Xlights/Nutcracker User Manual
Contents
1. Slot on SD card Not connected The recorder records at the rate of 20 frames per second so if you desire a recording of 10 seconds you will need to record at least 200 frames by carefully observing the Frame value in the Animation Player Recorder window Be aware that there 1s no warning if you have input a filename that exists it WILL be overwritten with NO warning Once the Frames value reaches your desired value click the Stop button and the recording window will now appear as follows a Animation Player Recorder EA E File open 16 54 Rainbow Diamonds 15 s 06 24 2014 glec 210 Frames 544KB i Play Pause Stco Rec Load R UIB IP Adresse 192 168 5 25 Connect Slot on SD card e o Not connected It shows the filename and the number of frames recorded to the file Now close the Glediator Animation Player Recorder completed window Now open the xLights Nutcracker program and select the Nutcracker tab Open or start a new Nutcracker sequence For the purpose of this training I will create a new media sequence using a 30 second of silence mp3 file The matrix configuration info came from my MiniGrid model which has 8 strands of 108 pixels folded over giving the Glediator matrix specifications of Size X 54 Size Y 16 I will add this MiniGrid model to my test sequence along with several timing rows as shown here Page 33 i RGB Sequence MA sip ley Element por y ele a2. Lights Sequence RGB Sequence File name uments y sequence files 01 Min Mega Tree Testuseg MEE Display Elements File name gt New Musical Sequence Start Time Label Medea file Tom Data My Documents Nutcracker Xhghes sequence files 01 Minute of Sence mp3 Tom Data My iments Nutcracker Xlights sequence files 01 Minute of Silence mp3 Tom Data My uments Nutcracker Xlights sequence files OL Sec of Slence mp3 Tom Data My Nutcracker Xhghts sequence files OL Sec of Silence way Tom Data My Muncracker Xlights sequence files 0L Nutrocker Edit mp3 Tom Data My Docum Nutcracker Xlights sequence files 02 Min of Slence mp3 New animation sequence Tom Data My Docurr Nutcracker Xlights sequence files 03 Min of Silencemp3 Tom Data My De e Nutcracker Xlights sequence files 05 Sec of Silence wars Duration sec Tom Data My Do racker Xhghts sequence files LO Sec of Slence mp3 Tom Data My De Nutcracker Xlhights sequ AL Dueling Jingle Bells wav Tom Data My Documen racker Xlights sequ 512 Min of lence mpl Tom Data My 7 I racker Xlight 3 30 sec of Sdence mp Tom Data My De racker Xhight ANF LFR mp3 Tom Data ocuments Hutcracker Xlights sequence files TviFB mp3 Tom Data My meras racker Xlights sequence files COBMDy IF Bp Tom Data My Documents Mutcracker Xlights sequence files MBDw 58 mp3 Tom Data My Nutcracker Xlights sequence files Open20 12 mp3 Tom Data My Documents Mutcracker Xhight e For Pictures 2013 mp3 Tom Data My Document cracker Xlights sec Mutc
3. rambow With the rambow color checked colors are ignored Effect shown on 20x120 Megatree 180 degrees Effect Shown on 32x32 Vertical Matrix Butterfly effect effect with colors set to palette 3 colors have been checked Red Green Blue The checked colors are used to color the butterfly effect using the palette color process Effect shown on 20x120 Megatree 180 degrees Effect Shown on 32x32 Vertical Matrix Page 8 i Page 9 i 7 3 8 Circles 7 3 9 Color Wash 7 3 10 Curtain 7 3 11 Fire 7 3 12 Fireworks 7 3 13 Garlands 7 3 14 Life 7 3 15 Meteors 7 3 16 Piano 7 3 17 Pictures 7 3 18 Snowflakes 7 3 19 Snowstorm 7 3 20 Spirals 7 3 21 Spirograph 7 3 22 Text 7 3 23 Tree 7 3 24 Twinkle Page 10 i 7 3 25 SingleStrand 7 3 26 Faces 7 3 27 Wave 8 SCHEDULE 9 HOW TO USE AUDACITY AND NUTCRACKER How to use Audacity with Nutcracker Just using Nutcracker alone you will have to decide at what point you want your effects to change and manually add timing marks However Nutcracker in conjunction with the Audacity audio editing program offers you a much better method for deciding where the best place to insert timing marks into a sequence Audacity is a free open source program available from http audacity sourceforge net To use Audacity download and install it on your PC If you are not familiar with Auda
4. BBR PoF Files MB FASE El Pictures Ey Controller Chart v5 xis ER QDir Configs E GLTest EB sony PMB 5 Nutcracker dat lt File Name Files of Type All Files Open Cancel sarro Browse to the folder where you store your Nutcracker Xlights files and double click on that folder Next you will enter a file name that should best represent the effect you are recording such as 16 54 Rainbow Diamonds 15 s 06 24 2014 where the first two digits indicate the grid definition values the name of the effect the length of the effect and the date you recorded this effect The file extension then should be gled so the final file name would be 16 54 Rainbow Diamonds 15 s 06 24 2014 gled Save Save In m Nutcracker Xlights sequence files v Lal x 03 Min Test Sequence xseq d 12 Dueling Jingle Bells wav 05 Sec of Silence wav 16 54 Rainbow Diamonds 15 5 06 24 2014 gled 05 Second Nutcracker Export testing xml Fi 2 Min of Silence mp3 05 Second Nutcracker Export testing xseq d 30 sec of Silence mp3 10 Sec of Silence mp3 B 30 sec of SilenceV1 xml 10 second test Copy xseq 30 sec of SilenceV1 xseq 10 second test xml E 30 sec of SilenceV2 xml 10 second test xseq Y 30 sec of SilenceV2 xseq lt File Name 16 54 Rainbow Diamonds 15 5 06 24 2014 gled Files of Type All Ales e h Save Cancel Page 32 i H Animation Player Recorder E Recording Frame 13 File size 33 KB UIB IP Adresse 192 168 5 25
