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Superstar and DMX?


mark obermiller

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Most people are using SuperStar for pixel trees and matrices right now. But it can be used to sequence all of your lights as well. The VisEffect feature is a feature that is designed for other lights in your display that are not laid out in a tree or a matrix. VisEffects allow you to do a smooth sweep across your lights regardless of how they are organized.

You can best decide if it is something you want to use by trying it and seeing for yourself. The free demo version of SuperStar that comes with every download of S3 is completely functional except that you can't export the sequence to play it to your actual lights. So you can download the latest version and try the VisEffect feature on a visualization of you display without purchasing a SuperStar license.

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Sorry, I didn't think of that. If you do a new download the rest of the S3 software won't work with your license. So I guess you would have to update your S3 license to see the new SuperStar stuff.

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Brian,

I am loving the visual effects for my yard.  I am using it for dumb lights but the morphs are just beautiful.  And using the visualization allows to me to very quickly select where and when to start and end the morphs.  Starting in the center of the yard and morphing away is just so so easy, quick and it looks fantastic.

 

I so want this with the shockwave, Spiral and fan effects.  To be able to point where the shockwave is going?  That would be so nice.

 

I purchased SuperStar to speed up my CCR programming and use it for Auto Sequencing those CCR's just parts of a song.  I am using it for soooo much more now.  My DMX yard, my 24 channel DC controller elements and of course my CCRs. 

 

By seperating my elements in groups I can autosequence super fast and it looks totally random.  Reading this and finding visual effects just saved me a ton of time.  Using my previously created groups with this is just working out so nice.

 

Any plans to add vis effects to the smooth effects?

 

Thanks,

Sax

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Thanks for the feedback on how you are using the existing features. Yes I would like to add VisEffect to the smooth effects but it is a significant effort and won't happen until next year.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Reading this, I'm not sure if Superstar is something that I would really need or not.  I am going to be buying some RGB lights to make spots/floods for halloween next year.  Would superstar help me with these or is the sequencer more of what you would use?  I haven't really seen superstar at all and, obviously, don't want to pay extra for something I wouldn't use.  Maybe in the future I would add more RGB but for now, just doing the spots/floods using dumb RGB lights, not smart.

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If you have a small number of lights the Sequence Editor will probably meet your needs. As you get more lights, even if they are not RGB lights, SuperStar becomes more useful. For example, the VisEffect feature gives you the ability to do a smooth sweep across you light display. This can be difficult to do in the Sequence Editor.

 

The free demo version of SuperStar is always downloaded as a part of any S3 download. The free demo version is functional in every way except that you cannot export the sequence to play to your actual lights. With the free demo you can open and play some of the sequences in the Samples folder to get an idea of what it can do.

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So does this mean that SS will work with the regular LOR controllers?  Example being during wizards in winter I have 8 trees going back and forth, would SS make them go back and forth smoother then me guessing where to turn one on and another off?  I also have a fan, would it help with this also?  I also am wondering if there are any videos showing SS in action/how to use it.  I will have to upgrade my LOR, since I'm back at 3.1.4, to use DMX, but don't want to upgrade til after the season is over as to not mess up the display.  Seeing videos might help me too, if there are any.

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Yes, I believe you would find it useful for the things you mentioned. There are some video tutorials, go to the lightorama main page, click on "Support" then click on "Video Tutorials" the SuperStar videos are at the bottom. You would probably be interested in:

Creating a Visualizer Visualizations for SuperStar

Importing a Visualizer Visualization into SuperStar

 

To learn the basics of scenes and morphs in SuperStar, look at the first two videos:

SuperStar basic scenes

SuperStar morphs

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If you can create it in the Visualizer it should work. You import the Visualization, sequence it, then export to the Sequence Editor.

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I use the holiday coro dongle and superstar works just fine. Morphs, fades, normal on/off control is all possible in superstar. I find myself using the sequence editor less and less. I love the nudge feature in superstar. Also when I find a morph I like how it stays loaded so to speak and I can just click add. Not in the right place? Nudge it left or right.

