Animesh has been found to be less reliable than normal objects.

For SmartDancer, we have 3 features at out disposal to help counter these unreliables

1 – FinalTurnAdj:  this is an entry in the *smartdancer nc that goes inside of Animesh.  Its not really needed for poseballs since you can always control their orientation.

This feature was created to conquer the issue of creators making animesh with different direction-facing rez orientations.  The values are left, right, 180, and blank or just not include the entry if its blank…but best to leave it in and blank to remind you that its there when you need it.

The easiest way to figure out what value, if any, this should be set to is to simply Reset your SmartDancer Controller  and then if the Animesh (or poseball) is not facing the way you want it, then figure out which way it needs to turn to make it turn and end of facing  the way you want it to upon reset and then make that adjustment to the FinalTurnAdj entry in the *smartdancer nc.

2 – TurnCompletionDelay: This feature was created to handle the sometimes iffy behavior of animesh turns not completing all the way.  The closer the turn is to 5 seconds, the maximum turn-time allowed by SD, then the more likely it is to sometimes stop a bit short of its completed turn.  This entry on the *channels nc inside the SmartDancer Controller tells the animesh/poseballs to force the completion of the turn in one quick turn AFTER the TurnCompletion Delay in seconds has expired.  I have it set to 0.5 seconds as of this writing.

GuruZallAI,off
GuruZallJR,off
GuruZAI,nnnnnnnnn
GuruZJR,nnnnnnnnn

Hybrid is a methodology for using an SD poseball as an Artiste Palette.  The catch is that it can only be one or the other but not both at the same time.  The way it works is that which ever one is enabled, disables the other one.  We are talking about enabling and disabling scripts.

You can SKIP to where steps are listed #1 THRU #7 where it says:
“My HYBRID Installation Methodology is as follows”

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The following just offers some background and describes what need to be done that I have tried to automate using the File Copier and Replicator.

You need to add a script called *AA_ArtisteHybrid v?.?
?.? will be the latest version of that Hybrid script.  Add this to the SmartDancer poseball.

Remember that for poseballs to work with SmartDancer, they need to have their normal scripts installed as well:
*AA_ArtistePoseBallSit
*AA_Refresher
*AA_FileManager (optional) can be removed using TrimScripts on Replicator for show time.
*AA_ScriptLoader(optional) can be removed using TrimScripts on Replicator for show time.
Animesh AIFormations
Animesh JRFormations
Animesh Receiver
Animesh Resetter
Animesh SmartDancer
Animesh TurnCompletionDelay

NOTE: Set range to A-A prior to Install. Then later we will replicate 01_A to those letters* that will be poseballs.

Your initialization and installation should look similar to the screen below, allowing for different dates and versions.

For Artiste Palette I chose to use the latest version named 26_F
Artiste Assets 04-14-16-AH
Artiste Fader 02-27-18-BF
Artiste Follower 11-15-17-AI
Artiste Hybrid – v1.2
Artiste Mover 05-17-18-DF
Artiste MovesLoader 02-15-18-AH
Artiste Palette 05-21-18-DY
Artiste Receiver 11-15-17-AR
Artiste Special FX 05-21-18-BA
Artiste Utility 04-10-18-FB
Artiste UUID Physics 11-15-2017

The following scripts are not needed nor used.
Artiste Coupler
Artiste Experience
Artiste SmartDancer
Artiste ChorusLine

Also remember to install any needed notecards.
For SmartDancer
*smartdancer
*filemanager (optional)

For Palette
*moves
*palette
*specialfx
*thrower (optional)
*utility (optional)

The Replicator also has the *hybrid nc.  This tells the Hybrid script  which scripts it is to enable and disable for SD and Palette. the current contents as of this writing are:

/* Type,ScriptName
SD,*AA_ArtistePoseBallSit
SD,*AA_FileManager
SD,*AA_Refresher
SD,*AA_ScriptLoader
SD,Animesh AIFormations
SD,Animesh JRFormations
SD,Animesh Receiver
SD,Animesh SmartDancer
SD,Animesh TurnCompletionDelay
/*
PAL,Artiste Assets
PAL,Artiste Experience
PAL,Artiste Fader
PAL,Artiste Follower
PAL,Artiste Mover
PAL,Artiste MovesLoader
PAL,Artiste Palette
PAL,Artiste Receiver
PAL,Artiste Special FX
PAL,Artiste Utility
PAL,Artiste UUID Physics
END

Should any new scripts be added in the future, then this nc will need to be updated.

