Messages

1

Xlights Setup / Re: [Marquee] How to specify order of models/pixels in a group?

« on: November 21, 2020, 12:13:23 AM »

With custom models you can put the nodes in any order and you can cut and paste from excel.

Keithsw1111, thank you again.  Creating custom models (one per distinct count of pixels for now) worked to allow the effects to smoothly play out in a single direction.   

Might not have found this before 2021 without your help, so thank you again for the pointer.

2

Xlights Setup / Re: [Marquee] How to specify order of models/pixels in a group?

« on: November 20, 2020, 05:11:25 PM »

Shadow models are just models mapped onto the same channels. With custom models you can put the nodes in any order and you can cut and paste from excel.

Awesome!  I will look for information on custom models in the docs.  Excel will make generating the sequences easy.  Thank you for the pointer ... I will dig into custom models to see if they'll work for me here.  Again, thanks for the helpful pointer.

3

Do You Need Help? Post it here / Re: 3D - Fails to load simple house model

« on: November 20, 2020, 04:51:03 PM »

I put the ability to show only the lines on the model so you can check that property to hide the textures if you need to "find" the handles.

Yes, I found that quite useful ... I can only use 3D with that option enabled, so thank you.

We don't try to calculate the perfect zoom for your model you can tweak it with a few iterations so that it imports as a nice size.

If you want to expand the user base, then please understand that this problem of model size was 100% blocking.  It was not something that I could figure out.  I've strong developer credentials, both in billions-of-copies operating systems, in IoT BSPs, and enabled FastLED to work with nRF52 devices.

Perhaps it was not clear ... I'm not suggesting to calculate a "perfect zoom" for the model ...  Not at all!  Rather, I'm suggesting that adding some basic limits to ensure the model is within the viewport when it's first imported, so that the user can adjust it manually.  (e.g., min 25%, max 95%)

Most people get too hung up on how the layout page works but in reality you just get your stuff laid out and then you go sequencing.

Doesn't the layout define (in a 2D plane, based on the view) how the effects are applied, especially across multiple models?  If so, then the layout DOES matter.

4

Xlights Setup / Re: Spinner wont spin :)

« on: November 20, 2020, 01:27:01 AM »

... When I test in the Xlights program only the first 4 lights work. ...

I am also somewhat new to xLights (less so to pixels).  However, I saw essentially the same issue when I had accidentally left my raspberry pi (running FPP) sending output to the pixels, and also had xLight set to "output to lights" (the last icon in main bar, by default).

I think that xLights and FPP were both sending data over wifi, just that one was sending an all-off signal slightly later than the first was sending the pattern.  Thus, a few lights went on, then flickered off, (repeat).

It may not be your issue, but worth checking.  Good luck!

5

Xlights Setup / Re: [Marquee] How to specify order of models/pixels in a group?

« on: November 20, 2020, 01:21:47 AM »

Short of playing with reverse options in the controller options on the strings which are causing you issues I dont think there is a way to do this with groups.

That's unfortunate, as ESPixelStick firmware doesn't appear to expose the ability to reverse the string in firmware.  Even if it exposed the option, I'm not entirely sure it has the extra CPU overhead to reverse the bytes.  Still I am grateful for the answer.

Have you considered building a shadow model which should work if you just want all the channels in order?

I would prefer as much processing occur on the PC during creation, so this sounds like a good possibility.  Can you help me understand how I'd setup the shadow model?  Is there a way to adjust the definition of the models directly?  Even if I have to write a macro to re-create the four models directly in XML and outside xLights, such that they will always be "backwards" (running {N, N-1, N-2, ... 1}), this would be OK.

Thanks again!

6

Xlights Setup / [Marquee] How to specify order of models/pixels in a group?

« on: November 18, 2020, 12:59:25 AM »

Can someone help me understand what configuration I need to change to get expected results?

The lights and models are all setup, and test correctly.  But, when grouped, having trouble getting marquee effect to work across the group correctly.

Simplified setup for question:

Imagine a roofline split into four adjacent 50-pixel lines.

• L2 is the far left model
• L1 is center-left model
• R1 is center-right model
• R2 is on the far right model
• Controller LC controls L1 & L2 (in that order, single output)
• Controller RC controls R1 & R2 (in that order, single output)
• Controller LC is universe 1, channels 1-300.
• Controller RC is universe 2, channels 1-300.
• Group "roofline" contains all four groups

In other words, the controllers are in the center, each controlling a single output of 100 pixels, which is split into multiple models each (the roofline has gaps).

I can get the "Marquee" effect to mostly work as expected, by setting the render mode to "single strand mode" for the group (or explicitly on the effect instance).  The colors lights chase at the specified size, etc. and smoothly transition between models L1 & L2, and between models R1 & R2.

The only trouble is, the illusion of movement is either converging on the controllers, or starting at the controllers.  Essentially, "single strand" mode results in ordering of U1 channels 1-300, followed by U2 channels 1-300.

However, the expectation / desired result is a single seamless marquee effect; Essentially, I want the group to be defined as U1 channels 300 decreasing to channel 1, followed by U2 channels 1..300.

