DiyLightAnimation

Software => Light Show Pro => Topic started by: frankr on August 25, 2012,

Title: Request for LSP 2.5 sequences for xlights conversion alpha testing
Post by: frankr on August 25, 2012,

Hello all,

I am working on a tool to convert directly from a LSP sequence file to xLights format.  Once I have xLights format I can explore also doing conductor format as well.  I am in the early stages but so far the fundamental process looks to be working but I need more peoples sequences to get an idea of how best to handle channel mappings.

Here is what I would be doing with the sequences provided:
using my tools to analyze the controller, channel and zone mapping / layout  ( I can provide you a csv file for verifying your channels in excel)
Converting the sequence to an xseq format.
Provide you with a version of the sequence in xseq file format for testing.

I am looking for 4 to 5 people willing to help out with this effort.  If you are interested please drop me a PM with your personal e-mail address.

Thank You,

Frank

Edit: Should also mention that I am interested in people that are already familiar with xLights and I would be looking for a copy of your xlights_network.xml file as well.

Title: Re: Request for LSP 2.5 sequences for xlights conversion alpha testing
Post by: mykroft on August 25, 2012,

LSP 2.5 has a export to conductor already.....

Myk

Title: Re: Request for LSP 2.5 sequences for xlights conversion alpha testing
Post by: frankr on August 25, 2012,

ah good to know. Come to think of it that would have been way easier to convert to xLights then the default LSP files.  On the other hand it would not give you any insight into how channels are mapped which I find many users tend to make mistakes on, myself included.

Frank

Title: Re: Request for LSP 2.5 sequences for xlights conversion alpha testing
Post by: dandyman on August 25, 2012,

I would be interested...

Email: dan.dameron@comcast.net

Title: Re: Request for LSP 2.5 sequences for xlights conversion alpha testing
Post by: peteandvanessa on August 26, 2012,

Hi Frank,

I willing to help with this also. I've been testing the LSP 2.5 scheduler, and I'm still having issues with the lights stopping randomly during sequence playback. Even with the latest update that was designed to fix the sequence playback issues, I'm still seeing the same issues.
So we do need a fall back position, especially for halloween.
My home email address is in my profile.

Title: Re: Request for LSP 2.5 sequences for xlights conversion alpha testing
Post by: mykroft on August 26, 2012,

What latest update?

Myk

Title: Re: Request for LSP 2.5 sequences for xlights conversion alpha testing
Post by: keitha43 on August 26, 2012,

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What latest update?

Myk

http://www.lightshowpro.com/lightshow-change-log/2818-v2-5-4620-28612-a.html

peteandvanessa, Did you report this to David?

Title: Re: Request for LSP 2.5 sequences for xlights conversion alpha testing
Post by: jeffcoast on August 26, 2012,

^I went looking for the update earlier today and the update program told me there wasn't one, but then about 10 minutes later it popped up and installed it for me, so maybe it just wasn't active at the time.

Title: Re: Request for LSP 2.5 sequences for xlights conversion alpha testing
Post by: peteandvanessa on August 26, 2012,

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What latest update?

Myk

http://www.lightshowpro.com/lightshow-change-log/2818-v2-5-4620-28612-a.html

peteandvanessa, Did you report this to David?

Yep, tearing my hair out (and I don't have alot).

The latest fix just released for LSP has not fixed the scheduler issue for me, I'm still having glitches where the lights stop playing back and the audio just plays. The data is being sent, since I can see the ethernet data light flickering on the laptop, router and ether dongle. Just no damn light output sometimes.

If I jump to the next sequence in the scheduler, it usually fixes the problem, sometimes I have to jump forwards 4-5 times, but the lights usually come back on. I'm stumped at the moment. I'm thinking of dropping back to LSP2.0 since the scheduler was working for me, but LSP 2.5 isn't  :-(

Title: Re: Request for LSP 2.5 sequences for xlights conversion alpha testing
Post by: taybrynn on August 27, 2012,

I was under the impression that the xlights .xseq was the same as conductor format.  Is that incorrect ?

The LSP scheduler has been problematic for some time now, I know David keeps working on it and improving it ...
I'm not sure everyone has problems or just some.

I know a lot of people uses xlights last year because the LSP scheduler stability wasn't good enough.

