Saving a converted file

[dwetzel]

I have converted a lms file with 4 circles into xlights. I can play the sequence and see the data in the house preview but when I click save or render all the data disappears, and no preview. Can anyone help? This is a file I purchased from Brian last year and he converted from sup to lms for me. I ran it with LOR last year as DMX through a FPD and F16. It looks right in preview but won't save.

[Gilrock]

Which steps did you follow to bring the file to xLights?  Did you convert to an XSEQ or FSEQ file format and open that?  Did you bring it in as a data layer?  What is your render mode under the Settings menu?  If you aren't using a data layer then you need that set to Canvas mode which means it never deletes the data in the FSEQ when it renders new data.  I'd rather see you import the file as a data layer because ultimately you will be back here asking why you deleted an effect and it's still showing up in your data because that's how Canvas mode works.  When you drop an effect its like painting on a canvas.  The only way to erase it is to drop another effect over top of it...i.e. paint over it.  If you use erase mode we clear out the fseq file every time we render so if you convert to that format then we erase the data in that mode.

[dwetzel]

I made the models to match the lms file and saved. Went to Sequencer tab and opened new, selected musical sequence, selected 50ms timing. Opened the mp3 file in Audacity and made a timing file (label 50ms) and saved the file. Back to xlights imported timing file and added models. Went to Convert tab selected lms file with output as fseq. Checked all channels off at end, map empty lms channels, and map lms channels with no network. Selected Start Convert, when file was done went to Sequencer tab, verified data was there. Saved the file and specified file name, and data disappears. I am probably doing the hard way and missing something. I'm not sure what you mean by data layer, so that is probable one of the problems.

[Gilrock]

Ok thanks so I know what process you are using.  So what's happening is by default the render setting is set to Erase mode so it erases the fseq data before every render.  You can use the process you are doing if you want but you need to switch that setting to Settings -> Render Mode ->  Canvas Mode.

But if you are planning on sequencing inside xLights instead of just playing your imported data I would recommend bringing it in as a data layer.  Instead of doing the convert create your sequence and everything like you did then goto Settings -> Sequence Settings.  Then click the Data Layers tab.  Click Import button.  Make sure filetype is set to .lms.  Select your lms file.  Wait until the lines that say <waiting for conversion> change to values.  You can also see some status happening in the lower left corner.  Then after that completes do a Save.  Then play your sequence.  If it doesn't show the data hit the Green Gear icon that does a Render All operation then try to play again.  Let me know if you need more help.

[dwetzel]

I followed your way and it works perfectly. Thanks for the help, I love this program and all those giving of their precious time to work on it. What an awesome group.

[Gilrock]

Nice.   So the cool thing about that method is if you update the .lms file you can just goto the Data Layer tab select that layer and hit the ReImport button.  Assuming you don't rename or move the file we keep track of the original location to make it easy to reimport.

[gerry]

Hello Gil,

Slightly off topic , but on the data layer import , it appears that you can have more than 'one data layer' because there is a Move up/down . What is the purpose / implication of doing this ie in what circumstances would you import more than one item and then how would the (hierarchical) sequence apply ?
 

[danj]

I was having problems with one of my files converted from LOR-setting up all the channels in xlights so I could do all my sequencing in xlights--it's like the info did not convert from LOR.   So I checked all my channel info in xlights compared to info in LOR (all good) to make sure, then re-imported, re-loaded the mapped channels, re-rendered and re-saved, then all is good on the mini visualizer in the sequencer and on the visualizer on the layout tab.    But...  I am not seeing any of the sequence info in the sequencer matrix itself for these elements.   Probably missing one simple step somewhere.   In case it matters, I have an "arches" model and  six separate arches (arch01-arch06), which share the same channels....  I couldn't post my sequence xml because it is 28,000 kB.

[Gilrock]

Hello Gil,

Slightly off topic , but on the data layer import , it appears that you can have more than 'one data layer' because there is a Move up/down . What is the purpose / implication of doing this ie in what circumstances would you import more than one item and then how would the (hierarchical) sequence apply ?

Well I import data layers that only applies to one model like my 12 ribbon tree.  So there may be times when you want to import multiple layers and they will overlay just like effects do.  It's standard for the layers to be rendered bottom to top.  When you import data into a data layer it gets saved into an iseq file.  You can even point to that file for importing into another data layer.  So I've imported data on my ribbon tree and then imported the iseq file that import created and then used a channel offset to throw the second data layer over onto another tree.  People are only beginning to scratch the surface with the power we've put into xLights.

[Gilrock]

I was having problems with one of my files converted from LOR-setting up all the channels in xlights so I could do all my sequencing in xlights--it's like the info did not convert from LOR.   So I checked all my channel info in xlights compared to info in LOR (all good) to make sure, then re-imported, re-loaded the mapped channels, re-rendered and re-saved, then all is good on the mini visualizer in the sequencer and on the visualizer on the layout tab.    But...  I am not seeing any of the sequence info in the sequencer matrix itself for these elements.   Probably missing one simple step somewhere.   In case it matters, I have an "arches" model and  six separate arches (arch01-arch06), which share the same channels....  I couldn't post my sequence xml because it is 28,000 kB.

Did you double-click the model's row title to reveal the strands and then the nodes?  The imported effects for LOR are placed at the node level...not the model level.

[danj]

I knew I was missing something EASY.  I'll do that when I get home.   thanks Gil.   Arrgh.....