Nutcracker Effects into LSP help

burner · Aug 28, 2013

Wasn't sure which thread to go into, but I was hoping for some Nutcracker into LSP help.

I have a 20 strip * 33 Pixel tree sitting on the floor in the hallway. It's connected to the P12R using 4 Universes. So on each universe, it runs up-down-up-down-up and the other 3 channels run the same way (up-down-up-down-up).

I managed to get the tree working perfectly in Nutcracker/X-Lights by using the following settings:
Display As: Tree 180
Actual # of strings: 4 (4 universes)
# of RGB Nodes per String: 165 (each universe as 1 string)
# of strands per string: 5
Start Channel: 1
Starting at bottom left.
I created a 10 second sequence and exported the file (the 60 second one I created earlier wouldn't import at all).
I renamed the file (Useratterns.xml) and stuck it into the LSP directory and then opened LSP.
I expanded all 20 elements (each strip is an element (I'm guessing I should have made the universe 1 element)
I created a timing mark at 15 seconds and put in 60 timing marks (just a random number here)
I pasted the pattern in, which filled in all the 20 strips worth of channels and put it's own timing marks in.

The sequence in LSP looks absolutely nothing like the Nutcracker one. It definitely all lights up and every 1 second interval, it also seems to go off for a fraction of a second.
Can anyone with experience offer any help here? I was hoping to use a few Nutcracker effects for the Mega Tree and will also be using different macro's. I'm just testing the water before I start production on the sequencing. I can say after using Nutcracker for the last 2 days, it's very easy and quick to play around on the tree. It allows dynamic changes without having to wait.

Charl Marais · Aug 29, 2013

Ditto.
All I seem to get is a pattern of flashing lights with no resemblance to the Nutcracker effect.
I have tried one pattern and multiple patterns and I have tried everything from 10 seconds to 2 minutes and still no joy.
Duno what I am doing wrong :'(

smeighan · Aug 29, 2013

burner said:
Wasn't sure which thread to go into, but I was hoping for some Nutcracker into LSP help.

I have a 20 strip * 33 Pixel tree sitting on the floor in the hallway. It's connected to the P12R using 4 Universes. So on each universe, it runs up-down-up-down-up and the other 3 channels run the same way (up-down-up-down-up).

I managed to get the tree working perfectly in Nutcracker/X-Lights by using the following settings:
Display As: Tree 180
Actual # of strings: 4 (4 universes)
# of RGB Nodes per String: 165 (each universe as 1 string)
# of strands per string: 5
Start Channel: 1
Starting at bottom left.
I created a 10 second sequence and exported the file (the 60 second one I created earlier wouldn't import at all).
I renamed the file (Useratterns.xml) and stuck it into the LSP directory and then opened LSP.
I expanded all 20 elements (each strip is an element (I'm guessing I should have made the universe 1 element)
I created a timing mark at 15 seconds and put in 60 timing marks (just a random number here)
I pasted the pattern in, which filled in all the 20 strips worth of channels and put it's own timing marks in.

The sequence in LSP looks absolutely nothing like the Nutcracker one. It definitely all lights up and every 1 second interval, it also seems to go off for a fraction of a second.
Can anyone with experience offer any help here? I was hoping to use a few Nutcracker effects for the Mega Tree and will also be using different macro's. I'm just testing the water before I start production on the sequencing. I can say after using Nutcracker for the last 2 days, it's very easy and quick to play around on the tree. It allows dynamic changes without having to wait.

how you created the model in xlights is correct (1 string, 5 strands per string). When playing xlight effects on your tree it all looks good?

i dont know how you setup a string with 5 folds and then start again at the bottom. Maybe someone who has more experience with type of layout can help

you got it working in xlights/nutcracker, thats all i can really help with.

burner · Aug 29, 2013

Yes, it all worked fine in Nutcracker. The 5 strings was the right amount to get close to the universe count on the P12R (510 channels, and mine finish off at 495 which is 33 pixels * 5 lengths * 3 channels). I used 4 universes and started back at the base on each one to make the cable run easier (ie all lead in cables at the base). I was wrapped at how easy it was to generate the effects in Nutcracker. When I imported them however it doesn't even remotely resemble what I did in Nutcracker.

I deleted all 20 elements in LSP, and then re-created them identically to Nutcracker (i.e. 4 sections of 495 channels) and it still didn't work.

I might try tonight to create a 1 strip section of say 5 pixels and see if that works.

ԆцряєсϮ · Aug 29, 2013

I think the issue is the exported data from Xlights/nutcracker.
I had the same issue earlier this year. ( I havent revisited it yet so Im prolly a couple of releases behind)
Setup in XLNC was easy and all worked great, Exported for LSP but when you paste into your sequence in LSP the data seems to be layed out all wrong. Like its not allowing for the Z type string setup

Has anyone actually got this working with a similar set up tree?
Mine is 4 strands per string ( UP Down Up Down)
Would be interested on how you set it up if so.

