Info on 'TransitionTime' parameter needed

Plugins & Plugin Development ALTHue
#1

Hi guys,

First off, THANKS to amg0 for creating what sounds like a fantastic plug-in, which I’m eager to try.

I got here while trying to learn more about “Transition” (time) settings in the original Philips Hue plug-in and devices. Although I changed this value from its default (50) to various test values (from 1 all the way to 3500), I noticed NO CHANGE in the ramp rate of the light(s) when turning on.

That leads me to ask:

  1. Did the original Hue plug-in not honor changes to [Transition]?
  2. Am I misinterpreting how this value is intended to work? (Google turns up precious little about it.)
  3. Does AltHue provide a means to control [Transition] so that changes to a scene can happen at varying rates?

2b. I have no idea what “Color Loop” even means, though I haven’t delved into a FAQ on that parameter yet.

Again, THANKS for any guidance here, and sorry to sound like a n00b (which I am definitely NOT, lol).

  • Libra
#2

[quote=“LibraSun, post:1, topic:200422”]Hi guys,

First off, THANKS to amg0 for creating what sounds like a fantastic plug-in, which I’m eager to try.

I got here while trying to learn more about “Transition” (time) settings in the original Philips Hue plug-in and devices. Although I changed this value from its default (50) to various test values (from 1 all the way to 3500), I noticed NO CHANGE in the ramp rate of the light(s) when turning on.

That leads me to ask:

  1. Did the original Hue plug-in not honor changes to [Transition]?
  2. Am I misinterpreting how this value is intended to work? (Google turns up precious little about it.)
  3. Does AltHue provide a means to control [Transition] so that changes to a scene can happen at varying rates?

2b. I have no idea what “Color Loop” even means, though I haven’t delved into a FAQ on that parameter yet.

Again, THANKS for any guidance here, and sorry to sound like a n00b (which I am definitely NOT, lol).

  • Libra[/quote]

Hello, I am not sure what “transition” meant in the official plugin but I am pretty sure I do not support it in ALTHUE. I do not find trace of it in Hue api doc so it might have been a official plugin concept. but if somebody has more info, happy to look at it.

I tried to keep ALTHUE pretty down to the basics so that it is not a resource on the system and just runs reliably, in particular I do not go very far in scene or effects except having a UPNP action to trigger these from a Vera Scene ( advanced editor )

colorloop is an effect that some LED Hue have

#3

So, I did a little digging of my own, experimenting with one of my Hue lights.

Turns out the “Transition Time” setting (in the Hue 2 plug-in) causes any change in color to occur at the selected rate (according to other sources, Transition Time is given in 100ms units, so that the default “50” is equal to “5 seconds”).

I had mistakenly assumed this setting also applied to turning the Hue light ON and OFF, but it apparently does not, hence my earlier testing had me thinking Transition Time was having no effect. That is, my light(s) turned ON or OFF abruptly, not slowly ramping up or down as I had envisioned.

Another misunderstanding on my part arose from the Hue 2 plug-in allowing me to set “Transition Time” to arbitrarily large values in some cases (e.g. for a light listed in a Scene with delayed actions). In reality, the range of valid values is [1-100]. I ascertained that fact from just going into the light’s own “Settings” panel in Vera and typing in numbers outside that range (e.g. 0 or 101), each time receiving an error message.

As for “Effect”, setting it to “Color Loop” under the light’s “Settings” panel did cause the light to cycle through random colors at the rate I’d set under “Transition Time”. However, interestingly, both the “Effect” and “TransitionTime” settings seem to be ignored in Scenes. For example, I have a test Scene designed to turn ON a Hue light (one that was created under the Hue 2 plug-in), using the “Color Loop” mode and “Transition Time” of 30… yet, when run, the Scene simply turns on the light, with no color looping at all. Perhaps I need to create a more complex test Scene.

To sum up, while I’m surprised Philips’ own API isn’t reflecting these parameters, that does explain why developers may be overlooking/omitting them, or they are not getting fully implemented at runtime.

I’m going to install your AltHue plug-in now to see how differently it behaves from the Hue 2. Should be fun!!

THANKS AGAIN! - Libra