Author Topic: Element vs Strand vs Node  (Read 1381 times)

Offline grodq

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Element vs Strand vs Node
« on: July 26, 2017, 07:18:35 PM »
Having some difficulty with xlights and pasting effects onto an element and the strand and/or node not taking the same effect.  For me, I'm importing LOR effects into a new xlights sequence.  Everything comes in wonderfully and all is well.  I want to change an element (a single color type), I modify the element in xlights, removing or adding effects, etc.  I copy a range of effects from that element.  When I paste those effects onto another element (after deleting the old effects on the new element), it seems to paste ok.  But the strand and node effects are still the old effects (they didn't get deleted from the element).  OK, I delete those as well and repaste into the element and strand, ok, that's better, it plays and looks ok.  I render and voila, the node is updated with old effects again.  I can't delete from the node as there are no drag bars to select.  If I paste into the node and delete it'll go away, but render brings it all back.

1) Is there a way that deleting, copying, pasting an element will affect everything in that element?  In my case, one element, one strand, one node.
2) Why would the node keep overwriting with info that's not in the element/strand when I render?


Offline Phrog30

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Re: Element vs Strand vs Node
« Reply #1 on: July 26, 2017, 07:34:49 PM »
How are you importing?

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Offline grodq

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Re: Element vs Strand vs Node
« Reply #2 on: July 26, 2017, 07:54:46 PM »
Import, Import Effects, Choose my LMS file, Loading mapping, click ok.  Everything comes in and I click render to see it in my preview.  It looks mostly fine at this point.  I see that I do have a couple of nodes that are not 100% correct.  I used this method last year with the Christmas songs, but I didn't modify any of my existing elements, just added effects to the new elements.

Offline keithsw1111

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Re: Element vs Strand vs Node
« Reply #3 on: July 26, 2017, 07:56:49 PM »
The not selectable colour at the node level isn't an effect. It is just a visualisation of what will happen to that node due to an effect you placed on the strand or model or a model group containing that model.

Offline grodq

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Re: Element vs Strand vs Node
« Reply #4 on: July 29, 2017, 05:04:14 PM »
I went back into the mapping and noticed that I didn't attach a map at the node level, had it at the model and strand level.  I added those in, but it still didn't make it work.

What I've noticed is where I have a fade effect from 100% to 0% it shows as a 100% to 100%, even if I reapply a 100-0% fade.  Then I noticed if I click the effect and the handles are highlighted I can delete and then the fade appears.  Sometimes I have to delete 2 or 3 times for the effect to appear.  It's like there's multiple effects on top of one another even though I don't have multiple layers.

Still don't know why the element vs strand effects come out differently when I import.  And why sometimes the node effects are clickable (with handles) and sometimes just displaying the effect and not clickable.

Offline jnealand

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Re: Element vs Strand vs Node
« Reply #5 on: July 29, 2017, 07:28:31 PM »
Some of that can be due to the order you have the elements in.  Layers render bottom to top and elements / groups render top to bottom.  I think I remember that right, LOL
Jim Nealand
Kennesaw, GA