V9 - TimH Feedback

[SeekLighting]

Hi Support,

I've had a bit of a play around with V9 and can provide some points:

PROS:

- The new Dark UI is GREAT. Looks fantastic!
- Improved performance in 3D view, as well as the new textured objects are fantastic
- Thanks for the addition of the copy/paste function in Sequential List
- Multi-head support is great. Very easy to control, and very easy to create a fixture profile for.
- Lightshow creator is an AMAZING function. That is going to save me (and other users) countless hours upon hours of programming time. Amazing feature!!!

BUGS:
- 3D View is doing some bizarre things with gobos + wash beams making it almost unusable. See screenshot (too large to attach): https://www.dropbox.com/s/bhq8d93uh7wq5 ... w.PNG?dl=0
- When using the "Lightshow Creator purge" function, it deleted the scenes, but not the buttons from live mode. I believe though that this function should also delete the buttons. When I went to purge the show again for a second time to try and delete the buttons, the program crashed.
- When copy/pasting a macro, you can't paste into a blank space, but instead must paste onto another created macro. However, when you paste onto that macro, it creates a new macro for it anyway? It seems a little fiddly. If you're confused I'll upload a video explaining what I mean later.

CONS:
- I would like the ability to be able to resize the columns in the "Generator Fixtures" window in Generator. Sometimes the fixture name is too long, so you can't see it to know what fixture you are working on. Screenshot attached
- Also in "Generator Fixtures", it took me a while to work out that the arrows on the right hand side control the "reorder" fixtures function. It would be maybe handy to label these buttons? However, it was possibly also a side effect of the fact I couldn't see the full name of my fixtures as mentioned above, so all the names looked the same! When I changed the order, I couldn't tell.
- In the "Fixtures Settings" window in 3D view, the new layout is great! Much easier to use/see. However, the tabs for "Position, orientation" etc. are very hard to see when they are selected. The difference in texture between when the tab is selected and not selected is so minor it makes it really hard to see which tab you are in! Is there a way to make that change more noticeable? Screenshot attached.
- I'm not a fan of the new design of the fader/preset sliders on live buttons. I found clicking on them to be quite tricky as you had to be VERY precise to click on it and make it work. Maybe the hitbox could be made larger?
- Still no support for Prism in 3D view. Is there some way this could be implemented easily or no?
- I also wouldn't mind seeing a few extra features that have been requested (more universes, add a fixture to an existing generator project, upgrades to pixels/timeline, etc.), but I understand these would be more long term projects that we probably wouldn't see in Version 9

Specifications for the machine I installed the program on (FYI I did not install this on my regular machine but a spare laptop I had lying around)


[image]
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Dell Latitude 5280
Intel Core i3-7100U @ 2.4GHz (4 core)
Windows 10 Education 64 Bit
8GB RAM
Intel HD Graphics 620

[support]

Thank you Tim for this feedback.

3DView
Noted. We are presently not able to reproduce this problem. If you know how to reproduce it easily, please let us know.

Lightshow Creator purge
We do not see this problem here ; all buttons and pages (created by LC) are correctly removed. Please send us your lightshow ; we will check it.

"Generator Fixtures" window - Resize the columns, arrows, ...
Noted. Please note that we do not really like the GUI as it is. We need some time to brainstorm new ones.

3DView tabs - very hard to see when they are selected
Should be fixed already.

New design of the fader/preset sliders on live buttons
Noted. Please note that only the design is changed, and the hitbox / operation mode are supposed to be similar (may be one or two pixels smaller). We will check that. FYI, we changed the design because some users thought is was a "gauge"

3DView - prism
First job to build a stronger new 3D engine is done.
We will see that kind of new features later, after V9 is stable.

Other complex features requirements (for pro users)
Relooking and lightshow creator was the priority for V9.
The major V9 concern is to make the software more attractive for new users.
This was necessary, because the money comes exclusively from them.
Afterwards, we will use a part of these funds for the pro users.

[LightningFM]

Hello Support, Hello Tim
Quick possible additional information regarding the 3DView issue:
I observe the same problem on a DELL Inspiron 17 5000 Series laptop that I rarely use (still with software Version 9.0.0 - 171130).
The notebook runs on an i5 processor, its original graphics card (an AMD Radeon), and Windows10.
The issue verifies only while running with 3DView "gobo" setting selected. Also, I'm pretty sure that the laptop has outdated drivers.
Sorry for the quick and little-detailed reply, hope it helps.

Flavio

[SeekLighting]

Hey Support,

Sorry I haven't been able to revisit this. I have been meaning to make a video demonstrating the problem with the 3D View but I have the Alpha version still installed on the crappy spare PC I have, and I don't have another license for my video capture software. Also been very busy!!!

Just a quick question: Am I able to install V9 alpha of "Sweetlight" on the same machine as I have V2.2.28 of "ShowXpress" installed at the same time??? I'm still actively using V8 for my work so I don't want to uninstall it or potentially corrupt my showfiles, but I really don't want to keep using this crappy spare PC either...

[support]

Yes, you can install different versions of our software in the same computer.
We just added this new topic with more explanations: https://forum.thelightingcontroller.com ... =75&t=5629

[SeekLighting]

Thanks, I've done that and made some videos showing some bugs:

https://youtu.be/pHfTR_dRwhk

(please forgive how slow I was to work on the iris channel! )

https://youtu.be/oyChd9Iqd3Q

Regards,

Tim H

[SeekLighting]

Hi Support,

Also noticed that while most of the fixture profiles I created for you guys are in there, I noticed my ShowPro Hex Pars don't seem to be there in the database. This may be because they got uploaded to the database after you built this version (9.0.0) but either way, just making sure all the new profiles will be in there

[support]

Well noted.
All new profiles go presently in V8.
We will copy/paste the complete profiles folder from V8 to V9, for next version of V9.

[SeekLighting]

Thanks Support. Any news on the 3D View glitches I was seeing? Is what I was demonstrating in my videos above making sense?

[support]

3DView V9 is supposed to check the video card and, depending of it, to start either in "OpenGL3.2+" or in "OpengGL compatibility" mode.
But considering the unlimited number of video cards, it may fail sometimes, so we added an option "OpenGL compatibility mode" in the window "3D settings". With this option, the rendering will be ok with your video card.