Comments for Diary of an Automation Junkie http://www.creativeconners.com/blog Mumblings about scenic automation. Thu, 09 Sep 2010 06:01:52 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 Comment on The Allure of Premium by Jon Lagerquist http://www.creativeconners.com/blog/?p=40#comment-195 Jon Lagerquist Sun, 07 Jun 2009 04:53:45 +0000 http://www.creativeconners.com/blog/?p=40#comment-195 One thing that I have found over several decades of playing with various equipment and control systems is that the system can almost always do more than is being asked of it. This has been true of slide control or automation or video or flying systems. This is generally because of one or more of three reasons. The show does not need more. The designer / director does know grasp what the system can do, ask for it, does not think about what might be even without concern for the system restrictions. This happens a lot, it is the most common. The person running the system does not know how to use the system to it's full capacity. This is a shame, particularly if there is a call for more. While I can figure out how to make stuff happen, can my operator grok the complexity am make sure it is safe. Not to put a wet rag on the idea of growth, but I am hard pressed to think of something that I can not make happen for one of our shows. There is a lot in the system that I have not gotten into. I have not even gotten deep into the multi speed cues. And with an FX unit there are all sorts on input options that I have not considered. oh by the way, on the previous post (ruby on rails) Learning is miss-spelled. Jon One thing that I have found over several decades of playing with various equipment and control systems is that the system can almost always do more than is being asked of it. This has been true of slide control or automation or video or flying systems. This is generally because of one or more of three reasons.

The show does not need more.

The designer / director does know grasp what the system can do, ask for it, does not think about what might be even without concern for the system restrictions. This happens a lot, it is the most common.

The person running the system does not know how to use the system to it’s full capacity. This is a shame, particularly if there is a call for more. While I can figure out how to make stuff happen, can my operator grok the complexity am make sure it is safe.

Not to put a wet rag on the idea of growth, but I am hard pressed to think of something that I can not make happen for one of our shows. There is a lot in the system that I have not gotten into. I have not even gotten deep into the multi speed cues. And with an FX unit there are all sorts on input options that I have not considered.

oh by the way, on the previous post (ruby on rails) Learning is miss-spelled.

Jon

]]> Comment on The Allure of Premium by admin http://www.creativeconners.com/blog/?p=40#comment-189 admin Fri, 05 Jun 2009 12:37:41 +0000 http://www.creativeconners.com/blog/?p=40#comment-189 @Brian, Thanks for the comments, it's great to know that at least 1 person reads this stuff ;-) I agree with your thoughts, if we were to head down this path the "Pro" version would need to inter-operate with the "Standard" gear and there should be a way to upgrade as well as mix hardware on the same show. This would allow theatres to start on a limited budget and rest easy knowing that they won't outgrow this system if their needs get more complex. Of course, for us to be able to push the CCI systems into bigger/pricier shows, we would need to offer a lot more services (on-site training, setup, tech, etc.) That may end up being a bigger roadblock because it would demand that we expand the staff significantly. Which is a little funny to say, since we just reduced staff size by 1/3 to trim costs... @Brian,

Thanks for the comments, it’s great to know that at least 1 person reads this stuff ;-)

I agree with your thoughts, if we were to head down this path the “Pro” version would need to inter-operate with the “Standard” gear and there should be a way to upgrade as well as mix hardware on the same show. This would allow theatres to start on a limited budget and rest easy knowing that they won’t outgrow this system if their needs get more complex.

Of course, for us to be able to push the CCI systems into bigger/pricier shows, we would need to offer a lot more services (on-site training, setup, tech, etc.) That may end up being a bigger roadblock because it would demand that we expand the staff significantly. Which is a little funny to say, since we just reduced staff size by 1/3 to trim costs…

