Run a five channel video art installation triggered by Arduino with magnetic sensor

gindo

In the Mac's System Settings, set Isadora as a login itemIn the Mac's System Settings, make sure that the mac is setup to automatically login to the user account on startup.In the Mac's System Settings, in the energy section, make it startup automatically after power failure (so pressing the power button turns on the computer, logs in, and opens Isadora)In Isadora Preferences, General Tab > Startup Action > Open Most Recent FileIn Isadora Preferences, General Tab > After Loading File > Activate First SceneIn Isadora Preferences, General Tab > After Loading File > Show Stages After 2 Sec. (Make sure to check the box)If you do this, all you need to do is press the power button on the computer, it will turn on, log in, open Isadora, then Isadora will open the right file and show stages.

I followed your advice, Isadora won't open the most recent file, but I put the "Isadora Document" into the Login items, so this works. (is it better in the end to have a "run only" file?)
But now unfortunately Isadora shows a Crash Report every time I restart -> I have to discard the report manually. Any hints?

Woland

@gindo said:

But now unfortunately Isadora shows a Crash Report every time I restart -> I have to discard the report manually.

Please submit the crashes via BugSplat so that we can take a look at them. Mark is away this week, but we can take a look when he gets back.

@gindo said:

Any hints?

Try File > Reset Preferences, then go into your first Isadora Scene and add an Enter Scene Trigger actor triggering a Trigger Delay actor (with a delay of 5 seconds or so) which in turn should trigger a Show-Hide Stages actor. There's usually more than one way to do things with Isadora.

@gindo said:

(is it better in the end to have a "run only" file?)

You can do that if you want, or add a password to the document via the File menu so that you could make modifications to it if need be.

Woland

@dillthekraut said:

@gindo Oh, I stand corrected! MacOS on a MacBook Pro probably won't offer it. Which makes kind of sense...

I think the option might be only available on Mac desktops (as it makes much more sense for them than for a laptop which, unlike the desktops, has a battery).

gindo

Hi everyone,

apparently the crash report is gone, but once it appears again I will send it!

Now almost everything works, but after the door gets closed, Izzy jumps from Q1 to Q2 (good), but after Q2 is finished and it is supposed to jump via loop end -> jump +1 to Q3 and then - sometimes – jumps immediately back to Q2, plays it again, jumps to Q3 and before the video is about to start playing it jumps back to Q2, one more time and then with the next loop end it jumps to Q3 and plays the video and everything runs as it should. I will add the screenshot from Q2 and Q3, maybe I set sth wrong with the comparator? But it's not jumping back to "Black", it's just -1 jump and not every time! The values from the arduino sensor seem to be stable (either 0 or 1023)..

Any ideas? Thank you!

Q2

Q3 (jumps back sometimes to Q2)

gindo

Pardon,

now I realized it actually jumps back to Q1 "Black", maybe it doesn't update the values of the sensor? and needs 2-3 tries before it detects the new value?

I also got it later in the sequence, it sometimes jumps randomly back, sometimes it works just fine..

And sorry when I didn't explain it very well, let me know if it's unclear!

Woland

@gindo

Instead of using the 'loop end' output to trigger your Jump "+1" actors either:
1. Connect 'position' output of the Movie Player to the 'value1' input of a Comparator with 'compare' set to 'ge', 'value2' set to '99'/'99.5', and 'notify' set to 'change'.
  OR
2. Use an Enter Scene Trigger connected to a Trigger Delay actor with time set according to the duration given by a Media Percent to Time actor (set to show you what 100% of the chosen video is).
Between each Comparator actor and its "-1"/"-2" Jump actor, put a Gate actor. Initialize the Gate 'off' and connect an Enter Scene Trigger to a Trigger Delay actor with a delay of 3 seconds (or however long it takes the door to close) to the Gate's on/off input to turn the Gate on on a delay after entering the Scene so that you don't accidentally immediately trigger a jump backward.
Initialize the 'value1' input of your Comparators at a value that won't trigger the "-1"/"-2" Jump actor immediately (e.g. 1001)

gindo

Thank you, for now it was working but I have another issue :-(

As soon as I connect all the screens and want to switch to „Show Stages“, Isadora crashes.. I have already sent the report via the warning, but I have one week left to make the installation run and maybe someone else had this problem? Only found some trouble shooting for Windows..

Thank you very much!

Woland

@gindo

Can you send a screenshot of your Stage Setup?

gindo

@woland

unfortunately I can‘t open the file anymore and building a new one. I‘ll add a picture of the new setup (with only 4 screens).

Next issue are also my three webcams, Isadora won‘t save the settings and once I restart I have to set them up again - is that always the case or am I doing something wrong?

Woland

@gindo

Can you post both files here or in a support ticket? (There's a link in my signature.)

If you send in a ticket I can also give you the latest beta to see if any of the problems you've been experiencing have since been fixed in a beta.

gindo

Hello @woland,

Thank you very much for this support, do you mean the Isadora Document files?

If yes, I will send them in a bit!

Juriaan

@gindo

Yup! He seems the Isadora document files (.izz)

DusX

@gindo

How do you have your TripleHead2Go configured?
The resolution of 1365x1092 seems like a likely cause of issues to me here.
What resolutions do your connected displays support?
If your displays are 1920x1080, we should see the same resolution (or maybe a scale of it like 1280x720) here in Stage setup, otherwise the TripleHead2Go may not accept the feed.

gindo

Hi @dusx,

The three connected displays each support 2560 x 1440 pixel.

I add a screenshot of the Matrox setting.

I also tried to unplug the Matrox Box and open my Isadora document, but it still crashes, so I also cannot change the stage setup in Isadora.

I can open the file on another computer and I will try to rebuild it! Or does someone have another solution? I guess it's hard to tell :/

jfg

@gindo

Have you tried to start Isadora (not the document) then "Pause engine" in menu output and then open your document. If it doesn't crash make some change, save and resume engine

Best regards,

Jean-François

DusX

@gindo said:

I also tried to unplug the Matrox Box and open my Isadora document,

I would try killing the Matrox task before opening Isadora, and have the device detached. It might be the Matrox service having issue with the resolutions. But also, clear your preferences first. (see: How to Manually Delete the Isadora Preferences : TroikaTronix)

xgecemx

Hi Gina,

This sounds like an interesting interactive installation! For triggering Isadora cues from the Arduino magnetic sensor, here are a few thoughts:

Use the Arduino Firmata actor to receive the sensor data into Isadora. You'll need to initialize it and set the input pin accordingly.
Then route that input to a Switch actor to control the scene changes. For example, set it to switch to Scene 2 when the input goes HIGH (door closed).
You can use a Timer actor in each scene to transition back to Scene 1 after a set duration.
For automatic start up, you may be able to use something like a Powershell script that launches Isadora on boot up. Just need to make sure it opens in fullscreen.
For shutdown without mouse/keyboard, look into remote login software so you can SSH into the Mac and shut down calendar 2024 from another computer.

Definitely try testing the Arduino > Isadora communication first. Once you have that working reliably, the other automation should be very achievable. Let me know if you have any other questions! Excited to see how this project develops.