Preferences
With this setting activated, xLights will perform an XML backup (similar to a user pressing F10 to manually backup) each time the sequence is saved - when the user clicks on Save or Save As.
The existing files, including the saved sequence XML, will be backed up to the Backup folder in your show directory prior to the render executing and FSEQ file being created.
With this setting activated, xLights will perform an XML backup (similar to a user pressing F10 to manually backup) each time xLights is launched. The existing files will be backed up to the Backup folder in your show directory, prior to the application launching and updating any xLights files when it is launched. The Backup sub directory created will have a suffix of ‘_OnStart’ added to the folder name.
When selected, backups are made of all relevant files both in the show directory as well as any subdirectories (excluding the backup folder itself).
This drop-down sets how long xLights will keep backup. With "Never" selected xLights will not delete any backups. 365, 90, 31, and 7 days will delete backup folder older than the selected length. This helps to clear out older files and free up space.
This function enables you to change the size of the tool icons that are used to represent the effects on the effects ribbon.
Four options are available:
The OpenGL setting is used to define what version of the OpenGL API is being used for certain components of xLight rendering of 2D and 3D graphics.
This option does not have to be used unless you see issues with the waveform or icons not being displayed or the sequencer is jerky. In which case, starting with 3.x and working downwards , select an option and restart xLights and check the results. Advise the xLights team, as it could be that your video card drivers on your computer need updating.
In 3D mode, Model and Objects sometimes do not look correct in the house preview on all videocards. The Render Order 1-6 options use different render methods to generate the model layout. If you are having unwanted visual artifacts, try a different options and see if the models look better on your specific computer.
This option will adjust the size of the model handles in the Layout Tab.
There are three sizes available:
Always On will display the window in all cases, Always Off won’t display the window and Toggle Mode will display the window if the effect supports it, else won't display the window if the effect does not have this capability. Click on an effect in the sequencer grid and expand the Effect Assist window. If Always on is selected and the effect is not supported by this window, then you will see a red X in the window.
This Options will display Play, Pause, Stop, Scrub Bar to the House Preview to allow control of the sequence playback. They will only appear if the house preview window is larger than 400 wide by 300 high.
Automatically Show the House Preview Window when the sequence is playing and hide the House Preview when the sequence is stopped.
This function enables you to change the size (i.e. width of each band) of the sequencer grid.
Five options are available: Extra Small, Small, Medium, Large, Extra Large.
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When an effect such as the Morph effect is placed between timing marks (as an example over several seconds long), a representation of the color changes over time for that effect.
If unchecked, then the effect on the sequencer grid will only show the generic effect icon and not the colors. Not all effects have this difference.
This function provides the ability to turn off the effect displaying colors at the node level.
Turning it off improves rendering performance and is recommended where effects are only being dropped at the model level. The value can be turned back on as required.
If checked, When moving or resizing an effect this will snap the effect beginning and/or endpoint to the closest timing make if you drag it close enough (approx 10 pixels on your monitor).
When checked, if you Double Click a timing mark, xLights will play the sequence for that timing mark interval. If unchecked, the Edit Label Dialog will appear. This Dialog allows you to input lyrics for singing faces or states for the state effect. The opposite option's functionality will works if you hold down shirt key then double click.
When Enabled, the audio waveform will appear smaller on the screen. This is designed for screens with lower resolutions.
If checked, color bars are display to represent transitions, like fade in or fade out.
The default setting is to render all the effects of all the models and groups when saving the XML. If this setting is unchecked (i.e. to turn off), then it will only save the sequence XML file when you click Save/Save As, resulting in a very fast save operation. If unchecked, then Render All must be used to populate the render buffer. You must Render All and then File Save to create a up to date FSEQ file.
This will save the current rendered data to the FSEQ file on save. If this setting is disabled, the user will have to preform a Render All after opening a sequence. It is recommended that thus setting always remain checked (enabled).
When checked, the Model Blending option in the sequence settings dialog will be disables by default when creating a new sequence.
Render Cache allows xLights to render an effect or group of effects once and then save the individual frames in memory (and on disk) so it doesn't need to render the frames again. This can speed up render times, as xLights does not need to re-render unchanged effects.
There is a purge render cache option under Tools->Purge Render Cache.
The Auto Save functionality creates a copy of your working sequence xml, in your show directory. By default, the open sequence will be saved every 3 minutes and will create or override a file ‘XXX.xbkp’ where ‘XXX’ is the name of your sequence. You can use this menu to change the timeframe this occurs at or to disable it. The ‘*xml.xbkp’ files will also be included when you press F10 to back up your xml files from the show directory. It won’t be included if F11 is used to back files up to an alternate location.
In order to recover your sequence file from an unexpected error or corruption to the point when the last autosave executed: e nsure that xlights is not active. Then rename your existing sequence file (’xxx.xml’) to another name and rename the ‘xxx.xbkp. file to ‘xxx.xml’. Restart xLights, open the sequence and Click on Render All.
Version 1 is the "original" FSEQ file format. V1 files contain all the channel data and can be very large file. xLights, FPP, and most controllers support V1. Version 2 of the FSEQ file format added compression and "skips" off channels to reduce file sizes. FPP 2.5 and lower do not support the V2 file format. ZSTD, ZLIB, Uncompressed are additional options to select which compression format to use. ZSTD is the default and is the preferred setting. These options can be changed in xLights to generate FSEQ files in the different file format for devices that require them. xLights 2019.64 and FPP 2.6+ support all the available file formats.
To use ArtNET or E1.31 frame synchronisation then you need to enable it using this option. When enabled xLights will emit at the end of the frame a sync packet which supported controllers will use to trigger light output. This can make your show look a lot sharper but very few controllers support these packets.
For ArtNET you just need to select this option.
For E1.31 you also need to set a universe number on the setup tab … this universe number needs to be a universe you are not otherwise using.
By default xLights automatically selects which network interface to send out network data on and sometimes it selects the wrong one. To force xLights to send to a particular adapter select this option and select the IP Address of the adapter you want to use. Select the top blank line to disable forced IP mode and return to the default option of auto.
This selection allows xLights to "skip" frames that contain the same data as the previous frame. This can help with lagging, as it will reduce network traffic. xSchedule will also use this setting when outputting data.
When using the Jukebox Panel with xFade or xSchedule, this determines which instance of xLight to select the effect from.
The Random Effects tab allows the user to set which effects are used by the Generate Random Effects Right click menu option in the sequencer .
The Color Tab allows the user to change the colors options of xLights.
This settings allows the user to provide a contact email for when xLights submits a crash report.This is completely optional.
This setting allows xLights to use the computer's GPU to render video files. If you are having issues with video files's not displaying, it is recommended to disable this setting.
If selected, when a sequence is packaged with the Package Sequence option, all effects presets are stripped from the xlights_rgbeffects.xml file.
If selected, when a sequence is packaged the audio file is skipped as it is generally not legal to share audio files with other people. When the recipient opens the sequence they will need to point to where the audio file is on their computer.
If excluding the audio from a packaged sequence, it is necessary to provide the source of the audio file to those the package sequence is being sent to. This is best done by filling on the metadata on the sequence settings for the song, artist, album, and music URL (link for download).
