DiyLightAnimation

Software => xlights => Topic started by: dowdybrown on September 13, 2010,

Title: xLights
Post by: dowdybrown on September 13, 2010,

xLights has been my programming project for the summer. I just released Windows and Mac versions today. It is an open source project, so the code is available for all to view and everyone is welcome to contribute (e.g. code fixes, testing, documentation).

xLights controls your holiday lighting displays. It currently consists of a testing module and a scheduling module. It can control a variety of lighting networks including LOR, D-Light, DMX, and Renard. And it runs on Windows, Mac OS/X, and Linux.


xLights does not have its own sequencer, but can run shows using a mixture of LOR S2 and Vixen sequences. xLights can play any sequence on any of the networks it supports. Thus, the following combinations are possible:

    * LOR S2 sequence over an LOR/D-Light network. xLights uses the native LOR commands to control your lights, just as if you were playing them using the LOR scheduler.

    * LOR S2 sequence over DMX. The translation from LOR to DMX is done on your computer as the sequence is played - no need for an iDMX device. All you need is a DMX dongle! Any ENTEC USB PRO compatible dongle will do (Lynx and DIYC JMC dongles work great). Because xLights maps a network in your LOR S2 sequence to a DMX universe and because LOR S2 is limited to 4 networks, you will be limited to 4 DMX universes in this configuration (2048 channels).

    * LOR S2 sequence over Renard. The translation from LOR to Renard is done on your computer as the sequence is played. No extra conversion steps are required.

    * Vixen sequence over LOR/D-Light network. Only appropriate for smaller displays (about 128 channels or less) due to bandwidth constraints. But on smaller displays, it works great!

    * Vixen sequence over DMX. xLights supports up to 10 universes in this mode (5120 channels).

    * Vixen sequence over Renard. xLights supports up to 10 networks in this mode.


Windows and Mac downloads are now available on SourceForge. It's marked version "0.1" - only tested by a few folks so far. So if you find issues, please post them in the xLights forum on SourceForge. Documentation is in the xLights wiki on SourceForge (incomplete but growing).

http://sourceforge.net/projects/xlights/ (http://sourceforge.net/projects/xlights/)

I will be giving a demo to the folks attending the Lone Star Holidays event in Houston on Saturday!

Matt

Title: Re: xLights
Post by: ponddude on September 13, 2010,

This looks promising!!  Downloading now...thanks!

Title: Re: xLights
Post by: jem5136 on September 13, 2010,

This looks like something I would be using in my shows! I do have a quick question thought, I do most of my sequencing in LOR, and I usually sequence and then convert it over to Vixen. So my question is, Can I run Renard, Lynx and LOR/D-Light all at the same time from an LOR sequence?

Title: Re: xLights
Post by: dowdybrown on September 13, 2010,

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This looks like something I would be using in my shows! I do have a quick question thought, I do most of my sequencing in LOR, and I usually sequence and then convert it over to Vixen. So my question is, Can I run Renard, Lynx and LOR/D-Light all at the same time from an LOR sequence?

Yes, xLights supports that. In your LOR sequence you would assign Renard, Lynx, and LOR/D-Light to separate networks. Doesn't matter what type of controller you assign in the LOR software. As long as they are in separate networks, xLights would be able to drive each one with the appropriate lighting protocol.

Matt

Title: Re: xLights
Post by: budude on September 14, 2010,

Wow - sounds like a neat project - I'll have to give it a try.

Edit - Pretty neat indeed - heck the channel tester alone is well worth the download!

Title: Re: xLights
Post by: RJ on September 14, 2010,

Sounds like a very neat piece of software will have to take a look at it.

RJ

Title: Re: xLights
Post by: rm357 on September 14, 2010,

Sounds neat - any thoughts about porting to Ubuntu?

Title: Re: xLights
Post by: dowdybrown on September 14, 2010,

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Sounds neat - any thoughts about porting to Ubuntu?

It has been tested on Ubuntu (Linux Mint actually) and runs great. If you use SVN to download the source code, there are instructions for compiling on Linux. For now, I think I'll leave Linux support at that.

