PERFORMANCE DIRECTOR - USE WITH CHOREOGRAPHY DESIGN SYSTEM
1 - I'm using the Group Formation System and me and my dancers are not getting invited to the HUD when we sit on the movers. What's wrong?
You must first configure the Group Formation System Controller (the blue triangle) to work with the Performance Director. It's a simple edit in the !! Configuration notecard inside. See Prepare the Controller section on How to Use with Group Formation System.
2 - I have a group of 10 dancers and two of them are not getting the invitation from the Performance Director HUD.
The default amount of dancer slots in the Performance Director is 8. If you want more, you will need to use included Updater to increase the amount of dancer slots. Watch this short video on how to do that.
3 - The Performance Director HUD is not animating me when I stand on a Choreography System Mover.
You must first configure the Mover to work with the Performance Director. It is a simple line of text in the Mover notecard to assign a dancer number.
Please see Prepare the Movers section on How to Use with the Choreography System.
Please see Prepare the Movers section on How to Use with the Choreography System.
4 - How many groups can I have?
As many as you want. The limit on amount of dancers is 32 (8 is default).
5 - How long can my routine be?
That varies and there is no set amount. It will depend on what you have going on in that routine. SL does limit the amount of text characters, including spaces, that a notecard can hold. We've seen them go well over 10 minutes long. When you start getting a "stack heap" error, that means you've run out of memory so you will need to lessen the amount of text in your notecard by sending less commands.
6 - Can dancers be in more than one group in a single routine? How would I do that?
Yes. Just be sure you are not making a dancer do two things (like change to an animation) at the same exact time from two different groups. Here's an example of putting dancer #1 in two groups (lead and all). Notice that it is not necessary to write out the entire "all" section for each group. PD will go to the "all" group at the proper time. Actually, PD reads the entire notecard when it's loaded so it knows what is in the entire timeline already while playing.
Example of Dancers Assigned to More Than One Group:
@group lead|1
@group backup|2,3
@group all|1,2,3
lead=
0|dance1
12|dance2
backup=
0|dance3
12|dance4
all=
20|dance5
40|STOP
Example of Dancers Assigned to More Than One Group:
@group lead|1
@group backup|2,3
@group all|1,2,3
lead=
0|dance1
12|dance2
backup=
0|dance3
12|dance4
all=
20|dance5
40|STOP
7 - I am using Performance Director to send a chat command to a device I have but it isn't working. The command works when I type it in local chat however. What am I doing wrong?
Some devices are not scripted by their creators to take commands from 3rd party objects. This is most likely the case (given that you have the correct channel and have the command written properly in PD).
8 - I am getting a "stack heap" error message when I load my notecard in the Performance Director HUD.
A "stack heap" error message means it is out of memory. Although we have seen successful routines up to 14 minutes long, it is recommended that you keep your routines at or under 5 minutes and you should have no issues with memory errors. This applies for movers too!
9 - Is there a way to move dancers from the point they get on the movers to the first waypoint and pause there until I'm ready to start the routine?
Once you press PLAY, your routine has started and cannot be started again. You do have several options if using Choreography System:
- If the dancers will be seen by the audience, give those movers a channel using the @user_channel parameter and put either Autopause or a SleepTime on that Waypoint. You can then send the PLAY command to just that channel using your PD.
- If the dancers are to be out of sight, keep them backstage in one place by using a "dummy" notecard. See the Backstage Movers video.
10. My Performance Director is giving me errors like this: "Performance Director 2.1: Error: Dancer 8 :: Can't Process "4". No dance by this name was found in the Performance Director." I don't even have a Dancer 8!
When you see these strange errors it's very probable you have put a newly created notecard directly from your inventory into your HUD. You MUST first open any newly created notecards, type something in them (even just a few letters), save and close it, prior to putting it into your HUD. This applies to all HUDs in SL and your movers! A HUD cannot correctly read an unopened notecard and furthermore, it causes a corruption in that notecard to such a degree that you cannot copy/paste the data and place it into another notecard. It just brings the corrupted data with it! Yes, everything looks fine to you, but not to the HUD!
