Nutcracker: RGB effects builder released

[smeighan]

Hi all;


I have released the Effects builder for the Nutcracker.


There are 4 parts to the nutcracker


1) Build a target model
2) Create effects and add them into your user library
3) Pick a target model and an effect and create an animated sequence. Produce this as an animated GIF
4) Create this sequence as an xml file for lsp,lor or vixen


I have 1-3 working now. It is pretty cool. There are lots of moving parts on this. Error checking,navigations is still rough. All of the forms are built dynamically so i have to load up the effect_class table, i have to join the effect generators to the user models.






This is an alpha release. Things can and will break. Things that were working, may now become broken.
I will be releasing new code every single day for the next 1-2 weeks. Play with it and give me some feedback on usability, features and bugs.


So some caveats:
I dont have all of the color working like i want. If you select 3 spirals, i will override your color choice and make each spiral red, white and blue. If you pick more than 4 spirals then i will use your color selections. I think i need to prompt for each spiral for color.


navigation and error checking are pretty rough right now, i am releasing it so you can start to play.


Login in to http://meighan.net/nutcracker/login/login-form.php
1) Be sure you have target models saved!!. This is the number one error i am seeing.
You can safely click on a target and resave it. This creates a files that is needed by the effects generator.
2) Select Effects Generator
3) Now you select one of your target models and an effect class.
These are the effect classes i have so far
a) spirals
b) bands
c) pictures
d) meteors
e) text
f) snowflakes


With this release I have only connected spirals to the effects generator. I will be connecting the others over the next week.


4) After submitting the form , you are now asked to customize the effect class.
Give a name to your effect and submit form to go and it will generate an animated gif.


Loop on #4 , changing parameters and see what spiral effects you like.


Here are some user effects


Array
(
[username] => f
[user_target] => ZZ_ZZ
[effect_class] => spirals
[effect_name] => sean6
[number_spirals] => 7
[number_rotations] => 2
[spiral_thickness] => 2
[start_color] => #40FF40
[end_color] => #FF59DE
[frame_delay] => 22
[direction] => 2
[submit] => Submit Form to create your target model
)

The same target, modify parameters of effect
(
[username] => f
[user_target] => ZZ_ZZ
[effect_class] => spirals
[effect_name] => sean5
[number_spirals] => 7
[number_rotations] => 2
[spiral_thickness] => 1
[start_color] => #FF7417
[end_color] => #EFFF08
[frame_delay] => 22
[direction] => cw
[submit] => Submit Form to create your target model
)

(
[username] => f
[user_target] => ZZ_ZZ
[effect_class] => spirals
[effect_name] => sean4
[number_spirals] => 3
[number_rotations] => 2
[spiral_thickness] => 5
[start_color] => #FF7417
[end_color] => #EFFF08
[frame_delay] => 22
[direction] => ccw
[submit] => Submit Form to create your target model
)

thanks, enjoy!

 

[Tallahassee Dreamer]

Ok I went to the page followed the prompts and got an error and no animation. On speed do we type 50 or 50ms. Perhaps you could look at my selections or perhaps capture a screenshot of what a finish selection form should look like. also can we delete a stored file?

 

[smeighan]

Ok I went to the page followed the prompts and got an error and no animation. On speed do we type 50 or 50ms. Perhaps you could look at my selections or perhaps capture a screenshot of what a finish selection form should look like. also can we delete a stored file?

you type 50.


But your error had nothing to do with that.


If your user name or your effect name has embedded spaces, it currently is not working. I am fixing this now.


Effect name with embedded spaces is now fixed and released.


I am working on fixing users who had embedded spaces, for example "Tallahassee Dreamer".
[/size]
[/size]it will be fixed shortly.
[/size]
[/size]thanks

 

[smeighan]

Embedded spaces are fixed in user names and effect names.


thanks

 

[smeighan]

New option on spiral class added.


sparkles is a number form 0-100. This indicates what percentage of the pixels being drawn should have their color overwritten and instad be set to white.
0 means , do not have any sparkles.


