Isadora Changelog

What's new in Isadora 2.1

Nov 11, 2015

Highlights:
More Flexible Video Routing: Isadora v2.1 allows GPU video to be routed directly to multiple stages at the end of the rendering chain.
Improved native Black Magic Video capture integration provides low latency video capture and output.
Many Isadora video processing actors have been enhanced to offer highly efficient GPU processing while retaining their classic CPU functionality.
Newly added FreeFrameGL (FFGL) effects offer additional video processing options
Global variables allow easy scene to scene communication.
New patching shortcuts speed up common tasks when connecting actors.
Fixed bugs:
2310236 ‘Replace Media’ option was missing from the Media Bin contextual menu.
2356615 Fixed crash that occurred when adding FreeFrame actors to a scene.
2271922 OSC Listener showed incorrect Min/Max Limits when switching the ’type’ input between ‘float’ and ‘integer’.
2351714 Fixed crash when dragging media files to the Media Bin across a scene.
2385486 Fixed intermittent freeze of media when Snapshots switched the Movie Player ‘optimize’ and ‘index’ parameters during playback of media files.
2422203 Fixed crash when ’Anything’ actor was added to a scene.
2265287 Fixed missing output of Shapes actor when cut and pasted to a new scene.
2431840 Fixed crash when a Mac-authored Isadora file with a saved ‘Sound Output Setup’ was opened on Windows. Opening these files in Windows now reverts to the standard, single output, regardless of the original ‘Sound Output Setup’ saved with the file.
2432303 Background Color actor triggered an error message when the output mutated to vid-cpu.
2304562 Fixed a crash when ‘ASCII Art’ Quartz Composer plugin’s parameters changed constantly (eg. receiving data from a generator actor).
2393713 v2.0.5 Isadora Demo failed to add FFGL or Core Video/Audio plugins to the toolbox if registered with a v1 license when choosing ‘Try Demo’.
2393708 Fixed an error for Isadora v1 license holders when dragging media files from the Media Bin into a scene using v2.0.5. NB As a bonus, this bug fix added the new v2 ‘drag and drop’ media feature for v1 license holders.
2160630 Fixed a Windows-only crash, when deleting the first video file after adding three or more video files to a scene, with the Media Bin ‘auto-adjust’ feature ‘off’.
2265248 Fixed a bug with the TextDraw actor drawing at an incorrect size after repeated use of Hide/Show Stages.
2502743 Fixed a bug where the native setting for a live video capture device did not connect the first time, requiring it to be selected twice.
2391976 Fixed a bug with the Comparator actor where outputs occurred twice (instead of once, as expected) if both inputs changed during the same cycle.
2467403 Fixed a bug where the ‘rectangle (x)’ input parameter of the CI Crop actor caused a crash if set to the Max or Min setting.
2530779 Fixed a bug where the new Capture Camera to Disk actor failed unless recording to the desktop. NB This fix adds a new default setting to record to the desktop, but can also be set to record to a users designated folder.
2531015 Fixed a bug when using IzzyMap that a published ‘rotation’ parameter of a point did not rotate around it’s center point.
2486923 Fixed a bug where using the Projector actor’s contextual menu for ‘Reset to Default’ opened the IzzyMap window.
2486885 Fixed a bug where enabling the optional 3D parameters of a Projector actor prevented scenes from crossfading.
2473276 Fixed a bug where switching the video output between Force Stage Preview and Show Stages more than once, forced the stage output to white.
2409824 Fixed a crash when sending a data string to a Net Broadcaster’s ‘value’ input.
2417892 Fixed a bug that when running multiple Isadora files at the same time in different Processing Modes (see 2.0.5 Release notes for details), caused unexpected behaviors due to a mismatch of the Actor’s mode flags.
2391927 Fixed a bug where audio output of a Sound Movie Player failed if the ‘speed’ was ’0′ and ‘on/off’ was ‘off’ when entering the scene, but was subsequently triggered to ‘start’ while increasing the speed of playback.
2558897 Movie Player running vid-cpu crashed when movie player interaction/performance mode was changed or movie index changed.
2547659 Fixed a bug where HAP codec video files failed to play in the Movie Player.
2594487 Fixed a bug where clicking in a parameter box with a Wacom tablet pen caused the parameter to leap to the Max setting, if the default setting was less than Max.
2057919 Fixed a Windows-only bug where drag-n-dropping movies from the Media Bin with the Auto Snap feature enabled, caused actors to land in a different location.
2431383 Fixed a bug where HAP videos of unusual aspect ratios were visually distorted.
2350002 Fixed an issue with RGBA playback when converted to vid-cpu.
2666721 Fixed a 3D Model Particles CI, layering issue.
2318527 Fixed a bug where the Edit Text control actor’s border was drawn in an incorrect location.
1578545 Fixed a bug where Blackmagic ‘External Video Output’ only rendered in the top-left quarter.
2770902 Fixed a bug where the alpha channel of a Syphon stream was not received in Isadora. NB This fix added a new ’alpha on/off’ parameter to the new Syphon Receiver actor and classic actors: Syphon to Texture, Syphon to Video and Syphon to Core Image. See New Actors section above for details.
2657221 Fixed a Windows-only bug where Midi Time Code failed to be received from third party applications.
2666884 Improved the efficiency of the Virtual Stage actor by limiting it to only output video frames when a renderer actor is set to send it video.
