Sending it to a console
A rig exported from FlexViz has been read by grandMA3, MagicQ, Capture and MVR Artist. All four get every fixture's number, address, mode and position right. What each one does with the truss differs, and one of them hides its import where you would not look.
Send it for the fixtures, not for the structure
The truss is in the file, at its true size and place, and a viewer draws it. No console tested so far draws it, each for its own reason — and in none of them does that affect the fixtures. A console's job is the patch, and the patch arrives intact in all of them.
- grandMA3 2.4
- Fixtures, numbers, addresses, modes, positions. Trusses only if you tick them, and then as patch entries of type Truss, not on the stage.
- MagicQ
- Fixtures, numbers, addresses, modes, positions. Ignores scenery and truss by design.
- Capture
- Fixtures in the right place. Truss drawn, but every piece stacked at the origin.
- MVR Artist
- Everything, truss included. The quickest way to check a file.
grandMA3 2.4
⚠ The MVR import is not in the Patch menu. The Patch menu has an Export button and no import, although MA's manual still describes one.
Put the
.mvrintogma3_library/mvr— on a console, on the USB stick.Menu › Show Creator › Partial Show Read.
Tap MVR at the top right, pick User, choose the file.
Tick the object types you want, then read.
⚠ Only Fixtures and Group Objects start ticked. The list also offers Scene Objects, Focus Points, Supports, Trusses, Video Screens and Projectors. Import with the defaults and no structure comes across, which looks exactly like an export without truss. Tick Trusses if you want them — they then appear in the patch as entries with a fixture type of Truss, which is not the same as drawing them.
MagicQ
MagicQ takes the patch, the fixture numbers and the positions, and the plot agrees with FlexViz: fixtures land where the rig puts them, and MagicQ's focus points match. It ignores an MVR's scenery and truss altogether; that is documented behaviour of the console.
⚠ Fix patch conflicts before you send. When two fixtures in the file share an address, MagicQ can leave the whole patch empty. FlexViz lists conflicts on the second step of the export and asks before writing them — see Export an MVR.
Capture
Capture's fixture library is a separate download; without it, an imported scene shows no fixtures. With it, the fixtures arrive in the right place. The truss is drawn but stacked at the origin: Capture keeps each piece's height and rotation and drops its x and y. That is how Capture reads the file, not a fault in the export.
Check a file with MVR Artist
GDTF Hub's free MVR Artist (gdtf.eu › MVR › MVR Artist) runs in the browser, lists every truss and fixture in a file and draws them. Before a file goes to a console you have not used it with, open it there: if the rig looks right in MVR Artist, the file is right, and anything missing on the desk is the desk's reading of it.