Light "Marquee"

[Saman_deev]

Hi there,

I am a brand new user of xLights, and am looking to create a "marquee of lights", such as the attached:



However, I am going to be using pixels instead.

I have mapped out my arrangement for some test effects, but certain effects seem to present themselves a challenge. I have had a play around with the image effect, though what always ends up happening is that the image ends up being displayed side on. See this example.

Here is my 3D rendering of the element. I've just used 88 arches and adjusted them in #nodes according to an autocad drawing of the layout I did to calculate the length of strings I would need. I also  used the autocad layout as a guide image to help me place my arches in the right place.



You can also see both my house preview (which is what the display would look like if viewed from underneath, which is the direction most people would be viewing from, and my model preview (which is side on).

I have used the text tool just to write "hello". See below.



As you can see, it appears perfectly in the model view, side on, however this is not the direction I wanted the text to be displayed. I wanted the text to appear legible from the bottom, readable from the angle of which my house view is set.

Is there an easy way to do this? It is quite literally my first day using the program and would appreciate anyone's help.

Many thanks .

[keithsw1111]

I would use the spinner model.

If you want to use your model set a camera above the model and render using that camera

Now I am willing to bet that sounds like Chinese at this point so jump into xlights zoom any time day or night and ask the guys there to steer you in the right direction. Feel free to quote the two points above to help get them thinking right.

[Gilrock]

Yeah this is a case where I think trying to represent the model in 3D is going to hinder you.  Sure we have the features to render an effect as if looking down or up to the model but like Keith said a simple spinner model in 2D is going to be much easier to render effects onto for creation.  If you want to get fancy just create both models and overlay the channels then you can render effects to the spinner model and they will show up on the 3D representation so you can see what it will look like.

[Saman_deev]

Thanks everyone for your help, and thank you for being so kind . I did manage to set up a camera above my model, and render it using that (took me a little while to figure out how I could do that, though). I am going to give the spinner model a go today - it seems an easier way of doing things.

[keithsw1111]

You really will get things sorted faster in zoom.