Sean Meighan
General => Show Assets => Topic started by: rando1957 on September 01, 2015, 08:56:04 AM
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I have about 11 sequences completed for this year and would like to share them with the forum. Not that I am a great sequencer, but it does help newbies to get an idea of what is possible. Rather than upload all the files to the forum, I thought about sharing using dropbox, but was not sure about how to share them there without showing other dropbox personal folders / files. Any suggestions?
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You should be able to share a folder under dropbox without showing everything you have stored under your account. Dan Kulp recently did that for his jokes sequences he was looking for help on. You can only access that folder, not the rest of his folders if there are any.
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I thought the "standard" way to do this was to send xml files to Sean via email then they are included in the "songs" directory that downloads when you download xlights? Is this no longer "the way" to do this?
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No idea how it is on Windows, but on the Mac, I can right click on any folder in my "Drop Box" folder and on the popup menu is a "Share Dropbox Link" option that will put the link to that folder on the clipboard then paste into a message here. That's a URL directly to that folder and only that folder.
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I see where you share a folder in dropbox, but I was confused where it says to invite others and create a list. Wanted to avoid that. Let me try it.
Ok here are my xml files. https://www.dropbox.com/sh/cjvfkgwt7kedx6r/AABEwyDDeRIuutxp5KwLDrAwa?dl=0 (https://www.dropbox.com/sh/cjvfkgwt7kedx6r/AABEwyDDeRIuutxp5KwLDrAwa?dl=0). I need to add the .txt files with the song links at Amazon.
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Randy, that worked fine. I downloaded them and will look at them as soon as I get a little free time. For others info I just create a folder called Randy 2015 within my main xlights data folder and then I can just switch my setup to point to that folder and open them one at a time and look at the preview. You do have to add the music to the folder or you can fake it by telling the sequence to use any song in the folder so you can at least see the effects even if they don't match to the music. Then if you like what you see go and spend $1.29 or whatever to buy the song. Just my 2 cents.
Randy are you going to the mini on the 12th?
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Amazing work. I love it.
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Thanks Jim and Robo. Definitely not a sequence expert but my wife and I like it.
Jim - I would love to come to mini but it requires an overnight stay at minimum and I been trying to hold some costs down. I miss visiting with the mini folks. Great people with wealth of knowledge.
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Thank you so much :) :) :)
rando1957
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Thank you Randy, will do as Jean did and make a sub folder to check them out. Nutrocker is on my list to do this year so will be interested to specifically see what you did with it.
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Allright I am missing something. I created a folder to which I saved Rando's files. Told xlights to point to that folder, opened up the sequence (nutrocker) and didn't really see anything. Then returned to setup tab and changed show/media tabs back to my normal xlights folders. Nothing plays now even though I can see the sequences. What am I missing? Thanks
--Never mind--some weird thing with my PC. I did the old school reboot and all is well now. So weird...
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In the event that I have to switch folders, I open xlights , change the folder. Close xlights.
Then open it again (it is now pointing to the new folder), then I look for and open a sequence.
To go back to the first folder , I save what I am doing , close xl.
Then open xl gain , change folders and close xl
etc ie I do not try and 'in flight' change folders and then continue on to do stuff. Because then at the end , when xl prompts to save stuff , I would not expect it to save in the right folder.
A bit cautious maybe , but I spent several weeks doing this during the manual documentation and managed without issues due to the swapping.
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The computer never should need to be rebooted. The only thing that can fix is if you have multiple copies of xLights running which you could easily see by running task manager where you can also kill those processes. I'm always helping you guys out so I hot swap my show folder all the time. I don't follow any of these crazy procedures like closing the program or rebooting.
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i also have about 20 folders containing users files. i never have had to reboot xlights, i just point to the various directories and add a SETUP of like 32 universes of E1.31. Most users just share the xlights_rgbeffects.xml so i need to do a onetime create of xlights_networks.xml. I also normally copy one mp3 into these directories so i dont have to navigate to other directories.
i wonder what condition you ran into Gerry?
