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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).
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.
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.
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.
Select and open the Views, Window menu and select windows to be opened.
The Render Buffer is used to generated Effects data onto. For each Model/Group/Submodel, xLights creates a Rectangular Grid to render effects on to. The size of the buffer depends on the model type and settings. 16 strand by 40 pixels Mega Tree will have a 16x40 render buffer.
The Effect is overlaid onto the render buffer to calculate the color data of the individual pixels or lights.
Default Minimal Grid will Draws a 2D grip over the models in the group and attempt to put each pixel in its own box, Up to the Max Grid Size, Normally 400x400.
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.
The Layer Blending window can be opened by clicking on the Layer Blending icon from the toolbar or via the View , Windows menus.
This will reset the Layer Setting back to default every time you select or create a new effect. Checked is the recommended setting for most users.
The Layer blending settings allows the user to dictate how effects on multiple layers will be merged together for a model/group/submodel.
When setting the layer blending modes, the current layer is considered layer 1 and the layer below is considered layer 2.
Click the Question Mark(?) Button for more Information.
Put two effects on a model and step through each of the layering modes to see what they will look like. Experience is much better than reading about it.
This is not to be confused with the Morph Effect. This is a layering option that can be applied to any two effects.
The morph option of layer blending will magically make effect 1 ‘morph’ into effect 2 during the length of the timing cell that the effects are in. You will not see effect 2 at the beginning of the timing cell, and you will not see effect 1 at the end of the timing cell. Somewhere near the middle you will see the effect 1 ‘morph’ into effect 2.
This will hide the effect for the specified amount of frame and display it when the number of frames is reached. This can be used to "warm up" an effect and hide the undesired beginning frames.
This will pause or stop an effect at the specified frame and hold that frame and display it until the end of the effect.
There are 19 layer blending transition choices. Using the transitions will help you bridge between effects providing a way to smooth out abrupt changes between different effects. A stylistic use would be between sections of a song such as the chorus to verse or verse to verse. Keep in mind that the blending is done within the boundary of the timing mark and does not transition between timing marks.
These transitions are common in the video editing world, and should be visually familiar to anyone who’s used video editing software or anyone who’s watched anything on TV in the past 20 years.
When setting a layer transition, the setting will apply to all future effects placed, so be sure to reset the transition times back to 0 if you do not wish the transition to apply to all future effects.
If an effect has a transitions applied a green bar will appear for an in transitions and a red bar for an out transitions. If the in and out transitions overlap, the overlap area will appear yellow.
This slider adjusts the level of each effect in the combined output of the effects. You can use this to just put a hint (or more) of one effect on another.
Canvas Mode is a special render mode that only works with specific effects. The default render mode in xLights will draw the effects on a blank buffer for each layer. Canvas Mode allows an effect to draw on a previous layer without "blanking it" out. This is used by effects like the Warp and Kaleidoscope Effect that manipulate data from the underlying layers.
This Dialog allows the user which layers to use when Canvas Mode is Enabled
The Layer Settings window can be opened by clicking on the Layer Settings icon from the toolbar, or via the View, Windows menu.
This will reset the Layer Setting back to default every time you select or create a new effect. Checked is the recommended setting for most users.
This attribute controls how the buffer is laid out for a model or model group when the effect is rendered. Every model has a ‘Default’ buffer which can be view by opening the model's node layout in the Layout Tab.
For example, for Arches – the default buffer treats each arch as a single line and stacks the arches on top of eachother, for a Star model, the default is a square grid that cases effects to chase across the face of a star.
Additional options are available to change the buffer representation for the model or group. The list of values that are selectable are dynamic depending on the type of model.
For model groups, additional buffer render styles are available. The list below discrips all model render styles.
When using the "Per Preview" render style, this dropdown allows the user to select which viewpoint to use. 2D is the default.
The transformation attributes can be used to rotate the effect clockwise, counter clockwise (90 or 180 degrees) or to flip it either horizontally or vertically.
While some effects have settings to do similar things this is now the standard way to flip or rotate an effect.
This attribute will cause the effect to ‘blur’ i.e. the colors become less distinct (hazy) and the edges of two colors will fade into each other i.e. will not have sharp edges. The level of haziness can be increased from 0 onwards using the slider or adjusted using the Value Curve functionality by clicking on the Value Curve icon.
The Sub Buffer selection can be used to limit the area that an effect is active. This basically redefines the size of the model/group (on a per effect basis). This option is different than masking, because the entire effect is rendered based on this new model size, whereas a mask covers up what you specify.
So if you only want the effect to be on the top half of the model or group, bring the bottom part of the dotted yellow line to the middle of the black box. The ‘handles’ of the yellow grid are in the corners. Double Clicking will reset the defaults to the full size.
If you right click on the black box you can access and select some of the common buffer settings. ‘Full Buffer’ will reset to the full size. The "Edit" option allows the user to manually input the X/Y locations and use value curves.
