N2-G4 possible glitch?

[Orville]

4 hours ago, rmturner54 said:

I have been testing all morning with different times/timings. Problem solved.

Here we go- since show 1 is  1 minute long, when the SD is given the command to end sequence, its going to finish out whatever it's playing. So by adding a dead spot( i picked 2 min's between shows) this give the director time to clear it's data before show 2 starts. The help desk confirmed this also.

 

What I usually do if I run into a similar issue, is I will create an ALL OFF animation sequence, this sequence will have ALL Controllers and ALL Channels in it, NO LIGHTING COMMANDS ANYWHERE.  Then this ALL Lights OFF sequence runs at the end time of show 01, this WILL FORCE ALL LIGHTS OFF.  Mine are set to run for 1 minute between Show 01 and Show 03, the ALL Lights OFF is now at Show 02, then when that lights off sequence runs, the next Show, Show 03{was originally Show 02} will be set to run at 10:01pm,So first Show 01{main show} could be 7pm-10pm, Show 02 {ALL Lights Off} runs from 10pm-10:01pm, then Show 03 {overnight show} would run from 10:01pm-6am. NOTE: You may need an ALL Lights OFF sequence AFTER your overnight lights too.  That would be Show 04 and would run at 6:01am-6:02am in the examples given.

This keep me from having to worry about long dark spots between shows, but the ALL Lights Off can be as little as a 30-second sequence, I usually use 1 minutes, but in rare instances I've used up to 2 minutes, usually by just adding a 2nd ALL Lights OFF sequence directly under the same sequence, so you'd have two 1 minute sequences running back to back {same exact sequence} for a 2 minute shut down of ALL Lights, just remember to bump your times up by another minute for Show 02 and Show 03.   I do this, because I've had instances where even though I allowed the Director to be off for a couple of minutes, on occasion I've still had lights on AFTER that shut down period.  

So, I started using ALL Lights OFF sequences at the end of my main show and also after ANY other show that is a light show, so you'd have another ALL Lights Off sequence as Show 04 after your overnight light show to be sure everything is shut down completely.

Yes, it's a little extra work, but I've found it to be well worth those ALL Lights OFF sequences to turn everything off.

 

[rmturner54]

On 10/29/2021 at 3:57 PM, Orville said:

What I usually do if I run into a similar issue, is I will create an ALL OFF animation sequence, this sequence will have ALL Controllers and ALL Channels in it, NO LIGHTING COMMANDS ANYWHERE.  Then this ALL Lights OFF sequence runs at the end time of show 01, this WILL FORCE ALL LIGHTS OFF.  Mine are set to run for 1 minute between Show 01 and Show 03, the ALL Lights OFF is now at Show 02, then when that lights off sequence runs, the next Show, Show 03{was originally Show 02} will be set to run at 10:01pm,So first Show 01{main show} could be 7pm-10pm, Show 02 {ALL Lights Off} runs from 10pm-10:01pm, then Show 03 {overnight show} would run from 10:01pm-6am. NOTE: You may need an ALL Lights OFF sequence AFTER your overnight lights too.  That would be Show 04 and would run at 6:01am-6:02am in the examples given.

This keep me from having to worry about long dark spots between shows, but the ALL Lights Off can be as little as a 30-second sequence, I usually use 1 minutes, but in rare instances I've used up to 2 minutes, usually by just adding a 2nd ALL Lights OFF sequence directly under the same sequence, so you'd have two 1 minute sequences running back to back {same exact sequence} for a 2 minute shut down of ALL Lights, just remember to bump your times up by another minute for Show 02 and Show 03.   I do this, because I've had instances where even though I allowed the Director to be off for a couple of minutes, on occasion I've still had lights on AFTER that shut down period.  

So, I started using ALL Lights OFF sequences at the end of my main show and also after ANY other show that is a light show, so you'd have another ALL Lights Off sequence as Show 04 after your overnight light show to be sure everything is shut down completely.

Yes, it's a little extra work, but I've found it to be well worth those ALL Lights OFF sequences to turn everything off.

 

From what I read, it sounds like your show set up only plays 1 time thru (without continuous loops).  My show is short (5-6 musical seq's) and will repeat itself from 6PM to 10PM, then a second show at 1005PM to 6AM as my after show static lights. I am not sure how the ALL Lights OFF will work in my situation. I have no way of telling where my show sequences will be when 10PM rolls around, since what ever seq is playing at 10PM its gonna complete that sequence, then stop. I guess I could see which of my sequences is the longest and adjust my after show lights start time accordingly.

