In this advanced tutorial, we'll map a Christmas tree
To accomodate different video content, we'll create two views: side and top
Let's start by creating the side view
For the side view, imagine we're unrolling the tree and putting all strips side-by-side
Let say our tree has 10 strips of 170 RGB LEDs
We can select the proper vertical strip alignment
Then adjust the DMX settings as needed
We now have our 10 strips
and we're ready to create the top view
We'll add the same 10 strips as in the side view and they'll be merged
We start with one strip only
Now we position the first strip as if we were looking at it from above
Then we duplicate it 9 times, rotating each strip to create a full circle
Each strip needs to be rotated by 36 degrees (360 degrees / 10 strips)
To leave a hole at the top, we can offset the rotation center
Now we have 10 properly rotated strips as if we were looking at the tree from above
We'll resize all strips to be inside the stage (press ctrl-a to select all strips)
The precise offset/resize tool is useful in this situation
To merge the media from the side and top stages, we can select one of the multiple merge mode
In this case, we select 'add' to mix all media
Now let's play some content and see the result in the monitor
We can open one monitor per stage to have different views
Let's go in the live panel to play a media
Some media give good results in the side stage
But other media don't work so well and that's why we need the top view
Let's play the same rainbow effect in the top stage
You can see it gives a nice result with color continuity all over the tree
You can create as many stages as you want to help you achieve the effects you want with your media
Each stage is a media layer and you can create complex effects by merging them