xl questions - 4.0.18

[Steve Gase]

Q1: how to use the tester?

I defined and saved my networks (EtD, 32 universes) and went to the test tab.  I found no selectable channels.  Is it necessary to define models in order to use the tester?  If so, can there be a default model that is mapped to all network-defined channels?  Otherwise, it hampers the usability of the tester -- one of the basic functions of the tool and used regularly in our testing.

Q2: is the tester now 'model' based?

Its a suspicion that the tester now relies on models.  If so, I am worried about the fall-out.  if I have multiple models that share the same channels, what impact will that have on the tester... if one model is cycling through R-G-B and another is doing the same in sync -- but the channels are not aligns it could happen that model-1 is instructing the pixel to be Red, while model-2 is instructing the same pixel to be Blue.  [obviously, i need to play with this more to report more than suspicions.  ]

Q3: media types when creating the sequence?

The media selection is limited to mp3.  Will ogg and video files be permitted at some time?  Especially as xlights implements tighter integration with FPP to configure and upload content, the FPP options should be available in xlights.  I'd like to be able to sequence to a video clip -- it plays on a monitor, but also has sequence data in sync with the music and video.

Q4: will I be able to swap out audio files?

One issue I had with 3.x was the lock to the original audio file.  If I wanted to change to a shorter or longer version of my song, there was no way to change the file.  When changing to a new file, I also want the sequence file length to change to match the new audio track.   

Q5: will I be able to add audio or remove audio from a sequence?

I have wanted to convert an animation to a audio-based sequence.  I've also wanted to go in the opposite direction -- taking a audio-based sequence and dropping the audio to have the sequence only without the dependency on an audio track.

[jnealand]

I believe that there has been nothing changed in the tester yet.  I got a start yesterday when I went to load a predefined testset from last year and nothing was there.  Then I realized I had done the initial convert on a machine that did not have any test presets defined so I copied my old xlights_network.xlm file from my xl3 files and and reopened 4 and voila they were all there.  I have one in particular that I needed where I have every 10th node selected as that helps me when I need to count how many nodes are in a string.  I have other like 1-300, 1-360, and then named ones like arches, windows, etc so I can quickly select a single element or group for testing.  I do have unallocated channels (no model) in the master channel list.  Since you saved your network I would think it should work and show all the channels as "CH nnnn Netxx#yyyy"  Where nnnn is the channel, xx is the domain # and yyyy is the channel #.

The tester shows the name of the last model with that channel assigned in the model list (non-alphabetical, but as you had defined them)  I test a lot of stuff on my workbench using channels that start with 1 so the name changes every time I create a new model to play with and use channel 1 as the start.

I know that Sean uses mp4 so that at least is supported.

I opened a sequence with a 2.5 min audio and then went back and changed the audio to one that is only 1 5 min.  The sequence remains at 2.5 min but only plays for 1.5 min.  I saved the file, opened a different file, then reopened the file that I had shortened.  The sequencer window still shows the effects running off the screen.

I just tried removing an audio file using the option to switch from musical to animation and when I go to play it I get no sound.  I opened an animation sequence and added an audio file and it played the audio fine.  Changed it back to animation and got no sound, but the waveform remains in the sequencer window until I close the file (by opening something else) and then reopened it and had no waveform.

[Gilrock]

I don't think anyone has touched the code for the Test tab.  Now maybe something we did impacted it.
We plan to support additional media types later.
Swap out audio and change the sequence type in the Sequence Settings dialog.  You can even type in a shorter value for the sequence length.  I don't delete existing effects but you will see on the timeline where the cross-hatching shows the sequence end point.  There is an open issue to make sure we honor that sequence length when writing out the data to file.

[sean]

Xl 3.6 supported wav,ogg,MP3 and MP4. Xl 4 only supports MP3. I'm xl 4 we are doing way more than playing the sound. To draw the waveform, zoom into it, start anyplace .etc. required code specific to sound type. Dave Pitts wrote the original code in dec of last year. We will get wav added by the expo. For my shows I will just use audacity or ffmpeg to change MP4 into MP3.

[Steve Gase]

Q1: how to use the tester?

I defined and saved my networks (EtD, 32 universes) and went to the test tab.  I found no selectable channels.  Is it necessary to define models in order to use the tester?  If so, can there be a default model that is mapped to all network-defined channels?  Otherwise, it hampers the usability of the tester -- one of the basic functions of the tool and used regularly in our testing.

