Introduction to ProffieOS6 (2024)

• Fett263 Prop (1 Button and 2 Button Controls and defines)
  • Edit Mode Menu / Set Up (Test Styles linked in information)
  • Battle Mode 2.0
  • "Real Clash" Sounds and Effects
  • Acceleration Based Accent Swings
  • Track Player
  • Quote Player
  • Voice Prompts
  • Gesture Sleep
  • Rehearsal / Choreography Mode
  • Dual Mode Effects and Sounds
• Style Options
• Intensity Lockup, Lightning Block and Melt Effects
• New Functions, Transitions, Style Modifiers

• ProffieOS6 Questions and Answers
• Beta Testing on theCrucible
• Alpha Testing on theCrucible

Many of the new features are the result of my over-active imagination, brought to life with a lot of help and guidance from Fredrik. I've put in countless hours for R&D, testing, coding and debugging over the past 8+ months for OS6 with a lot more to come. While I do this for the fun of the hobby and to keep pushing the envelope of what is possible with Proffieboard lightsabers, there's a lot of time and effort involved. I've already begun building the ALL NEW! ProffieOS6 Style Library and it will have a ton of new features and styles but it's going to take even more time and effort to build and maintain it going forward, for this reason I am launching a Patreon page for those that want to help out by becoming patrons.

I appreciate all who've donated in the past on my previous libraries and once OS6 releases a lot of time will continue to go into creation for the new OS6 library and documentation to support everything possible.

My Prop File (saber_fett263_buttons.h) for OS6 enables all of the new features that have been in development for the past year.

In addition, I've adapted sa22c's 1 button controls and enabled controls for nearly all of the new features as well. It's be a lot of work and development to get the prop ready but now it's available to help you get the most out of ProffieOS6.

New Features I developed in my Prop (more info on each below):

• Edit Mode Menu
• Battle Mode 2.0
• Real Clash (Clash Strength Based Sounds)
• Dual Mode Sounds (select preon, out, in, pstoff sounds based on blade angle)
• Multi-Phase 2.0
• Scroll Presets (use dial to select presets)
• Track Player (select any track in your font and choose from 4 playback options: Play Once, Loop, Rotate or Random)
• Force/Quote Player (toggle between Force and Quote sounds, quote.wav sounds will play sequentially when you have
• Gesture Sleep - toggle your gesture ignitions On/Off whenever you want
• Power Lock - lock the PWR button to prevent retraction from button click during use
• Rehearsal / Choreography Mode - Gesture Ignitions and Retractions

One of the largest additions in OS6 is the new "Edit Mode" which allows you to make nearly all fine-tuning edits to your saber without the need to re-upload your config via Arduino. "Edit Mode". I designed Edit Mode to not only help new users and installers but to let your Proffieboard saber work like a hybrid between everything that makes Proffieboard so powerful with very simple, easy to use controls for adjusting your saber without the need to hook up to a computer. Working very closely with Fredrik I've built out a feature-rich, user-friendly menu system that lets you quickly and easily edit nearly every aspect of your saber. In addition, the capabilities that make Edit Mode possible will also allow you to edit your saber using the .ini files on your SD or via WebUSB as well. So there will be many ways to edit your saber.

• Edit Style - select from any style uploaded to the board
  • Select Style - select from any style loaded on the saber
  • Edit Style Settings - change settings for styles, ignition, retraction, clash, lockup, drag, emitter effects, preon and more
• Edit Color - edit effect colors individually using Color List, Adjust Color Hue, Adjust White Level and Adjust Black level to achieve all possible colors
  • For sabers with multiple blades you can Copy Colors, to re-use set colors for applicable blades on Dual or Crossguard sabers without needing to do each individually
• Edit Font - easily choose any valid font loaded on your SD card for each preset without needing to re-upload config
• Edit Track - easily choose any default track from your font or common folder with needing to re-upload config
• Edit Settings - easily edit many of the settings for you saber:
  • Edit Control Settings - enable/disable gesture controls, set control settings for applicable gestures
  • Edit Clash Threshold - adjust Clash Threshold from the saber menu without needing to re-upload config
  • Edit Blade Length - adjust Blade Length from the saber menu without needing to re-upload
  • Edit Brightness - dim ALL blades from the saber menu without needing to re-upload
• Copy Presets - make as many copies of your initial presets as you want, then use all of the edit features to created completely new and unique presets; fonts, tracks, style settings, colors and more.
• Delete Presets - have a preset that you're not using, easily delete it right from the menu