1961475 Fixed a Windows-only issue where use of the ‘Set Global User Actor’ command created a white line visible over the Toolbin.
2745689 Fixed an error in the Text Formatter actor where a value was not always correctly passed to the output. (eg. 12.7 was output as 12.69)
2991351 Fixed a bug where the Pause Engine command, followed by moving to a different scene and then choosing Resume Engine, resulted in the Movie Players in that scene failing to playback.
2867988 Added a new start up check, so that if one of the essential Media Bins is missing when Isadora opens a file, it is silently added to the end of the Media Bin list.
3011050 Fixed a programmatic error in the Math actor where inputs were converted from degrees to radians within the code.
2987102 Fixed a bug where an error was generated when setting up a new midi connection in Isadora after quitting third party software that was providing a previous MIDI connection.
3146480 The description and layout of the FFGLLumaKey Actor parameters has been adjusted for consistency with other Isadora actor layouts.
2700071 Fixed a memory leak that lost one frame of video RAM each time a movie started. Also fixed an issue where a pre-load would be canceled if it took more than 8 seconds to complete, causing the background Movie Player to crash.
3027948 Disabled the ‘External Video Output’ feature in Isadora’s preferences by default for version 2.1+, in response to a bug introduced by Apple in Yosemite 10.10.5 causing any application using QuickTime’s Device Output feature (seen as the ”External Output” in Isadora) to crash when plugging in, or unplugging an audio device. See New Defaults section above for more details.
3196303 Fixed a bug where it was not possible to delete an IzzyMap point on a complex slice/mask, after the creation of another slice/mask on top of the complex one.
3154000 Changed how the Javascript actor runs “main()” in order to improve the efficiency when processing multiple simultaneous inputs.
3204269 Fixed an error where the ”Serial in Watcher – Text” Parameter Descriptions were listed in the wrong order
2771437 Fixed an incorrect ‘Flag Mismatch’ error message, triggered when a User Actor from the users toolbin was pasted into a scene in a file using a different Processing Mode from the original file when the User actor was created.
2833038 Fixed an issue where the ‘User Actor On/Off’ actor, irreversibly froze the video engine if used inside a scene instead of its intended use inside a User Actor.
3068688 Fixed a bug where the Trigger Text actor triggered automatically on entering a scene, in files using the v2 Processing Mode
3212081 The Javascript actor print function now requires the addition of “\n” (for a newline) when used in Isadora v2.1+: ‘print\n()’
3202548 Fixed a bug where Stages 1 & 2 in 2.0.5 on Yosemite sometimes failed to send to hardware video projectors, despite being visible in thumbnail links.
2753716 Fixed a bug where adding text to comment notes when there was also a large control panel in use, sometimes caused sections of the display screen to freeze, becoming un-editable.
2780644 Resolved an issue preventing Isadora start up when using some Blackmagic Desktop Video drivers. NB We now recommend that all Blackmagic capture device users update their drivers to Blackmagic Desktop Video 10.5
3404245 Fixed an intermittent bug causing the Picture Player actor to stop functioning.

New in Isadora 2.0.5 (Mar 5, 2015)

New in Isadora 1.5.3f28 (Aug 19, 2014)

BUG FIXES:
A bug which caused User Actors to lose their settings if it was also stored in the Global Toolbox has been fixed. This most notably affected Matthew Haber’s Cornerpin actor, but other User Actors may have been affected as well.
The Picture Player no longer generates an error when taking an action that would cause the items in the media list to change, notably when using the Record to Disk feature and stopping capture. (ID=1176,1311,1312,1313)
If an unexpected error occurs when attempting to open a Live Capture Channel, the error information presented to the user has been greatly enhanced. This will allow better support when these unexpected errors occur. (ID=1066,1155,1156,1308,1315)
Isadora no longer crashes when closing the Stream Setup window after adding a large number of OSC Addresses. (ID=1209, 1270, 1273)
Isadora now allows OSC addresses with a “/” at the end.
