Selecting stacked effects

[hattg]

I am working on the I Want a Hippopotamus sequence that I received. I mapped it to my models. But I am having a problem choosing some of the effects. There are effects that I will call stacked, where 2 effects, tree and picture, are on top of each other on the same row.

I can choose one of the effects but no the other. How can I choose either one?

[Phrog30]

You should never have stacked effects, you should only have one effect per row. However, I have noticed on some imports it does happen, not very often though. What I did was create a new row and put one of the effects on the new row. Then you will be able to select both.

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[Gilrock]

Is that a Lilia sequence?  I should be able to get a copy from Sean and take a look.  I know for SuperStar imports its impossible to happen because I will create a new layer if there is a conflict when adding an effect.  We should be doing the same for all imports but probably aren't.

[Phrog30]

Is that a Lilia sequence?  I should be able to get a copy from Sean and take a look.  I know for SuperStar imports its impossible to happen because I will create a new layer if there is a conflict when adding an effect.  We should be doing the same for all imports but probably aren't.

In the cases where I received stacked effects, they were from superstar (purchased sequence). I sent you an email with a copy of the file so you could look at it. Perhaps you didn't get it.

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[hattg]

Yes, this is a Lilia sequence. I can try to take a screenshot of it tonight when I get home  if that would help? I will also try the suggestion of adding the extra row/layer.

[Gilrock]

If you've ever imported a .sup file its clear that you can start with 1 layer and end up with a bunch of layers after the import so if an effect is stomping on another its a weird outlying condition.  If I got an email about that it must have been months ago and I know I've accidentally deleted all my emails at least once since then.  Thought I was clearing out the Deleted Items folder and the online GUI had jumped back to my Inbox.

For hattg no a screenshot won't help I know what it looks like.  Also you can't fix it yourself if its happening.  Even if you created another layer xLights probably wouldn't use it.

[keithsw1111]

I went back through the code and as best I can tell the xlights import never prevented overlapping effects ... weird. I have added checks which will skip importing any effect that overlaps with an existing effect.

[Gilrock]

Actually the SuperStar import does have code to prevent overlaps.  I already created a function called "FindOpenLayer" where you pass in the start and end times and it will return you a pointer to the first open layer for that model and it will create a layer if none are open so it allows you to imports effects without blowing away something you might already have dropped on the model.

[Phrog30]

If you've ever imported a .sup file its clear that you can start with 1 layer and end up with a bunch of layers after the import so if an effect is stomping on another its a weird outlying condition.  If I got an email about that it must have been months ago and I know I've accidentally deleted all my emails at least once since then.  Thought I was clearing out the Deleted Items folder and the online GUI had jumped back to my Inbox.

For hattg no a screenshot won't help I know what it looks like.  Also you can't fix it yourself if its happening.  Even if you created another layer xLights probably wouldn't use it.

Yes, it was a while ago. Not even sure if I still have the sent email. When I got stacked effects, adding a new layer fixed things. I was then able to select and edit effects.

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[Gilrock]

I will remain a doubting Thomas until I see it myself.  It should be impossible to have a stacked effect on a SuperStar import and I don't see how if you did have stacked effects where creating a new blank layer would have any effect on a nearby layer.

[Phrog30]

I know, that's why I wanted to send you an email so you could see first hand. I've only seen it happen twice, and it has always happened in an area with a ton of effects.

On the other layer, I moved one of the effects so I'm not following why that wouldn't work. There were two effects stacked, I moved one so now they aren't stacked.

If I have time, and remember, I will look for that email which will have specific info on what sequence etc.

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[Gilrock]

Ok sure you could create a layer and move one of the effects.  I didn't tie together all the replies.  I thought hattg was saying he was going to create a new layer before the import and that would fix things.

[Phrog30]

Sorry, we probably could have explained it better.

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[Phrog30]

Gil, I actually found the email, just re-sent. Let me know if you don't get it.

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[Gilrock]

Fixed it for the SuperStar import.  I noticed the only effects that had an overlap were Fan effects so that pointed me right to where to look.  Turned out I was calling the function to get an open layer a little too early for the Spiral and Fan effects from SuperStar because they both have tails that bleed past their endpoints.  So I have to wait until I calculate the extended time I have to add on to the end.