To change an Effects setting, Select the effect in the sequencer timeline and open the Effects setting window using the shortcut in the top toolbar.
Each effect type has specific settings that can be used to manipulate the effect. These setting are specific to the currently selected effects. If multiple effect are selected the Effects setting panel will display the setting of the first effect. The "Update" button will change the settings of all the selected effects to current values used in the Effect Setting Dialog. To updated individual setting across multiple effects use the Bulk Edit option described below.
See the Effects Section for more information on the individual effect settings.
From the Color window, you can change the Colors that apply to the effect, as well as the Sparkles, Brightness and Contrast values. How effects use the colors is defined by the effect.
A single effect can be moved about on the sequencer horizontally , by selecting it with the mouse and dragging it left or right. A timing grid must be active. You can also select the effect and use the Left or Right arrow keys to move it left or right. When the effect encounters or is blocked by another effect, if you keep going, it will jump over the effect/effects and continue past.
Similarly an effect can also be moved vertically from one model to another. Use the Up or Down arrow keys to move it up or down. When the effect encounters or is blocked by another effect, if you keep going, it will jump over the effect/effects and continue past.
An effect or group of effects can be moved, by highlighting the effect, or range and moving it along the same model row/rows on the grid forwards or backwards. Hold the Shift key to move multiple effects.
Multiple effects can also be moved by using the Ctrl key. Click on the first effect , then hold down the Ctrl key and click on other effects. Then use the arrow keys (Up , Down , Left , Right) to move the selected effects together in the required direction.
Effects can be stretched by using the Alt key and dragging one edge of the effect highlighted (most commonly the bottom right corner) to provide a Chase effect. You may need to use Toggle Nodes to view the nodes so as to be able to stretch an effect.
A simple way to do a chase effect is to select a block of cells and hit 'd' for a fade down or 'u' for a fade up. If you then need to adjust it, drag the end line.
On OSX use Cmd key instead of Ctrl key.
In order to align several effects to the same start or end times , drag a box around all the effects you want to align and then hold down shift and click the effect you want to be the reference. Then right click and select Alignment. You can then select one of the four options to align to the effect you selected as your reference. In the example below, the Start times of three effects have been aligned to the Start of the Bar effect just below them.
You can even select a timing effect as the reference and it will align to that timing effect.
In order to copy and paste an effect, select the individual effect, right click and then select Copy. Move the cursor to where you want the effect to be copied to, right click and select Paste. You can also press Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V to copy and paste the effect.
In order to copy and paste a range of effects, use the cursor to highlight and select a range of cells. Then copy, followed by paste.
You can paste what is in the buffer (after a Copy) to multiple locations, by moving the cursor to each new location and pasting the copied data (right click and Paste or Ctrl+V) there.
There are two modes for Copying and Pasting effects: Paste by Time or Paste by Cell.
You can select, or change the mode by clicking on one of the two icons.
Paste by Time is the most common option. You do not need to have a timing track active . You copy the required section and paste at the required location. The copy works on copying effects and not copying grid locations. Therefore it will copy the first effect from with the range highlighted, and accordingly will paste that effect (and others after it that were selected) at the grid location when Paste is selected.
Paste by Cell works using timing tracks. A timing track must be active when you copy, so that the cells to be copied can be determined from the active timing track. You can use this option to copy timings/timing data (such as the phonemes used for singing faces).
Examples
You copy a single effect, select a target cell and hit Paste with Paste by Time mode. The result is the effect is pasted with the original duration. So if the original duration was 2 seconds , then two seconds duration will be pasted in the target irrespective of the length of the cells..
You copy a single effect, select a target cell and hit Paste with Paste by Cell mode. The result is the effect is pasted to fit within the target selected cell based on a %.
If it was 100% of the source cell, then the full target cell will be covered.
If it was 50% of the source cell, then 50% of the target will be selected.
You can delete an effect, by selecting the effect in the grid and pressing delete on your keyboard or pressing Ctrl+X.
In order to delete multiple effects, use the left mouse key to highlight a range of cells and then press delete. You can also right click on an effect and choose delete.
You can copy the effects of an entire model/group and paste it to another model/group.
Highlight the model name, right click and select Model, Copy Effects to copy the entire row of the effects.
Then select the model name header you want to paste the effects (in the same sequence or another sequence), right click against the model name and select Model -> Paste Effects. The data copied remains in the clipboard buffer. The Paste operation does not have to be immediately after the Copy operation.
You can copy the effects of an entire row/layer and paste it to another row/layer.
Highlight the row/layer header, right click and select Row, Copy Effects to copy the entire row of the effects.
You then paste the effects from the entire row/layer by right clicking on the row header and selecting Row, Paste Effects
Many, but not all effect actions can be ‘Undone’ by right clicking on the Grid and selecting the Undo action i.e. Undo effect move or Undo delete.. etc
You can also use the shortcut key of Ctrl+Z. The Undo actions can be daisy changed i.e. they can be repeated one after another.
In order to select a group of effects, use the left mouse key to select the range of effects. The color of the cells change, but also, the links in the selected cells will turn to magenta.
You can only select a group of cells, when the cursor looks like a pointing hand.
If two arrows are shown, then you can’t select the cells. You may need to zoom in to be able to see and select the required effects.
