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Published: 28 articles

Jinx! V2.4 – A new generator and a lot of improvements

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Today I am happy to release the new Jinx! Version 2.4. I did a lot of work behind the scenes and did a lot of optimizing. With the new version we get a completely new effect generator: Raindrops. It is a water ripple effect which can give you some really cool pictures. There has also been improvements to the Scrolling Text effect, so you can now use 380 chars instead of 254 and the perspective transform is now available for alle four directions. You can further use the last line of a file if you import the scrolling text in realtime as well as making cool time driven countdowns with the new $COUNT variable inside the Scrolling text Generator.

I also implemented some random color options into the falling rain and expanding shapes effect including a primary color switch. To round up the effect modifications, we also got a new release and fade time option inside the strobe effect. Just look at the new demo scenes (Cool Drops, Liquid Color Wars, Audio Color Drops, Strobe Analyzer) to see what can be done with the new features.

Some modifications has also been done to the gui skins. The skin files will now reside in the skin directory directly inside your jinx installation and we will be able to use background images inside the skins. I added some new skins, so you can take a look at this feature. Another small but usefull modification will affect the matrix regions. If any region is active, the region button will stay pressed, so you can directly see any active settings. The region preview on the matrix while adjusting is now switchable and will stay off as default setting and it will also only stop the corresponding effect generator instead of all. So you can adjust the regions while your show is running without flashing your audience on the matrix.

As always, please take a look inside the manual to get more information about how the new features work.

Changelog:

  • implement raindrop/water ripple effect with random colors and audio trigger
  • implement primary color option for random colors into fading pixels
  • implement random color into expanding shapes and falling rain
  • implement directions for perspective transform inside scrolling text
  • make text from file inside scrolling text switchable between first and last line in file
  • increase max chars on scrolling text from 254 to 380
  • implement countdown function $COUNT into scrolling text
  • add release/fade time to strobe effect
  • make region preview on matrix switchable with default setting: off
  • only stop corresponding generator on region setting instead of all generators
  • make region buttons switchable and make it stay pressed if the region is active
  • implement flip left/right and flip top/bottom into dvi window
  • implement instance tag into gui options to name a jinx instance in title bar
  • make color schemes to support background images
  • add additional color schemes
  • change main, scene and chaser window calculation to correctly place the controls on windows 10
  • synchronize all generators and output processing to avoid interferences for big matrices and slow computers
  • fix image viewer to take care about transparent gifs and png files with alpha channel
  • optimize audio processing
  • redesigned program Icon
  • changed codesign certificate (see special post earlier this day)

Important – Invalid Certificates for Jinx! V2.2 and V2.3

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With Jinx! Version 2.2 I started to digitally sign my binaries and also implemented a certificate check to avoid illegally patched versions. Unfortunately the code sign certificate I used (Startcom) has the so called lifetime flag set. This means that no timestamping will work and the certificate will get invalid when it expires in january 2017. This means after the 4. january 2017 Jinx Version 2.2 and 2.3 will not start anymore until you set the date on your pc back. Im very sorry about this, but I didnt recognized that the code signig certificate is unusable because of this lifetime flag. It also be a shame, that someone sells such stupid certificates.

Starting with Version 2.4 I will use a new Thawte codesigning certificate that will work as expected and will support timestamping, so the certificate will stay valid even if the certificate date has been expired.

So important for everyone, especially if you use Jinx in any production: Please update your Jinx! Versions to 2.4 (or later) to avoid problems next january.

Im really sorry about this and very disappointed that Startcom itself didnt give me a chance to avoid this without buying a new codesign certificate.

Jinx! V2.3 – Some small additions and bugfixes

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After a long break I am happy to release the next Jinx! version. Its not a major update, but it will give you some bugfixes and enhancements and a few new features. First of all there are some bugfixes for the custom gui especially for multimonitor setups. We also fixed some bugs inside Jinx!Script (FOR/NEXT as well as PGET). Jinx!Script also got some new functions with asin() and acos(). And the variable store has been optimized, so Jinx!Script now operates about 30% faster than before. Look inside the manual or online help for the two new functions.

Another great enhancement are the downsizeable preview windows. The matrix preview windows now automatically downsize the preview when there are more pixels inside your matrix as your preview will have on the screen. So we are now able to display bigger matrices inside these panes, which means I increased the pixel limit inside Jinx! to a maximum width/height of 480 pixel. Also the overall pixel limit has been raised to 48000 pixel.

The DVI Window is now resizeable too and will even work in fullscreen mode, where you can additionally display a grid in it. So the dvi window can now be used on a second monitor to do a matrix simulation over a big display or beamer.

The next small enhancement will be the overall colorpicker, which can be invoked by rightclicking on any Red/Green/Blue Slider inside the effect configs and will give you the possibility to choose your color at an ease. I really like this 🙂

The last addition in Jinx is the ability to bind the incoming and outgoing network traffic to a specific network card/ip address. So you can directly send over a dedicated network card and keep your main network clear from broad- and multicasts.

As always look inside the manual or online help to get more information about the new features.

I also added some new User Jinx!Scripts to the download page. A special Thanks to Silas for sharing his scripts with us.

Changelog:

  • fix some custom gui bugs
  • fix context menu positioning for multimonitor setups
  • fix JnS PGET, which didnt return 0 for points outside the matrix
  • fix JnS FOR/NEXT loop, which could break under some conditions
  • implement asin() and acos() into JnS
  • speed enhancement fpr JnS variable store
  • implement preview window resizing for bigger matrices
  • raise pixel limit to a width/height of max 480px as well as ovreall pixel limit to 48000px
  • make dvi window resizeable and allow fullscreen mode with grids
  • implement color picker for effect color config
  • implement network option to bind in- and outgoing network traffic to a specific ip/nic

Some more User Jinx!Scripts

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Today I added another 5 effects from Bob Kojima. A special thanks to Bob for sharing his work, maybe it motivates other users to share their scripts too.