Matt

Title: Re: xLights
Post by: packetbob on September 14, 2010,

I'm trying the Windows version and it only lets me select COM ports 1 through 9 for my DMX dongle...
Unfortunately mine is on port 11...

Bob

Title: Re: xLights
Post by: jem5136 on September 14, 2010,

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I'm trying the Windows version and it only lets me select COM ports 1 through 9 for my DMX dongle...
Unfortunately mine is on port 11...

Bob

You can change the port on your computer to whichever port you want, and it will not effect the way it works. If you are running XP, click "Start" and right click "My Computer" and go to the properties. Find the "Hardware" tab, click "Manage Devices" find "USB and Serial Ports" and select your com port(11 in your case) and somewhere in there you can change the com number, I have done it before.

Sorry if the names are not the exact same, I am typing this from memory. I only know how to do it from XP, I would have to search on Win7 and I don't have Vista(I think it sucks :s).

Hope this is helpful. And I hope no one already beat me to posting this while I was typing it lol

Title: Re: xLights
Post by: dowdybrown on September 14, 2010,

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I'm trying the Windows version and it only lets me select COM ports 1 through 9 for my DMX dongle...
Unfortunately mine is on port 11...

Bob

OK, I'll make sure that gets corrected in the next version.

Title: Re: xLights
Post by: jem5136 on September 14, 2010,

Another random question. Are you going to keep this free? I ask because once you get the sequencer up and working, it would be similar to LSP(because it has multiple controller support and video options), and I think it would appeal to more people if it was free and offers things that LSP offers, but cost less then LSP(because its free:D).

Title: Re: xLights
Post by: dowdybrown on September 15, 2010,

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Another random question. Are you going to keep this free? I ask because once you get the sequencer up and working, it would be similar to LSP(because it has multiple controller support and video options), and I think it would appeal to more people if it was free and offers things that LSP offers, but cost less then LSP(because its free:D).

1. It is open source, which means anyone can view, access, and modify the code. This is very beneficial, because many people can contribute their ideas and talents to the project. It also means that if I die tomorrow, the project is not dead. Paul Scala has collaborated with me on this project from the beginning and is a second administrator on SourceForge. I've already had others ask to have contributor access as well.

2. It is licensed under the GPL v3 license. This means that someone could (potentially) take the code, make enhancements, and sell it. However, if they do, they must make their modified source code publicly available too (known as copyleft). This discourages people from selling it, because anyone could access their modified source code and compile it themselves for free. If it became popular enough, someone might offer support contracts with phone help and charge for that service. This is allowed under the license. You can learn more about it here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gpl

http://www.gnu.org/licenses/

So to answer your question, yes, this should remain free in perpetuity.

Matt

Title: Re: xLights
Post by: castortiu on September 16, 2010,

Hey Matt,

Could be nice when Prancer come to a release if you support Prancer files natively, Prancer files will be XML files really easy to understand, there is a few advantages doing this since the user won’t need to export the sequence to Vixen to play it, and also because Prancer files are not based on frames with intensities but instead compute functions over time which means the sequencer (xLights) can choose the optimal frame rate against the hardware that is running, so if you have a hardware running high speed protocols (or any speed) Prancer/xLight can produce a very smooth fade from zero intensity to max in a very short time, also it allows to run Lynx hardware to the max frame rate supported without exporting Prancer files to Vixen with a high frame time because the user is afraid that the sequence won’t run properly.

Cas.

Title: Re: xLights
Post by: packetbob on September 19, 2010,

Hi,
Thanks for the info as it was very helpful.  I had looked at the device properties but didn't look far enough to see where you could change the port number.

Bob

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You can change the port on your computer to whichever port you want, and it will not effect the way it works. If you are running XP, click "Start" and right click "My Computer" and go to the properties. Find the "Hardware" tab, click "Manage Devices" find "USB and Serial Ports" and select your com port(11 in your case) and somewhere in there you can change the com number, I have done it before.

