With this version, we introduce an absolute new render engine for all Pandoras Box products.

At the first glimpse, you won't notice anything new in the Preview tab or Rendering window but that's just the outside - the inside is a completely new render engine which is based on DirectX 11.

We have reworked, optimized and improved the entire video rendering process from ground up. The advantages you can witness already today are a better performance and a higher color depth (see below) but the future will reveal more.

The new render engine sets ground for new features, the first one is the capability of rendering in 10bit color depth. Servers can now be set to this higher bit depth in order to increase the image quality. Uncompressed content can now be shown without any artifacts or color banding. 10bit rendering per color channel allows for a total of 1 billion colors to be displayed, instead of only 16.7 million. More contrast, cleaner color transitions and HDR rendering becomes herewith possible.

In the Configuration dialog > Render Engine you can now find the option "Back Buffer Color Depth" which can be set to 8bit, or 10bit on Servers. As this is available for each Client separately, you can save performance on those Clients which are not connected to 10bit capable displays or projectors.

Christie is now offering 10bit HDR support throughout its entire product offering.

In order to render in a higher color depth, the inserted content needs to provide it. Therefore, Pandoras Box supports now png and tiff files with a color depth of 16bit per channel. The color depth information has been added to the File Inspector.

In addition, you can make use of a new image (sequence) format called DPX (Digital Picture Exchange) which is a common format for uncompressed still frames. If you have not heard from dpx, you can think of it as a bitmap format that can be saved with more variety in color depths. Pandoras Box accepts dpx files with a color depth of 8, 10 or 12bit per channel. However, any content will always be rendered in 8 bit or 10bit, according to the render engine. This happens automatically, i.e. no re-rendering is needed.

All image formats are explained in detail in the chapter "Image Formats".

To sum this up: If you render images or image sequences with a color depth of 8bit there is no advantage of using dpx files over bmp files, it is just another possibility.
When rendering in 10bit, you can use 16bit tiff or png files, but the highest efficiency is reached when using 10bit dpx files.

Various QuickTime codecs containing 10bit or more are also supported.

The Image Converter tool is updated to import tiff and png files that where saved with a color depth of 16bit per channel and in addition it can now read dpx files with 8,10,12bit, all formats with or without an alpha channel.

The export functionality has been extended and includes dpx files with 8 or 10bit color depth, with or without transparency.

Thus, the new Image Converter allows to transcode 16bit png or tiff files into 10bit dpx files to be efficiently used in Pandoras Box.

For more information please see the Image Converter chapter.

Pandoras Box version 6.5.0 now also allows the usage of all embedded audio channels within the HDMI signal when using the HDMI 2.0 input cards or 12G-SDI Input Cards.

Similar to SDI audio, the new HDMI audio options are displayed in the Assets tab. Simply open the "Live Inputs" folder of the respective Client or Master system and look for the HDMI audio entries. HDMI supports up to eight channels which are displayed as four stereo channels in the Assets tab. Select an entry and drag it to the Project tab. From there you can assign it to an ASIO Track. To playback the audio part you always have to play the video part on a Video Layer simultaneously.

Pandoras Box supports sample rates of 44.1k and 48k. As Inputs are not resampled please make sure that the audio device matches this sample rate (Configuration tab > ASIO Audio). The sample rate of the HDMI audio channel is displayed in the Inspector when selecting it in the Project tab.

More information can be found in the chapter about the HDMI input card.

This version includes a second new option in the Configuration dialog > Render Engine which is called "Texture Splitting" and is available for each Client separately.

We have seen a higher show performance when we checked this option working ... :
- on our current hardware (Player R4 and Server R4)
- with uncompressed formats
- with high resolutions above HD

As the name suggest, this option splits textures internally which has the effect that the system handles smaller (but more) textures instead of one very large one. As a result, the loading process of large textures gets smoother and thus increases the "show performance", which we state on our Performance Sheets found in the Download-Center. The show performance defines the maximum number of videos which can be started and stopped without interfering other videos.

This version includes important bug fixes for issues which occurred when adding audio files with an unsupported audio format to Pandoras Box.

With this version a View Bar is added to the top of the user interface showing seven new views. The first, called "Essentials", is our new default view and shows the Inspector on the right side. The others are named "Content, Sequence, FX, Preview, Show, Floating" and emphasize a particular use of the UI. Simply click on a View to change the currently shown tabs and their arrangement.

To change a view to your needs, open the "Views" folder in the Project Tree, right-click the according View and choose "Update". This saves the current layout.

When saving a new layout, you can now choose between two options from the right-click menu of the "Views" folder. With "Create View" you save the entire layout as usual (with a small structural change as explained further down). With "Create Partial View" you are saving only a specific part of the interface. A dialog asks which of the four sub-views should be included:
- "Layout" saves the layout of the UI including the pane arrangement, size, break-out state, which tabs are loaded and what they display. Its pretty much everything except of what the following three partial views save.
- "Preview" saves the layout of the Preview including the mode, number of preview windows and assigned cameras/outputs.
- "Sequence" saves the loaded Sequence ID.
- "Device Tree" saves which devices and sites are hidden or shown.

