Mike_Geppert Posted August 18, 2018 Posted August 18, 2018 I have 4 Arches with 60 RGB smart pixels each. The Preview designer lets me indicate what side to start on. I have the two arches on the Left start on the Right side, and the two arches on the Right start on the Left side. (The controller is located in the middle of the 4 arches). In the sequencer, I reversed the order of the 2 arches on the left so the Channel 60 is at the top and Channel 1 is on the bottom. The 2 arches on the right I left alone, Channel 1 is at the top and Channel 60 on the bottom. The reasoning for this is that I am doing Chases across the arches. The problem is that for the Arches that have the starting channel on the right, Channel 60 on the sequencer is lighting channel 1, and channel 1 on the sequencer is lighting channel 60. I was hoping this was just a display problem with the Preview designer, so I hooked up a Box (Pixie 4D) and the lights and it matches the Preview Designer. Resorting the Arch so that Channel 1 is on the top seems to fix the problem, but it just seems wrong to light Channel 1 in the sequencer and have channel 60 light?
MattBrown Posted August 20, 2018 Posted August 20, 2018 On 8/18/2018 at 6:06 PM, Mike_Geppert said: In the sequencer, I reversed the order of the 2 arches on the left so the Channel 60 is at the top and Channel 1 is on the bottom. The 2 arches on the right I left alone, Channel 1 is at the top and Channel 60 on the bottom. The reasoning for this is that I am doing Chases across the arches. OK, you lost me here when you refer to "top" and "bottom". Also, rather than channel 1 and channel 60, do you mean pixel 1 and pixel 60? Matt
Mike_Geppert Posted August 21, 2018 Author Posted August 21, 2018 Top and Bottom as referring to the listing of Channels/Pixels on the Sequencer View Col. The Sequencer uses a "c" as a prefix to each Pixel so I assumed that was for Channel, but I suppose Pixel is a better term. But the sequencer refers to them as "Sort Channels/Revers" and "Remove Channel Level from Pixel Prop" if I right click on one? So I cant be too crazy calling them Channels? ?
default Posted August 21, 2018 Posted August 21, 2018 (edited) Mike, I'm not sure if this will help you, this is how I had to setup my Circles to work with the Motion Effect Bar - up/down, left/right, or any Motion Effect that uses up/down, left/right as a movement. I realize these are circles and you have arches, but maybe this explanation will help you to experiment with your arches. This first picture shows where the controllers are, where the start pixel is, and the direction of travel (based off of where pixel 1 is) as they are built. Notice the start point on Circle L is opposite of what it is on Circle M and Circle R. This causes the problem of the chases not "flowing from left to right, right to left, up/down" etc... on all circles at the same time. What I did was to make a group of each circle. Each circle basically consist of 2 arches stacked on one another. By having a group, I was then able to manipulate the bottom arch on each circle as shown in the pictures below. After I manipulated each circle, Sequencer would see the circles as shown in the picture below. Looking at this picture it doesn't seem like it would work, however it does. It all depends on how Sequencer is looking for pixel 1. This will take some testing on your part. It is best to do on a live prop where you can see instant results. I then created another Group consisting of all Circles, and used the Arrangement of "Use Preview" Now all my Circles play nice together. It took me some time to figure this out. Sequencer would show everything working on the screen, but when run on the actual props they did not light the same. If you try to setup your arches as I did with my circles above, have them hooked up live so you can see the results. Once you have working Preview, save it, and make copies. Hopes this helps and doesn't confuse you. The point here is you can manipulate groups, that would be a good starting place for you. Alan... Edited August 21, 2018 by default
Mike_Geppert Posted August 22, 2018 Author Posted August 22, 2018 Wow - Very nice! I think my issue is just it seems wrong to have to tell Pixel 60 to turn on when you want Pixel 1. And this is only for Arches that are defined as "Starting Location Right". If you have a "Starting Location Left", then Pixel 1 is really Pixel 1. For the View I simple Reversed the Pixel list so that Channel 1 is in the Channel 60 location and it all seems to work. Just seems wrong. Somewhere there has to be 2 flips because Pixel 1 is becoming 60 for the Sequencer, but when it finally plays out to the Pixel4 card , it is lighting Pixel 1. And like I said it is only for Right start channel. The Left works as expected.
default Posted August 22, 2018 Posted August 22, 2018 2 hours ago, Mike_Geppert said: I think my issue is just it seems wrong to have to tell Pixel 60 to turn on when you want Pixel 1. And this is only for Arches that are defined as "Starting Location Right". If you have a "Starting Location Left", then Pixel 1 is really Pixel 1. For the View I simple Reversed the Pixel list so that Channel 1 is in the Channel 60 location and it all seems to work. Just seems wrong. Somewhere there has to be 2 flips because Pixel 1 is becoming 60 for the Sequencer, but when it finally plays out to the Pixel4 card , it is lighting Pixel 1. And like I said it is only for Right start channel. The Left works as expected. Glad you got it sorted out. Your statement of "Just seems wrong" is accurate, it is confusing. It is even more confusing when invert an arch and make a circle. ? That's what I struggled with. Like you I finally took the laptop out to the yard so I could test the props live. I would recommend that for people who have switched to S5 with new previews to allow ample time to test props. Alan...
Mike_Geppert Posted August 23, 2018 Author Posted August 23, 2018 Thanks so much! Nice to know I am not going nuts. Would be nice if there was a Motion Effect that can stretch across cells that would do the chase based on how many cells there are. I only found "Curtain" that would do a Repeate Mode of "once fit to duration". Everything else seemed to be a fixed time. Thanks again.
MattBrown Posted August 24, 2018 Posted August 24, 2018 6 hours ago, Mike_Geppert said: Everything else seemed to be a fixed time Have you tried the "Single Block" effect? It doesn't show a "once fit to duration" option because that is the only way it runs. Matt
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