QLC+ 5.0.0 Alpha3 release

[mcallegari]

QLC+ 5 Alpha 3 is finally here!
After 4 intense months of coding and reworking, QLC+ 5 makes another shy step into the wild world of DMX lighting.

For me, this is a huge release. For you it's probably just another number beside the evil "alpha" word.

Nevertheless the development status public spreadsheet now reports a 72% completion progress compared to QLC+ 4.
Actually, in that 72% there's already much more than what QLC+ 4 can do! It's just that a few major features are still missing, again, mostly in the Virtual Console area.

In the last months, there's been at least 4 big reworks in the code:

• The 3D preview has been completely rewritten thanks to Eric's work and the precious contribution of the QLC+ community
• The fixture definition syntax have been reworked, to expose many more details, especially to the 2D and 3D preview
• The "monitor" information are more focused to represent physical objects instead of just Fixtures per se
• The Script function has been subject to a crazy idea of mine, which I hope will turn them into very powerful tools for your shows. (hint: the code is JavaScript now )

I will write a separate post for each topic cause there's a lot to say. The 3D preview, instead, has been already advertised enough, so I don't think there's much more that can be told about it.

However, as promised, here's the 3D demo project files I've used to produce my latest YouTube video.
I have also prepared another spreadsheet to track performances over time, platform, and Qt version.
The Qt version is especially important because it has a key role in the performance of the pipeline Eric wrote. Let's hope performances will get better over time, cause right now the 3D preview is quite uncomfortable to use on low end video cards.

If you're willing to submit the results you achieve on your PC, this is how it should be done:

• load the project file
• switch to 3D view
• click 6 times on the zoom out button
• open the settings panel (3 lines icon)
• right click on Virtual Console button (this will detach the VC in a separate window)
• click on the giant button, and close the window
• enable the FPS monitoring in the 3D view setting panel

Please submit all the necessary information as indicated in the above spreadsheet. Thanks.

A quick word about deployment. Unfortunately, at the very last minute, I discovered a couple of nasty bugs in Qt 5.11. Apparently it doesn't affect the Windows version, so I had to bundle Qt 5.10.1 on Linux and macOS. I really hope this situation will get fixed with Qt 5.12, since it will be a LTS release.
@Windows users: I have received reports of QLC+ 5 not even starting on Windows (10 apparently). Except for a couple of known cases like unsupported OpenGL 2.0 or previous MSYS2 installed, I'd like to understand what's going on on some installations so, please, if it happens with Alpha 3 too, please report as many details as you can to help me understand the root cause. Thanks.

I'd like to thank all the people involved in this release with suggestions, patches and ideas. Especially translators who have been really active in making possible to have QLC+ 5 translated in 7 languages already !
I'd really love to see QLC+ 5 translated at least in Portuguese (BR) and Russian. If you're willing to contribute, new translations are very welcome !

At last, here's the changelog since Alpha2:

• 3D View: huge rework for a more accurate simulation. Includes light projection, gobos, shadows, pan/tilt speed, shutter effects, zoom, gobo rotation
• 3D View: allow to add custom 3D objects to the scene
• 3D View: added theatre stage preset
• 2D View: improved selection and dragging
• DMX View: show scrollbars when needed
• Fixture Manager: add an option to include/exclude fixtures in previews
• Function Manager: it is now possible to create folders
• Function Manager: add Function clone button
• Chaser Editor: fixed crash when adding Functions
• Chaser Editor: it is now possible to print the steps list to paper
• Show Manager: added copy/paste buttons
• IO Manager: added a button to remove an input profile
• UI: on exit, ask to save if document is modified
• UI: fixed intensity tool value not updating after %/DMX switch
• UI: added kiosk mode (-k / --kiosk option)
• Virtual Console: add page size controls
• Virtual Console: add copy/paste widget with drag & drop functionality
• Translations: 7 languages available ! (Catalan, Dutch, German, French, Italian, Japanese, Spanish)

[djkevino]

Looks amazing. Could you have a look at the download link for Mac? I get a 404 not found error. Link: https://www.qlcplus.org/downloads/5.0.0 ... alpha3.dmg

[thomasp]

Looks amazing. Could you have a look at the download link for Mac? I get a 404 not found error. Link: https://www.qlcplus.org/downloads/5.0.0 ... alpha3.dmg

I'm having a similar problem too.

[mcallegari]

macOS link fixed. Sorry about that. There was an uppercase letter in the bundle name.

[GGGss]

"click on the giant button, and close the window" -> that is the maximise button I guess? I didn't find a giant-button on your demo VC.

It would help that users with the link can actually edit the spreadsheet... so here are my stats:
5.0.0 Alpha 3 QT 5.11.1 Win 10 CPU Intel i7 2600 @ 3.4 GPU AMD Radeon 6800
Low 30 FPS, min 28, max 31 avg 19 (I cannot decipher the meaning of your values in the sheet)
med 30 FPS, min 28, max 31 avg 19 ... ehhmm
high 30 FPS, min 28, max 31 avg 19
ultra 30 FPS, min 28, max 31 avg 19

(Do we have to do this in sequence? first low, then med, then high and ultra ...My values don't seem to change a thing.)
I have more computers at my disposal, but I'm waiting to receive an answer to above before posting the results, since they don't seem to change a lot...)