When creating a View (via "Create View"), all four sub-views can be found as sub entries in the Project tree. They can be applied, updated or removed separately. The seven new default views change only the "Layout" part, so that the currently loaded Sequence, Preview and Device Tree do not change.

You can add a new View to the View Bar to access it faster. You can either drag it there from the Project tab, or right-click it and choose "Add to View Bar" or make a right-click in the View Bar and choose "Add".

In the View's right-click menu, you can also find the new option to "Export" a view, which saves the "Layout" sub view as a pbv file to the hard disc.
The right-click menu of the main Views folder, offers the corresponding "Import" option. By the way, the default views are saved in the installation path under data/views.

The behavior of the Cues tab is now more intuitive. When the Sequence is paused at a Cue (manually or via a Pause Cue), the current Cue is highlighted in the Cues tab and the next Cue is listed with a Countdown time. In the example, the Nowpointer is paused at Cue 2 and Cue 3 is 7 seconds away.

The Inspector from version 6.4.3 will now also display the chroma sub sampling for live inputs, e.g. "4:2:2". Since version 6.4.0, you can choose another chroma sub sampling, i.e. RGB 4:4.4, in addition to YUV 4:2:2 when working with HDMI inputs, which was described below.

The Pre Roll Time, which can be found in the Clip Inspector, allows to load content before the Nowpointer enters the Container which is stored in the Sequence. Per default, this time is now 2 seconds. In addition, you can find the Pre Roll option when a Live Input is stored in the Container.

When importing an Image Sequence, the default frame rate is now proposed with 50 FPS.

From now on, you can multi-select folders in the Assets tab, right-click them and choose "Import as Image Sequence". If you don't need to set up individual frame rates, set up your frame rate under Configuration > User > Resources > Image Sequence Initial Values and uncheck the option "Show Popup..."

In addition, you can multi-select Sites in the Device Tree and choose "Toggle Preview".

From now on, QuickTime files support embedded audio again.

With this version we introduce a new input card. It is our first 12G input solution and comes with additional inputs to be used as a Quad 3G-SDI board. It is also equipped with an HDMI 2.0 input which can be used for DisplayPort as well. The image shows all inputs from the "12G/Quad 3G SDI, HDMI/DP" board.

Starting with Pandoras Box version 6.4.1 we are supporting the original Deltacast drivers (version 6.14) which we have added to our driver package in the Download-Center.
The 12G-SDI board can only be used with driver version 6.14 (or later).
The DVI board (and old HD-SDI board) can only be used with driver version up to 6.01.
The 3G-SDI board and HDMI board can be used with both versions.

When having two or more cards in a single computer they have to run with the same driver version. Therefore, a DVI board cannot be used along with the 12G board in a single computer. Using different driver version on separate machines is not a problem.

Furthermore, we have optimized the behavior of live inputs in our software, so that they only use system performance when being assigned to a layer.
As always, bug fixes can be tracked in the "changelog.txt" in the installation folder under C:\Program Files\Christie\Pandoras Box ...

Version 6.4 is the first Pandoras Box application in a 64bit environment. This means primarily that it can allocate much more system memory of the operating system, which by itself is not a "visible" but major feature. PB has now more performance in general and especially when it comes to video decoding.

The new environment allows to address more memory so that you can load more layers with large content at a time. Further it can do more processing in parallel. This is why the overall performance increases and is especially visible when playing back various codecs. Obviously, whenever the bandwidth of your hard drive or PCIe bus is the limiting performance factor, this cannot be overcome. But especially with compressed video files (HAP, MPEG-2, etc.), the performance increases substantially on most systems. Depending on the used hardware, even uncompressed videos get a boost as more frames can be simultaneously cached in the system memory now.

We will update our Performance Specs for content playback in the near future.

The QuickTime decoder that was part of the 32bit installations has been replaced with a new decoder. This not only enables you to playback more videos in parallel due to better performance, but also opens up a new world of video codecs. Pandoras Box now easily digests videos encoded with H.264, HEVC, ProRes of multiple flavors or even DNxHD. We will provide a full list of supported codecs and its performance when coming closer to the next release.

In this version, embedded audio in QuickTime files is ignored and the GUI states "no audio" in the Inspector.

Video performance for QuickTime based files now also benefits from hardware acceleration. Depending on your Nvidia GPU, you can hardware decode codecs such as H.264 or HEVC. You will witness a massive CPU usage drop when Pandoras Box automatically activates the hardware acceleration. You can double-check your GPU charts to verify which files can be accelerated, e.g. on https://developer.nvidia.com/video-encode-decode-gpu-support-matrix (the right side of the table).
While the P4000 for example easily accepts H.265 (HEVC) files up to 8K in various chroma sub sampling flavors, the M4000 mainly ceases at H.264 and only supports H.265 (HEVC) in 4K 4:2:0.

The entire graphical user interface (GUI) comes with a new font, colors and icons and has been cleaned up for a better understanding. Separators as well as headers or frames make it easier to visually gather settings of different topics, for instance in the Inspector.