Isadora no longer throws an assertion error quickly moving the “split” between the Control Panel and Scene Editor. (ID=1274)
Choosing Actors > Reset to Default Values for certain Quartz Composer actors no longer crashes. (ID=1282)
Clicking both mouse buttons simultaneously in the scroll bar no longer crashes Isadora. (ID=1283, 1286, 1287)
When copying and pasting an actor with a Ctl ID Link, the link to the control now works properly after the paste. (ID=1288, 1291)
The volume of the Movie Player will no longer momentarily start full and then jump down to zero when initiated a fade into a scene with “heavy” User Actors. (First scene with Matthew Haber’s Cornerpin actor, but this bug could have been caused by any actor that did a moment of heavy processing upon initialization.) (ID=1290)
When jumping to another app and then back to Isadora, the cursor will is now correctly hidden over a full screen stage. (ID=1292)
The Color Control was incorrectly taking up 5 control IDs when renumbering or copying and pasting. It now correctly occupies 3 IDs. (ID=1293)
To address a problem of fading from one scene to the next when using the 3D Mosaic actor, added a ‘depth test’ input. This should be set to off when fading from one scene to another when both use the 3D Mosaic actor. (ID=1320)
3D Mosaic actor no longer attempts to display an area outside of the incoming video image, which previously lead to “garbage” in the image. Note however that the scaling of some images within the individual Mosaic tiles has changed slightly because of this. (ID=1321)
Increased the maximum resolution of the 3D Renderer to 4096 x 4096. (ID=1328)
The Stream Setup window now provides an error dialog when an address has an error, describing the nature of the problem. In addition, you are now prevented from entering OSC addresses that conflict with Isadora’s built-in addresses (/isadora/1 – /isadora/999). (ID=1329)
You can now successfully drag a link from the “Monitor” control in the Control Panel to the a video output, e.g., the ‘video out’ output of the Movie Player. (ID=1331)
The Sound Movie Player actor now correctly responds to speed changes. (ID=1332)
A bug introduced in 1.3.0f25 in which the volume of a movie does not respond correctly is fixed. (ID=1333)
An intermittent bug in which the Float to Integer actor crashed has been fixed. (ID=1339)
The Logical Calculator actor now always outputs the correct values; in previous versions, some values with certain operations (e.g., OR) would give an erroneous result. (ID=1345)
The MIDI Note Off Watcher no longer allows a velocity of 0, which is an illegal value for the MIDI Note Off message. (ID=1346)
When using snapshots in combination with CI Actors that produce unchanging images (CI Picture Player, CI Constant Color, etc.) — recalling a snapshot causes these actors to “erase” their output, leading to incorrect output. (ID=1349)
When activating a snapshot by clicking on it, Isadora no longer accidentally “trashes” the snapshot. This was especially noticeable in “heavy” patches. (ID=1350)
Isadora will no longer crash if the buffer of a Serial In Watcher – Text is overloaded by data. Instead, a dialog warning the user of the situation is shown. (ID=1316)
When double-clicking a file or dropping it on to the Isadora application, Enter Scene Triggers in the first scene now send a trigger as they should. (This bug appeared up somewhere around 1.3.0f30 or so.) (ID=1367)
Isadora now accepts OSC Addresses with two consecutive slashes, e.g. “/address//sub-addr” (ID=1369)
You can now shift-click multiple links between actors. (This behavior was normal in 1.3.0f24 but a bug was introduced in one of the pre-release versions that prevented selecting multiple links.) (ID=1370)
When playing a sound using the Sound Player actor on a specific channel, and starting a second Sound Player actor on the same channel, the current sound stops and the new sound starts. (This fixes a bug introduced in a pre-release version after 1.3.0f24.) (ID=1371)
Isadora no longer throws an assertion error when at startup when a FreeFrame plugin does not provide the correct respond to the FF_GETPLUGINCAPS message. This was causing problems when loading some FreeFrame plugins. (ID=1372)
I believe a bug where an error would be thrown on startup under Lion (CCoreImagePlugin.mm/mQCFormat == NULL) is fixed. I was never able to recreate this on any of my machines, so it’s a bit of a guess. If you’ve seen this problem, please let me know if it’s fixed for you. (ID=1343)
The FaceTime HD internal web cam now defaults to the correct resolution of 1280 x 720.
Fixed a bug that prevented anything color slider combo except the RGB sliders from working the “Color Picker Panel” that appears when you click on a color input.
Isadora no longer crashes when the Image to Video (using certain resolutions) actor feeds the Video Mixer and Alpha Mask actors. (ID=1362)
Isadora no longer crashes occasionally at the moment a Sound Player actor finishes playing a sound. (ID=1354, 1355)
The AUAudioFilePlayer no longer sends a bogus value to the ‘position’ output while waiting for the sound to start playing. It now always reports 0 until the sound is actually playing.
Changed the order of initialization so that the Video Capture Settings are initialized before loading the Quart Composer plugins. This will prevent QC from “stealing” the video input from Isadora if there is a plugin that requires it. (ID=1360)

New in Isadora 1.3.0f24 (Jul 2, 2012)

New Features: Graphical User Interface: Tabbed User Actor Editing:
Isadora now features "tabbed" editing when working with User Actors. Upon double-clicking a User Actor to edit it, a new tab will appear at the top of the Scene Editor, each with a close-box. If a User Actor has been modified, it's name will be underlined in the tab. You can easily return to the main scene by clicking the close box on the first tab. which will in turn close all the tabs after it.
User Actor Input/Output Reordering:
You can now easily arrange the inputs and outputs of a User Actor by choosing Actors > Reorder User Inputs and Outputs while editing a User Actor or by clicking the button within the currently active tab. A dialog will appear that allows you change the order by dragging the user inputs and user outputs up and down in a list.
New Toolbox Filter:
The new Toolbox Filter gives you more control over which actors you see in the toolbox because it is more finely categorized with more descriptive titles. Just click on any cateogory and only those actors will be shown in the Toolbox. You can quickly hide or show the filter by clicking the disclosure triangle at the top left ot the window, or with the keyboard shortcut Apple-F or Control-F.
Pop-Up Toolbox:
Isadora has a new "pop-up" toolbox: just double-click any empty space in the Scene Editor and the Toolbox will appear. Type a few characters to limit the actors listed in the Pop-Up Toolbox; then click the name of the desired actor or simply hit enter to add the highlighted actor. Complimenting this feature is the ability to hide the normal toolbox.
Horizonal, Vertical and Thumbwheel Sliders:
There are ow horizontal and vertical versions of the slider that appears when clicking the input port of a property.
