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Does anyone else find Visualizer tedious?


A10LM

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I am using version 4.0.38 and it I find I have to do everything, even the obvious!

I make an RGB channel, and I have to enter everything for the 3 channels.  I enter controller type as Light-O-Rama, the unit #, and the first channel number, and then I have to do it all over again for the next 2 channels.  99% of the time you know it is going to be the same controller type!  You know it is going to be the same unit #!  You know it is going to be the next channel number.  Why do I have to enter it every single time?

For that matter, why can't the Channel Settings dialogue box default to bring up (instead of being empty) the last controller type used, the last unit # used, and the last channel number+1?

I think I asked something like this before and I was told that you usually assign the channel numbers in the Sequence Editor and then import them to the Visualizer.  Well I don't, and I am probably not the only one, am I?  Why can't you make the software do what us users want, not just the way you want?  Especially for something this simple and easy?

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That's what the channel Wizards are for. Assign all 1800 channels for my pixel tree in about 40 seconds .

Sent from my Droid Turbo via Tapatalk, so blame any typos or spelling errors on Android

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I feel your pain! I have asked the same questions, and wondered if there was a way you could set some things as default in the settings somewhere.

Channel wizards are nice, but I usually have a lot of one-off strings to assign. The wizards worked great on my arches and mega trees!

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Sounds painful.  What kind of RGB prop are you assigning the channels for?   Additional detail on why the existing methods are not appropriate for your setup may result in a new idea.   

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At the time I wrote this I was using CMB-24D controller for dumb ribbon lights, but also for LOR1600W units, they don't have wizards.

Basically the one year I bought all the smart RGB bulbs and pixels, I got so frustrated with the Visualizer that I didn't bother with it, I setup the fixtures in my office and watched it live.  This year I have everything at my brothers house, so I don't have that option.  So I was trying to fix the visualizer file that I had, but it was such a mess I decided to start over again.  I was going to create each RGB bulb / pixel independently because I use them in props, not in lines and I want to put these bulbs as part of this prop, and those bulbs as part of a different prop.  But with over 800 channels the heck with that if I have to assign each channel from scratch.

I find it hard to believe that more people don't do all their planning (including assigning channels) in the visualizer, the way they told me to do it makes not sense to me.  Why design the visual half in the visualizer and the channel half in the sequencer?  Isn't it easier to do it all in one place?  Why type the name in the visualizer and then again in the sequencer?  What happens when you make spelling mistakes so the two don't match?  I don't get it.  It sounds like unnecessary work to me.

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27 minutes ago, A10LM said:

At the time I wrote this I was using CMB-24D controller for dumb ribbon lights, but also for LOR1600W units, they don't have wizards.

Basically the one year I bought all the smart RGB bulbs and pixels, I got so frustrated with the Visualizer that I didn't bother with it, I setup the fixtures in my office and watched it live.  This year I have everything at my brothers house, so I don't have that option.  So I was trying to fix the visualizer file that I had, but it was such a mess I decided to start over again.  I was going to create each RGB bulb / pixel independently because I use them in props, not in lines and I want to put these bulbs as part of this prop, and those bulbs as part of a different prop.  But with over 800 channels the heck with that if I have to assign each channel from scratch.

I find it hard to believe that more people don't do all their planning (including assigning channels) in the visualizer, the way they told me to do it makes not sense to me.  Why design the visual half in the visualizer and the channel half in the sequencer?  Isn't it easier to do it all in one place?  Why type the name in the visualizer and then again in the sequencer?  What happens when you make spelling mistakes so the two don't match?  I don't get it.  It sounds like unnecessary work to me.

There seems to be a disconnect, creating RGB channels in SE is just as easy if not easier than in the Visualizer. Unless you are adding one RGB channel at a time, you can add massive channels and all are named, and addressed in a consecutive order.

You mentioned the CMB24D, IN SE go to the bottom channel, right click, select insert device, below....fill out the info it asks for, select CMB24D, its unit ID, 8 RGB channels - done. I hope this is the information you were seeking.

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Sorry, you were talking about VIS not SE, my bad. Still painless, create each flood as a new fixture, don't address them. Create a prop called floods (or whatever) and associate those fixtures with the new prop. Then use the wizard to assign channels.

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I think one of the other things that irritates me In Lor is all the drop-down boxes why can't I just type in the number I want why do I have to use a drop-down box and select it

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3 minutes ago, Ebuechner said:

I think one of the other things that irritates me In Lor is all the drop-down boxes why can't I just type in the number I want why do I have to use a drop-down box and select it

You do realize that in ALL of our drop down boxes, if you give them focus you can then hit the first number/letter and be taken directly to that entry right?  And that subsequent presses of that number/letter take you to the NEXT entry that starts with that character?

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