Mega Tree question

[James Shelby]

Can SuperStar sequencer auto program a full song on a pixel mega tree 150 tall by 128 wide?

[BrianBruderer]

Instant Sequence is limited to 24 columns. But you can set the arrangement for your 150x128 tree to "Use Preview" and reduce the number of columns and then you could use Instant Sequence.

Or if you use the "auto sequence" feature there is no limit to the number of rows or columns. There is a video tutorial on "auto sequence" in the superstar section of the video tutorials.

[James Shelby]

I did find you can do a channel view and move all the channels together numerically but that looks like it will take forever but once you do it and save it, it's done.

35 minutes ago, BrianBruderer said:

Instant Sequence is limited to 24 columns. But you can set the arrangement for your 150x128 tree to "Use Preview" and reduce the number of columns and then you could use Instant Sequence.

Or if you use the "auto sequence" feature there is no limit to the number of rows or columns. There is a video tutorial on "auto sequence" in the superstar section of the video tutorials.

Where do you find that video, please.

[BrianBruderer]

Go to the lightorama main page, click on "Support & Training", then click on "FREE Video Tutorials"

Scroll down to the superstar section, look for "Superstar "Auto Sequence Feature"

[James Shelby]

I have watched all the videos but I must have missed that one little thing, time to give them a second look.

[BrianBruderer]

The video I referenced is for using "auto sequence." Auto sequence is more versatile but takes some learning to use.

To use "instant sequence" I would first define your tree as a rectangular matrix, then create a group and have the matrix be the only thing in the group. You can then define the "arrangement" for the group to be "use preview." You can then use the slide bare below the "use preview" option to control the number of rows/columns. Set it so both the rows and columns are 24 or less and then you will be able to use "instant sequence."

[James Shelby]

Finally after months of fighting S6 with no headway I got somewhere today. I took my pixel tree and changed the view to channels and boom I was able to copy and paste the old mega tree channels to the new pixel tree, missing white but that's a huge move forward after months of nothing. 

[James Shelby]

After digging into Super Star today I think it will not do what I'm asking of it. The maximum it will go is 16,000 pixels my new tree is 19,200 and there was an error that said my sequences have 57,600 channels, just another dead end and people wonder why I'm having so much trouble.

[k6ccc]

41 minutes ago, James Shelby said:

my new tree is 19,200 and there was an error that said my sequences have 57,600 channels

19,200 pixels is 57,600 channels.  Not an error.

 

[BrianBruderer]

Sorry for the hassles.

The 16,000 limit is actually the limit for the number of squares in the green grid. If you put your matrix in a group and reduce the the grid using the "use preview" arrangement you should be able to get it to work.

[James Shelby]

But the message told me it would not play the lights either. 

1 hour ago, k6ccc said:

19,200 pixels is 57,600 channels.  Not an error.

 

 

49 minutes ago, BrianBruderer said:

Sorry for the hassles.

The 16,000 limit is actually the limit for the number of squares in the green grid. If you put your matrix in a group and reduce the the grid using the "use preview" arrangement you should be able to get it to work.

Please don't be upset with me, this is learn as I go. I have no one here who understands the programming and every path I have taken has ended in a dead end. The error came when I tried to open SuperStar, "I'm only licensed for 300 pixels and I had 57,600 channels in my sequence". So I went to the SuperStars web site and found it only goes up to 16,000 pixels, so what do I know my tree is 19,200 and last I checked that's over the maximum of 16,000. I am trying really hard to get a foothold on this and after months I'm still finding every rabbit hole I go down leads to a dead end with people getting short with me. I feel one day I will understand it but the only way that's going to happen is if I ask questions. Most of you know the one thing you know, I'm running into everything and so far none it pertains to what I'm doing but I'm sure it will get narrow down soon.

[BrianBruderer]

Again, sorry for all of the frustrations. I have been there. I have been stuck spinning my wheels trying to figure out software.

