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Beam for Max

1.0.0 (Release Candidate 3)​

May 22, 2024

Fixes​

  • Fix for an issue when launching Demo Set visualizer on macOS Sonoma.
  • Fix for an issue when selecting a fixture in beam.patcheditor after loading an older version of a fixture patch into the abstraction as a dict to its inlet.

1.0.0 (Release Candidate 2)​

May 21, 2024

Fixes​

  • Introduction to lighting control: removed a comment about USB DMX devices not being supported on Windows (they are now supported).
  • Fixed tutorial patches text visibility when using dark themes.
  • Fixed package logo.

0.1.14 (Release Candidate 1)​

May 13, 2024

New features and improvements​

Fixture profiles v3​

Introducing a new fixture profile format with improved support for various fixture properties. This allows us to better support a larger range of fixtures and grow the fixture library faster.

Fixture color spaces​

Improved color and intensity translation from Beam's color modulation keywords red/green/blue to different fixture color spaces. In a fixture profile, the relevant channels are specified as additive (intensity/red/green/blue/white) and subtractive (cyan/magenta/yellow) components, for which an appropriate color space can then be chosen, replacing the fixture profiles v2's transforms.

The currently supported color spaces are:

  • dimmer (intensity)
  • RGB (red/green/blue)
  • RGBI (red/green/blue/intensity)
  • RGBW (red/green/blue/white)
  • RGBWI (red/green/blue/white/intensity)
  • CMYI (cyan/magenta/yellow/intensity)

Modes​

A single fixture profile can now contain multiple DMX modes within a single profile. This eliminates the need for a separate fixture profile for each mode.

Cells​

Added support for fixtures with cells and subcells of any level, such as pixel bars and fixtures with multiple fixture "subgroups", with all the cell information stored within a single fixture profile. Eliminates the need for multiple fixture profiles for every fixture cell/child type to describe a single fixture profile, as is needed with v1 and v2 profiles with aggregates/children. Patch Editor now supports editing tags of individual cells and children.

Test any attribute​

A fixture's testOn value in a patch (activated using the Test button in Beam for Max's Patch Editor) previously only had impact on intensity and color channels, but it is now possible to test any attribute of a fixture, such as pan/tilt of a moving head, or strobe rate of a strobe. When Test is active, Beam for Max sets a fixture's channel to the highlight DMX value specified in its fixture profile.

Fixture metadata​

Profiles now contain info about fixture manufacturer, model and profile version. This is part of the profile metadata dict that beam.core returns on get_profiles_metadata.

Updated fixture library​

  • Added 141 new fixture profiles.
  • Existing profiles were converted to use format v3.

Support for legacy profiles​

Profiles with schema v2 (the version Beam for Max worked with until now) continue to work, and profiles schema v1 (Beam for Live 1.x) are now supported, but are both deprecated, and some features are not supported.

Documentation​

  • Added fixture profile v3 JSON schema documentation file (Beam for Max/tutorial-patchers/sbf_v3.schema.json), as a reference for users who want to create own fixture profiles.
  • Beam for Max - Setting up tutorial patcher:
    • The v3 schema included in the section about fixture profiles.
    • Embedded "Generic RGB" example profile updated to v3.
    • Added links to forum and fixture profile requests site.
    • Fixed paths in comments referencing files within the package.

Misc​

  • beam.sig: fix for a crash when inputting dicts from another thread (with Scheduler in Overdrive).
  • Demo Set visualizer: fix for the visualizer sometimes not opening (node.script: Unhandled Message: "openvis" error).
  • 16-bit attributes DMX value precision: fix for an issue where modulation values were incorrectly translated to DMX values of attributes with coarse and fine channels.
  • Package info: adjusted description and updated logo.
  • Updated Beam for Max EULA.
  • When Beam for Max is not authorized, DMX values of all output universes is periodically set to 0, instead of pausing output, as the latter proved to be confusing for new users.
  • beam.dmxio: show pop-up when output is paused, as beam.output does.

0.1.13​

March 11, 2024

Fixes​

  • Fix 'Error 126 loading external beam.core' error on Windows.
  • Fix for occasional 'doesn't understand startmaxserver' error.

Misc​

  • Various internal dependency updates.

0.1.12​

January 30, 2024

Improvements​

  • It is now possible to select the source Beam universe to send to an USB Output. Previously this was always 1.
  • A message is now printed to the Max Console when an update is available.
  • Beam for Max - Overview: display version number.
  • Beam for Max - Overview: ensure the relevant authorization status is displayed even if this changes while the patcher is open.
  • Updated package description and README.

Fixes​

  • Fixed an issue where Max would crash when [beam.sig] dictionary was set via the scheduler or a non-main thread.

0.1.11​

October 16, 2023

Early Bird release of Beam for Max.