5.3.10 a absolute mess

[Sully]

I have never seen such a mess with software like this from LOR. This version loses groups, motion effects are incorrectly aligned and messed up and unable to be previewed at all because for some reason the preview decides to zoom into a prop making it so large you cannot tell what is going on, even at 4k the props are showing bulbs like size 50. 

Also who would spirals work perfectly on older S5 versions but not this one? They're misaligned and block shaped like they are being displayed at a super low resolution, I've even cranked the resolution to max and they'll still be a mess and even worse when played on the actual lights. Basically almost everything I've ever sequenced until 5.3.10 is useless and trash now and using spirals or other motion effects are useless on megatrees and matrix because the program distorts and mutilates them for some odd reason. I'm at a loss of words here....I stuck with LOR for years and now I'm about to switch to one of those free programs because LOR is a simply 100% broken.

 

Machine info:

Light-O-Rama S5 Sequencer (32-bit), Version 5.3.10
Pro Edition
Copyright 2016-2019 Light-O-Rama, Inc.

Microsoft Windows 10 Home 64-bit
Intel® Core™ i7-7820X CPU @ 3.60GHz
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER
OpenGL version: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 441.41
 

Edited December 1, 2019 by Sully
Added PC info

[k6ccc]

There have been several discussions recently about issues with S5.3.x in general and 5.3.10 specifically.  I can tell you that I moved back from 5.3.10 to 5.2.4 yesterday on both my sequencing and show computers.

 

[Sully]

Thanks for the reply k6ccc, you’re a well known member and I appreciate you taking the time to reply. Yeah I am actually running 5.2.4 on my show PC but I decided a week or so ago to tinker with 5.3.10, I honestly love the changes 5x has brought and had high expectations but it is so bad I couldn’t believe it was LOR....stuttering on motion effects, props being removed for no reason with newly created layout. You can’t even import a 5.2x sequence in that it totally destroys it. I was shocked and surprised this is a release build.....I just hope this isn’t the direction they are going because I hate the free programs, they’re poorly done. 

Edited December 1, 2019 by Sully

[default]

Sully,

Just for grins, I started playing around with Spirals. At first I saw no problems in my Preview,  but then... I see what I think you are describing and I think I know why. I am making a video to show you what I think is happening and maybe how to fix it - maybe im' not sure.

I am still working on that part. It involves your Preview. A word of warning before you go changing you Preview, make a backup/copy. Depending on what you change you can really screw up your sequences. Neato huh?

I explain more in the video. Should have it done tonight.

Alan...

[Sully]

Alan, sure no problem. I probably should have mentioned I run all pixels, no standard lights at all. So all my editing is for pixels and the pixel side of things. What I really don't understand is how 5.3x totally corrupts and ruins any sequence made before that and even ones created with it. I noticed it refused to bring in any 5.2x sequences without destroying them so I figured well no big deal, my sequences are already done and running, I'll create a new layout preview and redo my sequences, no big deal. So I basically sequence the entire song with beats first, then move on to pixel tree and matrix and this is when it went south. No matter what I chose in the spiral effect it's a mess, it's not my layout. What I'm seeing is on even strands of lights(50) the spiral is offset and making the effect look absolutely terrible and unusable. I can correct it if I group the tree and crank the render option(hi res and low res) all the way up. And then when I tested the ok looking spirals on my actual lights it was a mess, it looked like I just slapped colors on the tree and it was so out of wack, almost as if I mixed up all the channels and universes. I sequence on a 2k monitor and run my preview on a 4k monitor, you can imagine how bad the effect looked on the actual tree when it was bad in 4k lol 

Another annoying issue is something I can't believe is even there is that when you attempt to fade on a effect it turns the color to white, you have to go back and redo the color. Very annoying.

Now on this sequence I created 100% with 5.3.10, I reopened it today and it warned me that it was going to remove all my groups because the props no longer existed! I was like wtf no way.....closed down 5.3.10 reopened and tried again and this time no warning! Until I closed the sequenced and tried to reopen the warning of removing my groups appeared again.

I reinstalled 5.2.4 and the sequenced I created in 5.3.10 works perfectly, no spiral issue at all. There is something really wrong with 5.3.10, I just pity the folks who buy sequences and are running 5.3.10 because there is no way those things are going to work. For some odd reason LOR all of a sudden decided against importing our sequences and I'm baffled as to why.

