How do I get static lights between musical show?

[aggiebq86]

Here's what I want to do. First have a start up using a THX sound, then play through my musical sequence (about 15 minutes), then go to static lights (or maybe gradual fades, twinkles, and cascades) without music for about 15 minutes. After running through this routine, I'd like to go through it all over again. I think I'd like to do the THX routine at the beginning of each show rather than just once an evening so it would be in my musical tab instead of the startup tab.

How do I get my static part of the show set up? Right now I have the THX sequence on my startup so it plays once an evening and then my musical sequences are on an endless loop until the show shuts down. Since my show isn't very long it gets repetitious very quickly.

[cmoore60]

For your static portion create an animation sequence. I think best to make it like 1 minute long.

Then create your show in the show editor all under the musical tab. To add animation under the musical when you click the + to add, you will need to select either all sequences or animation sequences near the lower portion of that window.

so your show would look something like this to cover a 30 minute segment

thx intro

song1

song2

song3

song4

animation1

animation1

animation1

animation1

animation1

animation1

animation1

Pad with the animation1 to fill the space you need. After it plays thru one time it will start back at the top. Granted this will not be precise on timing but you did not say that you wanted the show to start all the time on the hour and half-hour.

Chuck

[aggiebq86]

Would I then have an animation 2 that consisted of a minute of silence and no lights? Then when the show started again, the THX intro would have more impact.

[Brad Bilger]

I do a variation on that. Mine goes:

Startup song

Song 1

Song 2

Song 3

Song 4

Song 5

Song 6

Static lights (1 minute animation looped 700 times)

Show runs for 23 minutes and then goes into the looped animation. Schedule runs the entire show. Then I have another show scheduled 30 minutes later. It interrupts the animated loop and goes straight into the start up song again. Hasn't failed me in the past 3 weeks. Runs to the split second.



Additional: When I schedule it, I say the show starts at 6:15 pm and runs till 7:45. That comes out with 23 minutes of music, and the remainder of the time Static lights. At 7:45, the next show starts which consists of the same arraingement of songs. Plays all 6 songs, goes to static and loops until the next time for the show.

[Dave Batzdorf]

or a musical with 15 minutes of dead-air time. this way the shows are all listed in the same area. you could also gather about 15 minutes of you favorite Christmas tunes. Maybe a voice over stating the show will start in 15-10-5 minutes. Use Audacity and you can have the voice mixed with the music.

[Brad Bilger]

Doing it my way you don't have to worry about total times. In the musical tab, you enter your songs 1, 2, 3, ... And then put your static animation in under the musical tab (1 minute long and looped many times). Lor will play songs in order and the go straight into the animation. LOR when playing a song will wait till the end of the song, BUT will interrupt an animation.
I have a show named BPS show that runs a start up, 6 songs and a static show. Schedule says start show at 6:15 and run till 7:15. Next show starts at 7:15 and runs till 7:45. (23 minutes of music and the remainder as static lights on)
So at 6:15 it runs my show and ends with all lights on in a static show. At 7:15, the static show gets cut off and the next show starts right up. Minimum fuss, no critical timing, no trimming of songs, no heartache.
Been running this way since thanksgiving without a single delay. As a matter of fact, you can set your watch by my shows timing.

[cmoore60]

Very good point Brad.

Chuck

[rmturner54]

My music show runs from 530PM to 1030PM, my static show/lighting for security purposes runs from 1031PM to 5AM. I wrote a animation sequence for x number of minutes and jsut looped it. I have different animation sequences each night that run post show.

[cmoore60]

When you say looped it. Did you put a loop in the animation sequence it's self?

Chuck

[Brad Bilger]

cmoore60 wrote:

When you say looped it. Did you put a loop in the animation sequence it's self?

Chuck

On mine, the static show is just one minute long, everything on. The animation sequence is looped 700 times in the sequence itself, all at the same speed. (Admitted, a little overkill, but what the heck)

The end result is a static sequence that will run anywhere from zero minutes up to 700 minutes long. Why try to figure out how much time to fill or how long your show is? Let the computer figure it out.

[rmturner54]

Let me correct myself. I jsut looked at my static animation seq. It's a 1 minute seq. It is inserted in the animation tab of the show editor and scheduled with the time frame that I listed in my earlier post. So being 1 minute long, at the end of the seq when it starts over you will see a slight bump/interruption in the lights.

[Steven]

rmturner54 wrote:

So being 1 minute long, at the end of the seq when it starts over you will see a slight bump/interruption in the lights.

