Newbie Problems?

[kgustafson]

Have you tried it in projects?  Not sure why your effect would 'disappear' from effects.  That sounds like a legit bug.

Kurt

[rdebolt]

Kurt it was there this morning! Go figure. Maybe an issue with my home laptop. I modified my post can you check it for me? Also I just transfered the arch effects to LSP and they are not what I am seeing in Nutcracker. I have to have something off somewhere in my configurations!

[kgustafson]

Thanks Kurt. Last night I was also working on some arches and made an effect that I liked the look of, it showed the effect fine, but would give me an error when I would try to export to xml for LSP. When I would go back into effects it was gone. Any thoughts?


Never mind: I just resent it and it went through fine. Last night was the definition of insanity "doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results". I tried at least 6 times last night, this morning no problem!

Is there a way to save all of my effects into one xml Userpatterns file? It is really a pain opening and closing LSP and recopying effects.

Also Can one of you look at my Megatree target and make sure that it looks ok please. I am not getting what I excpect in LSP tranfers.

Thanks Again!
Roger

I will answer two of the questions you have:

Can you save all effects into one XML Userpatterns file - Yes.  By using effects (not projects) you can.  If you want the generated LSP from projects in one file, you cannot.  This was intentionally broken up due the size of the files being generated (over 1GB) and LSP having trouble with this size of the UserPattern file.

Is my target correct?  Not sure of the geometry of your physical tree, but I can tell you what I see for the targets in your account.

Your mega tree expects there to be 32 Smart String Controllers connected to 32 smart strings of 60 lights each.  Each smart string is addressed so that the first pixel is at the bottom of the tree and the 60th pixel is at the top of the tree.  So let's say that your tree starts at address 1, 1 through 60 will be your first string (bottom to top), 61 starts at the bottom of the next string.

If your mega tree is actually 16 SSCs connected with strands of 120 lights that go in the up/down pattern, your model in Nutcracker is INCORRECT.  If your mega tree is 16 SSCs with the up-down then your model should be:  16 strings of 120 lights with 2 segments (right now yours are 32 strings of 60 lights with 1 segment).  I have a feeling that this might be the source of your issue.  You also want to select 'Y' for string to start at the bottom of your RGB device.

Kurt

[rdebolt]

If your mega tree is actually 16 SSCs connected with strands of 120 lights that go in the up/down pattern, your model in Nutcracker is INCORRECT.  If your mega tree is 16 SSCs with the up-down then your model should be:  16 strings of 120 lights with 2 segments (right now yours are 32 strings of 60 lights with 1 segment).  I have a feeling that this might be the source of your issue.  You also want to select 'Y' for string to start at the bottom of your RGB device.

Kurt

Thanks Kurt,

Well one problem then is the #1 node is programmed for the top of the tree not the bottom. I actually have 32-60 node strings with the Start channel at the top of the tree.

My arches, when I input my effect into LSP turned on the whole Arch not individual pixels as in Nutcracker. Can I bother you to check that for me as well? In LSP I have 4 arches with 120 node flex strips. I have the first 2 arches (as you look at them from the street) with channel #1 starting on the bottom left (Top of String) and the 2 on the left configured still with # 1 bottom left, but the string are programmed with #1 starting at the bottom of the string.  I did that to keep my cat5 runs to a minimum.

Thanks again,
Roger

[kgustafson]

Roger,

Just confirmed that the Y/N question of where your RGBs start is not working.  Whether I select Y or N it orients the pixels the same way (1 at the bottom and 60 at the top in your case).  This is a problem.

I will check into your arch issue.

Kurt

[rdebolt]

Thanks for the help Kurt!

[kgustafson]

If your mega tree is actually 16 SSCs connected with strands of 120 lights that go in the up/down pattern, your model in Nutcracker is INCORRECT.  If your mega tree is 16 SSCs with the up-down then your model should be:  16 strings of 120 lights with 2 segments (right now yours are 32 strings of 60 lights with 1 segment).  I have a feeling that this might be the source of your issue.  You also want to select 'Y' for string to start at the bottom of your RGB device.

Kurt

Thanks Kurt,

Well one problem then is the #1 node is programmed for the top of the tree not the bottom. I actually have 32-60 node strings with the Start channel at the top of the tree.

