This is more a question than a request, but now that MPE is standardized and new interfaces are rolling out supporting / taking advantage of it, is an update to MIDI actors in the works? 

just asking for a friend whose looking at the Roli Lightblock...

t

Some research seems to point towards support by native OS frameworks. Since Isadora uses DirectShow on Windows, and AV foundation on Mac, it is likely that many of these codecs are GPU accelerated.
However, these are high computation codecs, where their development has been focused on video streaming (high compression ratios). Frames are not independent, they require data from other frames to allow for decompression. This causes difficulties for interactive playback. At the same time decompressing (even on the gpu) will be computation heavy (using a not insignificant percentage of your GPU).
Hap on the other hand, creates large files in comparison, so requires good data transmission (SSD are best.. not going to work for web streaming).
Each frame is independent, so there is no relation to other frames (much better for interactive playback).
Uses a very fast and light compression that is optimized for the GPU (requires very little of your GPUs power)

If you are playing back long HQ movies, that will play forward beginning to end at 1X playback speed, you may be better off using H.264 or a like, but for other use cases I suspect HAP will still outperform.

I would however be interested in seeing test data if available. 

quick test (win 10 i7 gtx870, Isadora 2.6.1)

2x 1080p HAP

10% cpu usage15% gpu usage

2X 1080p WMV [vc-1]

50% cpu usage20% gpu usage (spikes up to 50%)

It seems that at least for DirectShows playback of wmv VC-1 files that some additional work is off loaded to the GPU, but probably only a portion of the work after the CPU handles the cross frame decompression.
And it is still more GPU usage than HAP, and much more CPU.

My personal tests in the past have shown that I max out cpu before I max out data transfer, and its MUCH more flexible in Isadora to have the CPU free for other uses, so I only use Hap for my projects now.

I would appreciate if one could put host names into the value fields where there is asked for IP addresses as an option.

Reasons: 

DHCP driven Networks with alot of Hosts (I'm working on a System with up to 25 Raspberry PIs), More easy to separate groups by Names, like with prefixes. Or just because of shorter and more memorable and meaningful naming making it easier for working dynamically with several hosts.
And for the future much easier IP6 handling.

dill

I would really like to see a text actor, that generates video output from a text file with styles in it, like rtf or XML. Making it possible to send text to video, preserving text styles of single words/characters in a sentence, like italic or bold or even used font.

Or even better, extend the text/ur actor to edit the characters of the text separately inside the actor, but put a switch to choose between inside actor or external file source. 

@juriaan

You can in fact use * as a wildcard in the stream setup.

@Juriaan:

I have to clarify this, as I just read the list again. 

All of the wishes you make above will come true.

I don't think we'll be able to do the max style help for User Actors, where there are examples, etc. Mostly this has to do with creating those examples -- that's something I don't feel we'll be able to get done in time. But hopefully the other points you mention will  all be there.

Best Wishes,
Mark

@GertjanB 

You also might want to see this

@juriaan

In Javascript we have 2 methods for loading external files.

Read(), and Include().

with Include(), it reads and parses the text with the Javascript engine, and the text must be valid javascript (as used in: https://support.troikatronix.c...)

SO, you can simply enter into a JS actor:

include('mycode.js');

and that single line will load your external script and have the JS engine parse it.. of course it needs to include a main() etc..
Then you can work in your code editor (sublime text) along side Isadora. When you save in Sublime, you will need to have Isadora refresh the 'include'.
There are 2 ways to do this, that I know of. 
1: exit and reenter the scene.
2: Use a 'User Actor on/off' to toggle the state of the scene (forcing a refresh) (this actor is not available in the main scene level, but can be cut and pasted from a user actor..  very handy)

Of course this is not seamless integration, but it works pretty well.
I would also like to see the option of a JS actor where the required input is a file name/path and a trigger opens your code editor of choice (from preferences).

@dgaddy said:

When you add a picture file to a button, it shows the top half of the picture when in the off state and the bottom half in the on state.  So, if you wanted to change the color as it toggles, you could make a custom picture with the colors you want and have that set as your background image.

 Sorry, I don't really know why, but I missed your post and just saw it now!

This is really a funny function. Is this described somewhere?

Maybe it would be even more usable, if it would take a percentage of the picture, related to the value range. So if you have a picture containing stripes of colours (maybe 100pixels in total, 10pixels each).

