Big arches

[Eric_Edwards]

I need some help setting my driveway arches up. They are gonna be 200-250 nodes each and 8 of them. However one arch will be designated two outputs on the f16v2. Nodes 1-120 output one universe two and then nodes 121-240 output two universe two. To make one arch. I'm not power injecting which is why it's this way. How would this work in xlights


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[Gilrock]

An output on the F16v2 can start anywhere in a universe and can cross boundaries not problem so you're just making it hard on yourself to try to have a channel gap in the middle of the arch.  Just create a continuous range of channels in xLights and then tell the F16v2 what is the start channel for each output and it will just work.

[Eric_Edwards]

Yah but for my sanity and ocd I don't wanna pack the pixels. I like to keep it nice and easy for me to remember and see. Like if the right side of arch one goes out. I know it's universe three. I think I miss typed earlier. I mean output one off falcoln pixels 1-120 universe one and output two 121-240 universe two. I thought about just creating the arch like you said Gil. But can I assign two universe to one arch in xlights


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[dkulp]

Simple answer:  no.   You cannot have an arch have a channel gap in the middle

More complex answer:  If you set universe one to 360 channels, then it would work.   Pixels 1-120 would then got to universe 1 and then then the next set would automatically start going to universe 2.

Even more complex answer:  in the next version of xLights, you could model this as two separate arches and then create a model group of the the two and use the "Single Line" buffer format for sequencing it as one arch.

[Gilrock]

You don't need to assign the universes in xLights.  That's the beauty of it.  You just define your universes in the setup tab and then you tell us the start channel for each model.  If it crosses 27 universe boundaries we don't care and neither does the falcon board.  We don't have a way for you to tell the model there is a channel gap in the middle of an arch so you would have to create two models to accomplish that.  I think for your sanity you will want to pack the pixels because otherwise I'm not gonna waste a bunch of time trying to help when it causes you problems.  I'll help you do it what I consider the right way.

[mararunr]

Not to contradict one of the master developers but I believe it is possible if you check the "individual outputs" check box and tell xlights that each arch is two strings.  You can then have the first string start at channel 1 and the second string start at whatever channel you want (skipping channels).

How do I know this works - because I use Boscoyo Adalek trees with a 20 node star in the middle of the panel so my 10 "strings" are non-sequential (the tree is basically a 10 column matrix with a star at the end of column 5, beginning of column 6).


Try it.

[Gilrock]

I thought about that also Mark but I didn't think an arch had multiple lines in the channel list to the right.  If it does then yes you can check the box and type in your own numbers.  I just don't think you can split a single line into two.

[Greg.Ca]

Would somebody explain the term 'pack the Pixels'. Not sure  I understand. Thanks --Greg--

[Eric_Edwards]

I thought about that also Mark but I didn't think an arch had multiple lines in the channel list to the right.  If it does then yes you can check the box and type in your own numbers.  I just don't think you can split a single line into two.

its not a single strand of 240 Id be using. I would be using 120 pixels off output one starting from left to center. Then output two would run 120 more pixels from center to right. So from what I'm gathering. "I forgot xlights doesn't ask for universe in the model" I could really like U said, define universe one to 360 channels. Then define universe two to 360 channels.  And then make one model with 240 pixels. And on my falcoln board. Output one would be channels 1-360 and output two would be 361-720. Does that make sense and would it work?


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[gadgetsmith]

A custom model is also an option for skipping the necessary channels.

I posted this over on falconchristmas, before I realized you were asking here as well.

http://falconchristmas.com/forum/index.php/topic,4475.msg47237.html#msg47237

Yah but for my sanity and ocd I don't wanna pack the pixels. I like to keep it nice and easy for me to remember and see. Like if the right side of arch one goes out. I know it's universe three.

Everyone has idea's about what makes sense to them, but my personal feeling is having contiguous channels for models in xLights helps avoid issues outside.  You can get both worlds if you want to just specify 360 channels per universe as Dan indicated above.

[Eric_Edwards]

A custom model is also an option for skipping the necessary channels.

I posted this over on falconchristmas, before I realized you were asking here as well.

http://falconchristmas.com/forum/index.php/topic,4475.msg47237.html#msg47237

Yah but for my sanity and ocd I don't wanna pack the pixels. I like to keep it nice and easy for me to remember and see. Like if the right side of arch one goes out. I know it's universe three.

Everyone has idea's about what makes sense to them, but my personal feeling is having contiguous channels for models in xLights helps avoid issues outside.  You can get both worlds if you want to just specify 360 channels per universe as Dan indicated above.

yah that was the plan anyways. Never wanted to skip channels. Like my poxel tree is 16 strings of 50. And 16 universes. Each universe defined as 150 channels. I forgot that xlights doesn't care about universes which is what caused my concern now that I know again it doesn't care in the model it's better lol


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[Gilrock]

You know I used to be that guy that didn't want to pack my universes either.  But the F16v2 has made it so easy I switched all my stuff over to pack it in there.  I've had outputs that start on channel 511 of a universe however crazy that may seem to some people.  That's why xLights and the Falcon boards are a perfect match because they both worth pretty much the same way.  Just define where things start and it handles the rest.

[Eric_Edwards]

You know I used to be that guy that didn't want to pack my universes either.  But the F16v2 has made it so easy I switched all my stuff over to pack it in there.  I've had outputs that start on channel 511 of a universe however crazy that may seem to some people.  That's why xLights and the Falcon boards are a perfect match because they both worth pretty much the same way.  Just define where things start and it handles the rest.

i see what your saying. I was just trying to make it easy for me. My mind still stuck in LOR world. This is my first year without LOR and first year with pixels, Pi, and fpp. Jumped head first woth about 7,000 pixels and I ordered 3 f1)v2s with expansions and one without lol. No idea why that many but I did lol


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[gadgetsmith]

You know I used to be that guy that didn't want to pack my universes either.  But the F16v2 has made it so easy I switched all my stuff over to pack it in there.  I've had outputs that start on channel 511 of a universe however crazy that may seem to some people.  That's why xLights and the Falcon boards are a perfect match because they both worth pretty much the same way.  Just define where things start and it handles the rest.

Same here.
2014 - Sized my Universes to fit props. Had all different controllers specified for different sized universes... things got pretty confusing.
2015 - Sized all my Universes to 510 channels (as I still have mostly E682's).  Any unused ports on my controllers already have channels setup in xLights.  When I want to add a prop (like this years tribute lamp), I just find a port on a controller to connect my prop, look it up on my spreadsheet, and program the start channel in xLights. Done.

[Gilrock]

Yeah I don't use spreadsheets to track channel number since I can access my controller from the same PC as xLights I just open the program on one monitor and the controllers on another and setup my start channels or change them when necessary.