Jump to content
Light-O-Rama Forums

Matrix


Dwayne 20

Recommended Posts

Is it possible to configure in SS a matrix where I use 12 pixels strings of 100 on a 24 row & a 50 length grid?  If so, how is it done?

Thanks,

Dwayne

Link to comment
Share on other sites

First,  please confirm you are using S4.

In S4, when you first launch superstar it is in CCR mode there is a limited number of layouts. To do anything other than those layouts you create a Visualization in the Visualizer and then in SuperStar you click on the File menu and select "import visualization"

In the Visualizer there is a matrix wizard that will help you make the matrix you are describing. One caveat is that the visualizer only supports CCR/CCP strings of length 50. To work around that limitation what you do is make your matrix using DMX strings. In your case you would use the Matrix wizard, and set DMX and then it will let you specify 100 pixel strings.

Save the visualization then launch superstar, click on the File menu and select "Import Visualization"

Do your sequencing and export the sequence as a .lms file.

Launch the sequence editor, and open your main sequence, create a Pixie controller and specify 100 pixel strings

Use copy/paste to copy the effects in the exported superstar file into the Pixie controller in your main sequence. When you do the paste, the effects will take on the addressing of the pixie controller.

If you need help making the matrix in the visualizer matrix wizard, let me know.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a laptop with S4 on it, and 1 with S5

My plan is to learn as much as I can using the S5.  Also, this will be my first time with using SS.

So with that being said.....Can I still use your instructions as said above on S5 or is there another way of going about it?

Thanks,

Dwayne

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In S5 instead of Visualizations, you use Previews. In fact, in S5 the Visualizer does not exist and you cannot create visualizations. In S5 you must create a Preview of your display. There is a video tutorial on this. Go to the lightorama main page, click on "Support" then click on "Tutorials and PDFs" In section "Sequencer (ShowTime Designer Pixels S5)" the first two tutorials cover making a Preview in S5. After you have your preview of your other lights and you want to add a prop that you are going to sequence in SuperStar, do the following:

1) Launch the S5 Sequencer

2) In the upper right, click on "Previews" and select the Preview of your display

4) In the "Preview Design" dialog box, click on the "Add Item" button

5) In the list that appears, keep the highlight on the top item in the list

6) If you are creating an RGB prop, click on the RGB option on the left side of the dialog box.
7) Create your prop and save the Preview
😎 Click on the File menu and select "New" then "musical sequence"

9) The first screen that appears lets you choose the audio file for the sequence

10) The next screen lets you set a preview for your sequence. Select the Preview of your whole display.

11) In the next screen just click on "Exit"

12) In the main screen of the S5 sequencer you should see a line for the super star Prop that you added. You may need to expand the Prop. You want to find the "motion effect" row for the prop, it will be a black row.

13) Right click on the "motion effect" row and choose "Select" then "Row". This will select the entire row.

14) Right click on the selection you just made and choose "insert superstar effect"

15) SuperStar will launch. Do your sequencing. Or if you have a purchased sequence for that prop you can click on the File menu and open that sequence.
16) Shut down superstar and the sequence information will automatically get transferred to the S5 sequencer and you can play the sequence to the screen and play it to your actual lights.


It is a lot of steps, but once you get onto it, it is easier than S4 because everything gets automatically integrated and combined in the S5 Sequencer.
 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

23 minutes ago, BrianBruderer said:

In S5 instead of Visualizations, you use Previews. In fact, in S5 the Visualizer does not exist and you cannot create visualizations.

Grumble, moan, and complain.  That statement is going to cost me dozens of hours of sequencing time...

The way I have always sequenced is to have my entire display in one visualization, and create an effect from one prop, then copy and paste (maybe with some modification) to some other prop for that same time.  For example, if the pixel tree does some motion, have the arches and roofline do the same (or similar) motion and colors at the same time.  Since there is no way to usefully get my entire display into a preview such that it is useful in SuperStar, I will have to change my procedure to sequence one prop at a time and ATTEMPT to get them to line up.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In my steps it makes you think that you should sequence one prop at a time. But you can make a group containing one or more of your props and then use the motion effect row for that group to "insert superstar effect" and sequence them all together. For large displays you have the issue of the squares in the sequencing grid of SuperStar getting tiny. But you have the same issue in S4 when importing a visualization of a large display.

k6cc, is there another issue I am not covering that makes it more difficult to sequence multiple props in S5?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, BrianBruderer said:

k6cc, is there another issue I am not covering that makes it more difficult to sequence multiple props in S5?

This is my 2018 Visualization (this screen capture was done for a specific reason, but it's annotated with what is what, so more useful for this purpose):

SuperStar_grid_2018_error.png

That's a little under 12,000 channels with every single pixel individually shown.  There is no way in S5 Previews to get anything close to that when imported into SuperStar

So what I have to do is select the pixel tree and Import SuperStar Effects.  Create an effect and exit.  Then repeat the process for the pixel star.  Then repeat for the arches.  Then repeat for the roofline.  Then repeat for the eves.  Then repeat for the planter.  Then  repeat for the roses.  Then repeat for the individual lights.  All that for a few seconds.  With what you see above, I create a morph (for example) on the tree.  Then copy that morph and change the endpoints to the roofline.  Then copy again and change the endpoints to the arches, etc.  One minute vs 10 to 20 minutes.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, that is a definite issue. It won't happen this year, but the plan is to have functionality next year that will allow you to more easily place things anywhere on the sequencing grid.

For this year I would think it would be easiest to use the .lms file from the S4 Sequence Editor. Is that what you are going to do? Or are you rebuilding all your sequences the way you describe?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For 2018, I knew I had major changes (the largest being changing the pixel tree from 12 x 50 to 24 x 100 which required moving several other props on the grid.  I used the S4 Visualizer to create a new visualization pair.  Then converted everything to the new layout in S5 SuperStar.  Then because of time, just exported everything to S5 Sequencer in legacy format.  Next year, I will redo it all as "SuperStar Effects using the two copies of SuperStar method that Alan (default) explained.  That way everything will be in SuperStar Effects mode in S5 except for the Singing faces that were sequenced by JR Dibble and were sent in SE .lms format, and my P5 and P10 matrixes which were done in S5 Motion Effects (formerly known as Pixel Editor).  I can handle text on the matrixes in Motion Effects - and I don't have a 60,000 channel license for SuperStar!

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 9 months later...
On 11/13/2018 at 4:41 PM, k6ccc said:

This is my 2018 Visualization (this screen capture was done for a specific reason, but it's annotated with what is what, so more useful for this purpose):

SuperStar_grid_2018_error.png

That's a little under 12,000 channels with every single pixel individually shown.  There is no way in S5 Previews to get anything close to that when imported into SuperStar

So what I have to do is select the pixel tree and Import SuperStar Effects.  Create an effect and exit.  Then repeat the process for the pixel star.  Then repeat for the arches.  Then repeat for the roofline.  Then repeat for the eves.  Then repeat for the planter.  Then  repeat for the roses.  Then repeat for the individual lights.  All that for a few seconds.  With what you see above, I create a morph (for example) on the tree.  Then copy that morph and change the endpoints to the roofline.  Then copy again and change the endpoints to the arches, etc.  One minute vs 10 to 20 minutes.

 

In the next release, you will be able to create S5 groups with custom layouts like this.

Matt

 

image.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...