Layering Model Group and Element Effects

[PaulB]

First of all, thanks for all the support provided by this group.   I'm coming up the learning curve pretty quickly. 

It seems that expanding a model group in the sequencer allows you to place effects on the elements.  However, there doesn't seem to be any layer blending occuring when you expand the groups down to the elements, or when applying effects to multiple groups.

I have a circular arrangement of several arches.  I have them in multiple model groups.  One is the front view (all of them side-by side in a line).  One is the top view (almost circular).

Should I be able to blend effects by applying them to the same elements across multiple model groups that represent the same channels, or by applying to both the model group and the group's elements?

As an example: suppose I want to have 5 arches doing 5 different spirals and I want to simultaneously apply an effect to all 5 as a group (say, a narrow spiral).   Is there any way to do this without creatively applying the additional effect to each element (5 times)?

[Gilrock]

Blending only occurs at the model level with multiple layers on a model.  We render the grid from Top to Bottom based on the order of the models in the Master View which is the order local to that sequence.  Use the Display Elements dialog to rearrange the render order.  So if a model is in several groups it will end up with the last thing rendered as we go down the grid.  That's why you normally have groups on top and individual models on bottom when it comes to arranging render order.  Don't worry about the display order when a groups is expanded because that doesn't matter.  Its the model list order in the Master view.

[PaulB]

Understood.  I guess that my question is if there is a way to have layering within the sequencer when one effect needs to be applied to a group of elements, and other effects need to be applied to individual elements?

Another example might be applying a spiral across the entire display (maybe at 50% brightness) while the rest of the display continues whatever it happens to be doing.

[Phrog30]

I think that would be confusing because then we would need an indicator showing us that layers existed. Without that you would have to drill down to see what's there. Most of the time you can accomplish what you need just by better planning. But in the example you provided, I think applying the effects individually is the only option, at least that's what I've had to do.

James

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[dkulp]

Understood.  I guess that my question is if there is a way to have layering within the sequencer when one effect needs to be applied to a group of elements, and other effects need to be applied to individual elements?

Another example might be applying a spiral across the entire display (maybe at 50% brightness) while the rest of the display continues whatever it happens to be doing.

This is actually something I wanted to tackle at some point.   If the layering option on the bottom most layer of a model allows for blending (Normal, etc...) then it technically could blend into whatever is already there.  If a whole house model already rendered some data there, we could render the model on top of that.   That's really not a lot of work to do.

What IS a big issue is what to do about existing sequences.  Every sequence created with xLight 4.x, by default, would have the blending on those bottom effects set to Normal.   In the current code, that is ignored as there isn't a layer below it to blend onto.  However, with the change, it would start having something to blend into and existing sequences would be "broken".    We COULD go through and try and detect all the bottom effects and switch them to "Effect 1", but that isn't really reliable either as it could overlap another effect where normal would be needed.   We could just add another layer to all models and stick a bit long "Off" effect.  Could add a checkbox like "Canvas Mode" which we could default to "On" except when loading old sequences where we update all effects to Off.   Several options, but all have drawbacks.

[Phrog30]

Could it be an option that is off by default and users turned it on?

Oops, you already mentioned that, guess I skipped over that part.

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