Recommendations for "meteor tube" /icicle effect with xlights

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XmasinVancouver

New member
I have 8 x 30 pixel icicles diy built, each with its own independent cable run from a central board so they can be placed anywhere rather than using a tee design. For those who might remember, it was the "bwinter icicles" design. This is my first time trying out the effects in xlights after using vixen exclusively for many years.
If I recall, I believe I just did a chase or wipe with vixen to make it look good. The idea being the front of the "drip" was brighter, with the tail following it gradually dimming.

Now here in xlights, I can't quite seem to get it looking right. Closest I came was using bars effect with 3d setting which does the taper, but minimal parameters doesn't make it look right. The meteor effect is closer in terms of the look, but even set to 1 count with a longer tail, they stop and start all over the place. Sometimes it stops or starts halfway as if random rather than one long streak per instance. Anything close to the chase or wipe I used in vixen doesn't seem to fit either. I'm guessing this is probably just my lack of xlights experience, but can anyone suggest an effect/setting combination in xlights?
 
XmasinVancouver said:
I have 8 x 30 pixel icicles diy built, each with its own independent cable run from a central board so they can be placed anywhere rather than using a tee design. For those who might remember, it was the "bwinter icicles" design. This is my first time trying out the effects in xlights after using vixen exclusively for many years.
If I recall, I believe I just did a chase or wipe with vixen to make it look good. The idea being the front of the "drip" was brighter, with the tail following it gradually dimming.

Now here in xlights, I can't quite seem to get it looking right. Closest I came was using bars effect with 3d setting which does the taper, but minimal parameters doesn't make it look right. The meteor effect is closer in terms of the look, but even set to 1 count with a longer tail, they stop and start all over the place. Sometimes it stops or starts halfway as if random rather than one long streak per instance. Anything close to the chase or wipe I used in vixen doesn't seem to fit either. I'm guessing this is probably just my lack of xlights experience, but can anyone suggest an effect/setting combination in xlights?
Click to expand...

Sounds like a gradient is required in this equation .
 
chasevixeneffect.jpg
Sorry couldn't get better examples in the gif's above. But here for example is the settings I used in vixen with a chase effect for the first posted. Just a quick and dirty as I seem to remember the lead pixels being brighter and the tail tapering off more. Long story short, I didn't think I was going to be able to do anything or put up anything this year due to Christmas grinches with friends in high places. So little planning or prep time and no music sequences this year. But I want to at least get these pixel/meteor tubes going after the time spent on them and perhaps a few other props that are already wired and just need some eye candy fx whipped up lol. To answer, I'm not using vixen because I'm trying to make use of my fpp and esp32-cam boards as slaves, and this is a small test run with xlights and those together.
I'm not a complete useless newb with xlights. I've managed some pretty cool stuff already. But this effect surprised me since i expected it to be a fairly quick and common thing. Meteor tubes/pixel icicles are fairly common, so I assumed I was just missing something or after 6 years of vixen, this new workflow is making me approach it incorrectly?
 
Try using a single strand effect, chase - I have mine set to straight white at the moment, but this seems to work pretty well for what I'm looking for.

Chase Settings.png
 
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