Adding Full Preview Props into Superstar

[mwilson6192]

It has been several years and I'm now getting back into lights and Superstar. I have a complex preview with many props all created and assigned network IDs with no errors. Now I would like to get all of these props into Superstar (SS). Back in early 2018 forum member "k6ccc" was doing this methodically and was detailing his experiences via this forum, switching from S4 and utilizing S5 with the new preview creation while "inserting" effects using SS for all sequencing. 

I have failed to find this thread on his experiences. Also, I am failing to understand how to "Insert Superstar Effects" into the same SS "file" and iteratively" build the entire preview into the same SS file to perform sequencing. One of the challenges was to have the various props insert into SS that actually represented the prop (e.g. it actually looked like a representation of a given prop versus some "blob" of SS cells).

Could some guide me through the steps of getting about 30 props into SS such that the props can be sequenced as an entire display if you will? 

Thank you. 

Edited December 21, 2019 by mwilson6192
Correct year

[BrianBruderer]

One of the key things to realize is that for each of the groups there is an "arrangement." You can set the arrangement in Preview design by double clicking on the Group and on the right side of the dialog box that pops up is a place to set the "arrangement."

When the sequencing grid shows up as a "blob" of cells the arrangement is probably set to "Use Preview." For superstar effects you will want to use one of the two "horizontal stack" settings, or "vertical stack." You can do  groups of groups and specify horizontal or vertical stack to get the sequencing grid to be laid out the way you want.

Also note, that when doing "motion effects" you will usually want "Use Preview" set for the arrangement. So if you are using superstar effects and motion effects you will want to create a group or group of groups for superstar, and then you can create another group or group of groups for "motion effects." 

[mwilson6192]

Thank you very much Brian.

So I did what you said and had success --- but with a single row. So I can sequence with SS on each group prop. But even with a "group of groups", I remember others ("k6ccc") who had EVERY prop somehow added to the SS grid such that the entire display was represented inside of a single SS window. That is what I was trying to accomplish --- if I have 30 props, would I need to ultimately create a "group of groups" that contains all 30 props? Can SS support that? S5 SE will only allow a single row of "motion effects" to be highlighted at one time. Just wondering how a single SS window (file) can hold all props for sequencing --- then be "inserted" into S5 SE sequencing grid.

Thanks again.

[BrianBruderer]

Try to isolate logical "rows" in your display. Lets say you end up with 6 rows, each one with 5 props. You would create 6 groups, one for each row and they would have one of the "horizontal" arrangements. Then you would create a group that only contains the 6 groups and set the arrangement to "vertical stack". You would then do "insert superstar effect" on the motion effect row for that group that contains all the groups. Superstar will handle it as long as the sequencing grid does not exceed 360x360.

[mwilson6192]

I did what you suggested and for the most part, all of the props do come over well now. The windows are a bit bizarre, but that I can handle. I did note two things:

1. When I save the latest updated SS sequencing, it saves correctly into the SE grid (e.g. the motion effect row that contains the "group of groups" for SS). However, it does NOT play correctly in SE. I have multiple rooflines with several morphs, and these play fine in SS, but only a very small section on the one specific section of the roofline plays in SE --- even though the full roofline sections are sequenced.

2. I noticed that if I open the SS sequence directly in SS, it contains all of my sequencing *but* it does not contain the props --- it defaults to a CCR Pixel tree with star. I noticed that opening the SS sequence defaults to CCR mode and when changing to Visualization mode, it wants a ".lee" file --- a remnant of S4. I suspect that opening SS from SE as a motion effect row opens SS in visualization mode.

Sorry but this seems a bit clumsy to me --- I'm struggling with the "seamlessness" between SS and SE and thus far, SE is not accurately playing what I sequence in SS, yet reopening the SS sequence from SE plays just fine in the SS session.

Am I continuing to misunderstand some portion of SE as a motion effect row to SS?

One other question if I may. Can different effects be applied by SE as a motion effect row to a group defined just for SE vs. SS simultaneously? What takes precedence when playing on a string of pixels (e.g. if I have one roofline defined in SS, and the same roofline defined in SE, and I have SS effects *and* SE effects against the same roofline props but defined separately, will one effect take precendence over the other effect? I have been trying to understand where SE may offer something different/better than SS and vice versa.

Note that the issue with SE is not properly playing an SS sequence section in the preview "prop" area was not overridden with a competing SE sequence.

Thanks again --- trying to understand the two very different sequencing software paradigms.

 

 

 

Edited December 26, 2019 by mwilson6192
Corrected sentence

[BrianBruderer]

However you see it play in Superstar it should look the same in the Sequencer. Not sure why it is not working that way for you. You can send an email to brian@superstarlights.com and we can set up a time for me to remote into your computer and see what is happening.