[Orville]

7 hours ago, rmturner54 said:

From what I read, it sounds like your show set up only plays 1 time thru (without continuous loops).  My show is short (5-6 musical seq's) and will repeat itself from 6PM to 10PM, then a second show at 1005PM to 6AM as my after show static lights. I am not sure how the ALL Lights OFF will work in my situation. I have no way of telling where my show sequences will be when 10PM rolls around, since what ever seq is playing at 10PM its gonna complete that sequence, then stop. I guess I could see which of my sequences is the longest and adjust my after show lights start time accordingly.

Nope, my show runs continuously {loops} from start to end.

  The "ALL LIGHTS OFF" sequence will run immediately after your main show ends, even if its at 10:02pm or 10:04pm, whatever show is in the que will run next, even if its time has passed.  My show also never usually ends at the specified time, especially a musical sequence, it will run til completion, then my ALL LIGHTS OFF sequence WILL still run, it always has, then my overnight static rolling lights will run til morning, then my off-hours music show{1 channel sequence/no lights} will start after that and I have it end 5 minutes before the main light show starts up all over again.  

Been using this method successfully for 10 years., this will be my 11th year using this method.  It's always worked.  YMMV

 

[rmturner54]

Ok, so an AllLights off sequence between each regular sequence in the show.

[Orville]

5 hours ago, rmturner54 said:

Ok, so an AllLights off sequence between each regular sequence in the show.

Nope, I only use that as an END of Show sequence,  I.E> Main Show = Show 01, ALL Lights Off - Show 02, Overnight Lights = Show 03, Overnight Lights = Show 04, All Lights Off = Show 05, and my off-hours music during the day = Show 06.  Since you can't have Show 02 run twice at different times, so a 2nd All Lights Off show, Show 04 is my 2nd one,

I have lights off at end of sequence checked, so that takes care of that during the normal show, but just in case something would happen to get left on for some reason, I just use the ALL LIGHTS OFF {Show 02} at the very end of the MAIN light show {After Show 01} and then After Show 03, {Show 04} is the next A:l Lights Off sequence ran to shut off any stray lights that may have gotten missed for some reason after Show 03 {Overnight Lights}  So you need two All Lights Off sequence shows using a Director, as you can't have two shows with the same name ran at different times on a Director.  It would be nice if that were possible, but that's one of the limitations of using a Director, it requires a Show for everything required, so sometimes that requires a 2nd show using the same sequence, but with a new Show number and a new time setting for it to run and do what's required of it.

Hope this makes sense to you.  It sounds a lot more complicated than it really is.

However, if you want to put it between every sequence, that will work, just make sure the ALL LIGHTS OFF sequence isn't more than a second or two, maybe no more than about 5 seconds long, you don't want excessive darkness between your sequences.  So adjust the time factor accordingly for the ALL Lights Off sequence if used in this manner.

 

Edited November 17, 2021 by Orville

[rmturner54]

Not trying to be difficult here. Let me seei  if I got this straight. Here is how I want to run my show set up. Example...

Monday, Show 1 ( consisting of 6 music seq's looping continous), playing from 6PM to 10PM. So what your telling me is all I need is an ALO seq at the end of music seq #6. So even if the show is in the middle of say music seq #4 at 10PM, the director will know to use the ALO seq. after music #4 finishes?

[Orville]

On 11/17/2021 at 2:52 PM, rmturner54 said:

Not trying to be difficult here. Let me seei  if I got this straight. Here is how I want to run my show set up. Example...

Monday, Show 1 ( consisting of 6 music seq's looping continous), playing from 6PM to 10PM. So what your telling me is all I need is an ALO seq at the end of music seq #6. So even if the show is in the middle of say music seq #4 at 10PM, the director will know to use the ALO seq. after music #4 finishes?

Yes, it should run as soon as the last musical sequence completes, at, or as near the end time you've set for ending your main show.

[rmturner54]

So here is what I have come up with. Let me know what you think. Thanks.

Show 1- 8 musical seq's playing in a loop from 6P-10P every night

Show 2-  ALO (30 sec animation) from 10P to it's end, playing one time thru

Show 3- After hours static lights from 1001P - 6AM

[Orville]

1 hour ago, rmturner54 said:

So here is what I have come up with. Let me know what you think. Thanks.

Show 1- 8 musical seq's playing in a loop from 6P-10P every night

Show 2-  ALO (30 sec animation) from 10P to it's end, playing one time thru

Show 3- After hours static lights from 1001P - 6AM

That's pretty much it.  You might want to run the ALO sequence after the overnight lights, just in case some may not turn off like they should.  Other than that, you've pretty much got it down.

[rmturner54]

Thanks Orville, It took me a minute or two to re-think every thing that we discussed, then it hit me like a ton of bricks. I wasn't seeing the timing and scheduling correctly. My brain for some reason was blocking me out.