Full DMX Universes on Pixel tree: Simulation Error: more than 170 pixels

[Steven]

I hacked my pixel tree visualization to make it play nice with SuperStar, and I was just trying to get it to play a simulation and got a bunch of errors telling me I have more that 170 pixels per universe.

 

My tree is 24 x 50. I set each branch as a separate fixture, for reasons that I can describe later.

Fixture 1 is 50 pixels, at universe 1, starting number 1.

Fixture 2 is 50 pixels, at universe 1, starting number 51.

...

Fixture 4 is 50 pixels, at universe 1, starting number 151. This overflows onto universe 2, but it seems that the visualizer doesn't know that. (SuperStar does.)

 

Is there a way I can get this visualization to play?

[k6ccc]

Doing this by memory, but on the 4th string, create two fixtures.  The first fixture is pixels 1 - 20 which is RGB pixel 151 - 170 (channels 451 - 510) in the first universe.  The second fixture is pixels 21 - 50 of the string and are RGB pixels 1 - 30 (channels 1 - 90) in the second universe.

Repeat for other strings that cross universe boundries.

[Mr. P]

Serious question here, why do you insist on maxing out universes? Wouldn't one universe per string be much easier to configure instead of overlapping? Is there a benefit to maxing them out? I mean it isn't like your going to run out of universes.

I am just asking in case I am missing an advantage here, curious.

 

Just to clarify, other then strings end-to-end.

Edited December 16, 2015 by Mr. P

[k6ccc]

As an old school IS guy (sort of), wasting bandwidth like that just seems wrong!  I can remember working over 45 baud data links and you did not waste a single bit of that limited bandwidth if it could be avoided.  Although we have far more bandwidth available, it's still not unlimited.  Each universe of E1.31 takes about a quarter megabit per second.  By today's standards, that's not all that much, but if you are using a 10Base-T or older WiFi link it does not take all that many universes to choke a slower link.  For the first three years, my pixel tree (600 pixels) and star (360 pixels) were fully compressed into five full universes and part of a sixth.

 

Because of some planned expansion that did not happen, for 2015 my tree became two strings for each one universe , and the star is a separate three universes.

 

Another part is that depending on the E1.31 cards being used, you may be sort of forced into compressing them.  The SanDevices cards MUST have each cluster of four outputs using a continuous DMX channel space.  Now you can have padding spaces at the end of each string (I am this year).

[Steven]

It seemed like a good idea at the time to max out the universes. Now that everything is configured and the sequences have been written, it would seem to be too much trouble to make a major change. I did it this way to make the pixel tree, including the 6-RGB-channel star, fit in 8 universes. Otherwise, it would have taken 9 universes.

 

In doing what Jim suggested, I ran into another problem, which could be a bug. When I created a new DMX string, and added it to my pixel tree prop, I get this:

 

It doesn't matter which "Pixel Tree" I select. It always puts it in a different prop.

[k6ccc]

I seem to remember that too.  Just move it to the correct prop - hint, temp changing the name to something obvious makes that easier.

[DevMike]

If you guys could give me some steps to duplicate that, I'll get it onto the bug list.

[Steven]

If you guys could give me some steps to duplicate that, I'll get it onto the bug list.

 

I don't remember all the steps it took to get it into that state originally, but now it gets there whenever I open my Visualizer file. Would you like me to send the file to you?

 

Now, after doing the steps Jim mentioned. I have another problem: Some of my pixel strings are upside down. The trouble is that I can't tell which string is upside down until I play a sequence, and then I can't identify which string has the problem.

 

So how do I find these upside-down strings, and once I find them, how to I reverse them?

[wmilkie]

Steven, try this:

in Visualizer, click on the fixture, then right click, fixture properties, there is a Superstar button, click on it; at the top is a check box "reverse order in SuperStar"

 

I had to do this for some of my fixtures

[DevMike]

In edit mode, press and hold SHIFT.  Point at a pixel string (CCR or DMX).  Visualizer will show you the order by flashing each pixel in order.  Control the speed in the Options dialog.

 

Also, you can turn on 'Show Pixel Numbering', however you may discover that things get far too crowded on the screen with all the names/etc.

[wmilkie]

Thanks DevMike, learned something new

[Steven]

In edit mode, press and hold SHIFT.  Point at a pixel string (CCR or DMX).  Visualizer will show you the order by flashing each pixel in order.  Control the speed in the Options dialog.

That gave me the answer. It turns out that when I created the new split fixtures I drew from top to bottom, and my pixels go from bottom to top. I learned, and did it over again.