limeworks

This is expected behaviour as far as i understand. I tried for a while to control main timeline as well as aux timelines, but never managed to make it work. We simply put everything on AUX timelines. The only thing i use the Main Timeline for if i'm controlling with MSC is for content i want on Standby. Outside of that i don't use the Main Timeline for this very reason. But the way we create shows now is designed to run from MSC - with no need for a production/control machine for the show. Especially using compositions (which are again like a timeline in their own right), there is little you can't do. If you are using a production machine, you can still space-bar play/pause an aux timeline too - so there's little difference between Main timeline behaviour and Aux timeline behaviour anyway. With regards to your "intermittent" issue however - i would check your MIDI ports / controllers. Also ensure your production machine isn't lagging and is thumbnail only for display. If i've ever had an issue with intermittent response, it has always been traced to something outside of Watchout (like Windows thinking the device had disappeared or something). Thanks, Rob

It sounds like an interesting project I wouldn't anticipate any display issues driving just two outputs like that. We have run 6 x full HD (1920x1080) videos for a final resolution of 11520x1080 without any issue at all, from just one machine. Our limits have been the max read speed of the SSD - we're about to experiment with RAID to see if that pushes possibilities even further (driving 4 x 4K displays or more for instance). Though odd-shaped files vs formats that support them can require a balancing act. Personally i've had better success sticking to standard sizes then cropping the unused portion (or just letting it hang off the edge of the display if that was possible). I have never had good success with odd codecs when using Watchout, so tend to stick to Quicktime/H.264 and make it work with some sort of other trickery if required. The only time we don't use this is if we require videos with transparency. Rob

I suppose it depends if this is a temporary installation / show, or the display computer will be running this project for some time. Either way though, i'd be tempted to use a known-reliable optical output (either from a good motherboard or interface), and use an Optical to AES converter (which are relatively cheap and easy to find). I suppose it depends on WHY you need AES audio. From a Watchout compatibility standpoint however, this is probably the most reliable route in my opinion. Rob

Sometimes it's codec dependent. H.264 codec taps out at 4k resolution i believe. H.265 is intended to handle larger frame sizes. We recently developed a show for the IAC Video Wall in NYC (native resolution of 22720 x 1920 or thereabouts) running 10 x display machines (though output from watchout is upscaled through Vista Spiders). Ran into all sorts of problems with video sizes for previewing and had to max size at ~4k. Of course once it was split for all machines it was no issue since each machine displays at less than 4k resolution. It did give us a chance to push our display machines though - we ran HD video across 6 displays at 14200 x 1200 resolution (downsampled on stage a little to fit on 6 x HD displays). Was great to see our machines push that hard. Our limitation then became SSD READ speed - everything else still had more room to go. Rob

If you press the space bar to advance on the production machine, does the time progress ? Or does the production machine not respond? If the time progresses but your display machine does not, i would ensure your video is encoded correctly, replace ethernet cables, etc. If the time doesn't progress, the issue is with your control machine. Turn off video preview if you haven't already. Without knowing which machine is causing the delay, it will be hard to debug. Rob

Hi Jonas, OK no worries, thanks. That's where i was going wrong. I don't have a second machine with me - will just use production software for now. Will be able to connect to the venue's display machines tomorrow anyway. Thanks, Rob

Hi Mike, Thanks for the reply. I'm trying to get a file that i have created using the production software to run on the same PC as my show has been created. I don't need the production software running at all as it's MIDI controlled. Is that where i'm going wrong? How do i make Watchpoint load a show without pushing it from the production software? Or is that not possible? We have several licenses, but for this show only brought one machine / key. Our machine is not being used in the show as the venue runs watchout for their display system already, but i would like to preview it. Thanks, Rob

I have MIDI working great - i am looking to meet both conditions (MIDI plus another) for timed loop exit as you assisted with in a previous post. Rob

Hi everyone, I can't seem to get file based control to load a show in cluster mode. I am using the example script from the manual, since i just need it to load the show then i can start my controllers. My commands file loads, so i know i have that correct, but it throws an error: "Show doesn't exist: SHOW_NAME" I have tried specifying path like you do for production mode, even though the manual says you can't. The manual says put the show file in the "shows" folder in the Watchout installation, but i can't see a shows folder. I also tried creating one and putting it in there. I'm sure it's something very simple, but any assistance would be greatly appreciated! Thanks, Rob

