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Show night

Here is a video from a final dress rehearsal, using the code that I have posted here, https://github.com/ewalks2332/BurnidgeLEDCostumes.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9aYEhVbTBlSWXZzTUVLX1A2dlU/view?usp=sharing

We had some issues with either RC4 not firing, or connecting, and the most frustrating part was that they weren’t reproducible. We found that we needed to simplify some of the final cues, like changing looks during the lifts in order to get everything to follow the designers story. In the future, we should be able to have more complex cues, but for now gentle all color fades and the cues were the best option. If we work on a similar production, we could work in timed auto follows and other more advanced cue options

For two of the show nights, I was a dresser. Dressing the soldered ballet costume verse the neopixel modern piece we had to be very aware of the differences. The ballet costume was more fragile because we couldn’t rip any of the solders out. Also, because this was sound controlled, we needed to make sure that the circuit playground was further away from the body so that the sound wasn’t muffled. For Anne’s piece we needed to make sure that the lights were fully plugged in, similar to Kerri’s piece, but we didn’t have to be as careful because the neopixels were more flexible. We needed to hold off powering on the costume until we were backstage as to not drain the battery. We needed to make sure that the RC4 connected correctly by alternating orange and blue, and do a pull test to make sure the lights are plugged in. We didn’t have much else to do besides hope it would all work, and if any dancer double fired, Hayden would bump the dancer through cues until they were all on the same page.

Debugging and Optimizing

Photo Credit: Jim Bush

With this project, there were so many variables, and it was often hard to figure out what was breaking. These costumes had less connection issues because we didn’t need to solder each pixel, but we still had many difficulties because of the RC4 nature. One of our first problems, and most quickly solved, but hard to find was our battery life. The RC4 needs to take in 6 volts to function, so while we could see that our costumes were still lit, the RC4 didn’t have enough power to trigger the next step. Looking at this photo, we can see that the piece was darkly lit, so we just brought down the intensity for each cue to save battery power. Another item we found could be an issue was if the dancers stood too far upstage, this resulted in the RC4 not being able to get information from the transmitter. Fortunately, the dance was done more upstage, so it wasn’t an issue. For the most part, bugs couldn’t be replicated, and we had to chalk it up to a light becoming unplugged, the RC4 not connecting, or the arduino being faulty. At one point we made the decision to switch from Circuit Playground boards to arduino unos because they were generally less buggy, and still had the interrupt pin which was what we needed. Another issue we found along the way was that a capacitor was needed in order to make sure all the lights received proper data. The general trouble shooting method was, change the batteries, test the strips with a different box, then test the box with a different strip. This process narrowed down the problem, and really helped solve it better.

Interrupts

As previously noted, when we used RC4, our input was getting button like input. One unfortunate outcome from that was that our code would need to be exactly at the place where it read the voltage change to register. Luckily, another team member Ed was able to help by introducing interrupts into the code. Arduinos normally have two default interrupt pins on pin 2 and 3, which we implemented as our go and back button. When these pins received a change in voltage, the interrupt code would run immediately, changing the number times the button was pressed, which related to our cue number. Working with this was difficult because we found that pressing the button would increase the button count number a varying amount of times, so instead we just had a boolean value to tell us whether or not the button had been pushed, and incremented the count in loop. Ed then fine tuned his code so that double triggers were extremely unlikely, and the cues ran accurately.

#zodislit #arduino

Button Triggers

The LED piece I worked on was DMX controlled, but in order to test our looks, we needed button triggers to call different methods to have different looks. This may seem somewhat simple once you have all of your looks and cues ordered, but you need to make sure that you are going to get accurate input and not ghost trigger any cues. We based our buttons on the lighting board, having one for Go, and one for Back. Recognizing button pushes requires knowing if the voltage state of that button has changed, so in setup, you need to either have a HIGH or a LOW stated recorded as your button value. When your button is pushed, record the state and see if it has changed, If it has, the new state becomes the old state, and you should probably delay for half a second to not have a double trigger. Including interrupts will change this design, but these are the basics of how a button operates. In order to get this to reflect a true lighting board and get this to advance your show, increase a count every time your button is pushed, and have a control structure that determines which cue you are in (which function to call) depending on how many times the button has been pressed. A good place to start would be looking at example code from others.

#zodislit #arduino

Making a show

Now that some general looks are made, and you can have buttons being pushed, you can make a show. If you take a look at the start show function from my code here, https://github.com/ewalks2332/BurnidgeLEDCostumes, you can see that it needs an integer. You can set up a similar structure, with a switch state, and track button pushes. Every time you press a button, you increase the number, call the startShow method in the loop with the new integer, and the code will advance through. Note that this is before interrupts, so we need to wait for the animation to stop running.

#zodislit #arduino

Button Triggers

The LED piece I worked on was DMX controlled, but in order to test our looks, we needed button triggers to call different methods to have different looks. This may seem somewhat simple once you have all of your looks and cues ordered, but you need to make sure that you are going to get accurate input and not ghost trigger any cues. We based our buttons on the lighting board, having one for Go, and one for Back. Recognizing button pushes requires knowing if the voltage state of that button has changed, so in setup, you need to either have a HIGH or a LOW stated recorded as your button value. When your button is pushed, record the state and see if it has changed, If it has, the new state becomes the old state, and you should probably delay for half a second to not have a double trigger. Including interrupts will change this design, but these are the basics of how a button operates. In order to get this to reflect a true lighting board and get this to advance your show, increase a count every time your button is pushed, and have a control structure that determines which cue you are in (which function to call) depending on how many times the button has been pressed. This was our basic button testing setup.

