Feature Requests: Tim's Top 10

[Tim Fischer]

Push Eject wrote:

Tim Fischer wrote:

Push Eject wrote:

- if a range is selected playback should start at its beginning and stop at its end

One wrinkle to this is that something is always selected in LOR. The last cell you clicked something in becomes selected...

-Tim

Good point. Okay, then a range is defined as two or more timings.

Charlie

That sounds fine to me (along with your other ideas).

-Tim

[Shubb]

Push Eject wrote:

Shubb, what do you think of my idea of getting rid of the "Play Ranges" altogether?

Charlie

I like the "Play Visible Screen" when I do corrections I will play the same part 8-10 times and make sure the timing is correct. Then I play from the beginning and look for errors. I just don't like having to run all the way from the beginning if I'm 3/4 of the way through with corrections.

Scott

[bob]

Mark McCauley wrote:

It would also be nice if the editor would remember the Channel & Time Zoom In/Out settings. I prefer a little narrower columns and rows to get more on the screen.

Please try "Edit / Preferences / Zoom Preferences / Save Zoom Preferences".

[LightsByGreg]

I say put the play ranges on the toolbar. Instead of the "Play" "Play Again" and "Stop" buttons I could imagine a toolbar with the following:

"Play Whole Sequence" "Play Visible Screen" "Play Selection" "Pause" "Stop"

Taking this further, the user should be able to move the bar that slides across the screen to any point. (I'm talking about the one that represents the present timing when you are playing a sequence) This way, if you wanted to play a selection, you would not have to click on the "Select" tool and highlight the area, just drag the sliding bar.

Then you could have the following menu (but please put this in the toolbar, not in a menu):

"Play Whole" "Play Visible" "Play Selection" "Play from Bar" "Pause" "Stop"

If no area was highlighted because of dragging the bar the "play selection" would automatically do it the classic way.

Greg

[Tim Fischer]

LightsByGreg wrote:

I say put the play ranges on the toolbar. Instead of the "Play" "Play Again" and "Stop" buttons I could imagine a toolbar with the following:

"Play Whole Sequence" "Play Visible Screen" "Play Selection" "Pause" "Stop"

You forgot "Play from selection" That's the important one I want!

I never use "play selection", except sometimes as a crutch to get around the lack of "play from selection (to end)". I rarely use "play full sequence" except for a final runthrough of the entire sequence when I think I'm done...

-Tim

[LightsByGreg]

What I mean by "Play from Bar" is that the sequence will start where the vertical bar is placed. Sorry, I wasn't real clear on that.

[Ed]

bob wrote:

Mark McCauley wrote:

It would also be nice if the editor would remember the Channel & Time Zoom In/Out settings. I prefer a little narrower columns and rows to get more on the screen.

Please try "Edit / Preferences / Zoom Preferences / Save Zoom Preferences".

That’s okay for zoom, but what keeps the channel bar to the size that you select? I have to keep adjusting it every time I open up a sequence.

Something I would to see added. In this day and age of dual and triple monitors...to be able to drag a sequence onto another monitor. That way I could compare sequences side by side. I can move the animation window to another monitor. I would like the same option for the sequence window.

Ed

[pixeldigger]

Ed,

I just open the main LOR window to span both monitors, then size one for the left screen and the other for the right screen.

[Ed]

pixeldigger wrote:

Ed,

I just open the main LOR window to span both monitors, then size one for the left screen and the other for the right screen.

Just shoot me now. I had alway tried to drag the sequence window to the other monitor and forgot to try stretching it instead. Another banner moment in computing!

Thanks Ed

[Erik Sommer]

I mentioned this in my own thread, but on top of adding the buttons, you could press the spacebar to pause/stop.

[Duke]

Push Eject wrote:

A “play from current selection” which goes to end of sequence.

I use an audio editing program called Pro Tools all day at work and I find myself wanting to translate its commands to the Sequence Editor.

This specific request could be handled like this:
- do away with the "Play range" menu item
- playback should always happen from your current spot in the time line
- we already have the "home" key to take us to the top of the sequence for playing from start
- use the space bar to start and stop playback
- if a range is selected playback should start at its beginning and stop at its end

So click somewhere in the time line and hit the space bar to start playing from there and hit the space bar again to stop.

This behavior makes sense to me... what do you guys think?

Along the same lines, I would love a "mute" and "solo" button for each channel.

Charlie

Every major audio editing s'ware function that way. LOR s'ware should do it also.

I agree 100%.

This next one probably belongs in hardware but here goes:

Direct input from a midi device to the LOR controller.
The midi wizard would not be required at all.
Each channel could then be controlled by the midi device/software of the users choice. (Pro Tools, Logic, Sonar, etc.)
All the effects would be handled by midi controller assignments.

The LOR Show editor would need to be tweaked to handle midi files directly instead of LOR sequence files.

Charlie, I know Pro Tools has the ability to combine an audio (Waveform) file along with midi events. What do you think?

