Effects Gallery

[Steve Gase]

I have several sequences where I have used nice looking tree effects, and have been interested in collecting them in one place for later re-use.

I decided to create a Perl script that grabs all existing effects from the xml files and places them together in one new file. 

It removes duplicates, and takes ALL effects -- whether they were SingleStrand used for arches, or more complicated effects.  and applies them all onto a single model.  When you load this file into your environment you can choose any existing model in the nutcracker preview pane and then see how this collection of effects looks on that model.  I have looked through many of these on my megapixel tree model.

As I collected the effects into one space, I ended up with about 1000 effects.  I took that existing file, and used the Generate Random effects and saved this to another file -- now I had a collection of 2000 effects.  I did this several more times and have a collection of 6000 effects.

With that large number in one place, its easy to peruse the effects by opening the nutcracker tab, selecting your model(s)... select the first effect in the grid, and with the cursor keys walk through the entire list.

I have used the timing label to provide a description on some of my favorites.  it helps me find them again from that large collection.  you can choose to adjust the brightness, change the level of sparkles, and remove rows with effects that you simply don't like or can't see.

Inside a zip file, I'm attaching my initial collection.  Its easy to hit randomize and get 6000 new effects for viewing.

I'm also including my perl script for you perl hacks.

Here is how I used it:

$ cat *.xml | perl GatherEffects.pl > merged.xml


Enjoy!

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[RoboMello]

Thank you, already got one for my Arches :-)

[sean]

That is cool Steve!

I will cross post to everywhere later this week.
You might also add labels Ëffect 1", Ëffect 2". Then people would refer to your effects, i tried Effect 2200

or label them "Bar Effect 1", "Spiral Effect 2". Use the effect name from Effect1.

I can see people sharing and copying.

great job!
sean

[Steve Gase]

I mention this with some hesitancy, because I can see this causing problems...

xlights currently does not block multiple instances of the program running at once.  you can use this to your benefit by having one instance open to this gallery of effects -- while editing your sequence in another instance.  just use the clipboard to copy effect from the gallery to the sequence.

(the "problems" I mention are related to making changes to schedules, outputs, etc. where changes in one instance might impact another instance...)

[Steve Gase]

That is cool Steve!

I will cross post to everywhere later this week.
You might also add labels Ëffect 1", Ëffect 2". Then people would refer to your effects, i tried Effect 2200

or label them "Bar Effect 1", "Spiral Effect 2". Use the effect name from Effect1.

I can see people sharing and copying.

great job!
sean

If we name the gallery files that we share... like "SteveGase-12-03-2014" then you can refer to an effect by the time/row...

"Hey kids! inside the gallery SteveGase-12-03-2014, take a look at the green snowflakes at 1475.000 and I also like the one at 52.000 -- it reminds me of lego land! -- they look good on trees"

[flyinverted]

Any effect with Ripple now errors out with 3.6.11 as the controls are apparently changed.

Which version did you create this with Steve?

Thanks for sharing!

-Steve

[sean]

ripple effect has changed the controls.
I need to put in the auto convert. Every time you open an old sequence there 150 checks made for old data and automatically converts into the new format.
I need to add that auto convert for the new ripple controls.

Basically when you open a sequence, it fixes the old to new in the background.

[jnealand]

When you load this file into your environment you can choose any existing model in the nutcracker preview pane and then see how this collection of effects looks on that model. 

Not quite sure how you intend for this to be used.  This is what I did and I'm writing this partially for others to use.  If not correct please post changes.

I opened a new media sequence, selected a song name (any song - it does not matter what) and then specified I have an xml file.
Picked the merged.xml that came from the unzipped file you gave us and then got the message asking what to do about the MegaPixelTree50.
I selected rename this element to and selected my own pixel tree model
Now I have a sequence with 6364 timing rows.  I go to the first row under my pixel tree, click it and press F3
I can now watch the effect in the window to see how it works on my pixel tree. 

Now if I can only find the time to look at all 6000+ rows.  LOL

[sean]

that was how i did it to jim.
also in 3.6.11 i removed the labels on the sliders in the Skip effect. When sliding down row by row using the arrow key , when you came to a "Skips"effect it would stop and start to move the slider bar.

I checked with Dan and he said it was ok to remove labels. Now you be able to slide though all 6000 effects.

[Steve Gase]

Any effect with Ripple now errors out with 3.6.11 as the controls are apparently changed.

Which version did you create this with Steve?

Thanks for sharing!

-Steve

3.6.10

I did not walk through each of the 6000 effects... I think I stopped at 1000...

There were some that did not seem to do anything -- but that was more rare.  Some were dimmed, and I raised the intensity and they looked nice.

[Steve Gase]

I imagine everyone can come up with a way to view these that is convenient for them.

One more suggestion:  find a LONG song...  build something in audacity or extract the soundtrack from 'its a wonderful christmas!' and use that audio track and the merged.xml file to build a sequence.  now watch that sequence in the preview... every second you'll see a new sequence.  when something looks good, write down the time on a pad...  (yes, you can hit pause and search for it)  later, use the recorded times to locate the effect in the nutcracker editor window.

copy, then paste.

[mararunr]

Just found this thread...want to try this in xLights 4 and see if it still works.  Great stuff.  (If it doesn't work in xL 4, I'll just load up an xL 3 version to see it anyway  )