Smooth Effects

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Smooth Effects look best on a large matrix of RGB lights.  They are designed to change large areas of lights in a smooth flowing manner.  There are three types of smooth effects: Shockwave, Spiral, and Fan.

 

Shockwave

 

After launching the Smooth Effects dialog box, click on the "Shockwave" tab.

 

Center Point and Radius
Angle
Width
Acceleration

 

Center Point and Radius (Shockwave)

 

In the green sequencing grid, there will be a small circle and a line ending with an arrow head.  The small circle marks the center of the shockwave.  The line ending with an arrow head marks the radius.  Click on the "Add" button in the "Smooth Effects" dialog box, and then click on the "Play" button to see the shockwave.  You should see a shockwave effect start from the center and end where the arrow head was.

 

To change the center point and radius, do a click and drag with the left mouse button.  You can change the direction and length of the radius with the right mouse button.  For example, do a click and drag with the right mouse button starting at the end of the arrow line and drag towards the center where the circle is.  This will make the line start at the outside and go towards the middle with the arrow pointing towards the middle.  Add another shockwave effect and play it, and you should see a shockwave start big and contract to a smaller size.

 

Angle (Shockwave)

 

The Start Angle and End Angle are grayed out, because Shockwave does not use them.

 

Width (Shockwave)

 

There is a Start Width and an End Width.  The Start Width is the width of the "leading edge"of the shockwave.  The End Width is the width of the "trailing edge" of the shockwave.  Click on the Up or Down Arrow buttons next to the Start Width or End Width to change their values.

 

Acceleration (Shockwave)

 

Setting a positive number will make the shockwave start slowly and increase in speed as it travels.  Setting a negative number will make the shockwave start quickly and slow down as it travels.

 

Spiral

 

After launching the Smooth Effects dialog box, click on the "Spiral" tab.

 

Center Point and Radius
End Angle
Width
Tail Time Length
Acceleration

 

Center Point and Radius (Spiral)

 

In the green sequencing grid, there will be a small circle and a line ending with an arrow head.  The small circle marks the center of the spiral.  The line ending with an arrow head marks the radius and start angle.  Click on the "Add" button in the "Smooth Effects" dialog box, and then click on the "Play" button to see the spiral.  You should see a spiral effect start from the center and end where the arrow head was.

 

To change the center point and radius, do a click and drag with the left mouse button.  You can change the direction and length of the radius with the right mouse button.  For example, do a click and drag with the right mouse button starting at the end of the arow line and drag towards the center where the circle is.  This will make the line start at the outside and go towards the middle with the arrow pointing towards the middle.  Add another spiral effect and play it.  You should see a spiral start at the outside and spiral inward, ending where the arrow head was.

 

End Angle (Spiral)

 

The end angle of the spiral can be changed by changing the value in the End Angle field.  Changing the value of the Revolutions field will also change the value in the End Angle field.  The default is an end angle of 360 degrees and 1.00 revolutions.  The default setting will make a spiral that travels clockwise from 0 degrees to 360 degrees.  Set Revolutions to 2.00 to make the spiral go around two times.  Setting a negative number for End Angle or Revolutions will make the spiral travel counterclockwise.

 

Width (Spiral)

 

There is a Start Width and an End Width.  The Start Width is the pixel width at the start of the spiral.  The End Width is the pixel width at the end of the spiral.

 

Tail Time Length (Spiral)

 

This is the time length the spiral will stay on screen before it erases itself.

 

Acceleration (Spiral)

 

Setting a positive number will make the spiral start slowly and increase in speed as it travels.  Setting a negative number will make the spiral start quickly and slow down as it travels.  Setting acceleration to zero means do not accelerate, but even with acceleration set to zero, spiral effects will have a natural acceleration if the start width is smaller than the end width, and a natural deceleration if the start width is bigger than the end width.

 

Fan

 

After launching the Smooth Effects dialog box, click on the "Fan" tab.  Fan uses a series of Spiral effects that can look like a fan.

 

Center Point, Radius and Start Angle
Width
Blades
Blade Width
Revolutions Per Second
Element Angle
Element Step Angle
Acceleration
Show Entire Blade at Start

 

Center Point, Radius and Start Angle (Fan)

 

In the green sequencing grid, there will be a small circle and a line ending with an arrow head.  The small circle marks the center of the fan.  The line ending with an arrow head marks the radius and start angle.  Click on the "Add" button in the "Smooth Effects" dialog box, and then click on the "Play" button to see the fan.  You should see a fan effect start from the start angle and rotate at the default speed of 0.25 revolutions per second.

 

To change the center point and radius, do a click and drag with the left mouse button.  You can change the direction and length of the radius with the right mouse button.  For example, do a click and drag with the right mouse button, starting at the end of the arrow line, and drag towards the center where the circle is.  This will make the line start at the outside and go towards the middle with the arrow pointing towards the middle.  Add another fan effect and play it.  The fan will start from the start angle and rotate at the default speed of 0.25 revolutions per second as it did before, except this time each element of the fan will travel inward instead of outward.

 

Width (Fan)

 

There is a start width and an end width.  The start width is the pixel width of the start of each element of the fan.  The end width is the pixel width at the end of each element of the fan.

 

Blades (Fan)

 

This is the number of blades in the fan.  The default is two.  You can set the number of blades from 1 to 16.

 

Blade Width (Fan)

 

This is the width of each blade in the fan.  50% means the blade width will be 50% of the distance to the next blade.  Note that the blades start out being thin and get thicker as they rotate until they get to their Blade Width setting.

 

Revolutions Per Second (Fan)

 

This is the rotation speed of the fan.  The default is 0.25 revolutions per second.  This means it will rotate one quarter of a revolution in one second, meaning it will take four seconds to make one full revolution.  Positive numbers will rotate clockwise; negative numbers will rotate counterclockwise.  With a setting of 0, the fan will build from the center outward and will not rotate.

 

Element Angle (Fan)

 

The fan is built using a series of spirals.  Each spiral is an element of the fan.  Changing the element angle wil change the angle of each one of the spirals that make up the fan.  Setting an angle of 0 will make straight elements.  Setting a large angle will make the fan look sort of like a spinning galaxy.

 

Element Step Angle (Fan)

 

This is the spacing between each element of the fan.  Each element is a spiral.  An element step angle of 10 means that each spiral will be built at intervals of 10 degrees.  Setting a large element step angle will add space between the spirals.

 

Acceleration (Fan)

 

Setting 0 means do not accelerate.  Setting a positive number will make the fan start slow and increase in speed as it travels.  Setting a negative number will make the fan start quickly and slow down as it travels.  Note that if you use acceleration in a fan, the width of the fan will change as it accelerates or decelerates.

 

Show Entire Blade at Start (Fan)

 

This means build the entire width of the blade of the fan all at once, so that the entire blade width is seen from the start to the finish.