Looking to make the switch...just a couple questions first!

[Phrog30]

Thanks again to everyone who replied and helped here!  It was VERY helpful in my understanding and trust in moving forward!

Welcome aboard by the way.

[Gilrock]

Thanks again for the reply Sean!  Any thoughts on what I mentioned here?

2) Good to hear the AC imports work well.  Will I be able to modify or add shimmer, twinker, on/off, ramp up/down or otherwise after the import?  I thought there was still work to be done or some conversation around building a LOR-ish grid to allow people to work with AC channels in xL4.  Maybe I was misunderstanding a part.  The grid part kind of makes sense, but I can't think of a reason the timing marks wouldn't suffice to tell it when to do "something" with an AC channel or how that wouldn't work the same way we do object/model based sequencing currently in xL4.

I'm really not sure what you mean.  We treat A/C channels pretty much the same as any other model.  You can drop effects on them using the grid.  The timing marks create a grid but once the effects are dropped they have no relation to the original timing marks that were used to drop them.  You can switch to any other timing track and have a completely different grid.

[flyinverted]

You don't need to switch. Download install and try. At the Free-99 price, you have nothing to lose.
There is about a 1 week learning curve for before it all clicks. Honestly though, if you can make a mental note to yourself to stop saying "This is the way I do this in LOR and I want to do that in NC", you'll have a much easier time with the learning process.  The end results are similar in goal, the process of getting there is much different between the two sequencers.

[nmiller0113]

I'm really not sure what you mean.  We treat A/C channels pretty much the same as any other model.  You can drop effects on them using the grid.  The timing marks create a grid but once the effects are dropped they have no relation to the original timing marks that were used to drop them.  You can switch to any other timing track and have a completely different grid.

Thanks Gil.  I was basing my thoughts on a post http://doityourselfchristmas.com/forums/showthread.php?37414-Revamp-from-last-year-Questions-with-LOR-and-xlights-Channel-Config I read from Sean this past January stating

"Another thing coming this summer is a channel/grid editor.
Basically this will allow you to change, modify channels and bytes in the exact same way as you do now in Vixen 2.x, LOR.
You have AC elements on channel 100-110, you can turn on those channels with ON, OFF, Ramp up, Ramp Down, Shimmer, Twinkle .etc."

[sean]

we have a way of adding effects on individual channels. you can drop ramps, twinkle, on/off effects on any channel. so , although it doesnt look like the grid editor, you can sequence your ac lights just fine in xl4.

[nmiller0113]

Ok.  I don't know where I read it, but I swore something was mentioned about a LOR type of grid editor that was going to be on another tab different from the model sequencer.  Who knows I can't find the article on it now!  Thanks for all the feedback though!

[Phrog30]

You don't need to switch. Download install and try. At the Free-99 price, you have nothing to lose.
There is about a 1 week learning curve for before it all clicks. Honestly though, if you can make a mental note to yourself to stop saying "This is the way I do this in LOR and I want to do that in NC", you'll have a much easier time with the learning process.  The end results are similar in goal, the process of getting there is much different between the two sequencers.

That's a great point!

[Phrog30]

Ok.  I don't know where I read it, but I swore something was mentioned about a LOR type of grid editor that was going to be on another tab different from the model sequencer.  Who knows I can't find the article on it now!  Thanks for all the feedback though!

There was a discussion a while ago about a grid editor. The current version of xlights has one. They are timing marks. However, like flyinverted said, get over the lor way. There actually is a better way... it's not lor.

If you want a grid, place timing marks at the interval you want. But, you may find that is a silly way.

[Gilrock]

Just watch this video.  It's a little old but shows how we do work like a grid now:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut72rLcIf_s

[nmiller0113]

Thanks Sean, I agree it is a silly way as I would think standard timing marks, especially those using the built in VAMP plugins, will suffice and give me everything I need!

Gil, Thank you for the video!

Everyone else, thank you for your input as well!!  I 100% agree I need to change my way of thinking and from this point on, I'm very much sold on xLights!  Great product...great support...great community!  Amazing!

[Phrog30]

I can also do this with I have the ability to put 4 different effects across 4 (or more) different sections of the house if I wanted to and split it into quarters...or wherever.  Can I do this currently with xL4?

As long as the effects are in layers this will work. Xlights can't blend across groups though, so the last group rendered wins.

So if you need them to blend you can just use a whole house model and then use the X/Y positioning to move each effect to a different quadrant and if you do that on 4 different layers they will all blend if you use the Normal blend mode.

Gil, if you have a second, could you tell me how to accomplish this?  I'm not seeing the whole house model or x/y positioning.

Thanks.

[Gilrock]

The whole house model is what I call a model group that contains your whole house.  Every effect I created has X/Y positioning.  So you can create four Fan effects that each take up about one quadrant of your house and have them all doing different thing with their arms blending at the edges.  The four positions would be x25:y25, x25:y75, x75:y75, x75:y25.

[Phrog30]

I understand, thanks.