5. tak Ow Est Olds Atifa Ets The em Setor AR ERES At this point be sure anything in this name box is highlighted then type the keys Ctrl V paste Be sure to backspace over the characters aup Then depending on the Audacity plugin type used type an underscore and add a suffix like phrase bars beats or _onsets lt makes things much easier to manage if you standardize on such a file naming process Once you have the desired name in the box click OK One thing to Page 17 i note is that if you miss this step and leave the default name info in the field you will see no warning messages Me he Tora remera done A AER mee eet des Te y o dP 9 EM nc O APRE o Pee ae BHAT Po dd om 4 ro amar A Montre Gangus Mang E Cros Ree Framt Sate be Paco amt fret leegh ado Powter un ome ts parans and no file will be created The next step is to click File gt gt Export Labels and Export Labels As popup window appears One thing to note is that if the filename track name is an invalid windows file name this window will not appear If so go back and check the previous steps Wizards In Wi Edit View Transport Tracks Generate Effect Analyze Help New Ctrl N Open Ctrl O Recent Files L 1 Rj 4 y 36 24 12 0 8 Close Ctrl W Save Project Ctrl S Save Project As Save Compressed Copy of Project Check Depen
6. Bar and Beat Tracker Beat Spectral Difference Bar and Beat Tracker Beats Beat Finder Key Detector Key Mode Key Detector Key Key Detector Tonic Pitch Note Onset Detector Note Onsets Note Onset Detector Smoothed Detection Function Polyphonic Transcription Regular Interval Labels Sample Data Export Segmenter Silence Finder Sound Finder Tempo and Beat Tracker Beats Tempo and Beat Tracker Tempo Tonal Change Tonal Change Detection Function Tonal Change Tonal Change Positions Now that the new Vamp Plugins have been added you can now use them to analyze your audio files and create timing files for use in Nutcracker At this point a few of Audacity controls need to be covered Using the keys Ctrl 1 will expand the audio timeline and Ctrl 3 will compress it This is handy when doing fine tuning of timing marks Using the keys Ctrl b will automatically open and start a label track when doing manual timing marks Of the 20 plugins that were added with the Vamp Plugins the three that will used in conjunction with Nutcracker timing mark creation is 1 Bar and Beat Tracker Beat Count 2 Note Onset Detectior Note Onsets and 3 Polyphonic Transcription The first Vamp Plugin to be covered is the Bar and Beat Tracker Beat Count First Open Audacity Then open an audio file As previously shown will use Wizards In Winter mp3 as
7. Xlights Nutcracker User Manual By Sean Meighan Version 1 0 Last Updated 04 29 14 Page 1 i Table of Contents 2 onte Nutcracker User Mad np etats l Tarode 6 ree EA A E EAE E EE E EE EEE 3 DUTE oi iio DR 3 Ms A 3 LAI TS le tiesto 3 SOCIO ns NAT E ES Moran 3 1 6 5Hardware Controls vario idididds 4 A cesses eh rset cesta ee betes DR A 4 A O jo cio NIA AAA PRONUNCIE ee 5 IAS 5 Jo ps PRO a 6 6 1 OS barata 5 Roo MIBR A UERR RUNNER E E TA A E ET A E 5 DOS A TRU 0 EE EA E A AA T 5 ERTANI T C RR RV RR RR ORNE 6 2Download and TINS CAE RO Mi RR AR CD OR PAR DDR 6 SA 6 A rr A 6 A COI Sn AA 6 e PP i O EII PDR DR OP E 6 ABS lore aca 6 dor to DCE CE Unselect Channels E 6 Ia A usasse ga A 6 Y RR RAS CR RR RAS CR RE RS eee 6 A A II A 6 BF A A In ue 6 TS O E O ED a aatotrnuats 6 ICON ER T e E E a ste cata DL O Sd ds 6 A ORDENE RN ORAS RR EEEE E 6 INOT RACE doi ai io 6 a SS 6 TONO RN SRD E A E E E A 6 A A EE EA E eae anni geass 7 ToD T A A A E A E oo 8 A A 10 ADICON DDR OS SA DE EE 10 TO MOC UT eiaoccrniertorca tetera rcntisrtorta monja escocin iras esicnas anais desir asd dessas seas 10 ESA A A 10 Tea LAME NO RR tii ici 10 AA PPP A 10 A A 10 es Des A PP nn o III 10 VS LOAN ro otto CG 10 AAA SS A 10 7 3 18Snowtlakes Rara 10 DS OST WS o A 10 ToO P a e EE E EE E E E 10 ESA E APA 10 SI PARAR ONDE ae tee ssc DD E A 10 IA A 10 FARS MN A nn A 10 TD 2 5 SU IE SELO A e e PoC
8. ach time you install or update xLights Nutcracker To access these label files browse to this folder C Program Files xLights songs In each folder there is a document named SONG _readme txt which includes a link pointing to where you can purchase the corresponding song If you have a favorite song that you have created label files for you may submit them for adding to the library Be sure to include where to purchase the audio file but NO MP3s should be submitted Page 24 i 10 GLEDIATOR WITH NUTCRACKER Using Glediator with Nutcracker Glediator stands for Graphical LED Installation AnimaTOR and is a small piece of software to control led matrix and led stripe installations This software was developed by Solderlab for use with their matrix hardware However the program does support a way to record effects created with Glediator Nutcracker now has a feature added that will allow for the importation of these recorded effects into Nutcracker sequences To take advantage of Glediator and its effects you will firsts need to download and install the program Click on the followin link or copy it an put in into your browser http solderlab de index php downloads category 4 glediator Click on the glediator v2 0 3 71p link and download it to a folder on your local hard drive I suggest that you create a install folder in the following location C Program Files x86 Glediator and extract all the files from the glediator
