RGB ramps NEW TRICK!

[zwiller]

So rgb does not ramp or fade like incans...  We all know that.  Or so we thought...  OR maybe all you guys are doing this and I am an idiot...

Last year with the excitement of adding rgb for the first time I didn't have time to focus on improving ramps.  Kinda sifting through LSP's forum about rgb ramps being hard coded to 10%.  IE ramp up intensity begins at 10% and ends at 100%, and vice versa.  I kinda had a revelation last night.  I stumbled upon an old post over at LSP and in the post David explains the hardcoded 10%: "Ramps do not work on rgb channels due to the way that the 3 channel calculations are performed in conjunction with intensity.  ramps on RGB channels are a no-no, setting the minimum of 10% by the system was a work around to prevent the issues.the ideal way to perform a ramp on an rgb channel is to use an ON effect and ramp to a darker (or brighter) color.For example an ON effect that changes from RED-to-BLACK is effectively a ramp-down or an ON effect that changes from BLACK-to-RED is a ramp-up."

Did some preliminary testing and I can easily see the difference in the visualizer.  VERY SMOOOOOTH.  It's not as easy to generate the effect but I think I the result is worth it.  It would be nice if there was a way to config rgb ramps to do this to minimize the fiddling...  Plan to hook up lights and see this in action live tonight.  Just passing the word. 

[keitha43]

I have done it both ways and the live output looks the same to me. It just looks better to me in the grid to use ramps so I can see where the ramp begins.

[zwiller]

Thanks.  Gonna do a shoot out tonight and see for myself.  No argument ramps are easier/better when sequencing.  What I am actually trying to find out is whether the sequencing software or SS firmware is the issue.  Bottom line is that Ray's little 2010X controller is much smoother than anything I've gotten with LSP/SS and I would like to improve things a bit. 

[peteandvanessa]

I have Ray's LED RGB Flexstrips with the SSC version 1, and I've tested both in the Garage and also on my live Halloween display which has been running every night since Oct 1st.

My LED's seem to ramp up and down just fine, from 0-100% and also from 100 to 0%. I never gave it a second thought. It doesn't seem to matter which color either and I've used Red, Blue, Geen, White, Orange, Purple, all seem to work fine for me.

[zwiller]

I finally got some SSCv4s built and did some testing.  There is a difference between a ramp and on with color fade but is most noticeable on slow or longer ones.  I also stumbled upon the best looking option which is a ramp with the color fade selected.  Kinda cool, it allows you to see when the effect starts like a normal ramp but offers improved smoothness. 

How much a difference it actually is will be up to the user, but I plan to use the new method (ramp and color fade) from now on and tweak those sequences wherever practical.  My test PC is older and gets wonky running LSP but I hope to export a test sequence to conductor and run and test, perhaps even shoot a quick shootout clip if anyone is interested.   

[rdebolt]

My test PC is older and gets wonky running LSP but I hope to export a test sequence to conductor and run and test, perhaps even shoot a quick shootout clip if anyone is interested.   

Always interested! 

[arw01]

+1, won't be on LSP, but the learning will help as I want lots of fades and shifts..

[zwiller]

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Sorry for the weak video and camera shake but I think it gets the job done.  As usual, the video doesn't do it justice.  Each element on seperate channels and each element has a different effect: regular ramp, on color fade from/to black, and ramp with color fade from/to black.  Curious if you guys have a preference.  I sure do.  If nothing else, I hope this will lead you to try and see it with your own eyes...  To me, the slower or longer ramps are very obvious but even the shorter ramps have a noticeable difference. 

[t.jo13]

very nice Thankyou for the info it helps a lot

Joe