Importing Cue Files into Player

Exporting compositions produces a set of *.cue files — these are the finished animations. As long as they sit in a folder on the computer, the installation isn't controlled by them: the files need to be loaded into Light Stream Player, and then it will play them on its own, without a powered-on computer and without the program running.

Cue files aren't uploaded from Light Stream itself, but through the player's web interface — in a regular browser. The program itself only sends settings to the player: universes and devices, playlists, and calendar events.

What to Do Before Uploading

• The compositions have been exported to *.cue files — see Exporting Compositions. There's no need to prepare previews separately: a GIF animation is already embedded inside each file.
• The player is powered on, connected to the network, and has a license loaded onto it.
• The computer is on the same network as the player, and its IP address is known. In the program, a new Light Stream Player has the address 192.168.0.205 filled in by default, but the actual address is set on the player itself — check against that.
• The player's username and password are known. The factory default credentials are administrator / administrator.

Uploading Animations to the Player

1. Open a browser and enter the player's IP address in the address bar — the same one shown for the player in the Properties window. The login page will load.
2. Enter the player's username and password.
3. Go to the Animations section.
4. Start the animation upload and, in the file selection window that opens, locate the folder the compositions were exported to and select the needed *.cue files. Multiple files can be selected at once.
5. Confirm the upload and wait for it to finish.

Once the upload finishes, the animations will appear in the list — each with its own name and a short GIF preview, the same one captured during export.

You can verify that the project settings made it to the player as well in the player's settings, in the universes and devices section: the universes and converters from your project should be listed there.

If There Are Several Players

When a project has more than one Light Stream Player, export sorts the cue files into subfolders named after the players. Only upload files from a given subfolder to the matching player: the animation is calculated for that specific player's universes, and fixtures will behave incorrectly on a different player.

File Names Matter

The program links the project's compositions to the animations on the player by name: it looks on the player for a file whose name matches the composition's name (case-insensitive). As long as the names match, playlists and the schedule can be sent to the player — the program understands which animation corresponds to which composition.

This leads to a few simple rules:

• don't rename cue files after export — the program won't be able to find a renamed file on the player;
• if you changed the value in the File Name column in the Export window so that it no longer matches the composition's name, playlists and calendar events won't be sendable to the player;
• renamed a composition in the project — export it again and upload it to the player under the new name, and remove the old file from the player, otherwise the animation list will end up with two similar clips.

Not all of the project's compositions are checked — only the ones placed in playlists: a composition you haven't placed anywhere won't interfere with sending playlists and the schedule.

Order of Data Transfer to the Player

Uploading animations is only one of three steps, and the order here matters:

1. Universes and Devices. Sent from the program: the Fixtures window → select the Light Stream Player → in the Properties window, in the Authorization group, click Import / Export Settings. The Transfer Data to LS Player window will open; in it, check the Universes and Devices box and click Export.
2. Animations. Uploaded through the player's web interface, as described above.
3. Playlists and Calendar Events. Sent from the same Transfer Data to LS Player window via the Playlists and Calendar Events checkboxes. This should only be done after the cue files are already on the player — otherwise the program has nothing to match the compositions against.

The Transfer Data to LS Player window is laid out as follows:

Window Section	What It Sets
Select Player to Configure	The Select Player list — all the players in the project, each with its own name and IP address; the player whose properties you opened the window from is selected by default. Below it, next to the Select Data label, three checkboxes: Universes and Devices, Playlists, Calendar Events — which data to transfer
Access Data	The player's Username and Password. The eye button to the right of the password field shows the password as plain text
Network Settings	The player's IP, the HTTPS checkbox, the HTTP Port (default 80), and the HTTPS Port (default 443)
Buttons at the Bottom	Import — pull the checked data from the player into the project, Export — send it from the project to the player, Clear Player — erase everything on the player

The Access Data and Network Settings sections are collapsed when the window opens — expand them by clicking the header. The values in them are the same as in the player's parameters, so a login, password, address, or port corrected here also carries over to the player's properties in the project. The program remembers which checkboxes were checked and fills them in again next time. The window can be closed without transferring anything with the Esc key.

Below the buttons there's a progress bar and a status line showing what's happening right now — Authorization, Retrieving CUE, Creating Playlist 2 of 5, and so on. When the transfer is finished, the window closes itself and a green Settings successfully updated message appears, and the orange warning icon next to the player's name in the Fixtures window goes out.

Updating and Removing Animations

• Changed a composition — export it to cue again and upload it to the player once more.
• If you need to remove extra clips from the player, delete them in the player's interface, in the Animations section.
• The Clear Player button in the Transfer Data to LS Player window erases everything on the player at once: animations, playlists, calendar events, scenes, devices, and universes. The program will always ask for confirmation. Use it when the player needs to be prepared for a new installation from scratch — what's deleted can't be restored from the program, and the animations will need to be uploaded again.

The Reverse Case: Animations Exist but the Project Doesn't

If the animations and schedule are already set up on the player, they can be pulled into the program. In the Transfer Data to LS Player window, check Playlists and Calendar Events and click Import.

Keep two things in mind:

• The program will warn that the playlists and calendar events in the current project will be overwritten with data from the player: Yes continues the import, Cancel cancels it. If a schedule has already been put together in the project, save the project under a different name first.
• The program will check the animations on the player against the project's compositions. If some compositions are missing from the project, a question will appear: "The following compositions were not found in the project, they will be created automatically, do you want to continue?" with a list of names. Answering Yes adds the missing entries to the project, and the playlists and events are imported in full. Such entries are only the animation names from the player — there are no ready-made effects or timeline behind them.

If Something Went Wrong

• The player's page won't open in the browser — check the address, the cable, and that the computer and the player are on the same subnet.
• "Login failed" appears in the "Transfer Data to LS Player" window — the username, password, address, or port don't match. Check the Access Data and Network Settings sections, including the HTTPS checkbox.
• "These compositions were not found on the player" appears when sending playlists — the message lists the names of compositions placed in the project's playlists that weren't found among the player's animations. Upload the missing cue files and repeat the transfer.
• The animation is in the player's list, but the fixtures don't light up — most likely the universes and devices weren't sent to the player, or the fixtures aren't patched to the converter's ports, see Patching Fixtures.
• A license exceeded message appears, of the form "The number of universes in the project (…) exceeds the number of universes in the player's license (…)" — when sending universes and devices, only the universes of this player's regular converters are counted; the built-in converter isn't included in this check. Remove the extra converters or universes, or extend the player's license.
• The animation has a black preview on the player — the GIF was captured from a 3D camera pointed away from the installation. Choose a different view in the Export window and re-export the composition, see GIF Preview Settings.

See Also

• Exporting Compositions
• GIF Preview Settings
• Compositions
• Light Stream Player Settings
• Patching Fixtures
• Terminology