Restarting the sequencer

[csf]

Well tomorrow (aka latter today now) I am graduating college and I am hooping by next week I can get in a regular flow ow working on xlights almost daily.

I have been able to spend time over the last few months smoothing over my ideas and I think it has came together nicely.

Basically the idea is to make a sequencer which will be a GUI for the underlying layer. The underlying layer will be mostly XML and Script based, which will basically allow for any one to enhance the sequencer.

If any one want's to help with this let me know and I will document the ideas, other wise I am going to start coding it up my self

[rrowan]

Congrats on Graduating

Well be watching the development and offering annoying ideas when I can 

Many thanks for the update

Rick R.

[RJ]

Congrats! can't wait to see what you come up with.

RJ

[csf]

Thank guys  

Over the next few days I plan to explain the structure of the sequencer.

Basically there will be three main layers.

GUI - This is the top layer of the program aka what people see on their screen

Core - This is the main part of the app, which will be the code for managing the dynamic nature of the app, such as managing scripts, and giving a layer the GUI can use to control Core.

Scripts - This is where most of the power of the app will come from. There will be forum main types of scripts

Import Script: Load data from a file in to the sequencer
Export Script: Save data from the app to a file
Effect Script: manipulates light values, allowing you to create effects like chases.
Real time scripts: Scripts that basically manipulate how the user interacts with the app, such as a beat detector.


The goal is that the GUI and Scripts will basically just extend Core, you can basically think of the GUI as being a major plugin for Core that exposes all the core functions / features. When a script is called from the GUI Core will execute the underlying script and return the results back to core for further processing or core will pass it back to the GUI for the user to see.

The goal is to keep the GUI and Core as light as possible, keeping the real power in the scripts. This will allow for the community to truly customize the sequencer in the way they seam fit. I feel like what I am developing is more of a frame work more then a traditional app, but I feel this is the way I can make it the most powerful tool for the community.

[taybrynn]

Sounds like a cool concept.

[rrowan]

Hi csf,

Many thanks on the update and how you are going to set it up.

It sounds awesome and I can't wait to try it out. Are you going to use a standard scripting language or create something? I hope you provide real sequence script examples for us. Like a chase, fades, etc

Any news on the rest of xlights?

Cheers

Rick R.

[batdive]

Thanks CSF for continuing this project.

I have been testing/looking all that is out there in hopes to find a better solution than the current vixen.  I love vixen's ease of use (IE highlight fields and set intensities or on/off) but it obviously is way behind the times as for dealing with the newer hardware.

LSP is very tough and cumbersome and not "user friendly" to learn.

Hope that helps a little bit as you look to others to see what they have done right/wrong and get the best you can do.


Cant wait to see the project evolve.    <pop..


-JS

PS: Congrats on Graduating.

[csf]

rrowan:

As for scripting the plan is to have a few options.
C++ calls you you can write C++ scripts, then I would like to document using the C++ commands in python and java using invokes. The final part will be a traditional scripting language probably squirrel scripting.

As for the rest of xlights, Matt says he hopes to be back to it soon.

[PVPlaceLights]

LUA is also a great scripting language for C/C++ applications and is very easy to integrate.

--Matt

[rrowan]

Hi csf,

Any updates?

Would love to hear that its ready for testing LOL

Cheers

Rick R.

[csf]

As far as the sequencer goes there probably wont be any thing to test in to some time next year...

On a brighter note there is something I have been messing with... Which could be releasable with in a few weeks... and unlike a sequencer, which we have a few of in the community, I know of nothing that does what I am working on...

Give me a few more days to play with this, and if it all goes well I will let the cat out of the bag

[rrowan]

Cool

Many thanks csf

Cheers

Rick R.

[gatorengineer]

Bump

[Steve Gase]

Thanks for bumping... I wasn't aware of this effort.  Looking forward to seeing the work that csf comes up with!!

[csf]

Not sure if you guys saw my post a few months ago my realtime lighting project. Basically its a program that creates a show on the fly to any music you play in the program, or through your computers microphone.

I ended up putting it on hold after my my family requested that I did not do an animated light show this year, in honor of my grandfather that passed away earlier in the year. 

At the time I stopped working on it I started adding support for pixel devices.

The week before Christmas some of the people I worked with started getting curious to how all this light animation stuff worked, so I dug out a CCR, cleaned up the program a bit and took it into work with me.

Seeing how well the CCR responded with the program really makes me feel that this can be a really neat and new way to think about sequencing.

One idea I had was to add an export utility to the program where it can save a show created on the fly to a file, so that you can edit and play it in a traditional sequencer.

I fell it's to early in the year to commit to anything yet, but I would really like to develop this into something usable this year...  I already put quite a bit of work into it...