Universe shared for multiple models

[laserman]

OK, so I have been beating my head against the wall for many hours and am getting nowhere fast.  Rather than tell you what I have done and ask why it is not working, I am simply going to ask for an explanation as to how to do it.

I have 8 Gilbert Engineering Flake B 186 snowflakes (each with 186 nodes). I am controlling them, and other props, with three Falcon F16V3 controllers.  With 186 nodes each, I need one universe (170 channels) plus 16 channels from another universe for each snowflake.  Due to the layout of my show and the availability of channels, the second universe needs to be shared for multiple models.  For example, for one of the second, shared universes, 16 channels go to one snowflake, 64 channels go to one side of my garage perimeter strip, 74 channels go to a different vertical strip, and the last 16 channels go to another snowflake.

So how do I do that?  How do I use 1 full universe and a part of another universe for one prop? How do I select channels in the middle of a universe for another prop?  For the 16 channels at the beginning and end of the universe that is shared for four models, the universes before and after will be the 170 node portions of the two snowflakes.

One last thing, using the methods I have tried so far, when I apply an effect to a snowflake, portions of the shared string (beyond the 16 channels that are supposed to be part of the snowflake) come on as if they are part of the snowflake model.

[keithsw1111]

Sounds like you are massively over complicating it. Just start the first snowflake on your first universe and chain them from there. They don’t have to start on a new universe.

[laserman]

Thanks for the response Keith.  First of all, even though I have been trying feverishly to learn, I still need to be considered a newbie.  Last year was my first year and all I did was a 32 string, 150 nodes/string Megatree.  In other words, one, straight-forward model. It turned out awesome by the way. This year I am adding extensively to my show and have numerous models spread all over the front of my house so this is my first experience with multiple models.

Returning to my current problem, let me ask my question a little differently since I have multiple issues going on.  All of my snowflakes are behaving similarly so I may have a model problem (remember this was a custom model imported from Gilbert Engineering.).  Each snowflake starts on one output (e.g., output 11 and universe 62), uses all 510 channels (170 nodes), and then continues to the next output (e.g., output 12 and universe 63) and is supposed to use the first 15 nodes of that universe. I use some of the other channels of the second output/universe (12, 63) for another model.   When I look at the channel assignments X-lights has made in the Layout tab for the snowflake, it has correctly allocated the first 45 channels (15 nodes) of output 12 to the snowflake.

When I click on the model in the Layout view, the snowflake lights up perfectly.  However, when I run the model in the sequencer, the first 10 nodes of the next model also light up when I apply an effect to the snowflake.  This same behavior is exhibited in the other snowflakes but there are some additional variations on a couple of them that I won’t go into now.  One problem at a time.

Any idea as to what is going on?  If I can solve this problem it may pave the way for resolving the other related issues.  Thanks in advance.

[keithsw1111]

So the problems are visible on the screen when you play it in xlights. By the sound of it you have overlapping models ... run check sequence as it will tell you where they are.

Are you planning on using xlights to upload config to the controller? If so I repeat ... set the first model to the first channel of the first universe and chain from there. If you must set the first model on each port to the first channel of a new universe but wherever you chain models physically also chain their start channels in xlights.

If this still doesnt make sense to you try jumping onto zoom as there are guys there that can show you where you are going wrong.

If you dont want to do that then you need to start posting files so we can see just how much of a mess your config is.