Have Fun!

Jinx! V2.2 – some small additions

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Today I released Jinx! version 2.2. There are only some small additions in this release. First of all we got some new commands inside Jinx!Script as well as access to the audio rms level inside Jinx!Script. There are some additional demo scripts to see how the new commands can be used. The next new options is the ability to patch monochrome pixels. You can simply set all 3 colors to the same output channel and Jinx! will calculate the grey level value at output stage to drive single color pixels. You can also use the new fast patch option „monochrome“ to simply patch a monochrome matrix with 1 channel per pixel.
To make scene changes within a live show more comfortable you can now us the auto scene fade. If the auto scene fade option is active, Jinx! will automatically place the next selected half scene on the left or right side and will start and auto crossfade to the new scene. So you can simply click a new (half) scene inside the show mode or scene window to get a crossfade on it. The crossfade speed can now be adjusted as well. This feature can be enabled by the „Auto“ button inside the scene window or show mode window. See the manual for more information about this feature.

Starting with V2.2 all Jinx! binaries will be digitally signed by me, so you can be sure to get an original and non patched version. Additionally Jinx! will check the digital signature while starting and will prevent any modified binary from getting executed.

Changelog:

  • digital signed binaries with Authenticode check
  • new mathematical commands for Jinx!Script: round(), floor(), ceil(), see the manual for more informations
  • implement audio rms level access into Jinx!Script, see Simple VU Meter and Simple Audio Waveform demo scenes/scripts
  • new „scroll“ command for Jinx!Script to move the last screen in any direction, see manual for more information
  • implement hsv2rgb and hsl2rgb conversions into Jinx!Script, see manual for more information
  • implement auto scene fade to easy assign and auto crossfade half scenes
  • make auto fade speed adjustable
  • implement monochrome pixel patch mode, Jinx! will calculate the grey level if all three colors inside a patch will point to the same channel
  • implement monochrome mode into fast patch dialog
  • „only draw patched pixel“ in matrix options windows have been renamed to „use patch state for pixel drawing“ and will also display monochrome patched pixel with grey level inside the preview windows
  • bind artnet output to udp source port 0x1936 to completely fit the specs, because some rare controllers only accept artnet packets from source port 0x1936
  • swap ip / universe text display inside patch window for output device
  • fix to coreectly display scene preview while editing a chase

 

Some User Jinx!Scripts

admin

Today I added a submenu to the download site, where you will find some user coded Jinx!Scripts for everyone to use. A special thanks to the users, that are sharing their work with us. You will all make Jinx! a bit more useful.

If anyone wants to share some scripts with us, feel free to send it to me and I will put it on the download page.

By the way, I already work on Jinx! V2.2 🙂

Stay tuned !

 

Jinx! V2.1a – Small bugfix for remote control

admin

Just uploaded version 2.1a with a small bugfix for the remote control. It was not possible to select the two new crossfade modes (move left/right, move up/down) within the remote control. The new crossfade mode settings are now:

Progressive (0-20), Linear (21-41), Left Shape (42-62), Right Shape (63-83), Left Intensity (84-104), Right Intensity (105-125), Left Overlay (126-146), Right Overlay (147-167), Left Overlay Border (168-188), Right Overlay Border (189-209), Move left/right (210-230), Move up/down (231-255)

 

Jinx! V2.1 – Some small additions and more bugfixes

admin

So another release for this week. There had been some more bugs to be fixed and I also added some small features. In the main mix, we have now 2 more merge/mix modes (Move Left/Right and Move Up/Down). The Image Viewer got also some transitions for the slideshow mode. If you are using the slideshow mode, you can now choose between different transitions or use them all with a random generator.

Another small feature I added, are region templates. Within the region settings you now can save an unlimited amount of preconfigured regions as a named template. So if you use the regions heavily, you can recall your defined regions with a simple click and dont have to set the coordinates every time. The region templates get saved within you .jnx show file.

Changelog:

  • fixed some GDI memleaks, which can produce graphical garbage on your windows if you use Jinx! for a long time without restarting
  • fixed a graphical error in the plasma edit dialog
  • fixed background painting on checkboxes if the text changes
  • fix image viewer image load routine, which can lead to an app crash if you try to load a damaged image file
  • fix artnet sequence number to start at 1 when transmitting instead of 0
  • implement two more mix modes into main mix (Move Left/Right, Move Up/Down)
  • implement image transitions into image viewer for slideshow mode
  • implement region templates to store and quickly recall predefined regions

Have Fun !

Jinx! 2.02 – Another bugfix release

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We found some more bugs to fix, hopefully we got all now 🙂

  • fix label size on fast patch dialog to display the correct starting pixel
  • fix memory copy for regions, regions with the same width as your matrix didnt recognize another y start value than 0
  • fix memory violation for regions which can lead to an appcrash when using a Enttec OpenDMX interface

Jinx! V2.01 – Some small bugfixes

admin

Just a small bugfix release for the version 2.

Changelog:

  • fix a race condition which sometimes can occur when restoring scenes with regions
  • fix effect initialization when changing scenes with regions which can lead to an app crash
  • clear thread backbuffer when changing scenes to avoid graphical glitches and short flashes when the invert state changes