File and device trees (project tree, asset tree, device tree, patch tree,...) have been rebuilt to include new functionality. The tree item selection now follows Windows defaults and does not maintain selections when single-clicking on an already selected device.

In the Device Tree tab, you will now find distinct columns for different information: parameter names, values and various icons are placed separated:
- To maintain readability of layers and parameter names, the active state is now only shown in the value column and on the left side of the layer or parameter name.
- Double-clicking a layer name toggles its parameters. Double-clicking a parameter name (first column) opens the Curve Editor. Double-clicking a parameter value (second column) allows changing the value.
- Click-able icons in designated columns allow to mute the rendering or audio.

Please activate "ClearType" to have a clearer font and, as always, make sure that the "DPI scaling" is set to 100% for a correct scaling of our interface. The chapter "User Interface - Master" explains this in more detail.

Pandoras Box is now installed into C:\Program Files\Christie next to the Widget Designer.

Also, the log files and crash dumps got a new location to prevent the need to navigate into system locked installation folders when grabbing a file for support.
You can now find the log files within C:\ProgramData\Christie. We added a link to this new place in the former log folder.

A bigger change is the new content folder:

As introduced many years ago, Pandoras Box prefers and defaults into C:\coolux\content. Christie hardware always mounts content drives (RAIDs) into this folder to act as a regular folder and all content data is placed into the right location. This way the OS-drive is not overloaded with content or cache files. Pandoras Box 6.4.0 also finally removes all mentioning of coolux and transitions to Christie (Digital Systems Germany GmbH). This requires us to mount content drives into C:\Christie\content going forward. No worries, we do care for compatibility! You will not even realize that this has changed as we continue to use the coolux folder if it exists already. Only when installing Pandoras Box 6.4.0 on a brand-new system, the Christie folder will be created. Existing hardware can be used as it is and also a mixture of hardware configurations is no issue at all.

Another 6.4 feature is the functionality to directly link a Playlist in Pandoras Box to a watched Windows folder. This way Pandoras Box automatically adds and removes files to its Playlist. It can therefore run in standalone mode and does not need to rely on another application like Widget Designer performing this task. This makes it easier and faster especially for fixed installs or when dropping photographs into Pandoras Box on the fly. You can find the new options in the (Watch) Folder Inspector.

Step-by-step instruction:
- In the project tab, right-click a folder and choose "Add Playlist" and afterwards "Add Folder".
- Select the folder and look at the bottommost options named "Watched Folder" in the Inspector. (Later on, you might need to open the folder attributes by clicking the topmost + icon.)
- Click "Browse" and select the Windows folder you like to watch. Now, additional options appear for the Watch Folder.
- Open the drop-down list and select the Playlist you like to link to the Watch Folder.
- Optionally, select the Playlist and in the Inspector, click the button "Open in Resource Editor". All files from the Windows folder are part of the Playlist. If you are missing files, check whether the format can be read from Pandoras Box. Other Playlist information can be found in the chapters Playlist and Playlist Inspector.

Pandoras Box version 6.4.0 introduces a new tab: the File Browser.
Right-click on a folder in the Project tab or in the Assets tab, and you will see the option to open this folder in a new File Browser. It opens in a new tab and shows the content from the respective folder as thumbnails. You can open as many File Browsers as you need. If you are interested in changing the layout of the user interface, please see the chapter "Layout". It describes how to add or break-out panes and how to save and load views.

The Thumbnail Viewer tab is still available but as always, you can open it only once and the displayed content changes dynamically whenever you select another folder. The File Browser on the other hand is more static as it keeps displaying the same content.

The 64bit version of Pandoras Box uses a new encryption algorithm. Hence, media files that are encrypted with this new version can only be decrypted with another 6.4 (or higher) PB system. In return, media files encrypted earlier can only be decrypted with a PB version below 6.4.

Pandoras Box Media Encryption is a technology that encrypts media in order to protect content from being played back by unauthorized persons or systems without permission. More information...

When working with HDMI inputs, you can now choose another chroma sub sampling, i.e. RGB 4:4.4, in addition to YUV 4:2:2. You can find this option in the configuration window from the input.

Master: add input from Assets tab to Project tab and select it; click "Configure" button at the bottom of the Inspector
Client: click "Configure Live Inputs" in the Client's user interface

With this Pandoras Box version, the older Jog/Shuttle and Playback Extension are not supported anymore. Please make sure to use the newer version of the Jog/Shuttle Control (depicted below) and Fader Extension.

MA-Net version 1 is no longer supported in Pandoras Box. MA-Net 2 (v2.9xx) and other protocols can be activated in the Configuration tab > Remote Control Protocols.

Please make sure to have Input Card driver version 6.0.1 installed when using video inputs with Pandoras Box version 6.4.0. Older input card driver versions are no longer supported.

The installer now includes the USB driver which you need for various Pandoras Box USB devices.

We also updated the software "PB Menu" which is pre-installed on all Pandoras Box hardware. "PB Menu 6.4.0" reflects the changes with the new file paths for the installation of Pandoras Box as well as for the Logs and Content folders. Besides, it includes bug fixes. Please download it from the Download-Center.

