Even More Control Components
| Site: | QSC |
| Course: | Q-SYS Control 101 Training |
| Book: | Even More Control Components |
| Printed by: | Guest user |
| Date: | Thursday, 16 May 2024, 10:14 AM |
Description
Lesson Description
Explore some of the
latest Control Components added in Designer version 7.1 that provide easy
alternatives to processes that might otherwise require scripting.
Video Transcript
0:08
Let’s look at a few more Control Components that are included in Q-SYS Designer Software v.7.1 or
0:14
higher! Each of these components are designed to perform a task that you might previously have had to
0:19
rely on a Lua script for, but are now made much easier as a simple Control Component.
0:26
If you want to place the current Date and Time on your UCI, this is the tool to use. Simply open up its
0:32
control panel and drag the “Output” field onto your UCI. From here you probably want to personalize
0:38
your font choice, as well as the font style, and of course its color, and I would guess a lot of people will
0:46
also want to change the Background option to the transparent “No Background” choice, so that you can
0:51
really place this anywhere on your screen. Next, you can change the Format field to alter the visual style
0:58
in which the date and time is displayed from any of a dozen preselected formats. If none of these are
1:05
quite right for you, well you could customize it even further … you’ll notice that the Format String reveals the
1:10
specifier code that defines this formatting. You can find a full list of specifiers in the Help file for this
1:18
object. For instance, if I like this option but I really want the full word of the month rather than its
1:25
abbreviation, I can look for the appropriate specifier. I can see that percentage capital-A is showing the
1:31
full day of the week, this comma shows a literal comma, percentage lower-case d shows a two-digit day,
1:39
and then percentage lower-case b shows the abbreviated month. I’ll change this to % capital-B, which is
1:47
the Full month name. That looks better. You can continue to customize this field with other specifiers or
1:54
even your own text to display the date and time exactly how you like.
2:01
Not everyone loves using faders on UCIs, instead preferring the option of a button to step the volume up
2:09
and down rather than slide your finger. We previously showed you a way to change a fader into a string
2:15
button that performs the action of stepping that control, but this still requires someone to tap the
2:21
button over and over again.
2:23
The Value Stepper allows you to either tap a button once to step the control, or to hold the button
2:30
down which will continually increase or decrease its value. You can change its properties to either a gain
2:37
range with customizable maximum and minimum decibel levels, or to simply choose a Percent, which will
2:44
effectively scroll any control’s .Position parameter from 0 to 1, regardless of what its .Value range is.
2:53
You could also choose an Integer output, and then select the number of steps, or integers, that you
3:00
would like for its range. I’ll keep this one as a Gain stepper. When you tap a button it will apply a single
3:07
step, but if you hold the button then it will continue to increase or decrease the value after the amount
3:14
of time you specify as the “Hold Off”.
3:18
The size of each step will be determined by the “Time” field, which dictates how long it takes to move
3:24
from the lowest possible value to the highest. You could also change the properties of the control to
3:31
“Discrete” mode, which will allow you to specify the exact number of steps within this range, and this also
3:38
gives you a new visual meter style that illuminates for each of these steps. This meter is also available in
3:45
Integer Mode.
3:47
To put it to work, simply wire the Stepper’s Value pin to your target control, and then add these buttons
3:54
to your UCI instead. Now I can tap it once to apply a single step, or hold it down to add more and more.
4:03
If you still want a fader control as well, you can drag the Value control out and change it into a fader.
4:11
Lastly, if you’re controlling Gain, you should know that there’s a Value Stepper already embedded into
4:17
the normal audio Gain block. Simply change the Gain properties to “Enable Ramp Controls” and you’ll
4:25
see the same Value Stepper buttons have been added natively, so you don’t need to use a separate
4:31
Value Stepper component at all. Once again you can choose between continuous mode, or define an
4:36
exact number of discrete steps in its properties.
4:43
The Selector component makes it really easy to send a variety of specific values to a single control pin.
4:49
Its only property is to specify how many different options you want to choose from. Inside, you’ll see
4:55
that you need to assign both a label and a value for each selection. The label can be anything you like,
5:02
it’s just a name to describe your selection. The Value is the .Value parameter you want to send to the
5:09
target control. For instance, rather than using that Value Stepper, maybe we want a number of buttons
5:15
for different preset options. We’ll make a Soft setting, a Normal setting, a Loud setting, and a Really
5:25
Loud setting, with appropriate decibel values associated with each selection. Once again we’ll wire the
5:34
Selector to the target control, and then we can add these four radio-style buttons to our UCI, letting us
5:41
decide which Value is sent forward to the fader. This may seem similar to creating four Snapshots of the
5:48
control – which is true, although the Selector is a little faster to setup and easier to update after it's
5:54
created. But beyond that, it also provides you with this “Selection” drop-down field, which you can then
6:01
add to your UCI. This allows a user to make their selection from a list, which could save you a lot of
6:07
screen space. This is actually one of the only places in the software that you can define the options of a
6:13
custom Combo-Box text field without using scripting, so this component really does open up a whole
6:19
new type of interface for your UCI.
6:24
You’ve seen that it’s possible to add visual Layers to your UCI, and we mentioned that you can actually
6:30
transition those Layers on and off-screen with the use of scripting. With the UCI Layer Controller, you
6:37
can do this with just the touch of a button. Start off, of course, by building a UCI that has multiple layers
6:43
on it. Then select the UCI Layer Controller component, and adjust its properties to target the correct
6:50
UCI, and the page that contains the layers you want to move. Those Layers will automatically populate
6:57
within the Layer Controller’s control panel. In fact, if you add or remove layers in your UCI, this
7:04
component’s control panel updates itself automatically. All you have to do is select one of six transition
7:11
styles from the drop down menu, and then engage the “Show” button to toggle that layer on- or off-
7:17
screen. You can slide a layer on and off from the top, the bottom, the left or right, you could fade a layer
7:26
in place, or use none to have the layer just appear or disappear. Using layers can really transform your
7:34
user’s experience. It lets you put a lot of functionality on a single page by hiding different control panels
7:41
off to the side and only bringing them in when you need them, which keeps your users from having to
7:46
navigate a bunch of different pages and potentially getting lost. You could also design pop-up windows
7:52
you could use for confirmation screens when performing important actions, or you could get rid of
7:58
certain controls that aren’t applicable at the moment. You could even create help pages to teach your
8:03
users how to use the interface. The creativity of what you use Layers for is up to you, but the Layer
8:10
Controller makes it a lot easier to accomplish it.
8:13
That’s it! There’s no exercise to go with these components, but I’d highly recommend that you experiment
8:18
with each of them in your design, and then move on whenever you’re ready.