R&D / Proof of Concept Videos:

This new enhancement to the Battle Mode functionality allows you to Rehearse a choreographed battle and save the rehearsal to your saber(s). In Rehearsal Mode the saber will use normal controls for Clash and Lockup, as you choreograph the battle the sabers will keep track of normal clashes and lockups (using Aux/Pwr + Clash). Then after you've completed your "rehearsal" you can enter "Choreographed Battle Mode" to have your clashes and lockups repeated in the same sequence with no need for buttons.

Lockups will be initiated by a clash only in sequence with what was recorded during rehearsal and you will end all Lockups using Battle Mode's "pull away" gesture. In addition, while in Choreograph Mode, the power button is disabled until the recorded sequence ends (for 2 button), so no worries about accidentally turning your saber off during this time. Once the recorded sequence ends you can power your saber off with the Power Button as usual.

And for even more synchronism between rehearsal and choreograph mode the sounds for clash and lockup are used sequentially, this way the exact sounds from rehearsal mode are used in the same order during Choreograph Mode.

And since they are sequential you can preset the sounds for each in your font if you desire.

Demo Videos

R&D / Proof of Concept Videos:

There are several methods for Color Change "on-the-fly" with ProffieOS6 and my prop file depending on the style your preset uses.

My prop will select the correct method based on the current preset.

#1 ColorChange styles:
For styles that use ColorChange built in the on-the-fly color change will rotate through the colors listed within the style -or- if you use the COLOR_CHANGE_DIRECT define then each click for ColorChange will change to the next color

#2 ColorWheel:
For styles that contain RotateColorsX or no Color Change or Color Editing the ColorWheel will be used for on-the-fly color change. This will allow for any color to be selected and will change the RotaeColorsX or any color (except White or Black) on all blades.
New for OS6 Color Zoom - during ColorWheel you can hold down the PWR button as you turn to Zoom into a specific color and release the button to save. Color Zoom makes it so a much larger turn is needed to change the color making it easier to select specific colors.

#3 Color List:
For OS6 Edit Mode Styles that contain Color Editing the on-the-fly color change will use the Color List functionality. This is applied only to the Base Color for all blades (all other effect colors would need be changed via the Edit Mode Menu or ProffieOS Workbench - refer to Edit Mode information). The Color List is 27 specific colors that can be rotated through.
You can adjust any color from the list using Color Zoom (meaning you can get to any color you want) by holding the PWR button while turning then release the button when you get to the exact color you want to Save. Color Zoom makes it so a much larger turn is needed to change the color making it easier to select specific colors. Note: you can have the actual colors in the Color List spoken if you include the Edit Mode voice prompts and use FETT263_SAY_COLOR_LIST_CC define. This will speak the colors as they are selected (does not apply to Color Zoom).

For a while my library has had "Dual Mode" Ignition, Ignition Delay and Retraction effects that allow you to have two different speeds and/or delays based on whether your saber is pointing up or down. For OS6 I've expanded the functionality to not only the speed of the ignition or retraction but also Preon, PstOff, Power Up and Cool Down Effects and Sound!

Now with OS6 you can set completely separate transitions for your Preon, Ignition, Power Up, Retraction, Cool Down and Post Off Effects and have completely different sounds set up in your font as well using DUAL_MODE_SOUND capability. This will let you set up different effects and sounds based on whether your saber is pointing up or down on ignition or retraction.

The new Dual Mode Sounds will allow you to set your fonts up to have two different speed sounds (or in the case of Crossguard sabers versions with or without the secondary ignition). In order to use you'll set name the preon.wav, out.wav, in.wav and pstoff.wav sounds odd (01,03,05,07, etc) and for pointing up and even (02,04,06,08) for pointing down. The saber will randomly select odd (out01.wav) files when your saber is up and even (out02.wav). You can then choose to have fast or slow ignitions or delayed quillions or not or any other combination of ignition sounds to be used based on the orientation of the blade at ignition, preons or retractions. You'll combine the new sounds with the existing Dual Mode style capabilities to give your saber even more control.