OTHER POSSIBLE CAUSES:
The only way to fix a corrupted notecard is to replace it and start from scratch:
1. Create a new notecard in your inventory and rename it for your routine.
2. Open it and RETYPE MANUALLY your entire sequence. You can copy and paste the dance names from the animation properties but NOT from the corrupted notecard. Save the notecard and close it.
3. Delete the corrupted notecard from the HUD and put the newly created one in. Reload the card and everything should be fine!
OTHER POSSIBLE CAUSES:
- If using a text editor outside of SL, be sure to use something that uses only "raw" text (Notepad) without all the hidden code with something like Word.
- Not using the latest versions of our products.
The only way to fix a corrupted notecard is to replace it and start from scratch:
1. Create a new notecard in your inventory and rename it for your routine.
2. Open it and RETYPE MANUALLY your entire sequence. You can copy and paste the dance names from the animation properties but NOT from the corrupted notecard. Save the notecard and close it.
3. Delete the corrupted notecard from the HUD and put the newly created one in. Reload the card and everything should be fine!
11. Can someone tell me how movers can change numbers on their own?
The simple answer is NO. Movers do not change their dancer numbers by themselves. There is no function, no action, nothing at all in LSL scripts that can modify the contents of a notecard in an object's or an avatar's inventory.
Likely causes to make you THINK they did:
Likely causes to make you THINK they did:
- The notecard didn't save correctly due to lag on the sim but you thought it did.
- You changed the hover text instead of the dancer number in the notecard (@text instead of @spot_dancer #)
- Movers are incorrect inside the rezzer. You inadvertently put the wrong movers in your rezzer, or took the wrong ones from inventory.
- Putting 3rd party scripts in the movers could make them not behave correctly - but that would not change the dancer number.
- Double movers rezzed in exact same location.
- Multiple copies of the rezzer in your inventory and perhaps one that is not the final is used
- Rollback on a sim while your set rezzer was present
- The proper movers are rezzed but you can't see them because they are in a different location (not using Stage Manager or Stage Marker)
- Multiple movers rezzed in the same location - if you sit on a mover and still see one under your feet, you have two or more rezzed in that exact spot.
Make sure to use the latest versions - Performance Director HUD 1.1 and Choreography System 1.10. You should have automatically received your update but if not, you can get the latest versions at the terminal in the store.
First and foremost, be aware that the Performance Director HUD is NOT meant to be a replacement for your everyday dance HUD. Nor can it be used as an AO.
You must have Version 1.8 or higher of the Spot On Choreography System.
We suggest you use your normal HUD to choose the dances you'd like to use for the performance, or play them from your inventory, and then put them in your Performance Director HUD to create your sequence/routine.
You and your dancers must be standing on a Mover for the HUD to work.
Be careful with spelling and pay attention to cases of the letters!
If you are unfamiliar with how to use your Spot On Choreography System, please review the directions on www.spotonsl.com
First and foremost, be aware that the Performance Director HUD is NOT meant to be a replacement for your everyday dance HUD. Nor can it be used as an AO.
You must have Version 1.8 or higher of the Spot On Choreography System.
We suggest you use your normal HUD to choose the dances you'd like to use for the performance, or play them from your inventory, and then put them in your Performance Director HUD to create your sequence/routine.
You and your dancers must be standing on a Mover for the HUD to work.
Be careful with spelling and pay attention to cases of the letters!
If you are unfamiliar with how to use your Spot On Choreography System, please review the directions on www.spotonsl.com
A Real Example
The best way to explain how to do this is to give a realistic demonstration. As you go through the steps below, please refer back to this realistic scenario. This will help you understand the process quicker.
SCENERIO:
- The song for your performance is "Wonderful World"
- You have a total of 6 dancers - 3 men and 3 women
- They will dance in two groups - we'll call those groups "girls" and "boys"
- Your curtain opens and closes with chat commands on channel 12 (/12open & /12close)
- The girls will be dancers 1, 2 and 3
- The boys will be dancers 4, 5 and 6
- The girls' movers will be on channel 15
- The boys movers will be on channel 16
- You also want to make a public announcement in open chat (channel 0) to "Try the Veal!"
The best way to explain how to do this is to give a realistic demonstration. As you go through the steps below, please refer back to this realistic scenario. This will help you understand the process quicker.