This version includes bug fixes to prevent possible crashes. Pandoras Box 6.1.4 is the last version in a 32bit environment. Following PB versions are 64bit applications.

This version makes it easier and more intuitive to drag containers and key frames precisely to another element on the timeline.
If you drag one or several containers or key frames in the Sequence tab, you will notice that they snap to cues and to the borders of other containers. Key frames can also snap to other key frames within the same container. Hence, you can align containers and keys much faster without positioning the Nowpointer first (which was always "magnetic"). You can snap to the beginning or end of all containers, might they be on other Layers or Sites. You can only snap to elements in Layers that are shown and not hidden.
Whenever a snapping target is active, you will see a white dashed vertical line and arrows which indicate the snapping partners, e.g. the beginning of your dragged container and the end of another container.
Zooming in and out could help finding the required snap target faster. To disable snapping temporarily, hold the [Shift] and [Alt] key whilst dragging. To disable it permanently, go to Configuration tab > User > Sequence  and uncheck "Snap Containers" or "Snap Cues".

More information can be found in the chapter Programming in the timeline.

When dragging a container or key frame in the timeline, a new pop-up appears next to your cursor and shows the relative time how far it is moved, e.g. plus 20 frames.

Pandoras Box version 6.1.3 introduces the possibility to recalibrate (transform) CMSH-files from Widget Designer (version 6.1.0). You will need the Projector Recalibration tool from WD and the hardware device "Calibration Link".

The Startup menu of Pandoras Box version 6.1.3 offers the possibility to start a project and a sync session directly. For more information about Sync Sessions, please see the chapter "Multi-User".

Touch induced mouse events now work for CEF browser as well. Up until now, touch events only worked in the Awesomium browser engine. More information can be found in the chapter Configuration > Resources(Global).

Pandoras BPANDORAS BOX WEB BROWSERox version 6.1.3 includes a new version of the Art-Net Monitor.

The button "Toggle Overview" shows (or hides) a table with all Universes and Subnets. The table can also be clicked to see all channels from a respective universe. Alternatively, you can choose the universe with the drop-down list(s) on the left side. You can either choose a "Universe" and "Subnet" or a single "Universe #" in case the option "Universe As Single Number" is checked.

A new drop-down list lets you select the network adapter that is used for Art-Net. If channel values cannot be received anymore (e.g. because the connection is interrupted) the displayed blue values turn gray. In that case you can erase them with the "Clear" button. Now, "---" is displayed per channel until values are received again.

Pandoras Box version offers three optimizations regarding the outgoing Art-Net data when Sites or Layers are patched. From Neuer Linknow on, Art-Net output values are only sent when a Channel is patched. Further, channels are reset to 0 when a patch is removed. And lastly, Art-Net universes stop sending when they are not used anymore.

New TCP Device for simple communication to TCP/IP Server (e.g. projectors or video switchers).

With Pandoras Box version 6.1.0 we introduce a user interface in different languages. To change it, please go to the Configuration tab > Startup and select your preferred language. Close the Pandoras Box master software and start it again. Save your project if you like but this is not mandatory. From now on, Pandoras Box will always start in the selected language. Currently, you can select these languages: English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Simple Chinese and Spanish.

Pandoras Box version 6.1.0 supports now the tif format for images and image sequences.

The playback performance of tif image sequences equals the one for bmp or other uncompressed files. The performance specs can be found online in the Download-Center. Note that tif sequences are only supported when the images are saved uncompressed with a color depth of 8 bit and with or without an alpha (transparency) channel.

For importing tif still images, you can also choose other tif saving options like image or layer compression but the above recommendation gives you the best quality and performance. Note that multiple layers are discarded as the file can only be assigned to one Layer in PB, e.g. a Graphics Layer.

Please see the chapters Image Formats and Image Sequence Formats for more information.

If you right-click a Site (remote Player or Server) in the Device Tree you will find a new command called "Clone Site". It creates a copy of the Site including the entire layer structure (layer names and IDs, render order and all Inspector settings) as well as the programming. You simply need to enter a new IP address. This is especially useful when programming backup scenarios or a show where many Sites equal each other but the Virtual site feature is not possible.

The context menu of a Resource in the Project tab offers new commands to spread the file. You can choose between these options:
- All available systems including Clients and Multi-User Places
- All Clients (but not Multi-User Places)
- All Places (but not Clients)
- Only to one of the listed systems

The Inspector tab in Pandoras Box 6.1 now shows other Multi-User Places too.

The File Location Table, e.g. in the File Inspector, informs about the location and status of the selected file on each system connected to the Master. In former versions this included only Clients, but now also Multi-User Places are listed to give you a proper overview where the file exists.

Up until now, the Assets tab only showed the local computer and remote Clients. From now on, you will also find other Managers as Multi-User Places when using this feature. You can navigate through their folder structure as usual and drag content from their hard disks to the Project tab. When no other Multi-User is online, it will say "No remote places."

Furthermore, it is now possible to multi-select remote Clients and drag them into the Device Tree.

