Nutcracker: new effect coming for single string chases

[smeighan]

There are some threads here: http://diylightanimation.com/index.php?topic=8983.0
http://doityourselfchristmas.com/forums/showthread.php?21168-Question-on-using-Nutcracker-to-animate-a-single-strand-of-pixels


Here is some of those threads





<md..a thread on DIYC will probably cause me to do a new effect class for chases.


The thread was here: http://doityourselfchristmas.com/forums/showthread.php?21168-Question-on-using-Nutcracker-to-animate-a-single-strand-of-pixels/page2


it was started by people who want to have a single string along their roofline and be able to get nutcracker effects.

I tried that, still got "division by zero". Screenshot attached, am I doing something wrong? Thanks.

DennyMo; you are right it gives an error.


I will look into this.


For now, a workaround is this, if you want a 1x50 roofline, create this:
1 string x 200 pixels
in the effect set display window as 90 degrees


Now it generates 1 string with pixels 1-50 as you desire without giving a divide by zero
I created a rgb target in your account called LINE_SEAN
and an effect called meteors1_sean


here is the result

I was testing this some last night with a single strand (roof line element) with the butterfly effect and it worked great. Didn't think about using the meteor effect for chasing sequences until Sean posted.. very cool!

yep, i think just meteor and butterfly would be good for a single string.






I will build the new effect class called chase and get a dozen or so options on it.
I am thinking


chase with 1,2,3 colors?
color1?
color2?
color3?
how many pixels per color (default 1)? ( I am thinking of things like grouping colors as 3 pixels each, 5 pixels .etc.)
direction? Allow chase to go left to right or right to left
speed? (1=normal speed, .5 twice as slow, 3 = 3 times faster.)
sparkle percentage? (0-100, indicates random pixels set to white)
solid color fades? (Y or N, take color 1 and fade to color 2 over fade duration)
fade duration? (Enter seconds for fade, this is used with the above question)


well, that is just a start for chases


sean



Some more single string effects. Target is 1x200, 4 folds, 90 degree window. This will produce a 1x50 single string


GARLAND effect:
Effect Settings
username dennymo
user_target LINE_SEAN
effect_class garlands
effect_name GARLAND_SEAN
window_degrees 90
start_color #FF0D05
end_color #00FF00
frame_delay 30
sparkles 0
seq_duration 10
garland_gap 5
garland 0
show_frame N
submit Submit Form to create your effect
OBJECT_NAME garlands

BUTTERFLY effect
Effect Settings
username dennymo
user_target LINE_SEAN
effect_class butterfly
effect_name BFLY_SEAN
window_degrees 90
frame_delay 50
sparkles 0
seq_duration 10
formula 1
radian_shift 0
start_color #FF1303
end_color #0FFF4F
background_chunk 2
background_skip 50
background_color #FFFFFF
submit Submit Form to create your effect
OBJECT_NAME butterfly

and some more discussion

I few I think would be cool:


Double chase where the chase goes from both ends to the middle and then out to the ends.


Multiple chases where the string is divided up into sections with each section doing the same chase, or different if you like to add that as well. I'd like to specify the break points so they don't all have to be the same length but they stay in sync. This allows an effect on your eves but keeps the different sections of eves doing their own chase in sync with the rest.

double chase i was thinking about, i will add it.
multiple chase by dividing into sections sounds cool, ill look into it. shouldnt be hard.




i am thinking of something else.


a batch capablity. You have say 5 strings around your house. You want a different effect on each string (or maybe the same), fill in a table
Batch# target Effect
1 chase garland1
2 chas2 garland1
3 chase3 garland3
4 chase5 fly




now press a button and i will generate 4 runs of nutcracker and then merge the 4 into one output file.
i am working on the target generator where u can change the starting pixel (right now it is always 1). This way if 30 pixels is one eave and 20 is the next you create two targets


chase1 string 1 pixels 1-30
chase2 string 1 pixels 31-50


now you can do things like the butterfly effect on the two and they will be exactly synced in color even though they have different pixel count


seems single string effects could get better and better.


oh well, now i think i need rgb on my eaves.

 

[BrianJ]

thanks for this Sean, angus40 and I were just talking about it yesterday. It looks perfect for my show.