A proposed sequence builder for rgb megatrees. meighan.net/seqbuilder/index.php

[smeighan]

I am new to all of this. I have only used the Mr Christmas 6 channel light controllers from Home Depot. Over the next year i plan on getting 6 Lynx express, some of the smart strings and build a mega tree,


I want to have various patterns on my megatree next Christmas.


I prototype d a web page and wondered if anyone has done this before?

I modeled the tree with a cone and have various effects (spiraling lines, vertical lines, cross hatched lines,fireworks, text, stars, .etc.) The models are stored as an animated gif. I then built a model of the megatree, 16 segments, 60 pixels each segment. As the math model runs it projects the data onto the model of the tree. I have paramaters for changing the length of the sequence and for changing the models.

I next want to export the sequence as an xml file to import into lsp/vixen.

I plan on the web page allowing you to select which animation model you want ( radio buttons will allow selecting as many as i have in the gallery) and then projecting the animation onto the model of the tree.

i could also build other targets. i was thinking , for example, of modeling a snowman made of rgb strings. or a wall of strings. By separating the math models from the target physical models i think i will be able to get some interesting effects.

so ...
am i duplicating some tool that already exists?
where can i find out the format for the xml file i would need to create to import into vixen?

thanks
sean

BTW, this Christmas my 10 yo sons and i built some 9 ' tall nutcrackers. I plan on adding lights to them next year. We captured the plans of how to build them if anyone might be interested.
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[jnealand]

Download a couple of vixen sequences and then view them using an xml viewer.  I suspect that you will be able to understand the basics pretty quickly.

[Titus]

Sounds like a cool idea.

[Steve Gase]

Tools to build megatree sequences with various effects have been suggested, but I am not aware of anyone working on an implementation, or even forming a design.

I think its a great idea, and I look forward to seeing what you create!!

Steve (a software developer with almost as many years...  )

[lineman]

Watching sounds  GREAT    

[LightUpMA]

Can't wait to see it in action

[smartcontrols]

Hi Smeighan,

I too am a programmer (1973) that writes my own program to create my sequences. Last year I ran 63,000+ channels on Vixen 2.1 with no problem. It is very easy to modify it’s xml file. There is lots of info out there on the file format. It is very strait forward. I found it easier to let Vixen create the original blank sequence with all the channel and other info in it. Then I would just overwrite the data section. If you do go that route keep in mind that Vixen 2.1 was written a log time ago when people had very few channels. So the data is in channel order and not event order in the xml.

They recently released Vixen 3.0 (beta) and I will be switching to that this year. You may want to take a look at it here. You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login It is all new from the ground up and looks very exciting. Vixen 3.0 is in net 4.0 and C#. It too is designed to make it easy for external programs to work with it. There are some tutorials on that site to show you how to work directly with its classes. This year I will just be writing my own modules for it, so that I can interface with it directly. So far it appears to be very easy and powerful to do that.

Have fun with your project. It is a very exciting road to go down.

-Jeff

[dpitts]

Once you have an animated gif, if you could convert to avi file, the avi could be direcly imported into LSP using matrix animator and that could automatically map to a saved matrix.

[kgustafson]

Hi Smeighan,

I too am a programmer (1973) that writes my own program to create my sequences. Last year I ran 63,000+ channels on Vixen 2.1 with no problem. It is very easy to modify it’s xml file. There is lots of info out there on the file format. It is very strait forward. I found it easier to let Vixen create the original blank sequence with all the channel and other info in it. Then I would just overwrite the data section. If you do go that route keep in mind that Vixen 2.1 was written a log time ago when people had very few channels. So the data is in channel order and not event order in the xml.

They recently released Vixen 3.0 (beta) and I will be switching to that this year. You may want to take a look at it here. You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login It is all new from the ground up and looks very exciting. Vixen 3.0 is in net 4.0 and C#. It too is designed to make it easy for external programs to work with it. There are some tutorials on that site to show you how to work directly with its classes. This year I will just be writing my own modules for it, so that I can interface with it directly. So far it appears to be very easy and powerful to do that.

Have fun with your project. It is a very exciting road to go down.

-Jeff

Any developers really should read all four of these 'tomes' on what is proposed to be in Vixen 3.0.  Looks like a serious change from 2.5 and I would hate all your hard work to be for naught when 3.0 comes out.

[tmcteer]

Very nice craftsmanship on the nutcrackers. You should be proud of your boys building that size of a project with you. Lights and possibly using servos to animate you project.