It is strongly suggested that you first create a palette.
Set the anchor on top or bottom of your SmartDancer Controller

Next, set the  Initial Offset of your Hybrid (combination of Artiste Palette and SmartDancer Poseball).  Or course be sure Moveable is  on. Moveable,on

**********************************

My HYBRID Installation Methodology is as follows:

1 – Copy PinMe script into poseball named ArtistePalette_01_A, This script will be found in your Accessories Box.

2 –  Be sure to TOUCH the poseball in order for PinMe to execute. It will delete itself after it runs.  This functions in the same way as the Multi-Rezzer Object Pin, allowing scripts to be copied from one object to another.

3 – Run Initialize the File Copier

4 – Run Install from the File Copier

Replicator has a feature to install Palette Scripts & Palette Notecards
NOTE: *palette has
AnchorName,ArtisteAnchor
BlankTexture,off
Color,none

NOTE: *palette has
InitialOffset,<1,1,0>,<0.00000, 0.00000,0, 1>
NoOfMoves,1
M01_A_01,3.000000,<1.00000, 1.0, 0.00000>,<0,0,0,1>,none,0

5 – Run PALnotecards from Replicator. This installs all Palette ncs inside the Replicator except *canonoverrides.  I have included the *hybrid nc for your convenience.

You need SmartDancer Animesh Replicator – v2.02 or later.

NOTE:  TrimScripts is automatically run, prior to notecards for Palettes being copied otherwise the copy would fail because one of the scripts that will be removed rejects more than a total of 2 notecards being copied into an animesh/poseball as part of the Initialization verification process.  No harm is done because the 2 scripts removed are only necessary for installing script updates or copying animations. etc.   

This is what my poseball looks like after I run PALnotecards from the Replicator. See below.

6 – Run PALscripts from Replicator. This installs all Palette scripts  inside the Replicator that begin with Artiste

This is what my poseball looks like after I run PALscripts from the Replicator. See below.

All Artiste scripts are disabled (set to NOT RUNNING) except, of course, for the Hybrid script (Artiste Hybrid).  It is the script that will enable and disable the other scripts (SD and PAL)

Now after you have ArtistePalette_01_A setup for Hybridization, simply use the replicator to reproduce it as many times as needed.

7 – Test SD-Only mode by pressing HybridSD button

8 – Test PAL-Only mode by pressing HybridPAL button

SD-Only mode can ALSO be engaged by using the HybridSD command in AutoFX and using ArtistePerformance HUDs dated
at least:
PE04 – Artiste – Performance HUD RC7A-v12.31-Animesh/SD 8.01

PAL-Only mode can also be engaged from the SmartDancer Controller by issuing a HybridPAL command on a sequence nc.  You just need a controller with a minimum version of:
PE18a-r – Artiste SmartDancer – Controller – v12.17 – RC7
It would be wise if this the following statement in the sequence was the last statement in the sequence.

99,HybridPAL | 100

New Command to IMMEDIATELY color links on an animesh.

Example:|  Colors the left side veil,silk, and dress red

ElapsedOrDuration,Elapsed
1,ColorCanonLinks,Silk%Dress%Veil | 1
2,ColorLinksNow,jklm,<1,0,0> | 2

It used to be that we would configured animesh and poseballs manually.  And, know that you still can.  But as we go from a maximum of 9 dancers to a maximum of 18 we felt it was time to provide an alternative to manually configuring each animesh/poseball dancer by hand.   Expect there to be future
product enhancements as well as to unwelcomed performance issues and occasional bug fixes to accompany the ongoing need to add and remove animations, make across-the-board changes to notecards as well as ease the process of initial installation.

Introducing the SmartDancer File Copier and the SmartDancer Replicator.

****************

The first thing to do with your new animesh, we sometimes just call ‘ani‘, is to RENAME it to ArtistePalette_01_? where ? is a letter between A and R in the alphabet.

*********************

In order for the SmartDancer FileCopier to copy animations, scripts, and notecards into animesh/poseballs, each animesh/poseball you needs to load  FIRST with the
*filemanager nc and
*smartdancer nc and THEN copy in the
*AA_FileManager  and
*AA_ScriptLoader and
*AA_Refresher
scripts.

You can use the INITIALIZE button to automatically copy these 5 files, as a convenience.  Advised that the description field be A-A or J-J so that you configure one good animesh for making duplicates to rename.

Also added for  ArtistePalette_01_A is a special script called
*AA_ArtistePoseBallSit

So you could have 5 or 6 files in total as a result of Initialization.

For your safety, honoring best practices as an added precaution, INITIALIZE will ONLY initialize animesh/poseballs named A and/or J.  This is to allow you to use one for animesh (A?) and one for poseballs (J?).

