Group Arrangement Question

[whitebuck]

Hello,

I am currently using v4.3.18 and have a question about Group Arrangement.

Is there a guide that will explain arrangements and what they do in terms of sequencing.  I was messing around with them after Matt pointed them out to me several months ago and noticed different behavior that I expected after changing arrangements.  For example. with the twinkle function, when i set to use Preview instead of Horizontal Stack, it was twinkling with groups of 3 nodes vs. just 1 when use preview was checked.  Then after I switched it back to Horizontal Stack, it wouldn't revert the twinkle back to 1 pixel, it still was showing 3 in the visualizer.

So I am just wondering if there is an explanation of the arrangement in groups and how it relates for knowledge.

Thanks,

Mike

Edited September 11, 2017 by whitebuck

[lkcubsrule]

Check out a previous post of mine as well as the subsequent post of MattBrown's.  This explains the difference in each layout.  

On 12/23/2016 at 8:28 AM, lkcubsrule said:

• Use Preview lays out the elements just like you've drawn them.  This is what I use 98% of the time.
• Nested - Lays out each element inside of one another.  If you have elements that fit inside of each other (i.e. a few starts of varying sizes) this will ensure they line up together when an effect is applied.
• Vertical Stack - takes each element and piles it on top of each other.   To the computer, your 4 rooflines would be stacked on top of each other.  
• Horizontal Stack - takes each element and lines them up from left to right.  To the computer, your 4 rooflines would be stacked in a row.   This is the best option for applying an effect to a single, linear roofline.

The challenge with using the Preview, though, is that the computer needs to process the exact layout, whereas the other options it knows already how to process the data. When you select Use Preview in the Group Definition window, it offers you the options of "higher res" or "lower res", and this, I think, is where you're experiencing issues.  The default is a lower-resolution setting to minimize processing time.  Try setting that value to a higher resolution, and you should see finer detail in your twinkle function.  The horizontal / vertical / nested arrangements don't have a resolution setting; they're already at the highest...so you're likely seeing a finer level of detail while using these settings than when you've selected the Use Preview option.    

Unless you're doing thousands of pixels, you're probably safe using the highest resolution for your programming needs.

Edited September 11, 2017 by lkcubsrule

[whitebuck]

I will review, thanks!

[whitebuck]

I am wondering if the preview resolution is related to just what is seen in the visualizer preview or does that relate to what is actually happening in the actual intensity data that is output?

I am having performance issues and noticed that when I set my all group to a lower resolution, the performance gets better.

Wondering if my old outdated machine is slow and a newer machine would improve or if this is a different problem.

[lkcubsrule]

That's a great question.  May need Matt to chime in here, but I believe that whatever the setting is, that will be the intensity data that is output.  And yes, computer performance is DIRECTLY correlated to resolution.    I usually do most of my programming at half resolution (or lower) and then bump it up when I'm ready to export intensity data for my shows.  It just needs to render once, and then it's good to go at highest resolution for your show.