Jump to content

Pin2Dmd Editor


lucky1

Recommended Posts

  • Content Provider

No , it is for both. 

 

Hmmm. While attempting to test a recent frame-by-frame colorization, Stefan Made this cryptic comment to me (regarding AFM): "...Hard to test, if one does not have the original pinball machine,..."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Content Provider

Hi Steve-

  I am working on a test project for AFM.  I am really stuck at this point - as the frame replacement does not seem to be occurring.  Is there anyway you could take a quick peek at my project?  At least look and see if I am doing the frame replacement correctly? 

  Or is there some other limitations at this point which disallow frame switching to occur on virtual pins?

 

If anyone else has successfully done this, please jump in!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

OK got panel switching working, but it seems like some of the colors I chose are not displaying properly or at all. Most of the time the animations are using the default palette except one color I chose (an orange shade) doesn't dosplay. Are there only certain colors that are supported by pin2dmd? Is there a list somewhere?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am having trouble saving and loading a project. I loaded the dump file and colored and cut a few scenes as described in the videos. I then saved the project. When I came back to work on the project, It would not load. I got an error message in German but it looked like it said that it could not read the dump.txt.gz file. So all that time I put in appears to be wasted.

 

Any chance of an updated video or documentation as the editor doesn't look like the latest video anymore and its a little confusing what to do with the palettes?

 

Also when you export a project, The documentation says there are two files that should be created. A dat file and fsq file. I am only getting the dat file. I followed the registration. Am I doing something wrong?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Content Provider

I am having trouble saving and loading a project. I loaded the dump file and colored and cut a few scenes as described in the videos. I then saved the project. When I came back to work on the project, It would not load. I got an error message in German but it looked like it said that it could not read the dump.txt.gz file. So all that time I put in appears to be wasted.

Any chance of an updated video or documentation as the editor doesn't look like the latest video anymore and its a little confusing what to do with the palettes?

Also when you export a project, The documentation says there are two files that should be created. A dat file and fsq file. I am only getting the dat file. I followed the registration. Am I doing something wrong?

Can you provide a screenshot of the error message, please.

AFAIR the documentation says two files on export are only created if you define at least one replacement scenes. As long as you have only palette switches it just the DAT file no fsq.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can you provide a screenshot of the error message, please.

AFAIR the documentation says two files on export are only created if you define at least one replacement scenes. As long as you have only palette switches it just the DAT file no fsq.

I will recreate it tonight and post a shot. I did have two cut scenes with a palette assigned to each one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Content Provider

Just send me your project files. Source files (XML) and recordings

Hi Steve-

  Been a couple weeks- with no word on this.  Wondering if you had a chance to look at this yet?  I simply want to test my method of frame colorization- in the simplest way I know.  That is- color the boot up sequence of the machine.  A quick, reliable and repeatable animation sequence....

 

  I am beginning to wonder if we are 'not there yet' on non-stern colorization (> 4 colors).  The Doctor Who sequence on youtube is from way back in January- and it is only a few seconds of animation.    Also created with firmware version 1.02.  Was the Doctor Who colorization ever released?

 

  Don't get me wrong- if we are not there yet with the editor, that is fine.  And if it is not - I am willing to wait until it is.  I am hopeful that you have not given up on perfecting Pin2dmd editor  :unsure:  I just want to know if it is capable at this point....

 

Cheers 

post-883-0-15561100-1462844037.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Content Provider

Steve and I have been busy with other things and therefore didn´t have the time

to have a look at your specific problem. This whole project is very time consuming and the wishlist of

the users is still long. I myself already put over 500 workinghours in this project to

give you an impression. Steve told me that he wanted to start a colorization project for one of his pins

where he wanted to test all the features of pin2dmd and the editor and during that

get rid of all bugs in the frimware and the editor. Due to other things he didn´t have the time to

do that so far. I had a quick look at the frame replacement part of the firmware and found a problem

which might be the root of your problem. I will see if I can fix it and maybe release a new version.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Content Provider

Here is my update for testing this round.