You can choose which version will appear by choosing Actors > Edit with Horizontal Slider or Actors > Edit with Vertical Slider. A new a "thumb wheel" slider appears when editing a property whose minimum and/or maximum are unlimited (i.e, set to MIN or MAX.) There are now four ways to adjust the value:
Click and drag in the in the slider.
Click the value edit box and drag up or down.
Move the scroll wheel of your mouse while pointing at the slider.
Click the value edit box, point at it, and move the scroll wheel of your mouse.
For fine control, hold the shift key while dragging or moving the scroll wheel and values will change by a smaller amount.
Mini Color Picker:
When clicking on the input port of a color property, a Mini Color Picker will now appear.
To adjust the hue and saturation:
Click on the color wheel and drag the slider indicator (white square).
Point at the color wheel and move the scroll wheel on your mouse.
To adjust the brightness:
Click on the brightness slider at the right and drag the indicator (white triangle).
Point at the brightness slider and move the scroll wheel on your mouse.
To dismiss the Mini Color Picker, click any where else in the Scene. The Mini Color Picker remembers the last six colors you've chosen in the swatch panel at the bottom so that you can easily recall them by clicking on the swatch. (The first two swatches are always black and white.)
Text Input:
Now when you click a text input, a text entry edit box opens, allow you to not only type, but cut, copy and paste.
Other User Interface Enhancements:
Windows - No More Menu Bar: Previous versions of Isadora display a Macintosh style menu bar in a separate window. This has been removed to more closely follow the Windows User Interface standard.
Scroll Wheel Editing: When you click on a value box within an actor, you may now also use the scroll wheel of your mouse to adjust the value.
Improved Text Input: When clicking on a text input or output, a text editing box will appear that allows you to enter the text as well cut, copy and paste text in a standard fashion.
User Input and User Output Auto-Name: When you connect the first link to a User Input or User Output, its name is automatically changed to match the linked input or output.
Visible Grid: The Scene Editor and Control Panel now allow you to show the alignment grid.
New Views Menu: Menu commands related to hiding or showing elements of the Isadora user interface have been gathered in a new Views menu.
Live Input Feedback in Status Window: The status window has been updated to handle up to four live input channels. It displays thumbnails for the live video input and audio levels and a frequency spectrum for live audio.
Tutorial Links: Links to the Isadora tutorials hosted on YouTube can now be found in the Help menu.
New Features: Live Input:
Four Live Input Channels:
Isadora can now simultaneously capture live video and audio feeds from up to four sources. The new Live Capture Settings window allows you to configure the input device and format settings for a video and audio device on each of the four channels.
To learn more, please see the section "Live Video & Audio Input" in the Isadora Manual.
New Features: Stage:
Aspect Ratio Contraint:
Isadora now allows you to specify an fixed aspect ratio for any stage, regardles of the aspect ratio of the ouptut device. Simply set the Aspect popup menu found in the Stage tab of the Preferences to Limit To and enter the desired aspect ratio into the text boxes to the right.
Triple/Dual-Head-2-Go Support:
To support the use of the Matrox Dual/TripleHead2Go, a second popup menu has been added to the Place On menu in the Stage tab of the Preferences This menu allows you to automaticaly position the stage so that it appears on only one output of the Dual/TripleHead2Go. To learn more about using these devices get additional video outputs from a single computer see "Using the Matrox Dual/TripleHead2Go" in the "Video and Audio Output" section of the Isadora Manual.
New Features: Communications:
Custom Open Sound Control (OSC) Addresses:
The Open Sound Control section of the Stream Setup editor allows you to add custom OSC adresses on which Isadora will receive OSC messages from other applications or hardware devices. To learn more, see the "Adding Custom Open Sound Control (OSC) Addresses" in the "Commnicating with External Devices" section of the Isadora manual.
Human Interface Device (HID) Input:
Isadora now supports input from a variety of Human Interface Devices (HID) including game controllers, joysticks and more. Information from these devices can be received using the new HID Listener actor. To learn more, see the "Human Interface Device Input (HID)" in the "Commnicating with External Devices" section of the Isadora manual.
Graphics Tablet Input:
Isadora now receives position and pressure input from most graphics tablets when the tablet pointer is over one of Isadora's Stages. See the Stage Mouse Watcher actor for more information.
Performance Enhancements:
Movie Playback:
Smoother Playback: We have optimized the flow of video information to give smoother, less jittery playback.
Movie Load Times: We have optimized Isadora to reduce the lag when loading movies. Still, when instantaneous startup is required, you should use the Video Preload, CI Video Preload or Picture Preload actors to ensure glitchless transitions from one scene to the next.
Threaded Movie Playback (Mac OS X Only):
Threaded Movie Playback plays movies in seperate "threads", which should help to distibute the load on multi-processor machines. While this feature is still considered "experimental", we encourage you to try it again, especially if you use the Core Image plugins available with the optional Core Video feature who speed has been improved enormously. There have been many changes under to improve perormance. You can enable this feature in the "General" tab of the preferences.
Windows Native Movie Playback (Windows Only):
We still have a little way to go to make this feature perfect, but the CPU load when using Windows Native codecs (like AVI and MPEG) is significantly lower than when using QuickTime. You can also play MPEG2 (.m2v) movies using the feature, but only if a third-party decoder like the free ffdshow is installed.
