Unified Stage Control System: Lights, Pyros, Lasers

LIGHTS

PYROS

LASERS

Deep Space Traveler
  

Deep Space Traveler
  

Muse Isle Light Show
Fireworks Display

NOTICE:  This Documentation Is For Stage Gear v1.3 or later.
If You Are Using An Older Version Than That, Your Docs Are Here: Lights 1.2

 

OD is proud to present its unified Control System for Lighting, Pyros LX, and Lasers LX.  All 3 products are controlled from a single multi-channel HUD.   Previously known as "the Light HUD", this tool brings lighting, pyros, and lasers together in a homogenous single point of control.

Lights, Pyros, and Lasers are all sold separately but all use the same HUD.  Certain HUD features apply only to lights, or pyros, etc.  See the complete chart.

The OD Stage System is an extremely powerful tool.  The possibilities for creating jaw-dropping visual effects are almost limitless.  At the same time, it is a tool which is intuitive, and very easy to use.  As any feature-packed item ... you need to read the instructions. You can see a demo in-world at OD's Main store on the OD Designs sim.     TELEPORT NOW.  Enjoy!

[Testimonials][Revision History][Assistant HUDs][Demo Stages]

Features

  • Tools
    • Master control/setup HUD controls 31 channels of lights with 16 scene memories per channel.
    • 12 programmable channel groups allow you to combine channels any way you like.
    • 3 types of texture inventory boxes for adding your own textures to the HUD
    • Texture Buffer Box - Included.  Buffers your textures discreetly causing them to rez instantly for the audience.  No more grey-block light beams or pyros when textures are switched mid-show.
    • Attachable "follow-me" tools for tracking to avatars or pointing at areas of your stage.
    • 12+ different light fixtures with FREE additional light fixtures on the way.
    • Ability to build your own light fixtures.
     
  • Appearance Controls
    • Extremely detailed HUD-based control over the appearance and movement of your light beams.
    • Brightness, Glow, Ambient Lighting Strength and Radius combine to create amazingly realistic visual effects.
    • Easy One-Touch Infinitely Adjustable Size and Shape of Light Beams (Oval, flat and everything in between)
    • Multi-colors
    • Flowing beam textures, Twist and turn your lights to create jaw-dropping effects.
    • 3 movements modes: Spin, Orbit, and Positioning.. Each with infinitely adjustable Speed and Radius. Buit-in Randomizing for realistic effects
  • Pyros (LX)/ Laser (LX) Integration
    • Fully Integrated with OD Pyro effects and lasers (sold separately).
    • Control lights, pyros, and lasers from a single HUD
    • Combine the light HUD with OD stage Pyros  and smokers for unbelievable realistic concert visuals.
  • Textures
    • Use your own textures with the Texture Inventory boxes (included).
    • Ever-growing texture library with free texture updates for life.
    • Textures automatically organized into 3 different types.
      • Normal - Standard textures that fade toward the ends of the light beam
      • Flow - Optimized for flowing movement in the light beam
      • Blink - Optimized for blinking.  You control the speed of the flashing light
  • Permissions
    • Control HUD - Copy/Trans - Create multiple HUDs each programmed to a particular show or stage layout.  Give the HUD to an assistant so they can run your show.  The number of assistants is limited.   See Details
    • Light Fixtures - Mod/Copy  (scripts are no-mod)
    • The standard package includes numerous light fixtures, including multi-beam fixtures.
    • Password protected access - easily changeable passwords via chat commands.  NO NOTECARDS  :)
    • Easily change the password of a rezzed scene with a single chat command.  If you need to change the password of a rez-box packed lighting setup you don't have to re-pack the lights into the rez box.. just rez and then change the password en-mass for the entire set of lights at once.
  • Channels and Scenes
    • 31 Channels with 16 scene memories per channel
    • EASY Channel assignment.  NO NOTECARDS
    • Copy-Paste between scene memories.
    • 12 channel "Groups".  Fully programmable and selectable.  Affect user-configurable groups of channels all at once. 
    • Built-in library of over light fixture preset memories
  • Sequences
    • Record and playback 12 looping sequences of color changes, appearance shifts, movement alterations, or any other controllable parameter.
    • Once recorded a sequence can be played back on any channel.
  • Follow-Me  Tracking
    • 15 channels of "Follow-Me" tracking.
    • Avatar wears an invisible prim which allows light(s) to track to him.
    • The "follow" prims can be incorporated into stage builds such that lights focus on different areas of the stage.
  • Off-World Data Storage
    • Backup/Restore your HUD's channel/scene memory and sequences to off-world storage databases.
    • If you lose your HUD.. no problem.  Grab an empty one and re-load it with your backed-up data.
  • Web-based Tools
    • Organize and name Scenes and Channels.
    • Create printable charts of your HUD memories for easy use during a show.
    • Coming Soon:
      • Combine scene memories across multiple different HUDs.
      • Download scene settings from the public library.
      • Optionally share your scene memories with the community
  • Builder library.  Build HUD-compatible items into your stage or club.
    • Integrate light-like control into portions of your stage build itself.  Excellent for glow-trim, controlling colors and ambient lighting on prims in your stage build.
  • Other Cool Stuff
    • Master Kill Switch - physically retracts all beams.  Very helpful when building your stage.
    • Minimizes when not in use to free your screen real-estate.