Sorry if the names are not the exact same, I am typing this from memory. I only know how to do it from XP, I would have to search on Win7 and I don't have Vista(I think it sucks :s).

Hope this is helpful. And I hope no one already beat me to posting this while I was typing it lol

Title: Re: xLights
Post by: sirwesley on October 05, 2010,

So what version of Vixen should I use to create my sequences to work with this?

Title: Re: xLights
Post by: dowdybrown on October 05, 2010,

I've been testing with 2.1. I've downloaded a number of vixen sequences off the web, some of which varied slightly in format. xLights has been able to read everything I've found so far.

Matt

Title: Re: xLights
Post by: jcazz on October 09, 2010,

Matt -

I've been able to build an S2 sequence in LOR that uses a CTB16PC and I've been able to control it both as a DMX device & as a LOR device.

I also built a sequence which uses the CTB16 on the regular network and a handful of channels on the AUX A network which xLights is translating into DMX and pushing out over my Enttech Pro (way cool; running DMX & LOR without an iDMX).

Here's my question; since I'm using the AUX network in the S2 file, is there anyway in xLights I can setup a mapping to tell xLights if it sees data for AUX A controller 1A (for example), map it to DMX channel 1?  Or can I request this as a feature/enhancement? 

This would let me keep my LOR controllers as 1 through 7 and still use DMX devices starting at channel 1.  I'm willing to accept that if I start a mapping like this I would end up losing access to some of the DMX channels.

Thanks for this awesome tool.  It has a ton of potential!

Jacob

Title: Re: xLights
Post by: dowdybrown on October 09, 2010,

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Matt -

I've been able to build an S2 sequence in LOR that uses a CTB16PC and I've been able to control it both as a DMX device & as a LOR device.

I also built a sequence which uses the CTB16 on the regular network and a handful of channels on the AUX A network which xLights is translating into DMX and pushing out over my Enttech Pro (way cool; running DMX & LOR without an iDMX).

Here's my question; since I'm using the AUX network in the S2 file, is there anyway in xLights I can setup a mapping to tell xLights if it sees data for AUX A controller 1A (for example), map it to DMX channel 1?  Or can I request this as a feature/enhancement? 

This would let me keep my LOR controllers as 1 through 7 and still use DMX devices starting at channel 1.  I'm willing to accept that if I start a mapping like this I would end up losing access to some of the DMX channels.

Thanks for this awesome tool.  It has a ton of potential!

Jacob

Glad you like xLights. I think what you propose makes sense and should be the default behavior. I will work on it for the next release.

Keep those ideas coming!

Matt

Title: Re: xLights
Post by: tpctech on October 09, 2010,

Matt,

I also sequence and run my show with LOR with both LOR controllers and a bunch of DIY DMX hardware.  Xlights looks like a great way to merge this all.

Have you thought about supporting a DMX over IP protocol like sANC E1.31. 
http://www.opendmx.net/index.php/E1.31

http://www.j1sys.com/ecg-dr4/    This is a 4 port IP to 4 DMX port box for less $$ then a Idmx or 4 USB to DMX dongles.  With this 1 cat5 or WIFI to yard supports 4 universes of DMX!  There is a currently a output plug-in for Vixen that uses this protocol.

The other would be to support a "contact" interface maybe a parallel port or Serial string input to be able to play a sequence on command.  Like Push button #1 plays seq #1, Push button #2 plays seq 2,  Or send a serial string from another program to start a sequence.  The xlight would be "listening" to a com port when it "hears" Start seq#1 then Seq #1 plays

KEN

Title: Re: xLights
Post by: dowdybrown on October 26, 2010,

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Matt,

I also sequence and run my show with LOR with both LOR controllers and a bunch of DIY DMX hardware.  Xlights looks like a great way to merge this all.

Have you thought about supporting a DMX over IP protocol like sANC E1.31. 
http://www.opendmx.net/index.php/E1.31

http://www.j1sys.com/ecg-dr4/    This is a 4 port IP to 4 DMX port box for less $$ then a Idmx or 4 USB to DMX dongles.  With this 1 cat5 or WIFI to yard supports 4 universes of DMX!  There is a currently a output plug-in for Vixen that uses this protocol.