Quartz Composer Compatibility Application (Mac OS X):
There were several Apple supplied Quartz Composer compositions that would not work in Isadora because they are "locked" to work with specific Apple applications like Photo Booth. This special application allows you to modify a system file so that Isadora becomes one of the "approved" applications to use these plugins. Just run it, enter the password for your computer, and the plugins will work properly inside Isadora.
3DS Model Orientation Bug:
3D Models May Be Oriented Incorrectly in Older Files:
A long standing bug in versions prior to 1.3.1 caused 3D models imported in the 3DS format to be oriented incorrectly. Please read this document for further information.
New and Enhanced Actors:
Actors new since v1.2.9 are marked:
3D Mesh Projector: Considered "experimental" for now, this new actor will read a mesh data file from Paul Bourne's meshmapper application and "wrap" the projected image round that mesh. We will be looking to expand the number of file formats supported for this actor in the near future. Please alt click the actor and its inputs to learn more.
Clock: Outputs the time and date, i.e., hours, minutes, seconds, year, month and day.
Data Array Actor: Allows you to store and recal lists of numbers, including the ablility to read or store the values to or from tab separated text files.
Float to Integer: Converts a floating point number to an integer using one of three rounding options:
floor: round down to the next lowest integer
ceiling: round up to the next closest integer
round: round up when the fractional part is greater than or equal to .5, or down otherwise.
HID Listener: Receives messages from the new HID input stream editor.
Math: Offers numerous higher math functions like sine, cosine, arctangent and more.
Matrix Value Send & Receive: This very powerful pair of actors allows you to send and receive lists of values and respects the current scene intensity as fades from one scene to the next are performed. They are especially useful if you are attempting to recreate the functionality of lighting or audio mixing consoles. The 1.3 manual has a detailed explanation of how to put these actors into use.
Number To Text: Outputs whatever number is received at the input as text. The output can then be fed to the input of any other actor that accepts text, e.g., the Text/ure actor.
OSC Listener/Transmitter/Multi-Transmit: All of these actors now allow you to transmit text, and bugs in the OSC Multi-Transmit have been fixed.
Projector: The manner in which the Projector positions and sizes the image has been made more consistent with other renderer actors, but will still operate properly in older patches.
Scene Intensity: Reports the current intensity of the Scene to which it belongs.
Send Raw Serial Data: Allows you to send an ASCII text or hexadecimal encoded data directly to the Serial Output Port.
Shapes: Now offers the ability to paint shapes with an arbitrary number of sides (i.e., hexagons, pentagons, etc.)
Stage Mouse Watcher: Now tracks the pressure of a Wacom tablet stylus.
Stage Preview Control: This control improves on the Monitor control, as it provides you a real time review of any stage.
TCP Send/Receive Actors: These actors allow you to send and receive data via TCP/IP.
Text Chopper: Extracts chunks of text from the beginning, end or middle of the input text. May be done by the character or by the line.
Text Formatter: Using a scheme similar to the Send Serial actor, allows you to take numeric or text inputs and format them into a single text string.
Text Parser: Using a scheme similar to the Serial In Watcher - Text actor, the Text Parser allows you to parse text input and output numeric or text values.
Trigger Text: Sends specified input text to the output when it is triggered.
User Input/User Output: The User Input and Output actors now include all possible data types in the Data Type popup menu seen when you double-click the actor.
Data Array Actor:
The Data Array actor allows you to create a list of data, each item in the list being composed of one or more numeric values. You may recall lines from the list, add or insert new items, or remove or recall existing lines. The data may be stored on disk in a standard, tab-separated text file that can be exported from, or imported into, other applications.
We refer to the vertical and horizontal dimensions of the list using the terms lines and items. For instance, this array
1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
has 3 lines and 4 items. The number of items across is set using the items input; when you change this property, value inputs and outputs will be added or removed from this actor as appropriate. The number of lines in the array is controlled using the add, insert, delete, and erase inputs, or by the number of lines in text file when its data is read.
Projector:
The Projector actor functions differently in v1.3 than in previous versions of Isadora to make it more consistent with the newer video rendering actors. The width and height inputs now scale from the center instead of the left and top edges. The left and top inputs have been renamed to horz pos and vert pos (horizontal and veritcal position) to be more consistent with other actors that control an images's position.
In updating this actor, we also found a bug that has been in Isadora since its inception ten years ago: the left or top edge of the image would shift depending on the values of the width or height inputs.
So, to allow old patches to work properly, the new hv mode input was added. The default mode for actors added in v1.3 is centered, which adopts the new functionality of the width and height inputs. The classic mode scales from the top and left in the buggy manner described above. The left-top mode scales the size of the image from the left and top edges of the image without the bug.
When you open a patch created before v1.3, you will see that the hv mode is automatically se to classic to ensure all of your old patches work properly.
Stage Preview Control:
The Stage Preview control shows you a thumbnail of what is appearing on any of Isadora's Stage outputs. Users of the pre-release versions may have experienced crashes, which we hope to have eradicated. But please read these notes:
Speed: The Stage Preview Control must read data back from your graphics card using OpenGL. The performance impact of using this control can vary greatly depending on the video card you are using. For instance, recent Mac Book Pro computers have two graphics cards: the slower 9400M and the higher performance 9600M. (The 9400M uses less battery, thus the reason to be able to switch.) The read time for a 320x240 thumbnail when using the 9400M was about 2.5 milliseconds per frame; on the faster 9600M it was about 0.5 milliseconds per frame. That's a factor of five, obviously a huge difference.
