release 4.2.0: Papagayo now built in

[sean]

xLights release 4.2.0: Built in Papagayo

Because of the major work to get Papagayo built into xLights, I am bumping version number to 4.2.0.
This release took nearly two weeks for Dan and Gil to create.
Great job gentleman!.
If you are planning a coroface, look at Dan's video
https://youtu.be/RqYBNUdVJ3Q

If you plan on projecting images of singing faces onto your matrix, look at Gil's video
https://youtu.be/RJt22SAd-PM




Latest releases are found at http://nutcracker123.com/nutcracker/releases/
Issue Tracker is found here: https://github.com/smeighan/xLights/issues

XLIGHTS/NUTCRACKER RELEASE NOTES:
---------------------------------
4.2.0  Aug 8, 2015
    -- bug(gil)  Fix channel map buttons disappearing when resizing dialog.  Fixes #313.
    -- bug(gil)  Prevent crash when doing Import Effects on xLights xml file.
    -- bug(gil)  Fix sparkles, brightness, and contrast text controls so that sliders update.  Fixes #320.
    -- bug(gil)  Fix right-click crash on grid when no sequence is loaded. Fixes #317.
    -- bug(dkulp) Audio at non-full speed stops too early when only playing a range
    -- enh(dkulp) Add a "Minimal Grid" option for model group to specify just the area of the given models
    -- enh(dkulp) Add ability to have model sizes scaled separately for horizontal and vertical directions
    -- enh(gil) Add ability to import lyrics to a timing track.

[mararunr]

Found a bug with "default" face definition (something that's been available since 3.x).  Reported on github.

[andywylde]

Hi,

I have spent 3 evenings breaking down a song into 4 voices using audacity and papagayo following the tutorial I found on the forum.  I only got as far as defining the 4 voices after 3 evenings and I haven't yet even fine tuned them in papagayo.   When I accidentally closed the window I found this video as well as the tutorial by sean.   Can you guys please give a "best practices" guide to using coro faces and importing (or just doing it) into xlights/nutcracker?

Papagayo was probably great for its intended purpose and time.  That said, my papgayo does not let me choose 20 fps, doesn't have the coro faces and is very sluggish despite a pretty fast computer.  I think integrating it into xlights is a great thing, but I am completely confused by all the conflicting information on the forum about how to do this.   With several days invested in one song that isn't even close to being able to be "show ready" I don't see how I can ever get enough songs done by Halloween to present a good show.

Last year I used LOR software and just clicked every single light.  By cutting/pasting the different faces/mouths it was manageable but cumbersome.   I managed to get about 10 songs done for Halloween.  The great thing was I could hit "play" and see my results right away on my "lab" that I built to test my lights.  The OOP method seemed much better, but so far I have just spent more time than ever and don't even have one new playable song.  I've spent hours lining up 4 different voices in audacity, but now have to import them to papagayo (as far as I know) fine tune them, then try to export into xlights. 

I think a lot of people out thee have the coro type faces made of strings of lights, Christmas trees, pumpkins monsters, etc..  They add a lot to a display and are much more affordable (and better looking IMO) than a matrix of pixel lights.  I actually think the functionality is probably in there somewhere, I just don't know the best way to go about it.  It seems everything I find on the forum conflicts with the last thing I looked at and that's pretty frustrating.

Can you guys please clarify the best way to go about this given the current state of the software?

Thanks in advance. 
Andy

[sean]

Best practice now is to NOT use the papagayo program , that is slow and painful. Now you should use the papagayo capability that is built into xlights. You build four custom models. Draw the channels in the custom screen. Add the channel assignment in the model screen to each face. You add the phrases, words and phonemes onto timing tracks. There is a video tutorial on this new feature on the wiki page . So much easier. Thanks again to Dan and gil

[danj]

??   Still seeing the 4.2.10 posted from 9/11    ??

[Gilrock]

??   Still seeing the 4.2.10 posted from 9/11    ??

That is the latest version so?

[danj]

I <assumed>(yeah I know that is a bad term!) that the numbering scheme had restarted from 4.2.10 to 4.2.0....
Never mind, I guess!!!!

[Gilrock]

I think you're confused because someone commented in an old thread.  This was a  thread created 10 versions ago.

[danj]

<duh>    Wow my bad....

[andywylde]

I will take the blame for commenting on the old post

I was frustrated because I searched the forum for the best way to do this and the first thing I found was a very complete but 26 page long guide on how to do this going in and out of audacity/papagayo.  After hours of following the guide and thinking to myself there has to be a better way to do this I searched again and found the video of Sean showing how to use Papagayo.   So I went back to it again.  After the third evening of working on this again, still on the first song I found the tutorial of using the built in Papagayo features.  I agree that Papagayo while great for its time is very painful and cumbersome.  I think that the guides and video have some value to appreciate the nuances of Papagayo and audacity but for all practices it is too cumbersome to manage the scale of shows that we are trying to do these days.  It would be really nice if you could put a sticky note at the top of the postings that told that this method is for all practical purposes obsolete and a link to the newer tutorial.  Depending on how you search, it may take a long time to find the most recent one.

I know the forum has gotten pretty huge due to all the questions and the never ending updates and I am grateful for that, but I think tagging some of the older stuff as obsolete would save people a lot of time.

[gerry]

Hello Andy,

There is a manual (quite recent) which describes how to do it step by step.

There is also a wiki , which has these questions responded to as well as explicit links to the two videos.

xl is moving every fast and the posts kind of get outdated faster than normal

[Gilrock]

I think you get the most up to date info on the Facebook group.  You find out what's coming usually before it's released.

[jnealand]

The problem with facebook is that there is no organization and if there is a way to search for stuff I have not found.  Facebook seems to be the worst place to get technical support but the best place for socializing.

[Gilrock]

I can't find anything in this forum either unless it shows up in the last 10 posts.  We have like 5 sub-forums where bugs are posted.  Are you on the Facebook group?  Because people get help all day long.  You must not be there is you think we only socialize.  You can search the xLights Facebook group.  There is a search box.

[Ed Slonka Jr]

And some of us don't use Spacebook... I mean Facebook!