9. bel marking 999979 9037 rs he 9P 9 lt 8 mene so see ElI 9 gt 29393 JOTA O A r oina biga 1 TE 20 Now that you have completed the label marking process you need to export that track to a file so it can be imported into Nutcracker As covered earlier first get the audio file name for building the label by clicking File gt gt Save Project As and copying this name by typing the keys Ctrl C copy then click Cancel Then click the down arrow beside the Label Track heading then selecting Name At this point be sure anything in this name box is highlighted then type the keys Ctrl V paste Be sure to backspace over the characters aup and then typing _phrase and clicking OK Track Name y Change track name to he Stars amp Stripes Forever phrase The last step is to click File gt gt Export Labels and Export Labels As popup window appears indicating where the file will be saved Either browse to another folder or accept the default location Click OK and the label file is saved always try to save my label files where the audio file is located If you are working on a song and need to quit then just save the an Audacity project file with the same name as the audio track which is usually the default file name presented when you do a File gt gt Save Project As Lastly there is a library of marked up label files which is additionally installed and updated e
10. bel track will be added This track shows all of the Bars and Beats that were detected in the audio You may have to use your mouse to grab the bottom of the track and drag it down in order to see all of the labels Page 16 i Po be we Temper bach Genes Glen Arye Hop RR ot JF E CE bP 9 Amo no 6 PALL yg te Piet to Donwer After using this analysis to create a label track you need to export that track to a file so it can be imported into Nutcracker First it is best to keep these exported files related to the song you have analyzed Since you may create a label file for each of the different Vamp plugins it is recommended to use a two part file name of the audio file For the first half of the label file name use the name of the audio file its self A quick way to get that part of the name to the clipboard is to click File gt gt Save Project As and copying this name by typing the keys Ctrl C copy This step is done only to get the name of the song so just cancel out of this operation once the copy has been executed Save in di Nutcracker lights sequence files A Name Date modified ay de 2013 sequences 4 20 2014 6 07 PM Recent Places E Backup 2 2 2014 9 17 AM di Original Saved Config Files 4 6 2014 6 14 PM Desktop a Libraries Me Computer q m EEN E o b o AMA no O ALE Pp E ti A Pet ao mao po mandl h 0 tendem Dra integre J ctra ras reng 3 unn i gt Pramil
11. city may suggest that you view some YouTube training videos in order to learn basic editing techniques The first video found useful is Using Audacity http www youtube com watch v X1IPvBY_ri8 and the second which is a actually a fairly extensive series of videos is Audacity How to Edit Tutorial http www youtube com watch v dbqgJVC6kQ50 amp list PL2B8A3178C78BA9CB Viewing these will give you the basic operational knowledge for using Audacity Once you have Audacity installed it is fairly easy to use First start the Audacity program by clicking on its desktop icon The Audacity opening screen should appear like this File Edit View Transport Tracks Genente Effect Analyze Help l IH 2 ps 06 PR sigme olo O 2222 p igot a 4 Heed Ec E ema be Pa el E gt a oF y e Pe k dw 2 12 0 me 4 somatara Roshek righ Dent JP Microphrne Realtek High Dafi 2 Stereo Input 10 10 20 40 ry 80 a0 10 0 10 120 1 140 150 160 Project Rate Hz Selechon Start End Lengh Ado Posibon a To open an Audio file click on File and then Open Page 11 i 4 20 2014 10 47 AM XMLD vo WWA 10 47 AM XSEQF PM Lights XML O XSEQ F MP3 Fe MP3 E MP3 Fe ma og Project e End Lengh Modo Postion Rata Hz Setecton Sian 40100 snapte DURO MON ONDA Browse to the Nutcracker folder where you have your audio files and selec
12. dencies Edit Metadata Import gt Export Ctrl Shift E Export Selection Export Labels N Export Multiple Ctrl Shift L Export MIDI Apply Chain Edit Chains Page Setup Print Exit Although you can place this file in any folder it is recommended that you have Audacity create it in the same folder where the original audio file is located NAT rota E dP 9 amas gt gt O AABB o E gt es oo e Pie tl ae ia tps 0 de gt 46 jon Gard ga JP npare Ganas rop h mol na e Pren bate om eco bar fro lmg aofise sum Sena To Now you can close Audacity It is not necessary to save this project so answer No when asked Now open xLights Nutcracker and select the Nutcracker tab Page 18 A ta wees samea ber Estela ta tate One fogem mas From here click the Open Sequence Create Sequence icon A o Stop Now Lights Off Output to Lights Open Sequence Morning Moming2 Morning 3 Mew Year Que 1 sdights Sequence RGB Sequence File name F Tom Data My Documents Hutcracker Xhghts sequence files 0 L Man Mega Tree Testaseq File name Ss a New Musecal Sequence Start Time Lab Media file F Tom Data My Documents Nutcracker Xbghts sequence files 0L Minute of Silence mp3 New animation sequence Duration sec 1 Click the New Sequence radio button first y kop Now Lights Off Output to Lights Setup Ope