What's In The Package
Light Fixtures
 Laser Fixtures
 Pyro Effects
 Accessories
  1. Light Beam (Multi)
  2. Light Beam 4x
  3. Light Beam 4x Floor
  4. Light Beam 4x Floor (Multi)
  5. Light Beam 5x
  6. Light Beam 5x Fan
  7. Light Beam 8x Floor
  8. Light Beam Bar 3
  9. Light Beam Bar 5
  10. Light Beam Dual
  11. Light Beam Dual (Multi)
  12. Light Beam Single 2
  13. Light Beam Single 3
  14. LIght Beam Single 4
  15. Light Beam Single 5
  16. Light Beam Skull 1
  17. Light Beam Skull 2
  18. Light Beam Sphere (Multi)
  19. Light Beam Sphere 1
  20. LIght Beam Sphere 2
  21. Light Beam X 5
  22. Light Beam X 9
  23. Light Single 1
  1. LASER Dual Cone
  2. LASER Dual Cone Truss
  3. LASER Dual X
  4. LASER Dual X Truss
  5. LASER Fan
  6. LASER Quad Cone
  7. LASER Quad Cone Truss
  8. LASER Quad X
  9. LASER Quad X Truss
  10. LASER Single
  11. LASER Single Cone
  12. LASER Star
  13. LASER Triple Cone
  14. LASER Triple Cone Truss
  15. LASER X
  16. LASER X-Wing
  1. PYRO FireBall 1.3
  2. PYRO Flame Spurt Tall 1.3
  3. PYRO Flame Star
  4. PYRO Helix 1.3
  5. PYRO Jet Flame 1.3
  6. PYRO Lighting Tall 1.3
  7. PYRO Particle Explosion 1.3
  8. PYRO Particle Fire 5 Col 1.3
  9. PYRO Particle Fire Col 1.3
  10. PYRO Poof 1.3
  11. PYRO Rain 1.3
  12. PYRO Side Smoker 1.3
  13. PYRO Smoke Colomn 1.3
  14. PYRO Smoke Wall
  15. PYRO Smoker HalfRound 10meter
  16. PYRO Smoker HalfRound 20meter
  17. PYRO Smoker HafRound 30meter
  18. PYRO Smoker Round 1.3
  19. PYRO Snow 1.3
  20. PYRO Sparks 1.3
  21. PYRO Sparks 5x 1.3

Quick Start - Setting Up Your Lights  

1) Wear the HUD
  • The HUD will attach to your screen generally on the left hand side.  Feel free to attach it to whatever HUD attachment point you like.  You can also select the HUD for edit and move it around on your screen.  If you inventory tells you the HUD is attached but you can't see it you may be able to find it . . . I Can't See My HUD

2) Set Password and Operation Channel

  • The first thing you will want to do is to set a password in the HUD.  The password ensures that no one else can control your lights.   Click at the top of the HUD.  Select UTIL then PASSWORD.   The HUD will prompt you to chat your password on channel 900.  In open chat type....