I also apologize that superstar doesn't do more than 16,000 squares on the sequencing grid. When I designed things years ago, 16,000 seemed like more than anyone would ever need. I was wrong!

I just tried it and verified that superstar instant sequence works if you do the following:

1- make your tree be a vertical rectangle instead of a tree

2- make a group and add your 128x150 tree to it

3- when viewing the group, you can set the arrangement on the right side of the dialog box, set it to "Use Preview"

4- using the slider at the lower right of the dialog box you can set the grid to whatever size you want. Set it so that the width is 24 or less

5- go to the main screen of the sequencer, select the motion effect row for the group. Do "insert superstar effect"

6- after superstar launches you should be able to do instant sequence. Even with the 300 pixel license you can do instant sequence and play it within superstar. But when you exit superstar and go back to  the sequencer it will not play to the playback screen in the sequencer, nor will it play to your actual lights. To do that you will need to purchase a license that supports the number green squares in your grid. While in superstar, if you click on Tools and select "Layout", on the right side of the layout dialog box it will tell you the number of squares in the grid and the license level required to support the grid

Also, note that by reducing the grid size, the effects on your lights will be limited to the resolution of the grid.

It might be good for me to remote into your computer and help you out. If you want to do that, send and email to brian@superstarlights.com and we can set up a time to do that. 

[k6ccc]

7 minutes ago, BrianBruderer said:

I also apologize that superstar doesn't do more than 16,000 squares on the sequencing grid. When I designed things years ago, 16,000 seemed like more than anyone would ever need. I was wrong!

 

Any chance of that number getting larger in the future?  Double it and I'll buy the upgrade in a heartbeat...

 

[James Shelby]

15 minutes ago, BrianBruderer said:

Again, sorry for all of the frustrations. I have been there. I have been stuck spinning my wheels trying to figure out software.

I also apologize that superstar doesn't do more than 16,000 squares on the sequencing grid. When I designed things years ago, 16,000 seemed like more than anyone would ever need. I was wrong!

I just tried it and verified that superstar instant sequence works if you do the following:

1- make your tree be a vertical rectangle instead of a tree

2- make a group and add your 128x150 tree to it

3- when viewing the group, you can set the arrangement on the right side of the dialog box, set it to "Use Preview"

4- using the slider at the lower right of the dialog box you can set the grid to whatever size you want. Set it so that the width is 24 or less

5- go to the main screen of the sequencer, select the motion effect row for the group. Do "insert superstar effect"

6- after superstar launches you should be able to do instant sequence. Even with the 300 pixel license you can do instant sequence and play it within superstar. But when you exit superstar and go back to  the sequencer it will not play to the playback screen in the sequencer, nor will it play to your actual lights. To do that you will need to purchase a license that supports the number green squares in your grid. While in superstar, if you click on Tools and select "Layout", on the right side of the layout dialog box it will tell you the number of squares in the grid and the license level required to support the grid

Also, note that by reducing the grid size, the effects on your lights will be limited to the resolution of the grid.

It might be good for me to remote into your computer and help you out. If you want to do that, send and email to brian@superstarlights.com and we can set up a time to do that. 

sorry again but where do you do number 1 and 2. After reading the information on the superstar website it said 16000 pixels not squares in a grid. I would hate to waste your time and mine for this not to work with me starting out with 19200 pixels. That is a lot of money to upgrade to if it doesn't work also. I'm looking for something that will just work. I remember the starting days of RGB and you needed to build your own boards and link 4 pieces of software together for the lights to work. If superstar needs to have some trickie finagling to work, how am I to fix that if in the show it stops working?

[k6ccc]

There are two limits in this discussion.  And Brian may have to correct me a little on some of this.

16,000 squares on the sequencing grid.  This is currently a hard limit in SuperStar.  For the most part it can be ALMOST any combination of number of rows times the number of columns.  As I recall either rows or columns does have a max that is something like 256 or 320.  When I started in 2011 it was 64 rows and I don't remember how many columns.  That number has gone up multiple times since then.  This has nothing to do with your license level.  In my current layout, I have 64 rows (yes, a holdover from the old days) and 150 columns.

