One of the most magical and simple effects to create on stage is a “peel,” where a series of fixtures makes changes, one after the other. For instance, let’s say you want to move 12 fixtures from a U.S. position to a DS position. If you simply do this with a fade time of 10 seconds, they will all begin at the same moment, travel at the same speed and end at the same time. However, if you assign each fixture a unique position fade time that is slightly greater than the previous fixture, then the look will be very different. Now they will all start at the same moment, but move at different speeds and different end times. If instead of assigning these consecutive times to the fade time you used the delay time, then all the fixtures would move at the same speed, but start and end individually. By staggering the delay times, very interesting changes can easily be created. You can further vary the look by staggering the values in different orders (left to right, random, in pairs).
—Brad Schiller, from “Feeding the Machines,” PLSN, July 2015
