Selecting Cells

A cell, or a range of cells, can be selected in the sequencing grid, allowing you to apply various tools to it (such as specifying what lighting effects should be placed in that cell). You can recognize the currently selected cell (or cells) by a thick dashed yellow border. For example, in the following sequence, a cell on the first row is selected between 3.00 seconds and 3.50 seconds:

When using the mouse, the area that gets selected depends on the Selection Mode.

Selection Modes

There are 4 selection modes: cells, effects, rows, and freeform. The selection mode determines the area of the sequence grid that gets selected when you use your mouse. The selection mode is always "cells" when using the keyboard.

You can designate one of the 4 modes as the Primary Selection Mode and another mode as the Secondary Selection Mode:

•The primary selection mode is invoked when selecting with the mouse and the Ctrl key is not pressed.

•The secondary selection mode is invoked when selecting with the mouse and the Ctrl key is pressed.

Thus, you have 2 selection modes that are quickly accessible: chosen by whether or not you hold the Ctrl key down while selecting with the mouse.

You can set the primary and secondary selection modes by clicking on the small down arrow to the right of the Select Tool on the toolbar. Use the first 4 options on the menu to choose the primary selection mode. Use the 4 options under the "With CTRL key" sub-menu to select the secondary mode.

The "Save as defaults" menu option saves the current primary and secondary modes as defaults. These will be used as the initial settings whenever you open a sequence.

Select Cells

When the selection mode is set to "Cells", the grid selection always starts and stops on a timing mark. In the following picture, the sequence has a fixed timing grid with timings every half second. No matter where you click between 1.0 and 1.5 seconds, the selection will start at 1 second and stop at 1.5 seconds - on the timing marks.

Select Effects

When the selection mode is set to "Effects" and you click on an effect, the entire effect is selected - the selection is not constrained by the timing marks. In the following example, a chase runs across 8 rows and clicking on any part of an effect will select the entire effect.

You can also expand the current selection to encompass the entire effect (or effects) by using the "E" shortcut key or choosing Select > Effect from the sequence grid's right-click context menu.

Note that the logic for "Select Effect" only selects the first effect in each row of the initial selection. So if the initial selection is this:

Select Rows

When the selection mode is set to "Rows", clicking anywhere on a row will select the entire row. In the following example, clicking on a single cell of the "01.02-Roof B" channel results in the entire row being selected. This mode can be especially useful when copying and pasting the sequencing from one channel to another.

You can also expand the current selection to encompass the entire row (or rows) by using the "R" shortcut key or choosing Select > Row from the sequence grid's right-click context menu.

Freeform Selection

When the selection mode is set to "Freeform", your selection is not constrained by the timing marks - the selection starts where you pressed the left mouse button and stops where you released it. In the following example, the mouse button was pressed at 0.3 seconds and released at 1.3 seconds.

Grid Selection Using The Mouse

Click On The Grid

Click And Drag

Select multiple cells by clicking on a cell and then dragging the mouse across the range.

MouseLeftClick-Drag

If you drag with the left mouse button depressed, what happens after the button is released depends on the Primary Selection Mode and which tool is selected on the toolbar. For example:

Select – the area is selected, but no effect is applied

Max Intensity – will apply the current effect, as listed on the toolbar, to the selected area at the maximum intensity shown on the toolbar.

Fade Up – will apply the current effect, as listed below the Effect Generator button, to the selected area. The effect is ramped up from the minimum intensity at the left-most selected cell to the maximum intensity at the right.

Fade Down – will apply the current effect, as listed below the Effect Generator button, to the selected area. The effect is ramped down from the maximum intensity at left-most selected cell to the minimum intensity at the right.

MouseRightClick-Drag

If you drag with the right mouse button depressed, after the button is released the grid's context menu will open

MouseLeftClick-Drag

Holding the Ctrl key down while dragging switches to the Secondary Selection Mode. This allows you to quickly switch between 2 different selection modes - just by holding the Ctrl key down or not.

Expanding the Selection

Double-Click Selection And Edit

MouseDoubleClick

Double-clicking on any portion of an effect in the sequencing grid will select the entire effect, then open a dialog window that allows the effect to be modified:

•Regular Channels - effect can be changed from intensity, shimmer, twinkle, or DMX intensity

•RGB Channels - colors can be modified

•SuperStar Effects - SuperStar is opened, allowing the effect to be edited

•Other Motion Effects - the Motion Effect Generator is opened

•Loops - the repeat count and speed can be modified

If the effect is modified and the user clicks “OK”, then those modifications are applied to the selected cells. In the following picture, one of the cells in the second row was double-clicked, causing all of the cells for that effect to be selected (including the ramp up and ramp down portions).

00250Waveform

There is a user preference option that switches how this action is invoked to Ctrl-Shift Double-Click.

Keyboard Selection

The keys listed here are part of the default mapping. You can change the key mapping by selecting Tools > Keyboard Preferences.

Key

Effect

Use the arrow keys to move one cell in the direction of the arrow

Move to the first cell in the current row

Move to the last cell in the current row

Move up 1 screen

Move down 1 screen

Expand the selection by holding down the shift key while using any of the keys listed above

If part of an effect is selected, then "E" will expand the selection to encompass the entire effect

"C" will expand the selection to the entire column

"R" will expand the selection to the entire row

Ctrl-A will select the entire grid.

Right-Click Context Menu, Select sub-menu

Right-clicking in the sequencing grid provides many options, including grid selection. From the Select sub-menu, you can expand the current selection to encompass: