Fixtures

Creating a fixture

To create a new Fixture, click on the Fixture tool in the toolbar. This will display the different Fixture alternatives available for creation. Select the desired fixture type to create it. The new Fixture will appear selected in the Workspace. Alternatively, you can go to Workspace ‣ New Fixture… ‣ Fixture Type.

By default, the Fixture will have a name based on its type. It is recommended to change the name to something descriptive, as it will be used to identify the fixture in other parts of the program. You can do this in the inspector panel.

Configuring Fixture properties

In the inspector panel, you can adjust various properties that will affect how the fixture interprets colours in Protopixel.

The first set of properties you will encounter are the ones that determine the size, shape, and connection of the fixture. These properties will differ depending on the specific fixture.

Following that, you will find a series of parameters:

Parameter	Function
On	Switch on and off output for this fixture
Level	Intensity of the light of the fixture
PPx gamma correction	Apply the gamma correction to the color
PPx temporal dithering	Try to get fine grade colours by adding some noise
PPx double points	Every pixel of the fixture should be sent twice
Force channel	Select the address for DMX luminaries
Fixture type	List of preset byte orders. This will depend on the fixture hardware
Custom ordering	Define the ordering manually according to the fixture
White function	Select average or mix
Color mode	Select original, monochromatic, or color. See this section.
Base color	Color used as a base, depending on the Color mode
Base color transition time	Set up the transition time of the colours on dynamic contents
Transition delay	Set up delay transition
Element / Zone	Name the fixture or group of fixtures

White functions

There are several ways to extract the white component from an RGB color:

• mix: This method extracts the white component from the color and uses it as the white level. Pure white colours will not use the RGB components. Avoid using this function in a fixture without a white component, as it may result in incorrect colours.
• average: In this method, the white component is calculated as the average of the RGB components. This will yield slightly whiter colours.

Color modes

Select how the fixture should use the color from the content:

• original: The original RGB color is used.
• monochromatic: The intensity of the color is used to modulate the Base color.
• color: This will ignore the original RGB color altogether and use the Base color directly.

RGB Ordering

Depending on the type of LEDs that you are using you may have to change their RGB order in order to correctly map your colors in the real world.

There is a wide range of RGB ordering which you can find on “RGB ordering” property.

Custom Ordering

If your specific LED strip profile is not listed in the default options, select "Custom" and proceed to the "Custom Ordering" field.

For example, if you are configuring an RGBWW (Red, Green, Blue, Warm White, Cool White) LED strip, the profile should be mapped in the Custom Ordering field as follows:

R, G, B, W, W

Each value separated by a comma corresponds to a single channel.

Advanced Multi-Part Control Using the Skip Operator

For advanced applications, you may wish to control the color and white components of the strip as independent entities. By utilizing the "-1" skip operator in the Custom Ordering, you can isolate specific channels. In this context, "-1" instructs the controller to ignore those specific positions for a given control set.

Note: While "R" and "B" are used in the examples below to control white channels, these are symbolic assignments. They indicate that the controller's Red and Blue output logic is being mapped to drive the Warm and Cool white hardware channels, respectively. For further details on this topic, including DMX integration, please refer to the article available here.
 

To address only the color channels and ignore the white channels, use:

To isolate the Warm White channel and skip all other color and cool white data, use:

To isolate the Cold White channel and skip the preceding color and warm white data, use:

To enable independent output for the Warm White and Cold White channels, the Force Channel parameter must be set to 1 or the channel you wish to force, depending on your needs. This serves as a logic override, ensuring the controller activates these specific auxiliary outputs regardless of the primary RGB state.

Note:  The advance multi-part control is only available in Mapping Tool version 26.4.8729 and later.