The other would be to support a "contact" interface maybe a parallel port or Serial string input to be able to play a sequence on command.  Like Push button #1 plays seq #1, Push button #2 plays seq 2,  Or send a serial string from another program to start a sequence.  The xlight would be "listening" to a com port when it "hears" Start seq#1 then Seq #1 plays

KEN

Serial input and output will be supported in the next release (this year). I already have it working - testing it on my Halloween display.

E1.31 will be supported next year.

Thanks for the feedback!

Matt

Title: Re: xLights
Post by: knguyen916 on October 26, 2010,

any chance of playing background sequencing code?

I.E. http://diylightanimation.com/index.php?topic=776.0

I know the other way is to create a sequence and run it, but it doesn't have the support of a music player.

Just a thought. Playing a sequence with the ability of a music player option after the show ends? I usually add in a voice over for viewers who miss my show and are informed of the time my show starts and ends, etc...

unless it already does this and I dunno how to do it.  <fp.

Title: Re: xLights
Post by: dowdybrown on October 27, 2010,

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any chance of playing background sequencing code?

I.E. http://diylightanimation.com/index.php?topic=776.0

I know the other way is to create a sequence and run it, but it doesn't have the support of a music player.

Just a thought. Playing a sequence with the ability of a music player option after the show ends? I usually add in a voice over for viewers who miss my show and are informed of the time my show starts and ends, etc...

unless it already does this and I dunno how to do it.  <fp.

Actually, it does have the support of Windows Media Player on Windows, or QuickTime on the Mac. So yes, it can play music, video, or sequences in any order. The order of play is controlled by the script on the right side of the playlist. The script wizard creates a pretty generic script that runs through your playlist during the scheduled time. However, with the a more complex script you can make songs and sequences play in any order you want, at any time you want.

The script for my Halloween show uses inputs from an Arduino board to know when trick-or-treaters are walking to my door and when I open the front door. I can then run short sequences done to sound effects as the kids approach my door to make it seem really creepy!

Matt

Title: Re: xLights
Post by: comporder1 on November 10, 2010,

Matt,

Any word on the next release with d-light native commands?

Thanks
Carey

Title: Re: xLights
Post by: sakone1 on November 23, 2010,

will the show repeat if the scheduled time  is longer than the show length? Also I thought there was a link showing how to edit scripts.

Title: Re: xLights
Post by: rrowan on November 24, 2010,

 Hi Matt,

Couple questions about xLights

1 - I can't see to have a Vixen Seq in the scheduler that doesn't have a mp3 attached, is this possible?
2 - the scheduler play list - I think it needs a check all / uncheck all button switch
3 - Can the playlist show how long each select seq will take to play (total minutes)

xLights on different flavors of Windows and under Debian Linux
Still have some issues with Debian
Windows 7 pro 32bit - Everything seems to work except I couldn't get the script to run
Windows XP - Works great
Currently no Mac at home - Using one at work and hopefully will be getting a Macbook Pro 15 soon

In the past I had problems with Vixen's scheduler. I think I have settle on using xlights as the scheduler for this year (using Win XP). Once I figured out the program it seems to work well.

Cheers

Rick R.

Title: Re: xLights
Post by: rrowan on November 24, 2010,

Hi Matt,

A question,

If I have xlights in the startup folder in Windows. So if my computer loses power and restarts will the scheduler run the show or will I have to get in the computer and start up scheduler for the show?

Thanks

Rick R.

Title: Re: xLights
Post by: trekster on November 24, 2010,

Help.  I set up the network (vixen).  I made the test work.  I created a play list.  I set multiply days to play.  I click play and it plays one (1) song and stops.  When I try to make a play list I have Vix checked on.  It shows all my sequences with a check mark by them.  I click script and it makes a script but only plays one song.  I can not seem to add all the songs to the list.  I tried right click, left click etc.  What am I missing to add all the sequences?