  -Update the Firmware as prescribed to v2.11

  -Created a simple test with the latest version of editor to replace with a 5th color upon booting up AFM.

  -Put the .fsq and palettes.dat file on sd card.

 

And the results.......SUCCESS!!!!  otvclap.gif

So, it is with cautious optimism, I feel I can continue to develop for non-stern DMDs.  I will continue to test for more intricate coloring- and see how this works out... The next problem I forsee is deciding which DMD to color first  juggle.gif

 

Thanks much boys- for the hard work.  Keep it up!  dblthumb.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Content Provider

Any chance we can ever see a 'partial frame replacement' feature?  I ask because some non-Stern DMDs need this.  Pinball browser has the concept of 'layers' and thereby does not have this issue.

 

An example is AFM's spell M-A-R-T-I-A-N.  In order to replace frames for this, the permutations are 7 factorial or 5,040 different frames!!!  Instead of replacing the entire screen, it would be ideal to simply replace the Martians on the edges.

 

Let me know if it's possible.

 

 

 

 

 

post-883-0-71545500-1463081250_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Content Provider

Is already on the looooooooong wishlist but don´t expect it in the next weeks or so.

It´s the same principal as adding more colors to frames with scores etc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Content Provider

I'm trying to take advantage of the mask feature, but it appears to not be working.  For example, I created a new project.  

  1) Defined the mask right away- before adding the keyframes.  

  2) Defined the keyframes- just one per NFL team - in this example.  

 

  The reason to create a mask like I have shown, is to trigger on TEAM name (I did mask a single pixel row on right side- as sometime opponent TEAM name appears on DMD too).  Unfortunately the palette is ONLY triggering on the KEYFRAME defined.  

  As you can see, there are two different frame types 'USE FLIPPERS TO PICK YOUR TEAM' and 'SHOOT BALL WHEN DONE'.  It appears that ONLY the keyframe with correct text is triggering...

 

I am using the latest version of editor: 1.018, build 90.  I did notice checksums are indeed different with the mask versus not.  But not triggering properly.  See attached pic as example team colors.  Something get broken with masks?

 

BTW: I am talking about 'in-game' switching palettes.  I only used the editor pics as an example of what is seen during game-play.

post-883-0-93556100-1463185028_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I updated the firmware to 2.11 and also downloaded the new editor. I did a simple test and had some success but also some questions.

 

I loaded some animations of the attract mode for DE Star Wars. I changed the designation of the default palette from NORMAL to DEFAULT.

I then cut the scene of the Logo Star Wars fading to the background. I created a palette and colored it yellow.

I exported the project and re-named the .dat and .fsq files and copied them to the SD card.

When I ran a test with the panel hooked to the computer in VP mode, the colors for the default were correct and my yellow star wars showed up correct so I was pretty excited.

I reconfigured the board and connected it to my machine. When I started the machine the DMD showed right up but the default palette colors were not the same as selected in the editor. They were not from either palette. They looked like a standard "CGA" palette.

When the Star Wars logo showed up it was yellow as it was supposed to be so that palette appeared to be correct.

 

Any Ideas?

 

Couple of other things. I tried to use the live preview function and I got a message that I didn't have permission.

I also tried to use the USD configure in the editor and I got another Insufficient permission.

 

When you try and configure and save to a SD card from the editor, you only can choose between Williams and Stern for real machines. Not a big issue since you can use the pin2dmd.exe to configure.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Content Provider

Hi, so the latest editor version (build 95) has definitely all device modes in configure dialog.

 

Regarding default palette: what you are saying is: vp recognizes default palette and real pinball mode does not?

 

Regards Steve

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Steve, I just downloaded the latest version of the editor (.18), but I cannot get it licensed anymore. It now gives a nice message when I try to do something that requires a license, but when I try Help > Get License, it reports a NullPointerException (seems to be on verifyAndPopulateCaps).

 

On the same machine, I used .14 with a license installed. Maybe it has troubles reading that data from registry?

 

Btw, I preferred the possibility to select colors from the Windows color picker first, now I immediately get the advanced dialog (which is too advanced for me ;).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
  • Create New...