Effects are broken in one sequence

[OurMikeyRocks]

I have a sequence that is similar to others I have already done using SS/PE/SE.  I had completed a significant amount of the work and during a test observed that the meteors effect was simply filling from the top down during playback.  It had been working as expected earlier.  I went into the Effect Generator and tried a meteors effect - same thing, it just filled the tree from the top down.  I tried adjusting the various settings and they didn't seem to make much difference.  If I changed colors, it simply used the first color and filled the tree from the top down.

 

When I selected other effects, several were not working as expected.  The fireworks effect simply displayed one pixel.  The fire effect lit the tree from bottom to top no matter the height setting and there was no 'fire' motion.

 

I have tried rebooting the computer, restarting PE, and all of the other basic things I could think of.  I started over and created a new .lms file using SE and then copied pieces of the sequence over using PE.  Same thing.

 

If I go to other sequences using PE, everything is as it should be.  No problems.

 

So, I'm out of ideas and stalled on this sequence.  Anyone got any ideas?  Thanks  Mikey

[MattBrown]

PM sent.

[MattBrown]

There are some subtleties to the meteor effect. I will try to explain them here.

 

When you have 2 meteor effects in a row, the second effect will start where the last one left off. It does not clear all of the meteors that were active in the first effect. This is to give you some flexibility. For example, you can change meteor speeds or colors by positioning 2 meteor effects back-to-back.

 

So how do you reset the meteor effect? In the sequence grid, either leave a small gap between one meteor effect and the next, or place one meteor effect above the dashed line and the next one below. In the Effect Generator window, just click the "Restart" button to start the meteors falling from the top again.

 

In the attached example for the "Matrix" prop: "Meteor Effect 2" will start where "Meteor Effect 1" left off. However, because "Meteor Effect 3" is on a different sequence row, it will start fresh with new meteors falling from the top.

 

For the "Maxitree_East" prop, "Meteor Effect 5" will start fresh because there is a gap between it and "Meteor Effect 4".

 

Hope that helps,

 

Matt

[OurMikeyRocks]

Matt, thank you very much.

 

I went through and cleaned up the redundant effects and now the sequence seems to play as expected and edit as expected.  This is really good information to learn.

 

If you don't mind I would like to ask a question to clarify the usage of these features for myself and, probably, for others.  In the Effect Generator there is a Left effect and a Right effect that are blended.  For an individual prop there is a Top row and a Bottom row that seem to be blended.  How should I use these to blend two effects?  Can I actually blend four effects by blending two in the EG and placing them in the Top row and then blending two more in the EG and placing them in the Bottom row?

 

Thanks again. Mikey

[MattBrown]

Yes, you can actually blend 4 effects by using the top and bottom row simultaneously. However, the primary purpose of having a top and bottom row is to enable the cross-fading of effects. This is explained via slides here:

 

http://www1.lightorama.com/PDF/LOR-PixelEditorIntroduction.pdf

 

and via video here:

 

http://youtu.be/5unIkAJjauU

 

Hope that helps,

 

Matt