More info on this...

Test mode only recognizes the networks that existed when the program is started.

Scenario 1:  brand new setup, no config.  add EtD config, 32 universes, save the config.  select test mode, and there are no channels to select.  exit from XL.  start XL.  go to the Test tab and you have the channels there.

Scenario 2:  the 32 universes are configured.  you can see the channels in the Test tab.  Go to Setup tab and delete all network definitions.  Select the Test tab.  All of the channels are still present.  exit from XL.  start XL.  go to the Test tab and the channels are removed.

Bug:  Test tab should recognize the new channels when they are added -- without the need for an exit.

the behavior in 3.6.15 is different, a restart is not necessary and the Test tab immediately sees the channels as defined in the Setup tab.

[Steve Gase]

Xl 3.6 supported wav,ogg,MP3 and MP4. Xl 4 only supports MP3. I'm xl 4 we are doing way more than playing the sound. To draw the waveform, zoom into it, start anyplace .etc. required code specific to sound type. Dave Pitts wrote the original code in dec of last year. We will get wav added by the expo. For my shows I will just use audacity or ffmpeg to change MP4 into MP3.

would it be possible for XL4 to accept any file format, and internally convert it to mp3 or wav or whatever XL4 prefers?  When uploading to FPP, then the user is given  choice to use the original file, or the converted mp3.

i recall the advice was to use ogg for FPP at one point.  maybe that issue has been resolved, but I thought we still had occassional playback problems with the variation in bitrates found in mp3.  converting in XL4 would provide a normalizing function that might eliminate some of the variation and problems.

[sean]

xlights 3.6 never had an issue with mp3/ogg/mp4/wav files.

The issue two years ago was FPP, it would get off during playback unless ogg files were sued.
Over a year ago Capt Murdoch fixed this. All last year i used mp3 and mp4 files, no issues on FPP.

We could get a built in converter inside XL4, it is not a high priority. There is a workaround that only takes 15 seconds per sound file, go into Audacity, export audio.

With over 78 open issues, we will prob not get them all done this year.116 closed, the guys have been working hard!

Take a look at the open issues: https://github.com/smeighan/xLights/issues

We prob want to get the crashes under some condition bugs fixed. There are bugs in effects that we want to fix.

A big goal is to get the grid editor so that you edit at the channel level like you do in LOR or Vixen.

If the test issue is it doesnt work on newly added controllers unless you exit and come back in, that is a workaround. How often do people change their SETUP screen? Mine stays the same the entire year. Definitely open a ticket so we can track it, but i only have two people fixing open issues Gil and Dan.

Dan has left for a two week vacation so, I am down to one.

XL 4 was a complete rewrite of the front GUI and a rewrite of the rendering engine. It is  much more complicated than XL 3.6, That complexity comes with an additional pile of issues.

We have XL 4.0 because of Dave Pitts. He took 3.6 and did the initial build last November. GUI, waveform display, drag and drop .etc. All Dave. Dave switches between his hardware hat and his software hat. Dave put his hardware hat on a few months ago and went and worked on his Falcon16v2, his falcon beagle bone .etc.  He has not been involved with the software since january. Luckily Dan and Gil stepped up and took over last January to continue XL 4.0

We could certainly use some more developers to work the issue pile.

Any volunteers? I need people in all sorts of ways. User documentation, wiki articles, how to setup LOR,
C++ programmers.

Ill pay you double my xLights salary.


thanks
sean

[Steve Gase]

We could certainly use some more developers to work the issue pile.

Any volunteers? I need people in all sorts of ways. User documentation, wiki articles, how to setup LOR,
C++ programmers.

Ill pay you double my xLights salary.

i wouldn't work on this unless I had a MINIMUM of 4x your xlight salary, and a 10% share of next year's profits. 

Seriously, I intended this year to jump in and help with XL and/or FPP, but I was handed a big assignment to lead the re-tooling of our company's  5000 developer  organization -- which involves world-wide training and coordination. 

And just to improve my quality of life they handed me yet another tool... I need to help migrate 40,000 sharepoint sites to SP2013.  yeah!!

Seriously, though... I need to get some proficiency in git before I jump in (I started, but didn't get to the next step of learning the merge activity).  And I need to get my development environment ready.... I created a new virtual guest for this purpose a month ago, but stopped before I could read the write-ups.

I'd certainly like to get started... I have a bunch of new effects I'd like to add to the library.