    /900 pword       

    Obviously you will use your own chosen password and not "pword".

    • Additionally, you may want to set an "OpChannel". This is the command channel which your lights operate on. The default channel is zero. If you experience interferance with someone else's Light HUD (which may appear as extreme lag). Change your OpChannel to something else. To set a channel, Click at the top of the HUD.  Select UTIL then OPCHANNEL.   The HUD will prompt you to chat your OpChannel of choice on channel 900.  In open chat type....

    /900 334

    NOTE: Valid OpChannels are 0-99999.

3) Setup Light Fixtures, Pyros, Lasers
  • Decide which lights you want to setup first.  For example: Overhead beams at the front of the stage.
  • Rez some lights on the ground.  Find one you like and position it.
  • Set the Channel.  Select the light fixture for editing...  edit the description.  Change the description to the channel number you want these lights to respond to.  NOTE:  Some of the light fixtures will have additional text in the descriptor.  You may see NOMOVE  or other similar stuff.  Leave that text intact.  The channel number is the first few characters of the descriptor.
  • Once the channel is set in the description you can drag as many copies of that light fixture as you need.
  • Repeat the process choosing and arranging light fixtures to suit your needs.
    •

4) Reset the System
  • When you are finished arranging light fixtures (or just want to test what you have done so far).   Click at the top of the HUD.  Choose RESET from the blue popup menu.  This ensures that all of the lights re-initialize to the channel they are supposed to be on.

5) Test
  • Choose a channel and a scene number.  Try changing colors by clicking color buttons on the HUD.  The lights in your selected channel will respond to color commands.   You are now in control of your lights.
  • Repeat steps 3,4,5 as needed :)

Channels & Scenes.  The Basic Editing Process
Controlling the appearance of your lights is easy.  The process basically goes like this...
  1. Select a channel (0-31) and a scene (0-15). 

    Lights are generally controlled in groups.  A "channel" is a group of lights that respond "together" to commands issued from the HUD.  You can use a maximum of 31 channels, of lights.  The channels are numbered 0-30.  Any number outside of the range 0-30 will show up as channel 30.

    Each channel has the capacity to remember 16 different scenes. (0-15)  A scene is simply.. the appearance and behavior of the light fixture. 
  2. Edit the appearance of the lights by manipulating the various controls on the HUD.  Bright, Glow, Colors, Texture, Movement, etc.
  3. When you achieve a setting you like click the green SAVE button.  This saves the appearance into the selected scene (0-15)
  4. Repeat the process.  Select the next channel where you have lights and tweak the appearance as you like.  SAVE your work with the green SAVE button before moving to a different channel/scene.
  5. At any time you can recall your saved scenes simply by selecting the channel and scene you want.

Copy and Paste.  If you have a scene you'd like to copy into another scene slot, its simple to do.  Select the channel/scene you want to copy.  Next,click to get the popup menu.  Select UTIL  then COPY.  Next, choose the destination channel/scene, click to get the popup menu.  Select UTIL  then PASTE.


Preset Library  clip board icon

The Stage Control HUD comes with a built-in library of presets.  Click the clipboard button at the top of the hud.  This is a set of pre-configured settings that will get you going quickly.
The X button hides the library.  The < >  arrow buttons slide the library panel left and right.

