Sequencer issues

[Endion]

So this is what I'm attempting to achieve:

window explodes
stunt guy falls
stunt pallet reacts to fall

For the life of me I cannot get these events to happen in a sequence. In the sequencer menu, I can co-ordinate and play it once, and it will work. I close the sequencer menu and then all the events happen according to their own timings and not in relation to the sequencer. so the pallet reacts every 3 seconds, the window explodes every second, and the guy just keeps falling on his own time.

I have everything set to "activate on trigger", and "continious activation".

Would anyone be kind enough to explain how to make this work?

 

[redrum]

"continuous activation" means it will keep repeating once initially triggered, so you don't want that for a single event stunt do you?

 

[Big Draco]

You need to activate all 3 items on trigger top ensure they all start to fire at the same time.

Activate in this order...

1. Guy falls at 0 seconds
2. Window shatters (at around +0.8 seconds)
3. Boxes move (at + 2 seconds)

This is for the 8 metre drop.

You would need to increase the time delay for a longer drop.

Don't forget you can fire the trigger top see the delay without having to send a car around each time by using the trigger 'play' button in the sequencer.

 

[Endion]

Thanks both for your replies! So do I need to put it on activate on trigger? If so, I would need to create a trigger event external from the stunt event itself. Also, what is trigger top?

 

[Big Draco]

So do I need to put it on activate on trigger? If so, I would need to create a trigger event external from the stunt event itself. Also, what is trigger top?

Yes - all 4 items - the guy falling, the smashed window and the boxes moving are fired from 1 trigger.

You can test that one trigger at the top as there is a play button for the whole trigger. So it looks something like this...

(Assume its) Trigger # 12
12.1 - Man Falls starts at 0 seconds
12.2 - Window smashes starts at 0.8 seconds
12.3 - Boxes move starts at 2.0 seconds

So what we are are saying is once trigger 12 fires, the man starts to fall, then after 0.8 seconds. the window smashes (there is a slight delay before the guy stands up and begins his fall). 2 seconds later, the boxes move. These are the timings for an 8 metre drop, if you choose a higher drop then you need to increase the time before the box moves (so you might need 5 seconds for example)

You can 'play' an individual trigger at the top of the trigger (#12) to see all items fire in that trigger with the timings you specify.

 

[redrum]

If you want your stunt event repeating over and over you will need to make sure your first group in the sequence has sufficient time delay so all the animations have time to reset. Maybe that was your original problem when you tried continuous activation?

If you get stuck, upload a workshop file for someone to take a look!

 

[Endion]

I've sort of solved it. I've used a passing nearby rollercoaster as the external trigger and now it works in sequence. Is it possible to use an animatronic piece as a trigger? Say for example if a moving camera is set to trigger every 15 seconds, could that piece be used as a trigger for a stunt sequence?

 

[Crowdpleaser]

If you want to use a Coaster or a Flatride as a Trigger this will work. The only thing to notice though with the Flatrides is that all of them have a start up time which is inaccessible to us. Depending on what Flatride you use you have to take that into account, that it has to move into position first before it will start a triggered event. Try it and you will see what i mean.

You don't need a Coaster, Tracked Ride or Flatride though, you can have that event be played at a set time of day, and even month. Just fiddle about with the timing options in the Sequencer. But you cannot use any other means to trigger that event. Only the Sequencer tableau or the Rides.

If you have trouble understanding how the sequencer works, just download a show from the workshop. It should show you everything you need to know

 

[redrum]

Say for example if a moving camera is set to trigger every 15 seconds, could that piece be used as a trigger for a stunt sequence?

Yes, if you control the camera with its own sequencer set to trigger the camera every 15 seconds, you can then add an event in the sequence to trigger your stunt show too.

You'll want to be careful that 15 seconds is long enough for all the stunt show components to play and reset before being triggered again. This is when things can get out of sync, when you trigger your stunt show too soon before it's had time to reset from the last play. It might help using an actual stopwatch to find how long your stunt show takes to play and reset, then apply roughly that time to your camera sequencer as the delay time on the group.

I went through the same thing as I learned the sequencer, and had to deal with the same kind of sync issues which came down to me not allowing enough time to pass before triggering the stunt show again.

 

[cge1138]

Don't know if this is obvious but you can add an empty display group with, say, a 15s duration and when looped that will make the whole sequence play every 15 seconds, if all the other display groups have a shorter duration.

 

[Endion]

Thanks for your replies. I didn't know that I could use an empty group to loop the whole stunt! That would be useful.

 

[redrum]

^ Endion, adding blank display groups could be potentially confusing. You can't set a "duration" of a display group, you can only set a delay on the group. That is, how many seconds pass before that group triggers. So if you wanted to loop the whole stunt every 20 seconds, you set the sequencer scheduler settings to continuous activation. Then you put a delay of 20 seconds on the first group in the sequence. That's all you need to do. Adding blank groups I suppose could be useful if you didn't want to put a delay on the first group for whatever reason.