Modes Timing Question! I'm using the latest version of FastLED.

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Modes Timing Question!

I’m using the latest version of FastLED.

I want to automatically switch from one mode to the next at a certain time point in a song. I’ve been doing this with for() loops, but it’s kind of tricky and problematic since all the modes take a different amount of time to run:

void autoplaymode() {
for(int i=0; i<60; i++) {Rainbow();}
for(int i=0; i<10; i++) {Solid();}
for(int i=0; i<35; i++) {Gradient();}
…

Is there a better way to do this? I’m looking at the ChangeMe function in Andrew Tuline’s funkboxing update:

void ChangeMe()
{
uint8_t secondHand = (millis() / 10000) % 60;
static uint8_t lastSecond = 99;

if( lastSecond != secondHand) {
lastSecond = secondHand;
if (secondHand == 0) {twinkrun = 1; thisrot = 1; thiscutoff=254; STEPS=8;}
if (secondHand == 5) {thisrot = 0; thisdir=1;}
if (secondHand == 10) {HUE = 255;}
if (secondHand == 15) {twinkrun = 0;}
if (secondHand == 20) {STEPS = 16;}
}

Is there a way to use something like this to change modes? My main loop right now looks something like this:

void loop() {
switch (ledMode) {
case 999: break;
case 0: Rainbow(); break;
case 1: Solid(); break;
case 2: Gradient(); break;
…

And I’d love to have case 0 run at 0 seconds, case 1 at 5 seconds, case 2 at 10 seconds, etc. It seems like it should work but I must be missing something because it DOESN’T.

Here’s my attempt at the combined code… the modes play fine but when I click to case 3, no lights come on at all:

void loop() {
switch (ledMode) {
case 999: break;
case 0: Rainbow(); break;
case 1: Solid(); break;
case 2: Gradient(); break;
case 3: autoplaymode(); break;
}
}

void ChangeMode()
{
uint8_t secondHand = (millis() / 10000) % 60; // Increase this if you want a longer demo.
static uint8_t lastSecond = 99; // Static variable, means it’s only defined once. This is our ‘debounce’ variable.

if( lastSecond != secondHand) {
lastSecond = secondHand;
if (secondHand == 0) {Rainbow();}
if (secondHand == 5) {Solid();}
if (secondHand == 10) {Gradient();}
}
}

void autoplaymode()
{
ChangeMode();
show_at_max_brightness_for_power();
delay_at_max_brightness_for_power(loopdelay*2.5);
Serial.println(LEDS.getFPS());
}

Thanks so much for any advice!!

2

Stay tuned. New sample code is on the way!

3

Thanks Mark!!

4

Looking forward to seeing it, @Mark_Kriegsman !
Has it maybe something to do with

while ( millis() < timemark1 ) {
animation1();
}

or is it more sophisticated?

5

OK, so what’s coming (a bit later today, I hope) is a ‘playlist’ controller that will help you do the thing you’re shooting for. But as a warm-up take a quick look at this, which is going to become one of the new FastLED “Demo Reels”.

This doesn’t have a scheduled playlist of animations, but it does start by putting the animations into an array (of function pointers – which you can mostly ignore) so that they can be called by pattern number.

The code coming later shows the next step of moving to a scheduled playlist with different times for each animation. I need to clean the code up a bit for comprehensibility – and help a certain middle-schooler with her homework.

6

An array of functions - that appears brilliant to a coding newbie like me. Just great and the fulfillment of a unspoken dream of mine!

7

OK, here’s the sample code to work from. It’s based on some things I’ve been developing to try and make it easier to say “Do THIS for a minute and then do THAT for ten seconds and then (etc)”. I put in a few things that make it more relevant for performance-oriented animations playlists, e.g., one-time through the playlist and then stop (or loop forever), and the ability to trigger the start of the animation playlist from an external trigger, like a button. Should be helpful for music+LED type performances, I hope.

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You’re my hero!!! :slight_smile:

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I put a few more notes here https://plus.google.com/112916219338292742137/posts/1ByAGPKLLDp
I’m definitely thinking about what’s needed for music-sync’d performances now. I’m not sure that second-level resolution is good enough, but maybe milliseconds is too picky. I sort of want to define everything in terms of beats and measures, but then I get a headache thinking about all the issues. I’ll sleep on it, but it’s a fun area to explore – thank you for the inspiration and all the great videos!

10

I want to be able to use time code. Also I want to be able to pass arguments and set variables in the playlist… I want it to work like this:

00:00:00.000 HUE=0; Solid();
00:00:45.234 Rainbow();
00:00:54:333 HUE=160; Solid();
00:01:23.123 twinkle(5, 300, HUE);

Is this sort or thing possible?

11

I had a similar thought this morning. Definitely possible. Let me ponder a bit.

When you envision it like this, do you also think about loops and/or macros? E.g., intro is ABC, verse1 is PDQ, chorus is XYZ, verse2 is JKL, and then the chorus is XYZ again?

Timecode is a great idea. Do you think 1/1000th of a second resolution is needed, or would 1/100th of a second be sufficient? I ask because if we have to use 1/1000ths, the biggest timecode we can hold in 16 bits is 65.535 seconds – too short for a pop song. So we’d have to go to 32 bits for timecode… which might be ok, now that I think about it, especially if we can force all this stuff to be in PROGMEM instead of RAM.

Let me ponder a bit more.

But: I am curious if you think about light/choreography performance playlists as having loops or macros or subroutines, or if it’s all basically a straight list of timecodes and actions? I realize this is a little theoretical, but I’m curious how you think about it, or how you’d envision it working.

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First, I think .000 is unnecessary – .00 is totally sufficient.

Second… macros/loops. I think it’s a neat idea but I don’t think it’ll work in practice. Or rather, it’ll work if I’m dancing to Techno but not if I’m dancing to the Rolling Stones – I have a 60s Psychedelic themed gig this weekend and I’m programming the wings to She’s A Rainbow (!!!) and their time counts are ALL OVER the place. Even techno dance stuff has retards in weird places. I’m kind of a perfectionist about having it change right on the beat, so I think I’d end up not using loops because they’d be off by a bit, most of the time.

Copy/paste and add timecode to repeat a section is fine. If I’ve gone through the song and written down all the timecodes ahead of time, which I have, then it’s easy.

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Ok! Thank you!

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See new approach here, millisecond timecode and all: https://plus.google.com/112916219338292742137/posts/TVzTPbnJNE7