Welcome... I'm a newbie too but very hooked on this hobby.

Tom

[smeighan]

Some more info on the design of the sequencer.

The entire tool will be web based.
Select model on the left side of web page
1) Cone
2) Plane
3) Fan

For each model i have various algorithms to create images. I create one X,Y,X image each time tick. The data is written to an ASCII file. I use gnuplot to create the gif animations.

On the right side of the web page is the models to project on. I have finished the code for creating a megatree model, create the other 3 later.
1) Megatree. You define the number of segments (ie. 8, 16, 32 .et.c), the number of pixels per leg, the channel number, the starting and ending pixel number., the height of the megatree and the radius. With this i create the output model. X,Y,Z, channel, pixel. One datapoint for all. so 16 channels and 60 pixels per leg . These 960 data points are written to a target model file. Web page builds the file X,Y,Z,Channel, Pixle#

2) Flat plane of vertical LEDs. The matrix of LED's all located in x,y,z space
3) A snowman, 10' tall. Three spheres. This is just to show that the target models can be any shape.

I then map the model file of x,y,z data to the target model d = sqrt (( x1-x2)**2 + (y1-y2)**2 + (z1-z2)**2))
i will set parameters of how close a pixel has to be to be set on. I will then select the target pixels and mark them as ON with the RGB from the source model.

I plan on allowing multiple math fomulas on the cone (spiral lines, stars) combined togeteher.

I am not sure how it is going to look yet, by next week i should have the target models being drawn. They will also be animated gif's. This will allow me to see what the proposed sequence will look like. I expect this is only going to make me want to have more segments on the mega tree.
I also plan on building a 16 leg megatree witha special sone 1/2 up . I am going to model a 48 segment tree, 16 with full pixels, 32 with pixels only for about 2' towards the bottom. This would allow text or more complicated animations in that one zone and note require 24 strings only maybe 8+4. The target model would allow anything that can be modeled in 3d space


i should have the web page tool avail to look at by end of next week

[dpitts]

Will the import into Vixen or LSP take into account the ability for a single string to go up from bottom and then back down to ground. So say you had a 100 count string it would start with pixel 1 at bottom and pixel 50 at top then back down to pixel 100 at bottom. Many people use a single string to go up and then down. This would be needed for all strings of a tree.

[smeighan]

yes.

it all goes to the target model.
For example the web page will ask
1) Height of tree? 10'
2) radius of base? 2.5'
3) Number of segments to tree? 8
4) Spacing between pixels? 3.5"

For each segment the web page will then prompt.
segment #1 starting channel,pixel? 1,1, Ending? 1,60
segment #2 starting channel,pixel? 1,61 Ending? 1,120
.etc.

from this i then build the model of the tree in X,Y,Z space, channel and pixel

I first build a cone 10' tall with a radius of 2.5'.

I then move the cone onto the model and project the data points to the nearest pixels.
Now i can project anything onto the tree.

You can also model trees more complicated than maybe you have before

For example i plan on making a 48 segment tree. I will use 48 ropes as the skeleton for the tree. I will cable tie the smart strings to the rope.
16 of the segments will have the full say 60 pixels. between these there will be two ropes where i will only put pixels for the bottom 2' or so.
As long as i know the x,y,z location and the string and pixel number i can project on all of this the same
from the model. This allows a 2' band that has 48 segments. I was thinking i could use this area to also project text.

[smeighan]

Here is the first prototype for the tool i am building
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it is just alpha software. you cant vary the source and target models yet.

You can get the basic idea
1) Math model will be under the Model column
2) Different targets created for megatrees. In this case the tree is 10' high and 5' diameter at the base. The data files x,y,z data is all in inches.
3) Match model to target models.

The 8 segment target does not go all the way to the bottom of the tree, the 32 column megatree is skipping segments. I am writing code now but thought i would release this so you could get an idea of where this may go.

The gif files are only used to allow people to get an idea what the result will look like on their particular tree.

Note: I have tested this on firefox, ie and chrome. on chrome two the images did not show up. if i right clicked those images and opened in a new tab they worked. more stuff to work out.

I plan on allowing you to save/reload your own models. I also plan to get people to contribute more math models. I have thought of one for creating snowflakes.

thanks
sean

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[tmcteer]

Sean,

Renders OK on my MacBook OSX 10.6.8 using
Chrome 16.0.912.75
Firefox 9.0.1
Safari 5.1

Tom