I used xlights  because I wanted to run LOR sequences with a mix of LOR and Lynx gear. 

Title: Re: Request for LSP 2.5 sequences for xlights conversion alpha testing
Post by: frankr on August 27, 2012,

We all have our own reasons. I personally use a mix of LSP and LOR sequences so xLights becomes an incredibly valuable tool.  Plus, over the years I have never had any amount of decent stability with LSP scheduler. in 2010 I actually switched back to LOR after the scheduler bombed on me...

xLights on the other hand is rock solid.  It can take a little to get it setup properly but once it is setup right it just keeps running.

As the file format they are slightly different.  Conductor uses 1 byte per channel per time unit whereas xLights uses 1 byte per time unit per channel.
OR said another way:

The conductor format is a table of with time units on the rows and channels on the columns while xlights is a table with channels on the rows and time units on the columns (plus xseq has a 512 byte header)

Frank

Title: Re: Request for LSP 2.5 sequences for xlights conversion alpha testing
Post by: peteandvanessa on August 28, 2012,

Hi Frank,
 
Just loaded up the converted “You are a Pirate” sequence into xlights
 
All the flexstrips are running perfectly (there’s 14 main flexstrips and 8 pumpkin flexstrips), no lag, no delay, just perfect.
There’s about 5000 channels I’m running through the xlights scheduler
 
The CPU utilization is so low, it doesn’t even register a % (couldn’t believe it at first, had to check a couple of times to make sure)
Memory utilization is ridiculously low at 49MBytes, again barely registering.
 
Now I also have two 512 DMX channels broken out on the two Hubs (512 channels of DMX on each hub), one of them that
is running the Pumpkin singer is delayed so the singing isn’t in sync, at first I thought it was because they are LED lights
that I used to replace a 100 count incandescent string. So I loaded it with a few incandescent C9’s to bring up the load
a bit. Didn’t work though, still had lag. I need to do some more digging on that issue. <fp.
 
I didn’t do a long term test, just ran it for 30 mins, but its awesome, just awesome.
 
Your conversion works 1st time right off the bat, I’m in awe  <res.
 
I’m going to drop another sequence into the drop box in a moment (it’s the most complex sequence I have), after the conversion
I’ll run it in xlights and see what happens.

Title: Re: Request for LSP 2.5 sequences for xlights conversion alpha testing
Post by: sielbear on August 29, 2012,

For more info on this, Frank's magical conversion tool worked beautifully for me as well. Perfect xlights playback every time.  Looking forward to reducing the number of post sequencing steps from 5 to 1!

Title: Re: Request for LSP 2.5 sequences for xlights conversion alpha testing
Post by: keitha43 on August 30, 2012,

I can't wait! Especially since I won't have a Conductor before my Halloween show. Always good to have backup plans.

Title: Re: Request for LSP 2.5 sequences for xlights conversion alpha testing
Post by: peteandvanessa on August 30, 2012,

I pulled the "Bass Hunter" converted sequence from the drop box last night. This is my most complex sequence that I have.

Loaded it up into the xlights scheduler. All the LED Flexstrips responded correctly, with no issues.

The converted sequence still doesn't playback the DMX channels in time with the music, they lag the audio, but I was kinda expecting that, no sure why it's an issue with the DMX channels on my set up.

Good that the LED Flexstrip all respond correctly though!

Title: Re: Request for LSP 2.5 sequences for xlights conversion alpha testing
Post by: keitha43 on August 30, 2012,

Do they lag also with the LSP scheduler? Just trying to clarify if it is only the xlights conversion that is causing the lag. After all its not even beta yet.

Title: Re: Request for LSP 2.5 sequences for xlights conversion alpha testing
Post by: peteandvanessa on August 30, 2012,

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Do they lag also with the LSP scheduler? Just trying to clarify if it is only the xlights conversion that is causing the lag. After all its not even beta yet.

Well I have a BETA test build of LSP right now, since the current on-line version on the LSP was an issue for me in the current version of LSP there were no lags, but the light output in the LSP scheduler would sometimes stop when changing from one sequence to another, also occasionally the aduio would "burp" during playback when the scheduler "released" memory (The scheduler slowly increases the amount of memory it uses, once it gets to about 1.3G, it resets the memory usage down to about 400M and during that release of memory is when I get an "Audio burp").

