound and the timecode track used for synchronization of the timeline This is assuming that the recorder is capable of recording one track the new control track while simultaneously playing back another track the timecode track If this is not possible you may instead record the control track onto another recorder copying the soundtracks from the master recorder See Control Signal Recording on page 376 for more details on how to record and play back a control track using TRANSPAX Chapter 8 Presentations 225 Speaker Support Timing of Events Track being used as a stop track Lock the stop track as described on page 105 to prevent it from being changed accidentally When the current track is locked its name is italicized A speaker support presentation is similar to a canned presentation in that it often uses only a single timeline However instead of running it from beginning to end at a stretch it is typically run in smaller segments sometimes as small as a single cue at a time under manual control The same applies to other kinds of presentations involving some live elements such as dancers or an orches
359. ts in the system e Synchronize timelines to most devices that can provide timing information such as laserdisc or betacam decks You can synchronize different timelines to the same device or different devices even at the same time e Use TOUCHLINK interactive touch panels as well as any number of AIR LINK receivers connected through SMARTPAX ports e Perform cues and other actions at up to 400 actions per second versus 50 actions per second in backward compatible mode In interactive mode you can not e Use PAX or TRANSPAX control units on the primary system bus However these units can be connected as a secondary bus through a SMARTPAX port see Chapter 14 PAX and Chapter 15 TRANSPAX e Record a control signal cue track onto tape V IMPORTANT Before activating the interactive mode for the first time you must update all your SMARTPAX units with new software See Device Sup port on page 63 for more details Choosing the Right System Choose the interactive system mode when you need to use active inputs such Mode as push buttons or TOUCHLINK Choose the backward compatible mode when working with systems consisting mainly of older control units such as TRANSPAX and PAX or if you need to record the show on tape 18 Chapter 2 System Overview In interactive mode TRANSPAX and PAX must be on a secondary bus connected through a SMART A PAX port Only SMARTPAX units are allowed on the primary syst
360. ttons or hard wired panels can also be linked to the system if desired through DIGITAL SMARTLINK An AIRLINK remote control can be added for wireless remote control of selected functions The TRAX programming consists of a mix of direct control and timeline based programming Most basic control functions can be accomplished simply by linking the buttons on a TOUCHLINK directly to the devices to be controlled see Linking Panel Items to Device Status Properties on page 160 Pre programmed presentations and sequences are handled by timelines see Timeline Window on page 29 If you re in the business of renting out AV equipment to hotels and other venues you can use TRAX a few SMARTPAX units and an AIRLINK or TOUCHLINK to provide a consistent user interface to your equipment This allows the client to control some or all of the equipment directly or provides your crew with a more easily managed front end for commonly used functions Such an AV rental rack could include a sound amplifier a CD player for walk in music an equalizer video deck wired and wireless microphones and possibly a basic lighting dimmer Using the ability to directly link TOUCHLINK buttons and sliders to the functions to be controlled as shown on page 160 you can put together the user inter face in a matter of minutes no coding required Add your client s logo to the first page and you have provided a tailor made solution 236 Chapter
361. u can refer to the date day of week month or year in the same way using the same Time device as mentioned in the previous section You can combine the time with say the weekday using an and symbol to trigger an action at a certain time only during specific days Clock Mode WeekDay Saturday amp Clock Time gt 9 00 00 00 Or to trigger an action at 5 00 PM every day except during July Clock Time gt 17 00 00 00 amp Clock Mode Month July 0 See Specifying the Starting Condition for a Task on page 53 for more details 258 Chapter 9 Interactivity Counter You can use a virtual Time device to create a timer That timer can act either as a countdown timer or as a stopwatch The current timer value can be displayed in a display item on a touch panel simply by linking the display item to the timer device You can also use timers for specific programming tasks Let s say you want a button to start an action only if it s depressed for more than five seconds If it s depressed less than five seconds it should start another action This can be handled by one timer and three tasks The timer acts as a stop watch which is started when the button is pressed When the button is released either of two timelines are started depending on whether the elapsed time is more or less than five seconds o Button The first thing both the timelines do is to set the timer back to zero using a
