S6 Motion Effect Spirals on 8 Mini Trees software glitch???

[Obejohnknobe]

Greetings everyone,

Been programming upcoming Halloween and Christmas sequences and have something I cannot explain.  I have 8 -  180 degree Boscoyo mini trees in all of my Christmas sequences.  Full disclosure, had 4 of them last year and added the other 4 this year. 

In the preview, copied number 4 mini tree 4 times and everything lined up perfectly to include IDs, pixels, ect.  Have used several different motion effects (no spiral) on all 8 mini trees in other sequences with no issues and then ran into this weirdness.  Used spiral motion effect on number 1 mini tree and copied to number 2, changing the direction on number 2.  Copied and pasted from 1 thru 8 like I always do from past motion effects.  1 thru 4 worked perfectly, 5 thru 8 looked like color wash with some motion. Undo copy and paste, tried copy and paste 1 thru 4.  Selected 5 and tried spirals and had the same color wash with some motion.  Tried scanner, no problems.  Tried spiral again, 5 thru 8 selected and the same result of color wash with some motion.  Also, noticed number 80 thru 85 pixels were lit regardless of trying different variations of spiral.  Rechecked all trees as well as format, could find no issues.  Tried closing S6 and then reopening and still got the same result of spiral not working on 5 thru 8.  Tried several different motion effects (ripple, wave, bars, hatch pattern, butterfly to name a few) on all 8 mini trees and no issues other than spiral.

Any ideas out there what could be the issue?

John

[Box on Rails]

Based on your description it sounds like the 4 new trees were assigned to a Network and unit ID that another prop is already using. Check that out if you haven't already.

[Obejohnknobe]

Thank you for the suggestion, but that was the first thing I was looked for when this happened.  All mini trees are on the same network and the ids are in logical order. No other props have the same id and network as the mini trees.  Have 9 sequences working on for Christmas, 3 are completed, the others are in various degrees of work, and out of those this is the only sequence where the spirals motion effect were installed on the mini trees.  All other sequences have different motion effects on all 8 trees and have no issues with them.

As a trial I went to my completed Christmas sequences and tried putting spirals in 5 thru 8.  I got the same result where 1 thru 4 have spirals and 5 thru 8 have a color wash with some motion.  Also, when I tried copy and past to cover the entire 8 mini trees, something weird happened.  When copied the 1st 2 lines (trees 1 and 2) then pasted 4 vertical which would have covered all 8 (have done this before and it worked), only 1 thru 5 pasted.  Did undo, hand jammed in all 8 mini trees with spirals and the same result.  1 thru 4 had spirals and 5 thru 8 had a color wash with some movement.  Tried different motion effects (Hatched pattern, bars, scanner to name a few) on all 8 trees and they worked flawlessly.

I am still open to any suggestion that I have not tried.  I will still keep troubleshooting but could use some guidance.

Thank you,

John

[PhilMassey]

Send me the sequence and i'll take a look, John. probably be after the holiday though.

[Obejohnknobe]

Will do, just hope it is not too big of a file to send.  No worries on getting to it.  Will work on others and not use the spirals.

 

[k6ccc]

If the sequence file is too large to send via E-Mail, upload it to something like Google Drive or Dropbox and set to shared and post or E-Mail the link.

 

[gsmith37064]

4 hours ago, Obejohnknobe said:

Will do, just hope it is not too big of a file to send.  No worries on getting to it.  Will work on others and not use the spirals.

 

You can zip it. That will compress a large sequence down to less than 25 megs. At that point, you should be able to email it. Most come in at 2 or 3 megs after being zipped.

[Obejohnknobe]

Luckily, the sequence is 3 min and 8 sec long but was only about 30 seconds  into it and about 1.5 meg, so it was able to send.  I had started on the sequence which was propagated with some motion effects before the issue.  Have 4 networks with 4 to 5 props per network, each having pixie 8s and pixie 16s in each except for 1 AC unit in network 1.  I have a CTB16 on network 1 with flood lights, light strips and tune to sign.  All networks come really close to maxing out what they can have on the N4 G4 MP3 Director.  I do have a pixie link and working it into the fray to replace the Director.

