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MAtricks

The problem

You have twelve LED bars in a row. Over one evening you want:

  • every second bar red, the others blue
  • a fan of positions that is mirrored from the centre (outside bars pointing out, inside bars pointing in)
  • a wave that runs through the bars in pairs, not one by one
  • the same fan repeated across four groups of three bars

Without MAtricks you'd build a separate group for each of these, often several (odd, even, left half, right half, pairs …), and the group pool fills up with variations of the same twelve fixtures.

The idea: modify the selection, not the group

MAtricks reshapes the current selection on the fly: which fixtures are selected right now, and how values and effects are spread across them. Your groups stay simple (one group, "Bars L→R"), and MAtricks provides the patterns.

The simplest MAtricks you already use: Next and Prev step through the selection one fixture at a time. Prev + Next together selects everything again, and Set temporarily switches MAtricks off and on.

The settings in the MAtricks toolbar build on that:

Interleave
Turns a line into a grid: interleave 4 makes 12 fixtures into 3 rows of 4. Many settings then have an X and a Y version (columns and rows). It's also the basis for "every second" or "every fourth": interleave 2 plus Next selects the odd, then the even fixtures.
Blocks
Treat neighbouring fixtures as one unit. Block 2 makes pairs, so a step with Next or a wave moves by pairs.
Groups
Split the selection into groups of N and repeat the spread inside each group. At 0 Thru 100 with MAtricks groups 4 gives a fan of 0→100 in every group of four fixtures (three fans on twelve bars), not one long one.
Wings
Split the selection into parts that mirror each other. Wings 2 makes a fan symmetric from the centre: the outermost fixtures on both sides get the same value.

You can combine them, store a combination in the MAtricks pool (only the settings that are switched on, shown green), and recall it later. There are also predefined MAtricks to load.

The same twelve bars, the same command (At 0 Thru 100). Bar height = the value each fixture gets. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Fixture 1 Thru 12 group order L→R Fixture 12 Thru 1 same fixtures, reverse order MAtricks Groups 4 a fan in each group of 4 MAtricks Blocks 2 pairs act as one fixture MAtricks Wings 2 right half mirrors left Interleave 2, Next then At 100: every 2nd value from the fan (0–100) not selected
One group of twelve bars and one command. The selection order and the MAtricks settings decide which bar gets which value.

To verify in onPC: check 17

Where it shows up

MAtricks affects everything that is spread across a selection:

  • value ranges and fans: At 0 Thru 100, position fans
  • effects: the phase and width of an effect follow the MAtricks structure (see Effects and chasers)
  • stepping with Next / Prev, e.g. to focus fixtures one by one or to set every second fixture to a different colour

Interpretation

Think of a group as the list and MAtricks as the shape. Good groups store a sensible order (left→right, upstage→downstage); MAtricks then turns that order into odd/even, pairs, mirrored halves or repeated blocks. That's why the selection order in your groups matters so much (see Selection and groups).

When it matters, and when not

  • Every programmer: Next / Prev / Set. They're the fastest way to focus and check fixtures one by one.
  • Rigs with rows of identical fixtures (bars, battens, pixel tubes, moving-head lines): interleave, wings and groups save a lot of groups and make fans and effects look designed rather than random.
  • A handful of different fixtures: little benefit. Plain groups are enough.

Sources