13. e cannot be manually edited or entered Effect 1 Glediator y IX 2peet Glediator gled File lt y a v EH lt 16 54 Rainbow Diamonds 15 s 06 24 2014 gled gt 41 510 EE lt Ly Liam Fadeln 000 x Fade Out 0 00 x Fit to time gt Persistent D Next click the selected timing slot in the MiniGrid column then click the Update Grid F5 button Lastly click the Play Effect F3 button to see the effect created in Glediator as shown A xLights Nutcracker Ver nd psj a do ja Sy File Playlist Help o Stop Now Lights Off Output to Lights Setup Test Convert Preview Nutcracker Schedule Papagayo Christmas Que ALL Christmas Que 1 Chnstmes Que 2 Christmas Que 3 Christmas Que 4 Momingl Morning2 Morning 3 New Year Que 1 New Year Que 2 New Year Que 3 New Year Que4 New Year Que ALL Testing RGB Sequence Mod o o Start T Label MiniGrid i 2 3 4 5 Effect 1 Effect 2 5 x None e spect Speer Glediator gled File e x J mm Ji lt 7 Ea lt ER gt sx mE Palette Moph lt 5 SEX EB lt JN Effect 1 a a gt Sparkles Fadeln 000 Fadeln 0 00 Fade Out 0 00 Fade Out 0 Brightness s E 5 Contras TE SE Playback effect After the effect has reached the end of the effects recorded time the effect will start over When the effect restarts there may be a detectable jump so if you don t want to see the effect restart record an effec
14. es with a set of predefined effects and a way to expand this library This library of predefined effects are shown in the window on the far left hand side of the screen as shown below Page 27 i Roto Bars Simple Rainbow Double Wave 4x Rain Circles amp Rects Single Diamond Plasma with dots Currley Lava Cryptic Plasma Configure generator Effect Level Direction Togale Methode Manual Value Lower Limit Upper Limit Each of these library effects can be applied to either of the effect windows This is accomplished by first clicking on the desired effect such as Double Wave then clicking either the Set L button to apply this effect to the Left effect window or Set R button to apply this effect to the Right effect window The rest of the controls give you the ability to have complete control over this library Before changing anything in this window it is recommended that you save a copy of this Library to a backup file To do this click the Save button The Save window opens m 5 2 3 x Save In LE Master Documents e Es A Save ding Objects Aiseesoft Studio BR copy MM GomPlayer EB almyNotes EB copy tom Janaley2000 gmail com iSkysoft Video Edi n ArsClip rn CyberLink nm Light O Rama BB asus BR DeskSave Configs F iitecam MM azzCardfile Files Ly Favorites Q Dir P My Data BB Bio n FFOutput Pr My Documents Camtasia Studio WR Freemake P My Downloaded V re gene
15. expanded set of add in analyzing utilities are called the Vamp Plugins These are obtained from the web site http vamp plugins org download html Page 12 E nre Pes ca amp plugm erg aat VAMP PLUGINS Download Vamp Plugins an es You will need to select and download the Queen Mary plugin Set First you need to create a folder to put the plugins into suggest one of the following folders for a 32 bit machine use C Program files Vamp Plugins and for a 64 bit machine use C Program Files x86 Vamp Plugins Then unzip the file you downloaded from the Vamp Plugins site which should look something like qm vamp plugins 1 7 win32 zip into the folder you just created There should be these three files in your Vamp plugin folder qm vamp plugins cat qm vamp plugins dll and qm vamp plugins n3 To make these plugins work in Audacity you have to add plugins folder path in your search path To make this process easier Nutcracker provides a freeware utility for this procedure This utility is located in the folder C Program FilesixLights and is named PathEditor exe Right click on this file and Run as administrator When it starts it will show you what is currently in your search path Path Editor a AA File Variable Help System Variable PATH C Program FilesYPython2 c Rubyi93 bin QssystemRoots system32 systemRoots ssystemRoots system32 whem Pea Clean HC Progra
16. gt la 10 Start Tim Label MinsGrid 1 2 3 4 5 Effect 1 Effect 2 Combined Effect eo yn EM lt e im 7 ma gt lt 7 ma gt lt En En gt lt Models M EE CDE Effect Preset Aceph sos s os y Effect 1 x lt Sai 10 10 Sparties Fadeln 000 Fadeln 0 gt ade Out 00 Fade Out SINE Fit to time Fit to tam Contrast 0 x lt Persistent lt Persistent lt I will set the first row with a start time of 0 zero Then under Effect select the effect menu and select the Glediator option Start Time Label MiniGrid The Glediator option only has one option button Clicking that option button opens to your Nutcracker Xlights sequence files folder Here only gled files are visible and you can locate the file previously created in the Glediator program I will select the 16 54 Rainbow Diamonds 15 s 06 24 2014 gled file Choose Glediator gle es E gt Computer 1tbdrive D My Documents Nutcracker Xlights sequence files gt Le synkron sync Le 2013 sequences de Backup a Original Saved Config Files Li temp 16 54 Rainbow Diamonds 15 5 06 24 2014 gled Size 531 KB inil Date modified 6 24 2014 5 16 PM a 1tbdrive D a Local Disk F File name y Glediator files gled z oa Glediator gled File gt y Now Nutcracker loads that selected file and displays it in the info box under the Glediator gled File button This file nam