Your goal is to end up with an animesh that looks like the following.

You may have also have extra script(s) or animations that came with the animesh when you bought it.  These should have been deleted, those in the root prim, when you added the PinMe script

Sample output from running Initialize from the SmartDancer File Copier, assuming TRACE,off in the *filecopier nc, is listed below:

[01:51:40] SmartDancer File Copier 4.3: [FILE COPIER] Initialization Started…Please Wait…
[01:52:03] SmartDancer File Copier 4.3: [INITsc] Initialization Completed for ArtistePalette_01_A !!!
[01:52:09] SmartDancer File Copier 4.3: [INITsc] Initialization Completed for ArtistePalette_01_J !!!

Should you accidentally run Initialization more than once,   the File Copier system is smart enough to remove the existing files and just recopy them again.

****************

Now with those 5 or 6  files loaded, it is easier to transfer animations, scripts, and notecards.  This is the bootstrap.

Next, the INSTALL button/feature is handy for first time preparations because first it DELETES any EXISTING animations and scripts and THEN copies  the 6 needed animesh scripts,  and 1 animation called ‘standing’, bypassing the files and ncs initialized using INITIALIZE.

****************************
SmartDancer Replicator

Touch the replicator to bring up its menu.

This handy tool can save you some work, once you have an ideal animesh or poseball.  Simply put the range of replications you want in the description field.  Example:  J-R.  This will replicate 9 copies of the single animesh/poseball that you put inside of it.  Of course the animesh/poseball must be copyable.  Then press the REPLICATE button.

ArtistePalette_01_J thru
ArtistePalette_01_R

****************
CopyAnims

The main process you will likely use most often is CopyAnims.  Each animesh and poseball must have the animations they plan to use, inside of them.  SmartDancer FileCopier makes it easier to load ONLY COPYABLE animations into each of animesh/poseball.

Place all of the animations you plan to use in your routine inside the SmartDancer FileCopier.  Then make sure you limit the animesh/poseballs to be updated by specifying in the description field of the SmartDancer FileCopier, which animesh/poseballs are to be updated.

As a convenience, animations will not duplicate existing animations, just in case you forgot that you already installed an animation.

Examples:
To update ALL, specify A-R
To update a single animesh/poseball, specify  J-J;
To update a subset, specify A-I or J-R as examples in case you are using A-I for something else like normal Artiste setups.

After you install new notecards and scripts into your animesh/poseballs then its time to configure the notecards.  Please see the following link: ==>SmartDancer SETUP

****************
CopyScripts

The only difference between animesh and poseballs is that poseballs have one EXTRA script called:  ArtistePoseBallSit (v5.8 – 11-08-20).

Other than copying the ArtistePoseBallSit into poseballs that avatars use, the only other time you would likely  use CopyScripts is if when we might send out an update to an existing script or create a new script for SmartDancer.  So these should be rare occasions.

This button/feature, CopyScripts, is useful when you want to selectively control an update by, maybe, copying particular scripts.  The system is smart enough to match existing scripts in the animesh/poseball and then delete them before it copies new scripts of similar name so that there are not duplicate scripts with slightly different names.

When copying scripts, you are allowed an extra method of specifying which animesh/poseballs will receive updates.  Instead of being limited to indicating a range in the description field of the SmartDancer Controller (i.e.  J-R, A-I, A-R, etc) you can indicate specific animesh/poseballs.  For example:  AGM, assuming those were maybe dance-leaders of 3 divisions that needed the poseball script… Don’t be misled by a confirmation message saying it installed into animesh A thru M.  It really just means A,G, and M.

You will of course need to reset your SmartDancer Controller after ANY script copy/update.  Be sure that the *smartdancer notecard is already in the animesh/poseball before copying any scripts to avoid needless but harmless error messages.

*smartdancer
*filemanager
*filecopier

I suggest configuring the *smartdancer nc prior to copying it so you only do it once, prior to making copies of your animesh/poseballs.

Also configure the *filemanager nc so that its channels match those of the *filecopier nc.  Be sure to make your channels unique to avoid collisions with other users even though the system has safeguards as to owner.  This will allow you to work on more than one SD configuration at the same time as a safe-guard even though its likely you will separate by animesh/poseball name (i.e. A-R).

*filemanager
TRACE,on
FileCopierToMeshChannel,-1325
PingBackFromMeshToFileCopierChannel,-8945
END

*filecopier
TRACE,off
FileCopierToMeshChannel,-1325
PingBackFromMeshToFileCopierChannel,-8945
END

************************
INSTALL

First, INSTALL will delete all scripts and animations in the targeted animesh/poseballs that were not installed with Initialize.  This is meant to help clean up any animations and scripts that the animesh came with.

