@sorceror …yea, somebody else that likes paper! I do have some curves in mind; I’ll draw them up and post em. The above was just an exercise to learn some rudimentary basics. It’s slowly sinking in, concepts like range and offset, numbers between 0 & 1, wrapping, just the idea of doing math on numbers that are changing in all kinds of ways, frequencies & harmonics! So many questions. It is utterly fascinating how these “simple” tools can create such beauty. I remain in awe of what you guys can do with number and operators.
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@Scruffynerf here’s a chart of the lighting plan for the first 3 buildings, with the numbers tallied and index numbers listed for the various sections. Very helpful to see it laid out. Now back to building.
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Thanks, that’s really helpful for me (and others) to not only understand the layout but to help with coding it up
As I said, mapping will help here. If nothing else, a height setup. I might tackle a 3D map these, but even without, defining even a fake2D, where we use one of the two as height, we can drastically improve the way the pattern will work.
Wait a sec, are the first and last buildings reversed?
Yes, buildings were reversed, I just replaced it with a corrected version.
If height measurements would be helpful, let me know.
No, heights don’t matter… For building 1, I’d just set four levels of rings, so you could light up each independently. For building 2, the center would span between all the levels, and building 3, the upper core would.
Doesn’t need exactness, you’re adding some height to separate things.
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I’m closing in on my build I’m going to be using modified patterns from the library (thank all you wizards for your creative coding and generosity in sharing them). I have help from a friend who is an experienced javascript programmer, but he’s new to the PB coding environment.
I’ll have 3 sculptural “buildings” arranged together each running on their own PB, so if one goes down it doesn’t all go down. I’m planning on using FireStorm to sync them. I’d like a way to cycle them cycle about every 4 1/2 mins guided by the following plan. I could use some suggestions for how to control my “show”. Is this plan doable? easy or hard? What are the challenging parts, if you see any? How would you approach it? Is this a series of patterns playing sequentially or one pattern controlling others? Do I need.to reconsider running them all from one PB and mapping indexes to each building sequentially? I’m open to your creative suggestions as well as your practical ideas, but I need to start with, is this possible and relatively easy? My first goal is controlling the cycling and playtimes, I could always add the special effects I’m after. I’m going to have to pull this off this weekend; festival opens end of next week.
Even though this cycle repeats, ideally I’d like to introduce some changes each cycle so it is not simply repetitive. This is what I would like to happen:
“Night” - 15 seconds. One pattern they all play at the same time to mark the beginning of a cycle. I have a simple program in mind like twinkling starlight, or a few pixels moving slowly through a dark field which might change hue or brightness each cycle (could be based on the actual time of the hour).
“Sunrise”- 15 seconds. Again all running the same pattern at the same time. This will be a simple hue and brightness ramp, from dark purple to bright yellow, with maybe some non linear variation in the ramps. It would be especially cool if it started in one building and then spread to other buildings in a wave. It would also be fun to introduce changes each cycle with no sunsets the same.
“Daytime” - 2:20 minutes- each building chooses randomly from a unique list of patterns that have been chosen because they look good in that building. About 20 seconds per pattern so about 7 patterns each cycle. Each cycle is a different arrangement of patterns.
“Sunset”- 15 seconds. Basically the sunrise pattern in reverse. Maybe sunset, night and sunrise are all one pattern spanning 45 seconds.
I’m thinking this would be synchronized by firestorm - having each building play the same named 4 patterns: Sunset; Night; Sunrise; Daytime. Within “Daytime”, each building would have its own list of which patterns to randomly choose from.
Is this a crazy, complicated idea?
These look great.
I’d recommend your split pattern idea…and you can tweak things like sunset or sunrise so that the one in the middle fades out last, even if they all run for the same amount of time that way.
I don’t see a problem with using separate PBs if you are using Firestorm to sync them.
For Daytime, I’d include the various effects in ONE pattern, and let them randomly pick on running which one is display, so that’ll give it a variety and still keep it all in sync.
Thanks for taking a look and for your suggestions. Could you elaborate on the above? Not quite sure I follow. Otherwise, I assume you see it as straightforward and doable, with no major obstacles that you can see from the way I described it?
Does look straight forward, yes.
What I meant:
If you have 3 items, A, B and C… And you want B to be the center, and get a bit more sun when rising and setting, then you can adjust the code on A and C to go dark slightly sooner or rise slightly later (with the limited window of time they’ll all run the same). Makes sense?
Yes, makes total sense. Many thanks.
Here’s one I just finished tonight. All found glass objects. Nothing custom fabricated. Candle holder, Salt shaker, vase, etc. I’m really amazed. They are so beautiful; they are exceeding my expections.
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Truly gorgeous use for this glass.
Well the Portland Winter Light Festival has come and gone. I managed to pull my project together and was very happy with the results and the feedback. Thanks to @Scruffynerf and all those who offered me suggestions and support. Hope to be hanging around here more.
Here’s a short video of it in it’s window display in downtown Portland. Crystal Skyline Wrap Up - YouTube
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I’ve been meaning to mention that I got to look at it in person with my family, and everyone loved it! It really was a beautiful display!
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