]]> Comment on The Allure of Premium by BrianF http://www.creativeconners.com/blog/?p=40#comment-184 BrianF Thu, 04 Jun 2009 17:43:03 +0000 http://www.creativeconners.com/blog/?p=40#comment-184 If you follow through with these thoughts I look forward to seeing what comes from it. I doubt I'll be in a place that buys Cadillacs by then, but like you I enjoy drooling over the new and shiny toys even if I can't play with them. I would look out for the likely difficulties of trying to support both markets equally. I think your product support is top notch, and probably would still be better than most even if you started having to deal with a broader spectrum, but it seems like a slippery slope. What could be REALLY interesting is an expandable system that allows customers from both spectrums to draw from the same pool of equipment. Digital cameras come to mind as an example, I can use Canon's best flash on some of their point and shoot cameras, and I can use their most entry level flash and lenses on their most professional gear. If I needed to added automated 3 axis flying to a show and it meant I could either start my automation from scratch or add an additional processor and some new types of motors to expand a Conners system but use the interface that I'm already used to that would be awesome. Or say I decided that a touch pad would be great for controlling some crazy wagon, if I could add a module to my existing system it would allow my system to grow slowly up to a premium system rather than making me just pass on the idea from the start. bleh, too much businessman type talk for me, I couldn't even do it as much as you must have to. If you follow through with these thoughts I look forward to seeing what comes from it. I doubt I’ll be in a place that buys Cadillacs by then, but like you I enjoy drooling over the new and shiny toys even if I can’t play with them.

I would look out for the likely difficulties of trying to support both markets equally. I think your product support is top notch, and probably would still be better than most even if you started having to deal with a broader spectrum, but it seems like a slippery slope.

What could be REALLY interesting is an expandable system that allows customers from both spectrums to draw from the same pool of equipment. Digital cameras come to mind as an example, I can use Canon’s best flash on some of their point and shoot cameras, and I can use their most entry level flash and lenses on their most professional gear. If I needed to added automated 3 axis flying to a show and it meant I could either start my automation from scratch or add an additional processor and some new types of motors to expand a Conners system but use the interface that I’m already used to that would be awesome. Or say I decided that a touch pad would be great for controlling some crazy wagon, if I could add a module to my existing system it would allow my system to grow slowly up to a premium system rather than making me just pass on the idea from the start.

bleh, too much businessman type talk for me, I couldn’t even do it as much as you must have to.

]]> Comment on From the trenches by Adam Godbout http://www.creativeconners.com/blog/?p=21#comment-15 Adam Godbout Wed, 28 Jan 2009 18:37:24 +0000 http://www.creativeconners.com/blog/?p=21#comment-15 Gareth, I agree with most all of your post. I wanted to add a few thoughts. - The new software takes all of the stress out of writing a show with no stage time. More and more the only clear stage time I get is about 5am before the first day of tech. - The winch design has been a long discussed item with both Brian and I. We both understand the design and why you went with all choices but the things that we have always wanted to change are the limit switches themselves and their placement. We have switched over to mostly using external limits to make setting easier which has gotten costly with more cable and custom trap plugs. Also the outboard nature of them is unfortunate. If you decide to change the limit switch it would be great if you would sell an upgrade kit for the older style pushsticks. The other being small but if you are thinking stagehand v2 then this might be helpful. If you use the winch standing on end for trap room winch drive then the cable keeper on the drum is slightly to long ans sometimes drags on the floor when you are trying to move the winch into position, and other times it makes the winch rock a bit when you are running it. - I completely agree about both the knob for manual speed and displaying the winch above the manual control slider. I think ultimately it would be a lot like the setup you have on the stagehand itself. I like the press and rotate feature. - I think this last one I am on the fence about but other people here want a remote control for tech. Something where you could select a winch either on the main computer or on the remote and have the ability to walk out on stage a move a motor in manual mode or to spikes using the default accell and speed values. This would help an operator stuck backstage to come out and see what the director/designer is looking for and more accuraetly acchieve it in a speedier fashion. Gareth,
I agree with most all of your post. I wanted to add a few thoughts.
- The new software takes all of the stress out of writing a show with no stage time. More and more the only clear stage time I get is about 5am before the first day of tech.
- The winch design has been a long discussed item with both Brian and I. We both understand the design and why you went with all choices but the things that we have always wanted to change are the limit switches themselves and their placement. We have switched over to mostly using external limits to make setting easier which has gotten costly with more cable and custom trap plugs. Also the outboard nature of them is unfortunate. If you decide to change the limit switch it would be great if you would sell an upgrade kit for the older style pushsticks. The other being small but if you are thinking stagehand v2 then this might be helpful. If you use the winch standing on end for trap room winch drive then the cable keeper on the drum is slightly to long ans sometimes drags on the floor when you are trying to move the winch into position, and other times it makes the winch rock a bit when you are running it.
- I completely agree about both the knob for manual speed and displaying the winch above the manual control slider. I think ultimately it would be a lot like the setup you have on the stagehand itself. I like the press and rotate feature.
- I think this last one I am on the fence about but other people here want a remote control for tech. Something where you could select a winch either on the main computer or on the remote and have the ability to walk out on stage a move a motor in manual mode or to spikes using the default accell and speed values. This would help an operator stuck backstage to come out and see what the director/designer is looking for and more accuraetly acchieve it in a speedier fashion.

