Thread: AL sequence will not play correctly

Just got LSP in an effort to switch over from Animated Lighting (Animation Director). I exported a sequence as a test and had no issues with transferring it into LSP. All outputs function when I test the controllers as expected but when I run the show, all faster commands are skipped (by "faster" I mean an any command faster than 500ms) such as a leaping arch command. I don't believe I have a hardware issue since I can run the same hardware (including RS485 converter) using Animation Director with no issues. Has anyone experienced this issue? Port speeds are all set to 57.6kbps.

Originally Posted by Lightazmic

Just got LSP in an effort to switch over from Animated Lighting (Animation Director). I exported a sequence as a test and had no issues with transferring it into LSP. All outputs function when I test the controllers as expected but when I run the show, all faster commands are skipped (by "faster" I mean an any command faster than 500ms) such as a leaping arch command. I don't believe I have a hardware issue since I can run the same hardware (including RS485 converter) using Animation Director with no issues. Has anyone experienced this issue? Port speeds are all set to 57.6kbps.

Are you saying that the effects dont work at all? What effect is it, on, fade etc?
Are the "skipped" effects on a specfic controller?
1/2 second timing should not be an issue. I have 6 AL controllers and do not have that problem.
Is your RS485 converter serial or usb?
How many Al controllers /channels are you using?

The effects work as long as the effect is not a fast effect.

For example: I am sending a chase command to some arches (8 channels). Each stage of the chase is made of a full on and a 0.3sec fade (ramp off 0.3sec). when running this using Animation Director, I get all 8 lights turning on in sequence and then fading which results is a nice “jump” effect. When importing this into LSP, the result is that the 1st set of lights come on and the others are skipped. If I have a series of these commands (arches should jump back and forth) I get a random lights pattern because I think the command is being shipped. In Animation director, I get a nice jumping back and forth effect. I also have some commands that are 0.2sec that run fine in AD.

I am using ~240 channels but have reduced it to just 32 for testing. I have tested using a Monster Brain, an inexpensive USB to RS485, and an optically isolated (high $) USB to RS485 converter with the same results. Animation director works, but LSP skips light commands.

I can make the same commands within LSP and get the arches to “jump” correctly so at this point, I think this is an import function issue. I am pulling in only one grid from the AD program so everything should be OK, but clearly there are some issues.

Originally Posted by Lightazmic

The effects work as long as the effect is not a fast effect.

For example: I am sending a chase command to some arches (8 channels). Each stage of the chase is made of a full on and a 0.3sec fade (ramp off 0.3sec). when running this using Animation Director, I get all 8 lights turning on in sequence and then fading which results is a nice “jump” effect. When importing this into LSP, the result is that the 1st set of lights come on and the others are skipped. If I have a series of these commands (arches should jump back and forth) I get a random lights pattern because I think the command is being shipped. In Animation director, I get a nice jumping back and forth effect. I also have some commands that are 0.2sec that run fine in AD.

I am using ~240 channels but have reduced it to just 32 for testing. I have tested using a Monster Brain, an inexpensive USB to RS485, and an optically isolated (high $) USB to RS485 converter with the same results. Animation director works, but LSP skips light commands.

I can make the same commands within LSP and get the arches to “jump” correctly so at this point, I think this is an import function issue. I am pulling in only one grid from the AD program so everything should be OK, but clearly there are some issues.

Have you reviewed the AL Import notes that I posted quick a while ago? If you cant find it let me know.

I think I did see your notes, but I will look again incase I issued something. I know that you can only bring in one grid at a time and it seamed to transfer with no issues but I may have missed a note so I will check. Thanks

mmulvenna,
Can you point me to the correct link containing your AL Import notes please? I did a search but did not come up with much. I did see that you can only bring in one grid/song at a time but not much more than that.

Thanks,

Originally Posted by Lightazmic

mmulvenna,
Can you point me to the correct link containing your AL Import notes please? I did a search but did not come up with much. I did see that you can only bring in one grid/song at a time but not much more than that.

Thanks,

It is in the tips and Tricks section here is the link Animated Lighting Import Notes

Was tied up for a couple of weeks but did finally review all the notes. I think I am following all the tips but still have the same issue. It got a little better with the recent software update but its still not correct. Any idea how I could solve this issue?

Originally Posted by Lightazmic

Was tied up for a couple of weeks but did finally review all the notes. I think I am following all the tips but still have the same issue. It got a little better with the recent software update but its still not correct. Any idea how I could solve this issue?

You might check the driver for the USB to rs485 adapter that you have. I do not think this is an LSP issue as I don't have that problem with my AL controllers?

Checked drivers and all are current. I think the issue I am having is related to the port buffering size. When using Animation director, I noticed that the port buffer is set to the lowest setting (I think zero). In SLP, the port buffering is not zero and when I try to set it to “0”; the program will not let me set it that low (I can lower the setting but it will not save). I think this is the issue because I get the same problem (lights command skipped) when increasing the buffer size on the port when running Animation Director (not the normal setting).

I had the same issue with some wireless applications. Light commands where skipped because the transmitter was waiting for data and if the data size was small, nothing was sent so the result was that commands where sent late, or skipped. I did some video capture of my screen showing the difference between LSP and AD running a sample test song. I would like to send this video to you along with the LSP file for review. Please let me know if this is OK. I would be very interested in seeing if my file has the same result on another system.

Thanks,