Will someone be so kind as to please address this question?
Let's say I want to build a full concert performance in MA2 onPC for an artist who has contracted me to do the lighting for their show. And, I want a showfile on the machine, on a USB---or whatever---that I can take to the on-site loadin, plug into the on-site MA2 desk, and run the show up live for rehearsal that night.
Having said that, here's the rub: When I build the show in MA2 onPC, I want to set the stage dimmer levels using "f-stops" instead of doing so visually using my eyes. Yes, of course I wanna look at it while I'm building looks, but I wanna set the levels by f-stop.
For instance, inside MA2 and MA3D, I want to set my keys at 150 footcandles, and I want to set my fill one stop down at 75 footcandles.
How can I set up these levels in MA2 onPC so I actually see something very close to that on the live stage when I load the showfile into the on-site MA2 desk and run it up?
The reason? Let's say that I primarily work in television. I work for "electronic eyes," not for my visual eyes, or the visual eyes of the audience. I work for the cameras, and short of having a "visualizer" like MA3D on the machine---that doesn't show me true ratios anyway, visual or otherwise---where I can set up the looks ahead of time in a showfile, I'm usually on stage with my light meter, where I can measure the footcandle levels for key/fill---and background, and audience, etc.---and then tell the desk operator how hot to run the dimmers to give me the 1-stop key/fill and other ratios that I want to see.
I don't wanna show up at the site with a showfile with "unbalanced" video levels that must be fully corrected on site, on stage, with a light meter, if I can avoid doing so, because it may be that I have no time to set this up live and reprogram all the dimmer levels in the showfile, because the generator trucks are tied up in a two-mile-long traffic jam on the Interstate, because of a massive tractor-trailer overturn and toxic spill situation, and won't arrive at the site until one hour before curtain. Hey; experience tells me it truly is like Gump says....
How can I program in an MA2 showfile setting my levels using f-stops, or something approaching f-stops, or, can something like this be done at all using MA2 onPC?
Thanks so much for any wisdom offered on this.