News in Capture Argo

What's new in Capture Argo

Below is a a comprehensive list of all new features and enhancements in Capture Argo!

General

Project 'piassava': A major internal overhaul dubbed project 'piassava' has greatly improved the general performance and responsiveness of the application.
File menu: A new file menu provides a much clearer open / import workflow, reduces confusion and improves productivity.
Sketchup: Model import directly from Sketchup (.skp) files is now supported. This includes layers, groups, components and materials.
Import window: A new import model window provides more help and options for how to treat layers. Importing from other Capture files now also transfers layers, materials, gobos and frame lists.
Clones: Capture now identifies identical objects and avoids storing any geometry data twice, for instance during clone and import. This results in less memory usage, smaller project files and better visualization performance.
Layers: Functions for cloning layers as well as adding or removing them from all layer sets have been added.
Layer Sets: A function to clone layer sets has been added.
Fixture tab: The fixture tab now also lists motion fixtures and water jets. To add flexibility in large projects it has also been fitted with a filtering field.
Motion limitations: The ability to input pan and tilt range limitations for moving heads and yokes has been added.
Scroller gelstrings: It is now possible to increase and decrease the length of scroller frame lists as needed.
Movie files: Movie files (used in video players) are searched for in the same folder as the project file as well, making it easier to transfer projects to other computers.
Test cards: Video and laser projectors can now have their test cards turned off to prevent output when there is no input signal present.
Actor: The actor object has been revised for higher realism and with a range of new options such as hairstyles and new poses.
Water jets: Water jets now support 8-bit as well as 16-bit pan and tilt control.

Navigator / design

Align: A new function to align objects vertically or horizontally has been added.
Spread Even: A new function to spread objects with an even spacing horizontally or vertically has been added.
Quick copy: It is now possibly to quickly create a copy of the objects selected by drag and dropping them within the project using the drag arrow button.
Autopan: When moving objects and approaching the edge of the view it now automatically panorates to prevent unnecessary zooming in and out.

Materials

Color & transparency: Materials now govern color and transparency as well, making it possible to change the color of imported objects.
Texture detail: The internal handling of textures has been improved, allowing for higher resolution textures.
Clone: A function to clone a material has been added.
Find: A function to select all objects using a material has been added.
Edit: A shortuct to edit a material directly from an object's material property has been added.
Flatscreens: Materials applied to the flatscreen object can now be manually mapped.

Paperwork

Paper adjustments: Paper adjustments can now be applied to all objects. The navigator of views in paper mode can now operate both in 'normal' and 'paper adjustment' mode. It also shows the original location of objects that have a paper adjustment when they are selected.
Plot Styles: A new plot style concept gives detailed control over the information available in plots as well as text sizes used.
Text sizes: Text sizes are now absolute and controlled through plot styles so that you can make annotation position adjustments with confidence.
Fixture symbols: Fixtures can now be drawn using their 3D model rather than their paper symbol if desired. This is now default for Front and Section views.
Symbol key: The symbol key now automatically colors symbols according to layers, renders in multiple columns and allows filtering by a layer set.
Layer priorities: Layers can be classified in one of three priorities. For example this makes it possible to prevent the house from being drawn on top of your lights.
Direction snap: Lighting fixture symbol direction snap has been extended with new 90 degree diagonal and 180 degree horizontal or vertical modes.
Select annotations: A new navigator selection function selects only the annotations of all selected objects, making mass annotation operations easier.
Frame list reports: A new frame list report has been added that includes all custom frame lists and their content.

Presentation

Snapshots: You can now record still as well as movie snapshots. A snapshot contains DMX data for all patched fixtures as well as laser and video media content. Snapshots can be played back to produce a temporary override of all input signals as well as recalled which calls back all stored DMX data for fixtures.
Presentations: Snapshots are included when creating presentation files and presented in a pane from where they can be played back.
Project information: The project information can now be included in live views and now also includes an optional image / logo for watermarking your presentations.
Still renders: The live view 'Save image..' function does not simply save a screenshot any more - it produces a high quality render of the current stage look.
Movie renders: Movie snapshots can be rendered to mp4 video files at full 25 fps framerate and with the same quality options as still renders.

Connectivity

Hog 3/4: Hog 3/4 connections now support autofocus and fixture selection.
Console links: The connection to a console's programmer through CITP or the Hog 3/4 connectivity drivers can now be manually controlled as well as disabled.

Visualisation

New look: A series of improvements have been made, among other things including better color rendition, a new atmospheric effect and improved shadows.
Fixture shadows: Fixtures can now cast shadows. This is set by default for conventional fixtures, but can be controlled as needed for all fixture types.
Rendering settings: Rendering settings have now been moved from the global options to the design tab and are stored as a part of the project.
Dynamic exposure: A new dynamic exposure mode has been added and is enabled by default. Dynamic exposure adapts the exposure of the view to the current lighting conditions and can be tweaked in a -3 EV to +3 EV value range.
Strobe: The rendering of strobe effects has been greatly improved, providing good strobe effects for any strobe frequency.
Frost & prisms: The addition of frost filters and prisms to fixtures is now correctly visualized in terms of diffusion and beam size.

Legend

We have categorized the features of this table into three kinds of additions:

Major feature / concept
Common addition
User experience improvement