SCENERIO:
- The song for your performance is "Wonderful World"
- You have a total of 6 dancers - 3 men and 3 women
- They will dance in two groups - we'll call those groups "girls" and "boys"
- Your curtain opens and closes with chat commands on channel 12 (/12open & /12close)
- The girls will be dancers 1, 2 and 3
- The boys will be dancers 4, 5 and 6
- The girls' movers will be on channel 15
- The boys movers will be on channel 16
- You also want to make a public announcement in open chat (channel 0) to "Try the Veal!"
Prepare the Performance
Director HUD Note: It is not necessary to wear the small Spot On Choreography System HUD when using this system. 1. Rez the Performance Director HUD and drag your chosen dances into it. 2. Create a notecard in your inventory, rename it to whatever you want and OPEN it and SAVE it prior to dragging it into your HUD. Rename the card to your song name - Wonderful World 3. Pick up your HUD and right click to ADD it. You can adjust it on you screen as you prefer. |
Prepare The Movers
1. Rez your Designer Ring(s) and make your route(s) as you normally would, including autopauses, etc. 2. Rez a Mover for each using the Designer Ring's menu and Generate Notecard. 3. Copy and paste the routes from chat into each notecard and save it. 4. Rename the notecard in the mover to the EXACT same name of the card you placed in the HUD - In this case, Wonderful World. 5. For each Mover, you will need to put a few blank lines in the top of each notecard and enter AT LEAST the following parameters, changing the number for each in order: |
@spot_dancer 1 <--Give each mover/dancer a different number
@user_channel nn <-- nn=numbers of your choice except 0
If you want the movers to move at different times, then give them different channel numbers.
Optional: If you would like text to appear after the numbers on the hover text (such as dancers' names), add the following parameter:
@text yourtext <-- any text you want to appear
Note: You can of course use the other parameters available such as @silent_mode or @user_channel_public. See the complete list of available parameters.
@user_channel nn <-- nn=numbers of your choice except 0
If you want the movers to move at different times, then give them different channel numbers.
Optional: If you would like text to appear after the numbers on the hover text (such as dancers' names), add the following parameter:
@text yourtext <-- any text you want to appear
Note: You can of course use the other parameters available such as @silent_mode or @user_channel_public. See the complete list of available parameters.
Designate the Groups
Now you'll need to configure them in your HUD notecard by doing the following:
1. While wearing the HUD, right-click and EDIT. Open the Contents tab and then Open your Notecard. You can then close the Edit menu, keeping your notecard open for editing.
2. First, arrange your dancers into groups by assigning their Mover number to a group name. (Dancers can be place in more than one group however be sure they are not getting two animations assigned at the same time.) The group designations are written as such:
Groups with Dancers Assigned:
@group groupname|1,2 <--Numbers are from the Mover assignments
Groups with no dancers (i.e., emotes and chat commands):
@group groupname
Now you'll need to configure them in your HUD notecard by doing the following:
1. While wearing the HUD, right-click and EDIT. Open the Contents tab and then Open your Notecard. You can then close the Edit menu, keeping your notecard open for editing.
2. First, arrange your dancers into groups by assigning their Mover number to a group name. (Dancers can be place in more than one group however be sure they are not getting two animations assigned at the same time.) The group designations are written as such:
Groups with Dancers Assigned:
@group groupname|1,2 <--Numbers are from the Mover assignments
Groups with no dancers (i.e., emotes and chat commands):
@group groupname
Create Your Animation Sequences
Using the graphic of the Performance Director HUD Controls, review the button controls to see how to use the DANCE tab to play your dances so that you can create your animation sequences.
See The Timeline for further explanation of the new way to write a sequence.
Carefully review the image below and the explanation of the timeline comments on the right. At the top are the group designations and at the bottom are each group's movement commands, along with the emote commands.
Notice that 0 (start) in the timeline appears in both the girls and the emotes groups. Each group's animations are independent of the other and acted on at the appropriate time by the HUD. Animations within a group need to be written in order 0 (start) through the end of the song/sequence.
Group commands:
First line:
groupname=time|animation
Subsequent lines:
time|animation
Chat commands:
time|SAY:nn:command (SAY is the command, :nn: = channel number)
NOTE: Adding STOP to the end of the group sequences is optional. If you want to manually press the STOP button so that you don't zip back to start, then just don't add the STOP command at the ends.