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Thanks for the replies. Next time I go down that route I will open up xlights twice and use the second one for the "other" files...
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i also have about 20 folders containing users files. i never have had to reboot xlights, i just point to the various directories and add a SETUP of like 32 universes of E1.31. Most users just share the xlights_rgbeffects.xml so i need to do a onetime create of xlights_networks.xml. I also normally copy one mp3 into these directories so i dont have to navigate to other directories.
i wonder what condition you ran into Gerry?
Hello Sean,
Over the last few weeks/months , much functionality has been added and tweaked at each release ie especially the Views, the timings, the defaulting of timings into Views , "lyrics timing creation" , rename and removal of models and groups, conversions of morph values when opened, some conversion of 3.x code to 4.x etc when open etc. If you change your show directory midway through , sometimes the save to views/models etc only occurs at the end when you exit (you get a prompt then to save) and you could end up saving the wrong thing in the wrong directory or not finding it when you then open it later.
i am guessing similarly if folks then change stuff on the preview etc.
I definitely noticed scenarios re missing models and an RGB_effects crash when I swapped - I did that quite often for the manual documentation. So a simple close xl and reopen when changing show directories sufficed.
It is not much of an issue if you are only opening a sequence.
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Thanks Gil I totally misread (was multitasking at work...) the posts. I will stick with one "occurrence" of xlights and open/close to go between different setups.... I have enough capability of goofing up something without setting myself up...
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So Gerry I don't remember if I've tried modifying models and then changing the show directory. If we aren't prompting you to save when you choose to switch show directories then I think we should and I'd add that as an issue on github.
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So Gerry I don't remember if I've tried modifying models and then changing the show directory. If we aren't prompting you to save when you choose to switch show directories then I think we should and I'd add that as an issue on github.
Other than the developers, who know what they are doing, I am not sure how often other people change show directories.
So maybe one option would be not to enable the change button , if the is dirty flag for the sequence or model/ view is on...
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Changing directories is a great way to look at other folks sequences that they have shared, esp when they include the Effects file. I need to see how the sequence looks on their layout in order to plan how I would map their models to my models.
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One problem that I saw, is with Faces.
You can setup your sequence show directory, same with Audio, but not the faces.
I had to change on the xml file, or am I doing something wrong?
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There are several spots where we used a full hard coded path. Usually anywhere that images are specified like the Pictures effect. Kinda hard to figure out the best way to handle everything because everyone want to do it different.
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So Gerry I don't remember if I've tried modifying models and then changing the show directory. If we aren't prompting you to save when you choose to switch show directories then I think we should and I'd add that as an issue on github.
Other than the developers, who know what they are doing, I am not sure how often other people change show directories.
So maybe one option would be not to enable the change button , if the is dirty flag for the sequence or model/ view is on...
I just tested this. I changed a model and then changed show directories and it prompted me to Save my models before it switched the directory.
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Ok here are my xml files. https://www.dropbox.com/sh/cjvfkgwt7kedx6r/AABEwyDDeRIuutxp5KwLDrAwa?dl=0 (https://www.dropbox.com/sh/cjvfkgwt7kedx6r/AABEwyDDeRIuutxp5KwLDrAwa?dl=0).
Just got a chance to look at all of these. Nice work! And I really like how you've set up your models and model views. Very clever how you deal with your ground lights... Thanks for sharing!
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Thanks plaberge - a lot of nice tool resources in XL makes it easier each time I do a sequence. Yeah on the ground lights, I know it looks silly on the roof but that was the only way I could visualize them. Some effects on the ground lights were 're-used' for the smaller mega tree. No one will know it once it is laid out.
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Added two more songs:
Straight No Chaser 'Christmas Can-Can'
TSO 'Christmas Sarajevo'
Plus added my house pic for the layout tab.
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Did you add the iseq file we discussed at the TN mini?
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Thanks for the share, I'm really looking forward to peeking at your GoFish Joy to the World.
