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Subject: Re: [LCtalk] Layers
From: Ian Cattell
Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2004 21:24:00 +0100

I'm using a modified version of the stack you provide in the developers folder in LCedit to control the lights. I don't know how to script very well, but I know enough to modify the existing code to make it functional.

Can you combine scenes in the same layer that don't overlap?

Not in the same layer in run mode, you need to use different layers.

The reason I wanted to use a single layer in this case was because I have portions of the show, or even entire shows which have no set cues and must be done on the fly. Hypercard is useful here because I can build an interface which gives me single click access to hundreds of scenes. The problem is, since there is no set sequence, playing scenes in multiple layers causes all sorts of problems. I'll have a button that plays 3 scenes, 1 for position, 2 for color, 3 for beam effects, all in different layers. Then I click another button for a different position and different colors, etc, and some or all of the parameters do not change because there is data in a higher layer.

I'm assuming that I can play any given scene in any layer. I'm using the following script in Hypercard.

on mouseUp
  global Connected, engine

set the hilite of me to true

  global engine
  put "08" into engine

  if connected then
    put "*56" & engine into sh
    put Char 5 to 8 of NumToHex(1) into s
    put s & Char 7 to 8 of NumToHex(1) into s

    if (s <> "") then
      put sh & s & "#" into s -- create set DMX values string
      SendCmd s, "S"  -- synchronously
    end if
  end if

set the hilite of me to false

end mouseUp

------------

I repeat the main "if" statement to play multiple scenes as I stated before. I have tried using different engines for each scene as well as one engine for all. None of the scenes overlap, but using one engine just doesn't work. Using multiple engines creates conflicts.
I know this code is cumbersome because it is modified from the demo stack where it gets input from text fields. If you have an example of a simple "select engine - select scene" script, I'm all ears.

Another aspect to my on the fly show, is being able to change one aspect of the scene. LCedit+ is very well suited for this, but again the problem of not having a set order for playing scenes gets in the way. One solution I thought of would be to have a set order for playing scenes. Scene 1 in layer 8(position), scene 2 in 7(color), scene 3 in 6(gobo). If I want to override the color, I have a bank of buttons that trigger color information in layer 5. The key would be for each button to clear all layers above to avoid conflicts. What would be the proper way to clear an engine from Hypercard?
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