How To Use the Library
  • Rez some lights, assign a channel, reset the HUD, make sure you have control of the lights.
  • Choose a HUD channel where you have some active fixtures.  
  • Choose a Scene button (0-15)
  • The green SAVE button will appear.
  • Open the library.  Hit numbered buttons until you like what you see.
  • Hit SAVE to store the current view into a channel/scene memory.
  • Repeat.  That's it.
Library Sections

ONE Description of this section to follow....
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THREE
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library

Face Light Attachments

In the Lights package you get a "Facelight" attachment.  This small invisible prim is an ambient light which responds to HUD commands much the same as any other light fixture.  Setup is the same as other lights.


TIP:  Facelights look pretty good with high AMBIENT and low REACH settings.  Too much reach will bleed all over the stage.

TIP:  You don't have to wear the facelights.  You can put them anywhere on the stage, or link them into your stage as well.

Channel Groups. 


As with any decent RL light or sound control console, channels may be gathered together into groups.  There are 12 groups (A-L).  Each group may control one or more channels.  Each group button is preset to control a certain set of channels.   Touch the various group buttons (A-L).  Different sets of channel buttons will turn green.  Any HUD command (color, size, etc) will affect all lights on all of the green channels.

It is also possible to customize each group to include whatever channels you like.
  • Click to get the popup menu.  Select UTIL  then SETUPGROUP.   All of the group buttons will turn yellow.
  • You will be prompted to choose the group you want to customize.  Click one of the yellow group buttons.
  • The group button you choose will turn red.  All other group buttons will dissapear.  All of the channels currenly selected for this group will turn green.
  • Click the channel buttons to select (or de-select) whatever channels you want to have active for this group.
  • When you are finished selecting channels, click the red group button again. 
Groups are a very powerful feature.  With just a little practice you can affect massive scenery changes with very few button clicks.  Possibly the BEST use groups would be to recall a certain scene on multiple channels once.  For example:  Select Group A (it turns green along with all of the channels contained in the group).. next choose a scene.  All of the devices on all of the channels in Group A will recall their respective scene in one fell swoop.  Very useful for drastically changing the stage with a single mouse click.

Caveat:  Channel 31 cannot be assigned to a group.  Let's not worry about why, its one of those nerdy computer things.  Please enjoy the full joy of 31 channels (0-30) which ARE assignable to groups.

Appearance Controls

Many of the appearance properties are controlled by a 3-panel control button.
  • There is a center panel which can be clicked anywhere along its length.  It gives less - or - more  of the effect depending on where you click it.
  • The left hand button sets the property to a minimum value
  • The right hand button sets the property to its maximum value
Some of the 3 panel control buttons have 2 ranges.
  • Note the horizontal line across the center panel.
  • The top half of the button gives you full range control, min to max.
  • The bottom half of the button gives you a finer degree of control in the lower portion of the range. This is useful for some parameters where you may want a "little" of the effect and its hard to select with the full range controller.
ON - Turns the device ON with a preset brightess, glow, and ambient light

OFF - Turns off the brightness, glow, and ambient light

POP - Turns ON, waits a few seconds, then turns OFF

BRIGHT - controls the transparency level of the beam.

GLOW - controls the amount of glow in the light beam

SIZE - this is a 2 dimensional control panel.  click around in the block to size the beam from long and skinny to short and wide and everything in between.

OVAL - controls the roundness of the beam.  Min values create a flat triangular beam.  max values create a perfectly round beam.

LenReps - controls the texture repeats down the length of the beam.

WidReps - controls the texture repeats around the circumference of the beam.

HOLLOW - Allows you to creat the illusion of dual nested light beams. You can control the size of the inner beam.

MULTI-BEAM - As of version 1.3, there are multi-beam versions of many of the light fixtures. The multiple beams can be configured to "nest" into each other different ways. To play with this feature, rez a "multi" style light fixture (one with MULTI in the name), bring it online, and play with the 5 positions of this switch. Try combinations of this will different amounts of HOLLOW and different SIZE settings. You can get some pretty cool effects. Also rememeber to try LenReps WidReps and FLOW.