I did this as a test, to verify i can add options to the class without needing to touch the html forms.


it works as expected and is now another option for you to choose.


Here is an example, notice sparkles is now one of the options. BTW, i think something like 10% looks better. go ahead and play


(
[username] => Tallahassee Dreamer
[user_target] => MEGA1
[effect_class] => spirals
[effect_name] => sean4
[number_spirals] => 7
[number_rotations] => 2
[spiral_thickness] => 3
[start_color] => #1812BD
[end_color] => #0F0C6B
[frame_delay] => 22
[direction] => 1
[sparkles] => 10
[submit] => Submit Form to create your target model
)

thanks

 

[AussiePhil]

[SIZE=small]Sean[/SIZE]

[SIZE=small]wow this is really starting to come together.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=small]Couple things for you from my experience playing just now.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=small]- Calling your point of origin "pixel 1" is confusing to me even though you make it clear it's for internal use.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=small]- the start colour, end colour are describe as morphing top to bottom, playing with different numbers of spirals shows that is not how it currently functions. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=small]- you went back to total string length rather than pixel spacing, seems a backward step when you collect the count.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=small]- certainly for spirals it would be nice to specify each spiral colour and or the vertical colour change.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=small]Taking that a step further making complex olour gradients both around the tree and vertically on a tree would be unreal[/SIZE]


Think i still owe you some vixen files, i've lost track


Cheers
Phil

 

[smeighan]

[SIZE=small]Sean[/SIZE]

[SIZE=small]wow this is really starting to come together.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=small]Couple things for you from my experience playing just now.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=small]- Calling your point of origin "pixel 1" is confusing to me even though you make it clear it's for internal use.[/SIZE]
Maybe i should call them n1 to nxx. Something that makes sure there is no confusion with the pixel number on your strings?


[SIZE=small]- the start colour, end colour are describe as morphing top to bottom, playing with different numbers of spirals shows that is not how it currently functions. [/SIZE]
This was a bug that i fixed last night, it should morph correctly now
[SIZE=small]- you went back to total string length rather than pixel spacing, seems a backward step when you collect the count.[/SIZE]
I have always prompted for total length of string. I have displayed pixel spacing. This is probably confusing. Maybe i should just prompt for pixel spacing and total pixels??

[SIZE=small]- certainly for spirals it would be nice to specify each spiral colour and or the vertical colour change.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=small]Taking that a step further making complex olour gradients both around the tree and vertically on a tree would be unreal[/SIZE]
Yep, i have it on my plan. Here was my idea for expanded color prompts:

Do you want the same color scheme for all spirals?
if yes then prompt
global_start_color, global_end_color
else
Strand #1: start and end color
Strand #2: start and end color
..
Strand #Last: start and end color

With some people having 76 strands, i was thinking of also asking
Do you want to create color groups for your strands?
if yes then
How many color groups? (Say they answer 3)
Group#1 start,end color
Group #2, start,end color
Group #3, Start,end color
Then i would do
Strand#1 uses Group#1 colors
Strand#2 uses Group#2 colors
Strand#3 uses Group#3 colors
Strand#4 uses tgroup#1 colors
Strand#5 uses Group#2 colors
.etc until all strands have been assigned.

When I do amorphous blobs, i will be doing color gradients both vertically and horizontally and moving the color blobs around.


Think i still owe you some vixen files, i've lost track
If you have a vixen file that uses a rgb megatree, that would be perfect.


Cheers
Phil

 

[smeighan]

Hi, this is so cool thanks for all the work.
Any chance of having a background colour. i.e. tree green & spirals in red (or what ever colours you chose).
Thanks.


New Release Option for spirals class: background_color


Per the above request, i have added a new option the effect class.


If you answer yes u want a background color, every pixel of your tree will be set to that color. Next i take whatever animation you have and put it on top of the background.