[GGGss]

Noticed something ... closed QLC+5
and the detached VC was still in a 'working' state... Shouldn't the children of a process be closed also when you terminate the mother

PS: re-reading above: this sounds very ugly terminating mothers to close children

[mcallegari]

"click on the giant button, and close the window" -> that is the maximise button I guess? I didn't find a giant-button on your demo VC.

Here's a drawing, in case it is too difficult to understand my words.

It would help that users with the link can actually edit the spreadsheet

Just no. You have no idea how much junk and spam is constantly trying to flood this forum. There are people around the world that spend their days making messes on others websites.

(Do we have to do this in sequence? first low, then med, then high and ultra ...My values don't seem to change a thing.)

That's because your graphics drivers have V-Sync enabled (as in vertical sync). Most likely you have set your monitor to work at 30Hz (WTF!) then you can only get 30fps maximum.
The fact you don't see a difference between min/max/avg is because your graphics card is powerful enough....or....you haven't changed the quality setting between each test. You should also disable/enable the FPS counter too, to reset it after each test.

[mcallegari]

Noticed something ... closed QLC+5 and the detached VC was still in a 'working' state... Shouldn't the children of a process be closed also when you terminate the mother

Actually it is supposed to work that way. At least on linux it works that way. I'll check if Windows behaves differently.

PS: re-reading above: this sounds very ugly terminating mothers to close children

In fact in english we say "parent" and "children".

P.S. Please do not report issues here. Use the proper forum area. Thanks.

[GGGss]

"click on the giant button, and close the window" -> that is the maximise button I guess? I didn't find a giant-button on your demo VC.

Here's a drawing, in case it is too difficult to understand my words.

I feel sooo stupid now ... I did run the wrong project (the old sample) and there is no big button ... in your latest demo-file there is ... sorry

That's because your graphics drivers have V-Sync enabled (as in vertical sync). Most likely you have set your monitor to work at 30Hz (WTF!) then you can only get 30fps maximum.
The fact you don't see a difference between min/max/avg is because your graphics card is powerful enough....or....you haven't changed the quality setting between each test. You should also disable/enable the FPS counter too, to reset it after each test.

Will have to investigate ... however I checked and monitor is 60Hz refresh actually.

[Chris De Rock]

QLC+/QT: 5.0.0 Alpha 3/ 5.11.1
OS: OSX 10.13.6
CPU: 3.2 GHz Quad Core Xeon W3565
GPU: ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024MB
LQ: 7/61/7
MQ: 7/61/7
HQ: 6/61/6
UQ: 7/61/7

[calou46]

Hello,
My configuration:
Windows 7 Full edition 64 bit SP1 Pentium G860 3Ghz Mem 4Go
Graphic card ATI Radeon HD 4550 Catalyst 13.9 OpenGL 6.14.10.11672

Lyre movement ok but no light beam

Thank You for your work.

Pascal

[andres robles]

test in several machines:
1: intel celeron cpu g1840@2.80 ghz with lubuntu 16.04, integrated graphics openGl 3.0.
result: get run qlc 5 and load the massimo demo project quickly and without problems, switching between tabs behaves fluid, without separating the 3d view, I go to CV, activate the "press me" button and return to tab 3d, load well everything and the first steps with little active lighting runs between 19 and 21 fps, when the song went up and there is more lighting moving and projecting gobos, it drops to 7 fps ... all this in high quality, in low quality it works more fluid, about 10-12 fps .... (the equipment is below minimum specifications)
2: portable asus gaming, i5 7500 and nvidia gtx 1050ti windows 10 and linux mint cinammon.
 2.1: Windows 10: get install and run qlc 5 without problems and fast, load the demo project fast and without problems, without separating 3d window, I'll tab CV, active button "press me" and I return to tab 3d.
the show starts at 12 fps, when there is a lot of light on the stage it varies between 5 fps and 7 fps ... (very similar to the celeron, but in sight it seemed to be better) all in high quality ....
2.2 same equipment but with mint cinamon,
run the appimage fast and without problems, load the project fast and without problems, without separating the 3d window, I'm going to tab CV, active button "press me" and I return to tab 3d, at the beginning of the show runs 590 FPS, wow !! , when the stage is at its maximum level of illumination, runs at 533 fps !!!, wow! all in high quality ...