17. he lighting community The sources of xLights Nutcracker 1s available to download from github You can Page 3 i download the free sources from https github com smeighan xLights SS Illustration 1 Matt Brown and Sean Meighan at The Academy show in 2012 1 6 1 6 5 Hardware Controllers Easy configuration to any hardware controller Choose from USB driven data or E1 31 These are the current choices DMX OpenDMX Pixelnet LOR D Light Renard 1 6 5 7 DMX DMX controllers or LOR or D Light controllers in DMX mode attached to an Entec DMX USB Pro Lynx DMX dongle DIYC RPM DMXking com or DIY Blinky dongle Last Channel should be 512 or less unless you are using a DIY Blinky dongle in which case 1t can be up to 3036 Page 4 i 1 6 5 8 OpenDMX DMX controllers or LOR or D Light controllers in DMX mode attached to an LOR dongle D Light dongle HolidayCoro programming cable or Entec Open DMX dongle 1 6 5 9 Pixelnet Pixelnet hub attached to a Lynx Pixelnet dongle 1 6 5 10 LOR LOR controllers attached to any LOR dongle Max of 8 channels at 9600 baud Max of 48 channels at 57600 baud Max of 96 channels at 115200 baud Run your controllers in DMX mode for higher throughput 1 6 5 11 D Light D Light controllers attached to a D Light dongle Max of 8 channels at 9600 baud Max of 48 channels at 57600 baud Max of 96 channels at 115200 baud Run your controllers in DMX mode for higher thr
18. iles Python27 c Ruby193 bin QssystemRoots system32 ssystemRoots QssystemRoots system32 whem c Program Files NVIDIA Corporation PhysX Common c vampi www nutcracker gnuplot bin sSYSTEMROOTS System32 WindowsPowerShell v1 0 c Program Files QuickTime OTSystem c Program Files Vamp Pllugins c Program Files xLights User Neptune Tom Variable PATH Finally you click Save to Registry 7 File Variable Help System Variable PATH Active c Program Files Python27 c Ruby193 bin ek Add Directory ss Pedido X Delete Directory QssystemRoots Q ssystemRoots system32 whem c Program Files NVIDIA Corporation PhysX Common c vampi www nutcracker qnuplot bin ise sSYSTEMROOTS System32 WindowsPowerShell v1 0 c Program Files QuickTime OTSystem Explore Folder c Program Files Vamp Pllugins c Program Files xLights i About 7 1 j O Registry Updated User Neptune Tom Variable PATH ae Contain directories Contain files Show Tool Tips Expand Env Variables Exit the Path Editor by clicking on its red close X Now open Audacity to confirm the plugins have been added Page 14 Auda a File Edit View Transport Tracks Generate Effect Analyze Contrast Ctrl Shift T IPIS 1 0 4 2 0 Plot Spectrum Find Clipping Bar and Beat Tracker Bars Bar and Beat Tracker Beat Count
19. m Files NVIDIA Corporation PhysX Common Qc wep wu nutcracker gnuplot bin SYSTEMROOTS System32 WindowsPowerShell v1 0 c Program Files QuickTime OTSystem E Explore Folder a AS 1 EA ele Add Directory x Delete Directory wy qu 4 T O About User Neptune Tom Variable PATH ed Save to Registry This variable can Y Contain directories Contain files Y Show Tool Tips Expand Env Variables If any of the small circles are red the path is invalid First you click Add Directory Browse to the folder where you installed the Vamp Utilities Page 13 i File Variable Help System Variable PATH c Program Files Python27 Qc Ruby193 bin QssystemRoots system32 QssystemRoots QssystemRoots system32 whem c Program Files NVIDIA Corporation PhysX Common c vampi www nutcracker gnuplot bin sSYSTEMROOTS System32 VindowsPowerShell v1 0 c Program Files QuickTime OTSystem c Program Files xLights R de uRexsoft de Vamp Plugins gt Ji Video to Video gt Ji VideoLAN Le Virtual Audio Cable gt Ji Vixen 2 1 1 0 Le WinDirStat a y PA Db de ToshiSoftware bd Two Pilots d Uninstall Information User Neptune Tom Variable PATH 4 Highlight the folder and click OK Click OK to Confirm add directory File Variable Help System Variable PATH c Program F
20. my audio file RE this file and click open The next screen that appears is the now opened audio file A SA gt yu Ra 2c 6 AARENP O J gt ab fad AS oie de ES mn CIO come ros es a je ai Misticas Mad i adani dell E OS ar PETIT e regra EEE tee AA A b a asi a A ei o nt ponta alho ET RA TR E ns sit ad APRA nr ARTO RIA RS iid hadid FEIT IIR PSST IY PTT steihiie nado lho PARIU ESTEIRAS pr k 5 y h y tg a ai a da atada ima o A MI EN td a ta tn dd dad nd Next click on Analyze and select Bar and Beat Tracker Beat Count Page 15 i Fo be vee Tompen rote meee feet HL 4 cem E dP a eine mt ojo 6 2 MAB pq FEISS bd bad DA pec m 4 soe os gu P cree compras op Je cams MOR gt u ma lea hatg Beam j rss oee enero Ms Owaa Che Tom Change Prstom AA A mente ce cm A rp Detection E euna sade Pomme nr Then the Bar and Beat Tracker Beat Count popup configuration window opens Take the default values by clicking OK Phin by Matthew Davies Christian Lendone and Chris Carmem Copyright c 2006 2009 QMUL All Rights Reserved Plugin Settings Beats per Bar M 20 q A progress window will appear as the audio track is analyzed ME Oi if e bP q EA no O SALE 9 ido BHAT po Mr Cas eag 3 mem u gt eer Prana Bet peo fwxtortue oon wm tom Te SORE WEES Once the track analyzing has completed a new la
21. n Sequence Momingl Moming2 Moming 3 New Year Que 1 New Year RGB Sequence E Display Elements File name le gt Lights Sequence File name F Tom Data My Documents Nutcracker Xlights sequence files 0L Min Mega Tree T Mew Musical Sequence Start Time Label Media file F Tom Data My Do y Nutcracker Xhights sequence files 01 Minute of Glence mp3 Timing Import None y Xlights XML New animation sequence Duration sec Effect 1 Hone Then in the timing import box select the Audacity option Page 19 ghts Nutcracker File Playlist Help o Stop Now Lights Off I Output to Lights Open Sequence Lights Sequence File name File name New Musical Sequence Media file New animation sequence Duration sec AR Click the down arrow on the right hand side of the Media file window and browse to the audio MP3 file you used to create your label file BD xlights Nutcracker Ver Stop Now o top No Setup Open Sequence Es Tom Data My Documents Nutcracker Xlights sequence files 01 Min Mega Tree Test xseq F Tom Data My Documents Nutcracker Xlights sequence files 01 Minute of Silence mp3 Timing Import Aud Aey C None C Xlights XML Cancel Lights Off El RGB Sequence o EE MO MES un Start Time Label Effect 1 None Morning 3 New Year Que 1 Mew Yea
22. n imported into Nutcracker eee re er eme em rip F MESE rg Hu 9P 9 Tele wiel O 2222 pq IDEM DE piste q ada dp dd ad on clear F Next play the music until you find the end of the next phrase Again click and hold the mouse button down and drag the cursor to the left until you see a yellow line appear indicating you have reached the end of the first phrase marking AAA SAA A 7 5 Hoy Cu 9P 9 AMA o 99999 AR EE a Again type Ctrl B to insert another marker Enter a name for this label will use Phrase 02 to keep consistent with my naming scheme Page 22 i 199999 y Heb AN ASA Fram rat 1o amaos y ese Dn Trt Ope A Post am e onto RR O SVS Also you will see a circle with two handles on each side at that point indicating the two phrases are back to back with no overlap Continue marking as many phrases as you can find in the song for this example however will only mark 4 for this example ee o E Pr PE RO ron z 9999 ID HE A ACA O A leio If you find that the label ending beginning position is incorrect you my grab the circle with the mouse cursor and move it back and forth until it is the desired position If you grab the vertical bar you only move the endpoint associated with a single label If you do accidentally grab the vertical bar just move it back until it attaches its self to the small circle of the previous la
23. o E EU O E T 11 ES ACCS A II A IX 11 ES e Rd o RR EINE RR EEE SEE RS RDI secon ss Gon bes eis psa oe nse NONE NO RN 11 SAT ota 11 1 Introduction Xlights was written by Matt Brown Nutcracker was written by Sean Meighan Xlights Xlights was created in 2010 by Matt Brown Matt a LOR user wanted a show player that would have low system requirements and high performance Xlights has been a reliable player used by hundreds of Christmas Light enthusiasts over the last 4 years 1 3 Nutcracker Nutcracker was written by Sean Meighan in 2012 Sean who was new to Christmas Lights wanted an easier way of creating effects on smart RGB devices Sean came up with the concept of defining a model Megatree matrix arches etc and then dropping effects butterfly spirals text etc onto the model Nutcracker 1 and 2 were developed as a web application To create effects you would log into the web define models drop effects 1 4 Xlights Nutcracker In January 2013 Matt Brown took the web based code that Sean had written and re wrote into C and made Nutcracker part of xLights This produced a real time Nutcracker product An Example The snowflake effect took 5 minutes to generate effects using Nutcracker 2 in Nutcracker 3 The xLights port that same effect now took less than 5 seconds Amazing work by Matt 1 5 Xlights Nutcracker is free Both Matt and Sean have always believed their software should be made available free to t
24. one section of Glediator that for Nutcracker users will not be of much value that 1s the area on the right hand of the Glediator Screen as shown here Page 30 i Single Diamond 1000 1000 ms Progressive Curling Text 4000 1000 ms Linear Double Wave 4000 4000 ms Stripes_Vert Rotating Colorbar 1000 5000 ms Linear Blur Expand amp Rotate 4000 500 ms Linear Bizzar 2000 1500 ms Linear Tripple Wave 2000 1500 ms Shift_Hor F Burning Text 2000 1500 ms Mg Stripes Hor Start playing Scene Time ms 4000 Fade Time ms 4000 Fader Linear Add scene to play list Next section 1s about Nutcracker to Glediator interface Once you have found a cool effect that you like 1t can be imported into Nutcracker using the following process For example you like this effect appearing in the center effect window Next click on the Extras menu option a GLEDIATOR Graphical LED Installation AnimaTOR File Options ES About _ Recorder Bla Remote Control Roto Bars Then select the Recorder option and the Animation Player Recorder window opens Page 31 i 0 Animation Player Recorder y Play Pause Stop Rec UIB IP Adresse 192 168 5 25 Connect Slot on SD card 0 Not connected Strobe Save Save In Master Documents d M Neat Data Pp Tipard Studio bi Register Vegas P m Nufcracker Xlights sequence files ER vHs to DvD E Register Vegas P M Paviube BR vixen Beta
25. oughput 1 6 5 12 Renard Renard controllers connected to a serial port or a USB dongle with virtual comm port 2 stop bits are set automatically Max of 42 channels at 9600 baud Max of 260 channels at 57600 baud Page 5 i 1 7 Nutcracker 2 Download and Installation 2 3 Download 2 4 Installation 3 SETUP 3 3 Verify 4 TEST 4 3 Howto Select Unselect Channels 44 Testing Channels 4 4 5 regular lights 4 4 6 dumb rgb 4 4 7 smart rgb 4 5 Save Test Group 5 CONVERT 6 PREVIEW 7 NUTCRACKER 7 3 Effect Classes 7 3 5 None Page 6 i 7 3 6 Bars You can create horizontal or vertical bars The direction of travel can be specified You can ask for a 3D effect from them First BAR effect Layering Effect 1 Just show Effect 1 Sparkles 200 Sparkles are turned off Brightness 100 Brightness is shown as it was calculated by the effect Contract 0 No enhancement to Contrast that was generated Bar effect with direction set to up Notice how the same effect looks like on different models Effect shown on 20x120 Megatree 180 degrees Effect Shown on 32x32 Vertical Matrix Bar effect with 3D turned on 3D causes a fading of the bar We are using the direction called compress Effect shown on 20x120 Megatree 180 degrees Effect Shown on 32x32 Vertical Matrix Page 7 i 7 3 7 Butterfly Butterfly effect with colors set to
26. rach Effect 1 None cae sd Ela When you click Ok a second popup window appears Choose Audacity timing file g xLights Nutcracker Wer E Choose Audacity timing file H amp Documents My Documents Nutcracker Xights sequence files gt gt P Morningi Morning Mosmang 3 New Year Que L Mew Yea RGB Sequence MI ov pay te Documents library de 1013 sequences Backup Recent Places amp Google Dve ra Start Time Label Le Original Saved Contig File ae Cloud Drive m ud Phot Wizards In Winter bars be y nota d Cop BE Desktop librarie Documents d Muw ee Pictures E Video 4 File name Tetide tat Cancel Effect L None A RA Locate the file name that matches your song plus the label type you created Select that file and click OK Nutcracker will have a pop up message telling you that it has created an empty sequence with your number of channels and the number of periods as determined by the label file you used Page 20 E store Merece RE ET tc er G L Observe that for each timing point it has a related label that corresponds to that time point In this sequence example there was created a total of 452 timing marks El ae Pc Ga ii gt at Ba S TEA ESB ame Now you can actually begin creating a usable sequence by adding and assign effects to your element models Thi
27. rary from scratch you can do this by clicking the Clear button and all effects in the list are removed The main power of Glediator comes from the ability to define what your effects will look like This section will apply to either of Left or Right effect window The window where the effects are defined is shown below An effect can consist of from 1 to 5 definitions Each of these is selectable using one of the buttons numbered from 1 to 5 just below the effect window Each of these buttons can have different options which are configured with the Type Filter and Mixer drop down menus along with the Level and Speed sliders There is also a set of additional configuration options that is accessed through the configure generator button This button opens the following menu as it relates to each of the Type of effects This window is for the Wave type effect Page 29 i e Options for Wave Direction Right Stepwidth A Wavelength A Red Value E Green Value A Blue Value Wave R v Wave Gre Wave BI Type Wave Filter None Add Configure inerator The options for the Type are as follows Black Expanding Objects Falling Objects Grid Objects 3D Scrolling Text Wave Animated Gif Fade and Scroll Fire Knight Rider Plasma Simple Spectrum Capture Fading Pixels Factal Meta balls Random Pixel Strobo There 1s
28. rator lt m gt Configure generator File Name Files of Type All Files Hur Cancel oggle Janual Lower Limit y Interval T I would recommend creating a new folder and calling it Glediator library Do this using the create a folder button Then double click the folder to open it I would also recommend using the file name GLMasterLib 06 23 2014 as the first file name Use a file naming convention that is easiest for you to remember what each of the saved library files contain If you wish to replace the current library you can do this by using the Load button browse to your library folder and locating the desired saved library file clicking on it then clicking Open Page 28 i A new effect can be added to this library after one 1s defined in one of the effect windows using either the Add L for the left hand window or Add R for the right hand window If you want to change one of your Library effects you can select that effect then either click the Rep L for the current Left effect or Rep R for the current Right effect If you want to change the position of an effect in the list you can move it up or down by first selecting it then using the Up or Dwn button respectively If you have an effect that you no longer wish to have 1n your library you can remove it by first selecting it then clicking the Rem button Lastly if you wish to completely build a new lib
