How to convert an animation sequence to a music sequence

[pdowns]

I created several animation sequences to run between music sequences. Now I have acquired some voice overs and would like to add those media files to the animation sequences. Obviously I can't specify a media file in an animation sequence.

Simply renaming the .las files to .lms files didn't work!

Do I have to create new music sequences that reference my voice over media files and then copy in the sequence information from the animation sequences? I can handle that but would prefer a faster shortcut.

And I know, "why" questions rarely have (good) answers, but why is it even useful to distinguish between music and animation sequences?

[cenote]

The only way I know if, is to create a new sequence with audio, than under edit, select all, and copy and and paste to new sequence.

[bob]

There's currently no way to do this inside of LOR itself, but it can be done, if you are comfortable with editing the save file using some text editor (such as Notepad). If you're not comfortable with doing that, please send the file to me (bob@lightorama.com), and I'll do it for you. But here's how you would do it if you are comfortable:

Before saying exactly how, though, I want to be extremely clear up front: Always be very careful when manually editing the save file. It is easy to make a mistake that will render the file completely incomprehensible to Light-O-Rama. So, make absolutely sure that you have saved a clean copy of the unmodified file before making changes.

So:

(1) Using Windows Explorer, make a backup copy of the file.

(2) Using Windows Explorer, rename the file to "something.lms" instead of "something.las".

(3) Edit something.lms using Notepad (or whatever).

(4) Near the top, there will be a line that says something like:

It may not say exactly that, but it will say something like that. Before the final ">" of that line, type a space, followed by the following:

musicFilename="blah.mp3"

Note that there is no space between "music" and "Filename" - or anywhere else in there, for that matter; there's only the one space that you should have typed to precede it.

And I'm literally saying to type in the filename as "blah.mp3"; don't worry about typing the real filename - we'll do that in a coming step, where it will be easier and less error prone.

So the line becomes:

(5) Save the file, and close Notepad.

(6) Open up the Sequence Editor, and open the new lms file.

(7) Go to the Edit menu, and select "Media File". That will open a file browser dialog.

(8) Use the dialog to select the real media file.

(9) Save the sequence.

Hope this helps. Again, if you're not comfortable doing this, feel free to send me the file, and I'll do it. And again, even if you are comfortable doing this, please be very careful to make a backup copy of your file before making any changes in this way.

[bob]

Oh, and:

And I know, "why" questions rarely have (good) answers, but why is it even useful to distinguish between music and animation sequences?

The reasoning is that the two are treated in very different ways. For example, only a single musical sequence can be playing at any given time, whereas your show can have many animation sequences playing simultaneously.

I make no claims about that being a "good" answer, but it's an answer!

[Dennis Cherry]

I converted one last night per Bob's write up. But figuered it out on my own.

[pdowns]

Thanks a lot Bob. Your answer is perfectly clear and I'm comfortable with editors. (I personally use Notepad++)

I'm also good at making lots of backups! The last thing I'm going to risk is losing my work.

Oh, and that was a "good" answer about the differences in music and animation sequences.

[dschultz56]

Does the reverse hold true if you wanted to convert a musical sequence to an animation sequence? If so, I could see that being helpful when you wanted to dispaly a sequence in the visualizer for a sequence you downloaded from someone that you don't have the music for.

[bob]

Does the reverse hold true if you wanted to convert a musical sequence to an animation sequence?

Yes.