362. u have selected Both serial ports in the Prefer ences dialog box then connect the SMARTPAX to the modem port or else to the port selected in the Preferences dialog box Downloading Panel Designs In addition to downloading device drivers to SMARTPAX you can also down load graphics buttons sound and other elements to one or many TOUCHLINK touch panels Connect TOUCHLINK to the SMARTPAX port specified in its configuration dialog box Open the Preferences dialog box Command K and verify that the Inter active system mode is selected see System Mode on page 112 Select Download Everything on the pop up menu at the bottom of the De vice Support window Click the Download button 70 Chapter 3 TRAX Windows Creating and Editing SMARTPAX Drivers TRAX will then download first all relevant SMARTPAX device drivers and then the panel design If you have multiple TOUCHLINK units in the system it will download all of them NOTE The first time you download a new design to a TOUCHLINK it may take several minutes Subsequent downloads to the same unit with only mi nor changes to the design will be substantially faster If you know that you have already downloaded all the right device drivers to the SMARTPAX units you may instead choose Panels Only on the pop up menu at the bottom of the Device Support window This will download only your panel design changes leaving the SMARTPAX units as
363. u to obtain the corresponding readouts in TRAX 146 Chapter 5 Devices Still Store C Disabled Position we o Output On Status window Configuration dialog box Output Level Numeric Position This device provides control over most computer based presentation programs as well as dedicated still image presentation devices and lighting consoles Chapter 11 discusses how to connect devices to SMARTPAX using the appro priate smartlink cable Still Store Kind Real Device Virtual Device Type Unspecified v G First Position is Number 0 1 This setting determines the number of the first position Some devices consider the first position e g picture scene to be number 1 while others consider it as number 0 This setting is usually configured automatically when a specific device is selected on the Type pop up menu The following status properties are available for use in task triggering condi tions and direct linkage to panel items see Device Status Linkage Menus on page 120 100 if Output On is activated else O Output Level The current position of the device as a number Chapter 5 Devices 147 Lamp C Disabled Enlarge the pee i win wT D jz increase the precision ofthe slider go Stopped Status window Configuration dialog box Stopped Lamps are controlled using this device in either of two ways using analog voltage or serial data
364. ual device The process of assigning one or many devices to a cue by selecting the devices using the mouse while the cue is selected Only devices that have been assigned to a cue in this way will be affected by that cue See also device cue A symbol in the Device window in TRAX that represents a presentation device See also device A repository of information about each presentation device supported by TRAX To see the information about a device select the device in the Device Support window and click the Help Info button The relationship between a device and the task that currently controls it This can be seen in the title bar of the device s configuration dialog box A device owned by a task can t be controlled by other tasks of equal or lower priority or by panel items See also task device priority A function of a device that is specific for that particular make and model For example while all video disc players can play video not all can switch between the internal video and an external video source i e the video switching capability is a device specific mode The device specific modes supported by a device are displayed at the bottom of the status window for that device and can be programmed using a Trigger cue See also mode state The process of forming a link between a device status property and a panel item such as a button or a slider or a task condition This is done by clicking the device icon while the it