Ron

Title: Re: xLights
Post by: csf on November 25, 2010,

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Matt,

Any word on the next release with d-light native commands?

Thanks
Carey

I believe if you compile the latest source dlight should be working. But I don't have any dlight hardware that I can test with to confirm this.

Quote

Hi Matt,

A question,

If I have xlights in the startup folder in Windows. So if my computer loses power and restarts will the scheduler run the show or will I have to get in the computer and start up scheduler for the show?

Thanks

Rick R.

I haven't tried this but I believe it should work if you have the scheduler in the start up folder, if you just xlights menu in the start folder then it probably will not work since the scheduler is a separate exe then the menu and the menu does not automatically launch the scheduler exe. May be worth just restarting the computer one day with  xlights open and see what it does.

Quote

Help.  I set up the network (vixen).  I made the test work.  I created a play list.  I set multiply days to play.  I click play and it plays one (1) song and stops.  When I try to make a play list I have Vix checked on.  It shows all my sequences with a check mark by them.  I click script and it makes a script but only plays one song.  I can not seem to add all the songs to the list.  I tried right click, left click etc.  What am I missing to add all the sequences?

Ron

First try to play the individual sequence files trough xlights one at a time. If there all working right try and play the whole show with out a script. The script generator currently only puts a custom condition on the first and last track if you want to. It is not something that has to be used for a show to run.



If there are questions I missed it's most likely because I don't have a full answer and Matt will need to answer them himself.  But I figured I can share what I do know about with the rest of you.

Title: Re: xLights
Post by: trekster on November 25, 2010,

Still having problems.

I am running windows 7 - 32 bit.  I create a schedule.  I make a playlist by putting the .vix and .mp3 files in the same folder.  As you can see in the picture I have a list with a several sequences selected.  I then click on play and it says nothing selected.  IF I select one of the checked boxes by left clicking it.  It lights up blue and then if I click play again it will play only the sequence that is light up blue and stop.  I tried it on 2 computers but both are win7 32 bit and the same on both.  I was wanting to try to use this to play my show.

Ron

Title: Re: xLights
Post by: sakone1 on November 25, 2010,

try unselecting all the files. then select each one and play them.

Title: Re: xLights
Post by: csf on November 25, 2010,

Try using the play button next to the script wizard.

Title: Re: xLights
Post by: rrowan on November 25, 2010,

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I haven't tried this but I believe it should work if you have the scheduler in the start up folder, if you just xlights menu in the start folder then it probably will not work since the scheduler is a separate exe then the menu and the menu does not automatically launch the scheduler exe. May be worth just restarting the computer one day with  xlights open and see what it does.

OK,

Duh to ME. I should of realized that LOL

btw: you need to create a shortcut to the scheduler.exe and put that in the startup folder. Otherwise you get a error message about a missing dll.

Once the scheduler short cut was in the startup it works just fine

Many thanks

Rick R.

Title: Re: xLights
Post by: rrowan on November 25, 2010,

Matt or CSF

Is there a way to play a sequence without music?

This seq is basically a filler. If not I could just attach a song

Thanks

Rick R.

Title: Re: xLights
Post by: dowdybrown on November 25, 2010,

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Matt or CSF

Is there a way to play a sequence without music?

This seq is basically a filler. If not I could just attach a song

Thanks

Rick R.

The current version only plays music or video. You'll have to attach a song.

Matt

Title: Re: xLights
Post by: ponddude on November 28, 2010,

Alright, I really am going to use this next year because I want to use a lot of the Smart Strings, but don't want to leave LOR's software.  I really think it is the best software out there.  So, my question to you would be, how would I go about sequencing it?  In S2 what would I define as channels for the SS's?  Do I just put whatever network the modified dongle is on for my SS's?

Title: Re: xLights
Post by: csf on November 28, 2010,

I think all you would have to do is create the a sequence in side S2 with the correct number of channels, then inside xlights just map the channels to the correct network (make the SS's ether the first channels or the last channels). xlights should not be taking any of the network information out of the LOR files.

