Advice needed for applicability

[miker]

Hi everyone and greetings from Connecticut.

I have been reading and researching for days and am glad to finally join this awesome community.  I'm a tinkerer, former software guy, and active stay-at-home dad with three kids.  I must say in reading through this forum that it's great to find like-minded kind individuals who seem genuinely willing to help each other.  Thanks for being so awesome!!

Although I have read and researched until my head hurt, I have not gone through with an install of the app yet, and here's why...I have what I think is a simple operations question that I need an answer to before I plunge in and start going full scale.

The question is, is it possible to play sequences manually?  There is a lot of focus, and understandably so, on automated music based lighting (because that's the focus of the program, duh Mike.). But...can I make a bunch of simple sequences and then opt to play them back by hand in an order I choose?  I don't even need them to be seamless or built on the fly like I think Matrix or Madrigal? (Sp) (The European DJ expensive thing.)

Why??

Well, one of my dad roles is that I'm very active in elementary school drama club.  This year we are doing a play about video games.  Old school 80's 90's video games.  I want to make the set fill up with led's.  Simplest analogy would be I'll have a number of eaves made out of Intel led strips.  Think Donkey Kong levels...only led's .  During the show I want them to do things...one scene they light up blue like a dumb strip. Maybe at another point they suddenly break into a chase sequence, etc.  I want to give control of triggering the different effects to a fifth grade student sitting next to me in the music pit while I'm conducting/playing.  The lights do not have to change in time with the music, but I want them to be easy to click between different things I set up...like color wash pink, rainbow chase, blue flash, etc.

I'm sneakily planning to use this show as my learning curve for next year's lawn display at my house...a first in our neighborhood.

Anyway I would appreciate it if you could help me theorize how I can do this if possible or guide me toward some more focused reading.  We are on an elementary school budget...which is another reason I'm so grateful to have found this group.  I can donate led's and drivers to the school and bring in my Mac , then repurpose the led's next year.  And I can certainly kick beer money into the xlight pot

Most gratefully,
Mike

[Gilrock]

So one thing you can do is have a sequence open in xLights and then manually click on an effect and have it preview real time on the hardware.  When we preview we play everything in that time interval so you could have different sections setup that are just clicked on to activate them and you could use names in a timing row to label the sections.  What I do is create a really long Off effect on a bottom layer of a model and it will play/preview everything you have in the sequence during the duration of that Off effect.  So you could just have an Off effect for the duration of each section.  You could even create a view that has only the Off effects and the timing labels so they wouldn't click on the wrong thing.  The only hiccup to that method is currently the preview will loop when it gets to the end of whatever effect you click on.

[mararunr]

simply put - yes.  A fifth grader could select an option (a sequence) and hit play and pause.


If you want to invest a few more dollars, you could get a Raspberry PI, load up the Falcon Player (FPP) and set up some buttons from the GPIO pin outs and literally have the student press a physical button at the appropriate time.  If you haven't found Falcon Christmas (falconchristmas.com) forum - a sister hardware site to this software site, I suggest you check it out.


My 2c worth.

[miker]

So one thing you can do is have a sequence open in xLights and then manually click on an effect and have it preview real time on the hardware. 

What I do is create a really long Off effect on a bottom layer of a model and it will play/preview everything you have in the sequence during the duration of that Off effect.  So you could just have an Off effect for the duration of each section.  You could even create a view that has only the Off effects and the timing labels so they wouldn't click on the wrong thing.  The only hiccup to that method is currently the preview will loop when it gets to the end of whatever effect you click on.

Awesome!  I'll read up on off effects and I'm certain once I'm programming it that this will click.  Looping isn't bad though...one section might just be all "eaves" red.  I wonder if the loop will turn off and on on a repeat?  If so I could just make that section way longer than the intended scene.

I like the idea of a view that hides a bunch of stuff my talented kiddos won't accidentally click, since I won't have much time live to fix that.

Thank you for getting me started!!
Mike

[miker]

simply put - yes.  A fifth grader could select an option (a sequence) and hit play and pause.


If you want to invest a few more dollars, you could get a Raspberry PI, load up the Falcon Player (FPP) and set up some buttons from the GPIO pin outs and literally have the student press a physical button at the appropriate time.  If you haven't found Falcon Christmas (falconchristmas.com) forum - a sister hardware site to this software site, I suggest you check it out.


My 2c worth.

Very cool!  If they pick and play a sequence, is that from the playlist screen I see in the manual?  Anything that hides all the bells and whistles from them, and by bells and whistles I mean shiny buttons they may click when not supposed to , would be ideal. 

Hardware sounds awesome!!  I'm reasonably familiar with the power of the Pi...but have not yet discovered that site!  Thanks for providing tonight's reading...I can't wait to look.  Big easy buttons are a very good call!

Thank you!
Mike

[Gilrock]

For my advice it doesn't need to be Off effects you can click on any effect.  What I do is I have a whole bunch of effects in a row and when I want to preview them in a loop for a demonstration I just create another layer on the model and put an Off effect at the bottom below all the effects I want to preview.  I only use Off because it doesn't actually display anything its just a method of having an effect that has the duration I want to preview.

For Mark idea you wouldn't be running xLights at all.  You would just save all your sequences and then load them on the Pi and then trigger the sequences to run using switch inputs to the Pi.

