Customizing Controls
| Site: | QSC |
| Course: | Q-SYS Level 1 Cinema Training |
| Book: | Customizing Controls |
| Printed by: | Guest user |
| Date: | Thursday, 21 November 2024, 2:55 AM |
Description
Video Transcript
0:08
The Q-SYS Designer software offers you a wide variety of customization
0:12
not only in the visual styles of your controls, but also the manner
0:16
in which you can use controls to control each other. Keep in mind that most end users
0:22
will only interact with the system by the controls you provide them via a User Control Interface
0:27
on a desktop, touchscreen, iPhone or iPad. So understanding the different types of controls
0:32
and the way they interact will help you give the end user the best experience possible.
0:37
As you know, you can double-click any component to access its control panel,
0:41
which contains all of the controls needed to manage that component.
0:46
Let’s look at some of the most common styles of controls you’ll see.
0:49
Buttons may seem fairly obvious: it’s a control that you push to change its state between on and off.
0:56
But there are different types of buttons: Toggle Buttons, Momentary Buttons, and Trigger Buttons.
1:02
Toggle buttons like this Mute control change states each time you press it:
1:06
in this case it toggles between Muted and Unmuted.
1:10
Momentary buttons like the Fast Forward control change to an on state while you press
1:15
and hold the button, and return to an off state when you release the button.
1:19
Trigger buttons like the Play, Stop, and Pause controls send one single
1:25
"on" impulse the instant they are activated, like the trigger of a … crossbow.
1:32
Rather than "off" and "on", you could think of a button as toggling between the values of 0% and 100%.
1:41
Faders and Knobs are controls that let you select any number within that range.
1:46
These are most commonly used to control the level of the audio, such as this Gain Knob.
1:52
There are also Text controls which either display important information or allow you to input information,
2:01
and Combo Box controls which you let you select from several different text options.
2:06
Finally there are Meters and LEDs, which simply display information but provide no interaction.
2:13
Meters show a range such as signal’s levels, while LEDs generally light up using on or off states.
2:20
You can drag any control from any control panel into your Schematic to create a copy of that control.
2:26
This copy maintains its association with its parent component,
2:30
and will move in unison with the original control in the control panel.
2:35
You can make as many copies as you like and they will all be linked.
2:39
Once a control is in your Schematic, you can customize it however you like – for instance,
2:44
you could grab any of these blue handles to resize the control.
2:49
The control will actually have its own properties panel now in the right-side pane
2:53
where you can adjust its characteristics, such as its Fill color.
2:57
For a button like this, you’ll notice that the Off-state color defaults to a darker shade of the On-state color,
3:04
but you can unlink this association and then choose any color you like for its Off state.
3:09
You could change the Corner Radius to round off its edges,
3:13
you could add a Margin which shrinks the visual size of the button
3:18
but keeps the same sized field of interaction, and you could adjust the Padding
3:23
which will establish some space between the edge of the button and the text or icon inside of it.
3:29
Speaking of icons, there is a library with hundreds of icons you could apply to your button,
3:34
and you can adjust its color – I’m just going to pick a red right there - or alignment.
3:43
You could also select the Custom icon to load an image from your computer onto the button.
3:50
I’m just going to pick this totally random icon – oh, it looks so good.
3:55
You can also choose to have no icon or give it any text label you like
4:00
in which case you can adjust the size and alignment of that text, or choose to make the text bold.
4:08
And don’t overlook this option at the top that allows you to reverse the button’s action,
4:12
swapping its on and off values. For some controls, you can even change its style.
4:17
We could change this knob to a fader, or a meter for monitoring purposes,
4:24
or even to a button that would toggle the gain between 0 and 100%.
4:31
There is actually a fourth kind of button called a String button which will input a data string
4:37
when the button is pressed. By using the data string of “++1" or “—1" for instance
4:44
you could create a button that increments or decrements the gain by 1 decibel.
4:49
We won’t go into every property of every style of control in this video,
4:53
but you should definitely take a little time to play with different control styles
4:58
and explore the ways you can change both their appearance and behavior.
5:02
I do want to point out that you can quickly transfer all of the properties between two controls.
5:08
If you drag one control over a second one,
5:11
a pop-up will suggest that you hold the Control key to assign the settings
5:15
of the first control to the second. I’ll hold Control and release the mouse,
5:20
and can then choose if I want to transfer the first control’s Style or ID.
5:26
Choosing Style will make the second control look exactly like the first one
5:31
without affecting what the control actually does,
5:34
while transferring ID will not change the second control’s appearance but instead link it to the first control.
5:42
You can also use this method to create custom-shaped buttons using the Polygon tool.
5:48
Select the Polygon tool in the Graphic Tools, create a shape, and then transfer a button’s ID to that shape.
5:58
But this is all icing, and I haven’t shown you what the actual cake is yet.
6:03
Like I said, controls can be activated by the click of a mouse button, or a finger on a touchscreen,
6:09
or...by another control. We’ll take a look at that in our next video, which covers control pins.
6:14
So take a break, and we’ll see you next time.
Lesson Description
Learn how to customize and configure the look and feel of your controls and even create your own custom-shape controls.
Tips and Definitions
Functioning Controls: Some controls allow you to adjust the element that they are associated with, such as Faders, Knobs, and Buttons. A Button can also be applied to a custom Polygon, which will retain its functionality.Display Controls: Other controls offer monitoring and status indication of the element that they are associated with, such as Meters, LEDs, and Text Fields.
- To apply a control style to another component, drag the original component over your target component while holding CTRL. Release your mouse button, and choose TRANSFER CONTROL STYLE.
- To apply a control ID to another component, drag the original component over your target component while holding CTRL. Release your mouse button, and choose TRANSFER CONTROL ID.