[ANSWERED] Stage setting for multiple projector set up

smoon

Hello , I am having issues with a mapping set-up (for a show that launches tomorrow) in that when we switch down the kit (Mac mini playing the Isadora patch and the projectors), the stages seem to rearrange themselves. Has anyone come across this before / could offer troubleshooting advice ?

Huge thanks

Woland

@smoon said:

Hello , I am having issues with a mapping set-up (for a show that launches tomorrow) in that when we switch down the kit (Mac mini playing the Isadora patch and the projectors), the stages seem to rearrange themselves. Has anyone come across this before / could offer troubleshooting advice ?

If you unplug and replug displays with a computer, it will, on an OS level, likely decide to order the displays differently. The best practice for consistency is to not disassemble and re-assemble multi-display setups (though I know this is not always possible). Second-best practice is to make a Scene with Text Draw actors going to a Projector per Stage that say the name of what the display assigned to that Stage is supposed to be (e.g. FOH BEAMER, STAGE RIGHT MONITOR, LARGE TV) and put that at the very start of your file as a pre-show check. When the wrong display says the wrong thing, it helps you figure out which displays to re-assign to which Stages in Stage Setup, (e.g. if you see "FOH BEAMER" on Display 1 [the stage right monitor] and it's assigned to Stage 1 and you see "STAGE RIGHT MONITOR" on Display 2 [the FOH beamer] and it's assigned to Stage 2, you'll know which Stages in Stage Setup and assign Display 1 to Stage 2 and Display 2 to Stage 1).

smoon

@woland Thanks for this, so _ I have a handy test page up - and nothing needs to be physically unplugged. However, we are finding when we power everything down, the scene, switches seem to happen (seemingly at random).

The gallery has agreed to keep the Mac mini switched on for the show as its only on for a few days, but we aren't able to keep the projectors on - are these issues likely to keep reoccurring each time we switch the projectors on and off?

Many thanks

Woland

@smoon

Oh no, are you working with an M-series Mac? I discovered recently (to my horror) that the newer ones (in my case an M3 Studio) just absolutely does not have a persistent memory of which displays are which when shut down and booted back up if it has multiple displays with the same make and model plugged into it. You'd think it's a foundational feature that a multi-display computer built for professionals would at a bare minimum be able to remember which displays you put where after a reboot, but no. It's completely baffling to me that such a basic problem even exists even though Apple is literally a multi-trillion dollar company.

https://wadetregaskis.com/multiple-displays-on-a-mac-sucks/

https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/tjywys/its_2022_and_my_macbook_pro_still_cant_remember/

https://arstechnica.com/civis/threads/multiple-displays-rearrange-on-every-wake.1484527/

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/mac-studio-multi-display-management-rinse-and-repeat-10-times-a-day.2375245/

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40166268

P.S. If you do enough Googling of this problem you'll find people talking about the third-party software that can solve this issue, so there are at least some after-market solutions to this enormous oversight on Apple's part.

jfg

@woland

Sorry but there is definitely a problem with Isadora. I have done at least 20 reboots with the following configuration:

1 main screen (1) and two extended screens : 1 monitor (2) and 1 beamer(3).

In Isadora 3 stages, one for each screen

Started Isadora and Millumin after each restart.

The images were always on the correct screen in Millumin.

In Isadora, the image switched between (2) and (3) almost every time (sometimes only twice). (1) always remained stable on the same screen.

It doesn't seem to be so bad if you don't shut down Isadora before restarting the computer and have set the system so that the apps that were open when shutting down are opened at startup. But I have to test further and above all see how it works when you start automatically an Izzy file on startup

best regards

Woland

@jfg said:

Sorry but there is definitely a problem with Isadora.

Entirely possible, (and arguably more forgivable since TroikaTronix is not a multi-trillion dollar company), but there's also definitely a problem with Apple.

@jfg said:

It doesn't seem to be so bad if you don't shut down Isadora before restarting the computer and have set the system so that the apps that were open when shutting down are opened at startup.

Interesting, I'll take a look at this. Is this also on an M-Series or an Intel Mac? I don't believe my M1 Mac Mini can handle more than two displays so testing this may be rather tricky for me. If you want to send us your findings in a ticket that would be extremely helpful.

jfg

@woland said:

Is this also on an M-Series or an Intel Mac?
MacBookPro M1 Max
If you want to send us your findings in a ticket that would be extremely helpful.

I'll do it right away

Paz

@woland @jfg I appear to get stable results by using Blackmagic Design UltraStudio Monitor 3G units in conjunction with its accompanying Desktop Video Setup: https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/uk/products/ultrastudio/techspecs/W-DLUS-13

Mac (Isadora Stage) ➔ Blackmagic Design UltraStudio Monitor 3G ➔ Projector / Screen

Hope this is helpful.

Best wishes

Simon