Drawing a PixelPlane in the Display Preview

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Note: Be sure to read the section on Creating a Display Preview to get an understanding of how Display Previews work and how to set it up. While this will cover the steps for a PixelPlane, it is assumed that you have an understanding of the basics.


Assigning Your PixelPlane Object to a Preview Group:

  • Open the Channel Manager (Manage Channels -> Manage Raw Channels).
  • Open your PixelPlane object by clicking its folder.
  • Highlight all of the PixelPlane channels.
  • In the Preview Group/Number bulk renaming field, enter your starting group, followed by a comma, followed by the number of pixels in each string.
    • Example: A MegaTree with 16 strands of 50 pixels each would be entered as 1,50. This would number each string to its own display group.
  • Click Done with Changes.


Drawing the PixelPlane Object:

  • Open your Preview (Preview -> Edit New Preview). Then, select Pick Preview and select your preview file and click Ok.
  • In the Preview Toolbar, click the button that represents your PixelPlane object.
  • Draw the object in the window and press Spacebar.
Figure 6-33
  • Figure 6-33 will appear.
  • Enter the number of Strings in your object.
  • Enter the number of lights or pixels in each string.
  • Enter a name for the object.
  • Click the create button.


Figure 6-34
  • Now you must assign your pixel strings to the appropriate preview strings.
  • Click in the name field of string 1.
  • Figure 6-34 will appear.
  • Select Multiple Pixels
  • The Number of Pixels field will automatically be filled.
  • Click "Assign Channels in Reverse" IF your strings run in reverse.
  • Click in the blue name field.
  • In the window that opens, select the first string, first pixel.
  • Click OK to close the Assign Light window.


  • In the Object window, Select Force Pixel and then click Force Assign.
  • Click YES to the dialog box.
  • This will load all additional pixels and strings.
  • To verify correct loading, you can now left-click in the show box to see the string light up in the visualizer window.
  • Click SAVE to save the preview.
  • Close the preview.



HLS User Manual and Reference Guide
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