Using the graphic of the Performance Director HUD Controls, review the button controls to see how to use the DANCE tab to play your dances so that you can create your animation sequences.
See The Timeline for further explanation of the new way to write a sequence.
Carefully review the image below and the explanation of the timeline comments on the right. At the top are the group designations and at the bottom are each group's movement commands, along with the emote commands.
Notice that 0 (start) in the timeline appears in both the girls and the emotes groups. Each group's animations are independent of the other and acted on at the appropriate time by the HUD. Animations within a group need to be written in order 0 (start) through the end of the song/sequence.
Group commands:
First line:
groupname=time|animation
Subsequent lines:
time|animation
Chat commands:
time|SAY:nn:command (SAY is the command, :nn: = channel number)
NOTE: Adding STOP to the end of the group sequences is optional. If you want to manually press the STOP button so that you don't zip back to start, then just don't add the STOP command at the ends.
IMPORTANT! Group names must match in both sections.
Using the scenario in blue above, this is the sequence of events the audience would see: 0 seconds (start of performance), the curtain opens, the girls Movers begin and the girls do the dance "sexy-wiggle." 20 seconds, the boys movers start to move and the boys do the dance "manly-wiggle." 50 seconds, the girls change to "girly-dance." 50 seconds, the audience sees "Try the veal!" in local chat. 55 seconds, the boys change to "hunky-dance." 80 seconds, all dancers change to "Dance-C" 90 seconds, all animations and movers stop and the curtain is closed. |
You can of course do much more than shown here. You can:
- Use Autopause on your movers. - Be sure to put a SAY:nn:play command in the timeline for when you want them to continue on the route.
- Move set props - Link a set prop to a Mover, making sure the Mover is the root prim of the linkset, assign it a channel number (doesn't need a dancer number), and use a SAY:nn:play command in your timeline to make it move.
- Start particles, lights, etc. - Anything you have that can be commanded with a command line on a channel can be controlled at the precise time you need it by placing the SAY:nn:command in the proper place in the timeline.
- SHOUT - You can also shout commands if needed by using SHOUT:nn:command/emote
READY, SET, GO!
Now you have your movers and Performance Director HUD ready, your sequences made, and you're now ready for your test run. Again use the Performance Director HUD Controls graphic to help you.
While wearing your HUD and on your Mover:
1. Have your dancers sit on their assigned Movers and accept the HUD invitation. It's a good idea to tell them prior that they will immediately receive an invitation when they sit. You will see feedback from the HUD in local chat showing who sat and what position they are on. When everyone is on, click READY CHECK to see if everyone accepted the invitation.
2. Load your notecard, in this case "Wonderful World." You will see feedback in chat. Wait a few seconds (can take up to 10 seconds for larger cards).
3. In the pre-cache section of the HUD, click either ROUTINE or ALL to quickly go through the animations for caching. It will continue to do the last animation so click STOP when all are cached.
4. When the music starts, press GO!
IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER!
Now you have your movers and Performance Director HUD ready, your sequences made, and you're now ready for your test run. Again use the Performance Director HUD Controls graphic to help you.
While wearing your HUD and on your Mover:
1. Have your dancers sit on their assigned Movers and accept the HUD invitation. It's a good idea to tell them prior that they will immediately receive an invitation when they sit. You will see feedback from the HUD in local chat showing who sat and what position they are on. When everyone is on, click READY CHECK to see if everyone accepted the invitation.
2. Load your notecard, in this case "Wonderful World." You will see feedback in chat. Wait a few seconds (can take up to 10 seconds for larger cards).
3. In the pre-cache section of the HUD, click either ROUTINE or ALL to quickly go through the animations for caching. It will continue to do the last animation so click STOP when all are cached.
4. When the music starts, press GO!
IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER!
- You and your dancers must be on Movers to be animated.
- As soon as a dancer hops off a Mover, he or she is released from the HUD.
- If you take off your HUD while you and your dancers are on the movers, you will all need to get off and back on them after you wear your HUD again.
- If you hop off your Mover while the dancers are still on theirs, you should have them all get back off and on again and repeat #1 above.