The INSTALL button/feature will install (copy) all scripts that don’t begin with *AA_ from SmartDancer File Copier into animesh/poseballs whose letters are within the range of the letters in the description field of the SmartDancer File Copier

INSTALL currently installs one default animation called ‘standing‘ and 6 scripts.  The number of scripts may change in the future but at this writing, it is 6.

You are tasked with copying the poseball script, ArtistePoseBallSit,  into those poseball objects upon which avatars will be occupying., assuming you did not use its automatic pre-install into ArtistePalette_01_A.  You can do that by indicating in the description, which objects are to receive the special script called…ArtistePoseBallSit

Artiste SmartDancer has recently (Mid November 2020)  gone thru a major modification to allow up to 18 dancers, (up from 9)…in a combination of animesh and avatars.

Important:  This new feature has caused the Controller to be renamed from PE18j-r to PE18a-r

You can now create Animesh and/or Poseballs named ArtistePalette_01_A  thru ArtistePalette_01_I.

Targeting now allows for inclusion of letters A thru I

all is a new shortcut that equals: abcdefghijklmnopqr

Now that we have added A thru I there will be more short-cuts coming.

The FORM command has changed.  There are now 3 FORM commands and the old FORM command has been retired.

FORMJR – Formation change applies only to ArtistePalette_01_J thru ArtistePalette_01_R.

FORMAI– A formation change will only apply to ArtistePalette_01_A thru ArtistePalette_01_I.

FORMALL – A formation change will apply to ALL animesh/poseballs from to ArtistePalette_01_A thru ArtistePalette_01_R.  

There is a new field on the *channels nc inside the Controller. Example:
DefaultForms,LINEBLK,SINGLEFILE

NOTE: In example above, JR formation is LINEBLK and AI formation is SINGLEFILE

You always need at least the 1st formation name (in the example above this would be LINEBLK) other wise the 1st formation loaded will always be the last formation.  This 1st formation is used to initialize the formation upon reset for animesh/poseballs J thru R.

The second formation name will be used to initialize the formation of animesh/poseballs A thru I, upon reset, IF you are using A thru I.

***********

Some SmartDancer features, especially those in the Controller, will still only work on J thru R so sometimes it is beneficial to rename animesh/poseballs, temporarily.

Two new commands perform a series of commands to accomplish this:
ActivateAI and
ActivateJR

There are buttons for these on the new Expansion Menu.

IMPORTANT:  Copy the animesh/poseball name into the description field for each animesh/poseball.  NOTE: This is now done for you when you follow the AUTOMATIC procedure for creating animesh and poseballs.

is renames the Controller using the name in the description field

************

A new state called AutoJune allows you to specify whether or not you want Junes to automatically complete by re-issuing the current formation.  AutoJune on is the default but there is a command, AutoJune,(on/off) where you can change this function on the fly.  This allows for even more creativity by Juning out of one formation and into another.

But its main purpose is to allow for better synchronization of Juning more than 9 dancers by delaying the 1st formation June and issuing both formation commands at or near the same time after the Controller has been rotated.

This is a simple HUD that allows you to pull up the main menu of a

particular SmartDancer Controller based upon  ActivationId.  The default ID is 4. They must match.  All you have to do is click on it in a non-button area and your normal SmartDancer Controller Menu will pop up, assuming matching Activation IDs in the SmartDancer RELAY and SmartDancer Controller.

The PINK Arrow will PLAY the current (last-read-in sequence)

The BLUE&WHITE BOOK-READER will ReRead the current sequence AND PLAY IT.  Good after making nc changes.

The RED SQUARE will STOP the current SEQUENCE, if running, AND attempt to reposition the dancers to their default formations and orientations, also removing any effects.

The GREEN Arrow will PLAY the current (last-read-in PREPFORM)

The Girl in Blue reading  the book will  prompt you to SELECT one of 11 PREPFORMS to read in AND then PLAY it afterwards

The YELLOW & BLACK U-TURN button just  Stops the current Sequence

The button with the girl reading on top of a stack of books will Read And Play current PREP

The button in the middle that looks like DNA sequencing brings up a sub-menu where you can select a particular sequence.

Clicking anywhere BUT on the buttons will bring up the MAIN MENU

You place a matching ActivationId in the Description field of your Relay HUD that matches the ActivationId in the *channels notecard of your SmartDancer Controller.  The default is 4.( It is best to leave this value as using other values is considered advanced.)

This way you can have multiple relays able to control multiple SmartDancer Controllers.