The command that stores active values only for those Devices that are currently selected, has now the shortcut [Ctrl + Alt + D]. As in previous versions, it is still available in the Edit menu or in the Sequence Button Bar via this icon .

The Device Viewer tab in Pandoras Box 6.1 has a new drop-down menu to select a Site and hence, the tab can now be opened multiple times (via the menu "Tabs"). This feature is very useful when you need an overview of several Sites.

As a reminder, you can right-click a pane and choose to split it horizontally or vertically and then drag the second Device Viewer to the new location. This is explained in the chapter "Layout".

When starting a new project on your Master software, Pandoras Box 6.0.3 will offer to add Clients to the Project automatically. Of course your Clients need to be in the same network and run with the same Version and Domain number. All existing Clients are visible in the dialog "Add Clients to Project". The list can be reloaded with the "Reload Clients" button. You can select or unselect individual Clients or all of them by pressing the according button. Press "Ok" to add all selected Clients to the Device Tree.

It is now possible to re-structure entire sites in the Device Tree via drag and drop. Simply drag the Site to its new place as depicted in the left image. Note the horizontal line and the cursor that indicates a valid position. Re-ordering Layers to influence the render order works in the same way.

Note that you can also change the Site ID in its Inspector.

From now on, if you select a ghost key, all underlying keys will be selected too. Select the ghost key with a single click or by dragging a multi-selection box around one or more ghost keys. You can then drag the ghost key(s) to a new time or enter a value in the Inspector which changes all underlying keys.

Audio Tracks and Video Layers of Pandoras Box include a new parameter "Waveform" that displays audio peaks. In case you like to align other content on Video or Graphic Layers as accurate as possible it is recommended to zoom in closely. Use the [+] key on the main keyboard or the Zoom-in icon in the Sequence Button Bar to do so. There, you may also find the drop-down for changing the line height which enlarges the waveform accordingly. You can choose between two waveforms, a standard one with positive and negative peaks or a a rectified waveform (depicted left) with only positive peaks. You can find this setting in the Configuration tab > User > Sequence > Clip settings.

The Device Viewer tab in Pandoras Box now shows a thumbnail with an Audiometer for each file that is playing. The Audiometer depicts the Audio level of a resource containing audio, that might be an audio file playing on an Audio Track or a video file containing audio information playing on a Video Layer. Note that the following should apply to see information in the Audiometer:
- a Site must be previewed and selected,
- the (audio) files must be spread to the Master in order to play them there in case you add them from a remote location to the Project,
- the Master needs to have a sound card, but not necessarily an ASIO one.

This feature is of interest if the computer that runs the Master has no dedicated ASIO sound card or driver installed but offers a Windows audio device. In previous versions this hardware setup allowed only to play audio (containing) files on a Video Layer but not from an ASIO Track. With version 6.0.3 you can now choose to play all audio with the audio device that is setup as the standard audio device in the Sound card settings of Windows. Please also check the sample rate (e.g. 48 or 96kHz) and bit depth (16bit) there, mostly available in the advanced properties tab.
Then simply activate the check box "Use Windows audio for preview" in the ASIO section of the Configuration tab in Pandoras Box and you can preview and listen to your programming of the local or remote node. When using Windows Audio all ASIO channels are mixed down to two channels, all odd ones to the left channel and the even ones to the right channel.
Please also note that a normal sound card does not synchronize audio information in the same way as an ASIO interface. For audio playback during a show, an ASIO interface is recommended.

The left and right channel of an Audio Track can now be routed individually in the Track Inspector. If you like to use one channel only for playing mono files, you can simply set the second channel to "0".

Pandoras Box version 6 introduces the Multi-User feature allowing several operators to work on the same Master file loaded with a Manager license. As the ways to build shows with Pandoras Box are so versatile, Multi-User editing is a flexible feature. This means that you can choose what exactly you would like to synchronize and how often or when you like to do so.
As soon as another Manager is in the same LAN network (and Domain) it participates as another Multi-User. The new tab Multi-User allows to setup the Multi-User environment and gives an overview on all Users (also called Places) online.

The first possibility for Multi-Users is to work in a "Sync Session" where all changes are synced continuously and seamlessly between all Users. However, you can also activate the "Blind Mode" within the Sync Session for working with an independent Nowpointer and Active Values. This allows you for example to jump to "your" time in the Sequence to store content or to view content in the Preview.
You can leave and (re-) join the Sync Session at any time. When joining a Sync Session you are asked to load the session project.

Alternative to (fully or partly) synchronized programming, you can work asynchronously in a separate project and send ("push") your changes at a certain time, e.g. checked or newly encoded content, warp and softedge settings, parts of a Sequence, etc. The "Run Operation" button in the Multi-User tab opens a dialog to define these Pull and Push Operations.

Note also that the Configuration is newly structured. All settings that are listed in the Global category apply to all Multi-Users whilst the other ones apply only locally.

