Change to 10 Pixels per Ribbon

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Cosmic Color Ribbons default to having 50 pixels per ribbon.  Each pixel is actually a group of three LEDs with red, green, and blue elements.  You will normally want to keep the ribbons in 50 pixel mode.

 

You can, however, change the number of pixels per ribbon to 25, 10, 5, or 1, using one of the macro commands built into the ribbons.  The reason you may want to do this is to reduce the number of channel commands, making the effect more instantaneous.  For example, a white morph that goes the full length of 12 ribbons will generate 12x50x3 = 1800 commands.  If the morph is fast, and tries to do this in a short period of time, like 0.4 seconds or less, you may perceive some lag in the ribbons.  In a fast effect, you will get better results by using 10 pixels per ribbon, because it will use 1/5 the number of channel commands and so will eliminate the lag, and since it travels fast, it will still look good in 10 pixel resolution.

 

Here is an example of how to use both 10 pixel and 50 pixel resolution in the Light-O-Rama SuperStar Sequencer:

 

Initialize the screen
Launch the Macro dialog box
Add a "10 pixel per ribbon" macro
Add a scene inside the macro region
Add a morph inside the macro region
Add a morph outside the macro region
Try to add a morph that straddles the macro
Discussion

 

Initialize the screen

 

Click on the toolbar button with a piece of paper on it.  This will do three things: It will clear the pixel grid, set the start color to red, and set the time duration to 1.00 to 2.00 seconds.

 

Launch the Macro dialog box

 

Click on the Tools menu and select Macro.

 

Add a "10 pixel per ribbon" macro

 

Set "Pixels Per Ribbon" to 10.
Set the time duration to 1.00 to 3.00 seconds.
Click on the Add button.

 

A bracket should appear in time layer 6.

 

Add a scene inside the macro region

 

Click on the Tools menu and select Scene.
Set the time duration to 1.00 to 2.00 seconds.
Set some pixels at the top of the pixel grid.
Click the Add button.

 

A scene should appear in time layer 1.  Note that the scene only has ten pixels per ribbon in the pixel grid.  Also note that the ribbons still display as if they were in 50 pixel mode, but when playing the sequene to the real Cosmic Color Ribbons, they will be in 10 pixel mode.

 

Add a morph inside the macro region

 

Click on the Tools menu and select Morph.
Set the time duration to 2.00 to 3.00 seconds.
Click on the Add button.

 

A morph should appear in time layer 2.  Note that the morph has ten pixels per ribbon in the pixel grid.

 

Add a morph outside the macro region

 

Set the time durationto 5.00 to 6.00 seconds.
Click on the "Add" button.

 

Note that the morph has 50 pixels per ribbon in the pixel grid.

 

Try to add a morph that straddles the macro

 

Set the time duration to 2.00 to 4.00 seconds.
Click on the Add button.

 

An error message will appear.

 

Discussion

 

When playing the sequence to the Cosmic Color Ribbons, the ten pixel macro will send a command 1/100th of a second before the macro time duration to set each ribbon in 10 pixel mode.  It will send a command 1/100th of a second after the macro time duration to set each ribbon back to 50 pixel mode.  No effects should be active when these commands are sent.

 

Note that at 32.45 in the sample file CarolOfTheBells.sup, there is a morph that uses 10 pixel mode.  In this morph, all the ribbons burst downward into a flash of white.  In normal 50 pixel per ribbon mode, this would require 1800 channels to be turned on in a very short period of time.  Using 10 pixel per ribbon mode requires only 360 channel commands, and can make the effect more instantaneous.