As an example, drop the Fire effect on a Model Group covering your ‘whole house’.
Then adjust the yellow dotted lines of the box inwards and look at the effect it has on your house preview. You can limit the effect to say the left side of your house, with another similar one of a different color on the right side of the house applied on another layer.
The Sub-Buffer area selection also supports Value Curves. The bounding box handles will appear Red when a value curve is in use.
The Persistent option when enabled does not clear the display buffer before rendering each frame. The result is the preview frame remains until overwritten by a subsequent frame. For example, drop the balls or fan effect on a model, select the blending to “Effect 1”, then toggle Persistent on/off. You will see a huge difference. Doing the same for a “Chase” effect also results in a very different look.
The term came from high persistence scopes where each trace just kept layering on top of previous traces.
The Roto-Zoom functionality enables the effect to be Rotated as well as have aspects of the effect Zoomed.
The Preset defines the type of rotation to be applied to the effect. The effect can be continuously rotated clockwise or counterclockwise, made to explode outwards , implode inwards , shake etc.
The Rotation attribute changes the orientation of the effect. The attribute cannot be used if a Rotation Preset has been selected.
The Pivot Point attributes work if the Rotation attribute has been used by moving the point at which the effect rotates along the other axes.
The Zoom attribute increases the size of the effect - for a Text effect - the text will be made larger. The Zoom quality increase or decreases the pixels when the zoom attribute is used. These two attributes cannot be used if a Zoom (i.e. explode or implode ) Preset has been selected.
Application Order specifies which order to apply the rotation in.
Select the Preset of ‘None - Reset’ to reset the settings before trying another combination or if the rotation / zoom settings appear to be different to what is expected.
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.
You can use the Matrix drawing tools to amend a picture or draw your own pictures or animations. Click on the Picture effect within the sequence grid that contains your effect and then open the Effect Assist window if it is not already open. You will be presented with a window similar to the following i.e. the picture of your effect is copied to a grid.
The Matrix Drawing Tool has 8 windows, each with a color and a radio button under the color to show you which color is selected. You can change the color assigned to each window, change the saturation, hue, brightness, change the RGB setting etc.
Select the pencil tool and after selecting a color, use the left mouse button to draw and fill in the selected color or use the right mouse button to erase what has been drawn. The eraser can be used to remove colors on the grid.
Click on New Image to create a new image. The first time you use this function, you will be prompted for a directory to store the image files in. As an example, create an ‘image’ subdirectory within your show directory.
You will be presented with an empty grid and you can then draw/paint your effect within the grid. Click on Save image and name the image. The model window will display the model just drawn. (The model won’t be updated until the file is saved).
Load Image is used to load a previously saved image or any other supported image. If the picture loaded is not as per the model scale, you won’t be able to edit it.
Save As can be used to save an effect to a new name.
Highlight the area that you wish to copy, press Ctrl C to copy to the clipboard buffer, move to the area that you wish and press Ctrl V to paste it.
The Value Curves functionality effectively changes the way an “effect” or setting works over time in a nonlinear fashion, based on the type of Value Curve selected and other parameters off the curve. This is best explained via an example.
Consider the Bars effect. It has two attributes ‘Palette Rep’ and ‘Cycles’ that can be linearly adjusted using the sliders. They are currently set to 5 and 3 respectively. This means that the palette will repeat 5 times over the duration of the effect and the effect will cycle through three times. Both will be applied evenly across the duration.
However, if you click on the Value Curve icon for either of these attributes, you will be presented with options to change how these repetitions are applied.
The Flat option is the same as the default linear option. The level can be used to adjust the intensity.
The other sliders are labelled ‘N/A’ as they are not applicable to the context and type of Value Curve thats is being used.
In other scenarios, Value Curves and for other effects, different sliders are available.
Click on the drop down link and a number of options are presented.
Select the Ramp Value curve. As the image indicates, this will cause the selected attribute (say Palette Reps), to increase (ramp up) over time, starting from 20% and ending at 80%. Note that the Start level and End level sliders are now active.
Another type of Value Curve is the Sawtooth variation. The selected attribute to which this is being applied (palette reps) will increase and decrease twice (controlled by the Cycles selected) from a start level to and End level.
Custom Value Curves can also be created. Select the Custom option from the drop-down. You can then click on the waveform to add new points and drag them as necessary.
Value curves can be loaded and exported as a .XVC file. By default, the files will be loaded and previewed if they are in the 'valuecurves' folder automatically created in the current show folder.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
Presets are a way to save an effect and easily recall it later to speed up sequencing.
You can also send snippets of your effects to other people and import and use snippets of effects supplied by other people without having to import an entire model.
The Effect Presets window enables presets to be managed. You can group them and perform a number of actions.