Resolution: The resolution of the Stage Preview image is set in the Stage tab of the Preferences. Here you determine the actual resolution of the image that is shown in the Stage Preview. By default the resolution is low, to ensure that computers with older graphics cards don't experience performance problems. But on more recent computers you can increase this value to something like 320x240. We do not suggest, however, pulling full resolution (e.g., 1920x1080 HD) from the stage, as the negative performance impact will be very severe.
Compatibility: We have seen issues when testing with some older graphics cards because of their OpenGL driver implementation. If you experience crashes when using the Stage Preview control, then switch the Stage Preview Mode in the Video tab of the Preferences to Compatible. This mode is slower than the Faster modes, but should work on almost any card.
Known Limitations:
Multiple Cameras Of Same Model Not Recognized in Live Capture Settings: When attempting to capture from multiple live video sources, Isadora will only recognize the various cameras if they are not the same make and model. E.g., if you attempt to capture from an external DV camera and an internal web cam, everything will work as expected because those cameras are not the same make and model. However, if you attempt to capture from three web cams that are exactly the same model, Isadora will only see one of the three cameras.
Multiple DV Cameras Not Recognized On Macintosh: It is a limitation of the Mac OS X operating system that you cannot have more than one standard DV camera on the firewire bus at the same time. If you connect to standard DV cameras to the same bus, Isadora will only see one of them in the Live Capture Settings window. You can, however, connect multiple IIDC Firewire Cameras to the same bus, subject to the limitations of the limitation noted above. (See this link for more info on IIDC.)
No Audio When Capturing to Disk under Windows: When using the Capture to Disk feature under Windows, and only capturing audio, the file is not recorded.
Quartz Composer Plugin Freeze: Quartz Composer plugins may freeze or not work properly when two separate graphics cards are installed in desktop machines.
New Features 1.3.0f17:
Splash Screen Info: Added more information to show what subsystems are being initialized in the Splash Screen. (ID=1074)
Transparent Images in Thumbnail: Isadora now shows a checkerboard background when displaying an image with an alpha component to help you see the mask. (ID=1070)
Bug Fixes 1.3.0f17:
Windows User Interface Freezes: Under Windows, the user interface no longer freezes when running a very heavy patch. In previous 1.3 versions, the media media playback engine ran well in such situations, but you couldn't edit your scene or even quit. (ID=1078)
Movies Stop Playing: A serious bug in 1.3.0f15 would cause movies to stop playing after a few seconds or to stop playing after a new movie was imported. This has been fixed. (ID=1059)
Flashing Video When Layering: You no longer see occasional flashing of images when two or more Projector actors are rendering transparent or opaque video and their layer input is set to the same value. (ID=1073)
3D Projector Actor Layering: The 'layer' input on all of the 3D Projector type actors now works properly. Previously, 0 was layer 0 by other value was seen as layer 1 instead of it's real value. (ID=1053)
Error Importing Media When Rendering 3D Models: Importing media while a 3D Model was being shown in the 3D Player no longer leads to an unexpected error. (ID=1067)
Error When Dragging Scenes under Windows: When attempting to drag scenes under Windows, an unexpected error no longer appears after you click on the scene and hold the mouse button down. (ID=1068)
Video Preload: The 'forever' mode of the Video Preload actor now works properly. (ID=1043)
Movie Player VR: The VR Player actor now works properly again. (A bug introduced in 1.3.00f15 prevented it from playing.) (ID=1057)
Capture to Disk: When capturing to disk using the Capture to Disk actor, the Sound Level Watcher now functions and the sound levels are reported in the Status and Live Capture Settings windows. (ID=1045)
Older Fonts: Certain older Mac OS X fonts (e.g., Geneva) would not draw properly in the Control Panel in 1.3.0f15; this has been remedied so that all fonts will draw properly. (ID=1047)
Control Actor Split: Using Command/Control-S to toggle back and forth between the controls and the actor control split now works properly. (ID=1076)
Setting Colors with the Color Panel: On Mac OS X, color changed using the Apple "Color Panel" and closing the panel are now undoable when the panel is closed using the close box; the document is also marked as needing to be saved. (ID=1049)
Stage Mouse Watcher: In the Stage Mouse Watcher, the 'inside stage' output turned on now turns off when you leave the stage. (ID=1055)
Actor Popup Value Editing: Actor values changed via the popup menu (accessed by right/control clicking the value) are now undoable and mark the file as needing to be saved. (ID=1048)
Loading 1.2.9.x Files: In rare situations when opening in a 1.2.9.X file, an infinite loop of dialogs reporting that the 'render' input no longer exists could occur. This has been fixed. (ID=1046)
Hexadecimal Values Isadora now allows you to enter hexadecimal values for integer number inputs when they are set to hexadecimal mode. (ID=1054)
Tooltips: Tooltips now disappear when the mouse exits a window or when the window is deactivated. (ID=1056)
Large Patch Drawing Bug: In a patch with a very large number of actors, the actors at the top of the patch would draw at the bottom if you scrolled past a certain point. The possible height of the patch is now doubled to 32,000 pixels. (ID=1061)
Actor Renaming: When renaming an actor with a very long name, the actor name is now properly redrawn after you hit the enter key. (ID=1063)
Password Protection: You can no longer drag or rename scenes in a password protected document. (ID=1071)
MIDI Port Number Error: A long-standing bug where you would get an unexpected error if you specified a MIDI port greater than 6 in any of the MIDI actors has been fixed. (ID=1065)
Dialog Box Color: When running under Windows, dialog boxes no longer have a grey background. (ID=1039)
Bug Fixes 1.3.0f15:
Performance Improvements:
Seamless Movie Loading: Isadora's movie loading algorithm has been improved to prevent stutters when switching from one scene to the next.
