Step Effector with lights?

[Jeremy Allen]

I have two rows of visible lights (cloned) that i would like to turn on sequentially. So the first light from each row would go on, then the second, etc. I saw a presentation recently where the guy said the used a step effector to turn the lights on sequentially, but I can’t figure it out. I’ve played with the step effector enough to be fairly comfortable with it, but can’t figure out how to apply it to the lights on/off, visibility, etc…

Can anybody help with this?

———————————————
8core MacPro, 3.0 GHZ, 10GB RAM, OSX 10.5.6

C4D 11.5
AE CS3
FCP 6.0.1

[Jeremy Allen]

Nevermind I figured it out.

I used a -1 scale, with an inverted falloff set to zero. Not sure if this is the best way to handle this effect, but it works for me!

———————————————
8core MacPro, 3.0 GHZ, 10GB RAM, OSX 10.5.6

C4D 11.5
AE CS3
FCP 6.0.1

[Adam Trachtenberg]

Glad you worked it out. Personally I’d do it this way: https://www.3danvil.com/tutorials/Lights_Sequential.c4d

The key here is to set the cloner’s mode to sort, and set the plain effector to Parameter>Modify Clone (100%).

[Jeremy Allen]

Hey thanks for the suggestion Adam. I also figured out how to do it using the visibility option (duh!) in the step effector’s parameters. This works when you set the effector’s min/max to -100,100. I guess this would be better than using the scale.

Is there a reason you would prefer your way as far as efficiency, processing, flexibility goes? I really don’t know what I’m doing in C4D. I just read and try things until I can get something to work. So I’m genuinely curious if your way is more proper or better for some reason.

Thanks again.

487_lightssequential.c4d.zip

———————————————
8core MacPro, 3.0 GHZ, 10GB RAM, OSX 10.5.6

C4D 11.5
AE CS3
FCP 6.0.1

[Jeremy Allen]

I read up on the plain effector and the manual says it could be faster to calculate since it is more simple than the other effectors, so that could be one reason your method is better..

The visibility option also works with the plain effector if you set the min/max to 0/0, and invert the falloff.

———————————————
8core MacPro, 3.0 GHZ, 10GB RAM, OSX 10.5.6

C4D 11.5
AE CS3
FCP 6.0.1

[Adam Trachtenberg]

Yep, the speed factor was the reason I chose the plane effector, but in practical terms if probably doesn’t matter. Many ways to skin a cat….