Thank you,

John

[Box on Rails]

John, I was going to ask you to send me the sequence but Phil already did. I'll just let Phil check it out. One last question. You stated you "Have used several different motion effects (no spiral) on all 8 mini trees in other sequences with no issues and then ran into this weirdness." Have you loaded the spiral effect into one of the sequences you are not having issues with and what was the result? 

[Obejohnknobe]

Yes, I tried it in 2 other sequences and the results are the same.  Mini trees 1 thru 4 have no issues on the spiral and 5 thru 8 look like color wash (covers complete tree) with some movement (very slow).  Just out of curiosity, could you make 8 mini trees and try a spiral motion effect on each individual one and see what happens??

Thanks!

John

[gsmith37064]

45 minutes ago, Obejohnknobe said:

Yes, I tried it in 2 other sequences and the results are the same.  Mini trees 1 thru 4 have no issues on the spiral and 5 thru 8 look like color wash (covers complete tree) with some movement (very slow).  Just out of curiosity, could you make 8 mini trees and try a spiral motion effect on each individual one and see what happens??

Thanks!

John

Expand mini tree 5 and look at the motion rows. If you have more than 1 motion row, is it by chance copying/pasting the data to the other motions? This happens to me and it I get the same result you are seeing. I then delete the extra data from those motion rows and it's back to normal.

[Obejohnknobe]

Problem solved by Phil's quick look.  The one thing I did not check in Preview Design was the resolution when grouping the tree with the star (tree and star have separate ids).  It ended up 1 thru 4 mini trees resolution were set to 13 by 75 where mini trees 5 thru 8 were set at 2 by 8 resolution.  Changed the last 4 mini trees to 13 x 75, tried copy from 1 thru 4 and paste 5 thru 8, ran a visual from the sequence, everything worked!  Something as simple as not changing the resolution can cause problems. 

The problem came not from a copy and paste issue from Preview Design (use number 4 mini tree to make 4 copies) it was when I grouped each star id to its tree id and did not max out the resolution.

Thank you Phil for catching it and everybody else for your suggestions!!

Happy Easter,

John

[Box on Rails]

21 hours ago, Obejohnknobe said:

Yes, I tried it in 2 other sequences and the results are the same.  Mini trees 1 thru 4 have no issues on the spiral and 5 thru 8 look like color wash (covers complete tree) with some movement (very slow).  Just out of curiosity, could you make 8 mini trees and try a spiral motion effect on each individual one and see what happens??

Thanks!

John

I Use 7 mini trees from GE to run some tests. I set up a preview with  them as you described. I did some copy and pasting. I then ran the spiral ME on each tree with the star and on them all together as a group with no issues. I see that Phil found it. After you stating the issue is in other sequences I had good understanding that the issue would be within the Prop design of tree 5 thru 8,  Glad you got that out the way. 

Be well everyone. 

Kenny

[Obejohnknobe]

Thank you!! 

Phil has a keen eye for those items and appreciate him and all individuals in this forum has helped me on.  After retiring in December 22, Year 23 was a lot of honey-do projects to catch up on and programming and prop prep was the last on the list.  This year is much better, still have honey-do projects to work on but I have a LOT more time to devote to programming and prop prep.  Very thankful this forum is here to rely on when I do not understand what is happening with programming and props.  Did get a 3D printer and printing out some prop pieces (prop mounts, ect) to assist with better display of the props.  There are a LOT of items to use with your props in 3D!!!

Will need some clarification when I start hooking up the pixie link this year to replace my MP3 Director.  So look for me in the forum with some of those Pixie Link questions....LOL

Thank you everyone for the suggestions!!!

John