365. uch devices a separate timecode track is required This can be recorded using TRANSPAX as described on page 375 and can later be read back in order to synchronize a timeline to the tape The method used to synchronize a timeline to the timecode on the tape depends on the capabilities of your recorder It also depends on the control cable or absence of one between the TRANSPAX and the tape recorder Chapter 15 provides details on the various hardware configurations If your tape recorder is controlled using a LOCATOR ADAPTOR cable i e it can locate an arbitrary position on the tape using the autolocator feature of the TRANSPAX you proceed as described under Synchronizing to an Intelligent Device on page 222 If you can t use the autolocator feature you will have to position the device manually prior to starting it Once the tape is positioned appropriately start it either using a Trigger Play cue if you can control the tape recorder s basic transport functions or manu ally Use a Control cue to lock the timeline to the timecode coming from the device as described under Synchronize To on page 214 When using timecode from a tape deck that can t be controlled by TRAX you may sometimes want to synchronize an entire timeline rather than a portion of one to that timecode You can then operate the tape deck manually causing the timeline to follow as appropriate This is common practice in tradi tional slide
366. ues 50 priority 417 panel items 162 tasks 52 priority of task 52 Procall 378 386 projector 194 projector See Slide projector prompting 233 property 417 protocol of a device 298 Pulsar 336 Q quickfind 88 quit command 76 R rack adaptors 341 RAM memory required to run TRAX 2 rate of fading 191 recording 136 208 recording a cue track 225 redo command 77 relational expression 418 relational symbols 100 RELAY SMARTLINK 333 relays 129 206 328 remote control 231 244 338 346 repeat loops 229 432 Index replace command 85 re recording 418 resetting a device 209 reverse 187 rewind 207 ripple dissolve 127 RS232 cables 272 RS232 SMARTLINK 327 RS 232C standard 418 RS422 SMARTLINK 327 RS 422 standard 418 RS 485 standard 419 running a timeline 214 running the task list 60 running the tasks list 419 runtime version of TRAX 3 5 419 S save command 75 scrapbook 80 184 screen area for slide projector 124 security options 113 select all 83 select to end 83 send to back 84 sensors 243 sequencing slide projectors 124 195 sequential animation 203 serial data 419 serial device configuring 154 status of 154 serial driver 264 serial drivers acknowledge 304 310 anonymous mode 294 block mode handshaking 304 break 308 commands 269 commands in 292 298 communication parameters 274 creating new 280 creator 284 data bits 291 data rate 285 default state of mode 297 delay
367. ult that is zero is considered false anything else is considered true See also condition expression false true Longitudinal timecode Timecode data that can be recorded onto an audio track of a tape or disc See also timecode VITC EBU SMPTE The operating system used by Apple Macintosh computers and compatibles See also finder Musical Instrument Digital Interface A standard by which musical instruments and computers can communicate using serial data streams It s optically isolated and unbalanced See also serial data optically isolated unbalanced Appendix B Glossary 415 modal window mode mode less window modem port multi tasking mutually exclusive non modal window non volatile octal operator A window on the computer s monitor that must be dismissed before you can proceed usually by clicking an OK or Cancel button See also dialog box non modal window An attribute of a device such as its transport mode which can have a state or value When creating Serial drivers in TRAX the commands sent to the device are grouped into independent modes with mutually exclusive states See also device specific mode state See non modal window The communications port on the back of a Mac OS computer marked with a telephone handset See also port printer port A method by which a computer can perform several tasks seemingly at the same time Implemented in TRAX by the Task window A number of functi
368. un from behind the screen This can be easily handled by distributing the control units and operator panels as needed You can run up to 100 meter 300 feet of system cable between each control unit The control units are powered locally and the system bus has built in protection from ground loops and other kinds of noise resulting in a reliable system even under harsh conditions On the software side you can modularize the show by using individual time lines to handle the various parts of the show For example the lighting can be programmed separately from the video Or you can program each section of the show as a separate timeline These timelines can then be assembled into the final presentation and consolidated under a master timeline or started individ ually by operators In cases where you prefer to have an operator control a function perhaps for safety reasons or to allow for improvisation you can use Note cues to tell the operators what they re supposed to do and when to do it These notes can be displayed either on separate monitors connected to the main computer or on TOUCHLINK panels which can then be used for operator input as well TOUCHLINK can also be used to indicate system status and provide other kinds of feedback to the operators Chapter 8 Presentations 233 Interactive Presentations Your audience can interact with the presentation in many ways thereby making it more responsive or tailored to spec