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Jim
I just uploaded the iseq files. Not sure if that will work for anyone but they are there now.
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Randy, I don't see any iseq files. Are they in the same drop box?
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Agreed, I'm not seeing the iseq's either. I'd love to see how you incorporated your LOR stuff. Thanks again!
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Agreed, I'm not seeing the iseq's either. I'd love to see how you incorporated your LOR stuff. Thanks again!
I incorporate Brians pixel tree and globe as a data layer. What specific would you like to see? Maybe we can help.
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I was mostly hoping for some inspiration about how he's using his candy-cane spinners and the coro faces.
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remember that iseq files have hard coded channel numbers.
if your LOR sequence had minitrees from channels 50 to 60
and it had arches from channels 1-30 then i would need to have those two sets of channels in my show.
You can offset the iseq as a group, so i could move the entire iseq file and have this
arches channels 11-40
minitrees 60-70
If you share a xml sequence file, then the channels dont matter. You match up models.
you would do things like
"Your minitrees from 50 to 60 will go to my minitrees channel 300-500"
"Your arches from 1-30 will go to my arches 600-660"
In other words, much easier and more flexible to share the xml sequence files from xLights instead of iseq files.
If you did hours of sequencing in LOR and are using the iseq overlays, then just understand the limits.
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My bad - I put the iseq in my root dropbox folder, not the one for XL. I just fixed that. I am not sure what benefit that would do, but if you want any LOR files, let me know which ones and I can share the .lms ones.
The spinner is just a list of 12 channels, just like the 10 north poles. Lots of chases are used.
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I agree, Sean. I wasn't really looking to copy his LOR effects, though, I just wanted to see how the entire show looks, for inspiration. Thanks rando1957 for sharing!
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Randy, that worked fine. I downloaded them and will look at them as soon as I get a little free time. For others info I just create a folder called Randy 2015 within my main xlights data folder and then I can just switch my setup to point to that folder and open them one at a time and look at the preview. You do have to add the music to the folder or you can fake it by telling the sequence to use any song in the folder so you can at least see the effects even if they don't match to the music. Then if you like what you see go and spend $1.29 or whatever to buy the song. Just my 2 cents.
Randy are you going to the mini on the 12th?
Is the XML all you need or do you need the RGB effects too?
Travis
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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XML file and rgbeffects file are needed to see the display. Copy both in the same folder (different than your own).
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Added TSO 'Boughs of Holly' and Mannheim Steamroller "Stille Nacht'. Enjoy
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Thanks Randy. Now that I have the map defined I can import your xml in minutes to match my display and I already own both of those songs.
Now if you just had a halloween sequence or two. LOL I have my window and gutter lights up, but have not powered anything up yet while I work on finalizing two PIs in multisync mode.
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Your welcome Jim. I have my gutter and window frame lights up and running. I did a 4-minute animation sequence and put various effects with the Fall colors. Run it for few days just to get neighborhood excited for upcoming Christmas season.
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Am I doing something wrong? Forgive me as I am a noob and still learning. I finally figured out how to get other sequences to display i.e.: Stars Wars Funk works. but when I tried rondo's I can't get the Model Preview to display the sequence, its just a black screen. I have the go fish Joy to the world track but Im not sure what Im missing here. I also can't view any of the sequences in the layout tab either, only the intro and final comment are listed, and I not able to add other files to the "show" tabs. Any help would be appreciated, thanks in advance.
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Are you making a separate folder for the downloaded sequence and then switching to it. In that folder you need to have the donors rgbeffects file. You can use the donors network file or make your own network file as it will not make any difference to you just viewing the sequence. There is nothing in the download that will work in the layout tab. You must open the xml in the sequencer tab and then save it to get the fseq that is used in the layout tab.
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I think (from other posts) that it could be that the donor setup has a perspective which has two monitors and the layout etc is on the second monitor.
In which case , edit the donor rgbeffects xml file and delete the perspectives section and save