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Author Topic: B-Station  (Read 2466 times)

August 01, 2018, 10:24:19 AM
Read 2466 times

Gillekes

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Hi Guido,

A few questions concerning the B-station.

Timer action: I would like to press a button > several osc actions are executed, leds of the B-station set at desired levels and then a timer should start and after the set time has elapsed the leds of the B-station would be set to ther levels.
How can this be done? (I noticed that the timer actions are different than on the IOcore)

When the B-station boots, the first button to be pressed runs its actionlist, the leds on the B-station change to the desired setting but the action sending osc commands are not send. We have to press a second time for this to happen. This is only after booting... Any ideas?

When creating actionlist2 in which we execute another actionlist1 which sets the Leds of the B-station, then runs all the other actions in actionlist2 with an action with osc command and as last runs an action with setting one led blinking at 50%. The led sets at 50% but doesn't blink. Pressing once again will make the led blink... This happens to all the buttons on which we have blinking programmed... Any ideas?

Thanks,

Gilles


August 02, 2018, 12:17:40 PM
Reply #1

Guido Visser

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Hello Gillekes,

If you could send me a backup file of the B-Station. I could see what you have and what you can do to add the actions.

Best regards,
Guido
Guido Visser
Visual Productions BV

August 14, 2018, 07:42:57 PM
Reply #2

Gillekes

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Hi Guido,

Please find the file attached.
The B-Station is already in use and the people from the museum are telling me that button number 5 sometimes goes to 10% and sometime blinks after long pressing it.


August 15, 2018, 10:49:09 AM
Reply #3

Guido Visser

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Hello Gillekes,

After looking at your backup file I will try to answer your questions.

Timer action: I would like to press a button > several osc actions are executed, leds of the B-station set at desired levels and then a timer should start and after the set time has elapsed the leds of the B-station would be set to ther levels.
How can this be done? (I noticed that the timer actions are different than on the IOcore)

From you backup file I can see that you have figured our how to send multiple OSC messages and set the leds at desired levels. So I will only explain how the timers of B-Station work.
To use the timers in B-Station you have to use two actions.
Timer -> Playstate -> Set -> param1 = timer index -> param 2 = time.
Timer -> Playstate -> Start -> param1 = timer index.
Param 1 is the timer index just like the leds and buttons have a number in show control so do the timers.
Param 2 is the amount of time the timer will take to count down.

After both tasks have been executed the timer will start ticking down. Once it has waited the set amount of time it will trigger. To use the trigger add an action to the timer actionlist.
Set the trigger value to the timer index.
And set the flank to one of the following:
Change: for timer start and stop timer triggers.
Down: for timer start triggers.
Up: for timer stop triggers. ( This will only trigger after the timer is done with its countdown. )

When the B-station boots, the first button to be pressed runs its actionlist, the leds on the B-station change to the desired setting but the action sending osc commands are not send. We have to press a second time for this to happen. This is only after booting... Any ideas?
Looking at your backup file it seems you have already found a work around.
The reason why the first message does not work has to do with a something called ARP (Address Resolution Protocol). Which tries to get the destination MAC address. Which is unknown until the first message is send. The first message will get replaced with with the ARP message instead. Which causes the first message you tried to send to be lost.

There are a few ways you can work around this problem:
1. Send a dummy message. (Which you do.)
2. Use broadcast messages. (Not very popular with organizations which try to keep network traffic to a minimum.)

When creating actionlist2 in which we execute another actionlist1 which sets the Leds of the B-station, then runs all the other actions in actionlist2 with an action with osc command and as last runs an action with setting one led blinking at 50%. The led sets at 50% but doesn't blink. Pressing once again will make the led blink... This happens to all the buttons on which we have blinking programmed... Any ideas?
I have tried your backup file, and buttons 2, 3, 5. Do set a led to blink. All other buttons do not try to blink an led. I have not seen it fail in your backup. Have you changed show control between asking this question and sending the backup?

I expect that you may have changed the order of some of the tasks. The tasks in an action execute from top to bottom. If you have a task "LED -> Blink -> Set" and then the task "Action -> Link -> Set". The tasks in the linked action will execute after the LED -> Blink -> Set. Which would in your case override the blink task.

