Disappointed with fixture limit

[ItsMeBobO]

Why is there a limit on fixtures in a prop?  I need 96 and find 64 is the max.  This limit is not noted in the documentation.

 

Did some behavior change on the 'Delete prop' button?   Delete now leaves all the fixtures behind as single fixture 'props'.  Didn't this used to also delete the fixtures instead of making me delete them one by one?

 

 

 

 

[LOR Staff]

The delete button has always worked like that.

 

Use 2 props, one with 64 fixtures, the other with 32.

 

I'll update the doc.

[bbayjohn]

+1
Why is there a limit on fixtures in the Visualizer?
Have 4.038 pro

Number of LOR Units Supported? UNLIMITED
Number of Tracks Supported? UNLIMITED

Number of fixtures? Limited

Doesn't make sense. Is it possible to run multiple visualizations on separate monitors?



Quote from help files

The Light-O-Rama Visualizer imposes the following limits on your visualizations:



Editor

· Maximum size of a simulation: 2500x2500 pixels. However, it may be further limited based on your computer's specifications.


· Total number of fixtures: 1024


· Total number of props: 512


· Maximum number of bulbs/vertices per fixture: 256 (depending on Fixture Type)


· Maximum number of loaded channel references: 10,000 normal plus 10,000 RGB



Simulation


· Maximum number of virtual channels: Unlimited, but only the first 255 will be simulated.


· Maximum number of fixtures per channel: Unlimited, but only the first 16 fixtures will be simulated.


· Cosmic Color and DMX Pixel Fixtures: Only 1 CCD fixture per Network/Unit or 1 DMX Pixel fixture per Universe - No duplicates.


· Device types and unit IDs: This depends upon your license's feature level. Please refer to the feature comparison chart to check whether your device type or unit ID is supported by your feature level. Note: The demo version of the Visualizer counts as Basic with respect to this.

 

End of quote

[dougd]

Just curious, what sort of prop needs more than 64 fixtures?

[dgrant]

There are limits in software, generally speaking, to prevent our computers from crashing on us. If they were to allow unlimited anything and everything, many of the computers would indeed, not be able to handle it without the memory resources available or slow down so badly, they won't run any more. Also the program itself, would bog down so badly, the show wouldn't run. I'm not with LOR but I'm sure they have to place a limit somewhere for the software to function as best as possible yet still work with many types/capability of the computers the users have. Now if everyone could afford a full blown super-computer, life would be easier for them and us but since that's truly beyond reasonable, we're stuck with the best limits they can provide for us and still have a functional product.

[LOR Staff]

Programs are like cash:   We may all want unlimited funds, but at the end of the week what comes in the paycheck is what we have to use

[bbayjohn]

The first visualiser that comes built in to se plays my full setup of lights. When I tried to add my new dmx pixel mega tree into the stand alone visualizer I get the error message. Too many fixtures. My total number of channels is less than 6000.

[ItsMeBobO]

Just curious, what sort of prop needs more than 64 fixtures?

One that has more then 64 regular channels!   In my case its a retro matrix with 6  CTB16 channel controllers in a grid.  I should be able to put all of them in a prop which is just a container to organize already limited number of fixtures so the container should have no limit.

Edited July 7, 2015 by ItsMeBobO

[LOR Staff]

One that has more then 64 regular channels!   In my case its a retro matrix with 6  CTB16 channel controllers in a grid.  I should be able to put all of them in a prop which is just a container to organize already limited number of fixtures so the container should have no limit.

 

So there is NO LOGICAL way to divide that up into 2 props?  Top and Bottom?  Left and Right?  Vertical and Horizontal?

 

Explain your matrix a little more.   Is it a 4x4 with 4 colors?  8x8 with 1 color?

[Jeff Messer]

The was a UPD splitter that is not supported by LOR. It did allow me to run two visualizers last year.

[k6ccc]

I used the UDP splitter extensively for 2014 as well.  Once I get my real configuration into the new S4 Visualizer I will no longer need it (and as the saying goes, I'll never look back).

[ItsMeBobO]

People can break anything into groups when needed to work around this limitation.  That is already done and I have completed my viz setup for 2015.  The thread is a whine about the limitation itself.  I venture a guess,  the size of the associated fixture list and change fixture order list controls are more of an issue than actual prop fixture count.

 

This prop was generated by little scripts I write to build .lpf files.  This allows me to have precise relative fixture placement,  pre-wire, color, and name them, and add fixtures to the prop without having to use a pull down selector 96 times which is painful.    The generated 96 fixture prop would occasionally import but would not save well and viz hung several times and also played correctly several times.  Slight rework to write two scripts for 3 controllers so the actual prop is represented by two Viz props of 48 as you suggest can be done.

 

 

On the other topic of deleting props I figured that out.  There is a floating context menu which says delete object when right clicking on a selected prop.  That one does delete both the prop and fixtures from the stage.   Almost.. it leaves a remnant prop entry with no fixtures.  It can be seen in the 'Part of Prop' pull down but the not in the prop list.    Here you can see several props I have deleted and readded over time.    The .lee file xml has numbered entries for the empty props (item) which are not cross referenced in any fixture assigneditem.    However they can not be deleted because viz expects consecutive numbering and hangs.   They are shown in the order they were created which is confusing.   It would be nice to have a way to remove these from the .lee or not show them.  As it is, I am unable to tell which is the right one because there is no way to edit the name of a prop which has no fixtures.   My .lee has 52 empty props in the list and 19 props with fixtures.

 

Edited July 8, 2015 by ItsMeBobO

[wkm001]

I used the UDP splitter extensively for 2014 as well.  Once I get my real configuration into the new S4 Visualizer I will no longer need it (and as the saying goes, I'll never look back).

 

Have the Visualizer limits been increased in S4?

[k6ccc]

The limit has not, BUT because every single DMX or E1.31 pixel no longer needs to be a fixture all by itself, so the 1,000 fixture limit should not be an issue.  For 2014, my 12 string pixel tree and 360 pixel star by themselves almost hit the 1000 fixture limit.  With S4 the expanded tree and expanded star will take about two dozen fixtures (I have not mapped that into S4 visualizer yet which is why I don't know the exact number).  I used the UDP splitter last year because I had no choice.  It will be nice to have the whole yard on one visualization with S4.