Against each preset name, the count of the number of effect layers is displayed.
To save an effect (which can span layers and models) as a preset, highlight the effects that you want to save, right click and select Effect Presets. Under the Favorites tree, you can first create a group that describes the type of effect that you are going to save (Spirals, Bars, etc). Click on Add group and give the group a name (‘Spirals’). Then select the group and click New Preset and give the Preset name (‘Red and White Spirals’) and press OK
To retrieve a preset that has been saved, go to a location on the grid where you wish the preset to be placed, right click on the sequencing grid, select Effects Preset, scroll to and locate the preset you want and double click on it to have it copied to your location, or select Apply Effect.
If you change something within an effect preset that you have selected, you can update it by clicking Update Preset.
To export a preset , select the Preset name from the list in the Preset panel, then click on Export preset. Specify a name and click on Save. A file with the selected name and a ‘.xpreset’ suffix will be created.
To import a preset, click on Import Preset, browse to where the ‘.xpreset’ file is located, select it and then then click on Open. A preset will be created under the highlighted group with the name of the selected file.
You can move an effect preset from one group to another group by dragging it across from one group to another. You can also highlight the name and delete it or rename it.
Transition
Description
Fade
The Effect with gradually disappear or appear.
Wipe
A line travelling from one side of the frame to another will cause the effect to disappear. The adjustment slider sets the starting wipe direction. 0 is from the top, 25 from the left, 50 from the bottom, 75 from the right.
Clock
This uses a circular motion as the hand of a clock from the center of the model to wipe the effect in or out. The adjustment slider sets the starting position and the reverse checkbox allows for a counter clockwise wipe.
From Middle
This is a curtain type wipe either from the middle or towards the middle depending if the effect is placed on the in transition or the out transition. The reverse makes the effect operate in a “to the middle” mode instead of “from the middle”. The adjustment slider will change the angle of the curtain direction.
Square Explode
This transition will draw the effect starting from the middle of the model and expand outwards with square edges until the model is filled. The reverse button starts drawing the effect from the outer edges and filling in towards the middle.
Circle Explode
Same as square explode, except the shape is circular instead of square.
Blinds
This transition is analogous to twisting the wand to open vertical blinds. The adjustment slider determines how many blinds are used. The reverse checkbox determines the direction that the effect will fill in from.
Blend
This transition effect when used as an “in” transition rapidly fills the model with square chunks until the model is full. Likewise when used as the “out” transition, square chunks of the effect disappear until no pixels are left. The adjustment slider determines the size of the chunks.
Slide Checks
This transition is a checkerboard type transition where the effect starts out with a checkerboard type of mask on the model and then the black portions are filled in either left to right depending on the reverse button selection. The size of the pattern is set via the Adjustment slider.
Slide Bars
This transition is broken up into 1-24 horizontal slices of the model determined by the Adjustment slider value. The effect selected will be filled in from opposite sides of the model interlacing each section until the model is filled.
Fold
This transition bends the effect onto itself like a piece of paper.
Dissolve
This transition will cause the effect to appear/disappear by adding/removing random pixels.
Circular Swirl
This transition will cause the effect to appear/disappear by emulating an object's rotation.
Bow Tie
This is a wipe transition using a Bow Tie Shape. The adjustment slider sets the starting location, 50 is the middle. The reverse checkbox will flip the direction.
Zoom
The effect will start out large and shrink into place.
Doorway
The Effect will start/end as a small box and increase/decrease size to fill the frame.
Blobs
This transition will cause the effect to appear/disappear by creating random rounded shapes on the frame.
Pinwheel
This transition will cause the effect to appear/disappear using blades like a fan. The adjustment slider sets the number of blades on the pinwheel.
Star
This is a wipe transition using a Star Shape. The adjustment slider sets the number of side of the star. 40 for four sided star, 50 for for five sided star, etc.
Render Style
Description
Default
Uses the Default buffer for a model or SubModel and Per Preview for a Model Group.
Per Preview
This will render the way the model has been laid out in the preview.
Single Line
Places all the strings/stands end to end and renders the effect on the resulting one pixel high line.
As Pixel
Treats all the model nodes as one pixel.
Horizontal Stacked
Places each Model next to each other horizontally in a single row that is aligned to the bottom
Vertically Stacked
Places each Model on top of each other Vertically in a single column, aligned to the left side.
Horizontal Stacked - Scaled
Places each Model next to each other horizontally in a single row, scales each models buffer size to be the same.
Vertically Stacked - Scaled
Places each Model on top of each other Vertically in a single column, scales each models buffer size to be the same.
Horizontal Per Model
Each Model's nodes are setup as a single row in the buffer horizontally and then each model is stacked vertically.
Vertical Per Model
Each Model's nodes are setup as a single column in the buffer vertically and then each model is place horizontally next to each other.