AMBIENT - controls the strength of local ambient light emitted by the light beam.

A WORD ABOUT AMBIENT LIGHT.  A typical SL viewer will only render 6 ambient light sources.   The AMBIENT setting will source light from every beam in the channel.  So, its a really good idea to be SPARSE with your AMBIENT light settings.   Turn AMBIENT OFF on the vast majority of your fixtures.  I generally have a channel with 3-4 beams and do most of my ambient light from that channel.   Use GLOW in other beams to simulate light.

REACH - controls the radius of the ambient light

COLORS Choose colors from the color panel.

BEG, END Select BEG and END to program begin and ending colors of particle effects. This lets you fade particles from from one color to another. With lights and lasers, always use the BEG color.

CLR SPEED.  This controls the speed of random color switching.   Clicking on the left side of the button selects slow random color cycling.  The right side of the button selects faster color cycling.  There are 2different modes.  Click in the upper 1/2 of the button and the all of the beams in a fixture will cycle colors together.  Click in the bottom 1/2 of the button and various beams of a fixture will each cycle with diffent colors.  This can create some beautiful effects when using (multi) light fixtures.  Some tips...

  • Using (multi) light fixtures click the lower 1/2 of the CLR SPEED button.  Set a little glow.  The overlapping colors can create some beautiful effects.
  • Rez a multi-head flame pyro such as the Particle Fire 5 Col.   Click the lower 1/2 of the CLR SPEED button.  Each fire column will cycle with different color fire.   You can turn on some Fixture Orbit. 
  • etc.
Texture - choose a texture.   Textures come in 3 types
  • Normal - these are normal fade-out textures that have a smooth faded edge.
  • Blink - these are designed to blink on and off. The speed of the blinking is controlled with the BLINK button.
  • Flow - these textures do not have a faded bottom edge. They are designed specifically to be used with the FLOW control (below).
  • You can add your own textures.    Find out how HERE


 
BLINK - This is the speed of the "blink" when you have selected a blinking texture.  Remember: Not all textures are designed to blink.  Only blinking textures will actually blink.

FLOW - causes the light beam to "flow" from top to bottom.  This button controls the speed of the flow and direction ie:  top-to-bottom  or bottom-to-top

TURN - causes the beam to rotate.  This button controls the speed and direction of the rotation.  "Turn" can be used in combination with various textures and other controls to create some VERY cool visuals.

TWIST - causes the light beam to twist along its length.  This button control the amount and direction of the twist.

Movement Controls

You can cause motion on lights in 2 different ways:  PRESET and MANUAL.  The PRESET mode allows you to choose from several different pre-configued motion configurations.  MANUAL mode lets you experiment and tweak things to your own liking.

INTERESTING NOTE:  I like to put powerful tools in the hands of the operator and let them create at their own free will.  This give you tremendous flexibility to create various visual effects.   Some will be very realistic.  Some may be very surreal.  Beauty is in the eye of the beholder :)

If you want to tweak and experiment with motions manually, click the MANUAL button.  You will see 2 different sets of controls.   One for FIXTURE and one for BEAMS.  The FIXTURE buttons control the movement of the entire light fixture including the base light "can".  In BEAM mode, the light (or laser) beams themselves can move freely even if the base "fixture" is not moving.  On Light beams this can cause it to look "wrong".  There are "special effects" applications using different textures and BEAM motions on light fixtures that do look very cool.

The best way to see how the FIXTURE and BEAM motion modes can interact with each other is to rez a (Multi) laser fixture and try different combinations of moves (or play with the motion presets under the PRESET button)

SPIN - causes the light beam to spin around its endpoint.  Meaning.. if the light is pointing at, say, a keyboard.. SPIN will make it spin around that keyboard.  The SPEED and RADIUS controls are in effect.
NOTE:  If the fixture is pointing straight up (or down), spin may not have any visible effect.  In this case you can use ORBIT to achieve the desired results.