The new BETA test version I have installed, works flawlessly, no lagging, no audio burps and no stopping, both on the Flexstrips and the DMX channels.

I'm sure it's something simple in the file conversion, but I'll have to defer the question to Frank

Title: Re: Request for LSP 2.5 sequences for xlights conversion alpha testing
Post by: keitha43 on October 02, 2012,

So, What is the latest on this program? Just in case the LSP scheduler starts having problems. At Christmastime I will have a conductor but would like this for Halloween!

Title: Re: Request for LSP 2.5 sequences for xlights conversion alpha testing
Post by: urthegman on October 02, 2012,

I would also be interested in a LSP to xlights converter. I don't know if it will be available, should I convert to .lms files first and do the conversion that way?

Title: Re: Request for LSP 2.5 sequences for xlights conversion alpha testing
Post by: peteandvanessa on October 02, 2012,

Dont forget that LSP wont export large sequences to lor it will give you a memory exception

Title: Re: Request for LSP 2.5 sequences for xlights conversion alpha testing
Post by: urthegman on October 02, 2012,

I will try my largest sequence and see how that goes.

Title: Re: Request for LSP 2.5 sequences for xlights conversion alpha testing
Post by: urthegman on October 02, 2012,

It loaded!!!!

Title: Re: Request for LSP 2.5 sequences for xlights conversion alpha testing
Post by: peteandvanessa on October 02, 2012,

yipee!

Title: Re: Request for LSP 2.5 sequences for xlights conversion alpha testing
Post by: frankr on October 03, 2012,

So that you all know the impetus for this program.  Alan (Sielbear) and I both use a workflow that breaks songs into multiple smaller segments of 20 seconds each.  We then export those files to lms and subsequently convert them to xseq format and finally stitch them together as a single sequence.  The program that I am finalizing takes a .lms file from lsp 2.5 and converts it directly to xseq.  If you have multiple files it allows you to convert all of them, utilizing as many cpu cores as you have, and then combine them.  This will save Alan and I substantial time.

The conversion process is working well but now I need to clean things up and make them usable for the masses.

Frank

Title: Re: Request for LSP 2.5 sequences for xlights conversion alpha testing
Post by: urthegman on October 03, 2012,

Frank, Should I just convert all of my sequences to .lms and then convert them to .xseq files? I have a little over an hour of sequences with video and LSP controlling Madrix effects. I am also hoping I don't have to split them up into 20 second segments, do I???  :o

Title: Re: Request for LSP 2.5 sequences for xlights conversion alpha testing
Post by: frankr on October 03, 2012,

Wow those are some impressive stats!.  I am not sure about the video solution with xLights I have never used it.

If your existing sequences can be converted from LSP to LOR than you do not need to worry about the 20 second thing.  We do that because the sequences we generate are huge.

If you want to convert a whole set of individual sequences my app will also allow you to do that.  You can select the files you want to convert and then let it do its work.  No intermediate steps.

Frank

Title: Re: Request for LSP 2.5 sequences for xlights conversion alpha testing
Post by: urthegman on October 03, 2012,

Thank you Frank, I'm thinking that since my largest, most complicated sequence loaded, I shouldn't have much trouble with the smaller ones. At least that's my story and I'm sticking with it!!! LOL

Title: Re: Request for LSP 2.5 sequences for xlights conversion alpha testing
Post by: urthegman on October 04, 2012,

Frank, The exported LMS files are HUGE!!! Is that going to be a problem or is that normal? I am attaching a side by side of the .lms files compared to the LSP .msq files. Thanks, George 

Title: Re: Request for LSP 2.5 sequences for xlights conversion alpha testing
Post by: peteandvanessa on October 04, 2012,

Thats normal mine did too

Title: Re: Request for LSP 2.5 sequences for xlights conversion alpha testing
Post by: urthegman on October 04, 2012,

Pete, And were you able to change them to .xseq files?

Title: Re: Request for LSP 2.5 sequences for xlights conversion alpha testing
Post by: peteandvanessa on October 05, 2012,

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Pete, And were you able to change them to .xseq files?

Yes, I exported the LSP 2.5 Files to LOR format (there's one I can't export since LSP will throw a memory exception on the larger sequences as it trys to export). I then took the exported files and posted then to FrankR's dropbox. He then took the files and ran them through his conversion tool and he then posted them back to the dropbox.