369. ur over a specific amount of time After using this command you can manually fine tune or re record single cues for example in order to match the sound track Distribute Cues can also be used when you want cues timed to go on the beat of the music for an extended period of time First count the number of beats then enter that many cues Put the first and last cue on their respective beats then use Distribute Cues to spread the remaining ones evenly Chapter 4 Menus and Commands 89 Expand Compress Cues Expands or compresses a range of cues along a timeline either by a percentage or a specific time You must select at least two cues to use this command Enter a positive percentage or time value to expand cues or a negative value to compress them You can choose to change the cues positions on the timeline their internal effect rates or both The internal effect rate refers to any small time value such as a dissolve or wipe rate inside the cue s dialog box If you choose the Both radio button under What to Change note that effect rates will always be changed proportionally to the expansion compression factor regardless of whether this is specified as a time or a percentage Owing to the limited resolution of some effect rates round off errors may occur Furthermore if you compress a series of cues related to external timings not controlled by TRAX such as the cycle time of a slide projector the result may not exactly
370. urposes e t records timecode onto the tape and then reads it back into TRAX in order to synchronize a timeline with the soundtrack e tcan record a control signal onto a separate track allowing you to run the final show from tape without using the computer e It can control tape transport functions either in a basic way using a simple remote control cable or through a locator adaptor for fully automatic tape positioning autolocator e Together with the PAX projector control unit page 355 it can translate and play back shows prepared on most other non Dataton multi image systems TRANSPAX is connected differently depending on the chosen system mode see System Modes on page 16 In the backward compatible system mode TRANSPAX is connected on the primary system bus usually as the first unit on the bus see the illustration on page 17 In this case there can only be one TRANSPAX in a system In the interactive system mode TRANSPAX must be connected through a SMARTPAX port using a SYSTEM OUT SMARTLINK product number 3478 Furthermore any PAX control units must be connected on a separate sub bus following this TRANSPAX see the illustration on page 19 Chapter 15 TRANSPAX 369 Specifying Device Type and Connection Method The reason for this arrangement is that the primary system bus uses a more sophisticated communication protocol when the system is in its interactive mode Belonging to an older generat
371. us window in which case Option double clicking will open the configuration window instead TRAX version 3 has a new Symbol menu which is used as an aid when entering start conditions for tasks See Symbol Menu on page 96 The Window menu has been simplified The Big Notes and Black Notes items previously used to control the Note window s appearance are gone together with the Note window itself Corresponding selections for the new Appendix A News in TRAX 3 399 Devices Device Port Selection Text device s status window can be made in its configuration dialog box see page 151 As TRAX can now have as many timeline windows as you want the timeline window is no longer listed on the Window menu To open a timeline window double click the timeline s name in the Action column of the Task window The old SMARTPAX Drivers menu item is superseded by the Device Support item as it now also includes devices controlled through PAX and TRANSPAX as well as handling downloading of panel designs to TOUCHLINK Keyboard shortcuts are provided for most items on the Window menu The functionality of most of the devices remains the same with only minor alter ations and enhancements The name of the old ASCII device has been changed to Serial Likewise what used to be called ASCII drivers are now called Serial device drivers The CD device is now called Audio Disc and the former LaserDisc is now c
372. usting the settings in its dialog box See Line Frame and Oval on page 174 for more details When importing pictures from other programs using cut and paste you may use either monochrome i e black and white graphics or color pictures For monochrome pictures you can set the color of the black and white pixels in the dialog box displayed by double clicking the picture Furthermore the white pixels can be designated as transparent allowing the background color or other pictures to shine through see Picture Options on page 176 Chapter 9 Interactivity 249 A picture using dithering to approximate the desired colors using alternating pixels This may result in a grainier look The same picture without dith ering uses the closest possible colors sometimes resulting in poor color fidelity Color pictures can not be made transparent in TRAX If desired use a paint program to create a composite of the graphics and the desired background before pasting it into TRAX TOUCHLINK has a fixed color palette consisting of eight basic colors Thus when rendering color graphics TRAX will either use the closest color or a mix of colors that approximate the desired color Which method to use is specified by the picture itself and is determined by the program that created the picture For greater control of the resulting colors you may also choose to render the color picture in a separate graphics program
