Display Modes
The Mapping window shows two things at once: the placed fixtures and the animation running through them. While there are only a few fixtures, this is convenient, but on a large project the picture quickly gets cluttered — addresses overlap each other, spline lines get in the way of watching the effect, and the effect itself covers the fixtures. That is why almost everything drawn in the field can be turned on and off separately.
Display settings are gathered in two places: two checkboxes on the right side of the Mapping window toolbar, and the items in the View → 2D Mapping menu. They affect neither the data sent to the fixtures nor the export result — this is only what you see on screen.
Fixtures and Effects
On the right side of the Mapping window toolbar there are two checkboxes — Fixtures and Effects. Both are enabled by default.
- Fixtures
- Draws the fixtures themselves — small squares, one per pixel. Along with them, spline lines, address labels, and a white marker at the start of each spline appear. Each square glows with the color currently being sent to that fixture.
- Effects
- Draws the animation itself — across the entire working area of the field, regardless of whether fixtures are placed there or not.
Importantly, fixtures take their color from the animation themselves. So unchecking Effects does not turn the fixtures off: they keep glowing, only the "backdrop" between them disappears.
| Fixtures | Effects | What you see and when it's needed |
|---|---|---|
| on | on | Default mode: animation across the whole working area, fixtures on top of it. Overall picture of the project |
| on | off | Only the fixtures glow, the field between them is black. The view closest to reality: this is roughly how the animation will look on the installed object |
| off | on | Only the animation, without fixtures and labels. Convenient for adjusting the effect itself — size, position, speed |
| off | off | Empty field. Layout and effect frames and tool service markup remain |
Two notes:
- While Fixtures is unchecked, fixtures on the field are not highlighted with a frame — this way they can't be accidentally moved while working on the effect. The needed fixture is highlighted in the Fixtures window at this time.
- Neither checkbox is saved in the project or in the program settings: on the next launch they are enabled again.
Fixture labels
While the Fixtures checkbox is enabled, each fixture's DMX address is displayed next to it. What is shown besides the address is set in the View → 2D Mapping menu. These items are remembered and stay in effect until you change them.
| Menu item | What is added to the fixture |
|---|---|
| Show Fixture Universes | The universe number with the letter U in front: U1, U2. Needed when a project has more than one universe and a fixture can no longer be identified by address alone |
| Show Pixel Numbers | The fixture's sequence number with a # sign: #1, #2. Numbers are counted within the port in patching order; for unpatched fixtures — by the overall list. Helps find a fixture that turned out to be "off by one" on the object |
| Show Fixture Multi-Addresses | Changes the address itself to a continuous one. If a port spans several universes, fixtures in the second universe get addresses 513–1024, the third — 1025–1536, and so on, instead of starting from one in each universe. Makes it easier to check the addressing of a long line split across several universes |
Labels are drawn at field scale and shrink together with the fixtures: to read the addresses, the field needs to be zoomed in. At the overall project view they turn into indistinguishable dots — that's normal.
Labels are drawn for each pixel, not for the spline as a whole. For a line of two hundred fixtures that's two hundred numbers, so it's best to keep Show Pixel Numbers and Show Fixture Universes turned off until they are actually needed.
Splines and the pixel grid
Two more items in the same menu control the field markup:
- Show Splines
- The spline line is a thin gray polyline connecting fixtures. It shows the order in which pixels go and where the line breaks. Turn it off if the lines get in the way of watching the animation: the fixtures themselves stay in place.
- Show Pixel Grid
- A grid of cells the size of one working-field pixel. It shows whether a fixture is placed exactly in its cell. The grid only appears when zoomed in far, and disappears on its own when you zoom out — otherwise it would merge into a solid fill. It is not connected to the Snap to Grid button on the toolbar: the grid is visible without snapping, and snapping works even when the grid is off.
The start of each spline is marked with a white square frame around the first fixture. It is drawn whenever the Fixtures checkbox is enabled and cannot be disabled separately: it shows which end the line starts addressing from. If the animation runs along the line in the wrong direction, reverse it with the Reverse property (see Properties).
Info fields
The bottom three items of the View → 2D Mapping menu turn on service labels over the field:
| Menu item | What it shows | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Coordinates | Cursor position in working-field pixels, on two lines — X and Y | Top left |
| Scale | Current zoom level in percent. 100% — one field pixel equals one screen point | Top left, below coordinates |
| Frames Per Second (FPS) | The rate at which the field is redrawn | Bottom left |
Coordinates are useful when fixtures need to be placed at precalculated points, and Frames Per Second — when the project starts lagging and you need to see whether the computer can keep up.
Hidden fixtures
The Fixtures and Effects checkboxes act on the whole field at once. To remove only some fixtures from the picture, use their visibility — the checkbox to the left of a fixture, spline, port, or converter in the Fixtures window. The Visibility property in the Properties window switches the same thing.
This is not a display mode but the fixture's own state, and it works on a deeper level:
- a hidden fixture disappears both from the Mapping window and from 3D View;
- its channels are zeroed out — no data is sent to the real luminaire;
- the address, universe, and place in the port are kept for the fixture, patching is not broken;
- the state is saved with the project.
This is convenient for temporarily "switching off" half of the object to work out the other half, or to check which port is responsible for a specific section. If a fixture doesn't light up on the object but the animation is running in the program, check visibility along the whole chain: fixture → port → converter.
What is configured elsewhere
- Display of the 3D View window — the wireframe, helper objects, grid — is gathered in the View → 3D View menu, see 3D Панель инструментов.
- The View → Export Mask item has nothing to do with display: it saves the fixture layout to a file, see Экспортирование маски.
- The program's windows themselves can be shown or hidden through the Window menu, and their layout saved via Workspace.
If something goes wrong
Fixtures have disappeared from the field. Check in order: the Fixtures checkbox on the toolbar, the visibility of the fixture, port, and converter in the Fixtures window, and whether the field has scrolled away — the Z key fits everything into the window.
Fixtures are visible, but there's no animation between them. The Effects checkbox is unchecked — then only the fixtures themselves glow. If the fixtures are black too, the issue isn't display-related: check whether there is an effect in the composition and whether playback is running on the timeline.
Addresses can't be read. Zoom in on the field with the mouse wheel: labels grow together with the fixtures.
Too many numbers on the fixtures. Turn off Show Pixel Numbers and Show Fixture Universes — only the address will remain.
Fixtures aren't selected by the mouse. Either the Fixtures checkbox is unchecked, or the Select and Edit Effects tool is active, which doesn't select fixtures, see Панель инструментов.
Can't see the pixel grid. It's turned on via View → 2D Mapping → Show Pixel Grid and only appears when zoomed in far.