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Thread: Mamba Black - how to align beam points?

  1. #1
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    Default Mamba Black - how to align beam points?

    Does anyone know how to arrange beam points in Mamba Black so that they line up horizontally or vertically?

    I can't seem to find this function, is it in the manual somewhere?

    Steve

  2. #2
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    I think it's still manual, no way to do that automatically...
    I use a simple trick : draw a line where you want to have your beam points, then draw the points over these line. When finished, delete the line

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by sbk View Post
    I think it's still manual, no way to do that automatically...
    I use a simple trick : draw a line where you want to have your beam points, then draw the points over these line. When finished, delete the line
    Thats exactly how I do it but with rather more complex shapes beginning with circles.
    The other way is to create each point and right click in the drawing area while the point is still highlighted. Then select 'centre objects>vertically' and this should put them in a neat line. All you need to be able to do then is get them evenly spaced....for this I have a BMP that I display in the background of the drawing area as a guide. See attachment to this post - its far from perfect but is better than the one you get with Mamba - ie NONE! That said there is supposed to be an invisible grid in the latest versions of Mamba im just not sure how you are supposed to use it - a visible one would be much better! In 'settings>general settings' there is a control for the spacing of the grid but no indication of units and I cant see how you make an object snap to it.

    Rob
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails grid.bmp  

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  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by stanwax View Post
    That said there is supposed to be an invisible grid in the latest versions of Mamba im just not sure how you are supposed to use it - a visible one would be much better! In 'settings>general settings' there is a control for the spacing of the grid but no indication of units and I cant see how you make an object snap to it.

    Rob
    The unit for the grid distance is "pixels on the laser output" (the range goes from 0 to 4095) and at present the usage is simple: Draw a circle, for example, then click on it again so you get the four markers around the circle. Pick one with the mouse and drag it around while holding CTRL down. The dragged marker will "snap" from grid point to grid point.

    I admit it's not the best implementation in the world, but a lot of improvements are coming up, I just need to finish some of the refactorings I'm working on first ("don't start too many things in parallel')

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by OldGrumpy View Post
    The unit for the grid distance is "pixels on the laser output" (the range goes from 0 to 4095) and at present the usage is simple: Draw a circle, for example, then click on it again so you get the four markers around the circle. Pick one with the mouse and drag it around while holding CTRL down. The dragged marker will "snap" from grid point to grid point.

    Cheers for that!

    Quote Originally Posted by OldGrumpy View Post
    I admit it's not the best implementation in the world, but a lot of improvements are coming up, I just need to finish some of the refactorings I'm working on first ("don't start too many things in parallel')
    I know you are working hard - thanks for all your efforts - its more than appreciated

    Rob
    If you need to ask the question 'whats so good about a laser' - you won't understand the answer.
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Laserists do it by the nanometre.

    Stanwax Laser is a Corporate Member of Ilda

    Stanwax Laser main distributor of First Contact in UK - like us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/FirstContactPolymerCleaner
    www.photoniccleaning.co.uk

  6. #6
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    Hey great - thanks for explaining that.

    Actuallly while we're on topic - I'm looking to create a single axis fan of 10 beams that will slowly "open" from a one beam point. I can create this scene by scene in Mamba, but it's jerky on playback - how do I go about making the transitions smooth, like I see in some of the shows on disc?

    Steve

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by shobley View Post
    I'm looking to create a single axis fan of 10 beams that will slowly "open" from a one beam point.
    I'd do this by drawing the 10 beams fanned out first, then in "Geo" (below the timeline) use "Move/Scale From, To".

    I prefer using the slider mode rather than the two boxes. (press the little slider icon to the left of the "Move/Scale" title) and then just drag the X and Y sliders for "Scale From" all the way to the left.

    You can then stretch the frame on the time line to adjust how long you want it to take to fan the beams out. Mamba will do the rest to make it smooth!

  8. #8
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    Hey someone from Leicestershire - I was born and raised in Hinckley y'know!

    Thanks for the tip, that's exactly what I did - now it opens and closes just the way I want it to...

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3mDF5O27PI

    Cheers,
    Steve

  9. #9
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    Hey Steve, I was working in Hinkley last Sunday. They had some bands on a stage we built infront of the bandstand in the park there. Nice park, all landscaped. Lots of opertunity to light the trees nicely (which we did not do cus the council didn't want to pay for it!)

    -Matt.

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