Question about Preview prop design and grid views

[PJD]

Just as I think I'm getting a handle on all this, I come across something that confuses me!

We have 8 small HC trees that each use 2 strings of regular LED lights - Red and Green.  They are controlled from a CTB16PC controller.  I have debated with myself a number of times how these should be setup in the Preview for my Christmas show.  They are currently set up as 1 prop for each tree, with 2 channels each (to match the 2 colors).

This looked good to me and I was happy with it until I was working on sequencing with it.

I would like to be able to easily work with all the Red trees and all the Green trees separately.  My first thought was to create a new View for the sequencing grid - but I can't find a way to do this.  I can only include the full prop with both colors which ends up with every other row being red or green which is just annoying for sequencing a single color.

    

Is there any way to do this that I am just missing?

Would I be better off to go back and recreate the prop as 2 separate trees - one green and one red and stack them on top of each other?  Is it generally better practice to only have 1 channel for each traditional prop?

Thanks for any input/suggestions,

PJD

[tlogan]

I don't know the answer to your question, but that is a really cool idea that I may have to consider for next year. Right now, I have 10 mini tress with a single strand of 100 multi colored lights. I have to think about maybe re-doing them like this for next year. So I'm interested in the answer you get.

[TexasLights]

I re-read your post, I hadn't noticed that you said you couldn't add them individually to the grid so this may not work. .. 

 

There are 2 options, but both are displaying it, the preview remains the same

Option 1  you can actually add the same props to the grid more than once 

you can take your list above and create a group for them (all props).  To do this, select the first prop, and then Convert to  Grid View group from the menu.  Give it a name All Props and select the first and last accordingly.  Now you can collapse them away as needed.   Now add your 8 red props and do the same thing, but this time call the group RED props.   And then of course same for GREEN.   on this grid, you can then open and close whichever you want to work with, 

Option 2 

similar to the above, but rather than having both showing, you can create the set in the order you want and then export the grid.  This is on the upper menu, Grid Configuration and then export such as view1 and then create the second view you want and select export again and call it view2.   you can then swap the views to the one you want by importing them based on what you are doing. 

It's software so I am sure there are a few other ways to do it, but those are the tricks I have found.

 

Edited November 8, 2019 by TexasLights

[PJD]

Hi TexasLights - thanks for the suggestions.  Unfortunately, neither seems to work for this type of prop. 

For Option 1: The new view groups still do not let me collapse them to only see the Red or the Green.  It's an all or nothing choice.  I can see the top level "MiniTree-Red&Green -1" or I can see the 2 grid rows.  

For Option 2: I cannot drag all the Red together or all the Green together to create views that I can export.  I can drag within a single tree and reverse the red/green order.

I think it comes down to the 2 colors being just different channels on a single prop.  I think I am going to have to split it up into 2 props for each physical tree.  The mathematician/Engineer in me really liked the more elegant solution of 1 preview prop = 1 physical prop, but it looks like practicality dictates the more complex solution. 😣

I suspect my best option is going to be to redo the prop in the preview to be 2 separate color props for each tree.  Then group the 2 together (for convenience moving them in the preview) and maybe group all 8 of those together also.

The picture below show an attempt at a Grid View Group for Green trees - I turned of "Condensed view" so you can see all the levels when it is expanded.

[Little_b]

Your question made me think a bit as it's been a while since I set mine up.  I have my Mega Tree set up as 3 individual trees set on top of each other.  I can place each section together by color the way you are wanting.  Shouldn't be too hard, set it up once and then copy and paste it.  Just don't forget to go in and change the settings for each color.

It's funny because on my mini trees (before switching to pixels) I liked it going every other color for some reason.

Now as I just tried on my design, go in and open the channels like you did and you should be able to click and drag each channel to the order you want. (the one with the little sun circle)  It should duplicate it in the grid meaning it stays as part of the expandable prop as well. After you move them out, just go in and right click and hide the group channel (the one with the +)  This is all based on your picture in your first post. "MiniTree-Red&Green :Red1"

Edited November 9, 2019 by Little_b

[PJD]

Yes! I finally figured it out - Between Little_b and TexasLights and some playing around trying stuff, I finally have it working.

First and foremost - it can only be done in it's own Grid View.  It cannot be done in the "Show All Items" view. The creating view grouping stuff doesn't seem to matter.  I created a New view "MiniTrees" with the 8 trees in it.  In that view, I finally noticed that I could copy individual channels (one color of one tree) into the space between props. It didn't work if I dragged it to the bottom of the list, the top of the list or on top of another prop.  As mentioned above, the "original" version in the prop tree was still there, but I now had a copy in a different area.  I was able to drag all the Red channels and all the Green channels into the order I wanted to have them.  I then moved all the "original" props to the bottom of the list (collapsed down) to get them out of the way.

I actually already have a bunch of "Views" for this preview, so I exported this configuration so I will be able to use it with each sequence without re-doing it each time.

Thank you for all the help - I don't think I would have ever figured this out without your pointers!

PJD

[TexasLights]

glad you got it working, it didn't occur to me to point out that dragging would work.   Like I said, the joy of software.   I develop software for a living and I almost always say there are at least 3 ways to do things, but most people can't even figure out one...

[tlogan]

On 11/9/2019 at 11:37 AM, PJD said:

Yes! I finally figured it out - Between Little_b and TexasLights and some playing around trying stuff, I finally have it working.

First and foremost - it can only be done in it's own Grid View.  It cannot be done in the "Show All Items" view. The creating view grouping stuff doesn't seem to matter.  I created a New view "MiniTrees" with the 8 trees in it.  In that view, I finally noticed that I could copy individual channels (one color of one tree) into the space between props. It didn't work if I dragged it to the bottom of the list, the top of the list or on top of another prop.  As mentioned above, the "original" version in the prop tree was still there, but I now had a copy in a different area.  I was able to drag all the Red channels and all the Green channels into the order I wanted to have them.  I then moved all the "original" props to the bottom of the list (collapsed down) to get them out of the way.

Thanks for that update! Now if I can only remember to find this for next year.