The Step Animation Editor is Unilighter's engine for creating sequential chases, rhythmic color pulses, alternating strobe bursts, and multi-scene step sequences. Unlike continuous keyframe timelines, Step Animations operate on discrete lighting states (steps) that hold for a defined duration or musical beat before crossfading to the next step.

Step Animation Editor

⚙️ Global Animation Settings

Each Step Animation features global properties that govern playback order, priority layering, and color blending:

1. Name & Control Priority

  • Name: A descriptive title (e.g., Odd/Even Wash Chase, RGB Strobe Pulse).
  • Priority (-100 to 100): Sets the animation's authority in the Unilighter Priority System. An animation set to priority 15 will seamlessly override static background scenes (Priority: 0), while allowing manual faders on the Live Dashboard (Priority: 100) to take precedence when touched.

2. Repeats & Infinite Playback

  • Infinite Checkbox: When checked, the animation loops continuously until stopped or superseded by another cue.
  • Repeats: If unchecked, define a precise number of cycles (e.g., 3 cycles for a brief strobe burst) before the animation automatically halts.

3. Playback Order

Choose how the engine iterates through your sequence of steps:

  • Forward: Steps sequence strictly from start to finish (1 → 2 → 3 → ... → N → 1).
  • Reverse: Steps run backward (N → ... → 3 → 2 → 1 → N), ideal for reversing beam sweep directions.
  • Ping-Pong: Steps bounce back and forth smoothly (1 → 2 → 3 → 2 → 1), creating natural pendulum or waving movements.

4. Color Transition Modes

When steps feature contrasting fixture colors, Unilighter provides four mathematical transition algorithms:

  • Direct (Shortest Path): Straight-line RGB/CMY interpolation through vector color space. Fastest and most efficient for rapid color bumps.
  • Hue (Linear HSV): Rotates around the perimeter of the HSV color wheel. Colors travel smoothly through adjacent spectral shades (e.g., Red to Green travels through Orange and Yellow).
  • Via White: Interpolates color intensity through peak white saturation before reaching the destination hue. Produces a punchy, flash-style transition popular in electronic music sets.
  • Via Black: Fades fixture dimmer down to complete blackout before bringing up the target color. Prevents muddy intermediate colors and creates classic theatrical cut transitions.

5. Bulk Timing Tools

  • Common Hold (ms): Global hold duration applied across all steps.
  • Common Fade (ms): Global crossfade time applied across all steps.
  • Apply to all steps: Single-click button that stamps Common Hold and Common Fade into every step in the list, saving tedious manual typing.

6. Transport & Live Auditioning

  • Transport Bar: Dedicated buttons for Play, Pause, Stop, and Restart.
  • Live Edit: When checked, any adjustments made to step parameters or fixture sliders immediately stream to physical DMX outputs, letting you dial in positions and colors live on stage.
  • Show Changes: Toggle real-time hardware preview without altering the main stage playback state.

🪜 Managing Animation Steps

The lower half of the editor contains the step sequence:

Adding & Reordering Steps

  • Add Step: Appends a new step to the end of the sequence.
  • Reorder (↑ / ↓): Move steps earlier or later in the chase.
  • Preview Step (Light icon): Solo-audition a specific step on stage fixtures without running the entire animation loop.
  • Step Name: Assign custom labels (e.g., All Odd On, Even Blinders, Strobe Drop).
  • Delete (Trash icon): Remove redundant steps.

Step Timing Parameters

Each step contains independent timing controls:

  • Hold Time (ms): The duration the step remains static after fading in.
  • On Beat Checkbox: When checked, hold time automatically locks to 1 musical beat (0 ms hold offset) synchronized with the master BPM clock. As tempo changes during a live performance, the chase automatically speeds up or slows down in perfect lockstep.
  • Fade Time (ms): The crossfade transition time taken to morph from the previous step's values into this step. Set to 0 for instantaneous snap cuts (strobe/blinder chases), or higher values (200ms - 2000ms) for gentle ambient morphing.

Embedded Scene Editor

Clicking any step opens an embedded Scene Editor containing:

  • Device Selector Chips: Enable or disable specific fixtures (Rear Beam 1, Stage Wash 2, Stage Par 3) in this step.
  • Parameter Controls: Adjust Dimmer faders, RGB/CMY color wheels, Pan/Tilt position crosshairs, and indexed gobo/prism wheels.
  • Selective Overrides: Only active channels within a step are sent to DMX. Untouched channels pass through signals from lower-priority layers.

🪄 Rapid Creation with Animation Generator

Instead of programming steps by hand, use the built-in Generator tab:

Animation Generator

  1. Select Devices: Click fixtures from the device list to include them in the chase.
  2. Order Devices: Arrange physical left-to-right, center-out, or circular ordering using the ↑, ↓, and remove buttons.
  3. Select Preset:
    • Odd / Even: Creates an alternating 2-step chase where odd-numbered fixtures illuminate in Step 1 and even-numbered fixtures illuminate in Step 2.
    • One by One: Creates an \(N\)-step sequence illuminating exactly one fixture at a time in sequence across the array.
    • Fill: Sequentially accumulates fixtures step-by-step until all heads are illuminated, then snaps off and repeats.
  4. Hold & Fade Times: Specify default hold time (or enter 0 for beat-synchronized playback) and fade time.
  5. Generate Animation: Click the button to automatically bake all steps and scenes into a new Step Animation ready for playback.

🎛️ Live Performance Integration

Once saved, Step Animations can be triggered seamlessly:

  • Function Widget on Dashboard: Map the animation to a touch button for instant cue firing.
  • Resync Beat: Click Resync Beat in the console header at any time to instantly phase-align running chases to the DJ's downbeat.