[andres robles]

PD: great work massimo and eric

[tornel]

Results in my old(ish) computer at work:

Date: 7/08/2018
QLC+/Qt version: QLC+ 5.0.0 Alpha 3 / Qt 5.11.1
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate
CPU: Intel Core i7 960 @3.2Ghz (2009)
GPU: ATI AMD Radeon R9 280X (2012)

Low: 17/61/33
Medium: 18/57/33
High: 27/60/32 <-- Note that the Min is 10 fps higher than the other quality settings
Ultra: 16/59/29

I repeted the test several times to see if was a fluke, but no, the results are consistent (variation of around 2-4 fps)

This night I will provide the results for my personal computer

Luis

[tornel]

Date: 7/08/2018
QLC+ / Qt version: QLC+ 5.0.0 Alpha 3 / Qt 5.11.1
OS: Windows 8.1 Pro
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 1700
GPU: NVIDIA GTX 1070

Low: 26/298/48
Medium: 26/263/65
High: 26/262/62
Ultra: 27/255/60
(Vsync off)

-------------

Date: 7/08/2018
QLC+ / Qt version: QLC+ 5.0.0 Alpha 3 (Appimage)/ Qt 5.10.1
OS: Ubuntu Budgie 18.04.1 LTS
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 1700
GPU: NVIDIA GTX 1070

Low: 29/61/30
Medium: 29/61/30
High: 29/61/30
Ultra: 28/61/30
(Vsync on, even if I turn vsync off the results are the same, I don't know what's going on, I will try to investigate that further)

[fooschnickens]

Date: 8/8/2018
QLC+/QT: 5.0.0 Alpha 3/ 5.11.1
OS: Win10 Pro
CPU: Intel i7-4600U 2.7GHz
GPU: Intel HD4400
LQ: 10/45/10
MQ: 9/40/19
HQ: 5/37/12
UQ: 4/58/7

[mcallegari]

Thanks everyone for submitting the results you got from the 3D demo project.
Apparently there are some weird results across quality levels. I suspect they are related to CPU bottlenecks inside Qt3D.
Unfortunately, I can't do anything about it, but I really hope the situation will improve over time.

[giacomo]

date 09/08/2018
QLC+ 5.0.0_alpha3.Appimage

gnome 3.28 wayland
Intel® Core™ i7-4600U CPU @ 2.10GHz × 4
Intel® Haswell Mobile

lo 7 59 7
me 7 59 7
hi 5 53 6
ul 4 59 5

I've tried to rebuilt the virtual console for a recent show and it's a big change in the UI and usability, I found it not intuitive (maybe my habits) but I've to say that I really like it.
Sometimes I was wondering if there is a technical reason to not have also the option of a secondary mouse click, like a menu with the actions for that window, I guess it could speed up things on a keyboard + mouse system.

I've rebuilt the show in the virtual console because the gadget dimensions were all different and I was having many occasional crashes, I thought it was because of old features yet not implemented, in the end I wasn't able to assign
_ the "level mode" to the sliders ("function mode" yes)
_ any external control to a cue list.
I'm willing to try it on a real stage but these missing features are too important even for a rehearsal.

I know that my laptop it's not for 3d gaming but I can still draw with blender so why to not use qlc+ as well, in my case the 3d view it's quite impossible to navigate, zooming and panning are super sluggish and not precise, could be an option to have a "point of view" selector as we have in the 2d view?
Another thought, would it be useful an "invert selection" button?
And a last cosmetic question: is there a way to disable the BPM blinking as default?

thanks!

[mcallegari]

Sometimes I was wondering if there is a technical reason to not have also the option of a secondary mouse click, like a menu with the actions for that window, I guess it could speed up things on a keyboard + mouse system.

As mentioned in other posts, QLC+ 5 is designed to run also on touchscreen devices (as a matter of fact, it runs on Android and iOS too)
There's no "right" click there, so I opted for a unified interface where everything can be done with fingers/left clicks, instead of having different "desktop" and "mobile" behaviors.

I've rebuilt the show in the virtual console because the gadget dimensions were all different and I was having many occasional crashes, I thought it was because of old features yet not implemented, in the end I wasn't able to assign
_ the "level mode" to the sliders ("function mode" yes)
_ any external control to a cue list.
I'm willing to try it on a real stage but these missing features are too important even for a rehearsal.

Makes sense. Several areas are still work in progress. Please open a separate thread with details of your findings, so I can track and fix them. Thanks.

I know that my laptop it's not for 3d gaming but I can still draw with blender so why to not use qlc+ as well, in my case the 3d view it's quite impossible to navigate, zooming and panning are super sluggish and not precise, could be an option to have a "point of view" selector as we have in the 2d view?

Please elaborate, but in a separate post please.

Another thought, would it be useful an "invert selection" button?

Sounds like a corner case to me. You can toggle all/none with CTRL-A or bottom left icon.

And a last cosmetic question: is there a way to disable the BPM blinking as default?

Indeed. BPM is not saved anywhere ATM. I need to find a place for it in the project XML file.

[natantmartins]

I'm not getting to add a 'moving head' fixture to the universe. I can add all other types of fixtures but moving head I can't.
No errors apears just not add.
i'm using ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS