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Too many events and movies, Is there a way to do it more efficient in BrightAuthor?

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Nils Marklund
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Is there a more efficient way of setting up my project?

I am using udp events let´s call them 1. 2. 3. ... 26 to trigger movies 1. 2. 3. ...26. Udp 1 starts movie 1 no matter what movie currently is playing etc.

I can do it in BrightAuthor by dragging arrows and pointing each udp event from each movie and it works fine for my smaller projects. But with 26 events from each and every movie there is just a lot of arrows and I suspect I might error or forget.

Is there any state or type of zone trick that can exist in the background or work as a constant state so I just have to tell the player what it should do when udp event 1 occurs once, no matter what movie is playing? Now I have to tell it 26 times for every event.

All the best

/nils

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6 comments

  • 0
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    Allen H. Porter

    Not sure if it the best way but you could link the UDP to a superstate then drop in whatever video you wish to trigger.  So 26 superstates that always remain the same but the mp4 inside could change.

  • 1
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    Brandon

    You could use a Video Play File state (On Demand state in BA:connected).  You just load all your movie files into the state and the movie with the Key value matching the UDP input's data (or user variable) will play when the state is entered (so if you use a user variable, whatever sets/changes that variable needs to trigger entry into the Play File state)

    A side-effect to this method is sending the same UDP message will restart the same movie if you have the UDP Input event on the Play File state itself - or if you don't put a UDP Input event on the Play File state, then the movie will have to play through to completion before another one can be started.  You can change this behavior using user variables and Conditional Targets - set a variable to track what started playing and ignore the UDP Input event if it matches what's already playing.

     

    Super States are the more-general answer, but you don't need 26 - just one.

    Put all the movies in the Super State

    Put all the events that should be active on every movie in the Super State onto the Super State itself.
    If there are specific events that should trigger only for specific movies, put those events on the movie states inside the Super State.

    Normally only events on the current state are active.  But, if the state is in a Super State, the events on the current state plus the events on the Super State it is within are active.

    The only downside here is that triggering the same UDP

    Hint, to move your current states into a Super State:

    1. Click a state in your playlist, or click a blank area in the playlist to ensure it has focus.
    2. Control-A to select all your states
    3. Control-C to copy them
    4. Add a Super State to the playlist
    5. Double-click the Super State to enter it
    6. Control-V to paste the states
    7. Click the Playlist "breadcrumb" above the playlist to back out of the Super State
    8. Control-A to select all the states
    9. Control Left-click to de-select the Super State (make sure it's not highlighted blue anymore)
    10. Hit the Delete key to delete the other states.

    Like the Play File method, a side-effect to this method is sending the same UDP message will restart the same movie if you have the UDP Input event on the Play File state itself - or if you don't put a UDP Input event on the Play File state, then the movie will have to play through to completion before another one can be started.  You can change this behavior using user variables and Conditional Targets - set a variable to track what started playing and ignore the UDP Input event if it matches what's already playing.

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  • 0
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    Nils Marklund

    Thank you Brandon and Allen for responding.

    Brandon, the udp-sideffect restart should in this case be advantage. Thank you for giving some insight and step by step instructions how you can use superstates. The BrightAuthour documentation seems a little short on the use of superstates and have been glancing on them from a distance for a while. Have a lot to try now and with some initial perplexity aside I should get it up and running.

    Again, thank you

    /nils

  • 0
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    magnus söderman

    Hi Nils !

    did you get this to work ?   I'm the same situation right now .

    Any "point in the right direction" would be grateful :)

     

    // Magnus

  • 0
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    Thomas

    EDIT - well, I've solved it, at least for the XT1144. I just deleted the Media End event. Now the selected asset in the On Demand state repeats. 🤷‍♂️

     

    @Brandon - I could use your expertise with this, as this is the only article I've found that touches on this subject.

    Yesterday I created such an On Demand state & a Media List state, both with UDP events linking to the files in the On Demand state, and a UDP event "Play All" that goes home: the Media List. Both states have the same assets loaded, 8 videos with additional photos in the On Demand.

    I had built this Presentation for an XD235, published, working well. I wanted the selected On Demand asset to repeat until further action was taken. I added a Media End event to the On Demand state, set it to Transition to: On Demand. This worked yesterday on the XD235, which is still on the job-site.

    Today, I've added assets in the same Presentation, but testing in my office with an XT1144. The repeat doesn't work. The asset simply stops on the last frame until another UDP communication is sent. Poking and prodding I accidentally checked "Use this as the default media if the input does not match any keys" on one of the assets, now when the selected asset ends, this "default" plays on repeat. I couldn't uncheck this option. I tried deleting the asset, the Presentation got mad at me, asking me to locate the file. I tried replacing media; still mad. I renamed the file; still mad. I ended up re-creating the entire Presentation; same results: no repeat of a single asset from the On Demand state.

    I even created a test Presentation "intended for" the XT1144. Still doesn't work.

    Of course I've saved over the presentation local file that worked yesterday. Now I'm afraid I'll break "repeat" if I Publish my changes.

    Did I mess something up? Is the "repeat" function unique to the XD235? Maybe I had something else checked as "default", one of the photos perhaps. I went back and forth bt the (modified) original & the re-created version, and I don't see any commands, etc that I'm missing. Also, there is now an erroneous UDP command displaying in the BrightSign app, it is "9 - Earth", which is NOT in the Presentation, there is an "8 - Earth"; I'm not sure where "9" came from.

    I can go to the job site tomorrow, I'm going to google if there is any way to "pull" a presentation from an existing, running Unit. I don't recall seeing this in any training videos.

    Any thoughts or suggestions will be appreciated. Thank you, -Thomas

  • 0
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    Olivia Carter

    Managing tons of events in BrightAuthor can get overwhelming, especially when you’re juggling long playlists or multiple video assets. One thing that helped me streamline things was grouping similar items and reducing repeated media calls. It keeps the project lighter and easier to adjust later. https://apkcineema.com.br/

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