POS - cause the light to periodically reposition itself.   SPEED controls how often the light will move to a new position.  Radius controls the distance away from original "home" the light will move.

ORBIT - causes the light to rotate in full circles.  Orbit is quite effective when combined with RANDOM.

NOTE:  If the fixture is pointing straight up (or down), spin may not have any visible effect.  In this case you can use ORBIT to achieve the desired results.

STOP - stops the motion and returns the light to its original position.

SPEED - controls the speed (and in some cases direction) when the light is in motion.  See SPIN, POS, and ORBIT.  In ORBIT mode, speed controls the speed of rotation as well as the frequency of re-randomizing the motion.

RADIUS - controls the lights range of motion.  See SPIN, POS, and ORBIT

RANDOM - in SPIN mode the light will spin in a random radius and speed around its target.  In ORBIT mode... RANDOM puts the light into a ever  re-randomizing pattern.
To use the pre-configured motion setups click on the PRESET button.   You will see various sets of buttons.

SIMPLE - These presets are all FIXTURE style motions and do not use any BEAM movements.  These fixtures are generally good for:

  • Simple 1-beam lights or lasers.

  • Any light or laser fixture which responds to motion commands.

SPIN - In these presets the FIXTURE motion is set to SPIN with the BEAMS being moved in several different ways (SPIN, POS, and ORBIT).  These fixtures are generally good for:

  • Multi-beam lasers and light fixtures.

POS - In these presets the FIXTURE motion is set to POS (periodically re-positioning the entire light fixture) with the BEAMS being moved in several different ways (SPIN, POS, and ORBIT).  These fixtures are generally good for:

  • Multi-beam lasers and light fixtures.

ORBIT - In these presets the FIXTURE motion is set to ORBIT with the BEAMS being moved in several different ways (SPIN, POS, and ORBIT).  These fixtures are generally good for:

  • Multi-beam lasers and light fixtures.

Using The Texture Buffer Box

The Texture Buffer Box is a magic little box that eliminates the "gray box" textures in world that many spectators may see when a pyro is first activated or textures are changed on the light.

  1. Wear your HUD which contains all presets for the show you are about to do.
  2. Rez the buffer box in-world.  It can be hidden under your stage.
  3. Click .  Select UTIL from the blue popup menu then PreLoadTxture.
  4. Give the HUD a few moments to communicate with the texture box.
    5.

Follow - Tracking

Tracking is where you put the lights into a "follow-me" mode.  The follow-me target is a small invisible attachment.  When enabled, the lights can point at a person who wearing the attachment, or point at a particular place  on the stage where the prim may be linked into the build. 

Follow is included with Lights, Lasers, and Pyros.

To activate "following"  choose select the channel of lights that you want to point at the follow-me prim.  Remember.. lights are organized into channels 0-31.  Once you have selected the channel of lights you want to put into follow-mode.. simply click the follow index that you want them to point to.   Remember.. there are up to 15 different "follow" prims.   

STOP - stops the following action and returns the light to its original rotation.


Setting Up The Follow-Me Attachment - The Fine Print

Included in the package are follow-me objects for all of the follow channels, so you don't really need to program them... but this is how they are setup.. just in case you want to change the channel:

  • Rez the attachment on the ground.  Choose a number for this attachment.  The lights will follow attachments numbered from 1-15.   Enter the number you want to use in the prim's DESCRIPTION.  This is the exact same process as setting a channel for a light fixture.  
    The prim is invisible so you may need to Ctr-Alt-T  so you can see it.  Feel free to rename the prim as well.

    Obviously you will use your own chosen password and not "pword".
  • The follow-me prim is now ready.  You can pick it up and give it to whoever you like.. or link it into your stage build.
    •

Stage Trim Accessories

The "Stage Trim Accessory Light" is a generic, full-mod/copy permission prim which contains HUD-responsive scripts.  This prim responds to COLOR, AMBIENT, REACH, and other Light HUD commands.   The idea is that you can integrate light-hud responsive prims into your stage builds.   Excellent for tinting portions of your stage, adding glow-trim, etc.  All controlled from the same Light HUD.