373. utput Use an oscilloscope to check the output level if required Chapter 15 TRANSPAX 381 TAPE OK Indicator The TAPE OK indicator is turned on when a proper signal is received through the PLAY connector It also indicates the quality of the signal If the indicator flickers frequently it means that a poor quality or low level signal is received NOTE The TAPE OK indicator on the TRANSPAX is different from those on PAX and SMARTPAX in that it only indicates that a proper signal is being received through the PLAY input It doesn t monitor the IN connector as it does on those other units If the TAPE OK indicator fails to come on even though you know you re playing a signal into the PLAY input the signal on the tape may be of a different type than the current setting of the CODE selector Try changing the setting of the CODE selector slowly one position at a time until the TAPE OK indicator comes on See CODE Selector on page 384 for a list of the various settings The MODE selector determines the operation mode of the TRANSPAX when using its auto present functions This makes it possible to have the TRANSPAX automatically stop or rewind the tape when the end of the control signal is reached as well as optionally re starting the show In order to use these features first quit TRAX and disconnect the computer The AEW WATT PLAY tape player must be connected to the TAPE CONTROL output of the TRANSPAX using a suitable rem
374. various kinds of presentations Some of the effects of the Control cue are displayed at the bottom of the Time line Settings dialog box See Timeline Settings on page 103 for more details Use the Timeline pop up menu to specify the target of the control cue This can either be the current timeline i e the timeline the control cue sits on or another timeline To target another timeline choose Named on the Timeline pop up menu and enter the name of the timeline in the field to the right Control Timeline CO Jump To O Run Pause Stop the Timeline O Syncronize To Offset O Perform this cue only if some of the devices assigned to it are in use by another timeline 212 Chapter 7 Cues Creating Loops Select the Jump To checkbox to make the target timeline jump to a specific position If not it will simply remain at the current position After selecting this checkbox you can specify the destination of the jump either by specifying the exact time position or the name of a Control cue somewhere along the target timeline If you choose to jump to a Control cue you can also specify whether to search in the forward or reverse direction relative the current position of the target timeline This is particularly useful when the target timeline is the current timeline i e the timeline the control cue is on and you may have several control cues with the same name NOTE When using
375. vice Cue and Symbol menus are used to add new objects of those kinds to the active window The appropriate window must be selected for these menus to become active i e the Device menu is only active when the Device window is selected e The Window menu provides commands to show and control the appear ance of the different windows as well as access to miscellaneous dialog boxes such as Preferences 72 Chapter 4 Menus and Commands File Menu New Show Keep devices currently in the Device window Keep any customized cues on the Cue menu Close Window Close Box rt TRAX can only have one show open at a time so when choosing the New Show or Open Show commands you will be prompted to save any changes in the current show first This command lets you start programming a new show When creating a new show you have the option of retaining the current set of devices and customized cues on the Cue menu New Show C Keep Devices LJ Keep Cues on Menu This command closes the active window Clicking the close box located in the upper left corner of the window or pressing Command W has the same effect This doesn t remove the information displayed in the window from the computer s memory it merely closes the window See Opening and Closing Windows on page 20 for more details Chapter 4 Menus and Commands 73 Open Show Chose a show file or a folder to open in the list Use the pop up menu above
