Show Player - Ending One Show and Starting Another

[wak55@bellsouth.net]

The Quick Start Guide - Setup and Schedule A Show states....

Schedule the resulting show to run every hour (or half-hour…) as required. The Show Player will not cut off a musical sequence at the end of the scheduled period. It will finish that musical sequence and then shut down the show. The Show Player will cut off an animation sequence at the end of the scheduled period.

I have a 17.5 minute show followed by 13 minutes of animation. The Show Player will not start a new show as scheduled until the animation currently playing ends. Is this correct, or should the Show Player kill the animation and start the next scheduled show at the appointed time? Is there a way to force the fill animation to end?

Thanks!
William Kitchings

[Don]

I think the guide should be updated.

It should say, "The Show Player will not cut off a sequence in the musical tab at the end of the scheduled period. It will finish that sequence and then shut down the show. The Show Player will cut off a sequence in the animation tab at the end of the scheduled period.


So, if you want to have music, then static ... then right at 7:30 go back to music, you'd have to create your schedule as follows. (Assumes your 17.5 minute show)

7:00-7:17 - Musical based show
7:17-7:30 - Animation show (only animation in the animation tab!)
7:30-7:47 - Musical based show.

Remember, you can tell the show player to go down to the second if needed.

[wak55@bellsouth.net]

Thanks! Will do as you suggest. I can see where that would work.

[bob]

The way that Don describes it ("animation sequences in the Animation Section will be cut off") is the way that it currently works.

But the way that the guide describes it ("animation sequences will be cut off") is the way that it's supposed to work. A bug is causing animation sequences in the musical section not to be cut off.

This bug will be fixed in the next release of the software.

[wak55@bellsouth.net]

I have reworked my show to have 18 minutes of music and lights and then 12 minutes of just animation for now. I look forward to the upgrade so that I can get it to work as described.

Thanks!
William Kitchings

[iresq]

Bob, you are saying that with the fix, a musical sequence will get cut off when time expires? I personally like the fact that it finishes the song first. if so, any chance on making this an option?

[Don]

iresq wrote:

Bob, you are saying that with the fix, a musical sequence will get cut off when time expires? I personally like the fact that it finishes the song first. if so, any chance on making this an option?

Musical sequences will still finish.

The bug is related to animation sequences only. They are supposed to cut off when the end of the show is reached. What is happening is that when placed in the musical tab, they are playing out.

When fixed, an animation sequence will always be cut off at the end of a show.

[bob]

Bob, you are saying that with the fix, a musical sequence will get cut off when time expires?

No. What Don said is accurate:

Currently, the rule is "Sequences in the Musical Section finish; sequences in the Animation Section are cut off".

In the next version, the rule will be "Musical sequences in the Musical Section finish; animation sequences in either the Animation Section or the Musical Section are cut off".

So the change really only applies to animation sequences that are in the Musical Section. The behavior of musical sequences will not be affected.

[wak55@bellsouth.net]

This sounds good. Any idea when the next release will be out?

[lkinsey]

I currently have 5 musical sequences of songs preceded by 5 musical introductions in the show player musical section and then have a closing statement (musical sequence) in the ending section.

After the show time is up, it stops at the end of the current sequence and goes to the closing sequence which appears to be as designed. I don't want it to go to the ending sequence after a song is introduced in the run section.

Is there a way to force all the sequences to run to the last one before the ending sequence?

If that's not possible, Can I somehow merge the intro sequences with the song sequence so they can't be broken up?

Larry......

[Don]

Larry,

I think your only solution here would be to modify the start/stop times of the show.

I've had to modify a few shows by 30-40 seconds so that the intro can finish, or so that visitors do not hear two voice overs in a row.

[lkinsey]

Don wrote:

Larry,

I think your only solution here would be to modify the start/stop times of the show.

I've had to modify a few shows by 30-40 seconds so that the intro can finish, or so that visitors do not hear two voice overs in a row.