Horizontal Per Model/Strand
Each Model's strands are setup as a single row in the buffer horizontally and then each model is stacked vertically.
Vertical Per Model/Strand
Each Model's strands are setup as a single column in the buffer vertically and then each model is place horizontally next to each other.
Overlay - Centered
Model are "set" on top of each other and the buffers are Centered
Overlay - Scaled
Model are "set' on top of each other and the buffer sizes are scaled to be the same.
Single Line as a Pixel
Each Model is represented as a single Pixel and placed in a single line.
Per Model Default
Render the Effects on Each Individual Model using the model's default buffer
Per Model Per Preview
Render the Effects on Each Individual Model using Per Preview
Per Model Single Line
Render the Effects on Each Individual Model using Single Line
There are several windows that are used to select different properties, setting, or views when using the sequencer tab.
To select additional Windows, click on View/Windows and select the window to have displayed. If the window is already open, selecting it will close the window.
You can close a Window or move them around or if you have an additional monitor configured, then one or move Windows can be moved to the alternate monitor. The Windows are described in the View, Windows section.
You can save the windows that you normally have open as your default perspective. These windows will then be opened when you load xLights.
Select the Dock All option to reset the Windows perspectives and dock all the windows to your current setup.
This is sometimes required if you are using an xLights_rgbeffects file that has been saved with a different default perspective e.g. two monitors and that set-up is not present in your current environment.
The Reset to Defaults options used to reset the Toolbars. This will take effect when you next start xLights.
You must Save these settings for it to take effect - you will be prompted to save when quitting xLights.
The ‘Render All’ function is used to force a render of all effects - that have either been created within xLights, imported via the Import Effects function or has been imported as a Data layer.
The Data Layer order renders from the bottom to top. Therefore what is on the top layer will be done last – much like painting – the last brush strokes are on the top.
Model layers also render from the bottom to top. Therefore the bottom layer will be rendered first, then the layer above it and do on until the top layer is rendered last.
However, the Models themselves render top to bottom based on how they are laid out in the Master View of the sequence. So the top model is rendered first, then the next lower model until the last model is reached.
This is important to keep in mind when you have multiple models or model groups mapped to the same channels such as whole house model group and regular models.
You can change the order of data layer by moving them up or down. You can similarly change the order of layers within a model. And you can also change the order of models in the master view.
Always put your large groups at the top. To view your rendering order you need to be in the Master View and it renders top to bottom. Use the display elements window to change the ordering. Set the render order in the Master View and then use all my other views for sequencing. All other views don't affect rendering order they are for display purposes only.
If the Model Preview window is open, you can play the model effects in the window by right clicking to the left of the sequencer grid and selecting Play Model. The sequencer will start playing and the effects in this window will focus on the selected window.
You can also achieve the same result by clicking on an effect against the model in the grid and then selecting Play.
This function is used if you wish to export effects from your model to another sequencer, such as LOR, LSP, Vixen, HLS. It can also be used to export an eseq (effect sequence) to the Raspberry Pi Falcon Player (FPP). Effect files are .fseq format files with an .eseq extension. These special sequence files contain only the channels for a specific effect and always start at channel 1 in the sequence file. The actual starting channel offset for the Effect is specified when you run it or configure the Effect in an Event on the FPP.
Eseq (effect sequences) can be played on the FPP any time while a main fseq sequence is running and you can have as many effect sequences running as you want on different elements of your display. If you create an fseq called ‘background.eseq’ and upload to the FPP, it will execute as soon as the FPP has started i.e no definition is required on the FPP.
Right click to the left of the sequencer grid and select Export Model or Render and Export Model.
‘Render and Export’ renders the model to a clean buffer and thus would ONLY contain the data from the effects on that model.
‘Export Model’ could include data from other sources that may affect the model such as data layers, model groups, overlapping models.
You will then be presented with a window where you can select the target sequencer type and the filename to be created. Press OK when done.
Status messages will be displayed on the last line of your sequencer as the model is exported. The file will be created in your show directory.
You can use this functionality to export a models effects to the Falcon Player and then use the effect to run a continuous background sequence such as a “Tune to” sign, independently of sequences running in via the fseq file.
You can export your effects as a video avi file. It is limited to matrices, trees and custom models. It generates a low res video which can be used in the video effect or in other sequencers. Right click against the Model name on the sequencer grid, select Export Sequence and then select either Compressed video or Uncompressed video. Enter the filename and press Ok. The avi file will be created in your show directory.
From the sequencer grid view, right click on a model name, and click on the Toggle Strands option, to display all strands for the model.
With the strands view open (i.e. displayed), right click on a strand to either toggle the strands closed or to Toggle Nodes and display the nodes for a strand.
This is often useful to see how a particular effect has been rendered down to the node level.
Dropping an effect on a Model group will give different results than dropping the same model on all elements of the group (because in the former case the canvas is treated as a whole matrix and then the effect is applied to the models within it). Some effects work at the Group level better than others.