I downloaded the files that FrankR converted and loaded them into XLights. All the converted sequences ran great in Xlights (apart from the DMX portion of my sequences, they lagged the music), but as I look at this more, I think the lagging in the lights on the DMX portion might be down to H/W limitations and bandwidth. I don't know that for sure until I test it with the Conductor from the current COOP.

Title: Re: Request for LSP 2.5 sequences for xlights conversion alpha testing
Post by: urthegman on October 05, 2012,

Oh, so I can't convert the sequences to .xseq on my own?

Title: Re: Request for LSP 2.5 sequences for xlights conversion alpha testing
Post by: peteandvanessa on October 05, 2012,

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Oh, so I can't convert the sequences to .xseq on my own?

Not unless FrankR releases the sequence converter code.

Title: Re: Request for LSP 2.5 sequences for xlights conversion alpha testing
Post by: urthegman on October 05, 2012,

OOOOHHHHHH, FRAAANNNNNKKKKKKKK................... LOL ;D

Title: Re: Request for LSP 2.5 sequences for xlights conversion alpha testing
Post by: frankr on October 05, 2012,

Soon very soon :)

In the meantime drop me a PM and I can convert your sequences and send them back to you as xseq.  For the record I only need the LSP 2.5 file.

Not quite ready to release this code to the world. I have been focused on Alan's use model mostly as it is the more complicated model.  I still need to do a good deal of testing on all this but soon I should be able to release it for all.

Frank

Title: Re: Request for LSP 2.5 sequences for xlights conversion alpha testing
Post by: peteandvanessa on October 05, 2012,

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Soon very soon :)

In the meantime drop me a PM and I can convert your sequences and send them back to you as xseq.  For the record I only need the LSP 2.5 file.

Not quite ready to release this code to the world. I have been focused on Alan's use model mostly as it is the more complicated model.  I still need to do a good deal of testing on all this but soon I should be able to release it for all.

Frank

Awesome it should help alot of folks with playback. I've just about got the LSP scheduler playing back my sequences reliably. There's a couple that just won't play without light lag. Fast transistions and complicated sequences seem to be the issue, but I haven't nailed down whether it's a S/W issue or something related to H/W throughput.

Theoretically, the Etherdongle should support 16,000 channels, and I'm only pushing about 5000 channels through it, so I'd assume the Etherdongle can handle that easily. Or it might be LSP that's causing the light lag.

I have a conductor from the current COOP coming, so after Halloween I should be able to load it up into the Conductor and see if that makes a difference.

Frank - You planning on putting up lights for Halloween or are you waiting for Christmas?

Title: Re: Request for LSP 2.5 sequences for xlights conversion alpha testing
Post by: frankr on October 05, 2012,

I'll have some simple stuff up for Halloween but it will only be active night of.  Halloween is always a last minute thing for me  :)

If you want to run a full show test on xLights just let me know and I'll convert the sequences in your drop box.

Frank

Title: Re: Request for LSP 2.5 sequences for xlights conversion alpha testing
Post by: sielbear on October 06, 2012,

I'm rip-roaring excited for this thing!

With my channel count, 20 seconds of my sequence converted to Lms was 660 MB. It was getting very ugly before frank started working his magic!!

I will also do a Halloween show, but only because the lights will be on the house.

Title: Re: Request for LSP 2.5 sequences for xlights conversion alpha testing
Post by: twooly on October 10, 2012,

Any chance you could convert 4 sequences for me from LSP 2.5 to xlights or even LSP 2.5 to the conductor format?  Its for my Halloween show and hoping to start soon.

Title: Re: Request for LSP 2.5 sequences for xlights conversion alpha testing
Post by: frankr on October 10, 2012,

sure. drop me a PM with your e-mail address and a description of your setup.  I am mainly interested in whether or not you have any traditional LOR controllers configured in your sequence.

Frank

Title: Re: Request for LSP 2.5 sequences for xlights conversion alpha testing
Post by: twooly on October 10, 2012,

Awesome, if there is anything I can do let me know

Title: Re: Request for LSP 2.5 sequences for xlights conversion alpha testing
Post by: twooly on October 16, 2012,

I wanted to give a big thanks for Frank I greatly appreciate it (so does my wife giving her computer back to her :) )  I now have my halloween show working in xlights from my LSP 2.5 sequences!