User Interface Drawing Speed: The speed of drawing the User Interface has been increased by a factor of 4 when drawing the actors in a scene. One of the reasons that Isadora could sometimes glitch when transitioning from one scene to another was the amount of time it took to draw the scene, especially if there were numerous actors within it. The positive side effect of this fix is that working with the User Interface is much smoother, and that editing the User Interface is far less likely to cause a dropped frame.
User Interface Improvements:
• New Fonts: The main font for actors and controls on Mac OS X has been changed from Geneva to Verdana. One of the reasons the user interface drawing was slow was because Isadora on Mac OS X was using this old font from the days of OS 9.
Dragging Scenes: To prevent accidental dragging of scenes and snapshots, you must now hold the mouse button down and still for a short period of time before you drag. The mouse cursor will change to the "closed hand" shape to indicate that dragging is active.
Autoscrolling: Autoscrolling when adding a new actor or control, when dragging actors or controls, or when linking has been is much faster and smoother. (ID=1025.)
Scroll Bars: The arrow buttons on the scroll bars in the main document window now automatically continue to scroll if you hold down the mouse button. (ID=1020)
Open Sound Control (OSC) Bug Fixes:
Multiple Text Strings: When receiving multiple text strings in a single OSC message, the text values are now sent to the correct OSC port number. (ID=1012
Crash with Custom OSC Addresses: Isadora no longer crashes when closing a document with custom OSC addresses configured in the Stream Setup window. (ID=1016)
Sending Parameterless Messages: Isadora can now send OSC messages with no parameters. The OSC Multi Transmit actor has been changed to allow the number of parameters to be set to 0. If you do so, just the OSC address and a type tag of ',' (indicating no parameters) will be sent. (ID=1023)
Receiving Parameterless Messages: Isadora can now receive OSC messages with no parameters. Messages sent in this way will be recognized by the OSC Listener actor; the trigger indicates that the message was received. A default output value of zero is also sent. Thus, you can use the trigger output to take action in response to receiving the parameterless message. (ID=1022,1023)
Other Bug Fixes:
Close Document Crash: Isadora no longer crashes when you attempt to close the document and no scenes are currently active. (ID=1029)
USB Key Version Glitch: The USB Key Version of Isadora no longer introduces a tiny, periodic glitch every 15 seconds.
Saving Documents: Isadora now gives a warning if it is unable to write the document to disk when the user attempts to save. (This could happen if you attempted to save to a folder for which you did not have write permission or because the file was become locked by the user.) (ID=1018,1019)
Importing v1 User Actors: A crash when importing certain version 1 User Actors has been fixed. (ID=1005)
Keyboard Watcher: Isadora no longer displays an error when changing the Keyboard Watcher's 'mode' input from 'both' to 'up' or 'down'. (ID=1035,1036).
Text Output to Trigger Input: When a text output was connected to a trigger input, the trigger input now always fires when the text is received. (ID=1014)
Rebuild Media Folder Command: The "Rebuild Media From Folder" function no longer erroneously adds a MIDI bin when importing one or more Pictures. (ID=0990)
Stage Mouse Watcher: When the 'modifiers' input of the Stage Mouse Watcher is set to some value (opt, cmd, etc) it now filters mouse clicks properly. (ID=1001)
Quartz Composer Movies; When playing a movie (.mov) file that contains a Quartz Composer patch, Isadora now respects the correct resolution of the movie. (ID=1006)
Move Read-Ahead: The default "Read-Ahead" value in the General tab of the Preferences is now correctly defaults to 0. (ID=1008)
Mac/Windows Compatibility: When opening a patch created on Mac OS X under Windows, the document window no longer opens with it's top edge past the top edge of the screen. (ID=1017)
Window Placement: When opening a file with the standard version of Isadora (i.e. not the Core version), if the file was saved with the toolbox filter hidden, the actor toolbox would go beyond the top edge of the window. This has been fixed. (ID=1021)
Cue List Editor: Isadora no longer crashes when quitting with the Cue List Editor window open. (ID=1024)
Time of Day: The Time of Day actor now works properly when the mode input is set to 'date/time'. (ID=1007)
Text Entry Box: Isadora actors with User Interface elements that change no longer draw over the text entry box on Mac OS X. (ID=1030)
Sound Movie Player: When adding tracks to the Sound Movie Player, the 'Scale Max' of the new volume inputs defaults to 100, matching the default setting for the first track. (ID=1015)
Recent Items Menu: When displaying a file in the Recent Items menu, if they file started with a hyphen ("-") the menu item no longer displays as a horizontal separator line. (ID=1033)
Sound Preload Actor: Preloading sounds into RAM to be used with the Sound Player now does so properly, and plays the sounds undistorted. (ID=1003)
Bug Fixes 1.3.0f8:
Scenes: In some situations, when clicking a scene, the scene would inadvertently be dragged to a new location. This has been fixed. (Bug ID = 827)
Font Menu Input: All actors with a 'font' input now correctly show the popup list of fonts instead of a text entry box. (Bug ID = 821/838)
User Input/Output Auto-Name: If you manually edit the name of a User Input or Output, it will no longer automatically change when linking it to an input or output. If you have not manually edited the name, then it will automatically update the name when making the first link to an input or output (the latter feature was introduced in v1.3) (Bug ID = 825)
Control Editing: Using the up or down arrow keys to move a control no longer crashed Isadora. (Bug ID = 804/806/836)
Audio Device Popup: All actors with an 'audio device' input now correctly show the popup list of audio devices instead of a text entry box. (Bug ID = 822)
Actor Filter: After typing an actor name in the search box and then clicking on the Toolbox Filter, one of the found actors would linger at the top of the list in some cases. This has been fixed. (Bug ID = 830)
Video Links: When attempting to connect two video streams to the same input, Isadora no longer shows an unexpected error dialog. Clicking OK in the warning dialog now correctly attaches the second link. (Bug ID = 837)
Installer: A problem in the installer which would leave old plugins in the application when upgrading from 1.2.9 has been fixed. Previously, the old plugins were not erased which would cause an error dialog to appear for those plugins on startup.
