GrandVJ users rejoice! Version 2 is coming and here is the Public Beta already.. It comes with some major changes, some of them obvious and some out of sight, but nonetheless visible. Let’s go for a quick overview..

Interface improvements

First of all, we’ve improved the user-interface. We tried to make it even more user-friendly, especially for those using the bit more complex “Mixer mode”.

We’ve introduced a simple color coding to differentiate parameters and controls related to layers (orange) from those related to cells (blue). This will help you to know what you are editing at a first glance.

We have also addressed the “parameters panel locking” feature which seemed to be confusing for many users. You can lock panels to ensure that layer parameters won’t change when you trigger a cell, however the lock panel button in GrandVJ 1 was placed amongst other parameters in a way that suggested it was cell / layer relative.

Each panel lock is now represented by a specific icon (for Effect lock, Position / size lock and Mixing lock) and the buttons have been moved from the parameters panels to the mixer panel. Each locked panel displays the corresponding icon in its title tab.

New effects / transitions

Some candy for your eyes..

• TV Pixelation is an effect that will give some nice, colorful RGB pixelization with variable resolution.
• Godrays will add some nice glowing trails to your visuals, you can parameter the decay, the weight and the light direction X / Y.
• Video Distortion renders a dirty jagging video-distorted image like on old broken TV monitors.
• Color Correction is useful to quickly fix Hue, Saturation or Lightness on a visual so you can make it match with other visuals from your patch for example.
• Edge Glow is the well known “Glowing Edges” effect, you can parameter edge size and background.
• Splitter splits the output in several parts and repeats the visual across it. Like the “Video Splitter” effect but without distortion. You can parameter Split X or Split Y.
• Stretching Blinds is a new transition that will cut your visual in stretching blinds to fade to the next visual.

Under the hood

Apart from the Interface, we’ve also been working to improve GrandVJ under the hood, besides the usual bug fixing and the overall performance boost thanks to a better multi-threading and support for new codecs, we’ve also added audio files playback capability. We had a lot of requests for this feature from users needing an easy way to play some background music while mixing video clips, without the need for a third party software.

The Video Mapper

You ever wanted to do Video Mapping? Well, now you can thanks to GrandVJ XT, a new “extended” version of GrandVJ 2 which adds expert features such as the Video Mapper extension for a start, but more will come soon.

The Video Mapper has been designed with the same objectives than each ArKaos software: being user-friendly yet powerful. Just set up a projector and a bunch of cardboard crates and start mapping right away. We made it so intuitive that you will figure out most of it in a few minutes, sparing your precious time for creative tasks.

But even if you don’t plan to do advanced video mapping, like on 3D shapes, buildings, cars etc.. The Video Mapper is also extremely handy to target each of your displays with different visual content, independently from their resolution, which makes it easy to setup complex installation i.e. with several LCD screens of various sizes and positions.

And since it’s totally integrated with GrandVJ, you just have to setup your mapping then you can quit the Video Mapper, keeping all your system resources for GrandVJ, you can then play your visuals and they will be sent where you mapped them.

New registration system

Last but not the least, the registration system has been totally reworked.
We know that you often have to use several computers and you want to be able to swap them on the go.. And the old license system in GrandVJ 1 wasn’t very flexible with that.

With one license, you can now activate GrandVJ on a computer for your shows and another one i.e. as a backup, and more importantly you can deactivate a computer and activate another one instantly from within the software, provided that you have an internet connection.

We really want everybody to enjoy the flexibility of this new licensing system and that is one of the reasons why we made the upgrade to GrandVJ 2 free for every GrandVJ 1 user.

Beta version and.. Your precious feedback!

The GrandVJ 2 / GrandVJ XT software you can download from our web site is currently a Beta version and as such, is not recommended for professional use or use in situations where performance and stability are required.

The full software documentation is still in the works but you will find a Release Notes and a Quickstart PDF document in the software installation folder that will help you getting started with GrandVJ 2 / XT and the Video Mapper. Of course, the final version will also come with new visual content that is not yet available with the Beta.

This public Beta allows us to test - through our users - the software on a much broadest range of system configuration than what we can simulate here so we can discover and fix new issues before the final release. And that is why your feedback about this Beta version is extremely important.

If you encounter a crash, we have implemented a new reporting system that will let us know exactly what went wrong so we can fix it. It requires that your computer is connected to the Internet but it will ask you before sending anything and it won’t send us any personal data (don’t worry, we’re not the NSA..).

So please take some time to stress-test this version, push it to the limits and send us those crash reports! And if you want to give some constructive feedback of if you have remarks, you can write on our forum in the GrandVJ 2 Beta topic.

How to upgrade?

If you want to unlock GrandVJ 2 Beta on a computer you can already upgrade your license, it will of course work to activate the final version also when we release it in September.

Since its a new system for software activation, your GrandVJ 1 codes won’t work in GrandVJ 2. You will have to go to our online shop and get a GrandVJ license upgrade. You have several options but the “GrandVJ 2 (Upgrade 1.x)” is the free one.

And if you can’t wait to do some Video Mapping, you have the option to upgrade directly to GrandVJ XT; the “GrandVJ XT (Upgrade 1.x)” on our shop currently comes with a -10% loyalty discount for our GrandVJ 1 users! (This special offer is valid until Sept. 30, 2013)

We are working hard to give you the most powerful and user-friendly VJ software thanks to our experience, and also thanks to your great support through your constant feedback and enthusiasm!