• Enable unique preon, ignition and retraction, pstoff sounds based on blade orientation. Combined with Dual Mode styles you can have a fast/slow preon/ignition/retraction effect and sound based on blade pointing up or down and/or completely unique effects for when your blade is pointing up vs pointing down for all of the above.
• For Crossguard sabers you can choose to have the quillions delayed or simultaneously ignite and have corresponding ignition sounds based on blade pointing up or down

To enable Dual Mode Sounds you will include the following define in your config using my prop file:

#define FETT263_DUAL_MODE_SOUND

Then, set up your font so that you have the sounds you want to use while your blade is pointing up numbered odd (01,03,05) and sounds for pointing down (02,04,06). Be sure to keep the sounds sequential and do not skip any numbers or you'll have an error in font directory.

To match effects you'll either select the Dual Mode style options from the OS6 library, build you own or set your transitions to use the new WavLen<> function (from ObiRobKenobi) which will automatically time effects to the length of the selected wav files, the possibilities are endless.

Setup Videos

Coming Soon

R&D / Proof of Concept Videos:

A few months back there was some discussion on theCrucible about slsh vs swng (Accent Swing) sounds that gave me this idea. I'm using the function that we use for RealClash to select clash, bgnlock and endlock sounds based on how hard the clash is and repurposing it to pick the Accent Swing swng files based on the acceleration of the swing. This will allow us to set the swng.wav files up sequentially from slowest to faster swings/slashes and have the sound used be based on the actual acceleration.

This is still early in testing but I have it working pretty nicely as you'll hear in the video. In addition, for both RealClash and the Enhanced Accent Swings I've added a new feature based on Fredrik's NO_REPEAT_RANDOM to prevent the same sound from being repeated even if you do the exact same clash strength or swing acceleration. If the file tied to the specific parameter was just played we will instead randomly select either the previous or next file sequentially. This allows the sound to still be based on the clash or acceleration but not repeat the same sound. And since we're going to be ordering the sounds based on intensity or speed the selection will still be equivalent.

R&D / Proof of Concept Videos:

The new Clash Impact function and Real Clash sound capabiltiies will let you set up your styles and fonts to have your saber react to how hard each clash actually is. Instead of randomly getting loud bright clashes or lockups on a bump or light hit, your saber will now react to each hit based on it's actually impact, taking the realism and immersion to a whole new level.

You will be able to set your fonts up to add this new level of realism by simply ordering your clash, bgnlock and endlock sounds sequentially based on intensity. With the lowest files clash01.wav being used on the lightest clashes and your highest files clash16.wav (or higher) being used on the hardest hits. No more loud booming clash sounds on light hits or light clash sounds when you wail on your blade. Take your saber to the next level of realism with clash sounds and effects that are based on how hard the saber is actually hit, making that much more realistic!

Setting up your Font

R&D / Proof of Concept Videos:

ProffieOS6 is going to introduce so many new style capabilities with all of the new functions, transitions and style modifier capabilities that I wanted to give a glimpse into the level of detail we'll be able to put into styles.

This is a new "Water Blade" style that I put together to showcase some of what is now possible.

The "water" on this blade will flow based on gravity and slope, when your blade is pointing straight up it will flow towards the hilt very fast but as you move the blade towards parallel it will slow and level off. Then if you point down the water will start to "pour" out of the hilt towards the ground picking up speed the further you tip it. In addition, the ignition and retraction effects not only react to the angle of the blade with straight up or down being the fastest and parallel being the slowest but the direction of the transition will also follow gravity. If you're pointing up the blade ignites from the tip to the hilt and retracts in the same direction but if you're tipping down it will pour out from the hilt to the tip.

But to take it to another level the "water" flow also reacts to inertia, if you swing hard enough you can reverse the flow of water up the blade to fight gravity for a little while until gravity ultimately takes back over. The speed and amount of the flow up the blade fighting gravity will be based on how fast you swing the blade up, so really fast swings upward will let you reverse the flow for a longer period than slower swings. This also applies to the ignition effect, if you use Swing On and swing fast enough you can reverse the flow of water up the blade and have the ignition come from the hilt when pointing up.

Finally, I've added a new clash ripple effect that reacts to how hard the blade is clashed, with light hits producing a small quick ripple in the water and harder hits producing much larger ripples overs a bigger area for a longer time, the intensity of the ripples dissipate over time just like the surface of water adding another layer realism to the effect. And this is only the "tip of the iceberg" of what's possible. ProffieOS6 will take effects to a whole new level and make things possible nobody had considered before, just wait...

Style Modifiers

The idea behind them is like the "tool kit" in a graphics program where you can take an initial image (in this case a blade style) and then do all kinds of modifications to it to create even more unique and custom effects. This is only the "tip of the iceberg" on what's possible but here's a few of the new modifiers:

• Gradient Bump and SmoothStep
  • Think of these as a "Radial Gradient" or "Linear Gradient" tool in Photoshop. In OS 5 we were able to create faux gradients by layering multiple bumps or smoothsteps of varying sizes on top of each other, now we can achieve an even better gradient effect using the new functions in a single layer. Imagine the possibilities for clash, lockup, melt, lightning block and blast effects (wink, wink).
• Compress
  • Take your full blade style and "Compress" it to create all kinds of unique effect.
• MirrorOut
  • This function allows you to choose a center point (which can be fully responsive) and have the blade effect mirror itself out from the center. In OS 5 we were able to do a similar effect with Mix or multiple Layers but the styles (particularly Fire or Gradients) were off-center as they actually ran from the ends. With the MirrorOut function the style effects are actually generated from the Center.
• MirrorIn
  • The inverse of MirrorOut, this function will mirror your effect from the tip or hilt to the center (which can be fully responsive).
• Invert
  • And of course, we can Invert any style to have your tip and hilt trade places for styles, enabling a true Reverse Fire effect And the absolute beauty of these new functions is you can combine multiple functions to further enhance and customize your styles. The infinite possibilities for styles just got multiplied by your imagination.

New CenterWipe CenterWipeIn Transition Effects

In the past we've had "Center Out", "Center In" Ignition and Retraction effects that were created by Joining a Wipe and a Wipe In. This resulted in a decent effect but there were some limitations with this method. There was an inherent visual "lag" in the effect because one transition was obscuring the other for 50% of the animation so at first the effect was not visible until it passed the mid-point of the blade. The second limitation was that it only worked to the mid-point of the blade as it was 50% of the movement and you couldn't take advantage of responsive positioning with BladeAngle or TwistAngle, etc. The two new transitions are built specifically for responsive effects as they now can use any point on your blade to either expand from or retract into and the timings are now synched, even if the center point is at the end of the blade the timing will evenly balance both sides so they begin and end in synch.

This will allow you to use the Responsive Effects to change the center and then have your Center In or Center Out effects use that location in real-time.

New Enhanced Responsive Functions

OS6 will introduce multiple new Responsive Effects and Functions to allow you to take your styles to the next level and you'll be able to combine responsive functions to product really unique effects.

R&D / Proof of Concept Videos:

A new feature coming in OS6 as part of Edit Mode is the new "Style Options" capability.

The video below introduces my new "Rotoscope" style coming to the OS6 library which is meant to mimic the Original Trilogy effect they used for lightsabers which combines a flicker with a subtle undulation of the blade's power. I've built this version to use an AudioFlicker baseline so in addition to the motion of the effect the flickering intensity will be based on your specific font allowing this style to be used on different fonts and have a slightly different appearance on each based on the intensity of the hum and other sounds allowing it to mimic the font. In addition, I'm using this style to introduce the new "Style Option" capability coming for OS6. "Style Options" allow you to build a single base effect with mutliple options that you can select so you can use once style in many different ways.

In the case of this style, there are 4 "Style Options" built in:

• Default(0): Base Color + 50% Base Color
• 1: Base Color + Alt Color
• 2: 50% Base Color + Base Color
• 3: Alt Color + 50% Base Color

By selecting a different "Style Option" either through Edit Mode or in you presets.ini you will be able to change how the colors are used in the style to create different versions for each preset. And since Base Color and Alt Color are individually editable through Edit Mode you can combine different colors for each preset and apply them differently using the "Style Option" of your choice. Note this is only one application of "Style Options" I have many more planned for the OS6 library to really let you take each style to the next level and give a single style endless uses. You will be able to set up "Style Options" to change speeds, intensity, color mixes, direction, and so much more that you'll have exponential possibilities with each style.

Videos:

Battle Mode 2.0 takes the concepts from OS5's original Battle Mode and takes them to the next level. To make Battle Mode even more realistic both in control and function and to make the effects and sounds even more like a real lightsaber I've improved a lot of the capabilities in Battle Mode.

• New Clash Detect Level will let you set the clash strength to toggle between clashes and lockup, so you can now utilize clash effects and sounds for lighter and quicker hits while still keeping the auto-lockup capabilities of Battle Mode to initiate and control your lockups without the use of buttons.
• In addition, the new Clash Impact and Real Clash sound capabiltiies will let you set up your styles and fonts to have your saber react to how hard each clash actually is. Instead of randomly getting loud bright clashes or lockups on a bump or light hit, your saber will now react to each hit based on it's actually impact, taking the realism and immersion to a whole new level.

Setup Videos

Coming Soon

R&D / Proof of Concept Videos:

The new menu capabilities and menu prompts for OS6 have allowed me to add all new "Say" capabilites to ProffieOS6 using wav files in place of the default "Talkie" prompts (big thanks to Brian Conner for all of his help in creating the wav files to support these) .

This means your saber can have a custom "voice" for all of the menus and new spoken capabilites. Here's just a sample of the spoken functionality possible with OS6.

Setup Videos

Coming Soon

R&D / Proof of Concept Videos:

The new Track Player of ProffieOS6 will allow to not only have multiple tracks for each preset but also enables 4 playback modes. With the new Track Player you can rotate your hilt to select the track you want from within your "font/tracks" folder and then choose one of the playback options using the new menu system.

• Play Once
• Loop (repeat same track continuously)
• Rotate (play each track in the folder sequentially starting with selected track)
• Random (randomly select tracks and play continuously)

Setup Videos

Coming Soon

R&D / Proof of Concept Videos:

As more fonts are including quotes I've added a new hybrid control to my prop to let you easily toggle force sounds and quotes.

Quotes will always play sequentially allowing you to set your font up to play in a specific order.

Setup Videos

Coming Soon

R&D / Proof of Concept Videos:

Gesture Sleep

"Gesture Sleep" allows you to disable your gesture ignitions on-the-fly anytime you want so you can have your saber powered but not worry about movements igniting your blade. In the tests, I'm using hold PWR and Twist while Off to toggle Gestures ON or OFF (this may change as controls get sorted for all the new features).

PowerLock

"PowerLock" is a new feature that will allow you to "lock" your power button to prevent accidentally turning your saber off during duels, spinning or just normal use. "Power Lock" is enabled/disabled in your Control Settings using Edit Mode and deactivates the Power button while the saber is on. To turn your saber off while "Power Lock" is active you will hold both the Power and Aux button until the saber shuts down, or you can enable Twist Off to use a gesture. You can enable/ disable "Power Lock" and all of your gesture controls using Control Settings in Edit Mode right from your saber or via the .ini file for geatures on your SD without needing to re-upload via Arduino.

R&D / Proof of Concept Videos:

These are just a few "teases" of what will be possible, but there's so much more potential. I'm working on new enhanced Lockup, Melt and Lightning Block effects that will increase in "Intensity" the longer you hold them. To give more life and realism to the effects they will increase in intensity over time to mimic more energy being created and disbursed as they come into contact with your blade. In addition, I've punched up the Begin and End Lockup effects using some of the new capabilities to really up the feel. Closeup of new Melt = https://youtu.be/cDuuZBQ9duA

I have a lot more planned but the new Lockup effects will have a larger power burst on impact that fades or absorbs into the responsive lockup location and the lockup will increase in intensity and instability the longer you hold it. Then when you release I've built new end effects to disburse the energy with a few new and improved Power Ripple Effects. I've also applied a new Inverted Fire effect to Melt as the Intensity grows. Melt is still responsive to turning the hilt to increase the melt effect but the longer you hold Melt it will begin to give off a responsive Flame effect for even more detail to the effect.

Finally, I've added an Intensity effect to Lightning Block so the longer you block it the more concentrated the effect is towards the center of the blade while still maintaining the erratic nature of lightning.

R&D / Proof of Concept Videos:

There's actually still more that hasn't been seen yet but we'll save those for another day, don't want to spoil everyone all at once.

R&D / Proof of Concept Videos:

Watch this space ;-)