MakeItGlow Posted March 10, 2023 Share Posted March 10, 2023 Hey folks! Light-O-Rama Control Panel v6.1.4 Pro I have created a show using the Create Shows tab. I have a couple start up shows then a main show with 16 sequences. It is saved, is "Ready to play". Clicked Active, no schedules as I just want it to play at power up (tried also with a schedule). When I click in SD Cards (I am using a Director) I can not find the show file. When I look on my computer I can't find it. Is this not a thing? My BIG goal is that I can save and edit the show. I have an SD card with the sequences in order, running just fine, but if I want to make a change I don't want to have to pull the SD card just so I can see and edit the show. I would rather have it saved and ready to go on my computer, especially if the SD card fails. This is for a professional installation, so I would prefer to be able to edit and reload shows quickly if needed. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimehc Posted March 10, 2023 Share Posted March 10, 2023 you have to create the show using SD Card (for directors)... the show you created is for a show run on PC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MakeItGlow Posted March 10, 2023 Author Share Posted March 10, 2023 19 minutes ago, Jimehc said: you have to create the show using SD Card (for directors)... the show you created is for a show run on PC Fair enough. Is there a way to save the show I create for the SD Card so I can edit / replicate without having to pull the card? Especially if the SD Card gets corrupted or I want to do a quick swap without taking down the director by pulling the current SD Card. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimehc Posted March 10, 2023 Share Posted March 10, 2023 copy the contents of the SD Card to a Folder (as a Backup) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MakeItGlow Posted March 10, 2023 Author Share Posted March 10, 2023 Yeah, ended up doing that. Just wanted a lazier option is all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Posted March 11, 2023 Share Posted March 11, 2023 18 hours ago, MakeItGlow said: Yeah, ended up doing that. Just wanted a lazier option is all. How much lazier can you get? This coming from someone who has, uh, a lot of SD card backups written to different folders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MakeItGlow Posted March 11, 2023 Author Share Posted March 11, 2023 1 minute ago, Don said: How much lazier can you get? This coming from someone who has, uh, a lot of SD card backups written to different folders. It more so comes from having quick access and edit capabilities without having to use an SD card. Our current plan is to have, either for existing or future shows for: -Front of our FFC and surrounding gardens for Christmas time -Main plaza pixel tree and peddle-car track for Christmas time -FFC gardens and window surrounds for general operating season -Main arcade neon sign -Main arcade facade -Colonnade Tivoli lighting And we may be adding more, so I just wanted the convenience of "yeah let me load that up real quick" rather than downloading from our server, finding an SD card, and loading the files onto it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k6ccc Posted March 11, 2023 Share Posted March 11, 2023 5 minutes ago, MakeItGlow said: It more so comes from having quick access and edit capabilities without having to use an SD card. In that case, use a show computer rather than a Director. That is one of the many reasons that my shows (both year round, and holidays) have always been run from a computer. With some router magic I can even get into the computer remotely to create or edit sequences or even shows. For Halloween and Christmas I have a dedicated show computer, but for the off season my year round landscape show and the various minor holidays (next one is St. Patrick's Day) are run from my file server. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MakeItGlow Posted March 11, 2023 Author Share Posted March 11, 2023 1 minute ago, k6ccc said: In that case, use a show computer rather than a Director. That is one of the many reasons that my shows (both year round, and holidays) have always been run from a computer. With some router magic I can even get into the computer remotely to create or edit sequences or even shows. For Halloween and Christmas I have a dedicated show computer, but for the off season my year round landscape show and the various minor holidays (next one is St. Patrick's Day) are run from my file server. I may end up pitching this to the boss and see if he is amendable once we get more shows set up. Can a computer run multiple shows to different controllers? As in, I can have my Christmas show running one place, my Arcade show running elsewhere without them chained together, all off of the one computer? And are you able to configure the controllers to run off of a network switch so I don't have to do long runs from the physical controllers to the computer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k6ccc Posted March 11, 2023 Share Posted March 11, 2023 1 minute ago, MakeItGlow said: Can a computer run multiple shows to different controllers? As in, I can have my Christmas show running one place, my Arcade show running elsewhere without them chained together, all off of the one computer? Not that I know of - at least normally. Likely could do it if you configured the computer with multiple virtual machines, but that is getting more advanced. Each VM would run a separate instance of LOR. Never tried that, but it should work... 3 minutes ago, MakeItGlow said: And are you able to configure the controllers to run off of a network switch so I don't have to do long runs from the physical controllers to the computer? WARNING! WARNING! LOR networking uses Cat-5 cable, but it is NOT Ethernet - it is RS-485 serial data. Plugging that into an Ethernet switch may result in something leaking all the magic blue smoke. With that said, a show computer can send show data via E1.31 - which is DMX over Ethernet. In that case it IS Ethernet and can be sent over a "standard" Ethernet network - including routed if needed. However if you are using traditional LOR controllers, you have to have something to convert the E1.31 data back into RS-485. There are lots of ways to do that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MakeItGlow Posted March 11, 2023 Author Share Posted March 11, 2023 @k6ccc I am thinking a show computer won't be as viable then for us, as we have a bit of a spread and wouldn't want to make a load of runs or try doing a bunch of VM's. Thanks for the info! