Custom models/Effects help

[txag2008]

I am a recently new Nutcracker user that is running into a small issue.  I have created a 3 custom models, one to trace the roofline of my house and 2 to trace the sidewalks.  After creating the custom model for my roof line (long straight section and then one large gable), I was having an issue using 'Bars' Effect to have the lights chase each other in different colors.  When I used the 'Up' direction the long straight portion of the string is treated as all the same color since it is on the same horizontal plane.   The fix was to use 'left' or 'right' direction instead to get a good bar-chase effect.

I then went on to create custom models for my sidewalk in the shape of an L.  When I use the 'Up' direction the horizontal portion of my 'L' is treated as all the same color since is on the same horizontal plane.  When I use the 'Left/Right' direction the vertical portion of my 'L' is treated as all the same color since is on the same vertical plane.  Is this what I should be seeing or am I doing something wrong?

Here is a demonstrated video to help show what I’m seeing: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

[dowdybrown]

Yes, this is the expected behavior. When you create a custom model, the effect is applied to the entire grid (the one you see when creating the custom model). Then, only the pixels you have designated are output. Rather than using custom models, consider using the single line model and then rotating and scaling the lines on the preview. This is what I do for my roofline and gables.

Matt

[txag2008]

Thanks for the clarification Matt.

It had crossed my mind to use single line models instead of the custom model but I didn't since it would take 3 different single line models to depict the shape of my roof.  In actuality I will be using 1 single strand of pixels for my roof.  Is there a way to treat 3 different singe line models as one model?

[txag2008]

Surely someone else has crossed this bridge.

When creating a roofline model within nutcracker, is it best to create multiple single-line models (even though I'll only be using one pixel string) as opposed to a custom model?

[smeighan]

Surely someone else has crossed this bridge.

When creating a roofline model within nutcracker, is it best to create multiple single-line models (even though I'll only be using one pixel string) as opposed to a custom model?

wait for the single strand effect class. i am working on it now. it will do eaves, arches.

maybe one more week

[txag2008]

Surely someone else has crossed this bridge.

When creating a roofline model within nutcracker, is it best to create multiple single-line models (even though I'll only be using one pixel string) as opposed to a custom model?

wait for the single strand effect class. i am working on it now. it will do eaves, arches.

maybe one more week

Sean comes through again to save the day!  Thanks!

[txag2008]

Even after viewing the tutorial on single strand effects, I'm still struggling with how best to do eaves/sidewalks.

I had originally created 3 custom models.  One for my roofline and then one each to outline my sidewalk on each side of the house (the right layout in the attached image).  Some of the effects didn't work correctly with the custom model method I tried and I didn't have the ability to chase from one strand to another.  I have since created 3 seperate single strand models that are shown as a true straight lines (the left layout in the attached image) but there is still no way to chase across models.

In the Oct 25th tutorial Sean said he planned on using the arches model with his eaves since you can define the individual start channels for varying string lengths. Unless I misunderstood this part, using this method won't the eaves model be shown as arches?  How are others using Nutcracker for their eaves?

[jnealand]

I don't think Sean said to use the arches model, I took that to mean that he would be using the arches type of techniques as he completed the single strand effect programming.  You could use arches to get the effect you wanted, but you will not be able to show it correctly on the screen. Kind of like how I use the spirals effect which was designed for a mega tree to create effects for my window frames.  Personally, I'm waiting for Sean to finish the single strand effects programming and trying to get all the other parts of the display working, but I do love to see the effect playing in the preview screen.

[txag2008]

Ahh... I didn't realize if there would be at fix coming out this time of the year or not.  I realize you can use the arches affect for eves and get the desired chases but it wouldn't look correct within the preview like you mentioned.

On a side note question, can you have an arch defined as a single arch model and also have that same arch defined within a single strand arch configuration?  In this situation you could do chases within the single strand arch configuration when you wanted but then also do other effects on just that single arch in other cases.

[jnealand]

I do not see why you could not have the same element defined in two different models.  You would probably have to put both in the preview  - once for each model.  But if they have the same channel numbers then they should play on the same physical arch.  In trying to get my mini trees into models I defined them multiple times to see how they would work.  Mini Tree Red 01, Mini Tree Green 01, Mini Tree White 01 and Mini Tree RGB 01.  The first 3 I defined as a single color strand and the last I defined as a 3 channel RGB with B = my white,  I had both showing on the screen during my test,  I finally just created 16 models for mini trees 1 - 16 using the RGB type since if I used the single color strand I would need 48 models just for my mini trees.