376. will acknowledge each command by sending the ASCII characters OK back to the SMART PAX Although there is a form of handshaking this particular kind block mode handshaking is not specified in the Driver Settings dialog box as you may recall from the discussion of the Acknowledge handshaking mode on page 275 Instead this kind of command acknowledgment is requested by adding a special character to the command strings see page 304 Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers 299 Command Strings The IN1224 Technical Reference Manual lists the following command strings Select Input 1 power on default setting Select Input 2 Select Input 3 Select Input 4 RGB Passive Input Set volume level to xxx value Disable Audio Mute Enable Audio Mute Disable Gamma Correction function default Select Gamma Correction curve x 1 7 NOTE This is not the full list but only the commands relevant for this case study 300 Chapter 10 Creating Serial Device Drivers Mode State Source Video 1 Video 2 Video 3 RGB Bypass Mute Off On Volume Value lt nnn gt Gamma Curve lt n gt This list tells us the following important details Most command strings are short with no parameter values or other u n extras Some of the command strings do take a numeric value The Volume com mand takes a three digit value Also the Gamma command takes a value in the range one through seven or ze
377. wind time plus eight minutes Chapter 15 TRANSPAX 383 CODE Selector The CODE selector determines the type of tape signal accepted by the PLAY input If set incorrectly the TAPE OK indicator will remain off even if a signal is being fed into the PLAY input In this case try changing the setting of the CODE selector slowly one position at a time until the TAPE OK indicator comes on Use this position to play a Dataton control signal through the TRANSPAX This is useful if the tape player is located far away from the first PAX or SMARTPAX However in most cases you can do without the TRANSPAX and play the control signal directly into the TAPE input of the first PAX or SMARTPAX unit in the chain When playing a Dataton control signal through the TRANSPAX in this way a re generated signal will appear on the RECORD output This can be used when duplicating show tapes in order to get a first generation copy of the control signal SMPTE EBU SMPTE EBU Use this position together with TRAX to read standard SMPTE or EBU timecode from tape TRANSPAX auto detects the type of timecode that s being used and passes it on to the computer If you want to play a Dataton control signal through the TRANSPAX you must set the CODE selector to its Dataton position Don t forget to set it back to SMPTE EBU when using the computer or TRANSPAX will fail to recognize the timecode 384 Chapter 15 TRANSPAX Use this position t
378. ws you to run a presen tation from a control track on an audio tape player rather than from a computer see Recording a Control Track on page 225 SMARTPAX decodes this tape signal and passes it on to any following units through the OUT connector as a high level digital signal As the signal that comes from the tape player is a relatively weak line level signal the cable between the tape player and the first unit in the chain should be kept as short as possible preferably no longer than two meters If longer cable runs are required you may instead place a TRANSPAX close to the tape player and then run a system cable from the OUT connector of the TRANSPAX to the IN connector of the first control unit For final playback without a computer connected the control signal from the tape player must be connected to the TAPE input of the first unit in the chain the control signal will not travel backwards through the system cable You should never use both the IN and TAPE connectors of a SMARTPAX at the same time always disconnect the computer while playing a control signal through the TAPE input of a SMARTPAX You can monitor the quality of the received control signal by watching the TAPE DATA OK indicator of the unit to which the tape signal is connected Although the other units in the chain also have TAPE DATA OK indicators only the first unit s indicator will accurately indicate the control signal s quality The indicator should r
379. x 2ti7 200 stent tanh coher secias 368 INdOX ccs ce tee E A23 Dataton TRAX version 3 software and manual Copy right 1996 DATATON UTVECKLINGS AB Dataton All rights reserved Dataton TRAX TOUCHLINK Dataton PAX and the Dataton logo are registered trademarks of DATATON UTVECKLINGS AB SMARTPAX TRANSPAX AIRLINK SMARTLINK are trademarks of DATATON UTVECK LINGS AB All other company and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners Use of a term in this publication should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark The information in this manual has been carefully checked and is believed to be accurate However Dataton assumes no responsibility for any inaccuracies that may be contained in this manual In no event will Dataton be liable for direct indirect special incidental or consequential damages resulting from any defect or omission in this manual even if advised of the possibility of such damages The technical information contained herein regarding features and specifications is subject to change without notice Dataton AB Box 1257 2 S 581 12 LINKOPING Sweden Fax int 46 13 13 84 45 E mail info dataton se TRAX suggestions trax dataton se World wide web hitp www dataton com Technical Support Fax int 46 13 10 24 51 E mail support dataton se Special thanks to our beta testers for their help in testing Dataton TRAX Special thanks to Mike A