Cheers
Rod

burner · Aug 29, 2013

Tonight I created a downscaled version of only 10 pixels in 1 string, (just to speed up the process to import into LSP) and it was still wrong. I'm now down to comparing differences in the XML files, but have given up for now because my son (9) kicked me off my machine to play Diablo 3

Charl Marais · Aug 31, 2013

Ok, been driving myself nuts trying to get this UserPatterns.xml thing to work correctly and no luck.
There is however a workaround that gives 100% the correct results.
Export to LOR *.lms file (it must be lms for LSP to import).
Open with LOR to make sure channel assignments are correct as I have found from time to time that it is not and I cannot explain why.
Next import the LOR file in LSP and hey preso you have a working effect.
Couple of issues here:
1. I own LOR but as far as I know you can use a demo and still do everything you need to make the effect work.
2. LSP will only import *.lms files and not animation files.
3. The imported effect will have RGB data stripped i.e. you have individual channels but it still works the same.

burner · Aug 31, 2013

Charl Marais said:
Ok, been driving myself nuts trying to get this UserPatterns.xml thing to work correctly and no luck.
There is however a workaround that gives 100% the correct results.
Export to LOR *.lms file (it must be lms for LSP to import).
Open with LOR to make sure channel assignments are correct as I have found from time to time that it is not and I cannot explain why.
Next import the LOR file in LSP and hey preso you have a working effect.
Couple of issues here:
1. I own LOR but as far as I know you can use a demo and still do everything you need to make the effect work.
2. LSP will only import *.lms files and not animation files.
3. The imported effect will have RGB data stripped i.e. you have individual channels but it still works the same.

Thanks for looking into this Charl. I've just tried this morning, and all I can get Nutcracker to export is a LAS file and not a LMS file. I can then open it in LOR (a demo version I downloaded this morning) and it looks o.k. I can't export it, so I did a save, but it also only saved it as an LAS file. When I try and import it into LSP, it sits at identifying 22% and nothing happens.

burner · Aug 31, 2013

I've progressed slightly here, I need to add in an audio file to LOR in order to save it as an LMS file. However because I have a demo version of LOR, the saved LMS file is encrypted with a heading of:
***************************************************
* *
* This file is a compressed sequence for use with *
* the Light-O-Rama software suite. *
* *
* http://www.lightorama.com/ *
* *
***************************************************
and then a bunch of weird characters.
Nutcracker can only export the LAS file (because no music is attached). I'm going around in circles here. I want the effects that Nutcracker can produce in 2 seconds into LSP, but there doesn't seem to be any way to do it. Can anyone help?

Superman · Aug 31, 2013

I havent had any luck with nutcracker/xlights export to LSP either.
I have been using the web based version of NC and it works fine.

Charl Marais · Sep 1, 2013

Make sure your music files are in the Nutcracker sequence directory and you can create musical sequences which then exports as lms files.
If you don't have music files in the Nutcracker sequence directory you can only create animation and thus only export animation files.

burner · Sep 1, 2013

Hi Charl,
Are you able to PM me a link to download 2 very small sample LMS files, 1 exported directly from xlights and the other from LOR? I want to see what the differences are. Unfortunately my demo version only allows a save as of the LMS file, and as soon as I do that it encrypts it. If I can find out the couple of lines that gets changed, I will just change the exported sequence from xlights in notepad++.

Charl Marais · Sep 9, 2013

Ok so after playing around a bit I have come up with the following.
LSP will import LOR S2 or S3 files but will strip RGB data. You end up with a file that has discrete channels but will still function correctly.
The LSP to LOR export function is slightly stuffed, however this is very easy to fix. Export the file the open it in a editor like Wordpad. Look for a statement with the following typical syntax:<channel name="CCR01-P01-Red " color="255" centiseconds="113379" deviceType="LOR" unit="2" circuit="1" savedIndex="0">
This gives you the total time for the track. Next look for: <track totalCentiseconds="0">
Replace the "0" with the total time "113379" in this case and save. Now your LSP export should open ins LOR with no problem.
This makes it really easy to sequence in LSP and add effects from xLights/Nutcracker into LOR for playing with the LOR scheduler.
Duno if this is useful for others but this has made my life a lot easier in the last couple of days.

burner · Sep 9, 2013

Charl Marais said:
Ok so after playing around a bit I have come up with the following.
LSP will import LOR S2 or S3 files but will strip RGB data. You end up with a file that has discrete channels but will still function correctly.
The LSP to LOR export function is slightly stuffed, however this is very easy to fix. Export the file the open it in a editor like Wordpad. Look for a statement with the following typical syntax:<channel name="CCR01-P01-Red " color="255" centiseconds="113379" deviceType="LOR" unit="2" circuit="1" savedIndex="0">
This gives you the total time for the track. Next look for: <track totalCentiseconds="0">
Replace the "0" with the total time "113379" in this case and save. Now your LSP export should open ins LOR with no problem.
This makes it really easy to sequence in LSP and add effects from xLights/Nutcracker into LOR for playing with the LOR scheduler.
Duno if this is useful for others but this has made my life a lot easier in the last couple of days.

Thanks for this Charl, I haven't had much time to play with the LOR saved files you sent me, but so far I have managed to get a DMX value file imported into LSP, but even though I change the controller to E1.31 RGB, it does not output to the lights at all. If I add a couple of 'on' values to the timing marks, only they output to the lights. I then tried to copy/paste those timing marks on a different controller, in a different file and although the information copied across, they still didn't output. The saved LSP file seems to be encrypted, so I can't compare with the LOR file and make the channel information say RGB instead of DMX.
It's now looking like xlights/nutcracker will be crossed off this year for me, as I'm running out of time and need to start sequencing in LSP.

Charl Marais · Sep 9, 2013

The LSP file is a zipped xml file as far as I am aware that can be unzipped using 7-zip or such.

Nutcracker Effects into LSP help

burner

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Charl Marais

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smeighan

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burner

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ԆцряєсϮ

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burner

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Charl Marais

For my twins was the excuse I started with.

burner

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Charl Marais

For my twins was the excuse I started with.

burner

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Charl Marais

For my twins was the excuse I started with.

burner

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Charl Marais

For my twins was the excuse I started with.