Morph Abilities

[nmiller0113]

Some questions regarding morph abilities:

Head Length - When I set it to 100 right now for my whole house model it and then tell it to "Show head at start" it only starts off showing part of the display at start instead of the entire display as I assumed it should.  Then it continues to pan across the part that wasn't included in the beginning, so something is strange there as I thought the number 100 was relative to the display size, not a grid count.  I really use this feature a lot in Superstar and am hoping it will be similar with xLights.

Tail length - I couldn't find a way to define that.  Is that not an option yet?

Ability to add twinkle or shimmer to the head or tail - I couldn't find a way to define that.  Is that not an option yet?

Thanks to all for your help here!

[Gilrock]

Head length is not a percentage so yes you are stuck with 100 pixels.  Tail length is defined by setting the head duration.  xLights effects are different than SuperStar.  SuperStar allowed the tail length to be set as a fixed time but in xLights all you get is one time duration for the whole effect so both the head and the tail have to fit in there.  So I had to design it where you set the head duration in percentage and the tail gets what's left over.  So if you have a 5 second duration effect and set head duration to 80% the tail length will be 1 second.  It sounds like you don't have effect backgrounds turned on because when you do you can clearly see where the head stops and the tail starts.  No I didn't add twinkle and shimmer.  If you're looking for an exact copy of how SuperStar works I'm sorry.  I created all these algorithms from scratch I don't have their code.  I like mine better.  I improved on the morph with my repeat and stagger capabilities.  You need to watch some videos and experiment.

[nmiller0113]

Gil, first of all, Thank You for creating this Superstar-ish version of morphing in xLights.  It's amazing and the work you do is not thanked enough.  I wanted to make sure you were aware I wasn't sharing any disappointment in what you've built, at all.  More just making sure I have a proper understanding of expectations.  I do agree that you have improved on it.

For head and tail length, your explanation makes perfect sense.  I looked everywhere for "effect backgrounds" settings but I could not find it anywhere...even on the forums.  Would you be so kind as to add some more info around where I can find that so I can refer to what you're talking about?

No worries about twinkle and shimmer. Thanks again Gil!

[Gilrock]

You should checkout the Settings menu and turn on Grid Icon Backgrounds.

You can create sparkles easily in any effect by dragging the sparkles slider in the Color panel.  Just make sure you move it back 0 because it will stay where its at as you drop more effects.

It also possible to create some twinkle and shimmer effects inside a morph probably by using two layers and masking.

[nmiller0113]

Ahhh...yes Grid Icon Backgrounds.  Found that one.  It was turned on by default and now that I know what it is, by turning it off and on, I see what you were referring to earlier.  Makes perfect sense!