Problem with picture

[Xenia]

In my grinch sequence I have a picture of the grinch flash on my megatree (32x70) everytime the song says Mr. Grinch.  It worked fine initially but now it does not show up.  I have a green ramp down one layer below thge picture.  It works fine in Xlights and initially on the FPP but now it is gone.  I have re-rendered the sequewnce and resaved it. (Again it looks fine in Xlights) Deleted it from FPP and added it back after saving.

Any suggestions?

[Xenia]

Ok, the problem seems to be in Xlights after all.  I converted a Vixen 2.1 sequence to Xlights at the data layer.  I then converted/rendered an element in xlights,  I copied the converted line onto my Mega-tree.  Now the data at the node level act as though it were a data layer and cannot be erased permanently.  everytime i render or save the sequence the data layer returns.

[Gilrock]

I have no idea what your doing.  You said you imported Vixen sequence as a data layer and then you converted and rendered an element in xLights and copied the converted line on your mega tree.  You can't copy imported data from a data layer so what do you mean?  If you place effects on a model it will override whatever is in the data layer as long as you didn't change the default data layer ordering.  If you don't want the data layer anymore delete it in the settings menu.

[Xenia]

Thanks for the reply Gil.  Once I bring my Vixen Data layer in the sequence, it is possible to convert a single node from data to effects.  I then copy the new effects layer onto other models. Most of the time this is just on/offs or ramps up or down that go with a beat track.  So I drop the new effects onto my megatree and it works fine.  When I inserted a new layer above this layer and add a picture it looks fine until I save or re-render the sequence and the picture no longer shows when playing a sequence.  The nodes under the copied effects now act like a data layer and do not erase if you remove the effects dropped on the model.  Also putting a blank layer in between doesn't help either.  I'll keep working on it and figure a work around.

[Gilrock]

If you have a picture effect on a top layer of a model and it looks ok when you click on the effect but then disappears when you render then you have a rendering order problem.  Models will render the order they are listed when you look at the Master View.  You must have another effect that targets that same model on possibly a group that contains that model and your group is listed lower in the render order so it renders last and overwrites any effects that are on it's models.  If you can't figure it out attach your xlights_rgbeffects.xml and sequence xml files and someone can take a look.  I won't be home for several hours.

[Xenia]

Ok, I did a work around by starting a new sequence, adding the data layer, then importing only a couple of models from my original xml file.  An undocumented feature of xlights is that if you convert a data layer node to effects, you can then copy and paste to any other node or model but the paste results in the equivalent of an uneditable effect.  So as you said wherever I need a change I need to add a layer above the data layer and it seems to work best by adding an off effect to cover the data layer, then adding additional layers as needed.  Attached is my final product.  I included the music in a dropbox share as it is edited but ask that no one use this without purchasing the original.  I will go back to my original XML and look at the masterview to see if I can see what is overwriting the megatree on rendering.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vioha5xrfvr0cep/04%20You%27re%20A%20Mean%20One%20Mr%20Grinch%20shortened_192.mp3?dl=0

[Gilrock]

The way you are stating things doesn't sound right.  Data layers are fixed.  The data you imported is locked into those channels.  All nutcracker effects will render above that data unless you goto the data layers tab and reorder your layers.  So the question is why are you importing data you don't want to show up?  You don't need to add an Off effect.  The problem is you're probably viewing the Node rows which aren't always up to date and can just confuse you.  Unless you do a render/save and then don't click any effects that's the only time you can rely on what you see as data at the node level.  If you drop an effect it will cover up the data from the data layer it doesn't require an Off effect below it but you do need to understand the blending mode you have selected because certain blending modes will blend the data from the effect with the layers below it.

There is no such thing as an uneditable effect.  If so then there's a bug that needs to be fixed but I'm not believing that one till I see it.