Aurora Support Forum: Import Vixen sequences?

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Buckeyelights View Drop Down

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Topic: Import Vixen sequences?
Posted: 13 Nov 2009 at 11:52am

Certainly not necessary to go through all the work for just me. I was wondering with a little bit of hope too. But as noted above there are plenty of LOR sequences and Aurora sequences available. If it would help market Aurora to more buyers, then, well that's not my call.

Tks!

Joe

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Posted: 13 Nov 2009 at 11:24am

Aurora doesn't do this directly, but I might be able to help DC develop a third-party plugin for this.

DC,

Some ideas:

1) Don't import "repeat" events (commands of the same intensity as what already is on)

2) Detect "intensity ladders" and replace them with ramp commands. Since repeats have been eliminated in #1, it should be fairly easy to detect these (repeated up/down intensities happening at near identical time intervals [maybe within a 5% threshold]). I can give you the formula for converting the time interval into the SI and LI parameters to use in the ramp command (under our NDA of course).

3) Cleanup any "unused" timing marks (those "orphaned" timings which do not result in any new command happening)

That process should get the file into a clean Aurora format. Shimmers and twinkles obviously would not be easily importable since they wouldn't be easily distinguishable from real intensity commands (does Vixen even have those... I haven't looked at it).

bdkeen

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Posted: 13 Nov 2009 at 7:05am

I had some rather limited success by importing Vixen into the LSP demo, saving as LOR, then importing the LOR into Aurora - BUT it wasn't clean and sequence from scratch became the better choice. If you attempt this do it before the LSP demo times out - once the LSP demo expires it stays expired even after a deinstall and wasn't able to run the demo again no matter what. I guess it's a try before you buy, but buy before it times out deal. (I haven't taken the time to see if it left stuff in the registry or somewhere so I could try the LSP demo approach again)

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Posted: 12 Nov 2009 at 9:18pm

I've poked around with the Vixen file format - I have a pretty good handle on how it works, and based on what I know, importing Vixen would be... ugly?

Vixen outputs a fixed time format - you can't adjust your timing marks like you can in Aurora - and every event is an intensity event. So a ramp down is just a series of intensities that step down. The D-Light and LOR controllers handle a ramp command as a single command (ramp down from 100% to 0% over 2 seconds) - Vixen would actually issue each intensity command at your chosen timing interval (100, 95, 90, 85, 80, ... etc).

A converter would work. I don't think it would be pretty because it would be harder to visualize because you couldn't see ramps, shimmers, and twinkles. So further editing isn't as "fun?"

All that said, I don't know that a converter exists. I could probably write one, but time isn't on my side right now. :( I'd suggest trying the community Aurora sequences if you haven't already - I'm sure there's also a LOR repository somewhere that you could use too.

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Buckeyelights View Drop Down

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Posted: 10 Nov 2009 at 12:08pm

Will Aurora import Vixen sequences?

I still consider myself terrible at setting the timing marks even with the little helper ticks that Aurora provides. So until I get more practice or more confidence, I like importing a sequence for the timing. Anyway there are a lot of Vixen sequences available and I was wondering if Aurora will successfully import them?

Tks!

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: Import Vixen sequences? Posted: 13 Nov 2009 at 11:52am
	Certainly not necessary to go through all the work for just me. I was wondering with a little bit of hope too. But as noted above there are plenty of LOR sequences and Aurora sequences available. If it would help market Aurora to more buyers, then, well that's not my call. Tks! Joe

LightsOnLogan Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group Joined: 11 Oct 2007 Online Status: Offline Posts: 3187	Quote Reply Posted: 13 Nov 2009 at 11:24am
	Aurora doesn't do this directly, but I might be able to help DC develop a third-party plugin for this. DC, Some ideas: 1) Don't import "repeat" events (commands of the same intensity as what already is on) 2) Detect "intensity ladders" and replace them with ramp commands. Since repeats have been eliminated in #1, it should be fairly easy to detect these (repeated up/down intensities happening at near identical time intervals [maybe within a 5% threshold]). I can give you the formula for converting the time interval into the SI and LI parameters to use in the ramp command (under our NDA of course). 3) Cleanup any "unused" timing marks (those "orphaned" timings which do not result in any new command happening) That process should get the file into a clean Aurora format. Shimmers and twinkles obviously would not be easily importable since they wouldn't be easily distinguishable from real intensity commands (does Vixen even have those... I haven't looked at it).


bdkeen Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Visit Members Homepage Add to Buddy List Beta Testers Joined: 31 Dec 2007 Location: Easton,PA Online Status: Offline Posts: 380	Quote Reply Posted: 13 Nov 2009 at 7:05am
	I had some rather limited success by importing Vixen into the LSP demo, saving as LOR, then importing the LOR into Aurora - BUT it wasn't clean and sequence from scratch became the better choice. If you attempt this do it before the LSP demo times out - once the LSP demo expires it stays expired even after a deinstall and wasn't able to run the demo again no matter what. I guess it's a try before you buy, but buy before it times out deal. (I haven't taken the time to see if it left stuff in the registry or somewhere so I could try the LSP demo approach again)


deweycooter Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Visit Members Homepage Add to Buddy List Development Joined: 14 Oct 2007 Location: League City, TX Online Status: Offline Posts: 674	Quote Reply Posted: 12 Nov 2009 at 9:18pm
	I've poked around with the Vixen file format - I have a pretty good handle on how it works, and based on what I know, importing Vixen would be... ugly? Vixen outputs a fixed time format - you can't adjust your timing marks like you can in Aurora - and every event is an intensity event. So a ramp down is just a series of intensities that step down. The D-Light and LOR controllers handle a ramp command as a single command (ramp down from 100% to 0% over 2 seconds) - Vixen would actually issue each intensity command at your chosen timing interval (100, 95, 90, 85, 80, ... etc). A converter would work. I don't think it would be pretty because it would be harder to visualize because you couldn't see ramps, shimmers, and twinkles. So further editing isn't as "fun?" All that said, I don't know that a converter exists. I could probably write one, but time isn't on my side right now. :( I'd suggest trying the community Aurora sequences if you haven't already - I'm sure there's also a LOR repository somewhere that you could use too.
	Aurora Lights Wiki

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: 10 Nov 2009 at 12:08pm
	Will Aurora import Vixen sequences? I still consider myself terrible at setting the timing marks even with the little helper ticks that Aurora provides. So until I get more practice or more confidence, I like importing a sequence for the timing. Anyway there are a lot of Vixen sequences available and I was wondering if Aurora will successfully import them? Tks! Joe