Advanced Segment Mapping/Continuous Segments

[miztahsparklez]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
I've been trying to integrate multiple controllers using DDP, which works great, allowing me to drive everything from a single controller. However, there are times where I would like to link particular segments from different controllers or even different IO on the same controller. This doesn't mean I want the same effect applied simultaneously to each segment like it is today. For example, in a chase effect, I might use LED 120-122 on output 1 on Controller A, 400-406 on Controller B, and 1001-1002 on Controller C. However, without doing a complex map of thousands of pixels, I am unable to make these have a continuous pattern.

Describe the solution you'd like
I see a couple different ways to approach this.

1. Allow continuation of segments. So if you have Segment A at 1-100, Segment B 101-200, and Segment C 201-500, If you have them selected at the same time while you are applying an effect, the effect will be applied as a continuous effect from pixel 1-500. Similarly, if you only selected Segment A and Segment C, it would apply a continuous effect from pixel 1-100 and continue on 201-500. A checkbox could be made here to enable the continuation of segments vs the traditional way of treating each segment individually when applying an effect.
2. Allow manual entry of segment bounds, supporting grouping of ranges. For example, if you want to define a new segment of "Wall Lights" and you need to include LEDs 1-5, 100-110, and 1000-1005, you can type this in the segment bounds (or a custom segment bounds field).

Describe alternatives you've considered
This can currently be done with mapping via json, but this means if you have 1000s of pixels, you need to generate a pixel map for the entire system, instead of just the LEDs you wish to map.

Thanks!

[blazoncek]

You are better off using xLights, LedFx or similar external software.

[miztahsparklez]

You are better off using xLights, LedFx or similar external software.

I get that if I’m doing a programmed show or something, but this is just some basic patterns across multiple controllers or even just segments in a permanent installation.

Like there are times where I might want the whole string of lights that are separated by individual segments. Normally to accomplish this, you need to delete and add the pixels you want. You may also need to add a separate pixel map, so that each light is next to each other so you can have a contiguous segment. This is especially true if you are trying to just have a simple chase effect that goes across strips.

I could understand maybe to hide this advanced functionality to keep this simple, but I think being able to add multiple addresses of LEDs (start/end or start/#ofpixels) would reduce the amount of setup required for managing a less than optimal physical layout.

It would also open up possibly more interesting effects as you could simply add segments together, reverse them, etc. say if you had a step that you wanted to cut in half to have a mirror effect, you could just do that via the segments pane and if you want to change it to something else after, you could just link them and go.

I think it could also open up a new way to manage 2d contiguous strips.

[DedeHai]

what you want is done wit LED-maps. No way around that. What you can do is write a tool that generates them in the way you want.