Copy files from development machine to show machine

[stevehoyt]

As I think a few of us do, I develop all of my shows/ sequences etc.  on a faster more powerful machine and then copy them to a "show" pc I have in my garage.

 I generally just do a copy of the entire LOR installation directory from one machine to the other via windows networking.

I was wondering is it documented somewhere for version 5.3.6 exactly the best way to do this. i.e. a list of subdirectories that wil guarantee everything necessary is moved.

If not could you let me know.

I don't use sd cards or anything.

It just occurred to me as I type this, as the hub utility gains more importance maybe a command could be added to it.

Thanks

Steve

 

[default]

Steve,
I meant to comment on your thread the other day and I got distracted.
I am curious as to why you would copy everything from your development pc to your show pc. It is not necessary and would seem to me to be confusing in terms of having them both sync'd for editing changes on one or the other.
Your profile says you are using 5.2.0. Note - there is a major change between that version and the latest 5.3.6. More on that later.

IIRC in 5.2.0 you can Create Playback Files via the File tab in Sequence Editor. Is this is the case, all you have to do is to Create the Playback files on your development pc, then copy these 3 files to a directory in your show pc.
yoursong.play.lms.lcs
yoursong.play.lms
yoursong.play.lms.pe.lid
Run Show Editor on the show pc and select the songs to be in your show from the directory where you put the 3 playback files. (Note you can place all of your playback files for your entire show in one directory) Save the file from Show Editor with a file name, Then run Show on Demand on the show pc and run the previous named file saved in Show Editor.

Obiviuosly you must have LOR installed on your show pc, however you don't need every picture, avi, movie, loeredit, etc copied there.
When playback files are created all of the pictures, gifs, movies, etc. are gathered together and placed in the yoursong.play.lms.pe.lid file.
You will still need any Audio files used in your show to be transfered to the show pc.

I have run my shows every other weekend this summer, so I know this works and there is no lag between songs.

In 5.3.4 (I think) things changed, the Create Playback Files option went away in the Editor, and now the Playback files are created when the show is played. You can either choose to have all the playback files created before running the show, or have each file create, then play that sequence, then create the next file (wait) then play that sequence, etc... If you go thru this once, and don't make any edits, then everything will play proper from that time forward. However if you make an edit in a sequence, new playback files will be created and you are stuck waiting for that to happen. Kinda of annoying IMHO.

If you decide to update LOR be aware of this change. I use a workaround that allows me to create the playback files on my development pc, then transfer them to the show pc, much like what was available in 5.2.0.

There are other threads here where this is discussed. If you need help, just ask.

Alan...

[stevehoyt]

Thanks for your reply. I should have been more specific, in my post, of what I do. I always run the latest version of LOR Software. I have been remiss in updating my profile. I now have upgraded it to reflect that I am running version 5.3.6.

I have been programming with LOR for many years now and have quite a number of sequences. Some are animated and some are musical. I run many different shows. Halloween, and New years animated only. During the Christmas season during the week animated only and on weekends and selected party nights musical with backgrounds.Also during the christmas season I run another show overnight on selected props. My largest sequence grown to be 30 minutes long with close to 6000RGB nodes

 In addition, I have incorporated a lot of animated gifs on 2 different matrixes. I always develop the sequences on the office faster machine. Since the advent of playback files I also made sure that they were built on the faster machine, as my show PC can't handle them.

  I also usually define the party show on the office machine as  it is the most complex.  On the "show" machine in the garage I may fiddle with any/all the shows at the last minute, but do not do sequencing or as I said build playback files.

For a number of years when I started adding gifs and avi files I admit that I really did not understand/keep up with how it worked and ran into needed files not being on the show machine, so I found what worked best for me was to have my show machine be a mirror image of my office machine even down to the root directories of windows. I have a fast in house network so it was easier to do a copy of all files from inside to outside, if for some reason, I screwed up  and I needed to get things back in sync. Now that we have the referenced file option in the sequencer this is less of a problem 

Also It was never an issue if the show part of all this in the garage didn't match inside as i never play actual shows using the inside machine.