380. y touching the button on the panel Invisible An invisible button which can perform the same functions as a normal button but doesn t show up on the panel An invisible button is displayed in the panel s status window as a gray crossed rectangle It is not visible at all on the actual panel device Use this when you want to make a picture or part of a picture touch sensitive by drawing an invisible button on top of the picture Motion Sensor Represents the motion sensor built into TOUCHLINK When the motion sensor is activated this button will be pressed Side Buttons Represents the three buttons on the right hand side of TOUCHLINK Note that the large button is actually two buttons the top and bottom of it can be programmed separately A button set to Motion Sensor or Side Button can be attached to any function just like a normal button It shows up as an invisible button in the status window allowing you to simulate its functionality by pressing it with the mouse It doesn t show up on the real TOUCHLINK nor does it respond if the user presses in that area of the screen Chapter 6 Panel Design 165 Shape Determines the shape of the button Applies only when Kind is set to Normal Oval Makes round or oval buttons Rectangle Makes rectangular buttons with the specified corner radius Radius Determines the corner radius of rectangular buttons in pixels Drop Shadow Adds a black d
381. y Options dialog box Security Options O Open the Show O Save the Show CO Stop the Show After an Automatic Start Copyright Notice In order to use the password protection features you must first enter a pass word into the Password field The password can contain any combination of characters and punctuation It is not case sensitive meaning that the word Chicago and chicago could be used interchangeably Vv IMPORTANT Remember to make a note of your password in a safe place You will not be able to access the protected areas of your show if you forget it The password is local to the current show Thus individual shows may have their own passwords if desired Chapter 4 Menus and Commands 113 Ask for Password to Copyright Notice The checkboxes in this area determine which areas of the show will be protected by a password NOTE The Security Options dialog box itself will always be protected as long as the password field is not empty regardless of which other areas you have chosen to protect Open the Show When selected you will be asked to enter the password when opening the show Save the Show When selected you will be asked to enter the password when attempting fo save the show This can prevent unauthorized users from overwriting your show file by mistake Stop the Show After an Automatic Start When selected in conjunc tion with the Start Automatically when Opened op
382. y after running past its last cue This automatically frees up any devices it has acquired allowing them to be controlled by touch panels or other time lines see Device Ownership on page 121 The two fields at the bottom of the Timeline Settings dialog box indicate whether the timeline is synchronized to a device or another timeline and whether there s any offset between the device s time position and the timeline s The synchronization of timelines is managed by the revised Control cue see Synchronize To on page 214 The old Tape Control Tape Settings and Record Timecode windows are gone along with their menu items Their functionalities have been added to the regular Tape device using new device drivers for the open reel and cassette recorders controlled through TRANSPAX You can control TRANSPAX either directly from the computer or through a SMARTPAX The direct control method works only in Backward Compatible mode see TRANSPAX Connected to Computer on page 133 Auto locator settings are handled through device specific modes in the tape device Use Trigger cues as appropriate to set these parameters if desired There s no longer any implied synchronization between the tape recorder and the timeline as in TRAX 2 As it is now possible to have any number of tape devices as well as timelines that would not be practical Instead you must use a Control cue to explicitly state to which device a timel
