Q Light Controller Plus - Adding Fixtures Howto

# Adding Fixtures

## Fixture Manager

Open the fixture manager by clicking its button on the main toolbar. Alternatively you can select Fixtures from the Manager menu.

The fixture manager is the heart of QLC+ fixture-oriented architecture. As its name already says, you can manage (add, remove and edit) your lighting fixtures from the fixture manager. On the left side of the manager there is a list that contains all of the fixtures in the current workspace (currently it's empty). On the right side you can see some common information related to the currently selected fixture. On top of the fixture manager there is again another toolbar, containing the following buttons (from left to right):

Add new fixtures
Remove selected fixtures
Configure the selected fixture
Group a fixture selection
Ungroup a fixture from a group
Import a previously saved list of fixtures
Export a list of fixtures

## Adding a fixture

Add a fixture to the workspace by clicking the add button.

On the left side of the dialog you can see a list of available fixture manufacturers. Each manufacturer item is actually a folder containing a number of fixture models produced by the manufacturer. You can find for example a "DJScan250" under the "Futurelight" folder. As you click a fixture from the list, you can see the Channels field on the right side change to display the number of DMX channels required by the selected fixture. There's also a list of the fixture's channels just under the Channels box.

You can edit the new fixture's name in the Name field or you can stick to the default that the application suggests. If the fixture has different operational modes (different sets of channels), you can select one from the Mode box. The fixture's DMX address can be set in the Address field and should be the same as the actual physical fixture's DMX address. The Universe field is used to assign the fixture to a physical DMX output universe. Usually each universe has its own cable coming from the computer.

If you wish to add multiple fixtures of the same type, you can increase the value in the Amount box. If you wish to leave some gap between each fixture's address space, you can change the value in the Address gap box.

If you don't understand the DMX addressing principles, please consult your lighting equipment manuals for more information. In short, a DMX address is the first DMX channel of one fixture. In the case of a DJScan250 (which uses 6 channels), assigning for example 1 as its DMX address, reserves channels 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 to the fixture. The next fixture must then be assigned to DMX address 7 to prevent channel overlapping.

### Adding a generic dimmer

Dimmers are a bit special devices, since all they can usually do is just adjust the intensities of their channels (that usually drive PAR cans and the like). If you wish to add such a device, select the Generic dimmer fixture from the list and specify the number of channels you wish the device to employ into the Channels box. Note that you cannot adjust the mode for dimmers and the channel list stays empty all the time.

## Back to the fixture manager

Click OK to close the dialog and add the selected fixture(s) to the workspace.

On the left side of the fixture manager you can now see the fixture(s) that you just added. On the right side, you can see information on the currently selected fixture. You can edit the fixture's name, address and universe by clicking the Configure button. You can also change the fixture definition thru the configuration dialog.