Triggering an animation based the local time of Dusk + a time offset

[Photosbykev]

Hi Folks,

I'm using a simple conditional statement to trigger a fireworks display between 18:30 and 20:00 local time in Alaska.

<UseTemplate Name="Asobo_GT_Update" >
<FREQUENCY>0.2</FREQUENCY>
<UPDATE_CODE>
(E:LOCAL TIME, hour) 18.50 &gt; (E:LOCAL TIME, hour) 20.00 &lt; and
if{ 1 (&gt;Z:TRIGGER_FIREWORKS1) } els{ 0 (&gt;Z:TRIGGER_FIREWORKS1) }
</UPDATE_CODE>
</UseTemplate>

This works fine except as the time of the year changes then evenings become lighter/darker and at the height of the summer it will still be very light at 18:30

Is it possible to recode this trigger statement to use the time of the local Dusk plus say 30 minutes so that the fireworks always trigger after dusk and then run for a few hours so it will be usable all year round?

regards
Kev

 

[=rk=]

Don't think so but you can add a date variable and have up to 365 unique start times. However, I think you can also apply a "year" parameter, so, even more.

 

[flightzoomer]

With RPN complex formulas can be defined, so either recreating the sunrise-equation (for math geniuses) or, alternatively, using if-else branches per season should be possible. Pseudo code:
// Earliest time at the evening (about +/- 2 months around 21 december):
if LOCAL MONTH OF YEAR >= 11 AND LOCAL MONTH OF YEAR <= 2
-> apply times valid for winter
els if LOCAL MONTH OF YEAR >= 5 AND LOCAL MONTH OF YEAR <= 8
-> apply times valid for summer
els
-> apply times valid for spring and autumn