Palettes are the most efficient way to program complex shows in D-Pro. Instead of storing fixture values directly in every cue, you store them once in a palette and let your cues reference it, so a change made in one place updates the whole show.
The problem palettes solve
Values recorded directly into a cue are fixed. If a number of cues focus your moving heads on the same position, for example the singer at centre stage, and that position changes from venue to venue, you would otherwise have to edit every one of those cues before showtime. On a show of any size that is slow and error prone.
How referencing works
A palette stores only the parameter values you choose to put in it. Cues that use the palette do not hold their own copy of those values; they reference the palette. When you update the palette, every cue and cuelist that references it automatically uses the new values. Nothing else in those cues changes.
Example: a position palette for movers
- Create a palette that sets ONLY the Pan/Tilt values for your moving heads, aimed at the position you need (for example, centre stage).
- Drag that palette into every cue that needs the movers focused on that position.
- At each new venue, update the Pan/Tilt values in the palette once. Every cue and cuelist referencing it now points the movers at the corrected position.
Keeping the palette limited to Pan/Tilt is deliberate: because it touches no other parameters, you can drop it into any cue without disturbing that cue's colour, intensity, or effect programming.
Practical tips
- Build separate palettes for values you expect to re-touch at every venue, positions being the most common case.
- The same approach works for any group of cues that share values: one palette, many references, one edit.