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DMX Core

Fixture Profile Editor

The profile editor builds and changes fixture profiles in the Web UI. Use it to:

  • Build a profile by hand for a fixture no library has, straight from the DMX chart in its manual
  • Fix an imported profile: a wrong function on a channel, a missing mode, a misnamed option
  • Make a variant of a profile: the same fixture with an extra channel or a different mode name

The editor is part of the Web UI only. The touchscreen uses the edited profiles right away.

Profile editor - modes as tabs, the channel list on the left, the selected channel on the right

Opening the Editor

WhereWhat it does
Lighting Setup > Profiles > New profileStarts a new profile
A profile’s details page, EditEdits that profile
A profile’s details page, DuplicateOpens a copy named ”… (copy)” to change and save as a new profile
Add profile… > Build the profile by hand on Fixture DetailsStarts a new profile; Save brings you back to the fixture with the new profile selected and its other fields as you left them

Editing needs the Edit fixtures permission. Profiles provided by a plugin cannot be edited or duplicated.

Starting a New Profile

A new profile starts with a few questions:

New profile - the basics and a template for the first mode

  • Manufacturer and Name - as printed on the fixture. Use “Unknown” when the manual doesn’t say
  • Type - PAR, spot, moving head, bar, strip, matrix, fog, switch or other
  • Beams - for bars, strips and matrices: how many pixels or cells the fixture has
  • First mode - a starting point: Dimmer, RGB, RGBW, Dimmer + RGB(W), Moving head basics (pan and tilt with fine channels, dimmer, shutter, color wheel, gobo), or a Pixel bar with one red, green and blue channel per beam plus a master dimmer and shutter

Everything can be changed afterwards.

The Profile

The top of the editor holds the profile itself:

  • Manufacturer, Name, Type and Comments
  • Physical - the beam angle, pan range and tilt range in degrees
  • Beams - how many beams (pixels, cells) the fixture has and how they are laid out: in rows (the number of beams in each row, top to bottom) or in rings (the number in each ring, outer ring first). The picture shows the layout. Lowering the count, or going back to one beam, removes beam assignments the fixture no longer has, after asking

Modes

Each channel mode (personality) from the manual is a tab, for example 6ch, 9ch and 141ch. Under the tabs:

  • Mode name - rename the mode. Fixtures that use it move to the new name when you save
  • Duplicate - copy the mode, for a variant with one more or one fewer channel
  • Delete - remove the mode. A mode that a fixture uses cannot be deleted; move those fixtures to another mode first
  • + Add mode - start an empty mode

Channels

The list on the left is the mode’s channels in order, numbered exactly as in the manual. Each row shows the channel’s name, a short summary, its beam and the function id that presets, hidden functions and faders use for it.

  • Add channel adds a channel below the selected one. Its arrow offers ready-made blocks: RGB, RGBW, Dimmer + RGB(W), Pan/Tilt 16-bit, Shutter / Strobe, and RGB per beam (one red, green and blue channel for every beam that has none yet)
  • ↑ and ↓ move the selected channel; Delete removes it. Channel numbers follow the order
  • With the list focused, the arrow keys select the next or previous channel, Home and End jump to the first and last, and Alt+arrow keys move the selected channel

The selected channel

The right side edits the selected channel. Kind says what the channel does, and the fields below follow from it:

KindWhat you set
DimmerFine, Inverted
Color componentRed, green, blue, white, cool or warm white, amber, lime, UV, cyan, magenta or yellow; Fine, Inverted
Color temperatureFine, Inverted, Fallback value
PositionPan or tilt; Fine, Inverted, Fallback value
Beam controlFocus, zoom, iris, frost, gobo or prism rotation, speed, and any other single function such as a strobe, lamp or switch channel; Fine, slider, Inverted, Fallback value
Shutter / StrobeA list of modes: closed, open, strobe, pulse, ramp up or down, random, lightning
Color wheelA list of slots with a name and a color swatch
Gobo wheel, PrismA list of slots
Lamp / CommandA list of options: lamp on, lamp off, command, or no function
SwitchThe on and off ranges
FogInverted, Fallback value
Custom sliderOne value across the channel; Inverted, Fallback value
Custom optionsA list of options, each with its own name and an optional function
  • Fine - the channel is the low byte of a 16-bit pair (for example “Pan fine”)
  • Inverted - the channel runs backwards, like a speed channel printed “fast to slow”
  • Fallback value - the DMX value sent while nothing controls the channel, for example movement speed “fastest” or the iris open. Without it the channel sends 0

Option lists

Shutter modes, wheel slots and custom options are a list of DMX ranges. Select a row to edit its From and To values, Name and function, and whether the value within the range works as a slider, runs inverted, or is the channel’s default (the option a fixture rests at; at most one per channel).

  • + Add adds a row below the selected one, starting right after it
  • Add above, Duplicate, ↑, ↓ and the bin work on the selected row
  • The arrow keys and Alt+arrow keys work in the list the same way as in the channel list

Beams

On a fixture with beams, a channel is either for the whole fixture (a master dimmer, strobe or macro channel) or for one or more beams. Type beam numbers such as 1-4, 7, or click beams in the picture. A color or dimmer channel can drive several beams as a group; other channels use one beam.

The same function on every beam keeps one function id - red on all 46 pixels of a panel is RED, not RED_46 - so presets and hidden functions stay simple.

Testing a channel

When fixtures use the profile, the selected channel shows Test in Channel Tester links for up to six fixtures on that mode, each with its slot and address. The address is the fixture’s start channel plus the channel’s position in the editor. The link opens the Channel Tester in a new tab and picks that slot and channel when you press Start Tester. If a tester session is already running, it asks before switching that session to the linked slot.

Problems

The Problems list under the editor checks the profile as you type: channel numbering, overlapping options, names, duplicate mode names, beams outside the fixture. Click a problem to jump to its channel. Save stays off while problems remain.

Warnings - for example a function that presets use but the edited profile no longer has - do not block saving.

Saving

  • Save (or Ctrl+S) saves over the profile. Fixtures using it follow the change immediately
  • Save as copy saves the edited profile as a new one and keeps the original as it was
  • Cancel goes back without saving; the editor asks first when there are unsaved changes

When fixtures use the profile, Save first shows what the change means for them:

  • Functions no longer in the profile, with the presets that set them and the fixtures that hide them. Those settings stop affecting the fixtures
  • Fixture options that no longer exist - the fixture falls back to the channel’s default option
  • New channel overlaps when a mode gets longer and runs into the next fixture

Presets and settings for functions that are still in the profile keep working.