29. s procedure can be performed using any of the three Vamp Plugins One important thing to know is that you cannot reimport timing marks once you have imported the timimg marks the only way to change them is to manually edit each one at this time Also remember the more marks you insert in the longer it will take to sequence but it can also lead to very cool effecis The next label creation process will cover is a manual method Some of the higher quality label files are ones that are manually marked up In this example will use a song that can easily be marked up with phrases because the best way to start marking up a song is to do it by phrases will use the audio file The Stars amp Stripes Forever mp3 so will open this file in Audacity To begin with listen to the music until you find the end of the first phrase place your cursor there and highlight all the way back to the beginning of the song by holding down the mouse button Page 21 i Pr o NL RE e y P9 23 ms ac O 14 DE O plenas a2 ilps wa TRE 9 aegon cmo amps JP raro Gangus Ming Chores o e He tte view Grerapert Tombs Sorte y E ri Pram mote eo toen yot Aow mgh ao ram 0 sonn A A PONOR pon eniem bront Pta da Then using the keyboard shortcut keys Ctrl B you can insert a Label track and set the first marker label Add a name for this first phrase such as Phrase 01 This label name is the label that shows up whe
30. t an audio file you are going to build timing marks for In this example will use Wizards In Winter mp3 as my audio file highlight this file and click open The next screen that appears is the now opened audio file _ O_O AA AA M o Fie Edt View Trampet Tracks Generate Effect Analyze Help RT DIFE p x Mi Mi Mais a idly MAM ere my my ie OREN lly di did ib Md i es y Da a TTT se RR Audacity gives you the ability we q ANN La da MIA W ATT ilindi aids RA e ni 4 analyze your song for um ud y po me W re ae i re Li Aiba i i jd gels ii A M Pistia is i Ro NR 00 A different types of beats beats Midi ig ii an ra di Note ka pm Ar T ilahi dia dh il lis wi dl a Li aide a e ed A he on bars etc When Audacity is initially installed it gives you a few limited methods for analyzing your song These methods are found in the Analyze options These are Beat Finder Regular Interval Labels Simple Data export Silence Finder and Audio Postion lt Project Rate Hx 44100 Ss Click and drag to select audio Sound Finder isy File Edit View Transport Tracks Generate Effect An yze Help Contrast Ctrl Shift T l da j gt j 4 gt j e Plot Spectrum Find Clipping 1 0 Ly 2 0 Beat Finder Regular Interval Labels Sample Data Export Silence Finder Sound Finder Now I will cover an
31. t that is longer than the duration you plan on using Page 35 i
32. to this screen to match up with my model grid Size_X 54 Size Y 16 You can experiment with the Space option to see what best represents your grid in Glediator I have Page 26 i set this option to 1 for this example Then you can either click Apply changes to instantly see the new presentation format change in the display areas or Done to complete this configuration There are 3 effect presentation areas as shown near The center area is where the final effect output appears There are three buttons labeled L C and R which select which effect is displayed in the center L will select the Left effect the R will select the Right effect and C will blend the left and right effect into a single effect in the center window The Fade button will fade the Left effect to the Right effect with the speed of the fade controlled by the Fade Time slider The Black button will fade the center window to black 1 e no effect and the again the speed of the fade controlled by the Fade Time slider There are three sliders labeled Left Right and Master The Left and Right sliders controls the intensity of the respective effects that appears in the center window The Master slider controls the intensity of any effect in the center window Just above the Fade Time slider 1s a slider which you can also manually control the fading of the two effects from Left to Right or vise versa Glediator com
33. v2 0 3 z1p file you just downloaded You can start Glediator by a double click on Glediator jar or by using the command Java jar Glediator jar from within a console or create a simple batch file containing the following commands java jar Glediator V2 jar exit Save the file with the name like Glediator bat it in the folder C Program Files x86 Glediator A shortcut can be added to the desktop for convenient starting of the Glediator program Glediator Layout The following is the screen that first appears when the program starts Page 25 i Ba atanta I would recommend that you maximize this screen for easier use Next Glediator needs to be configured to match your Nutcracker matrix model layout I will use the specifications for a small horizontal matrix that 1s 16 strips with 54 pixels wide This 1s a very critical because 1f the model and Glediator information do not match the effect will not display correctly in Nutcracker First click the options menu option as shown below s GLEDIATOR Graphical LED Installation AnimaTOR File Options Extras About Matrix Size Output Roto Bars Simple Rainbow Double Wave 4x Rain Then click the Matrix Size option The Matrix Size window opens in the center of the screen as shown below Filter None Mixer Add Matrix Size A Size X 54 Speed evel Apply Changes Cancel Right Master I put these entries in
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