Newbie's basic questions

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   Chris & Jonathon,
Thanks for responses. It sends me on my way.  Hopefully my next set of questions will be a little beyond the basics.

Joe

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Buckeyelights Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 04 Feb 2009 Online Status: Offline Posts: 124	Quote Reply Topic: Newbie's basic questions Posted: 04 Jun 2009 at 3:24pm
	Chris & Jonathon, Thanks for responses. It sends me on my way. Hopefully my next set of questions will be a little beyond the basics. Joe

Jonathan Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Visit Members Homepage Add to Buddy List Beta Testers Joined: 07 Sep 2008 Location: SoCal Online Status: Offline Posts: 1237	Quote Reply Posted: 04 Jun 2009 at 11:33am
	Chris covered most of these, but I'll go over them as well. 1) As chris stated, copy/paste is done with the "Y" tool, by first selecting the area to be copied, then right clicking. There are four different paste options to choose from, and the best way to see how they work is to try each one out. I see that you've viewed the video tutorials, but check out the ones for firefly too, as they are also relevant to normal proramming. Firefly Part 2 shows how to use copy/paste specifically. 2) Timing can be both easy, and tricky. No doubt you've figured out that the gray tick marks at the top of the screen are "beat markers", and while not perfect, they represent where the porogram thinks a beat occurs. Most of your event markers will match these lines, although you can place time lines anywhere. For arch timing, you will often want even, smooth movements, requiring even spacing. It is possible to do this, and you can do it with the "Y" tool as well. Simply place a marker at the beginning and one at the end of the sequence. Right click inbetween the two areas, and select "Split Cells". There are a few options here, but the easiest is to tell the program the number of times you want the cell split. If you have 7 parts to your arch, you may want to split it into 7 cells. If you want to do a ramp in/out, choose a few more. 3) Smooth arch sequencing relies on ramps. While the first section is on, program the second section to ramp on while the first section ramps out. Simple On/Off intensity commands will result in a choppy look. 4) As Chris stated, yes, this is a good idea. You can import your channels into any file, including shared sequences, which brings me to... 5) ...using shared sequences. Like with all your other sequences, start by Importing your channel template file. Use the BCE (Bulk Channel editor) to make any changes. 6) Chris covered this already. 7) Not at this time, but we are always happy to answer questions here. The video quality was lost upon YouTube's conversion; even the HD version leaves a lot to be desired. If I get a chance I'll upoad them to my Vimeo channel to see if they have a better conversion quality. 8) I prefer the amplitude, myself. I've never taken the time to learn how to read a spectrogram. I also highlight the section I am working on by selecting a portion between two beat markers. For me it's easier to program to the spikes and dips than blue and orange/red colors.
	~Jonathan

ChrisL1976 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Visit Members Homepage Add to Buddy List Beta Testers Joined: 01 Sep 2008 Location: Kankakee, Ill Online Status: Offline Posts: 1341	Quote Reply Posted: 02 Jun 2009 at 2:28pm
	Question #4: Thats what I think most of us do. Last year I had a "2008 Christmas Show" template file I used when I started each sequence. No reason to do work over and over Question #6 go to File pull down menu, click PROPERTIES You'll see the sequence file come up with the Title, Author, Media AV file, ect. Click the folder next to the PICTURE line and choose your picture file. Then click SAVE Edited by ChrisL1976 - 02 Jun 2009 at 2:29pm
	Chris www.lightsonsixth.com

ChrisL1976 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Visit Members Homepage Add to Buddy List Beta Testers Joined: 01 Sep 2008 Location: Kankakee, Ill Online Status: Offline Posts: 1341	Quote Reply Posted: 02 Jun 2009 at 2:24pm
	Question #3: PM me your email address and I will send you my "Wonderful Christmas Time" Sequence. It was the sequence I had to specifically show off my arches. Besides the icicle lights showing up, its only my arches and my 3 arches just happen to be 7 channels. It kind of runs though a bunch of different arch effects.
	Chris www.lightsonsixth.com

ChrisL1976 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Visit Members Homepage Add to Buddy List Beta Testers Joined: 01 Sep 2008 Location: Kankakee, Ill Online Status: Offline Posts: 1341	Quote Reply Posted: 02 Jun 2009 at 2:17pm
	We all had that Newbie classification at one time. Let see if I can answer #1 at least. Do you see the tools bar on the left upper part of your screen, click the button with the Y next to a dashed box. That the selection tool. Click on the first cell in the channel you want to copy, When you left click to choose the cell, hold it down and press the END key. That will take you to the end of your sequence. After you release the left click button you will see a blue shaded area with a yellow outline Right Click in that area and select "COPY SELECTION" Now press the HOME key. that will take you to the beginning of you sequence. Left click in the first cell of the channel you wish to place the copied channel into. Once you left click, right click and choose PASTE SELECTION, then choose "use the timeline already on the grid" and press CONTINUE It may take a few seconds to paste the entire channel especially if you have a bunch of commands on it. This will work with copying multiple channels as well. If you want to copy 3 channel, just choose the first 3 channel before you press END. NOTE: The more you copy, the longer it take to paste the selection.
	Chris www.lightsonsixth.com

Buckeyelights Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 04 Feb 2009 Online Status: Offline Posts: 124	Quote Reply Posted: 02 Jun 2009 at 10:38am
	Gosh, I feel kind of awkward asking some pretty basic questions, oh well here goes anyhow. You can laugh out loud, I don’t mind. 1. How about some simple copy and paste instructions? Can an entire channel(s) sequence be copied? In my testing I was able to copy and paste, therefore move around some small sections of a sequence, but I struggled with moving an entire channel from one spot to another. 2. This is kind of hard to explain, hope this makes sense. While trying to experiment with some arch sequencing, I wanted to make the arches move faster than the timing of other stuff. Is there a way to make separate timing for an arch? Or do I need to set the event marker to the arch sequence, then repeat the events for the other channels until it catches up to the arch timing? 3. Do you use on/off or ramps for your arch movement? Both huh? Any recommendations for where to find some good arches shared sequences? My arches have 7 channels. 4. Seems like it would make sense to set up a template with my channel layout and a picture of my house drawn with lights on it. Then use this template as the beginning of each of my sequences. 5. Any advice on what size of shared sequence to look for? I’ll have a total of 72 channels available, 64 of which will be for main sequencing, the remaining 8 will be for specialty items. Should I look for a 16 channel sequence and then duplicate it 4 times through my additional channels? Or is it easier, yea I’m looking for an easier way, to find a 64 channel shared sequence and modify that? 6. When I import a shared sequence I can’t figure out how to get a picture of my house in the visualizer, it defaults to the stock file house? 7. Is a print version of the video tutorial about importing sequences available? Even viewing it in the HD version, it is tough to make out some of the smaller details on the screen. Plus it would be easier to following along at my slow speed. Thanks for putting those together, they’re a huge help. 8. Do you use the spectrogram or amplitude banner across the top? I wish the words of the song were visible across the top too. How do you keep track where you in the song? I’ve been highlighting about 5 seconds of the spectrogram and replaying it over and over. Is there a better way? Hopefully one day in the not too distant future, I’ll laugh at myself for asking these questions. Until then….well, HELP!!!! Posters, thank you so much for your patience and assistance. Joe P.S. What time does Sequencing 101 begin?