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDucks Posted March 11, 2023 Share Posted March 11, 2023 1 minute ago, MakeItGlow said: @k6ccc I am thinking a show computer won't be as viable then for us, as we have a bit of a spread and wouldn't want to make a load of runs or try doing a bunch of VM's. Thanks for the info! A RS485 network is good for up to 4000' (ideal conditions. Terminated). There is a member that does a park, that breaks-out a single CAT5 into 2 networks (custom wired jacks) If you don't have Pixies, ELL's might be a solution (outdoor/direct burial CAT5 might be cheaper ~$190 / k ), at least for some part. Data density is one part on how many controllers on a single network. (the other, is how fast the SLOWEST capable controller is. Early CTB can't do 500K or enhanced mode. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k6ccc Posted March 11, 2023 Share Posted March 11, 2023 24 minutes ago, MakeItGlow said: @k6ccc I am thinking a show computer won't be as viable then for us, as we have a bit of a spread and wouldn't want to make a load of runs or try doing a bunch of VM's. Thanks for the info! You could also continue to use the Director for one show and a computer for the other. I assume some will need to change more often. 1 hour ago, MakeItGlow said: Our current plan is to have, either for existing or future shows for: -Front of our FFC and surrounding gardens for Christmas time -Main plaza pixel tree and peddle-car track for Christmas time -FFC gardens and window surrounds for general operating season -Main arcade neon sign -Main arcade facade -Colonnade Tivoli lighting Looks like you will have quite a few separate shows running at different locations. You may be able to run a single show that is controlling multiple lines of your list. Just a guess that the Main arcade neon sign and Main arcade facade could actually be the same show... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orville Posted March 12, 2023 Share Posted March 12, 2023 20 hours ago, MakeItGlow said: It more so comes from having quick access and edit capabilities without having to use an SD card. Our current plan is to have, either for existing or future shows for: -Front of our FFC and surrounding gardens for Christmas time -Main plaza pixel tree and peddle-car track for Christmas time -FFC gardens and window surrounds for general operating season -Main arcade neon sign -Main arcade facade -Colonnade Tivoli lighting And we may be adding more, so I just wanted the convenience of "yeah let me load that up real quick" rather than downloading from our server, finding an SD card, and loading the files onto it. One thing I have NOT seen mentioned here about SD Card run shows is, SD Card Shows ARE NOT editable! Once they are created and written to an SD Card, they are in a "specialized" format that the Director knows what to do with it. To change SD Card shows REQUIRES editing the original sequence file in the SE, save changes and REWRITE the show to the Director. I run multiple shows from my N4-G4 Director, if I want to change just one show, like Show01 on the Director, I have to edit the actual Sequence created in the SE, save the changed sequence, then rewrite Show01 to the Director using the updated/changed sequence file/s to the SD Card directly. This IS the ONLY WAY the Director knows how to run and understand the Show file/s on the SD SD card inserted in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Posted March 12, 2023 Share Posted March 12, 2023 3 hours ago, Orville said: One thing I have NOT seen mentioned here about SD Card run shows is, SD Card Shows ARE NOT editable! This is incorrect. You can edit the shows (not the sequences) on SD cards. This has been around since at least S5. You can change all aspects of the show that's on the SD card. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Posted March 12, 2023 Share Posted March 12, 2023 "Shows" and "Sequences" are very different. Correct, the sequences written to a SD card are not editable. However the Show that's written to the SD card can be changed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orville Posted March 13, 2023 Share Posted March 13, 2023 On 3/12/2023 at 1:26 PM, Don said: This is incorrect. You can edit the shows (not the sequences) on SD cards. This has been around since at least S5. You can change all aspects of the show that's on the SD card. Interesting. Unfortunately, the computer I wanted to try and learn S5 on went belly up just as I was trying to get to know that version of the software, so I never got the chance to really delve into it very far. And since that computer died, I've just stuck with what I know with S4. Thanks for the updates on S5 and S6, learned something new. Since I don't have a system to play around with the newer versions at this time, I haven't read much into their workings {manuals}, especially since my vision has gotten about 4 times worse over the last 6–8 months and still degrading. :( I do well to even read the forum pages at times, let alone sequence much of anything new, but I keep trying anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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