SuperStar new features: Import Image Files, Compress effects into a group, Select One or More Rows

[BrianBruderer]

A pre-beta release of SuperStar is available. New in this release are:

1) You can now import image files such as .jpg files and .gif files and pretty much any other format of image file.

2) You can now compress effects into a group. After making a group, all the effects get represented by one "group" effect on the time layers. This frees you from the limit of 40 layers, because now you can have put groups on any of the 40 layers, and each group can contain effects in 40 layers. So this effectively gives you 40 x 40 = 1600 layers. This feature makes it much easier to create complex sequences because you will no longer be limited to 40 layers.

3) You can now select one or more rows.

 

This is a pre-beta release. The purpose is to allow folks to test out the new features before they are put into a beta release. Please post any problems, or suggestions you might have.

You can get the pre-beta release by doing the following:

1) Shut down SuperStar

2) Look for SSEdit.exe. It will be in one of the following two places:

c:\Program Files\Light-O-Rama\SSEdit.exe
c:\Program Files (x86)\Light-O-Rama\SSEdit.exe

3) Rename it to something like SSEdit_original.exe

4) Use the link below to get the new SSEdit.exe and copy it to the same place where you renamed the original SSEdit.exe

http://superstar.synchronizedchristmas.com/SSEdit.exe

5) Launch SuperStar. If you have done everything correctly, it will say v0.1605.16 in the title bar in the upper left of the program.

6) Test out the new features

 

 

Instructions on How to use the New Features:

 

1) Import Image

On the right half of the Image Setup dialog box is the Import Image section. This section is used to import image files such as .jpg, .gif, .bmp, .png, and .ico files. To import an image file do the following:

Click on the Tools menu and select “Images…”

In the Import Image section, click on the “Import image File (JPG, GIF, BMP, PNG, ICO, etc)” button

If you are in CCR Mode the sequencing grid will become larger and will be 64x50 pixels in size. This is to allow you to define a large image if you want. You can manipulate the image by using the following controls:

 

Move Origin X Y – This control will move the origin of the image. Use the arrow buttons to move it left, right, up, or down

 

Squish/Stretch X Y – This control will squish or stretch the image in the X or Y direction. Using this control will change the aspect ratio of the image.

 

Rotation Angle – Use this control to rotate the image. A positive angle will rotate the image clockwise. A negative angle will rotate the image counterclockwise.

 

Enlarge/Shrink – Use this control to enlarge or shrink the image.

 

Clip Grid Bitmap – While manipulating the image you can click on “Clip Grid Bitmap” and set a clipping rectangle on the sequencing grid using “Shift + Left Mouse Button”. Then when you click on “Set Grid Bitmap from Image File” only the pixels within the clipping rectangle will get set.

After you have manipulated the image to the location, angle and size that you want, click on the “Set Grid Bitmap from Image File” button. This will set the pixels on the sequencing grid to represent the original imported image. At this point you can manual edit the image if you wish. Note that you can set the color controls to the color of a pixel in the sequencing grid by moving the mouse to a pixel and then do Shift + Left mouse click. To set a pixel, set the color controls to the color you want and then click on one or more pixels.

After you have the image the way you want it, type in a name in the Image section and click on the “Add” button in the Image section.

 

Images on a Small Grid

For example, if you have 12 CCRs and you are in CCR mode then you have a grid of 12x50 pixels to work with. However, when you import the image the grid will become larger and will be 64x50 pixels in size. If you want your image to fit within your 12x50 pixels that you have, then you will need to shrink the imported image and move it to the left so that it will fit within the first 12 columns of pixels. Then you can click on the “Set Grid Bitmap from Image File” button. You can then set the Grid Mode to “Standard” and the sequencing grid will become the standard size of 12x50 pixels.

 

Images on a Grid Larger than Your Actual Lights

For example, if you have 12 CCRs and you are in CCR mode then you have a grid of 12x50 pixels in your actual display. However, when you import the image the grid will become large and will be 64x50 pixels in size. Even though your actual lights are only 12x50 pixels in size, you can create a larger image and move the image through your 12x50 pixels. This allows you to display large images on a small grid. To do this, do the following:

In the Import Image section, click on the “Import image File (JPG, GIF, BMP, PNG, ICO, etc)” button

The sequencing grid becomes larger and will be 64x50 pixels in size.

Manipulate the image but keep it large so that it uses most or all of the 64x50 pixels

Click on the “Set Grid Bitmap from Image File” button

If you want, manually edit the pixels further

In the “Image” section type in a name and click on the “Add” button

Now you want to add an image action that will move the image through your 12x50 pixels, so do the following:

Set the Grid Mode to “Standard”, this will change the grid to be the size of your actual display

In the time ruler at the top of the screen, set the time length to something long such as 4 seconds

In the Image Action section set Start x, y to 12, 0 and set the End x, y to -64, 0

In the Image Action section click on the “Add” button

Click on the “Play 8 seconds” button to play the Image Action. You should see the Image move through your 12 CCRs from right to left.