As you will see when reading on, many v6 features are associated with the Preview making it as powerful as never before. Together with the features, we enhanced the structure of the Preview by adding buttons and drop-down lists around the main window. Some buttons are fixed and they either set a view option or toggle to one of the new modes (the image to the left shows where to find these buttons). Tools on the other hand vary because they depend on the chosen mode.
Mostly, a "Parameter Floater" is contained. The Floater refers to certain parameters and allows very fast and accurate programming. The Floater dialog can be undocked from its position.

In case you maximize the Preview to full screen (shortcut [Ctrl + Shift + F]) a new window "Button Bar" opens and shows all modes and associated tools. Its shortcut is [T] to show and hide it.

See the Preview chapter for full and accurate information about all the new options or read on for a short description of the new Preview features.

One of the biggest v6 features is the Editable Mesh which allows to warp in the Preview.
To create one, right-click in the Project tab and choose "Add Editable Mesh". Per default the newly created Editable Mesh folder lists one Sub Mesh called "Surface" being a planar 2D mesh in fullscreen size. The Surface's Inspector lets you change the Segment count (known as Mesh points in the Warper), the Control Point count (aka FFD), mesh size and segments and other parameters.
Alternatively, you can import an existing object and convert it to an Editable Mesh using the right-click menu.
An Editable Mesh can be assigned to a Layer or an Output. When you set the Preview to the new "Mesh Editing Mode" the Segments and Control Points become visible. Above the Preview you may find according buttons to select and move either the orange FFD points or gray vertex points. You can warp using the mouse or the keyboard. The above mentioned "Parameter Floater" shows the exact position in pixels.

In the Output layer you may find a new "Edit Warp Mesh" button. It either selects the Output Mesh or creates a new one for you and enters the "Editable Mesh" mode.

All this and more is explained in the chapter about the Mesh Editing Mode.

In addition to the introduction to warp inside Pandoras Box, we also included texture mapping to the Preview. In short, texture mapping is the way how the texture (i.e. the media file) fits onto the mesh or in other words, which pixel from the 2D (UV) texture belongs to which 3D (XYZ) coordinate. The Pandoras Box Preview now offers two different modes to apply and modify the UV source: the planar and the perspective UV Mapping Mode.

The planar one probably reminds you of how you worked in the Warper. You have the choice between two differently sized planar maps and the default 1:1 map.
The perspective mapping is totally new. Depending on the Layer and Camera position a so called Reference Layer positions itself and "projects" the UV source onto the 2D or 3D mesh.

Either way, after choosing the method, you click the "Imprint" icon to calculate the UV coordinates and toggle back to another Preview mode. Of course you can always go back and modify the UV source, e.g. you can fine-tune the mapping by moving selected vertices.
The Sub Mesh Inspector offers the option to reset all changes.

Read more in the chapter about the UV Mapping Modes in the Preview...

Version 6 comes with a significantly improved Canvas. It is now possible to draw directly in Pandoras Box with tools provided in the Preview tab. In addition, the Canvas Asset can be saved, exported and (re-)imported. All together the Canvas feature now also allows to mask directly in Pandoras Box.
Right-click in the Project tab and choose "Add Canvas". Assign the Canvas to a Layer overlaying your other Layers. Until now nothing changes as the default Canvas is still empty. To draw on it select the "Canvas Editing Mode" in the Preview, leave the Brush tool selected but change the Color to black. You can draw (and erase) freehand by clicking and dragging. Straight lines can be done by clicking once on the beginning and holding the [Shift] key when clicking on the end point of the line.
To export the mask as a *.png file, right-click on the Canvas and choose "Export". After editing the image for example with another graphics software you can import it with another right-click on the same Canvas. Alternatively, you can add an image file to the project, right-click it and say "Create Canvas from Image".
Read more about the Canvas Editing Mode...

With this version you can interact with Cameras in the Preview in the same way as you are used to position Layers.
First, set the Preview to a Camera View (incl. the "All Cameras" view) and switch to the new mode "Camera Transformation Mode".

If you now click on the Camera rectangle it highlights blue and you can drag it around. This changes the X and Y Offset parameters.

Cameras of a Server have more parameters available. First, click the "Camera Visibility" button to toggle the Camera icon and frustum as seen in the left picture. Now you can either drag the Camera icon around which influences the Camera Viewpoint and Target simultaneously, or you can drag the Viewpoint and Target separately. Hold the [Alt] key down to move the Camera / Viewpoint only and the [Alt] and [Shift] key for the Target.

The continuous development to interact with more and more items in the Preview directly now allows to change Layers, Cameras, Mesh Points etc. To optimize this workflow and reduce errors, version 6 introduces a slightly changed interaction. Eventhough you still work with 3D parameters, each interaction happens in a 2D plane which depends on your viewpoint. This results in those changes you aimed for and prevents you from dragging items to an unwanted position, e.g. a distant Z position.