After selecting multiple effects, the user can change an individual setting across all the selecting effects. Right Click on the effects setting to change and select Bulk Edit.
A separate window will appear, allowing the user to change the setting.
After Clicking OK, all the selected effects will be changed to the new setting value.
If effects of different types are selected Bulk Edit will only change the setting of the Effect Type displayed in the Effects Settings Window.
Select and highlight an area on the effects grid. Right click and select the "Create Random effects" option. Effects will be randomly selected (along with different colors and options) and created in the area highlighted, each between consecutive timing marks. If no timing marks are active, then a default time length will be used for each effect. Use the shortcut key ‘R’ to achieve the same result by highlighting one or more cells and pressing 'R' on the keyboard. The Effects used by Create Random Effects can be set in the File->Preferences Menu under the "Random Effects" Tab.
You can use this option to paste effects to cells of a different size to the cells you copied from. If the source cell was a full cell, then the target cells will be filled. If the source cell was ½ filled, then the target cell will also be ½ filled ie it will be pasted to the same proportion as the source cell.
From the Color window, you can change the Colors that apply to the effect, as well as the Sparkles, Brightness and Contrast values. How effects use the colors is defined by the effect. Some support just one, some support up to 8.
The 'Update' button will apply the current colors palettes to all the selected effects.
Use the Sparkles slider to increase the sparkles for the effect. If the Sparkles reflect music option is selected, then the sparkles will increase from the selected value based on the intensity of the music. The Sparkles color can be changed with the color picker on the right side.
Use the Brightness slider to increase or decrease the brightness of the effect.
You can open/close the Color Window by Clicking on the Effect Colors icon in the toolbar.
If this window is not open, select and open the Window from the Views, Window menu. You can save all your window positions as a “Perspective” for easy recall.
To change the colors used by an effect, select the effect, and double click the color that needs to be modified.
The Color Manager Dialog allows the use to then select a different color.
The user can create custom colors by clicking "Define Custom Colors" and manually adjusting the RGB color settings.
For any effect, you can change the initial colors selected for the effect by selecting a different color or colors from the Color Window. You can use the Control key and select multiple effects.
Once you select all the effects and change the color , hit the 'Update' button in the color panel. It will modify just the colors for all selected effects.
Clicking on the any of the color icons opens up a Palette window, where the standard colors can then be replaced with a new standard color or a custom color can be selected.
The Save button allows the user to save the current selected color for future use as a color palette. These color palette files are stored in the current show folder.
The Drop-Down allows the user to select the previously saved color palette stored in the show folder.
The update button will save any pending changes to the currently selected color palette file. Delete will delete the selected color palette file. If the user hovers over the color palette, the file name will appear.
This functionally enables a color to change within an effect duration I.E. where previously the same color value would have been displayed for a particular segment duration it can now be made to change within that segment duration.
As an example, drop a Bars effect against a model on the grid.
After selecting the required colors (white, red and green in this example), right click on the first color .
The Color Curves window is displayed.
The window representing the Color curve is black in color.
Double click on the mark (which turns yellow to indicate it has been selected) and from the resulting Palette window select a color (White).
Move the marker to the far left. Then click within the White Color curve window. This creates another mark , Double click on that mark and select Blue as a Color.
You now have a color effect that starts White and Turns blue over the duration of the effect.
You can adjust the markers to control where the color changes.
You can have up to 40 different color changes.
The Blend Mode can be set to Gradient or None (sharp change).
For effects that have the Platte color option (such as the Butterfly), the Palette must be selected for the colors to come into play.
You can select any one of the color curves present just below the Blend Mode attribute by clicking on it.
The color curve values will be copied into the window just above and you can then use the markers to adjust the color.
To can export a color curve by clicking on the Export button. You will be prompted to specify a name for the Color curve and a .xcc file of the specified name will be created in the location specified.
Similarly you can load a previously exported color curve file by clicking on the load button and then navigating to the location of a .xcc file and selecting it.
Color curves can be timed based or spatial based. A timed based color curve will change color over the duration of the effect, while a spatial color curve will change over the models X/Y location. A spatial color curve has direction. The icon below the color specified what type of color curve is selected. Click the icon to change the color curve type. A clock is a time based and an arrow is used for a spatial color curve. The Direction of the arrow represents the direction of the spatial color curve.
This functionality works on most effects but not all. For example – it is not applicable to effects such as DMX, Faces, Fire, Glediator, Pictures, State and Video.
Single Channel colors react only to the color that they are defined as. If you define them as single color blue then it will only react to the blue channel. You can set any color and it will route the blue portion of that color to that model.
If you send White (R=255, G=255 B=255), to a single color blue model then it will turn fully blue. If you send blue it will turn fully blue. If you send red or green it won't turn on at all. If you send pink which is R=255, G=0, B=128 you will get a half brightness blue.
You can therefore include those single color models inside a group and they will react to the colors dropped on the group. Any of the "blue" components of the RGB values assigned to that model will cause it to fire at the associated brightness of the component.
The strings will light up with the intensity of the color for each channel. So if you send Purple R=128, G=0, B=128), that will light up all the Red and Blue strings but only about 50% intensity.
If you just want a string to turn on full brightness without worrying about it then use White.
