Stars generator

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ruudboon
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Stars generator

Postby ruudboon » 06 Jun 2019, 19:51

I got 60 led panels with 16 rgb leds each.
I'm trying to make like a night of stars. So I want single pixels to random flash.
I experimented with the pixel mapper and shape generator but unfortunately I wasn't able to trigger single pixels in random order.
Thinking about loading a movie into the mapper but prefer to have something generated.

Any ideas?
icke_siegen
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Re: Stars generator

Postby icke_siegen » 15 Jun 2019, 10:29

What exactly have you tried? I'd really go for the pixelmapper in this case - the manual literally holds an example for exactly what you want to achieve. See https://www.avolites.com/Portals/0/down ... lV11.0.pdf, section 7.6 (page 173). Arrsange your fixtures, then create an object and play with random displacement and pre-spool.
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phb
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Re: Stars generator

Postby phb » 17 Jun 2019, 12:22

You may find that if you can't achieve the look you want in the pixel mapper, running a keyframe shape on a group containing all of the cells with randomised fixture order with a very small overlap, and using spread and the keyframe parameters to adjust the look of the twinkling, gives you the effect you want. It's a bit more work than the pixel mapper but you do get a lot more control over the twinkling look.
Pete Bridgman :: Avolites
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niclights
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Re: Stars generator

Postby niclights » 17 Jun 2019, 14:07

One advantage of using the keyframe method is guaranteeing single whole pixels which is not so easy with pixel mapping. Even though there is now the grid fit animation that did not exist when I originally wrote the randomising example it is fiddly and when I last tried I gave up as I could not get single pixels no matter what I tried (for any devs reading details are in the database). Another advantage is that you can have the effect run on dimmers only. At the moment the pixel mapper will insist on using the RGB controls where present. To a certain extent you can work around this by using pixel map layer masters but it's not ideal.

However, a disadvantage might be that the random order is fixed and will repeat. Sometimes this can look obvious. Hard to know without trying.

An alternative to both of these is to create a 16-step chase for each panel running where each step has just one of the dimmers on, set them to random and then autoload them all in a single cue cue-list set to fire with first cue. This is perhaps the most time-consuming to create but the advantage is continuous randomisation. If you wanted more than one pixel on at a time in any given panel you could make copies of the chases and autoload those too. If you assign them all to a BPM or rate master you could control the speed as one.
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sideshowbond
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Re: Stars generator

Postby sideshowbond » 17 Jun 2019, 20:56

One advantage of using the keyframe method is guaranteeing single whole pixels

Really? Somehow this didn't work for me when I tried something else. Setting the spread to the number of fixtures (I didn't use fixtures with cells) and direction to random gave me an ugly looking effect...
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niclights
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Re: Stars generator

Postby niclights » 18 Jun 2019, 09:52

sideshowbond wrote:
One advantage of using the keyframe method is guaranteeing single whole pixels

Really? Somehow this didn't work for me when I tried something else. Setting the spread to the number of fixtures (I didn't use fixtures with cells) and direction to random gave me an ugly looking effect...


Well, it's going to be somewhat dependent on the fade curve but I was making the comparison between the fundamental way keyframes work (ie. frame 1 = dimmer @ 100%, frame 1 = dimmer @ 0%) and pixel mapping where it can be tricky to get just one whole cell (as in the layout).

As an example take some American DJ 32 HEX Panel IP in 57 DMX mode, set the base colour to R0%, G0%, B0% and try to make a pixel map effect that randomly sets individual pixels to full white without overlapping any other pixels (I was using a combination of a block element with opacity, displacement and grid fit animation. I think that's right. Don't ask me what the correct ordering of the animations should be..!) Enjoy the challenge. I came to the conclusion it was impossible. (for devs it's #80811).
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phb
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Re: Stars generator

Postby phb » 18 Jun 2019, 11:43

sideshowbond wrote:
One advantage of using the keyframe method is guaranteeing single whole pixels

Really? Somehow this didn't work for me when I tried something else. Setting the spread to the number of fixtures (I didn't use fixtures with cells) and direction to random gave me an ugly looking effect...


You will want to use a group of fixtures with the order randomised (use [All] *) rather than the random direction in keyframe shape - using random direction in a KFS will result in a much less pleasing effect as, if I recall correctly, the randomness doesn't ensure that fixtures don't overlap.

* although sadly if you're running 11.3 I've just been told that this may not work due to a known bug in this version...
Pete Bridgman :: Avolites
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sideshowbond
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Re: Stars generator

Postby sideshowbond » 18 Jun 2019, 22:26

phb wrote:
sideshowbond wrote:
One advantage of using the keyframe method is guaranteeing single whole pixels

* although sadly if you're running 11.3 I've just been told that this may not work due to a known bug in this version...

A bug that makes key frame shapes ignore a randomised fixture order by any chance? Even storing a randomised group wouldn't work? Guess I stumbled scross that one.

Also I am interested at this point what Avo's predicted result in the following setup would be:
group of 10 fixtures
key frame shape (intensity, frame 1=FF, frame 2=0)
direction set to random, spread set to fixture count
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ruudboon
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Re: Stars generator

Postby ruudboon » 01 Jul 2019, 14:03

I solved it a bit with the shape generator and the randomise but not exactly like I planned. I want single pixel to random light up on random panels.
The pixel mapper always trigger a larger area then 1 pixel (most of the time 2 pixels).
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niclights
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Re: Stars generator

Postby niclights » 01 Jul 2019, 14:41

ruudboon wrote:I solved it a bit with the shape generator and the randomise but not exactly like I planned. I want single pixel to random light up on random panels.
The pixel mapper always trigger a larger area then 1 pixel (most of the time 2 pixels).

That is essentially what I was saying before. Personally I would go for the autoloading chases.

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