Par can beam axis

lanternz · Post by **lanternz** » Sun Sep 16, 2018 11:21 pm

Is there someway that you could add a direct click and drag to fine tune the axis of par cans? I know I can do this through the direct angle entry in the stroke/fill info tab but it would be useful if it were possible to drive this directly through the beam image - something like the control point function when drawing curved lines. The issue is trying to see if I can get an assymetric overhead rig of cans to evenly light a surface even when the angle of incidence is widely different across the rig.

Post by **admin** » Mon Sep 17, 2018 2:20 pm

If you have a trackpad you can select the par beam and use a two finger "rotate" gesture to change the axis.

lanternz · Post by **lanternz** » Tue Sep 18, 2018 2:30 am

That function does not seem to work on my Mac. OS 10.13.6. MacBook Pro Mid 2012. Two finger rotation turned on in System Preferences.

Post by **admin** » Tue Sep 18, 2018 1:03 pm

Just to be sure, the two finger rotate gesture works to rotate other selected shapes and not the beam? Or, the two finger gesture does not rotate at all?

If no rotate is working, check the preferences interface tab to see if you have disabled rotate.

lanternz · Post by **lanternz** » Tue Sep 18, 2018 5:49 pm

Yep, I had checked system preference for two finger rotation but neglected to look at the check box in LxPro Interface preferences. Works now. Thanks.

lanternz · Post by **lanternz** » Thu Sep 20, 2018 7:38 am

More on this axis rotation issue. In the beam display, even though the instrument is not very far from vertical I find that rotation does not preserve the oval shape of the beam. Rotation seems to shift the image to nearly circular as it rotates. This does not seem to represent the true behavior of the beam.

Post by **admin** » Thu Sep 20, 2018 5:01 pm

The outline of the beam for a PAR is an approximation. The approximation of foreshortening when the beam is cross-wise at a distance indeed looks counter-intuitively oval. However, as a guide it its actually reasonably accurate.

You can get perhaps a better picture if you use the model window. You'll want to select the par symbol you are trying to model. Then, in the Inspector's info tab, double-click "rendering" in the 3D category. This will bring up the rendering options sheet. Be sure to enable "Use Template Image/Mask" so that the beam is rendered with an oval mask.