Sequencer

The sequencer is where the majority of time will be spent and where most of the functionality that the user sees resides. The main areas and functions of the Sequence tab are as follows:

Changing an Effect

Changing Effect Setting

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.

Changing Color 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.

Moving and Stretching effects

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.

Aligning effects

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.

Copy, Paste, Delete Effects

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

1. 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..

2. 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.

Right Click Options

Model - Copy

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.

Model - Paste

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.

Row - Copy

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.

Row - Paste

You then paste the effects from the entire row/layer by right clicking on the row header and selecting Row, Paste Effects

Undo Effect

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.

Selecting Multiple Effects

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.

Bulk Edit

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.

Create Random Effects

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.

Timeline and Waveform

The top section of the display window is the Timeline section and indicates the scale that the waveform and sequencer is displaying.

You can select an area on the timeline – depicted by the arrows - and you can then play that section once independent of the section highlighted to be played on the waveform. At the end of playing that section, the highlighted arrows disappear, leaving the waveform highlight to be played. Clicking anywhere in the timeline or highlighting an area in the timeline initiates auto play, without losing the waveform selection.

The waveform displays a sonographic representation of the audio portion of the media that has been associated with the sequence.

Zoom in and Zoom out

You can control the focus of the waveform.

• Zoom in on the waveform by double clicking on the waveform. Keep double clicking until you've got a zoom setting you can use. Or click on the ‘+’ button.

• To zoom out, hold the shift key and double click on the waveform or click on the ‘-‘- button.

• Click the edge of an effect, hold down control and use the mouse scroll wheel to go in or out.

Scroll Left/Right

Click on the waveform. Then hold down the Shift key and use the scroll key of the mouse to move the waveform and grid left or right.

When playing the sequence, a vertical line indicates the start position and another vertical line extending right through the grid indicates where the audio being played current is

The time counter displays the time from the beginning of the sequence that the current position is up to. The FPS value displays the Frames Per Second that the sequence is outputting the data at.

You can highlight a range on the waveform to play only that section. If you move your cursor on the waveform towards either edge of the highlighted area, a ‘hand’ appears and you can use that to move the edge.

• If the Pause button is selected, and then pressed again, the sequence will restart from the current position that it stopped at.

• If after a Pause, if the Play button is pressed, then the sequence will restart from the marked ‘start position’.

• Clicking on the Stop button will reset the start position to the beginning of the sequence.

• After Stop has been pressed the Rewind button will start from the beginning of the sequence and the fast forward button will play from the last component of the sequence.

• Highlighting a portion of the waveform will cause only that section to be played. Pressing the spacebar will replay that section.

• The ‘Replay’ button will replay the highlighted section of the waveform. It will start from the beginning of the highlighted area and when it reaches the end of the area , will loop back to play from the beginning of that area.

Clicking on an effect in the grid will not alter the waveform area that has been highlighted to be played. The effect becomes the focus point, if you zoom in and out, but the play range does not change. If you do want the start position to move to where your effect is, or to be based on the edit position in the grid, then double click in the grid and that will then remove any highlighted position/area in the waveform and set the start position in line with where you have double clicked.

To scroll Left/ Right, click in the grid. Then hold down the Shift key and use the scroll key of the mouse to move the grid left or right.

Audio Scrubbing

Hold the Ctrl key down and placing the mouse on the waveform, click and hold the mouse left button down and and drag it across the waveform.

The audio will be played as you scrub the line. Therefore you can play a small section again and again, backwards and forwards so as to identify a particular note inflection, timing mark or a word of a lyric.

Timeline Tags

Timeline Tags allow the user to create "bookmarks" or "shortcuts" on timeline numbered 0-9. You can then type CTRL + 0-9 to scroll the timeline to the numbered tag's location. To add a timeline tag right-click on the timeline at the desired timing location and select a number 0-9. Numbers with check-marks already have tags placed on the timeline. You can reuse a tag with a check-mark but the previous location will be overwritten.

To delete a timeline tag Right Click on the timeline and Select Delete and then the number of the tag you want to remove.

Adding an Effect

Click on the effect from the effects toolbar and drag the effect to the grid and release it between two timing marks on the row of the model you wish the effect to play on. You can then select and drag each end to stretch the duration of the effect or reduce the duration of the effect. The effect that you are working with is reflected in the (associated and open) windows to the left of the grid.

If no timing track is selected then you can drag and drop even if you have no timing marks but the effect defaults to 1 second long.

Changing Color 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. 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.

Changing Colors

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.

Color Palettes

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.

Color Curves

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.

Types of Color Curves

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

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.

Layers

Layering effects gives you the ability to create unlimited stunning effects that could not be created without layers.

First, let's go over the limits. Each model may have a up to 200 layers of effects. Each layer can be blended with the layer below it for a combination of thousands possibilities within a single timing cell.

Layers on a model are like layers on a cake. Each layer adds a bit to the effect produced at the end. Much like layering your popcorn with butter or salt. It's easy to think of each layer of being additive like a food recipe, but you can also use layers to be subtractive as well using layer masks to reveal only a portion of a layer. See the table below for the different layer blending options.

Think of a color wash in red, with a layer of snowflakes. Normally you would picture a red model with the white snowflakes. You could change the layer masking so that the model was black and showed red on the snowflakes. Some effects like Morph can be applied to only a portion of a model, so using layers you can get multiple morphs on a Mega Tree that look like interleaving fingers for example.

Combining two spirals in opposing directions on a mega tree also can create stunning effects.

To add layers to a model right click the model in the sequencer tab and choose Add Layer above or below (the current layer).

Layers can also be added at the Strand level.

The Poly Line model defines each segment as a Strand and the layer functionality can then be applied separately to each strand.

To add layers at the strand level, click on the Model name in the sequencer to display the Strand names. Then right click on the strand name and choose Add Layer above or below the selected strand.

The strands blend onto the model level effects.

Layer Blending

The Layer Blending window can be opened by clicking on the Layer Blending icon from the toolbar or via the View , Windows men