Sean Meighan
Welcome => Do You Need Help? Post it here => Topic started by: spaulgal on December 04, 2020, 07:22:59 PM
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Hello, as part of my setup, I have 15 identical DMX floods (8 channel: dim, R, G, B, W, strobe, speed, color mix)
During the show they each are addressed independently, so I need full control (namely of RBG and strobe) but during pre-show, I previously enjoyed the butterfly effect running across all of them on Vixen 3. It was quite nice. In vixen, I simply had the 15 fixtures grouped, and when the butterfly effect was put on the group it created a nice wave effect of color across all the different fixtures.
I've tried various things including creating shadow models in Xlights and can't quite seem to get it.
The DMX fixtures are setup in Xlights as DMX floodlights.
Thanks
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I solved the same issue by adding a second layer.
1. Within Sequencer, right-click on your DMX fixture.
2. Select 'Insert Layer Below'. You now have two layers for that device.
3. Add a DMX Effect for the sub-layer and set your NON-RGB channels appropriately for the length of time necessary.
4. Add your intended effect to the primary layer.
In my case, my channels are:
1. Red
2. Green
3. Blue
4. White
5. Strobe
6. Dimmer
So, my sub (second) layer DMX effect has Channel 5 at 42 (no strobe), and Channel 6 (full intensity) at 255 for the entirety of the sequence. Therefore, when I do any other effect (Color Wash, etc) that only touches Channels 1, 2 and 3 (or "and 4"), they light up appropriately.
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You need to create shadow models using single line that each map to the colour channels of the fixtures then put them in a group and drop your effect on that group.
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When you say Single Line... are saying I should create the models using the Create New single Line tool or rather the Default Layout Mode of the "Single Line" of the Model Group?
If there's anyway you have give me steps to this process I'd love to give it a go.
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Create single line model with one node only.
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Right. I set the fixtures up that way previously and it worked as desired (for example I could put a butterfly effect on the group)...
but I do not see how to ALSO keep full control of the fixtures when I'm sequencing them individually (such as using a strobe effect on a single light)
When I set them up as single channel there only seems to be RGB control because it's 3 channel only. And actually in my case the first 3 channels are dimmer, Red, Green.
If creating a single line shadow model on top of the DMX model is what you are suggesting-- how do I do that?
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You create both models and set their start channels so both models occupy overlapping channels. Maybe you should pop into zoom and someone can show you or do it for you.
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Ok I got it. Pretty basic concept of mirroring just the RGB channels. Perhaps I was overthinking it.
Thanks for your help!
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Hello I've created shadow models for each of the 15 DMX floods. I've overlapped the channels of each of the shadow models to channels 2, 3, and 4 of each DMX fixture. In my case, I used universe number, so the start channel of my first shadow model is #192.168.60:10:2
I moved all the shadow models into a new Preview called RGB Shadow Models. In that preview, I've grouped the 15 fixtures and set the Layout Mode to Single line.
In sequencer, I added a butterfly effect to the group and it works as expected in the preview, but not on the actual lights. I wondered if this was due to channel 1 on my fixtures (which is dimmer) being off. To test this, I imported a few of my DMX fixtures (non-shadows) into the sequence, added a DMX effect, and slid the Dimmer control to 255. Still no dice. Wondering what I'm missing?
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I did some more testing and if I start the shadow models at the same start channels as the DMX models, the red and green channels work. So it seems that the 3 channels the shadow model is sending commands for are (Dimmer, Red, and Green)
In Keith's video, he starts his shadow model on channel 02, capturing Red, Green, and Blue.
Is there a trick to making that work?
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You shouldn't need shadow models. If the group is set to Single Line and the Render Style as Per Model xLights can figure out what channels it needs to map the colors to. I did a video on this a while back where I had a group of DMX light fixtures in a group so unless something changed in the code that should still work.
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Thanks Gilrock. Is there a link to that video?
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That method works for some effect (but not entirely as expected) but not for others like Butterfly.
Using the shadow model method works with all effects -- I just wish I could get Blue working! (the shadow models seem to be firing the first 3 channels-- Dimmer, Red, Green.
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Well then you have the shadow models mapped to the wrong start channels. And regarding the first statement Butterfly should be no different than other effects in regards to how color is mapped to a pixel. Package a sample sequence that has a few effects showing it not working.
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Understood, but when I map the shadow models to RGB, they do not turn on (dimmer is evidently at zero)
Is there a workaround for this?
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You post no files you get no help.
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There may be a better way, but I made a 2nd (single channel) shadow model for each fixture and send a simple On command them them to flick the lights on and use the other shadow models to control RGB.
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Can you please just do a Tools -> Package Log Files and post that zip file so I can get your setup to play with the various options? A bonus would be to post a sample sequence which you can do with Tools -> Package Sequence.
I'd rather not have everyone thinking they need shadow models if its not necessary. I need to see how you have your DMX models setup. If you don't want to show your secret layout then create a copy in a new show folder and delete everything but the DMX models and post that.
From your last couple replies it sounds like you defined a "Shutter" channel. If you leave that at 0 it will respond to the RGB channels on screen. If you really have a dimmer or shutter channel then yes you need to control it we don't automatically twiddle that channel based on RGB channel inputs.
Finally when you talk about how the models respond please be clear whether you mean on screen in the GUI or whether you are referring to the real lights.
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Ok I got home and tested this. It worked as I expected. I created 5 of Keiths new General DMX Models with 8 channels each and I defined Red to channel 2, Green to channel 3, and Blue to channel 4. I then created a group and added all 5 models to the group. I changed the "Default Layout Mode" for the group to "Single Line". Then I created a sequence and dropped a few different effects on the group. For every effect you need to change the "Render Style" to "Per Model Default". This create the correct type of render buffer for group effects to work on DMX models. The Butterfly effect works as well but what you will see is every DMX model is red because the first pixel in the Butterfly effect is always red. It does not treat the models as if they are in a single line of pixels it treats each model as if its the first pixel. So it can work this way but maybe shadow models give you better behavior. Just wanted to close the loop on this.