Motion Effects Doesn't Control Lights

[kornerb]

v5.3.12 - I have a 9 strip RGB 'tree', 50 pixels each on a PIXIE16 v1.03. I am just starting work with Motion Effects in S5. I put together a quick sequence with a few motion effects on the tree and a few 'regular' actions. When I play back the sequence it works fine in preview, controls everything. But when I go outside, the motion effects parts are not working. The 'regular' parts work, so it's not like my controller died or something. Any help would be appreciated...

Edited December 10, 2019 by kornerb

[k6ccc]

For starters, please update your forum profile to reflect what version and license level you have.  Both of those directly affect the answer to your questions.

Since you are asking about Motion Effects in S5, I assume you are not using 4.3.26 as you have listed in your forum profile.

If you have a Advanced level license, you can't use Motion Effects, nor can you use an Enhanced LOR network (required for Motion Effects - unless you are using that on E1.31 - however see part one of this sentence)).

What controller are you using for your pixel tree?

 

[MattBrown]

Motion Effects can only be played back to "enhanced" LOR networks and DMX networks (USB or E1.31). So make sure network that your tree is attached to is marked as enhanced in LOR Network Preferences. Also, the Comm Listener (CL) must be running.

For more, see the "Why Aren't My Lights Turning On?" topic here:

http://www1.lightorama.com/help/control_lights.htm

Matt

[kornerb]

Thank you for the heads up on my profile! Fixed.

I did add the info to my post tho: v5.3.12 Pro - I have a 9 strip RGB 'tree', 50 pixels each on a PIXIE16 v1.03

Not sure if I have the 'enhanced LOR network' enabled.

[kornerb]

OK, looks like I have a bit of an issue. I have 2 controllers that won't go be able to go on the 'enhanced network' (CTB16D Green Board, & InputPup) Everything else qualifies. Can I make 2 networks with one USB interface?

Nevermind. Answered my own question. That's a big bummer, need another network interface.

 

Edited December 10, 2019 by kornerb

[jgcorl]

Did you figure out your issue?  I have the exact same problem and still am not sure why.  I have a 500k enhanced network hooked to my tree, and there are some motion effects that simply will not play on the tree at all.  

[kornerb]

Still waiting for my second USB dongle to arrive.  As soon as it does I will update here.

[kornerb]

I added the 500k enhanced network on a new dongle, network Aux A, and now we are good to go. @jgcorl what motion effects are you having trouble with? I haven't tried them all

[k6ccc]

16 minutes ago, kornerb said:

added the 500k enhanced network on a new dongle, network Aux A, and now we are good to go.

Glad you were able to get it going!  And as you now know, adding a second network is not an overly big deal to do.

 

[kornerb]

@k6ccc thanks! Now I have new problem tho.. every channel on the new network seems to be 'twinkling' (blinking rapidly) even when the sequence calls for steady on. Any idea why this might be? It should be noted that these are sequences that were upgraded from S4 that are exhibiting the issue.

Edited December 18, 2019 by kornerb

[k6ccc]

Do you by chance have two sequences playing at the same time?  For example one sequence playing as background and another as a musical sequence.  Another possibility is two sources putting data onto the network - for example a second computer or a director.

 

[kornerb]

upon some further testing, these sequences do NOT display this problem when played directly from the sequencer. I have had some oddities crop up with these new sequences and the compression, I wonder if that is to blame? 

And, yes, since my show is interactive, I would have a background animation going as well that's supposed to turn OFF when the music is triggered, that's a possible culprit as well. I still haven't figured out how to work that out succesfully. I will try removing it from my show and see what happens.

[kornerb]

@k6ccc That seems to have been the issue. Thanks for your help, But now I am not sure how to accomplish what I want. 

1. show starts at 4pm, I want the 'pretty' white (plain) lights to come on and stay on so we look like a 'normal' house

2. when someone presses the magic doorbel the plain lights go off, a song plays from the playlist and the 'crazy' lights come on in sync

3. when the song is over the house goes back to the 'pretty' setting

 

I am thinking about adding a beat to the end of each song that turns the pretty lights back on, and then unchecking the 'turn off used lights...' checkbox That should achieve the after song effect I am looking for. Do you think I would be able to achieve point 1 above by making the 'pretty' sequence run at startup and also unchecking the checkbox for that?

[k6ccc]

15 minutes ago, kornerb said:

And, yes, since my show is interactive, I would have a background animation going as well that's supposed to turn OFF when the music is triggered, that's a possible culprit as well. I still haven't figured out how to work that out succesfully. I will try removing it from my show and see what happens.

It is VERY important that you do not have two sequences that have the same channels running at the same time.  You end up with conflicting command - such as you are seeing.

Just read your latest reply with what you are trying to do.  How EXACTLY are you setting up the interactive group and other sequences?  I use Interactives ever night in my landscape lighting show, so am pretty good with them.  How many channels are you running in your background "normal house" sequence?  Are any of those channels used in the musical sequences?

Part two - You get my standard recommendation when people want to have just static lights until someone pushes some sort of "start" command.  Unless you have some really important reason to do that - DON'T!  The problem is that most people who come to see your light show will see no show and just keep on driving - and they wont come back.

[kornerb]

@k6ccc The channels in the background and the channels in the songs are completely separate, even the networks are different now. However, the channels EXIST in both sequences, so there is an experiment that could be done to see if we took the RGB channels out of the background sequence would they still interfere with the song. In any case, it's been working pretty well for the last few years, it's just this software update that has me all thrown off.

As far as your part two, I agree that the first year, the button was missed often and people were confused. but the last 2 years we have had a big sign that's hard to miss. People seem to be getting it, and we have lots stop by, enough anyway.

[k6ccc]

Bingo!  The channels can not exist in both sequences.  And a channel that is off is not the same as a channel that is not present.

Being on the same network or even the same controller is not a problem - just no duplicated channels.

 

[stevehoyt]

you mentioned that the channels EXIST in both sequences. Do you mean that they are also USED in each sequence?  I had a similar problem and got around it by creating 2 different previews one for my background lights and one for my musical sequences. Each preview only had the lights needed. That fixed everything.

[kornerb]

@stevehoyt almost all of this was setup long before S5 and had no trouble at all, but yes now that the preview and the sequence are basically the same, it became a problem. The channels EXISTED but were not used, like @k6ccc said, in this new world no channel is ever truly 'off' just set to minimum.

We can mark this resolved now!

[k6ccc]

2 hours ago, kornerb said:

in this new world no channel is ever truly 'off' just set to minimum.

Actually this has always been the case.  However prior to S5 it was more obvious that the channel existed but was not used in a sequence.  With S5, it means that you have to have multiple previews.