Moving channels up/down

[chuckd]

This might be the dumbest question I've ever asked, but for some reason I just can't seem to find the answer.

I have nearly 1,000 channels, and I want to move three of the channels that are very nearly at the bottom to the very top. If I grab and drag, the screen won't scroll, so I have to slide them one-by-one to the top of the screen, page up, and repeat.

I've been wanting to move several of my large display items around like this (two of them are almost 200 channels apiece), but this would be incrediblly time consuming.

Is this a forest/trees thing? What in the heck am I missing? I'm having a hard time believing that the software won't do this.

Thanks for any advice,

Chuck

[George Simmons]

chuckd wrote:

I'm having a hard time believing that the software won't do this.

Believe. It won't. Have you thought of using multiple tracks? You still have to move the tracks one step at a time (up or down) but at least if you had those 200 channels in a separate track you could move all 200 at the same time. Of course, before you could save a little time you'd need to spend an hour or so moving them into a separate track in the first place. Once you get up to your channel count, (or even half that many) the software isn't very user friendly any more.

[jimswinder]

chuckd wrote:

Is this a forest/trees thing? What in the heck am I missing? I'm having a hard time believing that the software won't do this.

I had the same question awhile back...

Send in your complaint/suggestion to wishlist@lightorama.com

If they get enough people wanting the same thing they MIGHT incorporate it in an upcoming release.

[chuckd]

I've thought of moving each 'display feature' into it's own track, but at that point the entire screen would be filled with (hidden) tracks, so that's not a great option either.

Oh well, I guess I'll send this as a feature request for future software.

[Brian Mitchell]

Here is a workaround.

insert channels to where you want to move them.

Copy the sequencing of the channels you want to move and paste into the new location. Redefine the new channels and delete the old channels.

Unfortunately you would have to redraw the animation for the new channel too but I imagine that would be faster than scrolling and paging a hundred times.

Once you do it once and save the config. You would only have to do the copy/paste and delete with other sequences and import the config.

[jimswinder]

Jeff Millard wrote:

I sure hope there's some multiple selection and cut and paste activity in the future of the Sequence Editor...

wishlist@lightorama.com

"wish it and they will build it..."
- Kevin Costner

[chuckd]

I guess Brian's workaround would be OK, but it's a lot easier just to talk myself out of wanting to move the channels!

To me, it needs two things:

1. Multiple channel selection capability. Including smart editing, like duplicating unit ID and incrementing channel numbers if desired.

2. Auto-scroll when dragging off screen. This is a pretty normal feature of other software packages.

3. As long as I'm at it, and everybody else has wanted this one I'm sure, ability to move stuff around on the animation screen!

[jimswinder]

Jeff Millard wrote:

Yer preachin' to the choir fella...

sorry...didn't hear you singing the "Wishlist" song!!

(Sung to the tune of "Whistle While You Work"

Wishlist while you work
Put on that grin and start right in to Wishlist loud and long
Just hum a Christmas tune
Just do your best don't take a rest and sing yourself a song

When there's too much to Sequence
Don't let it bother you,
forget your troubles,
Just like a cheerful LightOramaDan

Wishlist while you work
Come on get smart, tune up and start
Wishlist while you work

[chuckd]

Hmmmm, I did just notice that if I mouse drag a single channel, then scroll my mouse wheel at the same time, it DOES scroll the screen. Although, I still have to do one at a time, and mouse wheel scrolling 900+ channels is a bit tricky.

Can't do this with the keyboard, though.

[jimswinder]

chuckd wrote:

Hmmmm, I did just notice that if I mouse drag a single channel, then scroll my mouse wheel at the same time, it DOES scroll the screen. Although, I still have to do one at a time, and mouse wheel scrolling 900+ channels is a bit tricky.

Can't do this with the keyboard, though.

Really?!?!?

Will have to try that when I get home.

Nice find!!!!!

[LightORamaDan]

We will fix it so that you can move a channel beyond the screen.

As far as using 1000s of channels, we are currently working on some enhancements that will make having 1000s of channels much more managable than it is today... Will not help much this year BUT will be there early next year.

Dan

[bob]

In addition to being able to scroll with the mouse wheel, and the suggestion of new channels with copied/pasted effects, here's another way to do it. It won't work in all cases, but because you want to move the channels to the end of the track, it will work, and it should be pretty quick:

(1) Move a channel to a new track.

(2) Move it back to the original track.

It will then be at the end of the original track.