Layer Settings
Set the selected layer's name, layout, symmetry, speed, beat offset and controlled values, and route effect outputs to fixture channels by hand.
The Layer Settings panel edits the properties of the selected layer.
Related concept: Effects and layers.
Basic properties
Name
Give the layer a name that says what it does, for example "Base - Blue Wash", "Chase - Rainbow", or "Accent - Strobe".
Layout
Select the fixture layout this layer renders to. The layout decides which fixtures receive the layer's output.
When the layer's effect moves heads, every head in the layout that can pan or tilt follows the effect. You do not need to route anything. An effect that sets only tilt moves only heads that tilt. To move fewer heads, give the layer a layout that holds only those. If a moving head stays still, the project's copy of its definition may have no pan or tilt. For that case, the fixture's pan and tilt settings offer Update definition.
Below the picker, the arrow buttons turn the layout a quarter turn at a time, and Flip X and Flip Y mirror it. Use them to land an effect on the rig turned or reversed. The chevron opens a quarter turn and a flip for each of X, Y and Z. Reset clears every turn and flip, and it clears Mirror pan too.
Mirror pan
When the layer's effect sets pan, Mirror pan sits beside Flip X and Flip Y. It reverses pan on every head left of the layout's origin, so one effect moves the rig symmetrically. Heads on either side of the origin pan toward each other and apart again. Tilt stays as the effect sets it.
A head exactly on the origin keeps its direction. A rig placed entirely on one side of the origin has nothing to mirror. Spectralite decides which side a head is on after it applies the layer's turns and flips.
For a fixture that hangs the other way round from its neighbours, use Invert pan in its pan and tilt settings instead. That setting applies to every layer.
Speed
Sets the speed multiplier for the layer's effect (0 to 4). A value of 1 is normal speed and 2 is double speed.
Beat offset
Shifts the layer's timing by a number of beats (-4 to 4). Fractional values give finer adjustment.
Controlled values
If the layer's effect exposes controlled values through a Controlled Values node, they appear here as extra settings. Each one has a reset button that returns it to its default.
The built-in movement effects have Pan size and Tilt size. Each one sets, in degrees, how far a head swings to either side of its manual position.
You can drive number, Boolean and vector values from a controller:
- Enter Mapping Mode.
- Click the value's row. Each axis of a vector gets its own outline.
- Move a fader, turn an encoder, or press a pad.
The binding copies the value's range, so the fader covers the same range as the slider.
Channel routing
Channel routing drives fixture channels such as zoom, focus or a gobo wheel from the effect's parameter outputs, or from its Pan and Tilt. The section appears when one of these is true:
- The effect has parameter outputs.
- The effect sets pan or tilt.
- The layer already holds a route.
Routing zoom to Pan ties the beam to the movement. Zoom moves the same share of its range as the head's pan moves of its own range. As a result, a sweep across the whole pan range runs through the whole zoom range. Tilt works the same way against the head's tilt. A fixture with no pan (or tilt) of its own moves one DMX step per degree. Routing a head's tilt to Pan turns the tilt by the same number of degrees the effect pans.
The table lists every fixture in the layer's layout that has a channel to route, grouped by fixture type. Each parameter on a group shows a master row with an effect output dropdown and a channel offset input. To override values for individual fixtures, expand the chevron on a group.
When the effect sets pan, pan follows the effect by itself. A pan row then appears only where the layer already routes pan to one of the effect's outputs, or gives it a channel offset. A channel offset shifts the head on top of the effect's movement. Tilt works the same way. An effect that sets neither lists its pan and tilt rows like any other channel.
When fixtures in a group hold different values for a field, the master row shows "Mixed". When you edit the master row, the new value applies to every fixture in the group. Spectralite stores a route only after you change a default, so a group left at its defaults adds nothing to the project file.
If you set an offset and choose no output, Spectralite writes a static bias to the DMX channel. Use this to nudge a channel by a fixed amount without driving it from an effect.
A route that picks an output on a head's pan or tilt takes over that axis on this layer, in place of the effect's Pan or Tilt. A head with an offset-only route keeps following the effect, with the offset added.
Toolbar
The panel toolbar has Delete and Duplicate buttons for the selected layer. Duplicate names the copy with "(copy)".
Related panels
- Timeline arranges layers.
- Node Editor edits layer effects.