I can specify the order of the models in the group, but without the ability to reverse the order of one controller's pixels (in single strand rendering), just ordering the models makes the problem worse.

I would think this would be simple, but am having trouble finding the right configuration options.  I can't easily change the physical layout of the pixels, but am happy to reconfigure the models / groups as needed.

Can you help me understand my options here?

(happy to provide additional info, examples, pictures, etc. ... please just ask)

Thanks!

7

Do You Need Help? Post it here / Re: On download "xLights64_2020_46.exe was blocked because it could harm your device

« on: November 16, 2020, 01:34:51 PM »

Sure, when you've never experienced the need for anti-malware, it all seems like an annoyance.  Similarly, once you've experienced the pain and frustration of malware, and the time it takes to rebuild, then suddenly security becomes important.

xLights HAS a solution to making the releases trustable ... and it's a well understood process.  Releases must be digitally signed, to provide a digital identity for the software and provide evidence that the software is what the author intended to provide.  This also allows some level of trust to "carry over" between versions, because it's tied to the same identity.  The digital signature also provides users with the ability to know that the software hasn't been changed since it was signed (including after download), which provides additional protection.  Digital signing of releases is a strong indication of a software's maturity.

I do wish that the process of securely signing software (both the binaries and the installers) was much easier, and especially wish that popular open-source programs had available a way to digitally size at zero/low cost.

8

Do You Need Help? Post it here / Re: 3D - Fails to load simple house model

« on: November 16, 2020, 01:14:36 PM »

Thanks keithsw1111, your insight provided the starting point that I needed.

The dimensions were true approximate dimensions when I generated the model.  There's definitely some rough edges on the 3d modeling.  I'll just list a few, in case others hit this type of issue:

• xLights doesn't impose an upper size limit when first importing a model.  Models that are "too large" appear not to exist, because camera is fully inside the model (in most 3d models, faces are only visible from outside).
• Models will often hide the scale/translate/rotate handles.  Some update to improve the ability to always see these would help usability.
• The 3D rendering "loses" objects when zooming out.  Even the handles disappear.  Reset of the view restores them, but also resets the zoom.
• There doesn't seem to be any ability to "snap" to existing vertices of models, when moving lights around.

Even so, I was able to rescale the model in Fusion360, which unblocked me and let me migrate my models to 3D.  YAY!  Thanks, keithsw111, for taking the time to look, and pointing me in the right direction!

9

Lights / Re: Help Making First Pixel Purchase

« on: November 15, 2020, 04:11:56 PM »

I agree with the prior two answers.  Here's some of what I've learned:

• Pay for 18AWG.
• Consider buying the pixels strands with the exact count you require, and with connectors pre-attached.  While this means you have to plan out your design ahead-of-time, it can save you hours of work, and you get something that you know will stay waterproof.
• Fuses save time, money, and frustration.
• Power injection can be tricky to fuse correctly.
• Using more than one power supply is hard to do correctly (e.g., diodes + fuses needed?).  Thus, design to single power supply.
• Try to design to <= 50 pixel strands for 5V, <= 100 pixel strands for 12V.  100 pixels is already ~6A, so ensure your controller can drive that much per port.
• Plan for different connectors for your 12V and 5V pixels ... just avoid the cross-voltage destruction by making it incompatible

In other words, design the props you want first, then buy.  I didn't do this, and have paid the price in many hours of ... learning.

10

Do You Need Help? Post it here / Re: 3D - Fails to load simple house model

« on: November 15, 2020, 03:27:27 PM »

Installed .47, and 3D display is worse (not even entire default gridlines appear to draw correctly).

I've supplied the models.  Can someone at least try to load one, to see if it's local to my machine, or reproduces on other machines?

11

Do You Need Help? Post it here / Re: On download "xLights64_2020_46.exe was blocked because it could harm your device

« on: November 14, 2020, 11:32:58 PM »

I hit this also.  I went ahead and actually submitted (for an earlier version) the file for analysis to Microsoft, and they indicated that particular one I uploaded had no known virus/etc. 

However, this problem will continue to occur with each and every release, until the release binaries are digitally signed.

For now, I download xLights (bypassing these warnings), but leave the file alone for a few weeks, before running it through an online virus scanners a few weeks later.

I really hope adding digitally signed releases is on on the xLight roadmap.

12

Do You Need Help? Post it here / 3D - Fails to load simple house model

« on: November 14, 2020, 11:07:13 PM »

Can someone help figure out what's wrong with this (very, very simple) OBJ?
I can't get it to load in xLights in the 3D model view.  It's intended to be very loose approximation of a two-story house front, to help align other models in 3D.

Thanks!


Issue:
xLights fails to import a OBJ in 3d Model view

Steps to Repro:
1. Install and launch v2020.26 (64-bit)
2. Goto Layout tab, enable "3D" checkbox
3. Click the orange "ADD OBJ" box, choose "Mesh"
4. Select the attached .OBJ file

Expected:
The model of the house loads

Actual Behavior:
No model loads



STL file is the original file, generated using Fusion360.
the STL was converted to OBJ using Windows 10's "3D Builder" app.