I really like LOR, I will run 5.2.4 until i can't no more if I have too, I liked the new 5.3.10 features but I can't stomach the massive issues with it and I refuse to use the free sequencers because they're just not my cup of tea and they suffer from instability. The ONLY thing I like with those is the ability to use a Raspberry PI to run the show....why LOR doesn't add that ability is beyond me, I'm guessing it's because they already sell a show player and that option would eliminate the need for those is what they're thinking. I just keep getting this bad feeling LOR is trying to force us pixel folks into Superstar for pixel editing and I won't do that, for what those licenses costs I can cover my entire home with pixels.

[default]

8 minutes ago, Sully said:

Another annoying issue is something I can't believe is even there is that when you attempt to fade on a effect it turns the color to white, you have to go back and redo the color. Very annoying.

This is how I fade Motion Effects, works good for me.  Other Video is almost done uploading.

Alan...

 

Edited December 1, 2019 by default

[default]

Sully,
Here's the video. Please watch until the end, there is good info in it that relates to the problems with changing your Preview. It's late, I'm tired and I kind of ramble on a little. 😗

Hopefully this and the bug report offer some info about why this is happening. It started back with at least 5.3.6 if not earlier, it was reported and no answer as of yet.

I am kind of stuck with 5.3.10 because I made so many changes to my sequences, that 5.2.4 won't open them any more, and I do not look forward to redoing all my sequences. At least I do my shows in the spring / summer / fall months so I have a little time to see if it gets sorted out.

I know I mention it a number of times in the video, but here it comes again. Make a COPY of your existing Preview ! Never make changes to your original. Been there, done that, there is nothing worse than making a change to your Preview today and and opening another previous song tommorrow only to find that all the effects are borked. You probaly won't remember the change you made. It is best to make a change to a Copy of your Preview, then open a sequence, Assign a different Preview using your Copy to verify all other sequences work properly.

As I posted in the Bug Report back in September, there are issues with moving props around, resizing, etc. This really really matters if you use SS any may have something to do with your issue and Motion Effects. The thread to the bug report with video is below.

Hope this helps.

Alan...

Bug Report

 

[Sully]

Alan, thank you that explains a lot but I'm not sure it's totally my issue. 

I figured it out! It's the way the preview is set, if it's stacked or whatever. I always used to choose my groups to be as the preview, well something in that has changed and causes havoc. I'm going to capture it.

 

 

Edited December 1, 2019 by Sully

[PhilMassey]

Check This.

On the right side of the prop definition window there is a resolution slider. Check use preview and move the slider to hi res.You will probably need to do it for all your pixel props.

[Sully]

7 minutes ago, PhilMassey said:

Check This.

On the right side of the prop definition window there is a resolution slider. Check use preview and move the slider to hi res.You will probably need to do it for all your pixel props.

I know I've done that it fixes them only in the preview not on the actual prop, they look like a 2 year old did them, like the universes and channels are a mess.

[PhilMassey]

Did you use the visualizer import method, and is it an option to import again or have you spent a lot of time on new content.

I used the Vis and my props came over pretty well, just, the labels were funky.

[Sully]

Well yes and no I tried importing my old(if you can call 5.2.4 old) sequences in and they're a mess, it butchers them. I then made a entirely new preview and new sequence and same exact issues. This is only 1 issue, there are dozens I'm having. I have sat here for hours tinkering and there is no way to correct some of the issues, they're just unfixed bugs. Like copy paste, it'll paste things in spots that aren't selected or even parts of a group and then is hidden and almost impossible to locate, nothing shows you just need to delete everything and start over...props are vanishing when reopening completed sequences. I've given up on 5.3.10, if I have to redo every sequence I'm go to the dark side where I can at least utilize a Raspberry PI and get rid of these limitations with pixels in LOR.

[PhilMassey]

You are not alone in having issues.

You can be sure in the off season I will at least be evaluating the dark side.

[default]

Sully, glad you got this sorted out. While it may not have been what I described in the video, it did haave to do with your Preview. If you are able to use 5.2.4, then stay with it. Since 5.3.0 other than having  Show on Demand "create playbback files on the fly" ( which is a dud for pc users) and fixing some bug issue (only to have more appear) the only major enhancement was to be able to scale picture. While this is a nice feature, it is not worth the hassles of the 5.3.X series.

I'm going to bite the bullet and redo all my sequences in 5.2.4.

Alan...

[Sully]

Alan, yeah I got it working somewhat OK.....I'm not happy with it....the bad outweighs the good ya know. Hopefully they get these bugs fixed and get rid of this dumb way to create show files. I just feel they're forcing things onto us we don't want nor even need. Why can't they add Pi support? It wouldn't be hard....they want to add something useful that'd be what to add.