Well, I have been working hard on xLights - as you will see if you download version 2012d. Once again, I have put it in my dropbox instead of SourceForge because I don't feel the Sequence tab is "fully baked". However, I know the 2012c version had some bugs and I wanted to get a new version out that addressed those. So here it is:
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LoginI have tried to address all of scheduling bugs (I am using this version to schedule my show). I also tried to fix the lag issue with the Etherdongle.
The Sequence tab is new and I know it will need some explaining - which I will try to do by responding to posts in this forum. To get started, the effects are based on Nutcracker (with Sean's permission). The Life and Snowstorm effects are not implemented yet and there isn't a Twinkle effect yet, but everything else is there. The nice thing is that all of the effects are created real time -- you can change the parameters by dragging a slider and instantly see the results. Some effects are enhanced - notably the Text effect allows you to choose any font installed on your system along with the font size. This includes fonts like Wingdings, or "Xmas dings" or other fonts with icons/graphics.
Model creation also has some enhancements: 1) you can start your string numbering from the left or right, 2) it can control strings that are not in RGB order.
Where things really differ from Nutcracker is in the way you string together effects. What I have put into this version is very rudimentary. I hope to make many improvements to this area in the next year. But what you have to do for now is open an xLights sequence (.xseq file), choose which model(s) will be included in the sequence when prompted, then insert rows into the grid and for every row type in the start time in seconds when that effect should start. To add an effect to the sequence, click on the grid cell in the desired display model column and the desired start time row, then click the Update button. When you are done creating effects for the sequence, click the save icon and the xLights sequence will be updated with the effects you stored in the grid. There is no export feature - you can only update xLights sequences. However, once updated you can convert the xLights sequence to Vixen format for viewing/tweaking.
That's it for now. Merry Christmas!
Matt