Included in Lights, Lasers, and Pyros.

Sequences

Sequences are strings of commands recorded as you click the HUD controls.  These can be played back on a light channel.  This gives you the capability of recording and playing back color changes, beam sizing commands, movements, texture changes, etc, etc.
  • Select a channel and get control of the lights on that channel. 
  • Click for the blue menu. UTIL  then  RECSEQ
  • Touch a numbered SEQ button. This select the sequence "slot" that you are recording into. This number has nothing to do with channels or scenes.
  • The numbered sequence button will turn red. This means you are recording into that sequence slot
  • Play with settings on the HUD. colors, size, effects, movements ..etc etc. everything you do will be recorded as a sequence.
  • When you are done hit the STOP button next you your actively recording (red) numbered sequence button. Recording stops.
  • To play the sequence back touch the numbered sequence button again. It will turn GREEN. Your sequence will be played back in an infinite loop.
  • To stop playback hit hit the STOP button next you your actively playback (greed) numbered sequence button.
  • Sequences are VERY powerful.  Consider the following possibilities...
    • You can playback multiple sequences at once.  
    • A sequence can issue commands on multiple channels. Whatever channel you issue a command on, is the same channel the command will be issued on when you playback the sequence.
    • You can send commands to any given channel from multiple sequences at once.

Adding Your Own Textures

Using your own textures with the lights is easy.  There are 3 different "types" of textures

  • Normal - these are normal fade-out textures that have a smooth faded edge.
  • Blink - these are designed to blink on and off.   The speed of the blinking is controlled with the BLINK button.
  • Flow - these textures do not have a faded bottom edge.  They are designed specifically to be used with the FLOW control (below).  

When you add a texture, you are adding it into one of these three categories.   

 

In your lights folder there are 3 "Texture Inventory Boxes"   Normal, Blink, and Flow.   
  • Choose a box and rez it.   (you can also "wear" the box if you prefer)   Drop your texture into the box's contents.  Touch the box.   It will turn green for a few seconds.
  • When the box is no longer green you can pick it up and keep it.        
  • On your HUD, Click for the blue menu. UTIL  then  TextureBank.
  • The HUD will load your textures into its menus.
  • Now you can use your textures in the light system.


MAKE LIGHTS FALL TO THE GROUND 

It is possible to make the light fixtures fall to the ground.   Hey, sometimes things go wrong.   People get hurt (fortunately not in-game) :)  

Click the Gravity Button button at the very bottom of the HUD.  You will get a confirmation menu.   Light/Pyros/Lasers will fall to the ground.   NOTE:  If a fixture is already on the ground.. or perfectly balanced sitting on a high surface,  it may not be able to fall.  Your mileage may vary.

Data Store Functions

Make sure your HUD is version 1.2a or higher

One of the most powerful aspects of the OD Light HUD is the ability to backup and restore its memories.  The HUD memories are backed up 100% off-world databases.  This means that they are 100% immune to data loss in-game.   If you loose your HUD, or SL eats it, just get a free replacement, name it, and restore the data from your backup.  Simple as that.


Backup Up Your HUD.  After programming your scenes and naming your HUD, you are ready to do a backup.  Click , select DATASTORE then BackupHUD from the blue popup menu.  The backup process will take several minutes.  SL is very slow when it comes to transmitting large amounts of data.  Be patient!  The floating text display toward the top of the HUD will show you the progress as scenes and sequences are backed up.   Don't operate the HUD during a backup.   Be patient and let it do its job.
Restore Your HUD.  Backing up is useless if you can't restore the data you backed up!  :)  Click , select DATASTORE then RestoreHUD from the blue popup menu.  The pop-up menus will offer you a web page.   That page will show you all of the HUDs that you have access to, including any HUDs which have been shared with you from other avatars.  Click to choose the one you want.  The restore process will take several minutes.  SL is very slow when it comes to transmitting large amounts of data.  Be patient!  The floating text display toward the top of the HUD will show you the progress as scenes and sequences are retrieved.   Don't operate the HUD during the restore process.   Be patient and let it do its job.

