Animation control just got a lot better!
Starting with the JowiHue plugin version 4.0.3.0 controlling animations has become a lot easier!
On request of users I am working on the plugin to enable import and export creativity data (Presets, Scenes and Animations).
The first step of this change is done in version 4.0.3.0 of the plugin. The next version will have the import/export function I hope.
Most work is done here under the hood, your existing Presets, Scenes and Animations should work as usual.
But for Animations a few visible changes have been made that will improve your control of animations:
I think that the ability to pause an animation is a important addition to the existing possibilities of the animations.
Here is an example of how I am actually using it here in my house:
I created an animation stepping through 27 scenes, all setting colors on my front porch light
I have set the option for stretching in time for this animation. Setting this option wil enable you to decide how long the animation will run, until sunset, until sunrise or a set time. This option can be set when you start the animation through the JowiHue actions.
I have created an event to trigger when it gets dark and it sets the stretch time to run until 22:30 or 10:30 PM (any format is accepted)
While the animation is running it will step through all the scenes and change its colors on the front porch.
But when someone comes to the door, the light needs to go to full white so the person approaching can see where he/she is walking. So the animation needs to stop for a moment until the person is inside or walked away.
So based on motion the next event gets triggered
This will pause the running animation. If the animation is not running (it is nighttime) then the animation is not started as it is inactive. So the same event will do its normal job and only the light will go on like normal. If the motion sensor is set to no motion for 4 minutes, the first event gets triggered and the animation will take of where it stopped, adjust its timings so all steps will be finished at the original settings.
Creating features for animations
If an animation is complete and saved you can create a feature with holding device for this animation. This will enable you to follow the state of the animation while running. It also provides you with a play/pause/stop button and according status to control the animation. This is especially helpful when running longer animations. When an animation is paused, pressing the pause button again, or pressing the play button will unpause the animation. The animation will then proceed from the step it paused. In this way you have a lot of control on the animation flow.
Creation of the feature is done by pressing the fighter-jet button next to the animation in the animation list page.
In the picture you can see that the first animation, "Kerst buitenlamp" has no fighter-jet symbol available. This is because the feature device already has been created for this animation. If a device already exists for an animation, the icon is not shown.
The device holds buttons for playing, pausing and stopping the animations. The play button is not available for animations that have the stretch option enabled. This is done because these animations need an end time to be set first.
You can use the status of the device for triggering other events (for example, start a follow up animation when animation x gets status stopped etc.)
The status text shown is maintained by the animation and will inform you on the step and scene that is active currently.
November 18 2020
When you create a new animation and you save it, it is possible you have forgotten to check the timing of the animation.
If the plugin allows you to use the default values (0,1) it can happen the gateway cannot handle the speed of commands being send. So from version 4.0.3.3. onward you will see that the plugin will check each step in the animation and adjust the timing to the minimum speed the gateway can handle if your chosen values are too low.
You will see the effect when you test the animation.
It is also very possible to run multiple animations at the same time. When you do this, make sure to check the timing between the animations, the plugin cannot do this for you as it does not know which events will run at the same time.
If two animations are running, both with a minimum timing the gateway will start overloading. When the plugin discovers this overload, it will slow down sending commands to the gateway to prevent further overloading the gateway.
This will cause queuing of commands. When you stop an animation, the queues will empty first before definitely stopping the effects.
You want to prevent this effect, so check the timing when you plan to run two animations at the same time! By rule of thumb, for control of each ligt the gateway want to have 0,1 second. So if you run two animations where each controls 2 lights per step, the wait time for each step in both animations should be around 0,4 seconds.
Thanks,
Wim
On request of users I am working on the plugin to enable import and export creativity data (Presets, Scenes and Animations).
The first step of this change is done in version 4.0.3.0 of the plugin. The next version will have the import/export function I hope.
Most work is done here under the hood, your existing Presets, Scenes and Animations should work as usual.
But for Animations a few visible changes have been made that will improve your control of animations:
- You can now pause animations by JowiHue action control
- You can now create main features under a device holder for Animations.
I think that the ability to pause an animation is a important addition to the existing possibilities of the animations.
Here is an example of how I am actually using it here in my house:
I created an animation stepping through 27 scenes, all setting colors on my front porch light
I have set the option for stretching in time for this animation. Setting this option wil enable you to decide how long the animation will run, until sunset, until sunrise or a set time. This option can be set when you start the animation through the JowiHue actions.
I have created an event to trigger when it gets dark and it sets the stretch time to run until 22:30 or 10:30 PM (any format is accepted)
While the animation is running it will step through all the scenes and change its colors on the front porch.
But when someone comes to the door, the light needs to go to full white so the person approaching can see where he/she is walking. So the animation needs to stop for a moment until the person is inside or walked away.
So based on motion the next event gets triggered
This will pause the running animation. If the animation is not running (it is nighttime) then the animation is not started as it is inactive. So the same event will do its normal job and only the light will go on like normal. If the motion sensor is set to no motion for 4 minutes, the first event gets triggered and the animation will take of where it stopped, adjust its timings so all steps will be finished at the original settings.
Creating features for animations
If an animation is complete and saved you can create a feature with holding device for this animation. This will enable you to follow the state of the animation while running. It also provides you with a play/pause/stop button and according status to control the animation. This is especially helpful when running longer animations. When an animation is paused, pressing the pause button again, or pressing the play button will unpause the animation. The animation will then proceed from the step it paused. In this way you have a lot of control on the animation flow.
Creation of the feature is done by pressing the fighter-jet button next to the animation in the animation list page.
In the picture you can see that the first animation, "Kerst buitenlamp" has no fighter-jet symbol available. This is because the feature device already has been created for this animation. If a device already exists for an animation, the icon is not shown.
The device holds buttons for playing, pausing and stopping the animations. The play button is not available for animations that have the stretch option enabled. This is done because these animations need an end time to be set first.
You can use the status of the device for triggering other events (for example, start a follow up animation when animation x gets status stopped etc.)
The status text shown is maintained by the animation and will inform you on the step and scene that is active currently.
November 18 2020
When you create a new animation and you save it, it is possible you have forgotten to check the timing of the animation.
If the plugin allows you to use the default values (0,1) it can happen the gateway cannot handle the speed of commands being send. So from version 4.0.3.3. onward you will see that the plugin will check each step in the animation and adjust the timing to the minimum speed the gateway can handle if your chosen values are too low.
You will see the effect when you test the animation.
It is also very possible to run multiple animations at the same time. When you do this, make sure to check the timing between the animations, the plugin cannot do this for you as it does not know which events will run at the same time.
If two animations are running, both with a minimum timing the gateway will start overloading. When the plugin discovers this overload, it will slow down sending commands to the gateway to prevent further overloading the gateway.
This will cause queuing of commands. When you stop an animation, the queues will empty first before definitely stopping the effects.
You want to prevent this effect, so check the timing when you plan to run two animations at the same time! By rule of thumb, for control of each ligt the gateway want to have 0,1 second. So if you run two animations where each controls 2 lights per step, the wait time for each step in both animations should be around 0,4 seconds.
Thanks,
Wim
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