@bonemap

 It's not ideal, but a reasonable work around. 

The actor should probably have a different Icon (or other visual indicator) if linked to a Txt file as opposed to saving local.

It would be lovely to have more blend mode options built directly into the projector. I know there is an actor that allows you to blend two video streams. It would be super cool however to have this option at the projector level. Suggested additional blend modes:

SubtractMultiplyDivideScreenDarkenLightenetc.

@keve I just posted the same exact thing!

Hi Team.

I use many small user actors i did over time. Most of them do no magic but just keep things more tidy in my head while i develop. 

Like trigger to on/off, on/off to triggers ecc. mostly just simple stuff. 

The problem arises because I do not always remember the name I gave to the actors and in order to look for it in the user actors list I have to look at them all and that takes nerve, time and brings distraction, so I often end up doing them again on the fly or look for them in other patches. (even more distraction)

My request goes in the direction to become able to somehow group user actors by category. 

Same applies for AU plug-ins. I have a Waves Platinum Bundle (some 100 plug-ins) installed in my mac but it's nearly impossible to look for one in the list.

thanks for considering

hairi

that would be lovely indeed. especially 

"Ability to grab multiple patch cords on an output or input to re-route them to another output".

there's a somehow similar issue regarding broadcasters/listeners. I sometime use them to reduce clutter from patchcords. (these actors minimize well)

especially when having to patch an output to many inputs. 

It would be real nice to have  broadcaster/listener actors that only work inside a scene (including macros inside the scene).

else one has to be very careful with the numbers ans sometimes one ends up renumbering a lot of broadcaster/listener(s).

h

"

Hi guys,

is there any possibility to find or list control link numbers, given to input or output values?
The issue I have is controller links on values I deleted the corresponding controller. If I now put a new controller Isadora gives it the free number leading to unwanted behaviour using it.

This is easy to solve in small patches, but complicated at patches with of hundreds of controllers. Some search function like the user actors #tag search would be great.
It would be even better, if one could search for it in all levels of user actors, as I often interlace user actor by user actor making it even more difficult.

Thanks
Dill

@Fred well I vote for both as well :)

@fred said:

in addition to then add interface components, (which I feel look really dated and I don't like to give to clients).

 There are a number of underlying concerns in your pitch. And you raise some of the niggling structural issues that regularly get comments by Isadora users. There was a robust discussion by the 2.6 beta testers about accessing OSC addresses more efficiently in Isadora, particularly from within the Isadora work area. As a result the OSC Multi Listner was implemented with a switch to display OSC pathnames within the body of the node. So this was a step towards a more convenient approach to working with a large volume of OSC connectivity points. 

Taking the in-patch direction a quantum leap further and making each node inherently and readily capable of addressing outgoing/incoming OSC/midi/TCP/UDP/serial/Net Broadcaster pathnames at any parameter variable, is certainly a game changer. It would represent a serious innovation in what the software represents and how it will interface within the ecology of applications typically used in a media and performance production. 

I believe it would require the addition of a combined in/out management panel that allowed sequential access and editable lists of external/internal connectivity points with a ‘go to node’ function that highlights and brings into focus the associated actor.

The connectivity panel would need to be a floating panel (not a dropdown from the Isadora frame) so that it can be always accessible and viewable beside the patch bay as connectivity points are being programmed in an actor.

In addition, an actor with an existing connection could be analogously coloured to indicate that the connection exists and coloured again if the connection is viable/active.

Presently, there is no continuity in the way each type of connectivity point is dealt with in Isadora. It appears that this is due to the ad hoc development of each connectivity feature. Currently Discrete control panels appear in many different places and forms. And some of these only coalesce in a monitor window. However, colocating the management of all node connectivity points would add productivity and nibbleness to the process, particularly when setting up and running a production in-situation.

I hear @Fred ‘s comments directed at the visual style of the Isadora control panel elements.

Best wishes

Bonemap

@jtsteph said:

This is likely an insane request, but it would be highly useful if the snapshot function would store not only the top level values un a scene, but also the values in all the nestled user actors within a scene.

 @DusX has already requested something similar. I would also love this.

@michel it's odd - it was set at 1280 x 720. I'm still getting the aliasing when I set the shader to a low resolution. It's tough to find that balance of a clean dither and a lo-res look.

Just adding the link to the official Troikatronix tutorial on JavaScript Grouping and Ungrouping.

https://support.troikatronix.c...