You don't have to map anything - just setup the inputs to respond. This has to be done one by one for each key/pad/control on the surface. There is no way to natively map it like you do a DAW / Sequencer to control play / pause etc. Personally i have started using QLab as a Watchout controller, simply for its comprehensive control ability. Watchout is still champion for actual output however IMO - and QLab can't compete with this. Rob

Thanks JFK. I was looking for a way to do it from production computer based on MIDI inputs or something. But i can work with TCP : D Thanks, Rob

Sorry for the vague question JFK - i guess i simply don't understand how to use layerconditions. What i take from your response is that they will respond to TCP commands - is that correct? Else - how can i modify their state? I understand how to set a layer etc. Thanks for your clarification regarding Preferences - that does make alot of sense now! I just don't understand how i control their state in a dynamic way. Thanks, Rob

Thanks JFK - that makes sense - i'll try that. I'm trying to implement the solution for seamless exit of a loop that you provided a response to previously - and got stuck at this point. Thanks, Rob

Hi Everyone, I have read the watchout manual on the topic, but i still cannot seem to understand how to get conditional layers to work. I am assuming these aren't exclusively for use with pickups etc, and can be used with control inputs etc? Any further advice or guidance regarding setup / usage would be brilliant. Thanks, Rob

Hi Everyone, I'm wondering if anyone can help - i'm not sure if Watchout can do this. Is there a way to set an input value on a timeline? For example, if i have a MIDI Control input, can i set this value from the timeline somehow? I could not find any way to do this. Thanks, Rob

Probably worth noting that 7990 is dual-GPU on the one card - which IS fully supported. But unfortunately dual cards not supported

Thanks Jonas. Not a big deal. I just thought i might be able to use the second graphics card since Watchout didn't. thanks, rob

Sorry i should clarify, we are using SSD - even SATAIII - we would get jumping on 6 x HD outputs and traced it back to read of the SSD apparently maxing out. We're yet to test with RAID0 but have plans to try 2 x 128GB SSD in place of the 256GB SSD currently in the display machine we're referencing. We are probably pushing limits of throughput so we might find it's some other slow-point (but running performance statistics points to this). We're not near the theoretical limits, so who knows until we test it. And yes - my error regarding Frame-Lock, sorry for the mistake. Thanks, Rob

I also have two HD 7990s and they work exceptionally well - and have run 6 full HD streams from them without issue (sometimes some read delay from the HDD - easily fixed with RAID).. Firepro would be better if you need Genlock capability though. I do notice some free-running videos get out of sync with each other when running for extended periods of time. I think Genlock will fix that since the display card listens to a master clock. Rob

That's an idea - thanks Ken. Though i believe it will still try and take over with a blank screen. Thanks, Rob

If you connect it directly to the Watchout machine, then you need to set each note up as an input on Watchout. This is the same for control inputs. Once that's done, trigger it from Qlab and you should see it display in the INPUT window as on (though this is easier with a keyboard where you can press the key for an extended amount of time). Also make sure you only have one Midi device on the Watchout machine - i spent hours trying to debug a short time ago before i realised Watchout was responding to one of the other MIDI inputs. I've been playing quite alot with MIDI / Qlab and control surfaces - i'm going to post about my experience shortly. Rob

You can easily work around this using QLab. Just assign cues to listen on the Midi notes - and tell QLab to send MSC messages linked to the notes. You can assign as many cues as you want to the same midi note, so there's really no limit to the amount of messages you can trigger from that note. I have even setup QLab to "unlatch" latching buttons from a console after firing all cues. It's very flexible. Rob

Hi Everyone, Is there a way to stop Watchout from using ALL screens on the display computer? Even with the use of a second graphics card (which we know Watchout won't display through), Watchout still takes over the screens attached to the second graphics card. I would like to display some system statistics etc even only for testing purposes, but can't find a way to prevent watchout from displaying a black screen on them. Thanks,. Rob

Also ensure that you set Watchout to map cues to Main or AUX timelines. I can't seem to make anything happen unless i do that. Once setup, it seems to work extremely well. Rob

I received this message recently (5.5.1). But it was because i was switching between different MIDI monitoring tools / USB midi vs standard MIDI etc, when using a combination of controllers together. I haven't had the same problem using standard MIDI devices via a PCI-E Midi port. It seems to be much more stable than connecting via USB (it also means watchout can see more than one controller). Rob