ShutterEffect descriptions

[kengruven]

There are a lot of ShutterEffects (Open, Closed, Strobe, Pulse, RampUp, RampDown, RampUpDown, Lightning, Spikes, Burst) and I can't find any description of what these mean. I've also tried searching lighting manufacturers and the web in general for industry standard terms, and come up with nothing so far.

Is there someone who understands this, who'd be willing to take a minute to jot down a note for each one? Even if it's just a comment here, I'll clean it up and make a pull request for the actual docs.

Thanks!

[FloEdelmann]

This is how I understand it:

• Open: Light is always on
• Closed: Light is always off
• Strobe: Light is switched on/off repeatedly (frequency may be specified with speed; "light on duration" may be specified with duration; random: true randomizes the frequency and/or duration)
• RampUp: Light repeatedly fades in and is then turned off rapidly → sawtooth pattern (frequency may be specified with speed; or duration of one cycle may be specified with duration; random randomizes the frequency)
• RampDown: Light is repeatedly turned on rapidly and then fades out → sawtooth pattern (frequency may be specified with speed; or duration of one cycle may be specified with duration; random randomizes the frequency)
• RampUpDown: Light repeatedly fades in and out in a zig-zag pattern (frequency may be specified with speed; or duration of one cycle may be specified with duration; random randomizes the frequency)
• Pulse: Light repeatedly fades in and out in a sinusoidal pattern (frequency may be specified with speed; or duration of one cycle may be specified with duration; random randomizes the frequency) → basically a "smooth" RampUpDown effect
• Lightning: Special kind of random strobe that simulates a thunderstorm with lightning (the meaning of frequency, duration and random is undefined here)
• Spikes: Multiple quick flashes followed by a long pause (frequency may be specified with speed; or duration of one cycle may be specified with duration; random randomizes the frequency)
• Burst: One short batch of flashes with high intensity (overrides Intensity channels) followed by a long pause (or maybe even one-time trigger; the meaning of frequency, duration and random is undefined here)

See also:

• https://github.com/OpenLightingProject/open-fixture-library/issues/524
• https://github.com/mcallegari/qlcplus/issues/1026#issuecomment-386921596
• and the link(s) from https://github.com/mcallegari/qlcplus/issues/1026#issuecomment-386987575 → I remember that the second link was more interesting than the first one, but it is not online anymore and also not archived in the Wayback Machine :slightly_frowning_face:

[kengruven]

This is exactly the information I was looking for, thanks!

I'm still unsure about Spikes versus Burst, which both sound the same to me, but obviously they must be different because some fixtures (like tmb/solaris-flare) have both capabilities. Maybe I'll email one of the manufacturers to see if they have descriptions, or demo videos (I haven't found any yet).

[kengruven]

Here's where I am with this.

There are 3 manufacturers in OFL which have both Spikes and Burst shutter effects in their fixtures.

• Cameo Auro Beam 150 has Spikes, and Cameo Auro Spot 100/200/300/400 have Burst. Both are described in their respective manuals as "Strobe Break Effekt [sic], 5s.....1s (Very Short Flash)".
• I contacted TMB about the Solaris Flare, and they wrote back that the only difference between Spikes and Burst is the speed (and even tried to record a video for me!, but didn't have a fast enough camera).
• I contacted Martin Lighting (e.g., Mac Aura vs Atomic 3000), but never got a reply.

I'm starting to think that Spikes and Burst are synonymous.

[FloEdelmann]

Interesting! Thanks for investigating :)