The pixel-oriented workflow, introduced in version 5.7 to allow pixel accurate settings is now the new default when creating a project.
In short, this involves:
- most units displayed (e.g. in the Device Parameter tab) are in pixel units
- the size of a media on a Layer is pixel accurate due to the Layer Sizing Mode in the Inspector
- the size of a Camera window is pixel accurate
- in the Configuration tab > "Unit Management" the "Unit Translation Mode" is set to "Fixed relationship" and a translation factor is automatically set (this factor transfers 3D Units to pixel units within one or multiple systems)

The Preview of version 6 can be toggled to a Multi-View window. Per default you see one view port as usual, but now you can also choose to work with a split view with 2, 4 or 8 view ports in various arrays.
If you have loaded the "All Cameras" view before toggling to more view ports, the newly created ones will show "None"; in case you have loaded a Cameras (or Output) view, the newly created windows will automatically show other Camera (or Output) views if they are available. Of course you can change each view port individually using the drop-down menu. Please note that for the time being it is not allowed to view a Camera and the corresponding Output at the same time. Another restriction in this version is that one view can be loaded into one view port only. In other words, the "All Cameras" view or "Camera 1" can not be depicted twice.

Independent from the number of view ports, it is possible to maximize the Preview to full screen. This is especially of interest in case you warp several Outputs in the Manager using the Editable Mesh feature.

A Pandoras Box project can now be saved as a binary file. The "Pandoras Box Binary" format with the extension "pbb" is the new default but the xml format is still supported. The advantages of a binary code are a smaller memory space and thus faster saving and loading.

Pandoras Box version 5.10 introduces a product structure with new products. In the long term these will replace old licenses and hardware but at present the license structure supports old and new licenses equally. All products purchased or upgraded after May, 2nd 2016 represent the new product structure.

For existing products nothing changes with the installation of version 5.10 at first sight. At second sight you might notice that the number of Layers or Sequences has increased.

Note that the software features of all Servers have been unified and include the Server PRO features with unlimited Audio, Graphic, Video Layers and since 5.10 unlimited Sequences. Existing Server PRO products are upgraded automatically. It is possible to upgrade a LT or STD Server.
Same applies to the software Players: The software features of the Player PRO, STD and LT have been unified and include the Player PRO features with more Audio, Graphic, Video Layers and since 5.10 multi-license Sequences. Each license unlocks an additional Sequence in the same way as the layer count is multiplied. Existing Player PRO products are upgraded automatically. It is possible to upgrade a LT or STD Player.
DUAL and QUAD Players are automatically upgraded to represent the Hardware Player features with more Layers and four Sequences. Compact Players are automatically upgraded with two Sequences.
Last, the software features of all Managers have been unified and include the Manager STD features with 8 Sequences and the option to have unlimited ones. Existing STD and PRO products stay unchanged, whilst it is possible to upgrade the Manager LT.

All products have now unified software features with the exception that each product group (Server, Player, Compact Player, Software Player) is available with a different number of Output layers. The hardware is separated into the categories ULT, PRO, STD and LT.

The Product Overview chapter includes more detailed information and an overview table with all products and their features.

Pandoras Box version 5.9 comes with a new Kiosk Mode. The idea behind the Kiosk Mode is to offer a selection of Pandoras Box features including our playback standards within a simple, easy-to-operate interface.

When a PB Player or Server software is installed, you can start the Kiosk Mode through the Start Menu > Programs > Coolux. In the View menu you may activate "Show Playlist" to view and edit a selection of videos or images. The File menu offers the commands to load a single file, save or open existing playlists. More settings  can be found in the Configuration menu: audio playback, general options or output settings. The output settings depend on the originally installed license. A Dual Server offers for example the option to set up an overlap, softedge and warping for a maximum of two outputs.

In sum, the Kiosk Mode offers an interface for user-operated installs such as nightclubs or similar.

The Preview in the Manager is now able to be toggled into fullscreen when previewing a Camera or Output. This is of interest for all who like to preview a site without loosing pixel accuracy. The new feature also applies to so called non-local nodes, e.g. when using a Player as a Master and programming on a Server Client. In both cases, the coolux watermark appears in the fullscreen preview irregularly.

In addition there is an improvement when working with two (Dual View) outputs on the Master PC. In earlier versions it was only possible to render the Preview on the primary output. Now, it is visible on any output! Note that it can only swap between  outputs. It's not possible to see it on two outputs at the same time.

Last but not least, we made it easier to toggle Cameras and Outputs into the preview. Right-click them in the Device Tree and choose "Load in Preview".

For Pandoras Box version 5.9 we revised the Patch tab completely. In addition we introduced the possibility to create, apply, export and import patch templates. This allows easier and faster workflows when patching Pandoras Box layers with DMX addresses and remote controlling them with a lighting console or the like.

In the Patch tab you decide to include a layer in the patch by ticking the check box next to it. The number to the left is the total number of patched channels in this layer. To exclude a parameter from the patch open the layer and uncheck the according check box. Note that the total patch count drops. When you have decided for all layers, you can patch them from the top to bottom with a "Start Address". Enter the start address for the site to affect all layers included in it at once.
The most used workflow is to decide once which parameters are included in a layer patch and apply this to all layers. To meet this requirement we introduced the possibility to copy and paste a patch or to create and apply patch templates. As described above, check or uncheck parameters from a layer, then right-click the layer and choose "Patch > Copy". On another layer choose "Patch > Paste". These options are available in the Patch tab as well as in the Device Tree.
Alternatively, you can choose "Patch > Create Template" on the first patched layer. In the Project tab, there is a new folder "Patch Templates" into which your templates are saved. Here, you can also edit the template, i.e. adding or removing parameters and renaming the template. To patch another layer according to the template drag it onto a layer in the Device Tree or Patch tab, alternatively right-click the template and choose to apply it to a selection of layers.
At last, you can create a folder and drag a Video Layer template into it (followed with one for the Graphic Layer, Camera Layer etc). Now you can drag the folder onto a site and all layers will patch their parameters according to the template.

