Recording Fixture Selection Masks

The real power of fixture selection masks becomes evident when you combine them with the ability to record as groups. There are 2 types of stored selection masks, Masks and Fast Selects. The Masks can be applied to the existing fixture selection and the Fast Select is stored along with a selection. Let's examine them both in more detail.

Masks

When starting a new show file, the Grouping Tools screen is automatically populated with a series of special groups called Masks, which can be found by clicking Masks in the bottom right corner of the Grouping Tools window.

Masks are essentially shortcuts to apply pre-defined fixture selection masks to the current selection.

To apply a Mask:

  1. Select some fixtures using any of the fixture selection methods described in this manual. For our example we will select fixtures 101 Thru 111.
  2. Click or touch the desired Mask on the Grouping Tools Masks screen.

Interact with the masked selection as you would normally, using the Next/Last buttons or the attribute fanning controls. (For more info on fixture selection masks, see the chapter on " Using the Grouping Tools Screen ")

Fast Selects

A Fast Select is simply a Mask which has already been applied to a selection, and is stored in ONYX as a group:

You can see the mask noted in the upper right corner of the group tile.

For instance, you could record a Fast Select of every other wash fixture. Once you have this stored, you can instantly recall this selection by pressing the Group, and interact with it using the Next/Last buttons.

To record a Fast Select:

  1. Select some fixtures using any of the fixture selection methods described in this manual.
  2. On the Grouping Tools Screen, choose a grouping type and value.
  3. Press Record and touch or click on an empty group on the Fixture Groups screen.
  4. As with a standard group, type a name for the new group and press Enter.

When recalled, the fixtures will be selected with the fixture selection mask applied. You can now interact with the fixtures using the Next/Last buttons or the attribute fanning controls.