Save Command: The Save Command in the File Menu will now be correctly enabled if the Media Window is the front most window. (Bug ID = 839)
Editing Values: Previously, if you typed a number into an input value and then immediately used the mouse to scroll through the values, and subsequently clicked into that same input value and typed a new number, Isadora would show an "Unexpected Error" message. This has been fixed. (Bug ID = 840)
LanBox Channels Actor: The LanBox Channels actor now correctly shows the channel ID when setting the 'base channel' input. (Bug ID = 820)
Bug Fixes 1.3.0f1 - 1.3.0f6:
Audio Unit actors in the Mac OS X version of Isadora no longer allow you attach an output to more than one input because this is not supported by Core Audio. If you need to route a single output to two inputs, use the AUSplitter actor.
Buffer actor: Fixed a bug where an assertion error would be raised if the resolution of the input video changed.
Capture To Disk is now almost glitch-less when starting up/stopping on the Mac; and properly records audio on PC when using something other than a Firewire DV camera.
CI Crystallize no longer crashes when you attempt to add it to a scene.
CI Linear Gradient, CI Radial Gradient, CI Gaussian Gradient now function properly due to a stage input having been added.
Comment Actor: The comment actor now resizes itself correctly after undo/redo operations.
Compression Settings Dialog (Windows Only): You can now adjust the "quality" slider in the QuickTime Compression Settings dialog shown as a result of choosing Output > Compression Settings...
Conrol Panel now has a Duplicate command in the Edit menu.
Control Editing: Isadora no longer crashes when editing a Control, setting its Control ID to one already in use by another control, and clicking OK to the dialog that warns of the ID conflict.
Core Audio Audio Input: several bugs were fixed with this actor, including: 1) an error when attempting to adjust the number of input channels, 2) a bug that would prevent sending sound out to the same device being used for input.
Core Video Plugin Descriptions have been restored in Mac OS 10.5 and later.
Curvature Actor: Editing the curve using the graphic interface is now undoable and correctly marks the document as needing to be saved.
Data Array actor help is now correct for all inputs and outputs.
Data Array actor now correctly inserts intervening lines when 'index' is greater than the total lines in the array and you trigger the 'insert' input.
Data Array actor now correctly restores its values when not using a file written to disk
Deleting Actors: Isadora would crash in rare situations when deleting an actor. This bug has been fixed.
DMX Channels actor now sets the title of the channel inputs number to match the actual DMX channel, based on the setting of the 'chan offset' input.
Gate Actor: When connected to a video source that is "frozen" (could be Movie Player with speed 0, or a Picture Player) turning the gate 'on' now correctly resends the image.
Live Capture Settings: Isadora now correctly remembers camera settings when after quitting when the "Load/Save All Settings When Starting/Stopping Live Input" in the Video tab of the preferences is checked.
Live Video Input: Fixed a memory leak related to Core Image input; this could cause Isadora to crash when left running for several hours continously.
RTSP/Streaming Movies: Now play properly in all movie players, and will also preroll properly.
Scene Editor: Pasting an actor or User Actor now always respects the current state of the Show/Hide Names option in the Actors menu.
Selector Actor: When adding new inputs, it now sets the input to "0", regardless of the video type.
Sound Frequency Analysis: Now produces much less noise at higher frequencies, improving response in all cases, and fixing a bug where the sound was incorrectly analyzed when sourced from software audio devices such as Sound Flower.
Sound Preload Actor: Now functions properly in all situations. Previously it would not preload a sound file if there was not a movie at the matching index in the project.
Stage Preview control no longer crashes on Mac
Text Draw: Fixed a small memory leak related to changing any font attribute.
Text Formatter, Send Serial, TCP Send actors: the actors would sometimes incorrectly format the final parameter if no formatting was specified
Text/ure Actor: Fixed a small memory leak related to changing any font attribute.
Windows Only: Now positions windows correctly regardless of the position of the toolbar within the main window. Previoulsy, the windows could appear offscreen.