MA3 Phaser Workflow

Walkthrough of my MA3 phaser workflow for cuestack programming.
0:00 introduction
1:04 target goals of the workflow
1:54 the magic macro
2:20 __problems without the macro - no MAtricks
3:40 __storing with MAtricks - keep it Universal
5:10 editing the phaser while seeing output
9:10 recap of process front to back
12:00 bug with integrating presets and how to work with it

[@FifaKomme]

This is one of the reasons I'm really having a hard time to having patience to learn MA3. So many steps to go through, only to do a simple thing.

[@prosto8312]

If you don't learn MA3 you don't see the whole picture. This is an example of a personal workflow. Usually everything you need can be done with just one, two, three touches

[@jayhergen]

@@prosto8312 Have been on MA3 for over a year, 2+ tours, there are multible things I find that take way more work/time (more then a few touches) over MA2. I agree with the first comment where most everything (for me) feels way more complicated in MA3 then it did in MA2. And I really want to like MA3 I own one, but it just does not flow like MA2 did for me.

[@JDesignProgramming]

Try going 100% recipe cues and phasers. I use universal base phasers with different width/transition as well as form. I switched my whole workflow into creating empty cues first and then filling them with recipies. I use double finger tap to edit and ctrlc/v to copy recipies. No cloning of any kind. Just creating correct groups and simple presets. Works like a charm so far.

[@GiaffoDesigns]

I have tried and honestly I just despise it. Especially for something that's not touring and just needs to update quickly. I've found that updating an ingredient will occasionally trigger a recook of all components of a cue it is linked to, overwriting manual values stored into the cue. But it's not a consistent behavior. But it did just fuck me at doors for updating the low value of a dimmer phaser, which somehow removed all of the stomps from an executor the phaser was cooked into without me being prompted, which had been working correctly for 2 days. I feel like I've gotten about as fast as I can possibly get with recipes - they copy easily with Ctrl+C Ctrl+V, I keep a "bank" of them in a view with a dedicated sequence for commonly used items - I feel like I don't really have anything that I could speed up on that. But when changes need to be made, or a single fixture needs to do something different in a cue, or I want to store a change into 4 cues cue-only, I can move at 5x the speed with conventional values just by merit of number of things I have to touch and how many items my eyes have to find. For ease of applying programming to a new rig I'm sure recipes are great, but I can't get on board right now for just cueing out a show that just needs to exist on one rig and be quickly modified.

[@jayhergen]

First thank you so much for making this video. I love MA, but why does this all seem so complicated? On MA2 I could make an effect so easy and the key was it all made sense to me. I have asked ACT multiple times to please for the love of god make a video that just goes over each tool in the Phaser and when/why I would use them. They always say eh maybe and never do it. MA puts out 2-minute videos called "Let's make a cool effect" The head marketing dude (who is not an LD in any way) goes okay let's click this, let's click that okay now you have a cool effect. Im like cool, I have a cool effect I guess, no idea how I made it and forget about making a different effect. I don't get phasers, some people I know love them and will argue to their death it's the best thing ever. That's great for them, I don't get it and your video is one of the very few items I have found to help with this completely new effects engine. Does anyone know of an in-depth-look video of the phaser itself? Really feel it would have been cool for MA to be clear on this and make way more information available since phasers are one of the most changed items from MA2 to MA3.

[@GiaffoDesigns]

It is quite a few steps. This is my 4th iteration of phaser workflow. I've submitted a request to ACT including this video and have requested that editing a universal line of a preset recipe can automatically include that selection and the associated MAtricks, and then be able to update directly to get the result I've shown in the video. I think that would make what I'm trying to pull off here a lot more intuitive, because what I'm doing is definitely workaround-y. But yes I'm very frustrated with all the focus on the bells and whistles without cleaning up the core workflow for fast and clean programming, and with all of the intermittent bugs that seem impossible to recreate on demand.