MAC Viper Used as a Followspot

Quite often LD's find it handy to utilize a moving light in place of a truss spot.  This allows full DMX control of all the fixture's attributes while allowing an operator to manually position the unit.  Martin Professional patented a system for doing this with the Martin MAC III and some customers have asked about doing the same with the Martin MAC Viper Profile, MAC Viper Performance, and MAC Viper AirFX.




While a dedicated spotlight mode does not exist in the Viper range, there is an approved method for using the fixtures as followspots.  You simply have to place the fixture into Service Mode.  This will disable the pan/tilt motors and allow all the other functions to behave normally via DMX.

In order to do this, you simply need to press and hold both the Escape Button (C) and the Jog Wheel (B) when powering on the unit. 

Then the display will show a  "Service" warning.  At this point the power will be removed from the pan/tilt motors thus allowing you to move the head freely.

It is important to note that a power cycle will disable the Service Mode.  If you send the unit a Reset command from DMX, it will reset all the functions other than pan/tilt and remain in the Service Mode.


 
So now you know how to configure your Martin MAC Viper fixture for use as a followspot.  Have fun with this and be sure to wear gloves when manually moving the fixture head as some parts of it can be rather hot!