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v1.0.0-beta2
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Patch errors

Patch errors are the ones a console notices first. FlexViz reports them as errors, marks conflicts in the Patch list, and does not let you type a new one.

What is reported

Not patched
The fixture has no address yet.
Address conflict
1.024–1.039 overlaps Sharpy 02. The message gives the channels and names the fixture that already holds them.
Address out of range
The fixture would run past channel 512 of its universe.
Patch mode
Patched as Mode 1, fixture is Mode 3. The patch was written for another mode than the fixture now has.
DMX breaks
For fixtures with more than one DMX break: DMX break 2 is not patched, or two breaks of the same fixture on the same channels.

A conflict is reported once, on the second fixture, so the list does not show every clash twice. The Patch list marks both: a red triangle beside the address of each fixture in the clash, so you see it where you patch.

A conflict in the Patch list: both fixtures are marked

A fixture patched in a universe the project does not use is an error too. It has its own page: Universes.

You cannot type a conflict

The editor refuses any edit that would put two fixtures on one channel: typing an address, moving a selection to another universe, or a Repatch that lands on a fixture outside the selection. The field goes back to what it was, and the inspector says who is in the way:

The address is refused, and the inspector names the fixture in the way

⚠ This ends clone patching. Two identical fixtures on one address on purpose used to be allowed. In FlexViz they are not any more, because a file with shared addresses can cost you the whole patch on a console (see below).

Where conflicts come from

If you cannot type one, a conflict arrives another way:

  • An import. A patch CSV or an MVR whose addresses overlap the scene, or each other, and you kept them.

  • A change of mode or fixture type. A wider mode needs more channels than the old one had. FlexViz asks before it writes that.

  • An older scene. Scenes from before the rule open as they are, conflicts included.

When a mode change would overlap

A mode is its own library entry, so changing the mode is the same action as changing the fixture type. If the new mode no longer fits, FlexViz asks first:

Changing to a wider mode

  • Repatch whole rig re-addresses every patched fixture, in its current order, packed from 1.001 with the new channel counts. Every address in the rig can change, so send the patch to the desk again afterwards.

  • Next free universe moves only the fixtures that no longer fit, packed from address 1 of the first universe nothing is patched in. Everything else keeps its address.

  • Cancel keeps the old mode.

Either answer is one Undo, mode change included. Position, rotation, name and mount stay as they were; only the type, the shape drawn and the patch change.

When an import overlaps

After a patch CSV or an MVR has landed, FlexViz checks the imported fixtures against the scene:

An import with overlapping addresses

  • Repatch overlapping fixtures moves only the imported fixtures that overlap, to the next free addresses, same universe first. One Undo puts them back.

  • Keep as is leaves the file's addresses. Use it when the overlap is a clone patch the source meant, and fix it before the file goes to a console.

Fixtures that were already in the scene are never moved by either answer.

Fixing a conflict

  • One fixture: select it and type a free address in the inspector.

  • Let FlexViz find the room: select the fixtures and use Edit › Auto address. It asks nothing: it moves the selection into the first free channels, keeps their current order, and is one Undo. If one fixture does not fit anywhere, none of them moves. It also addresses fixtures that are not patched yet.

  • A run of fixtures: select them and use Edit › Repatch…. Give a start universe and address, and FlexViz packs the selection from there by each fixture's real channel count. With Continue into the next universe on, a fixture that no longer fits starts the next universe at address 1; with it off, it stays where it is. The dialog marks every fixture that would land on channels held by something outside the selection, before you apply it.

To take fixtures off the patch, select them and use Edit › Unpatch. They stay in the scene where they are; only their addresses go, every DMX break included. They then show as Not patched. Both commands are also on the right-click menu.

⚠ A fixture never straddles two universes. A 16-channel head cannot start at 1.500, because it would need channel 515. It goes to the next universe, and the channels left behind stay free for something that fits.

Why it matters

A console has to assign each fixture its own channels. MagicQ, given an MVR in which any two fixtures share an address, refuses the whole patch, not just the pair: the file imports, the fixtures appear in the patch list in the right places, and every address is blank. Nothing on the desk says why.

That is why the MVR export lists the conflicts in the file and asks a second time before writing it. See Before you send a file to a console.

  • Patch errors are the ones a console notices first. FlexViz reports them as errors, marks conflicts in the Patch list, and does not let you type a new one.