Or here is a favorite of mine...just pasted a new section in with 10 elements. They are all off time to the music. In SE I have to undo and repaste. Not in superstar. I can nudge all 10 elements at once. Ahhh...too far...no problem nudge them all back.

Another one...morphing the yard I have a blue tail on all my elements. See it in the yard...nah don't like it. Some 50 morphs to change the color. Pasting and copying required in SE. In SS...just cntrl click each morph, select new tail color, hit edit group and BAM...new color in place in seconds for each and every morph.

I originally purchased Superstar for my 3 CCRs. I use it for everything except my tune to sign. I have 10 rgb floods that just love to be morphed....well I like using the morphs on them. Plus I have rgb dumb lights in the bushes and trees. Twinkle looks more intense coming from SS.

It did take me a few days to get used to adding my morph to a timeline instead of a grid. Once you get that mastered you will be off and wondering how you ever sequenced without it. At least that's how I feel.

Sax

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So when you go about purchasing SS, if you are not using any CCR's do you just buy the smallest one?  I will have 0 of them and probably will never be able to afford them, only reason I would use SS is for the DMX and possibly more as I get used to it.

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Each CCR uses 150 channels. The 2 CCR license level allows you to export 2 CCRs or 300 channels. So if you have 300 channels or less, then the 2 CCR license level will be all you need.

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Brian,

I tried the dmx process you describe in post 10.  I had not seen that before and just created my 12 string pixel tree in about 15 minutes!  The only problem is that I can't get it to go into simulation mode so I can play a sequence into it.  I assume I am missing something on my end, so let me describe the steps that I took.

 

Using the steps you describe in post 10, I created twelve 50 pixel strings that go from 11-1 to 11-121 (for the start of the 12th string).

 

Saved the visualization with a new name.

 

Start Sequence Editor and open a sequence that uses this pixel tree.

 

In Visualizer, push the simulation Mode button so I can be ready to start the sequence.

 

I get the following error message in a box titled Simulation Errors:

There are one or more errors with your simulation that prevent it from running.  Please correct these errors and try again.
CCR Fixture String 9 - CCR 1 does not have a base unit ID assigned.
CCR Fixture String 8 - CCR 1 does not have a base unit ID assigned.
CCR Fixture String 7 - CCR 1 does not have a base unit ID assigned.
CCR Fixture String 12 - CCR 1 does not have a base unit ID assigned.
CCR Fixture String 11 - CCR 1 does not have a base unit ID assigned.
CCR Fixture String 10 - CCR 1 does not have a base unit ID assigned.
CCR Fixture String 3 - CCR 1 does not have a base unit ID assigned.
CCR Fixture String 2 - CCR 1 does not have a base unit ID assigned.
CCR Fixture String 1 - CCR 1 does not have a base unit ID assigned.
CCR Fixture String 6 - CCR 1 does not have a base unit ID assigned.
CCR Fixture String 5 - CCR 1 does not have a base unit ID assigned.
CCR Fixture String 4 - CCR 1 does not have a base unit ID assigned.

 

 

Am I missing something?

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Because SuperStar is using the comment line to supporting dmx, you cannot play the exported sequence back to the visualization because the Visualizer doesn't recognize the dmx settings that you placed in the comment line.

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It will play to the SuperStar screen and you can export the sequence and play it to your real lights.

 

Without using the dmx keyword you must define each DMX RGB pixel as a separate fixture. There is a limit of 1000 fixtures in the visualizer so you can't do more than 1000 DMX RGB pixels. This keyword gets around that limit.

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OK, I think I've got it.  This is not do do anything useful with Visualizer EXCEPT to produce a .lee file to use as an import for the visualization mode in SuperStar.  You can't directly make use of this in Visualizer.

 

Do I have that correct?

 

That's too bad as I have not been able to do anything useful with visualization mode in SuperStar (I'm sure because I haven't figured it out, not because of limitations in SS).

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