If a model has sub-models they will be listed above the strand names. You then can use these to define an effect applied only to the sub-model.
On the left column of the sequencer tab, Model Groups have a symbol after the name that distinguishes them from Models.
When on the sequencer tab, If you right click on a Model group, the window will display a ‘Toggle Models’ option which will display all the models under the Model group (or hide them if you select the option again). You can also double click on the Model Group to obtain the same results.
xLights can support multiple timing tracks on the sequencer, each with different frequencies of timing marks. By default, a timing track ‘New Timing’ is created for each sequence if you have not created one when creating a new sequence. Timing Tracks can be added via the File, Sequence Settings, Timing menu.
Clicking on the down arrow will provide a drop down list of timing intervals to select from to create a timing track. Other than the first three, the remaining are from the VAMP plugins. If you have not installed the plugins then they will not appear in the list.
You can also import a Timing track that has been created externally. Click on the Import button instead of the New button. A window Chose Timing files(s) window will open, enabling you to browse for and select the timing file to be imported. Navigate to the .txt file containing the timing track and click OK to import it. The new timing track can be a lyric track with phrases and words broke down into phenoms.
If you are trying to import a LOR timing grid and it is not retrieved i.e. the window is empty, use any xml supported editor and check the LMS xml file for a section called <timingGrids>. The section should contain a subsection called <timingGrid> which must contain an attribute called "type=freeform".
When you create a timing track it gets added to all views that you have defined. Timing tracks are local to a sequence.
The timing marks create a grid but once the effects are dropped they have no relation to the original timing marks that were used to drop them. You can switch to any other timing track and have a completely different grid.
If you have multiple timing tracks defined,
Each timing track has a different color of timing marks.
You can select the timing track radio button (to the left of the timing track name) to enable that track. You can also select more than one timing track to be displayed at the same time, however only one timing track will be active for effects to calculate the start and end position.
You can rename a timing track , by right clicking on the timing track name and then providing a new name in the window that gets displayed.
You can set up timing marks on any timing track manually, by placing your cursor on the waveform (above the grid) and while playing the sequence, press the ‘t’ key where you wish the timing mark to appear. This is equivalent to what is called a 'tapper' function.
You can also have xLights create fixed timing interval timing tracks by selecting the Metronome timing option and then choosing the timing interval.
When xLights created a Metronome timing it is generated as a Fixed Timing Tracks. Fixed Timing Tracks are not editable and the timing marks cannot be changed. Fixed timing tracks are colored orange in the sequence tab by default.
To edit a Fixed timing track the user must right click and select Make Timing Track Variable.
While on the sequencer tab, you can add new timing tracks or delete an existing timing track at any time.
Right Click , with your cursor in the area of the timing track names and select Add Timing Track or Delete Timing Track.
You can also import timing marks created externally (the most common being those created via Audacity or another xLights sequence).
This capability includes importing a Singing Face (xLights Papagayo) timing track.
If you wish to select and delete multiple timing marks all at once, uncheck the circle beside the timing track and then drag select with the yellow dashed rectangle and hit the delete key.
In order to import a timing track, right click the Timing names area, then select Import Timing Track, navigate to the .txt ,PGO, LMS, LOR, LSP, .xml, or .xtiming file containing the timing track and click OK to import it.
The timing tracks from the specified file are imported as xLights timing tracks - the following is an example of one that has been imported from LSP.
Importing of a PGO timing track is covered elsewhere in the document.
Similarly to export a timing track, right click on the timing track name in the Timing names area, and save as as .xtiming file.
This capability includes exporting a singing face (xLights Papagayo) timing track.
You can export the file as a PGO file , if you wish to provide the file for use in another type of sequencer (LOR ). If you wish to use this in for another xLights sequencer , then export as an XTIMING file.
Multiple timing tracks can be exported to a single XTIMING file by selected them from the following dialog.
Timings are created just like effects which means they have a duration. Every timing effect has a starting edge and an ending edge. So you can have a timing effect that goes from 1 to 2 seconds and then another from 3 to 4 seconds with nothing in between 2 and 3 seconds. If you want one in there just select a range and hit "t" then drag the edges over to connect to the existing timing effects.
The purpose of this function is to create a timing track by importing the notes from an external source such as a MIDI file, from an externally generated source such as Audacity or from a music XML file.
Right Click on the Timing Track name and select Import Notes.
Specify a name for the Timing Track to be created , the Notes Source, and then navigate to and select the file from which the notes are to be Import.
Click OK and the Timing track will be created from the notes.
Once the timing track that has been created , it can be edited or adjusted if required.
Subsequently , when when using the Piano effect , specify the Timing Track that has been created as the Notes source.
A view is used to be able to easily select a list of models and the sequence in which they are to be displayed on the sequencer.