[miker]

For my advice it doesn't need to be Off effects you can click on any effect.  What I do is I have a whole bunch of effects in a row and when I want to preview them in a loop for a demonstration I just create another layer on the model and put an Off effect at the bottom below all the effects I want to preview.  I only use Off because it doesn't actually display anything its just a method of having an effect that has the duration I want to preview.

For Mark idea you wouldn't be running xLights at all.  You would just save all your sequences and then load them on the Pi and then trigger the sequences to run using switch inputs to the Pi.

Ah I get it.  You are using an off effect as a placeholder for some desired subdivision of your show sequence.  Makes sense.

I'm going to resist the urge to post many more questions Bc I'm certain most will now be answered by getting rolling with the software.  Thank you guys!! I really appreciate the help!  I'll post a build thread in the appropriate place once I have things going a bit.  Now off to hunt down the post holiday bargains everyone's posted about.

Mike

[miker]

Well hello again!  As I near production I'm finally programming and wiring my controller.  So much great info here and the manual is really well done!

Only question, in the above software proposal by @Gilrock... would I have the show be one long (45 minute plus) sequence using off effects to create timing?  Or is it better to make shorter sequences to move between? For example, we have one scene where we want all the strips to be red for something like 4 minutes.  I understand I can make, say a five minute section of just red strips in the sequence, and then that part would play during that scene.  But if I break up my show into different sequences, and I want the kids to manually play each one...does that occur by needing them to load different sequences into the software?  Is there a way to let them click between short sequences and choose to play them, or is it better to just have one big one running for the whole show?  And what's your experience with really long sequences?
(I haven't played with the full show timing yet, in case that isn't obvious.)

Thanks!
Mike

[jnealand]

I would always use multiple short (5 min or less) sequences.  Faster to load for editing and saving.  less to lose if something becomes corrupted, smaller file sizes, faster copying, etc.  You can still run sequences back to back to back without interuption / breaks if you watch your start and stop of effects within a sequence.

Just my 2 cents.

[miker]

Thanks jnealand. I appreciate your pennies greatly!!

But if I want breaks between sequences how to construct that so my fifth graders can easily run them when they want...not timed.

Here's a good simple example.
At the start, we want our lights to go crazy with a pattern sequence for 2 or 3 minutes and stop doing that when some action on stage happens from a young actor. I interpret this in the software as making a pattern on my model for let's say a 4 minute sequence (Bc I know there is no way it will go longer.). When the actor stops...then at that moment my crew stops the current sequence somehow and the lights go out.

A minute or two later (whenever another actor finishes saying their line) the lights turn on again as just plain red and stay on for let's say 4 minutes. So I can again make a sequence with my model where all the pixel lines are red and set the timing for that to another 5 min sequence...(because I know it won't last that long.)

What I'm pondering is, what's the simplest way to then let my young apprentices (10-11 years old and full of awesome enthusiasm) launch the different sequences in show order, but when they choose to? Are there transport (play/pause) controls for sequences at a level higher than the sequence window? Of do they need to open and load each sequence?

I greatly appreciate the advice as I continue to design the show.

[jnealand]

If someone asked me to come up with a way to do what I think you said, I would not be one to volunteer.  Sounds like an interesting idea, but way to complex to be controlled by young children and probably going to require a huge amount of time to make it work.  Good luck.

[JonB256]

The Big Buttons plug in on the Falcon Player may be able trigger specific FSEQ files. That screen would be a very graphic method for the class.

[miker]

Thanks guys. I'll be sure to post here what we wound up doing.  My 5th grade helpers are really computer saavvy...it's amazing. So I have every confidence we'll make something work.

[miker]

Just wanted to take a second to update this. Yesterday was our first rehearsal with the lights. As you might imagine our 32 actors and actresses were dumbstruck by the awesomeness! (Who knew 8 single lines of led's could produce that much excitement for 9-11 year olds?

I wound up using Gilrock's suggestion of previewing the effects in the sequence.  Essentially our entire 45 minute show is contained in one 8 minute sequence, with each effect set at about a 5 second duration. Some a little longer to make looping more interesting.  In the script we marked cue numbers  where each effect happens, and I used the timing labels to match those numbers. My operator simply clicks each effect number when the time comes. Some are off effects allowing the set to go dark, some chases, etc.  It works beautifully!  I will take some pictures over the next few days.

Thank you everyone who contributed here! When I finish, I intend a small white paper on what I did in case others can learn from it.

Gratefully,
Mike

[sean]

Hi Miker;

my twin 15yo sons are in the high school marching band (bari sax, bass clarinet). For this next season I will be building a prop, a 9' tall staircase. They are playing John Fannin's Phobias. the front of each step will be a matrix 6x32 pixels for a total of 1536 pixels. The stairs will be driven by a lithium battery and a raspberry pi 3 running fpp.

50' away there will be a second FPP bolted to the rack in the pit. There will be a box with 8 buttons. one of the percussionists will push a button, at the appropriate time, this will launch a 10-20 second sequence on the stairs behind them 50 feet away. this will allow the sequences to be synced almost exactly to the music , since they are short. Each push will launch a prebuilt sequence. The buttons will be reloaded for each of the three songs

Dave Pitts and myself will be building/testing this in the summer.

I will keep you posted.