Title: Re: Request for LSP 2.5 sequences for xlights conversion alpha testing
Post by: frankr on October 16, 2012,

Great news!  Glad to know that it worked for you. 

My tool works well for me but is still not quite ready for general use. I am hoping to get it to that point within the next couple of weeks.  Looks like the UI will need some re writes to get thigns working the way I expect but it can be done.

Frank

Title: Re: Request for LSP 2.5 sequences for xlights conversion alpha testing
Post by: twooly on October 16, 2012,

If you want me to test anything Ill be glad to help.  Thanks again  <res.

Title: Re: Request for LSP 2.5 sequences for xlights conversion alpha testing
Post by: lashbyrn on October 26, 2012,

How is this coming along.  I am dead in the water with the LSP DMX Pro issue.  I need to convert my sequences to xlights but cant export from the Intro LSP version.  This software sounds like what I need.   

Title: Re: Request for LSP 2.5 sequences for xlights conversion alpha testing
Post by: twooly on October 26, 2012,

It's close he's working on a few minor issues still.

Title: Re: Request for LSP 2.5 sequences for xlights conversion alpha testing
Post by: Steve Gase on October 30, 2012,

I'm pulling together the meat of the discussions (found in the forums and email threads).  One thing  I did not see discussed:  is the LSP optimization step required or even recommended before doing the lmx export?

Title: Re: Request for LSP 2.5 sequences for xlights conversion alpha testing
Post by: twooly on October 30, 2012,

I did not on the ones I tested with.

Title: Re: Request for LSP 2.5 sequences for xlights conversion alpha testing
Post by: Steve Gase on October 30, 2012,

I wasn't able to get the light elf tool to work (..maybe problems with python?)
To get my show up I went back to xlights and the conversion tool.

I found some problems with my setup, and the messages in xlights were helpful to track them down.

One set of warnings indicated some problems I could not fix.  The LSP gui showed everything in order, but the exported file had problems.

Reading: C:\xlights\hallow2.lms Reading LOR sequence Track 1 length = 30503 centiseconds WARNING: channel 'Aether2-RGB #1' is unmapped WARNING: channel 'Aether2-RGB #1' is unmapped WARNING: channel 'Aether2-RGB #1' is unmapped WARNING: channel 'Aether2-RGB #2' is unmapped WARNING: channel 'Aether2-RGB #3' is unmapped WARNING: channel 'Aether2-RGB #4' is unmapped WARNING: channel 'Aether2-RGB #5' is unmapped WARNING: channel 'Aether2-RGB #6' is unmapped WARNING: channel 'Aether2-RGB #7' is unmapped WARNING: channel 'Aether2-RGB #8' is unmapped WARNING: channel 'Cheapo #1' is unmapped WARNING: channel 'Cheapo #2' is unmapped # of mapped channels with effects=83 # of effects=18898 Media file=C:\xlights\silence5m.mp3 New # of time periods=6100 New data len=3123200 Writing xLights sequence Finished writing new file: C:\xlights\hallow2.xseq Finished converting all files

My display is using a single DMX network... a USB Lynx dongle with 512 channels, on network 1.

Looking into the lms file I found that some channels were  unit="1" as I would expect, but I also found many with garbage (!?) for the unit number... in the example below I found unit="39".  I don't know why this happens.  I can't find a way to straighten it out in the LSP msq sequence. 

<channel name="Cheapo #1" color="255" centiseconds="113379" deviceType="LOR" unit="39" circuit="21" savedIndex="89">

I can change all of the unit="\d+" values to unit="1" and my problem is fixed, and I have cleaned up the warnings.


I am interested to know if anyone else sees these problems.

I am also interested to know how light elf will correct for these issues.  Sometime the network number is legitimately something other than "1", and overwriting that value would be wrong.

Steve

Title: Re: Request for LSP 2.5 sequences for xlights conversion alpha testing
Post by: twooly on October 31, 2012,

In light elf you are adding the msq files and not the lms file right?

Honestly I would take any export out of LSP 2.5 with a grain of salt, too many bugs/differences in the export files right now to really trust them.