New BlackTrax Beta 2.0 makes tracking even easier, faster to calibrate, program
and use. Developed for over a year, 2.0 has the largest number of new features,
GUI and workflow improvements in any BlackTrax release yet.
“A lot of these improvements were developed from customer suggestions, requests
and general feedback,’ explains Marty Cochrane, BlackTrax Product Manager. “This
includes better system reporting, real-time chapter programming and more control
over fixtures during the calibration process.’
Highlights include:
• All-new GUI design for BlackTrax, BTWyg, Tracker, and Follower – with full-
screen mode for BlackTrax and new simpler basic mode for Tracker and Follower.
BTWyg sports a new GUI design inspired by wysiwyg R36 lighting design and
previsualization software, with blue highlights, icons, and a welcome screen.
• New Fixture Calibration mode improvements ensure faster calibration. Multi-
person calibration is included. Several people with several different beacons
calibrate their own selection of lights. Fixtures will clear their colour and gobo
automatically, as well as BlackTrax having control over zoom/iris. This allows the
user to jump in and start calibrating right away, without needing to create a special
BlackTrax calibration pre-set on the console, thus freeing up the console
programmer to continue their work.
• Rigid and soft frames for more flexible tracking operations and objects.
Frames combine a collection of Stringers (aka LEDs) from multiple beacons that
make up an object and BlackTrax is no longer restricted to three Stringers for a
system. Rigid frames allow the orientation of an object to be calculated and
tracked. A soft frame allows a flexible centroid to re-calculate position based on the
visible Stringers at the same time.
• Improved fixture programming. Unified multi-fixture settings and the ability
to quickly view, select and apply settings to several fixtures from across multiple
chapters. New icon and table views for fixtures and trackables display fixture
setting information much faster than ever before.
• Copy and paste trackables and fixtures between chapters and within chapters
– if applicable.
• Ability to create a new BlackTrax Project without first requiring wysiwyg
information.
• Send BlackTrax/wysiwyg changes directly without needed to export.
“BlackTrax was all about functionally, getting the system to do some cool and
amazing things. Now that we have reached the milestone of a stable and functioning
product that has been working flawlessly in the world’s most demanding shows, we
wanted to turn our attention to ease of use, simplicity, and unification,’ adds
Cochrane.