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DEP2GMA Converter - FAQ

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WHAT ABOUT SUPPORT FOR GRANDMA 3?

Well. MA3 provides a very powerful interface to exchange data with planning- und visualization applications called MVR. Depence2/R3 supports MVR natively. Therefore, no DEP2GMA Converter application for grandMA3 is planned.

WHY ARE FIXTURES AT POSITION 0/0/0?

FixtureType did not exist in grandMA2 during import. Make sure every FixtureType (ID number) exists before importing. If you’r using grandMA2 v3.0 or lower please use the option „FixtureType 1“ in „Settings“ window.

IMPORT OF WYSIWYG DATA FINISHED BUT THE LIST IS EMPTY?

The exported CSV file does not contain fixtures to import or no Fixture ID was found.

IMPORT OF DEPENCE2/R3 DATA FAILED WITH 'MISSING CSV FILED: …'?

The exported CSV file does not contain a necessary field. Make sure to select all columns before exporting the CSV file.

IMPORT OF DEPENCE2/R3 DATA FAILED WITH 'INPUT DATA CONTAINS INVALID PATCH DATA: …'?

Make sure your DMX universes were numbered like 1, 2, 3, … grandMA2 can’t handle non-numeric DMX universes.

I WANT TO UPDATE CHANGED FIXTURE POSITIONS/PATCH WITHOUT RE-IMPORTING ALL LAYERS?

The macros „DEP2GMA move fixtures“ and „DEP2GMA patch fixtures“ are just updating existing fixtures. You can start these macros after re-importing them if you changed the data in Depence2/R3.

WHY IS THE PATCH DONE BY A MACRO INSTEAD OF IMPORTING IT WITHIN THE LAYERS?

(1) You would loose the patch after changing the fixture type.
(2) You can use the patch macro again after changing the patch in WYSIWYG without re-importing all the layer and fixture stuff.

WHY ARE FIXTURES NOT ROTATED CORRECTLY (AS SHOWN IN DEPENCE2/R3)?

Rotation export is currently experimental. This tool just takes “RAW” position and roation data from Depence2/R3 CSV and writes these values to the grandMA2 XML file.

I WANT TO MOVE/ROTATE FIXTURES RELATIVE TO INSERTION POINT AFTER IMPORT?

Check out MA command „Move3D /relative“ and „Rotate3D /relative“.

WHY SHOULD FIXTURETYPE „DIMMER“ SHOULD BE USED FOR IMPORT?

grandMA2 is currently not able to import Multipart-Fixtures in a simple way. CSV export of Depence2/R3 provides too less data to do this correctly. So the best way is to import every fixture as „Dimmer“-placeholder and then assign the correct types in the grandMA2 software. It also ensures a straight workflow: Depence2/R3 > CONVERTER > GRANDMA (without the need to import all types before using the converter).

WHICH DATA FIELDS WERE PROCESSED?

Fixture ID = Fixture ID, DMX Line/Address = Patch, Name = Layer, X Pos = Pos X, Z Pos = Pos Y, Y Pos = Pos Z, X Rotation = Rotation X, Z Rotation = Rotation Y, Y Rotation = Rotation Z. Name = Used for group creation (if not empty).

This tool swaps Y and Z axis because Depence2/R3 has different axis usage.
This tool also adds +180 to Y Rotaton to correct hanging/standing fixtures. This feature is still in BETA.

HOW CAN I SORT THE CREATED FIXTURES? MY FIXTURES APPEAR IN RANDOM ORDER AFTER IMPORT.

This tool automatically sorts incoming data based on the sort options („Settings“ window). For manual sorting open „Settings“ window and chose „None“ as sort option. Then sorting has to be done before Depence2/R3 export. The converter processes the CSV from top to down without any sorting.

This page was last updated: February 25, 2023