Fixtures, Props, and Pixels?

[zvacman]

Okay, I've had my time off from Christmas and getting back to it full speed. I've read a bunch of stuff that has explained the difference between a fixture and a prop. Everything seems to refer to fixtures as an entire string or strings of lights. I was unable to find any info on pixels. Do I create a fixture for every pixel that is used in a particular prop or section of a prop?   When I used superstar to do an instant sequence every song looked the same. Is this just the nature of the software or is my terrible fixture/prop channel designation the culprit? I had Brian tie into my show computer and he seemed to giggle at my channel list (in the nicest not insulting way). I have a fairly complicated roof system, several vertical parts, a big round top window, 2 mega wreaths (100 pixels each), 8 fifty pixel leaping arches, a twelve leg mega tree, and a 700 pixel matrix. If I create roughly 2000 fixtures for every pixel and group them with the appropriate prop will I see better results from superstar?  Please share your vast knowledge, unless this didn't make any sense, in which case push me in the correct direction.

Thanks in advance, Z

[George Simmons]

Instant Sequence has been ridiculed for years.  Good luck with that.  It's supposedly been improved, but many of us can spot immediately when people use it.  It might react to loudness and beats just fine, but it ain't got a human brain to put all the pieces of your display together in a way that's watchable for more than one or two songs.  Like you say, they all tend to look the same.

I don't know about SS, but for the Visualizer It's not necessary to create a fixture for each individual pixel.  For instance, the string of 100 pixels in your wreath need not be more than a single fixture.

[B.Y.R.G.]

I would doubt it's your layout as I agree with George about the Instant Sequence feature and it's limited ability.  You're better off just diving in and doing the sequencing yourself.

[k6ccc]

I'll third the recommendation.  Learn how to sequence and don't depend on Instant Sequence.  Personally I don't particularly like the results you get from Instant Sequence  I have one song that I used it for about 40 seconds on my pixel tree.  Other than that, I don't use it.  Once you learn how to sequence in SuperStar, you will be far more satisfied with the results.

As George said, normally each pixel string will be one fixture.  For example, the eves on the front of my house have 220 GE Color Effects bulbs in a total of ten strings of varying length.  Each string is a fixture, and all ten fixtures are one prop.

 

[zvacman]

Do to a critical time crunch last year I had to do one song with the Instant Sequencer. I liked the effects but not necessarily what happened when and where. Last year was only my second year and adding thousands of pixels was probably a little too adventurous. I spent from February until Setember building props and controllers which left a small window for channel setup and sequencing. I'm going to have much more time to play with SS and PE this year. Thanks for the input, I'm glad to hear that I don't need to redo my entire channel list again.

Z

[k6ccc]

I have a suggestion.  Within the next month, lock down your plan for Christmas 2017.  Include your expected build priority.  Complete that with channel assignments.  That way you can start sequencing very soon.  When you sequence stuff that has not been built, don't make the show dependent on un-built stuff (especially stuff lower in your build priority).  If time or finances do not allow adding everything that you planned, it does not hurt anything to have some prop missing.  No one but you will notice that there was some prop that was supposed to be in that space, but was not there.

For me, in 2016 there were six Coro Candy Canes that are sequenced in most of the songs, but they were not high enough on the financial priority list.  They are expected to get built this year.  In fact just a few nights ago, my wife and I spent a while standing in the front yard going over my list of possibilities for 2017.  Happily she approved all my plans, so now it's just waiting until tax refund time to determine what actually gets built.  I have been working on my visualization updates to add the new props.  Once those are completed, I can start sequencing.

 

[SPaschall]

I fourth and fifth what the others said about the auto sequencing. Nothing can beat a hand done display. Computers no matter how well they are programmed cannot feel the music and adapt it like the human ear can.

 

SPaschall

[ebrown1972]

1 hour ago, k6ccc said:

I have a suggestion.  Within the next month, lock down your plan for Christmas 2017.  Include your expected build priority.  Complete that with channel assignments.  That way you can start sequencing very soon.  When you sequence stuff that has not been built, don't make the show dependent on un-built stuff (especially stuff lower in your build priority).  If time or finances do not allow adding everything that you planned, it does not hurt anything to have some prop missing.  No one but you will notice that there was some prop that was supposed to be in that space, but was not there.

For me, in 2016 there were six Coro Candy Canes that are sequenced in most of the songs, but they were not high enough on the financial priority list.  They are expected to get built this year.  In fact just a few nights ago, my wife and I spent a while standing in the front yard going over my list of possibilities for 2017.  Happily she approved all my plans, so now it's just waiting until tax refund time to determine what actually gets built.  I have been working on my visualization updates to add the new props.  Once those are completed, I can start sequencing.

 

Last year I spent almost all my time building props. And last year I went 100 percent pixels. This year I still have a few props to build but I hope to get those done this month. That will leave me the rest of the year to get all of my sequencing done. Really a show is only as good as the sequencing. It's never fun to rush the sequencing due to running out of time. I think your plan is perfect.

[zvacman]

57 minutes ago, SPaschall said:

I fourth and fifth what the others said about the auto sequencing. Nothing can beat a hand done display. Computers no matter how well they are programmed cannot feel the music and adapt it like the human ear can.

 

SPaschall

I can't agree more. My viewers always like the hand done ones overall, but like the chases that SS does.

9 minutes ago, ebrown1972 said:

Last year I spent almost all my time building props. And last year I went 100 percent pixels. This year I still have a few props to build but I hope to get those done this month. That will leave me the rest of the year to get all of my sequencing done. Really a show is only as good as the sequencing. It's never fun to rush the sequencing due to running out of time. I think your plan is perfect.

I'm trying to wrap my head around building a prop in the visualizer before building it in real life. I'm laying out a 16.5' tall 16 leg megatree right now for real life construction. Funny thing is I created my visualizer and channel list with regular led's my first year before I hung a single string. Pixels are just still a different animal to me still.

Thanks for the input everyone, Z

[SPaschall]

19 hours ago, zvacman said:

I'm trying to wrap my head around building a prop in the visualizer before building it in real life. I'm laying out a 16.5' tall 16 leg megatree right now for real life construction. Funny thing is I created my visualizer and channel list with regular led's my first year before I hung a single string. Pixels are just still a different animal to me still.

If you are planning to use PE, that prop can easily be done.

SPaschall

[Little_b]

I learned the hard way it is sometimes best to create the prop in visualizer first, then build the prop.  My matrix layout doesn't work with Visualizer or SS, but still works great with PE.  Plus if you create it in Visualizer first, you'll be able to know which pixel is first and how to lay them out. For example is the first pixel on your Mega Tree on the right or left, top or bottom.  When you start putting lights together you'll know to start in the right place and not have to go back and re-assign the pixels channels later.