Sorry for being so long winded. It looks like with version 5.3.6 I am going to have to take the approach you did with the workaround you mentioned to create playback files.

Is the workaround, that you create a massive show with all possible sequences in it to get the playback files created and then copy a set of files to the show PC?

Whew....That was what prompted my original question .It seems  I need to change my workflow this year to make sure that computer intensive stuff still happens inside yet I have the ability to redefine shows on the fly as needed.

Any thoughts would be appreciated

Steve

[default]

No worries, I get it, your explanation makes sense. We all have our workflow methods. Knowing that you are working with 5.3.6 helps. Your having an exact copy on the show pc works for you. I am suggesting there is an easier way to what you are currently doing. It involves some steps I may not be explaining thoroughly. I am making a walk-thru video with narration that shows how I make my playback files on my editing pc and get them into the show pc. I hope to post it by the end of the day. (depends how long I can avoid my honey-do list) :)

Alan...

[default]

Steve,

Here is the walkthru video I did that shows how I create show playback files on my editing pc, then transfer and play them in the show pc.

Any questions, ask.

Link to xplorer2x

Hope this helps.

Alan...

 

Edited August 24, 2019 by default

[stevehoyt]

I can't thank you enough for that video and putting it up so quickly.

It's exactly what I was looking for and very clear and thorough.

I think I now know what my plan will be.

I'll run a few tests to make sure it works and let you know if I have any problems.

 

Thanks again

Steve

 

 

 

[tlogan]

Thanks for that tutorial. I just moved up to 5.3.6, so I'm still working everything out, but I'm currently doing all the editing on my show machine. I will be setting up S5 on my inside machine, so it's nice to know about this for the future.

 

[Rockhammer53]

Thanks for posting this, very helpful.

[Box on Rails]

Alan, great video thanks. In previous versions I would have to move the MP3 for a play back file from my edit computer to the show computer and point the play file to the MP3 using the show computer SE. I do have 5.3.6 and in this new version do I still have to move the MP3 to the show computer and point the play file to it or is the MP3 and all other attached files now embedded in the play file? 

[default]

On 9/19/2019 at 7:06 AM, Box on Rails said:

do I still have to move the MP3 to the show computer

Yes, you stll have to have a copy of your .mp3(s) in the \Light-O-Rama\Audio directory on the show pc.

On 9/19/2019 at 7:06 AM, Box on Rails said:

and point the play file to it or is the MP3 and all other attached files now embedded in the play file? 

In reference to the .mp3, Show Player will know to look in the \Light-O-Rama\Audio directory on the show pc for the associated .mp3's.

If you use the method above, then all the "other attached files" (gif, SS .avi's, movies) will be contained in the play files, (actually the ***play.lms.pe.lid file) no need to move them to the show pc.

When show player plays the show it finds the files it needs and play as needed .You don't need to point the any files to the play file, it has already been done when the ***play.lms.pe.lid file was created.

Alan...

[Box on Rails]

Thanks Alan. You have helped out a bunch. 

[Brad Stucky]

Excellent video, Alan.   It all looks a lot like what I was messing with but you have included some other pointers that will make the process a lot easier, particularly the option of "sequences are loaded before they are played"  in the show program.  Now I'll know the processing is done when I hear the first song.   Over the years, I've just kept all the sequence files in one directory, but I see now there are some major advantages to having a separate directory for each sequence.  I was also loading the .loredit file into the show instead of the .lms in the playback\L directory.   I just couldn't figure out why I would have to transfer all the AVI and image files over to the show computer and then re-link those file references in the sequence editor, when last year I didn't recall doing that.   If the images and video are stored in the .lid file, then that would make sense and really make things easier.

Thanks a bunch, Alan.  You always have good stuff in your videos.

Edited November 21, 2019 by Brad Stucky
fix a few errors