My arches, when I input my effect into LSP turned on the whole Arch not individual pixels as in Nutcracker. Can I bother you to check that for me as well? In LSP I have 4 arches with 120 node flex strips. I have the first 2 arches (as you look at them from the street) with channel #1 starting on the bottom left (Top of String) and the 2 on the left configured still with # 1 bottom left, but the string are programmed with #1 starting at the bottom of the string.  I did that to keep my cat5 runs to a minimum.

Thanks again,
Roger

Not sure about your physical layout (your message was a tad confusing to me). 

Here is what Nutcracker thinks your arches are doing - address wise:

Address 1 is left bottom and 2 is the next pixel on the arch going right and up all the way to 120 (last pixel on first arch -- bottom right)
Address 121 is the left bottom of arch #2 all the way to 240 (right bottom arch #2)
Address 241 is the left bottom of arch #3 all the way to 360 (right bottom arch #3)
Address 361 is the left bottom of arch #4 all the way to 480 (right bottom arch #4)

Kurt

[rdebolt]

Not sure about your physical layout (your message was a tad confusing to me). 

Here is what Nutcracker thinks your arches are doing - address wise:

Address 1 is left bottom and 2 is the next pixel on the arch going right and up all the way to 120 (last pixel on first arch -- bottom right)
Address 121 is the left bottom of arch #2 all the way to 240 (right bottom arch #2)
Address 241 is the left bottom of arch #3 all the way to 360 (right bottom arch #3)
Address 361 is the left bottom of arch #4 all the way to 480 (right bottom arch #4)

Kurt

Sorry for the confusion Kurt. In basic terms that is the correct set up. I figured out that my issue with the arches not looking the same in LSP is that I had my controllers collapsed instead of expanded when I was pasting to the grid. My bad there....sorry....

For projects to work correctly do I need to have a local install on my computer? The reason I ask is that I do not know how to upload my MP3 song for the project.

Thanks,
Roger

[smeighan]

Not sure about your physical layout (your message was a tad confusing to me). 

Here is what Nutcracker thinks your arches are doing - address wise:

Address 1 is left bottom and 2 is the next pixel on the arch going right and up all the way to 120 (last pixel on first arch -- bottom right)
Address 121 is the left bottom of arch #2 all the way to 240 (right bottom arch #2)
Address 241 is the left bottom of arch #3 all the way to 360 (right bottom arch #3)
Address 361 is the left bottom of arch #4 all the way to 480 (right bottom arch #4)

Kurt

Sorry for the confusion Kurt. In basic terms that is the correct set up. I figured out that my issue with the arches not looking the same in LSP is that I had my controllers collapsed instead of expanded when I was pasting to the grid. My bad there....sorry....

For projects to work correctly do I need to have a local install on my computer? The reason I ask is that I do not know how to upload my MP3 song for the project.

Thanks,
Roger

you dont need a local install,but if you are doing LSP generations I requested that people only do local install runs.
 we do NOT want people generating projects for LSP on meighan.net because you produce 1 gigabyte files for each song.

Here is my method of generating, i do make all of my runs on a local install



1) create the effects i will be using
2) Create a project, and run it. I output for vixen. I get a file (USERNAME~PROJECT_ID.vix). So for example f~225.vix
3) Open f~225.vix in Vixen and assign the audio file and attach the lynx etherdongle as the attached plugin. save file
4) Go to xlights, version C. Convert vix files to xseq files
5) Use xlights to schedule songs

In your case you will produce the UserPatterns.xml because you select LSP as the sequencer.


Now if you have more than one project per song, it is a little bit more

I have 3 projects per song. First project is my 2400 node megatree
Second project are my arches, windows and eaves
third project is fire pole (trunk of my tree) and the coro star on top of the tree.

each song will therefore need 3 projects
i have 8 songs now done, 24 projects

So i do the first 2 steps
1) create the effects i will be using
2) Create a project, and run it. I output for vixen. I get a file (USERNAME~PROJECT_ID.vix). So for example f~225.vix


3 times for each song because i have 3 projects

I now run the program that stitches projects together

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This then produces a single mega vix file, it has all three projects merged together

3) Open f~181~master.vix in Vixen and assign the audio file and attach the lynx etherdongle as the attached plugin. save file
4) Go to xlights, version C. Convert vix files to xseq files
5) Use xlights to schedule songs

[rdebolt]

Thanks Sean. I will try and do the local install again. I had issues last time and gave up so I am sure that I will be asking for help. It probably not be until this weekend though! Thanks for all of the information!

Roger