Can't Get Window Frame Horizontal and Vertical Correct

[mgd377]

Hello there and thanks for reading this!  I cannot seem to get effects (butterfly, galaxy, etc) to actually display on my physical model the way they are previewed in XLights.  The effects look perfect on my 'Model Preview' and 'House Preview' windows in XLights, but when I export them to FPP and play them, they are out of sync and disconnected with each other. 

In trying to isolate the problem I picked one element, a window frame in my display, and tried to get the 'Bars' effect to work.  I cannot get the bars effect to sweep to the right or sweep from the top to the bottom (see EffectSettings image).  Again, everything works fine the 'Model Preview' and 'House Preview' windows, but doesn't work on the physical display.  I tried setting the 'Rotation' property in the 'Size/Location' pane of the 'Layout', as well as adjusting the 'Starting Location' of the 'Layout' (see WindowFrameLayout image).  All combinations of these yield to one effect (right to left or top to bottom) working, but not both. 

I've got to be missing something simple, but what is it?

[Ebuechner]

Try redrawing your window frame with a poly line following how you have your physical window wired.
I don't know if it's ever been fixed but the window frame model doesn't always render correctly.

[Phrog30]

I use the window model, never noticed a problem. If you test single nodes do they line up? Meaning what you see in preview and physical lights are the same. I like to test with single nodes to make sure my mapping in xlights and real life are the same.

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[Ebuechner]

One problem I had with the window model that I can remember was while dropping effects to get a clockwise rotation on things the window models would run counterclockwise.
Gil was pushing the polyline so I tried it out and I haven't thought about it much until now.
But back to the OP original problem, it sounds like to us that your model does not match your physical layout, you can try (like suggested) testing one pixel at a time to figure it out.
You also mentioned that this is happening through fpp, have you tried testing directly from the computer?

[Gilrock]

If the model preview is perfect then you have a mismatch between your xLights setup and physical setup.  Show a drawing of how the pixels are physically wired then show screenshots of the controller setup, xlights networks, and model properties for that window.

[mgd377]

Thanks for the ideas! 

Ebuechner:  I tried a poly line setup and it didn't make a difference in the behavior.

Phrog30:  For the physical node test, I used the FPP 'Display Testing' functionality to isolate individual nodes using 'Start Channel' and 'End Channel'.  A few spot checks displayed as expected.  Is that how you mean to check it?

GilRock:  Please see the attached requested images.  My crude labeling in 'Model.png' is trying to show that the data flows from the bottom right (point A), up to top right (point B), over to top left (point C), down to bottom left (point D), and back over to the bottom right (point A).  Do you need anything else?

[Phrog30]

Personally, I would test with xlights before I test from fpp, but yes picking the first and last node is a good test. I generally test several in a string just for giggles.

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[Ebuechner]

One of the problems with the window model is it will only allow you to go clockwise. If your physical model is wired counterclockwise it won't match.
Right click your model in the layout then select node layout and you'll see what I mean.

[Gilrock]

Yes we don't currently support counter-clockwise on the Window model.  PolyLine should have worked.  Did you actually draw the PolyLine counter-clockwise starting from the same corner it's physically wired from?  And if you say yes...then my response is double-check it again.

[mgd377]

Thanks again for all the help! 

I tried to draw a poly line with the specifications shown (Poly.png).  I know this is probably a dumb question, but I can't seem to get the 'Bars' effect to open from top to bottom or left to right in the preview.  It just switches the entire polyline between the colors.  I tried adjust the 'Indiv Segments' and 'Indiv Start Chans' but the model still previews in XLights as the entire model being one color or the other.

[Gilrock]

So what render style are you using for the effect?  Try changing it around.  It will have options like "Per Preview" and "Default".

[mgd377]

Cool!  Thanks GilRock!  The 'render style' made the difference.