Matt will probably know more, I personally have not tested multiple networks yet, until mid september all I had was one 16 channel LOR controller, was waiting for my summer sale order. Now I have 80 channels of LOR, the ability to run 3 LOR networks, and a DMX network. Due to setting up Halloween, and working on Christmas I have not had time to do testing. But once the Christmas display is taken down I will be throughly testing every thing.

I do plan on adding SS's to my display for next year too, so I will let you know how I set it up.

Title: Re: xLights
Post by: ponddude on November 28, 2010,

This is really great. 

Now that LOR has released support up to 16 networks, things could really fly here!!

Title: Re: xLights
Post by: rrowan on November 28, 2010,

Is there a way to restart a scheduled Playlist

I am running a playlist off of the calendar and needed to update a sequence.

thanks

Rick R.

Title: Re: xLights
Post by: dowdybrown on November 28, 2010,

You can update a playlist any time it isn't actually playing. If you update it during the day, the next time the schedule rolls around, it will play the updated list. Cheers,

Matt

Title: Re: xLights
Post by: rrowan on November 29, 2010,

Hey Guys

This is a big problem for me.

Today I added a seq and upload the wrong version of the song to the xlights folder. Since there is no restart button or the ability to set any start time. I have to wait until the 5:45pm. The program died at 5:33. Waiting for 12 mins is too long

Please fix asap

Thanks

Rick R.

Title: Re: xLights
Post by: rrowan on November 29, 2010,

Ugh

Matt or Csf

Please HELP

I have 4 sequences playing with no problems. The 5th one won't play, Scheduler gets locked up and takes 100% cpu. I have to use the task manager to stop scheduler.

Can I send one of you the seq and audio?

Thanks

Rick R.

Title: Re: xLights
Post by: rrowan on November 30, 2010,

Hi Matt,

Thanks for your help today.

With the update I was able to run that sequence. Clark Griswold and I thank you LOL

Cheers

Rick R.

Title: Re: xLights
Post by: rrowan on December 05, 2010,

Hi Matt, Csf

Just wanted to let you know that xlights scheduler has been running very smoothly for the past 5 days.

My thanks for a program that is running a show while still in beta. I can't wait to see what you guys have coming up after the show season is over.

Cheers

Rick R.

Title: Re: xLights
Post by: rrowan on December 07, 2010,

Hi Guys,

A request to add a feature, from a problem last night that had nothing to do with xlights.  ;)

Yesterday we (neighborhood) lost power 4 times, twice before show time and twice during show time. Now my computer automatically restarts when the power comes back on along with xScheduler. The problem is since its past the starting time xScheduler assumes the show is done for the day. I had to manually restart the play list script, which would of been a problem if I was not at home.

Any chance to add in a check for this? Like when xScheduler starts up its past the start time and not past the end time. To start playing the play list scheduler during that time?

Thanks

btw: I did add info about xLights in the wiki along with Prancer.

Rick R.

Title: Re: xLights
Post by: steve_hirst on December 07, 2010,

I tried to use xlights last night and had a problem. I am using 2 networks of Renard and I plan on adding some dmx next year and use this for the show. the problem that I have is the first sequence runs great and when it changes from the first to the second sequence, the music runs about 5 seconds after the lights and the time difference builds with each sequence. I'm running vixen 2.1.4 sequences and mp3s for the audio. 336 channels of Renard.

If you need more info let me know as I'm sure you can get it fixed if you know whats going on.

Title: Re: xLights
Post by: garyh on December 22, 2012,

My suggestion for the sequence tab would be something like 1 rotation, or a way to stop the animation.  Even if it's a stop after x amount of seconds. 

For example, I want Merry Christmas to scroll 1 time, then stop.  If I add it in at the beginning of the song it will scroll the entire length of the song, unless I figure out it takes 10 seconds and then start another effect then to stop the scrolling.

So either a duration of the animation or a stop after x amount of seconds would be great.  I'm mostly doing text scrolling at this point, just a suggestion--thanks again Matt!