There are several ways to prevent the "bump" every minute:

1. Put the animation sequence in the "Background" tab rather than the "Animation" tab.
2. Un-check the "Turn used lights off at the end of each sequence" box.
3. Do like Brad and make the sequence longer than the show.

The disadvantage of #2 is that you have to turn the lights off at the end of the show. If you're starting another show with the THX sequence, then this isn't a problem.

The disadvantage to #3 is that it only sends the "On" event when the sequence starts. (However, I'm not sure if this is true for loops.) If the network is interrupted or a controller looses power during this time, its lights will be off until the next show.

[Brad Bilger]

Agreed. The only flicker I get is when the static show is cut off and the next full show starts up. When the static sequence loops, nothing is apparent. No flicker. Steven is right. I had a reception problem with my ELL's that was solved by relocation. If I controller lost connection it would go dark, but when the static show looped, connection was re-established and the controller lit back up.
I tried the split second timing route. Hopeless confusion. Someone on the board recommended this method and for my situation, it's perfect.

[rmturner54]

Steven wrote:

rmturner54 wrote:

So being 1 minute long, at the end of the seq when it starts over you will see a slight bump/interruption in the lights.

There are several ways to prevent the "bump" every minute:

1. 
   
2. Put the animation sequence in the "Background" tab rather than the "Animation" tab.
   
3. Un-check the "Turn used lights off at the end of each sequence" box.
   
4. Do like Brad and make the sequence longer than the show.

The disadvantage of #2 is that you have to turn the lights off at the end of the show. If you're starting another show with the THX sequence, then this isn't a problem.

The disadvantage to #3 is that it only sends the "On" event when the sequence starts. (However, I'm not sure if this is true for loops.) If the network is interrupted or a controller looses power during this time, its lights will be off until the next show.

I am not anting my static lights on during the show. So, what does the background tab do for me. I use the background tab for my tune to sign.

I am running a static animation after my show for several hours. This is for security purposes. Otherwise my entire front of house would be dark.

[Brad Bilger]

Loop your static animation several hundred times to get the time you need, put the Static animation in under the MUSICAL tab on your show editor. (you will have to click the "file type" selector to get to your animations.

If you wanted your last show to start say at 10:00 pm and your static lights to turn on after the show and then all the lights turn off at 5:00 am, under scheduler, set your start time to kick off at 10:00 pm and then turn Off at 5:00 am.

At 10:00 pm your show will start, play all your music, then will automatically go into the static show. The static show is looped to cover many hours. The "show" will run non stop until 5:00 am and then all the lights will go out. It won't play your musical selections all night long. It will play your songs, go to the animation and "Hang" on the animation until it reaches the end time of 5:00 am.

My display is in an amusement park. My last show is at 8:30 pm. The park closes at 10:00. My last show is set to start up at 8:30 pm and end at 11:00pm. Show runs at 8:30, Music for 23 minutes and when the music is over it goes to static lights until 11:00 pm and then turns off and waits for the next day.

Remember, LOR will NOT interupt a musical in progress, but will wait until the end of the song, but it WILL interupt an animation sequence in the middle. It will still interrupt an animation even if its in the musical tab.

[MrBiteMe4]

rmturner54 wrote:

Steven wrote:

rmturner54 wrote:

So being 1 minute long, at the end of the seq when it starts over you will see a slight bump/interruption in the lights.

There are several ways to prevent the "bump" every minute:

1. 
   
2. Put the animation sequence in the "Background" tab rather than the "Animation" tab.
   
3. Un-check the "Turn used lights off at the end of each sequence" box.
   
4. Do like Brad and make the sequence longer than the show.

The disadvantage of #2 is that you have to turn the lights off at the end of the show. If you're starting another show with the THX sequence, then this isn't a problem.

The disadvantage to #3 is that it only sends the "On" event when the sequence starts. (However, I'm not sure if this is true for loops.) If the network is interrupted or a controller looses power during this time, its lights will be off until the next show.

I am not anting my static lights on during the show. So, what does the background tab do for me. I use the background tab for my tune to sign.

I am running a static animation after my show for several hours. This is for security purposes. Otherwise my entire front of house would be dark.

You can shedule more than one show for the same day. Make another animation like Steven said, label it "backgroundAfterShow". Create a show with only your backgroundAfterHour animation in the background tab (nothing in any other tabs), then simply schedule it to come in 1 min after your main show ends.


As long as there are no time conflicts with the shows. For example your main show 5:30 - 1030pm. Static lights 1031pm - 500am.

Hope it works.

Happy New Year