Where to Start - Sequence or Visualizer?

[Theyork5]

Just getting started and trying to use borrowed sequences for the first year and I will need to modify them to fit my display. With so many tools and things to use I am struggling on where to start. Is it better to build a visulaizer platform to review my sequenece once created to get a feel for how to layout my channels or do you find it better to build a sequence based on a paper layout of my display? Just need to figure out where to spend what little time I have left to get up and running for my first year.

Controllers have not arrived yet so I am just working from the free download software and feeling overwhelmed with the amount of control I could do if I had time.

Help!

[TheUltimate]

For me it worked best to build the visualizer so I could see how things looked as I sequenced a song. Being a newbie I found that sometime things I thought I was doing in the sequence editor didn't translate to the show the way I thought it would so I was able to test as I went and change the part that I didn't like.

At this point I would make sure you have your display locked in and then not change it. I made the mistake of changing my layout WAY too many times to the point that I had to start over on sequencing songs. This wated a ton of time.

Just my .02

[LOR Staff]

IMHO, I would do it this way:

Bring a picture of your house into the Visualizer and start to play with the placement of your lights. Remember, you probably have a limited number of channels, so place them for the greatest impact/what you think looks best. Don't bother assigning channels yet, just assign the colors......

Once you have a layout you like, look to see how you can most effectively (and efficiently) combine channels into a controller. For example, you wouldn't want channel 1 on your windows, and then channel 2 on the other side of your yard 100 feet away!

That will get you through the planning. Now, go into the SE and define all the controllers/channels/etc. Export that as a channel config.

Go into the Visualizer and bring the channel config in. Now go back and assign the channels to each fixture.

[Cray Augsburg]

+2 on do NOT change your plan once you've started . . .

Try to come up with a plan for your display. Lay it out. Check it out in the visualizer or animator. Double check that your plan is what you want. Then stick with the plan, no matter how many things you see in the next couple of months that you would like to add.

This being said, we (I) understand there will be things you'd like to see done differently. But you don't have a lot of time between now and the start of December -- a lot less than you might think. Making even a small change drastically reduces the amount of time left for bringing your display to fruition.

Keep a notebook. Write in it all the ideas you get. Things you'd like to change/add/remove. Hints and tips from the Forum, etc. But keep focused on YOUR current plan. After this year's display, take a few weeks off (you'll need it). Then pull out the notebook and get to work on those things.

This is my fourth year with an LOR-driven display. I have totally redone my channel configuration twice, to allow more flexibility, make things easier to sequence, etc. But the reasons that drive this are things that I picked up from the experience I gained. Make things as simple as they can be, or you'll wish you did.

Above all, this is YOUR SHOW -- your chance to entertain, so have fun.

And welcome to the insanity.

BTW: I'd spend a lot of time in the animator/visualizer, AND a lot of time in the sequencer. Try things in the sequencer, then look at how they appear in the animator. And again, KISS and have the most fun you can.

[Theyork5]

Thanks to everyone for the help. Seems like I need to start with the Visualizer and layout what I have and then assemble into a channel configuration and then build from there. I like the idea of sequencing and then testing to see how it looks as I have been worried how it would look. I am sure I will have lots of questions to come but I am off and running now and have spent time this evening running through the Visualizer tutorial and that looks fairly straight forward but we will see how it goes after I start putting lights up. This is really a great group of people!

[james campbell]

I agree with all the others,but if you don't have your layout yet and you still have to modifiy your sequences I feel for ya buddy. the programing part is by far the most time consuming. welcome to hte group and good luck hope it all comes together

Edited September 18, 2012 by james campbell