XLights Help Please - Some lights not coming on, when I expect them to, and tips for twinkle effect

SimoG

SimoG

New elf
Joined
May 8, 2023
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34
Location
Cleveland, Brisbane
It is getting close to d-day, and I am struggling with some components of x-Lights. I would love a nudge in the right direction.

Firstly, some of the lights in the sequence are not coming on when I expect them to. Likely due to config but I can't seem to work it out.
Here is a screenshot of my sequence.
1701075810935.png

The Blue Green lights come on, as to the Red/Yellow, however the Gutter icicles do not. This occurs in the preview, and when I output directly to FPP. I have noticed that when I drill down to the strand and node, The Icicle isn't visible, where the blue lights are in the sequencer.

Any guidance on what I have done wrong?

My second question, is I have played with the Twinkle setting a fair bit, and I haven't been able to find a setting that gives a nice twinkle efffect, similar to the OEM controller the (Bunnings Lights) came with. What twinkle settings are people using for the Bunnings lights with a DMX2-24?

1701076188706.png

Thanks in advance!
 
SimoG said:
The Blue Green lights come on, as to the Red/Yellow, however the Gutter icicles do not
Click to expand...
You've defined the Blue/Green as blue. So by putting a Magenta effect on it, that's the equivalent of R=255, G=0, B=255 - so the blue component is extracted and displayed.
The icicles are defined as a "White" string. So by putting magenta, it does not have the full RGB values to be considered white. Change the effect colour to White and you'll have more success.

Twinkle will give you random dots on a matrix. So it hitting one "pixel" being your string is a bit random.
I'm doing some experiments right now on my lights to see what I can come up with.
 
Grouping the strands together on the trees. Bars effect. Black and white as the colours. 5 repetitions, On the effect, set the Horizontal Stack option as I have.

Bars1.png



Or this particular one is defined as a strand of 16 channels (8 strings) in my hedge. I dont address these independently from a programming perspective, although I could if I wanted to by digging down to the node level.
This one runs a similar bars effect. Because there are 4 bushes, each with 1x colour and 1x white string in them, it gives this nice twinkle effect

Bars2.png



In both cases, ignore the pulsating, that's just video beating between the PWM frequency and the capture framerate.
 
If you want it a bit more "Fadey" rather than "blinky" - you could put a second layer underneath, place an "On" effect with the brightness lowered.
Change the Bars effect to 3D mode, and you'll get a softer twinkle.
 
That's looking pretty good there!! Very impressive. You can certainly have a fair amount of fun with those boards relatively easily.
I mean, look back at how all the "older" installations used to be before pixels, thats where it all started, the creativity was awesome.

The best thing is, you show the better half that you can do all this stuff, and they'll want more, and support you jumping in with additional bits and pieces!
 
I am trying to go for the more 'fadey' option. However whenever I tick the 3D option the output on the nodes disappears.

Setting for the 'on' layer
1701087394853.png

Setting for the Bar without 3D

1701087432347.png

Setting for the bar with 3D.

1701087460101.png

I'm sorry to ask so many questions. I feel I am so close!
 
A little bit of RTFM and i was able to find the layering settings. Using the addition layer I found I could keep the alternate lights on and go between 5% and 100%. Saved that effect and going to play tomorrow!
 
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