Here is an example


_POST
username f
user_target ZZ_ZZ
effect_class spirals
effect_name background test
number_spirals 3
number_rotations 2
spiral_thickness 2
window_degrees 180
start_color #0DFF05
end_color #1C14FF
frame_delay 22
direction ccw
sparkles 0
use_background Y
background_color #067306
submit Submit Form to create your target model
Creating Effect, spirals class: : Elapsed time = 0.05011 seconds
Finished Effect, spirals class: : Elapsed time = 0.09783 seconds
Starting Rotate image about Z axis : Elapsed time = 0.09790 seconds
Finished Rotate image about Z axis : Elapsed time = 3.95531 seconds
Making gnuplot command file: : Elapsed time = 3.95537 seconds
Finished gnuplot command file: : Elapsed time = 3.96694 seconds
Calling Gnuplot: : Elapsed time = 3.96712 seconds
Finished Gnuplot: : Elapsed time = 9.25005 seconds
Calling Imagick to make animated GIF: : Elapsed time = 9.25013 seconds
Finished Imagick to make animated GIF: : Elapsed time = 9.62273 seconds

MODEL: ZZ_ZZ.dat
target_name ZZ_ZZ
total_strings 16
pixel_count 80
pixel_length 240.00
unit_of_measure in
topography UP_DOWN_NEXT
Total Elapsed time for this effect: : Elapsed time = 9.77069 seconds

 

[smeighan]

I have added a gallery on the effects form screen.


This basically goes and finds every gif image that has been created and shows them. I will create a hyperlink that will allow you to click on an image and then copy that effect into your private library. This will save you from answering 20 questions.


Because i make so many releases per day, sometime > 20. I am going to start ending my posts with a summary of all changes. This readers digest version means you kind jump to the end of these threads and not miss anything.


we will see if this helps.

NUTCRACKER SUMMARY OF CHANGES


Effect builder now has new options:
1) sparkles: is a number form 0-100. This indicates what percentage of teh pixels being drawn should have their color overwritten and instad be set to white.
0 means , do not have any sparkles.


2) window_degrees: Value 0-360 degres
this is how much of your tree will be displayed.
360 will show entire tree, 180 = half a tree, 90 = 1/4 of a tree.
thanks


3) Nutcracker now displays timing as it runs


Example:
Creating Effect, spirals class: : Elapsed time = 0.13534 seconds
Finished Effect, spirals class: : Elapsed time = 0.24950 seconds
Starting Rotate image about Z axis : Elapsed time = 0.24957 seconds
Finished Rotate image about Z axis : Elapsed time = 11.28429 seconds
Making gnuplot command file: : Elapsed time = 11.28435 seconds
Finished gnuplot command file: : Elapsed time = 11.38652 seconds
Calling Gnuplot: : Elapsed time = 11.38672 seconds
Finished Gnuplot: : Elapsed time = 26.79310 seconds
Calling Imagick to make animated GIF: : Elapsed time = 26.79319 seconds
Finished Imagick to make animated GIF: : Elapsed time = 27.30974 seconds


4) Two new options to set background color
use_background Y
background_color #067306

If you answer yes u want a background color, every pixel of your tree will be set to that color.
Next i take whatever animation you have and put it on top of the background.




5) Added the Gallery of effects
to the effects form. Now you can see all other users effects.


END OF SUMMARY


Thanks

 

[smeighan]

Doing the current meter, i found a bug in my color transformation code. Nutcracker never uses r,g,b anywhere except whenit is all finished. Everything is in HSV, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HSL_and_HSV.


The Hue allows me to morph colors easily. Well when i morphed from one color to the second, H1,S1,V1 into H2,S2,V2 i morphed the hue (H1=>H2) but i set the S and V to 100%. Why? I don't remember. Maybe because at the time i liked bright colors. S=100% Indicates full saturation of the Hue, V=100% is full brightness.


I fixed the logic so now all three are morphing correctly.


What does this mean? It means before you could not do grays. You also couldnt fade a bright red down to black. Now you can.