To make the image move from left to right, set Start x,y to -64, 0 and set End x, y to 12, 0. Note that these values assume your image is 64 pixels wide. If it is not that wide, then you would use smaller values.

 

2) Make a Group of Effects

Make a Group

Do a right mouse click and drag to select a group of effects. (You can add or remove effects from the group by doing Ctrl + Right mouse click)

After doing a right mouse click and drag, a pop-up menu will appear

In the Popup menu choose "Grouping" and then choose "Group  Selected Effects into a Group"

The selected effects will be compressed into one "Group" effect

Ungroup

Do a right mouse click on a group effect.

In the Popup menu choose "Grouping" and then choose "Ungroup Selected Group into Separate Effects"

Expand Group

Do a right mouse click on a group effect.

In the Popup menu choose "Grouping" and then choose "Expand Selected Group"

All the other effects in the sequence will be hidden and only the effects in the group will be displayed. You can now modify the existing effects, add new effects, or delete effects. Anything you do will become the new state of the group.

Compress Group

While a group is expanded, do a right mouse click anywhere in the time layers

In the Popup menu choose "Compress Group"

All the effects currently displayed will be compressed back into the group. You will now see the group effect displayed with all the other effects in the sequence

 

3) Select one or more Rows

Open a sequence or create a bunch of effects. Do a right click on a row, for example you could do a right click on Row 3 in the Time Layers.

In the Popup menu that appears select "Row 3" and then select "Select All", "Select All Left", or "Select All Right"

You can also do a right mouse click and drag across more than one row. For example you do a right mouse click and drag across Rows 3-6.

In the Popup menu that appears select "Rows 3-6" and then select "Select All", "Select All Left", or "Select All Right"

[Ron Boyd]

Grouping!

Awesome feature Brian. That will make sequencing and Clipboard saves so much easier.

[Ron Boyd]

Ran into the first problem. 

I have 2 fully packed props in an imported visualization. Each have in the comments section, "superstar matrixLength=25". Prior to adding this release, all was working well. After installing this release, one of the bursts is fine but the other reverted back to what it was prior to adding the comment "superstar matrixLength=25". 

It was, 10 columns of 25 pixels. It is now,

6 Columns of 25 pixels,

one column of 20 pixels

1 column of 5 pixels and

3 columns of 25 again.

It's set up identical to the other as a mirror. Burst # 1 has the first string on the left, Burst # 2 on the right.

If you would like to see the viz, I can send it to you or take a screen shot.

Any ideas?

[BrianBruderer]

Sounds like a bug that I have introduced. Please email your visualization to brian@superstarlights.com

[Ron Boyd]

Files sent. As with all new software, it happens.

Thanks for the quick reply. Looking forward to this new feature.

[BrianBruderer]

Ron, get SSEdit.exe again and it should fix the bug you were experiencing. This time is should say v0.1605.9

Thanks for using the pre-beta and finding the bug!

[Ron Boyd]

Wow, that was quick. Will try it now.

 

Edit:

Perfect. Straightened everything out. Thanks Brian.

Edited May 10, 2016 by Ron Boyd

[Grinch]

Brian

When I have a large image drawn.. more than the 12 or 16 CCR wide and click on the EDIT IMAGE FILE  under Grid Mode, it will expand the strings to 64 but only display the 12 or 16 strings of image most of the time.  While the strings are expanded if I click on another image and then click back on the original image it will then display the entire image.  

 Also If you accidentally click the MODIFY button on the image that is larger than the 12-16 CCR when the display is in 12 or 16 it will cut off the rest of the image and truncate the image to 12 or 16 CCRs causing you to lose the remainder of your image.  Can we get a warning or make sure we save the entire image up to the 64 strings?

Is it possible to add the rotation Angle to the image MANIPULATE SELECTED IMAGE dialog box so that we can have more angles other than right to left or Up and down or the Rotate by 90 degrees 

[k6ccc]

Brian,

I have played with v0.1605.9 for about 5 minutes and really like the ability to use layer groups.  I have some effects that take almost all 40 layers already (without putting multiple parts of the effect on the same layer).  I also frequently have the last 6 - 10 layers tied up with static stuff (such as the porch and security light, and other lights that never change for an entire song).  Would it be possible to add the ability to name a group.  For example, now each time you create a group, it has a sequential group number.  If you have very many groups, it could be confusing to keep track of them all.  By naming a group, you could for example have a group of "Pixel Tree", another of "Mega Tree", another of "Arches", and one called "static" for the non-changing stuff I mentioned earlier.  Would save some mental effort or note keeping.