Naming Your HUD.  If you should need to rename your HUD...

  1. Rez the HUD on the ground.  
  2. Zoom in on the HUD and click the yellow [?] button at the top.  Select UTIL from the blue popup menu then NameHUD
  3. You will be prompted to chat the name of your HUD on channel 900.  For example:

    /900 Light HUD Main Stage
  4. The HUD will rename itself.  Take it back into your inventory.  Done.
    5.

Additional DataStore functions:

Save Scene.  Backs up the current scene only.

Get Scene.  Restores the current scene only.

Miscellaneous Features - Menu

Click to access the blue drop down menu..

HELP
 Brings you to this page.
RESET
 Resets the HUD and brings all light fixtures online.  This is what happens during a reset...
  • All of the HUD channel buttons dissapear
  • The current password and OpChannel are sent to the light fixtures (lights/pyros/lasers)
  • The fixtures connect with the HUD and become active.
  • The HUD re-displays channel buttons which have active fixtures rezzed.
Only the owner of the lights can reset them.
RECSEQ
 Start the recording of a sequence.  See Sequences for details.
SETUP GROUP
 Program which channels are active on each group.  See Channel Groups for details.
DATA STORE
 The backup / restore menu.   See Data Store Functions for details.
SHOW ALL CHANNELS
 Force all of the channel buttons to be visible.  Ordinarily only the channels which have active fixtures will be visible.
MNIMIZE
 Minimize the HUD so it takes up very little screen space.  

NOTE:  Any running sequences are STILL RUNNING even when the HUD is minimized.
RETRACT ALL
 "Retracts" the light fixtures.  This becomes very useful when you are adjusting your builds and need the light beams to move up out of your way.  It can also be used as a black-out function.
UTIL
 Shows the Utility menu.  See below

The UTIL menu

INFO Tells interesting information about the HUD such as:
PASSWORD
 Set the Password.   Details
OPCHANNEL Set the OpChannel.   Details
NAME HUD
 Give the HUD a name.  You have to rez the HUD on the ground for this to work. 
PRE-LOAD TEXTURES
 Load textures into the magic anti-gray buffer box.  Details
TEXTURE BANK
 Re-load textures into your HUD.  This updates your light texture selections.  You will have access to all of the standard textures and textures that you have added to the system.   See Adding Your Own Textures
UPDATE SCRIPTS
 Install a script update.  Details
DEFAULTS
 Resets all of the channel/scene memories to factory "blank".  This wipes out all of your store scene data.  All of your scene memories and sequences will be erased and replaced with factory defaults - plain white beams and no sequences at all.  Obviously.. BE CAREFUL
COPY
 Copies the currently selected channel/scene setting to in internal "scratchpad" memory buffer.  Use this in conjunction with PASTE  to copy and paste settings from one scene to another.  Detail
PASTE
 Pastes the the scene which was COPY'd into the currently selected channel/scene memory.  Use this in conjunction with COPY  to copy and paste settings from one scene to another.  Detail
DEREZZ ALL
 Deletes every light/pyro/laser fixture within 100 meters of the HUD wearer.  Very useful for cleaning up an area.   This only works if the HUD user is the owner of the fixtures.




Registering on the Light Management Website

Certain features and functions require you to register and login to the Lights Management Website.   Its easy:

By purchasing this light system you are acquiring a "license to use" the software and scripts contained therein.   This license is non-exclusive and non-transferrable.  At it's option OD Designs will provide you with various upgrades.  Such upgrades will carry their own "license-to-use", may be mandatory upgrades, and will terminate your "license to use" the older version.