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Best Way To Model Peace Stakes in Preview.


PhilMassey

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@MattBrown

I have set up 100 x 5 pixel stake lights in preview. I want pixel level control in sequencer and motion rows.

I set them up by creating each pixel individually then copying 5 times for the first stake, then copying the 5 pixel stake 10 times for the first row, then  the row ten times for the whole ten rows.

This works and I can do sequencing and motion rows fine.

What I can't figure out is how to create a motion row for say just all the top pixels, ie all the pixel 5's.

Should I have set it up differently or what am I missing. 

Any thought?

Thanks,

Phil

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When you figure it out, please let me know.  I have also been pondering this.  Ideally need to model this in 3D...

 

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Jim, I can send you the prop I am working with if you would like to play with it.

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Not exactly Peace stakes...

However, after a user pointed out the following video from Richard Holdman, I went ahead and modeled some of it in S5. The attached sequence shows one approach to sequencing vertical pixel stakes, including the use of the Picture effect.

Matt

 

 

Pixel Stakes 10x25x20 FLAG.loredit

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I had seen most of those videos EXCEPT the How To.  Gonna have to digest that one and translate into LOR as best I can.  There were a few things I was able to pick up in the first pass.  Unfortunately in most of his examples, I could not see the simulation (it was just all black), so I could not see what the effect was doing.  Gonna watch it again in a dark room and see if it is visible.  Push comes to shove, I know David and he's less than 2 hours away, so I'm sure I could drive down to his house to see it in person...

 

 

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Matt, I had missed your test sequence until today and am looking at it.  It is going to take a while to figure out what you are doing.  That should help a lot!

Thanks

 

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OK Matt, here's one I can't figure out - and it's an important one.  On your "Rows" view, near the bottom is an effect row for each pixel by layer.  I can't figure out how for example you are defining that for the row called "Pixel 01 (top)" is only the top pixel in each firestick.  How are you setting that?

 

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5 hours ago, k6ccc said:

OK Matt, here's one I can't figure out - and it's an important one.  On your "Rows" view, near the bottom is an effect row for each pixel by layer.  I can't figure out how for example you are defining that for the row called "Pixel 01 (top)" is only the top pixel in each firestick.  How are you setting that?

So the entire preview consists of a 10 x 25 array of "Firesticks" each 20 pixels high. The "Festivus Poles" video has a 20 x 25 array, but they are broken into 2 halves, so I decided to just model 1 half of the poles. In Preview Design, you can see there are 10 groups "Row 01" thru "Row 0A" -- with each group being 20 pixels high by 25 pixels wide. Click on each group name to select the associated poles. 

Then there is an "All Rows" group that combines all 10 of the row groups arranged as a vertical stack. This group of groups contains every pixel in the 3D array. To see how "Pixel 01 (top)" is created, right-click on it in the sequence grid and select "Add/Modify motion effect rows". You'll see that each row is a custom subsection which selects every 20th row in the "All Rows" group. In the Add/Modify Motion Effect Rows dialog, just click on each row to see which pixels are selected. I only created motion rows for top 10 pixels - creating motion rows for the bottom 10 pixels is left as an exercise :)

For more information, see "Creating a Custom Subsection" on this help page:

http://www1.lightorama.com/help/motion_effect_rows_dialog.htm

Matt

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Thanks Matt,  I actually figured that out a couple hours ago.  That is a section of Motion Effects rows I had never seen before.  You did have me really confused with only the top 10 pixels on each pole modeled, but I finally got it.  I was able to take that and successfully lay out my pixel stakes in a test preview - and it worked with the stakes sitting in bundles of 10 on my floor.  I have not yet arranged it to accurately match the real layout - mostly because I have not figured out what that will be yet...

 

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  • 1 month later...

Matt (or anyone else), got any suggestions of how to accomplish this.

Here is an excerpt from my preview.  The vertical things are my 50 pixel stakes.  I have multiple groups for the 50 stakes, but for the most part I need to use the group that is arranged by Preview.  What I am trying to accomplish is similar to the ripples that result from tossing a rock into a pond - where the lights will go up and then down on each stake in an expanding circle around the rock.  I can partially do that with the Ripple effect on a Motion Effects row - but there is a couple problems.  I can set the center point anywhere I want in the yard.  If I set it to location #1 for example, and do a ripple, the problem is that on the stakes above the center point, the ripple has the right effect for the first half (the lights go up), but I can't find a way to make them then go back down.  The stakes below the center point, start out at the top of each stake and go down, and the stakes to the sides just sort of turn all on at the same time for each stake.

Now I did figure out a way that works fairly well, but the setup is quite intensive.  I created a group with all 50 stakes in the order that the are from the desired start point.  For example using #1 as a start point, the first stake is the one to the left, then the stake above, and third is the stake to the right, and so on, ending with the 50th stake being the one in the lower right.  Arrange that group as a horizontal stack and use a few morphs in SuperStar.  Creating the lighting effect was pretty easy, but the setup would require a separate group for each desired start location - location #2 would be a completely different order than #1 and location #3 would be different than either of those, etc.  I can easily visualize somewhere between six and ten starting locations, and I may end up with more than 50 stakes...  I can tell you doing one group with 50 stakes was a bit of a pain.  Doing the same thing for 150 stakes and a dozen desired starting locations would take the better part of a day.  This method works in Super, but I could not get the same result with this grouping in Motion Effects.

BTW, the stakes as shown here is not likely the actual final locations.  I just threw them around so I could mess around with how to accomplish desired effects.

Pixel_Stakes_in_preview_2020-05-08.png

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