Views work across sequences, so once you have setup a view with the models that you require, if you open any sequence, that view is available to use in that sequence.
If you define Model Groups in a view, then when you use the view in the sequencer, you will be presented with a list of the groups. Double Clicking each group will open up the list of models within the group.
Multiple views can be defined, with each view defining a list of models that are to be displayed and the sequence that they should be displayed in. For example:
A ‘Static Model’ view may contain all elements that are non RGB.
An ‘Import Model’ view may contain only elements that you wish to sequence after importing other data from other sequencers.
A ‘Halloween Model’ view may contain only elements that you wish to sequence for Halloween.
To Create a new View , click on the Add button, enter a unique name in the window and Click OK.
To delete an existing view , highlight the view from the View window and select Delete.
New models can be added to a view by first selecting that view from the Views list on the right, then second select the Available Model on the Left and third clicking on Right Arrow Button.
Similarly models can be removed from a View by highlighting the model in the Model window on the right and clicking on Left Arrow Button..
The position that the model appears within the view can be changed by highlighting the model and clicking on Up or Down Arrow.
The Double Left and Right Arrows will Add or Remove All the Models in either list.
Within each view, the models that are part of the view can be marked as visible or non visible via the button to the left of the model.
The visibility is across all sequences and not specific to the sequence that is open. So if you make a model non visible, it will become non visible in all sequences.
The Master View is a special (system created) view. It contains all the models that have been defined for the sequence that is open only i.e. it does not span sequences. It also determines the rendering order. Any model added to any other view when a sequence is open automatically gets reflected in the Master View of that sequence. Models can be deleted (i.e. removed) from any view at any time.
If you attempt to delete a model from the Master View, you will be prompted to confirm the deletion, as deleting the model from the Master View will remove all effects that you have created against that model for the sequence that you have open.
If you add a Timing Track to a view, it will be added to all views that you have defined.
This section describes how Singing Face functionality i.e. the conversion of phrases from song lyrics or sentences spoken out aloud can be converted to work on Coro faces or Images on a matrix or Mega tree natively in xLights i.e. without using the Papagayo application.
In the model layout tab, select the singing face model, then click on the ellipsis (three dots) button on the Faces property.
The 'Name' dropdown specified the currently selected Face Definition. If the dropdown is empty, then no Face Definition exist for the current model.
Click 'Add' to create a new Face Definition.
'Delete' will delete the current selected Face Definition.
Click the ellipsis (three dots) to copy, rename or import a face definition.
The drop down box below the 'Name' selector is used to select the type of face definition. There are three types of face definition.
For each phoneme, select the channels that will be turned on. Multiple selections can be selected, by holding down the CTRL key.
If force custom colors is selected, then a specific color to be turned on by default. This can be specified for each phenom/row by double clicking in the color column to bring up the color palette.
If ‘Node Ranges’ is selected, then the following window will be displayed.
Type in the list of node numbers (pixel numbers) for what should be turned for each movement. Example: ("1-12,24-30"). Double click the Nodes Column or Phenom Name to bring up the Node Select Dialog.
Click and drag to select the desired nodes for the selected phenom definition.
Click Ok when done selecting the nodes for the current phenom name/row.
There is a right clicked menu that allows the user to import node numbers from a predefined submodel.
If force custom colors is selected, then a specific color to be turned on by default. This can be specified for each phenom/row by double clicking in the color column to bring up the color palette.
If a matrix is selected, then the following window will be displayed.
Then for each mouth position, double click in the eyes open column (you may need to double click more than once) and navigate to and select the face image corresponding to that mouth position. You can specify different images for the Eyes Closed position or by default, the same image is copied across.
The 'Download Images' button will display a list of user submitted singing faces images. Select the 'Insert Face' to download the pictures files to 'DownloadedFaces' folder in the show folder. This will also populate the face definitions in the main dialog.
Pay attention the image resolution compared to the matrix resolution. High resolution image will not scale well to low resolution matrices.
Then select the image placement i.e. Centered or Scaled. 'Center' with display the image in the center of the matrix. If the image resolution is greater than the matrix resolution, xLights will down scale the image to the matrix resolution. 'Scaled' will upscale the X and Y resolution of the image separately to the matrix resolution.
Images used for pictures and faces use the location reference you specify when you added the image. xLights attempts to resolve the location of the image if it cannot be located where specified.
If the images are in your show directory or in a sub folder inside your show directory, then the image will be found. In other cases , the new location may not be detected.
Next add a new Timing track. Right Click on the Row Heading and Select Add Timing Track
Select a Timing Track of type ‘Empty’ and click on OK to add it.
Right click on the name of the timing track and Select Rename Timing Track. Change it to something meaningful, such as ‘Lyrics’ or 'Main Vocals'.
If you have more than one Voice, then repeat this process for the second Voice.
Select the Timing Track (‘Lyrics’) and for clarity deselect any others. There are two ways to add the phrases/lyrics to the Timing Track.
Importing the entire set of Lyrics. Obtain the lyrics from the internet or elsewhere, copy them, then Right click and select ‘Import Lyrics’.
Type or paste the lyrics into the Window and press OK. The words of the lyrics will be evenly distributed across the song.
It is also possible to import an entire timing track (that another person has exported) containing the Lyrics, Words and phonemes via the Import Timing Tracks option. The file must be an .xtimings file.
Play through the song at regular or reduced speed and use the ‘t’ key to add timing marks at the beginning of each phrase. Then on the timing track, between two timing marks, double click or shift double click (this is set by your preference dialog settings) and an ‘Edit label’ box will pop up. Type in, or copy and paste the words that pertain to the selected phrase (or phrases) that belong between the two timing marks. Press Ok to accept.
Repeat for as many phrases as you require or you can do one phrase at a time.
You can break down all the phrases into words by right clicking on the timing track to the left of the Papagayo icon and selecting the Breakdown Phrases option. This will breakdown all the phrases into words or you can do this in sections i.e. Highlight a phrase or group of phrases, right click and accept the Breakdown Phrase option.
A list of words will be generated for the phrase in a timing track, just below the phrase.
You can break down all the words into phonemes by right clicking on the Timing Track to the left of the Papagayo icon and selecting the Breakdown Words option. This will breakdown all the words into phonemes or you can do this in sections ie: highlight a group of words, right click and accept the Breakdown Word or Breakdown Selected Words option. If the Breakdown Selected Words option does not appear, ensure that your cursor is not pointing on a word, otherwise you may only see the Breakdown Word option.
Due to the loading of dictionaries, there could be a delay of several seconds the first time this is used in each session, while the first word is broken down.
A list of phonemes will be generated for the word or words phrase in a timing track, just below the word timing track.
Zoom in to see the words or phonemes more clearly. Drag the words to align them as required.
You also need to separately drag the phonemes to align them as required.
If you wish to regenerate a word or words, highlight the words, right click and select Breakdown Word or Breakdown Selected Words option.
Select and drag the Face effect to the sequence grid against the model (your Singing face model).
Ensure that the color selected on the color window is correct based on your model definition (White is the most common setting).
If the Timing track name (‘Lyrics1’) does not appear in the list of Timing Tracks, click on another effect and then return to the Face effect to force the list to be refreshed.
Using the Effects Setting window, under Mouth Movements, select the applicable Timing Track (‘Lyrics’). The face definition value will default to the one defined for the model.
You can also select ‘Show Outline’ which will activate the outline when the face effect is present and ‘Turn On/Off Eyes’, if you wish. Setting the eyes to Auto will cause the eyes to blink every few seconds when the rest phenome is on.
The timings should automatically appear against each mouth movement.
Repeat the process for the next phrase or group of phrases.
Similarly, repeat for the next Voice by selecting another model (‘Singing Face 2’), and the next Timing Track (‘Lyrics 2’). When you drop the Face effect on the sequence grid, select the second timing track (‘Lyrics 2’) as the Timing Track on the Effects option and proceed as described for Voice.
If you wish to assign a group of phrases/words/ phonemes from one Voice/timing Track to another, then against the model of the second voice (‘Singing face 2’), for the selected group of phrases (‘Chorus’), when you drop the Face effect, select the first timing track (‘Lyrics’) and the effects from that timing track will be duplicated.
This step will help eliminate any words that xLights may not have in its library.
As you breakdown words in xLights, occasionally you may see that there is no phonetic breakdown of the word placed in the timing track. As shown below.
As you can see there is no pink phonemes below the work ‘honkey’. This means that the word is not in the xLights work dictionary. To manually add word breakdowns, Use the User Library Dialog located in the Tools Menu.
This section describes how you can import a Papagayo (.PGO) file into xLights as a timing track, so as to integrate it with xLights functionality and accordingly be able to edit and adjust it.
On the sequencer tab , after creating a new musical sequence or opening an existing musical sequence, right click on the Timing name and select Import Timing Track. Browse to the location of the Papagayo pgo file and select the file.
Specify the number of frames to offset the data by. Due to a performance limitation in the Papagayo software, a sequence often had to be broken up into segments. In which case the second segment had to be offset by the number of frames of the first segment.
For the first segment being imported the offset is zero. Click on OK.
The Phrases, words and phonemes are imported and a timing track with the three components is created for each Voice contained in the PGO file. The phrases, words and phonemes can then be edited, moved and adjusted similar to one that had been created within xLights.
The following image shows a snippet of what the file contains. The 4th line contains the total number of frames and the 5th line has the number of Voices in the file, followed by the details for each voice.
This is an advance method, It is recommended to use the User Lyric Dictionary Dialog instead.