383. y not least don t change a single thing in the system not matter how simple it may seem without re doing the rehearsal Chapter 8 Presentations 239 Automatic Start If the final presentation is to be run automatically from the computer it can be set up in such a way that TRAX and the show are automatically loaded when the computer is switched on e Make sure Start Automatically when Opened is selected in the Prefe rences dialog box then save the show see Start Automatically when Opened on page 108 Put the show document or an alias to it into the Startup Items folder inside the System folder When the system is powered up the show will load and the task window will be started automatically i e set to its play mode To make a timeline start automatically as well put a 1 in its Condition column in the Task window see Making a Task Start Automatically on page 58 You can also use a password to protect the show so it can t be stopped by touching the computer s keyboard or mouse see Password on page 113 240 Chapter 8 Presentations Do Q Multi tasking Interactivity INTERACTIVITY Many people associate the term interactive with CD ROM computers and multimedia allowing a user to view a presentation by pointing and clicking Although this kind of presentation can be created using TRAX the primary focus in TRAX is on interactive environments rather than ju
384. y them out by entering a time value in the Position field and clicking the Locate button If the tape deck slows down too early you need to increase the Retardation value Conversely if it overshoots try decreasing the value After determining the correct settings for these values you need to make them a permanent part of your show by entering them into Trigger cues assigned to the tape device see Device Specific Mode on page 208 Put these trigger cues either on a timeline that s always run when the system is started or at the beginning of each timeline that uses the tape deck Most of the functions of TRANSPAX are related to one of the two kinds of tape data signals it can record and play back e Timecode e Control signal TRANSPAX can record and play a variety of such signals A master tape often uses a timecode track for synchronization purposes It is also common practice to record a control signal onto the master tape if the show is intended to eventually run from tape rather than from a computer The control signal can Chapter 15 TRANSPAX 373 Timecode also be recorded onto or copied to a show tape The show tape can be a cassette while the master is usually an open reel tape See Canned Presentations on page 220 and following pages for an over view of how to use timecode and control signals for preparing various kinds of presentations A timecode track allows TRAX to synchronize the cues on
385. you wish to use the gang for a particular set of devices Unlike other status properties the current gang status is not indicated inside the device s status window You must click the gang letter at the bottom of the Device window to see which devices are assigned to a particular gang at the current time see Device Gangs on page 28 Be careful though so you don t accidentally change the device assignment of any selected cue The maximum number of gangs at any one time in the show is eight A through H However as devices can be assigned to gangs dynamically using addi tional Gang cues this is not a serious limitation A device can only belong to one gang at a time All devices assigned to a gang must be of the same kind Furthermore if used in conjunction with the Device Specific Mode option in the Trigger cue all gang members must be of the same type Chapter 7 Cues 211 Control Target Timeline The Control cue is different from other cues in that it doesn t directly control any devices Instead it controls the timelines within TRAX itself This is useful in many cases when the show isn t simply run as a single timeline from start to finish The show may for example be broken up into several parts of which some are to run automatically possibly synchronized to a device and others run manually as speaker support modules or interactively See Chapter 8 for some ideas on how to use the Control cue in
386. ystem fack fv Serial Altinex MHS608RS fv Serial Autopatch 4 DM fv Serial Barco Data 1100 fv Serial Barco Data 1101 Serial Barco Data 3100 Serial Barco Data 5000 fl Serial Barco Data 5100 Download Everything Panels Only Device Drivers Only v Device Drivers Manual Mode nfo ifo Download v Check Uncheck Create Edit IMPORTANT In Manual mode SMARTPAX must be connected directly to the Mac Select Device Drivers Manual Mode to choose device drivers manually Check or un check highlighted device drivers using these buttons In this mode you can manually choose which device drivers to download into SMARTPAX A chosen driver is indicated by a check mark To choose a driver first select it using the mouse then click the Check button at the bottom of the window You can select multiple drivers by Shift clicking them in the list before you click the Check button NOTES The Check and Uncheck buttons are only available in Manual Mode Don t confuse merely selecting a driver with choosing it for down loading only drivers tagged with a checkmark will be downloaded Chapter 3 TRAX Windows 67 Downloading in Automatic Downloading in automatic mode is the most straightforward way of down Mode loading device drivers It allows you to download drivers into any number of SMARTPAX units while still having them connected as part of a co

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Dataton TRAX® 3.0 Manual