Your license level dictates how many channels can be exported to the Sequencer.  Note that I said channels, not pixels.  Although SuperStar deal primarily with pixels, it CAN deal with single channel props.  I do have a couple and it goes into the count that Brian mentioned earlier.  You can sequence a larger number in SuperStar, but you can't export the result to Sequencer.  Prior to S5, number of pixels and pixels being sequenced were the same, but that changed with S5 - just to confuse it a bit more.  In MOST cases with S5/S6 the number of pixels and the number of pixels being sequenced is the same, HOWEVER if you use the preview mode (in Prop Definition in the Preview Editor), you can shrink it down to a smaller number.  Not something I have ever done, but as I understand it, you can shrink the prop in the preview and that smaller number is what gets sequenced.  If you shrink it a lot it will get more blocky looking, but with only a small reduction, no one (except maybe you) will ever notice it while watching the show.  Someone who has done this may be able to explain it better.

One other note for S5/S6.  I suspect the way MOST people use SuperStar, they are sequencing one prop at a time.  In other words, grab one prop or group that likely relates to the one prop and do the "Insert SuperStar Effects".  When doing that, your SuperStar license only needs to be as large as the largest prop or group being sequenced at a time.  In other words, if your pixel tree is 800 pixels, with a 270 pixel star on top and your arches are 300 pixels, if you were only sequencing the tree, you would need a license that covers 800 pixels, but if you sequenced the tree and star, you would need a license that covers 1070 pixels, and if you did a group with all three you would need a license that covers at least 1370 pixels.  Note that I am mostly not doing it that way.  I sequence a group that has every prop in my yard except my P5 and P10 matrix panels and my old school singing face trees.  That group has 11,805 channels (mostly pixels).

In full disclosure, I have a 16,000 pixel SuperStar license - which is now large enough that I can sequence my P5 or P10 matrix panels separately.  If Brian comes up with a larger license limit, I could sequence both matrix panels and the rest of the props in one "Insert SuperStar Effects)...

 

[James Shelby]

Thanks for all the info. Like I was thinking my tree is 19200 pixels and that's to big for the 16000 license am I correct?

[k6ccc]

6 minutes ago, James Shelby said:

Thanks for all the info. Like I was thinking my tree is 19200 pixels and that's to big for the 16000 license am I correct?

Without shrinking it a little in the preview.

 

[BrianBruderer]

To do steps 1 and 2, do the following:

In the Preview Design screen click on "add"

Choose the first option which will be "Create a new PROP using one of the built-in shapes, or define a custom shape"

The "Prop Definition" dialog box will appear. In the middle, below the word "shape" click on the drop down. 

Choose "Matrix-Vertical-Rectangle"

Set "actual number of strings" to 128, set "exact number of RGB nodes per string" to 150

 

To add a group, while in the Preview Design screen click on "add" then choose the second option which is "create a new group from existing props or groups"

In the dialog box that appears place a check mark by the things you want in the group, in this case you only want the 128x150 prop

 

As for the documentation saying that the license is for the number of channels or pixels, you are correct that that is what the documentation says. But it turns out, the documentation is incorrect. When I wrote that I was assuming a one-to-one correlation between pixels and little green squares, but I was wrong.

 

[James Shelby]

This is the most help I've received in months of working on this, thank you so much. I have a few more weeks to spend on this then I have two remodels starting soon. And the display starts going up in October. 

[James Shelby]

It appears I'm going down the wrong trail again. I was thinking SuperStar would apply "motion effects" to the whole sequence with a few clicks of a mouse but it appears from watching videos and following your instructions I was wrong, the effects are created by the user. Motion Effects and SuperStar are two different programs. I really thank everyone for your help. On to finding another trail to head down.