]]> Comment on Non-automation software by admin http://www.creativeconners.com/blog/?p=12#comment-9 admin Tue, 02 Dec 2008 01:24:31 +0000 http://www.creativeconners.com/blog/?p=12#comment-9 Hey Brian, That's an interesting approach, but I worry that once a day synchronization wouldn't be enough, especially once you have 5 or 10 people accessing the same data. You could end up with some badly out-of-synch databases and end up with little confidence in the accuracy of the stock count. However, Ian mentioned something similar. A read-only copy that you can download and view locally. That way if the service went down you'd at least be able to view your vendors & ordering information. I guess I'm becoming an online extremist. The more online services I use (like Google docs), the less advantage I see to local applications for simple data-oriented tasks. Interesting things to consider... Thanks for stopping by! Hey Brian,

That’s an interesting approach, but I worry that once a day synchronization wouldn’t be enough, especially once you have 5 or 10 people accessing the same data. You could end up with some badly out-of-synch databases and end up with little confidence in the accuracy of the stock count.

However, Ian mentioned something similar. A read-only copy that you can download and view locally. That way if the service went down you’d at least be able to view your vendors & ordering information.

I guess I’m becoming an online extremist. The more online services I use (like Google docs), the less advantage I see to local applications for simple data-oriented tasks.

Interesting things to consider…

Thanks for stopping by!

]]> Comment on Non-automation software by Brian Sears http://www.creativeconners.com/blog/?p=12#comment-8 Brian Sears Mon, 01 Dec 2008 23:00:22 +0000 http://www.creativeconners.com/blog/?p=12#comment-8 What about thinking of it in the other direction, what if you had a program that was a local that updated daily to the web and talked back. In other words if you entered that you are building a stagehand in your laptop, and Ian entered to build 4 stagehands on his laptop. When you update at the end of the night the web hosting combines all that together and at startup of the program in the morning your laptop was up too date with Ians. But with an option to work online with out the local. That way if your hosting went down for two days you at least have the local that you can work with and update old school. I am kinda thinking like gmail and havening outlook on your laptop but at any rate I would use something like that Brian What about thinking of it in the other direction, what if you had a program that was a local that updated daily to the web and talked back. In other words if you entered that you are building a stagehand in your laptop, and Ian entered to build 4 stagehands on his laptop. When you update at the end of the night the web hosting combines all that together and at startup of the program in the morning your laptop was up too date with Ians. But with an option to work online with out the local. That way if your hosting went down for two days you at least have the local that you can work with and update old school.
I am kinda thinking like gmail and havening outlook on your laptop
but at any rate I would use something like that
Brian

]]> Comment on New Site by admin http://www.creativeconners.com/blog/?p=3#comment-3 admin Tue, 21 Oct 2008 14:22:10 +0000 http://www.creativeconners.com/blog/?p=3#comment-3 Hi Jon, Thanks! Nope, the forums are still available, but the url changed from the old site. You should be able to access them from: http://creativeconners.com/phpBB3/index.php Hi Jon,

Thanks! Nope, the forums are still available, but the url changed from the old site. You should be able to access them from: http://creativeconners.com/phpBB3/index.php

]]> Comment on New Site by Jon Lagerquist http://www.creativeconners.com/blog/?p=3#comment-2 Jon Lagerquist Tue, 21 Oct 2008 14:18:58 +0000 http://www.creativeconners.com/blog/?p=3#comment-2 The new site looks great Gareth. Will this blog replace the fourm or it that just down temporally? The new site looks great Gareth. Will this blog replace the fourm or it that just down temporally?

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