Here is a gray color scheme


username f
user_target AA
effect_class spirals
effect_name GRAY_CHECK
number_spirals 4
number_rotations 2
spiral_thickness 2
window_degrees 360
start_color #CFCFCF
end_color #A3A3A3
frame_delay 22
direction cw
sparkles
use_background n
background_color #0B3802
submit Submit Form to create your target model

And here is a color hue , leaving the hue and fading to black.
_POST
username f
user_target AA
effect_class spirals
effect_name GRAY_CHECK
number_spirals 4
number_rotations 2
spiral_thickness 2
window_degrees 360
start_color #FA053E
end_color #3D3637
frame_delay 22
direction cw
sparkles
use_background n
background_color #0B3802
submit Submit Form to create your target model

Here is readers digest of all changes so far this last week:





NUTCRACKER SUMMARY OF CHANGES



Effect builder now has new options:
1) sparkles: is a number form 0-100. This indicates what percentage of teh pixels being drawn should have their color overwritten and instad be set to white.
0 means , do not have any sparkles.


2) window_degrees:[/B] Value 0-360 degres
this is how much of your tree will be displayed.
360 will show entire tree, 180 = half a tree, 90 = 1/4 of a tree.
thanks


3) Nutcracker now displays timing as it runs


Example:
Creating Effect, spirals class: : Elapsed time = 0.13534 seconds
Finished Effect, spirals class: : Elapsed time = 0.24950 seconds
Starting Rotate image about Z axis : Elapsed time = 0.24957 seconds
Finished Rotate image about Z axis : Elapsed time = 11.28429 seconds
Making gnuplot command file: : Elapsed time = 11.28435 seconds
Finished gnuplot command file: : Elapsed time = 11.38652 seconds
Calling Gnuplot: : Elapsed time = 11.38672 seconds
Finished Gnuplot: : Elapsed time = 26.79310 seconds
Calling Imagick to make animated GIF: : Elapsed time = 26.79319 seconds
Finished Imagick to make animated GIF: : Elapsed time = 27.30974 seconds


4) Two new options to set background color
use_background Y
background_color #067306
[/B]
If you answer yes u want a background color, every pixel of your tree will be set to that color.
Next i take whatever animation you have and put it on top of the background.




5) Added the Gallery of effects
to the effects form. Now you can see all other users effects.


6) Added current meter to show how much DC current is being drawn by your animation


7) Fixed color bug. In H1,S1,V1 => H2,S2,V2 transformations, i was only modifying the hue.




END OF SUMMARY

[/b]

 

[smeighan]

New release of Nutcracker has spiral class option: handiness


The choice is L or R indicating which way the spiral goes down the tree.


Here is a right handiness tree

here is same tree but with left handiness

And here are the settings for the models
LEFT
_POST
username f
user_target AA
effect_class spirals
effect_name left_TEST
handiness L
number_spirals 4
number_rotations 2
spiral_thickness 2
window_degrees 180
start_color #FF147A
end_color #FFF712
frame_delay 5
direction cw
sparkles
use_background n
background_color #FFFFFF
submit Submit Form to create your target mode


and the RIGHT model


_POST
username f
user_target AA
effect_class spirals
effect_name RIGHT_TEST
handiness R
number_spirals 4
number_rotations 2
spiral_thickness 2
window_degrees 180
start_color #FF147A
end_color #FFF712
frame_delay 5
direction cw
sparkles
use_background n
background_color #FFFFFF
submit Submit Form to create your target model


And I finish with summary of changes to Nutcracker.



NUTCRACKER SUMMARY OF CHANGES



Effect builder now has new options:
1) sparkles: is a number form 0-100. This indicates what percentage of teh pixels being drawn should have their color overwritten and instad be set to white.
0 means , do not have any sparkles.


2) window_degrees: Value 0-360 degres
this is how much of your tree will be displayed.
360 will show entire tree, 180 = half a tree, 90 = 1/4 of a tree.