#zodislit

Making a “look”

In order to create a usable look, you should probably define distinct method for it. In doing this, abstraction is key. In this project, a common element was the pulsing of the of alternating LEDs. Each distinct look had a different color, intensity, delay, and high and low mark. Making each look a different method could work, but optimized code is more versatile. For LEDs, if you know the color you want, you can pick the one with most variance (in our case, green) and keep the other ones in the same ratio as that one raises and lowers. Especially for the white chase, the code works by maintaining a list of all the values for one strip, and then just multiplying it by the red, blue or green ratio number to get the full color. Instead of having to make 8 different looks, 2 can be utilized to have completely different moods. Also, remember that you can build off the example code like we did for the rainbow cycle, however, it may not be worth it, and you could get a wider range of looks by making it yourself. In these photos, we only have 2 different functions, but can create 4 distinct looks.

#zodislit arduino

The video shows how each pixel can be turned on at a different time, if you wanted a more staggered look.

How NeoPixels work

The Zodiaque project is utilizing NeoPixel strips for the piece by Anne Burnidge. With how they are designed, each LED must be turned on individually, by either calling the built in method setPixel(int ledNumber, int red, int blue, int green), or setPixel(int ledNumber, Color c). These methods would be called on strip object, declared in the code, Having individual control over each LED allowed us to have features like a rainbowCycle, or pulsing, because we just had to come with a list of integers that represented what color each pixel would be at a point in time, and then just shift it for a change. Some troubleshooting tips would be to remember that the first LED is at 0, and not one. Also, make sure that your Arduino Board is configured to the Neopixel that is controlled by your board.

https://cdn-learn.adafruit.com/downloads/pdf/adafruit-neopixel-uberguide.pdf

A handy guide to get started can be found here. And example code and looks for the tap can be found here.

https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_NeoPixel/tree/master/examples

#zodislit

General Arduino Set-up

For first time arduino users, a few key things to know would be that Arduino recognized C/C++ code, and that they all have 2 mandatory functions, setup, and loop. The arduino is going to run the setup code first, which means that if your code is using any pins, you would want to declare them in setup. Loop is a function that will run continuously after setup, so whatever code you want to repeat infinitely would fit well here. Additional functions that you write can be called within those two, but knowing the general setup will help a beginner. A useful place to start would be to load some of arduino’s example code onto your board and follow a general schematic before starting your first project.

#ZODisLit

Last day of lab, we worked on soldering cables for sound next year. It was nice to use our problems in tech theatre lab kits in such a practical way. Getting ready for next semester also really got me excited for my new sound designer position for Zodiaque. I hope everyone has a nice break!

Strike

Our show has closed, and immediately after the last show begins strike. It seems sad dismantling all of our hard work, but it needs to be done. I worked specifically on taking down all the DMX controlled elements. For this show, that included the Halo, consoles, and the LED disco ball. I made sure to follow each wire and track the element, then either wrap them up or snip the wires because the piece was temporary. We also worked on cleaning out the booth, which had a large amount of gels. Once they were sorted, we were on our way, and you couldn’t even tell our show was there.

Focus, then and now

Just wanted to add some perspective on focus since the show is wrapping up. This week, we are focusing for a show in the drama theatre. Participating in this really made me appreciate the grid in the blackbox. We used lifts and carabiners so get the focusers up by the lights to focus the lights. In the black box we had more flexibility in adding lights, or shifting focus, where for this new show, a set piece blocks some of the lights from being accessible from the lift, and we need to make sure the batons are weighted correctly. Our focus was for a show in the round, and we had to adjust the plot to account for that. For example, we had a hard time cross focusing because our plot didn’t account for that, but for this show, in a proscenium, it is easier to accommodate a cross focus. Working during lab for both these shows will help me better understand the different process in working in these two locations.

Opening Night!

This is the point in the process where it all comes together in the best way. Sitting in the audience with a group of friends who have heard a little about the show, and saw the amount of time spent on it got to sit down and watch it all come to fruition. Watching the show and not a tech or dress rehearsal is a completely different experience. You are no longer leaning towards the director or designer to see what notes have to be taken, or be ready to hold for lights or to replay a sound cue. The night consisted of just sitting back and fully enjoying the work that everyone put in to make it complete.

Dress Rehearsal

Now that we are in dress rehearsal we are not going to change the cues during the shows, unless they are extremely important. Instead, most small changes will be taken as notes and changed the morning of the next day. Again, the cue list may be updated, so that it is called at the correct time, and that the stage manager is fully implementing the designers vision. An important part of this show is that fact that it’s in the round. For other shows, you would want to sit in different parts of the theater to get different views of angles, and because we are in the round we need to make sure every side and section is correct for the mood of the show.

Technical Rehearsal

We have 4 tech rehearsals, one on Sunday for 14 hours, and three that are 5 hours long. Our goal was to run through the first two acts the first two days, go through the second act on Sunday, and then touch up both acts on Monday before the first dress rehearsal. In this process, I took notes, and also kept track of the cue list. For each cue we needed to keep track of the number of the cue, the duration, when it is called, generally what it does, and then if it appears in a musical number. At this point, cues are still being added, deleted and changed, so keeping track of cues is extremely important.

Light Sketch

This is part of the process is where cues started being written. The lighting designer had written places in the script of where cues should probably go and then having the actors go through some scenes so that we could put together a rough cue list. This is a necessary step in preparing for technical theatre where we can then add cues where needed and adjust.

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