Thanks Don but in my case that wouldn't work.

My 5 musicals and their intros run continuously for 5 hours so it would be next to impossible to time it all via Show Time so that the ending sequence would fall or commence at the ending sequence of the 5 musicals.

Larry......

[Don]

Sure it will.

If at 10:00 (or whenever your stop time is) you note that you have 2 more intro/songs to go, figure out how much longer you need to complete those.

So, if those two songs/intros last another 3:45, then lengthen your show by about 3 minutes. Since LOR will finish out a sequence that is playing, and I assume your songs are longer than 45 seconds, this would work perfectly. 10:03 LOR would finish your last show, then go to the shutdown.

You don't have to sit down and figure out the time, just wait for the end of night to roll around, and make a note of it.

Of course, if you stop the show for any reason, your timing will be thrown off.

[lkinsey]

Don wrote:

Sure it will.

If at 10:00 (or whenever your stop time is) you note that you have 2 more intro/songs to go, figure out how much longer you need to complete those.

So, if those two songs/intros last another 3:45, then lengthen your show by about 3 minutes. Since LOR will finish out a sequence that is playing, and I assume your songs are longer than 45 seconds, this would work perfectly. 10:03 LOR would finish your last show, then go to the shutdown.

You don't have to sit down and figure out the time, just wait for the end of night to roll around, and make a note of it.

Of course, if you stop the show for any reason, your timing will be thrown off.

Alright Don, I'll give it a try.

It's kinda hard for me to believe that after 5 hours each night that the show will end exactly the same time it did before but that's my intuition.

I'll post the results at the end of a few days of testing.

Thanks,

Larry......

[Don]

lkinsey wrote:

It's kinda hard for me to believe that after 5 hours each night that the show will end exactly the same time it did before but that's my intuition.

Keep in mind, you do have a window of opportunity that is as large as your final song. If your last song is 2m30s, then all you have to do is get the end time of your show within that 150 second window. LOR would finish playing out the sequence, and then move to your shutdown.

As for the LOR player, it's pretty darned good at staying on time. If there is a variance, I would expect it to be much more than 3-5 seconds.

[lkinsey]

Don wrote:

lkinsey wrote:

It's kinda hard for me to believe that after 5 hours each night that the show will end exactly the same time it did before but that's my intuition.

Keep in mind, you do have a window of opportunity that is as large as your final song. If your last song is 2m30s, then all you have to do is get the end time of your show within that 150 second window. LOR would finish playing out the sequence, and then move to your shutdown.

As for the LOR player, it's pretty darned good at staying on time. If there is a variance, I would expect it to be much more than 3-5 seconds.

OK Don, we'll see.

My last sequence in the normal run is actually just flashing lights with my voice giving credits so it's relatively short, about 30 seconds, but your point is well taken.

Thanks again,

Larry.......

[lkinsey]

lkinsey wrote:

Don wrote:

lkinsey wrote:

It's kinda hard for me to believe that after 5 hours each night that the show will end exactly the same time it did before but that's my intuition.

Keep in mind, you do have a window of opportunity that is as large as your final song. If your last song is 2m30s, then all you have to do is get the end time of your show within that 150 second window. LOR would finish playing out the sequence, and then move to your shutdown.

As for the LOR player, it's pretty darned good at staying on time. If there is a variance, I would expect it to be much more than 3-5 seconds.

OK Don, we'll see.

My last sequence in the normal run is actually just flashing lights with my voice giving credits so it's relatively short, about 30 seconds, but your point is well taken.

Thanks again,

Larry.......

Hi Don,

I did as you suggested and it works fine.

It's hard to believe that the show times are that consistant but they appear to be.

Fortunately, the sequence I used for ending was over 3 minutes so the window of opportunity was pretty broad.

I do wish however that LOR made it optional to end at the current sequence or the last sequence when the scheduler times out. I now have to be very careful and retime everything if any of the sequences are modified, not a flexible approach.

Thanks again.

Larry........