 

[Grinch]

Brian

One more thing.  If you are working on a sequence and then open a second copy of Superstar to either work on another sequence or copy effects. Then go back to your first sequence it plays the song from your second sequence.  The work around it to load the original audio file but then that would play in your second sequence.  Both files will save OK with out screwing up the audio files from the other.

[BrianBruderer]

There is a new SSEdit.exe out there. After getting it you should see v0.1605.10 at the top of superstar. It has the following changes:

1) Added the ability to import each frame of an animated gif file. Click on "Import Image File (JPG, GIF, BMP, PNG, ICO, etc)" and if it is an animated image that contains several images it will pop up a dialog box that allows you to choose which frame to import.

2) Fixed a bug that "Grinch" found where if you already have a large image and click on "Edit Image File" (under "Grid Mode") then sometimes it would not redraw the image and you would only see 12 or 16 columns of the image. It should always update now, and hopefully that should also address the "Modify" problem. Mr. Grinch, let me know if there are still problems there.

3) Fixed a bug where if you save a file with the new SSEdit.exe and read it into an older SSEdit.exe then it would not read in the scenes and morphs. The scenes and morphs are still there, they have not been lost. To fix this problem launch v01605.10 and open the sequence file and save again and then the file will be readable by older versions of SSEdit.exe.

[Grinch]

Thanks Brian  Now that is service.  I will download the version and keep you posted.

[Grinch]

Brian

I download the latest .10 and with an 64 pixel wide image and only displaying 12, if you click on modify image it will truncate 52 pixels off of the image leaving you a 12 wide CCR image.

[lightzilla]

1 hour ago, BrianBruderer said:

3) Fixed a bug where if you save a file with the new SSEdit.exe and read it into an older SSEdit.exe then it would not read in the scenes and morphs. The scenes and morphs are still there, they have not been lost. To fix this problem launch v01605.10 and open the sequence file and save again and then the file will be readable by older versions of SSEdit.exe.

Thank God you fixed this issue because I wouldn't had been happy if I lost that sequence.....( or couldn't open it in the older version ).

Edited May 11, 2016 by lightzilla

[BrianBruderer]

There is another SSEdit.exe out there. This one is v0.1605.11. It addresses the image modify issue that Mr. Grinch found. In particular:

In the image dialog box, if the current image is larger than the current grid and you click on the image modify button a warning will be displayed advising that if you procede you will lose all the pixels of the image that fall outside of the current grid.

[Grinch]

Thanks Brian   The Dialog box Fixes that problem

[Grinch]

Brian

One small nuisance problem   When I expand the image box by clicking on EDIT IMAGE FILE, touchup my image and click on save, all is good.  When I then Click on STANDARD to compress it back to 12 strings it stays at 64 strings.  I then have to go to LAYOUT and change back to 12 CCR's.  The weird thing is it does not happen all of the time.

[k6ccc]

One more unrelated thought for what may be a simple addition.  Can you add a field somewhere that tells how many channels are in use in the current sequence.  It's sort of annoying to have a sequence all completed and find that it uses a few more channels than your current license (or maybe quite a few).

 

[BrianBruderer]

There is another SSEdit.exe out there, it is v0.1605.13. The following changes have been made:

1) If you save a file and the image dialog box is up and has "Large" selected for the Grid Mode, then the layout was getting saved as 64 ribbons. This has been fixed.

2) If you change the number of ribbons in the Layout dialog box and the image dialog box is up and has "Large" selected for the Grid Mode, then the layout was getting messed up. This has been fixed.

3) Went back to a green grid for images when the image dialog box is up, but added the option in the Image dialog box to change it to dark gray. Dark Gray is best for final viewing of the Image. Otherwise the bright green grid lines interfere with the appearance of the Image.

4) If you launched two instances of superstar and use a different audio file in each one, the first one launched was using the other one's audio file. This has been fixed.

 

To get the new SSEdit.exe

1) Shut down SuperStar

2) Look for SSEdit.exe. It will be in one of the following two places:

c:\Program Files\Light-O-Rama\SSEdit.exe
c:\Program Files (x86)\Light-O-Rama\SSEdit.exe

3) Rename it to something like SSEdit_original.exe

4) Use the link below to get the new SSEdit.exe and copy it to the same place where you renamed the original SSEdit.exe

http://superstar.synchronizedchristmas.com/SSEdit.exe

5) Launch SuperStar. If you have done everything correctly, it will say v0.1605.13 in the title bar in the upper left of the program.

6) Verify everything works
 

[Grinch]

Audio is now correct when two SuperStar instances are open,  Thanks

Checking the other features out.....

 

THANKS