Playback Window

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Playback Window

The "Playback" window is normally docked to the top of the main Light-O-Rama S5 Sequencer program window. It can also be dragged and dropped such that it "floats" outside of the main window.

 

The playback window has 2 purposes:

 

1.Display a simulation of your lights during sequence playback

2.Display a motion effect when one is selected in the sequence grid

 

 

Sequence Playback

 

The primary purpose of the playback window is to display a simulation of your lights while the sequence is playing in the Sequencer. If you have a second display monitor, this is a good window to float and drag to the other monitor. That way you can sequence on one monitor and view playback on the other.

 

Note that there are certain items that are not displayed during sequence playback. These include:

props with a shape of "hidden"

archived props

beat channels

 

The Playback Window displaying a simulation of the lights while the sequence is being played

The Playback Window displaying a simulation of the lights while the sequence is being played

 

 

Toolbar

 

Playback Control

 

The Playback Window has a set of toolbar buttons that allow you to start and stop sequence playback. The Sequence Tab's toolbar also has a set of playback buttons -- you can control playback using either set.

 

 

Playback Control

PlayAllIcon

Play the full sequence

PlayHereToEndIcon

Play from the left edge of the visible sequence grid to the end of the sequence

PlayBeginningToHereIcon

Play from the beginning of the sequence to the right edge of the visible sequence grid

PlayVisibleIcon

Play the visible portion of the sequence

PlaySelectionIcon

Play the current selection. If there is a freeform play range defined then that is played; otherwise the current grid selection (dashed yellow outline) is played.

PauseIcon

Pause playback. Press again to resume

StopIcon

Stop playback

 

Background Image Brightness

 

If your preview has a background image, the first slider (and the buttons on either side) can be used to change the brightness of the image. If there is no background image, then this section will be disabled.

 

 

Background Image Brightness

brightness20black

Decrease brightness

brightness20white

Increase brightness

 

Zoom

 

You can zoom in on the preview while playback is occurring in order to view it in more detail. Use the second slider on the toolbar (and the buttons on either side of it) to control the zoom level. Then use the scroll bars on the bottom and right side of the window to move to your area of interest.

 

 

Zoom

16_zoom_out__2

Zoom out

16_zoom_in__2

Zoom in

 

You can also perform zoom and scroll actions using the mouse wheel. The mouse pointer must be positioned over the playback area in order for these to work.

 

key-dark32-Ctrl

MouseWheel

Hold the Ctrl key down while using the mouse wheel to zoom in and out

MouseWheel

Use the mouse wheel by itself to scroll vertically

key-dark32-Shift

MouseWheel

Hold the Shift key down while using the mouse wheel to scroll horizontally

 

Volume

 

The right-most slider controls volume if you are playing a musical sequence. You can drag the slider directly, or use the buttons on either side of it to move the volume up or down a notch.

 

 

Volume

speaker16off

Decrease the volume

speaker16on

Increase the volume

 

 

Displaying Motion Effects

 

If you have the Pro version and are using motion effects, the playback window has a second purpose: it displays the currently selected motion effect. So if you use a lot of motion effects, you will want to keep the playback window visible at all times. This allows you to click on any motion effect in the grid and have it play in the playback window. This makes it much faster to identify motion effects on the sequence grid.

 

The Playback Window displaying a motion effect

The Playback Window displaying a motion effect