3) Nutcracker now displays timing as it runs


Example:
Creating Effect, spirals class: : Elapsed time = 0.13534 seconds
Finished Effect, spirals class: : Elapsed time = 0.24950 seconds
Starting Rotate image about Z axis : Elapsed time = 0.24957 seconds
Finished Rotate image about Z axis : Elapsed time = 11.28429 seconds
Making gnuplot command file: : Elapsed time = 11.28435 seconds
Finished gnuplot command file: : Elapsed time = 11.38652 seconds
Calling Gnuplot: : Elapsed time = 11.38672 seconds
Finished Gnuplot: : Elapsed time = 26.79310 seconds
Calling Imagick to make animated GIF: : Elapsed time = 26.79319 seconds
Finished Imagick to make animated GIF: : Elapsed time = 27.30974 seconds


4) Two new options to set background color
use_background Y
background_color #067306

If you answer yes u want a background color, every pixel of your tree will be set to that color.
Next i take whatever animation you have and put it on top of the background.




5) Added the Gallery of effects
to the effects form. Now you can see all other users effects.


6) Added current meter to show how much DC current is being drawn by your animation


7) Fixed color bug. In H1,S1,V1 => H2,S2,V2 transformations, i was only modifying the hue.


Handiness option now on spiral class. You can specify which way the spirals are drawn as they go from top to bottom on your tree.




END OF SUMMARY

 

[joeengler]

This is a great project that will help a lot of people using RGB trees this year. I can't wait until we can click on everyones sample and see how each one was configured or use it as a base to set your own up.

 

[smeighan]

One user has loaded a vir file and got the profile setup for Vixen.


he made a movie of what it looks like:

Take a look at this screen video of how one of the effects looks on the Vixen adjustable preview. The preview was created by the RGB profiler.


http://emmanuelmiranda.info/nutcracker/


Is looking Good!!!!

 

[AussiePhil]

Sean

I'm going to ask this without knowing how hard it is.

Is it possible to create a pixel string input that goes goes up-down N-Times.

Two reasons.
One for short trees it's quite possible to go up-down-up-down in a single universe, thus maximising channels usage
Two, it will shortly be possible to drive thousands of Pixels from a single controller port so the actual pixel data drive would be a continous run.
as in a 32 x 50 count string tree has 1600 pixels with 16 x Up-Down sections with pixels numbered 1->1600.
Shouldn't impact the vir/profile stuff in Vixen or any other software, it's more about the logical way we enter data into the model for you generate the actual Pixel Map.

Cheers
Phil

Sorry to keep throwing requirements at you

 

[smeighan]

Sean

I'm going to ask this without knowing how hard it is.

Is it possible to create a pixel string input that goes goes up-down N-Times.

Two reasons.
One for short trees it's quite possible to go up-down-up-down in a single universe, thus maximising channels usage
Two, it will shortly be possible to drive thousands of Pixels from a single controller port so the actual pixel data drive would be a continous run.
as in a 32 x 50 count string tree has 1600 pixels with 16 x Up-Down sections with pixels numbered 1->1600.
Shouldn't impact the vir/profile stuff in Vixen or any other software, it's more about the logical way we enter data into the model for you generate the actual Pixel Map.

Cheers
Phil

Sorry to keep throwing requirements at you

I already committed to this earlier today.





all Nutcracker RGB effects are based on a simple topology


The top of the model is always Nutcracker Pixel #1
Going around the model , the vertical direction is called strands.


whatever rgb device u have, a mega-tree a horizontal or vertial grid, lights wrapped around the spheres of a snowman. The top is always 1, vertical bars are strands .


By keeping this internal form, all of my effects can be applied to any rgb device.


This is why earlier i had said that the target modeler was the key to getting all the cool effects.


I plan on some mini trees. I will take two strings, 120 pixels each. I will wrap each string 10 times, up and down. Each strand will have 12 pixels or 36". I will build a 180 degree, half tree.


So with just two strings I will have a minitree that is 35" high.
Here is what a two string minitree looks like: