Converting LOR AC arches to Pixel arches

[Greg.Ca]

I have been very successful building and adding new pixel 'elements' to my light show for a couple of years now. I have both a large mega tree 60 strand X 150 pixels and a 56 X 96 matrix. All controlled by Xlights/nutcracker. I never had to convert these new pixel elements over as both the megatree and matrix were 'new' pixel elements and LOR NEVER had anything to do with their operation.

But I have been seriously considering converting my conventional AC arches that I have had for years that are conventional AC led's  on standard LOR channels. (See photo attachment) I have two large 'mega arches' that have 16 channels and three colors for a total of 48 LOR channels each. In addition I have four smaller arches that have 8 channels and three colors each for a total of 24 channels each.

I can figure out how to electrically convert, change and re-build them into pixels but I haven't a clue as to how to do it in the LOR software or even where to start. The software has already been written in S3 to make my conventional arches work. They actually work very well.

 In my LOR S3 software I only have standard AC lights. No pixels at all. Do I use somehow the existing LOR software to operate the new pixel arches? I'm completely lost as to the approach I would use.  I haven't a clue as to how I would let S3 LOR manage or control these new arch pixels. All of my pixels elements I have been used in the past have been exclusively controlled by nutcracker/Xlights.

How do I change my thinking so that LOR can control these pixel arches or do I abandon that idea and try to figure out a way to let nutcracker/Xlights control these newly converted pixel arches and just let LOR S3  only work controlling the AC lights and start programming the newly converted pixel arches in nutcracker?

Not sure how to go about converting my very cool arches to even cooler pixel arches. What approach do I take from moving my arches from AC controlled LOR LED's to DC controlled pixels?  Should I continue to use the timing in the S3 grid which already works perfect in all of my songs or do I abandon all of the S3 timing and start over and program the new pixel arches in nutcracker software?

 In my head I know that the arch movement timing has already been done in LOR S3 years ago. I'm reluctant to abandon the programming work that has already been done in S3. I don't really want to start over and have to re-program all these arches again but if that is the concenses, then I  guess I better start.
 
What are the steps I need to do to convert my LOR controlled AC led's on the current arches to newer pixel arches?

--Greg--

[Greg.Ca]

I have been very successful building and adding new pixel 'elements' to my light show for a couple of years now. I have both a large mega tree 60 strand X 150 pixels and a 56 X 96 matrix. All controlled by Xlights/nutcracker. I never had to convert these new pixel elements over as both the megatree and matrix were 'new' pixel elements and LOR NEVER had anything to do with their operation.

But I have been seriously considering converting my conventional AC arches that I have had for years that are conventional AC led's  on standard LOR channels. (See photo attachment) I have two large 'mega arches' that have 16 channels and three colors for a total of 48 LOR channels each. In addition I have four smaller arches that have 8 channels and three colors each for a total of 24 channels each.

I can figure out how to electrically convert, change and re-build them into pixels but I haven't a clue as to how to do it in the LOR software or even where to start. The software has already been written in S3 to make my conventional arches work. They actually work very well.

 In my LOR S3 software I only have standard AC lights. No pixels at all. Do I use somehow the existing LOR software to operate the new pixel arches? I'm completely lost as to the approach I would use.  I haven't a clue as to how I would let S3 LOR manage or control these new arch pixels. All of my pixels elements I have been used in the past have been exclusively controlled by nutcracker/Xlights.

How do I change my thinking so that LOR can control these pixel arches or do I abandon that idea and try to figure out a way to let nutcracker/Xlights control these newly converted pixel arches and just let LOR S3  only work controlling the AC lights and start programming the newly converted pixel arches in nutcracker?

Not sure how to go about converting my very cool arches to even cooler pixel arches. What approach do I take from moving my arches from AC controlled LOR LED's to DC controlled pixels?  Should I continue to use the timing in the S3 grid which already works perfect in all of my songs or do I abandon all of the S3 timing and start over and program the new pixel arches in nutcracker software?

 In my head I know that the arch movement timing has already been done in LOR S3 years ago. I'm reluctant to abandon the programming work that has already been done in S3. I don't really want to start over and have to re-program all these arches again but if that is the concenses, then I  guess I better start.
 
What are the steps I need to do to convert my LOR controlled AC led's on the current arches to newer pixel arches?

--Greg--

Oops, I forgot to add the photo. --Greg--

[jnealand]

I don't know about LOR hardware options, but if you were using Falcon F16 or F8 controllers you could use a grouping function to group the pixels into 16 pixel sections by dividing your total pixel count by 16 and call that your group size.  You can then turn on a group with one channel just like you do with your current strings of lights.  And typically you would have 3 channels per group, ie, RGB.  So 16 groups by 3 channels each matches what you are doing now.  Eventually when you are ready yougo back to a grouping of 1 and using newer software, like nutcracker, you just let that software control each individual pixel.  You get much smoother chases when doing that but you are doing more in the software because not you are controlling way more channels, but it is easier to do since the software takes care of it.  I've gone from 8 channel 1 color arches to 48 pixel arches with no grouping and it was easy using nutcracker.

[msiebri]

Greg,

You live here in the Denver area, don't you?  If you want to come take a look at my arches, I'd be happy to show you my setup.  I have run pixel strips inside arches of HDPE tubing (24 arches total) for the last 2 seasons, all in LOR (although hopefully for the last time).  The physical setup/takedown is far easier than AC channel arches, and I really like the look of them.  Getting them configured in LOR can be tedious, but it can definitely be done if you want to stick with LOR.

If it was me, I would update the arch elements of the existing sequences to take advantage of the higher channel count, you get much smoother effects like jnealand said.

I can even send you my sequences to use as a starting point for them if you want.

I'm going to wait for XL4 to come out before starting to pursue my conversion from LOR to XL/NC...

Martin

[Greg.Ca]

Yes, I live in the Denver area. (Highlands Ranch) I would like to see your arches and possibly see how you built them. Send me a PM so we can get together.

It's not the construction that I'm concerned with, it is what software package that will operate them. I'm very comfortable with LOR controlling AC lights and also very comfortable with nutcracker controlling pixels. I'm not sure if I want to change to let nutcracker control these pixels.

I want these new arches to be in exactly in sync with the music as they currently are and I'm not totally convinced that nutcracker can do that yet. I just don't know. My current LOR arches 'sway' perfectly back & forth with the pitch and beat of the music and really gives the feeling that people want to dance to the music. It really rocks since my arches are so large.

Because of perfect synchronization of the 'swaying' back & forth I'm inclined to let LOR manage these new arch pixels and just import the lor file into nutcracker and let nutcracker 'run the show'. Not sure where I'm going with this yet. I have to be convinced to either stay with LOR running the pixels or start new with nutcracker managing the movement of the arch pixels. I don't know how to let LOR manage pixels. I do have the advanced license for LOR but it seems like a big mess I'm getting into.

I'm very comfortable with nutcracker hardware & software. I love playing with it. It's easier than LOR but LOR is more 'detailed' and that's why my arches are in perfect synchronization with the music.

Can I use nutcracker and have my new pixel arches stay in perfect synchronization with the music as they sway back & forth with the music?

 Up to this point I've only used nutcracker to operate a rectangular matrix, a megatree (still a megatree is actually a matrix) and a 5 sided tree topper star with 1100 pixels. (see attached photos)  I've never experimented with nutcracker controlling a pixel arch. Don't know what it's potential is for controlling arch pixels.

--Thanks for responding. --Greg--

[1983ss454]

This is what I did this past season, not sure if it's the easiest way but it worked for me. In LOR I added my new RGB channels to the bottom of my sequence, then I created a new timing grid and went and marked where the beginning and ending of the movements were. Then I took the timing marks into superstar (don't have to do this, I just like using the program) and using my old existing marks remade the sequence in a short time. Can't really reuse your current programming as everything would be full on white all the time.

[Gilrock]

Pixels arches are really a completely different animal.  It's like taking a single strand of 50 leds that you controlled with 1 channel and replacing it with 50 rgb leds that are now controlled by 150 channels.  You wouldn't want to reuse the data from the single channel to run the 150 channels.  The good news is the Nutcracker effects give you an easy way to put some nice stuff on your pixels.  Also I have a new effect I'm planning to do which will work well on pixel arches.  I'm thinking of calling it Lasers.  But it will be similar to the morphs you can do in Superstar where you can have starting and ending head and tail colors.  Plus since you can have more than 2 effect layers in XL4 you will be able to stagger several of these effects on the layers just like you can do in Superstar.

[mikewlaymon]

I have LOR sequences with four 8 channel arches.  Here's what I did:

I used Bob-O's "Vegomatic" to generate the config files for 32 channels (8 channels each arch).  Merged the config file with the existing sequence. Then grouped the channels as desired.

I used Bob-O's RGB Converter (http://itsmebobo.com/SD.html) to copy/paste into the RGB channels in the sequence.

(This process only allows one color per channel when you copy - but you can go back and change colors as preferred)

I ran my arches off a Sandevices E6804 - set the config "Length Pixels" to 32 and "Group Size" to 3 (I had 24 pixels per arch).  You couldn't tell that the pixesl did not have individual control.

This was my quick & dirty solution for 2014 - plan to go full Nutcracker for 2015.