Messages

1

Do You Need Help? Post it here / Re: Is there a way to sequence DMX RGBW RGB+CW+WW 4/5 in 1 chips?

« on: December 13, 2021, 08:19:18 AM »

That picture cleared up perfectly what I wasn't understanding. Thank you. Unfortunately, I don't think that will quite work for what I want to do. I'm hoping to find pixels that are RGBW, and be able to put them in series like regular RGB pixels. I don't want to have a bunch of the DMX decoder boxes floating all over the display to get the strands to work... I'm thinking I might need to ask over at the Falcon forums and see how to utilize 4 channel modes - I see some 4 channel pixels listed on the support pixel types page, but don't see them in my list to select from, so I'm thinking this is very much turning into more of a Falcon question than an xLights question.

I really appreciate the insight you've put here, though!

2

Do You Need Help? Post it here / Re: Is there a way to sequence DMX RGBW RGB+CW+WW 4/5 in 1 chips?

« on: December 12, 2021, 11:40:20 AM »

@jerrywolfer - Thanks so much for the clear Layout info. That part makes a lot of sense, I guess my question wasn't very good. Let me attempt a rephrase:

From the F48 output, what device are you using to convert the DMX output off the differential port into a usable signal for the lights? Everything I've seen on Falcon guidelines is that they're very much setup for 3 channel mode, so I'm assuming there's some other hardware in play to convert the DMX into the RGBW 12V/5V signal that the light strand needs, right?

3

Do You Need Help? Post it here / Re: Is there a way to sequence DMX RGBW RGB+CW+WW 4/5 in 1 chips?

« on: December 12, 2021, 08:55:43 AM »

My plan is to use xLights and F48 DMX output to 12 each DMX string decoders that either do 4 or 5 in 1 chips.

First off - I realize this thread is very old, but it is the only one I've found through searching where someone has an actual plan for implementing RGBW strings. This is the first Christmas I've actually used pixels, and one of the frustrations for me is trying to get a good white. I use RGBW LED fixtures at work all the time, and can get a really nice looking white from them, but without that extra W channel, it doesn't come out right. Xlights supports RGBW, but my Falcon F16V3 seemingly only has the option for 3 channel RGB in various orders. What DMX string decoder are you using to get to the 4 in 1 chips? I've got the 3 expansion ports on board that can drive various DMX fixtures, and that might be just the ticket for the areas I want true white.

Thanks in advance, and I hope you're still floating around!

4

Do You Need Help? Post it here / Re: Help wanted setting basic scene with randomized overlays in xschedule/xlights

« on: November 29, 2021, 01:23:11 AM »

I had watched a video on YouTube about how the background playlist layers after the others, but as best I can tell it would only give me one effect at a time randomly selected from that list. Unless there's a way of calling two of the sequences simultaneously that I'm missing.

I guess I could just program the overlays as PSEQ files that are channel limited so they don't mess with everything else and do a variety of shorter interest pieces that way. I'll have to look into whether the channel limits can be comma separated, as my snowflakes are on sequential channels, and if I only want to do an effect on the 1st and 3rd flake while leaving the 2nd on the basic look, for instance, a channel block would wipe it out.

Thanks for the hint, I'll play with that a bit. Might be just the ticket.

5

Do You Need Help? Post it here / Help wanted setting basic scene with randomized overlays in xschedule/xlights

« on: November 27, 2021, 02:20:44 PM »

Hello,

I'm fairly new to the world of Pixels and xlights, etc, but I come from the world of pro audio and lighting where I'm quite familiar with DMX, light shows, power distribution, etc. I'm comfortable with Linux (Debian stable is my flavor of choice), and PC systems. I can use a Mac if you make me, but I'm not a fan of their "do it our way or don't do it at all" mentality.

My display for this first year with pixels is fairly limited in scope for a variety of reasons, but mostly I'm not wanting to invest a lot of time programming specific stuff for this house because I know I'm moving before next Christmas.

I have 4 3D printed snowflakes in the upstairs windows, and pixels lining the grapevines the landlord has arranged on the front of the home. I have setup a basic scene in xlights (snowflakes appearing to glimmer, colors walking slowly along the vines) that I would like to randomly overlay one or more of the snowflakes switching into a falling snow type effect, and/or the vines switching into a faster/possibly more colorful effect.

Currently, I have also added a second PSEQ scene with a second different look, and I have 3 of each in my xschedule playlist set to shuffle. It's ok, but it's not quite what I was looking for.

I tried creating a PSEQ with my desired "background look" for lack of a better term, then creating a variety of ESEQ's for the various models that could be called to overlay interest on the somewhat static backdrop. I could see that the ESEQ overlay being called was doing something, but I haven't found any description of the blend mode settings anywhere online, and I think I'm setting those or the priority settings wrong maybe?

My default sequences are all 1 minute long just for convenience, but I'd like to be able to trigger another randomized ESEQ before the first ESEQ overlay has finished to provide an interesting collection of things I've programmed that I like the look of happening on my display without having to write a really long PSEQ in xlights with every step pre-scripted.

If any of this doesn't make sense, please don't hesitate to ask for clarification. I've spent most of the day searching, and finally decided to actually register for the forum and see if asking would bring out any experts to shed light on it. Thanks in advance,
Caleb