Topic: My Spaghetti Show

[BlinkenLights]

here is a more difficult suggestion, not an annoyance..

being able to rotate the beam view would be cool .. so it could be viewed from the side..

i know thats no easy task but its just a suggestion..

also on screen display w/ laser output at the same time


a time bar in show mode, or even a time bar with frame preview (like the moving time bar suggested earlier

automatic uninstall/install when installing a new version

[BlinkenLights]

another idea...

more than one type of cue.. like 1 2 3 4

they would be different colors and possible be marked as 1 2 3 4 or whatever..


the point is that one cue is for marking minor changes or loops, and the other would be for major changes (like chorus, verse or beat changes)

sorry im full of ideas..
 

[Fanny Pack]

Keep them coming.  Some of those I have thought of but wasn't sure how useful they would be.  It's good to hear other people requesting them so I know that they aren't just crazy ideas that I had.

[BlinkenLights]

im sure ill crash it again tonight it seems im just good at that..

[BlinkenLights]

ok well i did not crash it but i did realize something...

i need to figure out how the FPS relationship between LaserBoy and Spaghetti works...

LaserBoy is lacking in the FPS department.

[Fanny Pack]

That is a complicated subject and there is a little history behind it as far as Spaghetti is concerned.  I'll try to explain but you'll probably have to reread this a few times before it settles in.

The Frame Rate set for the Spaghetti project is how fast the DAC will be updated.   When an ILDA source is set to "Frame Based" modes, a new frame will be sent with each update.  This is basically like playing a film.  If the project frame rate doesn't match the speed of film the animation will appear to be to slow or fast.  "Frame Based" mode is what I initially started with in Spaghetti.  It was the only mode.  If I started over I would not have this mode and I have considered removing it.  In Time Based mode, you can stretch the ILDA file out or shrink it.  The DAC will still get updated at the project frame rate but if the ILDA file is stretched out twice as long as it has frames, each frame in the file will be sent to the DAC twice.  If the file is shrunk to 1/2 of the normal length, every other frame will be skipped.

If the source ILDA files have a large number of points per frame, the frame rate has to be low or else frames will be skipped.  This is because there is a limit to the number of points per second that the DAC can display.  If the DAC max is 30Kpps then if the frame has 6000 pts in it then the max frame rate is only 5FPS.  If the frame has 100 pts then the max frame rate is 300FPS.  So what do you pick?  Generally, if you leave it at 30 you will be OK.  There is a reason for bumping it up, though.  If you are doing something like beams shows with not too many points in them, specifying a higher frame rate will give you smoother effects.  You will be able to apply fast rotations to objects and they will appear to rotate smoothly instead of jerk.

[BlinkenLights]

ok i get it.....

i was worried about having to many FPS before but now i understand the reason..

[drlava]

  "Frame Based" mode is what I initially started with in Spaghetti.  It was the only mode.  If I started over I would not have this mode and I have considered removing it. 

Please do not remove it.  It is good to have a mode that will not drop frames.

[BlinkenLights]

oh i agree... i like it... its sometimes cool to mess with frame timing too.

[BlinkenLights]

ok hows this for ambition ...

[BlinkenLights]

more thoughts...

laser preview during ilda browsing (at least for licensed users)

reset start and end times. or "clear start/end time" to make them go back to default

some way to assist with beat matching of a single frame.. to repeat a single frame a number  of times over period of time (dragable), with the time its on and the time its off split using a slider ..
===================================

on.................................................off
[------|-------------------------------]
Repeat [4] times
(x)Blink
( )Fade
====================================

maybe even the ability to blink or fade... 


this may sound complex, call me if ya dont get it...

[Fanny Pack]

Makes sense.  I'll add those to my list.

Thanks.

[BlinkenLights]

just a thought..

the blinking.. that in itself is actually a great idea...

adding either a blink on or blink off to an animation.

like wen a song is building up and you want the laser to start blinking on and off real fast before finally busting out with some super bright RGB beams of something..


just another thought.


and a nice way to do that would be to add an effect layer..

[BlinkenLights]

when closing spaghetti it does not say "The project blah blah has changed, would you like to save the changes now" [Save Changes] [Discard Changes] [Cancel]

[Fanny Pack]

I know that not asking to save before exiting is dangerous.  That is one of the things on my short list to do.  I'm going to bump it to the top.

Your other ideas are good, too.  I've seen those features in other laser show apps and liked them.