Complex prop questions

[-tv-]

 

Hi all,

I have been using LOR for more than a decade and love the hardware and software (S6 control panel is AWESOME - especially with mobile device support!)

Traditionally I have wrapped several trees in regular lights and controlled/dimmed strings with an LOR controller.    This year I wrapped them with LED pixels and am planning to drive them with a pixel controller.

I want to make use of motion effects, so I need to model each of them as a prop.

I have tried several approaches, but none seem to work the way I expect in the preview editor.

First idea:   I will draw a bunch of "disconnect lines" and place them in their relative locations for the branches.  This would be perfect except: (1) I can't "lock" the number of lights on a specific segment. As I move/arrange the lines the LED pixel numbers keep changing on every line - not just the one I am moving. (2) I need to add strings of 50 and strings of 100 - but I can't force a channel row to enter them manually.  (Yes I have "Enter a channel on every row" selected).

Second Idea:  I will draw a bunch of individual lines, each with the correct pixel count and DMX info.  Problem with this approach, they each become their own "prop", and even though I can group them I can't treat them as a single item for motion effects (eg:  wipe left-to-right).

What I would love to do, is be able to define various "Cylinder" segments, then link/stack them to represent the tree, giving me some approximation of "front" and "back" as well.

Which brings me to my questions:

A) What would be the best way to model these trees so I end up with a single prop?   I am using 5 universes (150,100,150,100,50 pixels respectively).

B) Is there a way to force add channel rows in the Prop Definition screen?   I need to be able to edit the 'End Channel', but it is always locked.   (I have not tried exporting the Prop and then manually editing the Prop file - that is next on my list to attempt).

C) Is there a way to "lock" the number of pixels on a segment when using "unconnected lines"?  For example - with a 100 pixel string with three segments, I want one segment to be 50px, one 20px, and one 30px - REGARDLESS of how long I draw individual lines.

D) Can anyone explain what the option "Allow Multi-node (y/n)" is when selecting a prop type of "advanced"?   I have not been able to locate that in the help file/manual.  Not sure if it is the answer to my problem or not.

Thanks for any suggestions you can provide - and keep up the great work!

 

Edited December 2, 2023 by -tv-