Swapping them around to first "Action -> Link -> Set" and then "LED -> Blink -> Set". Should work as the blink task would overrider the linked actions tasks.

The way it is in you backup should work. If it does not please tell me.

The B-Station is already in use and the people from the museum are telling me that button number 5 sometimes goes to 10% and sometime blinks after long pressing it.
I have not seen this problem. Have you changed show control between people from the museum telling you this and sending the backup? The way it is in you backup should work. If it does not please tell me. I have tried to find a reason why it might not work, but it seems to work for me.

Best regards,
Guido
Guido Visser
Visual Productions BV

August 16, 2018, 06:57:46 PM
Reply #4

Gillekes

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Hi Guido,

Thank you so much for taking time to look at the file.
Please find answers below.

- Quote one:
The question is that when I add the action in the timer action list you cannot choose timer from the trigger type?

Quote two:
Solved and understood. One question, what is the most reliable method: OSC or UDP? (traffic is not a problem as the network is just for this show)

- Quote 3:
The back-up is the version which is running now. I think the question might be from an older version... Not sure...

Quote 4:
This happening with this version from time to time.


Other points:
- The museum reports that the second show from the day doesn´t run on the first press (button 1 runs the show). The operarator needs to press the button once again. On my next visit I'll check if the B-Station sends the message and if the timecore receives the message. The projectors and screens are powered of every day, The showcontrol not. It stays on 24/24. Should I change this? Should the showcontrol be powered of every day? Would this be better practice, booting daily?
- Running an actionlist with a blinkin led (ie button 5) will strobe the led if pressed twice (the led should keep on blinking but no strobing) and sometimes the led stops strobing when button 1 is pressed but usualy we need to reboot the B-station to solve the strobing.


Thanks,

Gilles

August 17, 2018, 10:58:46 AM
Reply #5

Guido Visser

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Hello Gillekes,

The question is that when I add the action in the timer action list you cannot choose timer from the trigger type?
An action in the timer actionlist has three trigger settings:
Trigger type: which is set to channel.
Trigger value: which is used for selecting the timer you want to use. (1, 2, 3 or 4)
Trigger flank: which is used to choose if you want to respond to the start, stop or both events from a timer.

Solved and understood. One question, what is the most reliable method: OSC or UDP? (traffic is not a problem as the network is just for this show)
Both OSC and UDP are equally reliable.
An advantage of OSC has is the ability to easily send a value with the message. For example you have used "/core/gpo/7" with the value "Off". Which allows an IoCore to know what to do.
UDP has the advantage of being a more widely supported on other platforms. If you want to communicate with something which does not support OSC. UDP is usually a good alternative.

The back-up is the version which is running now. I think the question might be from an older version... Not sure...

This happening with this version from time to time.
I will look into it some more. I will let you know if I find something.

- The museum reports that the second show from the day doesn´t run on the first press (button 1 runs the show). The operarator needs to press the button once again. On my next visit I'll check if the B-Station sends the message and if the timecore receives the message. The projectors and screens are powered of every day, The showcontrol not. It stays on 24/24. Should I change this? Should the showcontrol be powered of every day? Would this be better practice, booting daily?
I expect that this is also related to the ARP message. You could try to change the destination IP adresses of the messages to broadcast. If this network is only used for this show it should not be a problem.

Also all our products are designed to be able to stay on 24/7. And do not require to be turned off every day. You are allowed to turn them off. Which will save some energy but should not effect other things.

- Running an actionlist with a blinkin led (ie button 5) will strobe the led if pressed twice (the led should keep on blinking but no strobing) and sometimes the led stops strobing when button 1 is pressed but usualy we need to reboot the B-station to solve the strobing.
I am not sure I understand what is happening. Button 5 is programed to blink when it is long pressed. When button 5 is pressed a second is should keep on blinking. And when button 1 is pressed is should go to a solid on 10%.

You have also mentioned strobing. Which I am not sure I know what you are describing. Are you by any chance using the B-Station API to control the leds over the network from another device? Or could you film the B-Station while it is strobing?

Best regards,
Guido
Guido Visser
Visual Productions BV

 

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