Turning off background lights inside animation

[pdowns]

I have a background animation sequence that is simply a few strings of static lights that I leave on all throughout my show. Now I've decided that I want to turn a couple of them off and on during an animation sequence.

Will it work for me to send "off" and "on" commands to channels that are also controlled in another sequence?

I think the answer is "Yes" but is it stupid? Bad practice? Common practice?

I presume I just have to remember to turn them back on at the end of a song or the background sequence never will?

[pdowns]

No answers yet but another question ...

If a background animation sequence has a light turned on continuously, I presume that means a single "on" command was sent to the unit and channel.

If I wanted to turn that channel off in an animation sequence, wouldn't I have to turn it "on" first in that animation sequence (even though I know it's already on), in order to get that same animation sequence to be willing to turn it "off" ???

I hope this isn't a slippery slope.

[pdowns]

I came up with the answer. This idea doesn't work. I presume a musical animation sequence could control a channel that is also referenced in a background animation sequence. But the problem is, when the musical animation sequence ends, all channels in that sequence will be turned off.

The background sequence would never know to turn it back on.

If I want to control any channel in my song sequences, that channel cannot be in my background also.

(It's getting late in the year and I'm still sequencing. I wanted a shortcut. Not this time!)

[Steven]

I have done exactly what you are talking about here, at least last year using version 2.1(?)

I found that if you have a background sequence 30 seconds long with a channel that is on for the entire sequence, that it will send an "on" command (turning the channel back on if something else turned it off) about every 30 seconds or so.

Therefore, I assume that when the background sequence loops back to the beginning, it turns everything on again.

A good way to test this: Run your show (without the animation sequence that messes with the background channel). While the show is running, unplug the network cable from the controller with the background channel. Wait a couple of seconds for the controller to notice that the network is gone and turn everything off, then plug it in again. Start your stopwatch and time how long it takes for the background channel to turn back on.

The current version has an option in the show editor to "Turn unused channels off at the end of each sequence". This is enabled by default. If you uncheck that option, you can have your animation sequence leave the channel on at the end. You have to be careful, however, because all channels are not turned off at the end of the show, so if your show ends with a musical sequence that leaves a channel on, it will stay on all night. A shutdown sequence could solve this problem.

If you have both a background sequence keeping the channel on, and the animation sequence turning it off, the channel will still turn back on when the background sequence loops, which may be in the middle of your animation sequence. To prevent this from happening, you could add a fade down several times a second that fades down from 1% to 0% in your animation sequence. Then if the background loops, the channel will only be on for a fraction of a second.

[Tim Fischer]

I agree with what Steven posted.

What we really need is a way to turn lights on/off independent of sequences. Just an absolute "turn these on/turn these off" with no looping, etc.

With X-10, my show pauses ever 2 minutes or so (duration of my background sequence) as the X-10 commands are sent out (most of my background/static lights are X-10 controlled).

-Tim

[pdowns]

Yippee! I can do what I want after all. Steven, as always, great advice. Especially because it's what I want the answer to be.

[pdowns]

Hmmm, this means that if I turn off a static light in an animation sequence, that every so often the background will turn it back on?

I guess that means I need to make my background loop longer than any song I have so I'll have control. But even then, I won't know where in the background loop I currently am. I'll need to limit the over riding actions I take in animation sequences to short events.

[Steven]

Tim Fischer wrote:

What we really need is a way to turn lights on/off independent of sequences. Just an absolute "turn these on/turn these off" with no looping, etc.

We have had that capability since version 2.1.2. It's called "Keep Lights On at End of Play".

In the show editor, go to the "Startup" tab. Un-check "Turn used lights off at end of each sequence." Create a startup sequence that turns your X10 channels on and leaves them on.

You can turn them off in the "Shutdown" tab.

If you want to control these channels in your "Musical" section, then also un-check the box in that tab, and make sure to leave the channel on at the end of your musical sequence.

If you don't want to accidentally leave a channel turned on all night, then you should include all channels in your shutdown sequence.

[jeffl]

I'm having issues with my sign and donation box going off randomly. Is there anything else to check besides one of these channels in a sequences that shouldn't be?

[Steven]

jeffl wrote:

I'm having issues with my sign and donation box going off randomly.

One possibility is that the network signal is getting interrupted between the computer and the affected controller. If the heartbeat signal is not heard by the controller for a few milliseconds, it will turn all the channels off.

A way to prevent this problem from leaving your sign turned off is to add its channel to more sequences, and make sure it's turned on through the entire sequence. This will cause the show player to send another "on" event whenever that sequence starts.

[jeffl]

I'm starting to think I reached the point of critical mass this year (over 500 channels).

The only conflict I seen in the verify utility was a sequence in the shutdown with the same channel. I removed this and I'll see what happens tomorrow. Hard to believe as I had the same thing last year.

I have an extra 485 adapter and I could split my network but I don't want to take that chance during the show season.

The odd thing I guess I didn't mention was that it does only do it at the end of a sequence from what I remember. I'll have to watch it more closely to make sure.

[jeffl]

Further testing appears to show I'm driving my network above what it capable of. I have performed enough testing to see that it only happens when there is a lot of action on the network at the same time.

The most notable thing I think that has caused this is I'm using the background option with fades.

The sad part is you never see problems like this being reported. I'm using less than 1000 feet of network cable and under 600 channels. Everything about this seams well within LOR's specs.

For now I'm going to have to reduce activity and hope I can keep in under control.