GDTF Builder Update January 2024

[Petr Vanek - Robe]

The GDTF Builder update for January 2024 brings in new features and possibilities, implements more of the GDTF Specification, fixes several bugs, and speeds up the creation and maintenance of GDTF files. As typical for our industry, uptake of new ideas takes time but we can see more and more utilization of GDTF and MVR and we hear from happy users of GDTF and MVR on daily bases. Here are the changes to the GDTF Builder:

Updated template fixtures

The fixture templates of Conventional, LED PAR and Moving Head now come with predefined 2D symbol, Pigtail geometry with connector definition via Wiring Objects, with ore predefined Attributes like more colors, Virtual Pan, Tilt and so on, allowing faster start when starting from the templates.

Of course, there is always the GDTF Share with now more the 3300 files, which provide an excellent way to take a look at and learn, copy from or modify and turn into another device. There are also the GDTF/MVR Help pages and the Training Videos on YouTube, helping you to get started.

 

New features

Support for ColorSpaces

The Physical Descriptions tab now allows to define ColorSpaces, either Standard or Custom and link them to relevant ChannelFunctions as per GDTF Specification, allowing to provide ColorSpaces which can be changed during the operation of the device via DMX.

 

Allow to copy complete geometry trees between files

Geometries could always be duplicated inside one GDTF file but geometries (and complete geometry trees) can now be copy/pasted from one GDTF file to another:

 

Allow to copy and paste Emitters, Filters, DMX Profiles, and ColorSpaces

The copy/paste between files is now also possible for Emitters, Filters, DMX Profiles and also to the new ColorSpaces. These copy/paste operation can speed up the workflow significantly.

 

Improvements

Many improvements have been added to the builder, lets take a look at them:

The username is now displayed in the browser title. This is useful when using multiple accounts for creation/upload or testing:

 

For custom attributes, the sub physical units are now shown. Custom attributes allow to extend GDTF but should only be used if really necessary, as their utilization depends on software choosing to use it. One can newly define sub-physical units for custom attributes.

 

Improved search for attributes names. Previously, we added images and short animations to visualize attributes. Now, when searching for the attribute, better attribute names are shown in the search results, together with the "machine readable attribute name".

 

Allow to rename custom Attributes. The Summary tab - Attributes now allows to edit and rename custom attributes:

 

Cannot use the Paste DMX Mode if i don't have any DMX Mode yet. Previously, to paste a DMX Mode, one had to create a new mode, use it to right click and paste. Now, one can right click on an existing DMX mode to access the Paste item.

 

Improvements to the Duplicate and arrange geometries wizard. When duplicating Geometry References, you now can define the offset for the breaks. When duplicating geometries via the Arrange wizard, the first geometry is no longer duplicated 2x. One can also specify the DMX break Address offset:

 

Allow to define the RDM personality in decimal format:

 

When there is a maintenance scheduled, this is now also shown in the builder:

 

Other improvements:

• Copy and paste geometry improvement. Only provide the copy/paste menu on geometries which and where can be copy/pasted.
• Performance Improvements in the Builder. Several parts of the Builder have been optimized for faster operation.
• An error is shown, when Modes Masters overlap.
• GDTF 1.0 geometry types are not longer available in the builder for new files.

 

Bugfixes

• Geometry Reference model vertices are now correctly calculated
• Fixed a bug when switching between from/to representations
• Fixed a bug which would not allow to change the model dimension
• Allow to delete a Main Attribute
• Fixed a bug with copying DMX Modes
• Fixed behavior with wrong formatted Attributes names
• Powercon connectors are now inserted with the correct gender
• When copying DMX Channels, custom attributes are now also created
• When starting a fixture based on another, the revision history is cleaned