Groups

Groups let you save a named fixture selection that you can recall with a single command. Groups also support grid layouts for spatial effects — arranging fixtures in a 2D grid so effects can fan across them in X and Y directions.

Creating a group

Select your fixtures, then store:

fixture 1 thru 8store group 1 "Wash Rig"

fixture 101 thru 110store group 2 "LED Bar"

Store modes

Flag	Mode	Description
(none)	Create	Only store if slot is empty
-o	Overwrite	Replace existing group
-m	Merge	Add selected fixtures to existing group

store group 1 -o    -- overwrite group 1 with current selection

Recalling a group

Select a group's fixtures:

group 1    -- select group 1

Listing groups

list groups

Renaming a group

label group 1 "Front Wash"

Deleting a group

delete group 1

Copying a group

copy group 1 2    -- copy group 1 to slot 2

Grid layouts

A grid layout assigns fixtures in a group to positions in a 2D (or 3D) grid. This enables spatial timing in effects and cue items — for example, fading from left to right across a rig.

Set up a grid

group 1 layout 4 2    -- arrange group 1 in a 4-column, 2-row grid

This creates a 4×2 grid (8 cells). Fixtures are assigned sequentially by default.

Manually assign fixture positions

Override the automatic layout by placing specific fixtures in specific grid cells:

group 1 grid 1 0 0    -- fixture index 1 → column 0, row 0group 1 grid 2 1 0    -- fixture index 2 → column 1, row 0

Auto-assign

Let phix assign all fixtures sequentially:

group 1 grid auto

Why use a grid?

When you apply an effect or use spatial cue timing, phix uses the grid layout to calculate each fixture's position. For example, a sine wave effect with a phase spread will ripple across the physical positions of the fixtures rather than just following their ID order.

See Creating Effects and Cues for how grid layouts are used.