Timeline cue speed

Discussion in 'Lasershow Designer BEYOND' started by PixelThick, Jan 27, 2014.

  1. PixelThick

    PixelThick Member

    Hi all.

    I'm building a show in the Beyond timeline mode. I want to speed up the cues so they match the beat of a song, but as soon as I add the cues to the timeline, they go back to their original speed. I've tried changing the bpms in the grid mode, the global speed, the cue specific speed, the global speed under the "master" tab in timeline mode but none of these speed changes stick when I put the cue on the timeline. The only thing that works is that on some cues, I'm able to edit the cue, and change some speeds in there, but that's not a functional solution if I have to crack open every cue. Also not every cue has that option.

    Any answers are appreciated. Thanks!
  2. ENOT

    ENOT Software Developer Staff Member

    There is reason why it made this way. If timeline will use System BPM that can be changed at any moment then it will cause desynchronization between Clock and Metronome components of time. The timeline use its own BPM setting that guarantee the synchronization. So, the timelime is really the time (clock) oriented construction, and Metronome (beat) component calculated by the Clock.

    There are two similar ways how to control the speed of timeline in the Cue. Each Cue has LiveControl object with Animation Speed. Also there is Master Live Control with Animation Speed slider. It also works. In fact, Animation Speed control the cue-player and it should work for all kind of cues.

    Pay attention that Live Control settings are temporary (live) settings.

    Best Regards,

  3. PixelThick

    PixelThick Member

  4. PixelThick

    PixelThick Member

    Also, I'm working on a timeline with an audio track that mixes at least 3 bpms. So maybe a future update that lets you put "in" and "out" points on the bpm settings would be good.

    Thanks again.
  5. ENOT

    ENOT Software Developer Staff Member

    Thanks for video! Better see once, hehe. A few points.

    - Timeline editor is Editor. Same as any other editors, it do not use cue-players. This is base, and fundamental thing. No one Editor will react on change of animation speed slider. There are many editors - quick tools, various dialogs, and Timeline and Playlist. Independent construction made for grid, and based on dynamic players. Every time as you start the cue, BEYOND create a player that take care about the cue playback.

    - Cue is a container. Cue may contain DMX of Beam sequence, or laser frames, of texts, or Timeline. Main point there - Cue and content inside cue are different things.

    - Capture and Timeline are special objects with special rules. Both types has specific in routing. Timeline has specific relating to time. The roots of this - orientation on some specific tasks that must be performed by this type of objects.

    - Timeline should not change playback speed of audio/video tracks. For decrease the load on system you may consider preparing the media track in standalone editor. BEYOND will work faster with one file rather than with many.

    OK, it was just a few details that relating to your questions. If back to a short answer - when you will copy the Show into Cue then Master LC and Cue Spees slider will work. Pay attention that it modify the clock-component, and change of internal BPM inside the timeline is a consequence of clock change.

    Best Regards,

  6. PixelThick

    PixelThick Member

    Thanks for the clarification Alexey. For future updates, you should consider a speed controller that can be used within the timeline editor. When you're trying to edit a timeline to music ahead of time within the timeline mode, it doesn't help me that I can speed up the cues once the timeline is exported as a cue to the grid. Like when you edit video, you want to be able to speed up and slow down the clips on the timeline so the finished product hits all the beats correctly.

    Thanks again.
  7. ENOT

    ENOT Software Developer Staff Member

    I do not understand what we are talking about. Do you mean "live" mode and timeline without media files?

    In many cases Timeline use media files and these files used as a time-code source. For such scenario the Animation speed slider made not sense because time information goes from media files.

    Best Regards,

  8. Stingray

    Stingray Beta Tester

    I donÂ´t know if I understand you completely right, but maybe this would be a workaround for your problem:
    if you use a cue in the timeline, use the right mouse key and click "edit synthesized image".
    There you select the tab "effect - quick synth item" and use the slider for "period".
    In this way you can fine tune the speed of each element to match the beat of the music (the only disanvantage is that you have to edit each element of this "synthesized image").
  9. aricha

    aricha Well-Known Member

    I think what PixelTick is after is the ability to stretch and squeeze the event
    The same as we in Showtime.

    If we have an event that is 3 seconds long and we want it to take 2.5 seconds only, than we squeeze it to 2.5 seconds and the same number of frame are in there changing a little faster to fit in 2.5 seconds.
  10. PixelThick

    PixelThick Member

    Aricha has got it. I ended up having to edit all my cues individually by going into their animation settings. This isn't practical as it affects the cue permanently and some cues aren't able to be sped up. Thanks for the responses everyone!
  11. PixelThick

    PixelThick Member

    Does anyone know if a new work around for speeding up and slowing down events on the timeline was ever implemented into Beyond?

  12. a1laserboy

    a1laserboy Member

    I found this in my first time using Beyond after showtime (just this week) - if you right click the timeline event, near the bottom of the list is dynamic resize. I'll have a look tomorrow if it works, I found a different workaround to the same problem in a different way - go to the timeline of the cue i wanted to use, copy the events, then paste them onto my target timeline - then edit from there.. The cues I was trying to use was also a timeline made of other cues that are a single frame, no effects other than to display that frame.

    Would be good to be able to squash or stretch a cue as needed once dragged on the timeline. Especially if you do not intend to use any kind of bpm or live speed manipulation - just all based on time like in showtime.
  13. a1laserboy

    a1laserboy Member

    ok, so the dynamic resize didn't work.. :(