The standard_library and extended_library are built-in dictionaries which contain information that assist xLights in converting each word into phonemes. Each word in the dictionary is listed with its associated phonemes. As xLights proceeds with the breakdown process there may occasionally be a word that it cannot find in these dictionary files. When this happens there is a simple process to add that word to the user_dictionary.
When xLights is first installed, this file is located in this folder: C:\Program Files\xLights\ This folder is the default folder that xLights is installed into. This can change if you decide to install xLights somewhere else.
To keep this file from being overwritten in future installs you should move the user_dictionary file to the folder where you store your sequences.
The user_dictionary can be moved to the Show Directory and xLights will read it from there. If you do this xLights will load the user_dictionary in the show directory and skip the user_dictionary in Program Files.
The user_dictionary is a simple text file which can be edited by using a text editor such as windows notepad or any other text editor, such as Notepad++, to open this file. This is only dictionary file that you should make any additions to because the other two files will be overwritten each time xLights is installed. When you first open the user_dictionary file it will contain the information shown below.
Before continuing, create a text file containing all the words that xLights did not have an associated phoneme breakdown created. Name this something easily identifiable, such as ‘missing words.txt’ and put it in the same folder as the sequences. There is no special formatting, just a list of words, one per line, is required. One thing to note here is that if you have any hyphenated words such as ‘screa-um’ you should break the word into two words such as ‘screa’ and ‘um’’ for this list.
Then in your internet browser open to the following webpage… http://www.speech.cs.cmu.edu/tools/lextool.html as shown here:
Then click the ‘'Choose File' button and browse to find the file you created or enter this name into the file box.
Then click the 'Compile' button.
Once the processing has completed another web page will appear similar to this:
Click the work 'link'
Another web page similar to this will appear.
Here click the file with the .dict extension such as 0548.dict, then a web page will appear with the words and their phoneme breakdown as shown below.
Before following the rest of this process, close the current sequence and exit xLights.
If your user_dictionary is not open, open it now. Highlight and copy this list and paste it into your open user_dictionary and save the newly modified file. There is a small bug in xLights at the time this document was written which you need to compensate for. After pasting in the newly added words do a search and replace with a ‘ ‘ (space) for any ‘tab’ characters in the user_dictionary. Between the "word" and the "phonemes" requires two spaces (' ') and one space(' ') is required between phonemes.
This process will work for one to how ever many words that you have. But if you just want to quickly check one word past the following link into your browser.
http://www.speech.cs.cmu.edu/cgi-bin/cmudict
This is the online CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Here you will look up each word that Papagayo did not find in its dictionaries. Let’s take the first word 'ooky'. There is a box below the title ‘Look up the pronunciation for a word or a sentence in CMUdict (v. 0.7a)’ where you will enter this word. Then click the 'Pronounce it!’ button. If a red dot appears with the phrase ‘not in dictionary; consider using the LOGIOS tool discussed above, which is able to generate missing pronunciations by rule.’ Then you need to click the ‘LOGIOS’ link which takes you to the previously discussed web page.
Now that you have updated the user dictionary you should reopen xLights and load the previously saved sequence and find the newly added dictionary words and do a right click ‘Breakdown Word’ for the missing phonemes. The image now shows the results after adding the word ‘honkey’ to the user_dictionary file.
There are a number of shortcut keys that can be used for functionality or adding effects on the grid. These effects are stored in the xlights_keybindings.xml file and can be modified by the user. Note that you must edit this file while xLights is NOT running. Changes will be lost when xLights closes as this file is saved upon exit each time.
The On and Ramp Up/Down effects also enables the intensity to be defined as a shortcut key. Look at examples in the existing file which has a start intensity set to zero and and end intensity set to 100%.
Type
Use Case
Single Node
Coro Faces with LED Lights/Dumb RGB Nodes. i.e. 7/8 Channel LOR Faces
Node Ranges
Coro Faces with Smart RGB Pixels Faces i.e. Boscoyo Singing Faces
Matrix
Smart RGB Pixels/P5/P10 Matrices
Key
Type
Function
t
Timing Add
Adds a timing mark to the currently selected position.
s
Timing Split
Splits the current timing mark in half
+
Zoom In
Also available by the Control+mouse wheel
-
Zoom Out
Also available by Control+mouse wheel
R
Random
Generate Random effects
Key
Type
Effect
o
Effect
On
O
Effect
Off
u
Effect
On - Fade Up
d
Effect
On - Fade Down
m
Effect
Morph
c
Effect
Curtain
i
Effect
Circles
b
Effect
Bars
y
Effect
Butterfly
f
Effect
Fire
F
Effect
Fan
g
Effect
Garland
p
Effect
Pinwheel
r
Effect
Ripple
x
Effect
Text
s
Effect
Spirals
w
Effect
Color Wash
n
Effect
Snowflakes