All the tools would then be familiar to users of the software that they are acustomed to.

I think this is how some pro stage lighting controllers operate.

[Push Eject]

Duke wrote:

Charlie, I know Pro Tools has the ability to combine an audio (Waveform) file along with midi events. What do you think?

You would have to play the "session" back using Pro Tools... it cannot create a standalone file that has both audio and midi information. Neat idea, though!

The crux of my suggestion is to add the play/stop space bar and do away with the "Play range" menu item. There would be no reason for it if you could play from current position (and start of sequence is easily, and more quickly, reached by hitting "home").

Charlie

[Duke]

Charlie,

I understand and agree with doing away with the Play Range stuff.
It is a rather primative way to handle playback.

In Sonar and or Cakewalk I can combine an audio file AND a midi file.
The audio file resides on its own stereo track.
Additional tracks can be added as audio or midi.
I can also select a range to play back and click a loop icon in which case the selected area loops.

For the most part we are on the same page asking for the same things.
A more common GUI and NO dropdowns.

Viewing the audio files peaks helps in timing and setting events.
The end result would be just like LOR today just a more common GUI used across audio/midi editing apps. After all most of what is being discussed here is GUI related with some added/alternate functions

The session playback would have to be handled by the LOR Show editor somehow.
That's where the tweaking of the software would come in.

My point is that for sequencing it would be MUCH easier to use because if you already are familiar with your software then it would become a "no brainer".
Tools that you are already familiar with (space bar, play to end, looping etc.)
Many audio packages work this way today, just not LOR.

Sliders for zooming would be nice too.
One vertical for track height and one horizontal for the width.
The would be located in the timeline area.
Yet another GUI mod.

[Tim Fischer]

Duke,

I have a coworker that does a DMX display. He uses a midi->DMX hardware converter, and seqences the lights with a MIDI sequencer (I think he uses Vision, but I'm not sure). He swears by this for the same reason you are saying -- that he's familiar with it.

That said, it's a lot harder to do some things in the sequencer than it is in LOR. Especially with LOR 2 and the foreground/background effects, it's trivial to have a mega tree spinning at full brightness while the rest of the tree comes up in a fade from 0 to 100 percent. You could do that in midi, but it wouldn't be nearly as easy. Also Chris (my coworker) has a "piano keyboard" with each note as a DMX channel. He wanted to have the keyboard on dim at all times that it's being used, and the "active" notes bright. He ended up having to download a separate piece of software that converted the "midi note offs" on those channels to "note ons with this velocity (brightness)".

So what I'm saying is that it's doable, but I think LOR has a leg-up with sequencing lights. As I mentioned in my original post to this thread, theres plenty of improvements I'd like to see, but in general I think it's an efficient way to sequence displays...

-Tim

[4theolsons]

Great suggestions Tim!

I am new to sequencing, but would like to see 2 small additions:

1) Ability to 'freeze' a channel, i.e. the tapper channel, at the top of the screen similar to Window-Freeze panes in Excel. I find myself dragging my tapper channel up and down the channels so I can get my timings right.

2) Color the inserted timings something other than black, so you can tell the difference between your inserted timings and standard .1 timings.

Erik

[Tim Fischer]

4theolsons wrote:

Great suggestions Tim!

I am new to sequencing, but would like to see 2 small additions:

1) Ability to 'freeze' a channel, i.e. the tapper channel, at the top of the screen similar to Window-Freeze panes in Excel. I find myself dragging my tapper channel up and down the channels so I can get my timings right.

2) Color the inserted timings something other than black, so you can tell the difference between your inserted timings and standard .1 timings.

Erik

Have you played with tracks? I think you'll find that both of those requests go away if you use them. Tracks are really, really cool...

-Tim

[4theolsons]

Have not played with the tracks at all. I am going off of my LIMITED knowledge of LOR-I and doing it in LOR-II. Unfortunately, I did not spend the time I should have earlier this year working with the software to become proficient and am now scrambling........ That's part of the fun, isn't it?

[4theolsons]

Looked at tracks tonight, but couldn't find out how they actually work. I am having trouble wrapping my head around the track concept.

[Tim Fischer]

4theolsons wrote:

Looked at tracks tonight, but couldn't find out how they actually work. I am having trouble wrapping my head around the track concept.

What I do is just duplicate the existing track (all channels), and tell it not to duplicate timings.

Now you have a "blank slate" for all channels, timing wise. You can tap in timings, use the beat or vu wizards, or even add things manually. Any lighting event you make to any track will be reflected in all tracks. It's just a matter of what time scale you're working in...

Someone awhile back made the reference to Photoshop Layers -- I think that's pretty accurate...

-Tim

[daniel]

I also completely don't understand this track concept. So if I had a sequence with timings at .1, I could have another sequence (track) blank and run the tapper over it, and another track with .05 timings. So I have 3 sequences in 1, and I can assign all the channels in all the tracks? Or do you have to split the channels up into the timings that you want for them? Thanks for any help...



--Daniel L