You now simply assign different starting addresses for all sites and all patched parameters will have unique DMX addresses. You can do this in the Patch tab as described above, or by right-clicking a site in the Device Tree and choosing the option "Patch > Set Patch Start Values". The entire patch state (parameters and channels) can be exported as a csv file when right-clicking on a site (or layer or parameter) and choosing this option. You may want to exchange this with the lighting desk operator.

When you have created a layer template or folder with various layer templates and you like to use it again, you will find the options to export and import templates in the Project tab. Note that in a new project, you will now be able to adjust your patch without the need to work in the Patch tab itself.

In Pandoras Box version 5.9 you may now find a new tab, the Cues tab. It gives you a great overview of all cues in your sequence and allows fast changes. In addition, you can also export the information about cues as a csv file.

With a right-click in the title line, you can adjust which rows show according information: Cue ID, Name, [Internal] Note, Type, Time, Countdown, Jump/Wait [Time], Target [Time / Cue].
When adding or editing cues in the Sequence tab, changes are displayed instantly in the Cues tab, and vice versa. To edit a cue in the Cues tab, click in the according cell, e.g. Name from Cue2, and enter your changes. You can also multi-select cues and change them at once.
When right-clicking on a cue, you can either choose to "Select Cue in Sequence" to display it in the Inspector, or you can choose to "Jump" to its position in the Sequence. Additional options are to "Add Cue at Current Time" and to export the entire cue sheet as an excel or csv file.

Besides the Cue tab, version 5.9 introduces the "Time Monitor" tab. You can choose to display the Sequence Time, the System Time or the Countdown for the next cue. Or you open three Time Monitors and display all time editions. Of course you can adjust the size of the new tab, or as known from previous versions, break it out the main user interface. The new layout can be saved to a view.

With this version we introduce new layer types for all Player and Server editions. To add a new layer type, go to the Device Tree tab, right-click on the site and choose to "Add (multiple) Device(s)" and the type.
The Particle Layer has significantly reduced layer parameters and one Particle System with a Particle Emitter already applied, hence its ready to be used.
The Text Layer is a common Video Layer which only accepts Text Assets as a media.

By the way, it is still supported to drag Particle Systems or Text Assets to a normal Video Layer. The new layer types simply provide an easier workflow or save the number of Video Layers. All new layers can be added unlimited times. So, on a system with a reduced amount of Video Layers, you can now add an unlimited number of Text Layers for example to display scrolling text.

In the Sequence tab you can now adjust the line height of a shown layer or device.
At the end of the button bar, there is a "Line Height" button that lets you choose between Standard, Medium and Large. For medium or large line heights parameter keys can not only be dragged to the left or right, which changes their time, but also up and down, which changes their value. To do this, hold the [Shift] key down whilst dragging the key. In addition to that small feature, keys from the "Bezier" type show their Bezier handles when being selected. Again, you can drag them in the sequence directly.

In the Sequence section from the Configuration tab, there is an initial value for the Line Height.

In the Configuration tab, there are various new options. One of the most important ones is to enter the number of "Created layers" per site. This describes how many layers exist initially when creating a new site in the Device Tree. From the number of existing layers you can choose which ones to show and which ones to hide. So to provide a faster workflow, you can now adjust the number of existing and shown layers separately.
In addition, it is a recommended method to reduce the number of existing layers to save time and disk space when saving a project, especially when working with a big amount of Players or Servers.

Any Pandoras Box Master versions now support the product SpaceNavigator from 3Dconnexion. In short, this is a mouse device that allows to navigate in three axes (position and rotation).

After installing the driver, go to the Configuration tab > 3D hardware and enable the new mouse input. Now you have the choice to either control selected layer(s) with it, or to control the camera selected in the Preview tab. Note that the mouse input alters the parameters relatively, not absolutely.

For the Output layer, there are two new parameters. The first one is the "Blend Media" and allows for custom softedge. Drag any image format that describes your softedge preferences, e.g. a softedge following a curve. Preferably the image is black and white as it is multiplied to the entire image from the Output. Note that all other Softedge parameters have no effect when using the Blend media!
With the "Warped" check box, you can decide whether the blend media should be affected by keystone adjustments or the warp mesh that is applied to the Output or not.
"Blend Media" is available on all Server and Player editions, excluding the Player LT.

The second new parameter "Pixel Warp" is for internal use and will be described in the future.

Pandoras Box version 5.7 now supports three additional formats of the Hap codec family: Hap, Hap alpha and Hap Q.
Technically, these formats are comparable to the DDS snappy image sequence formats: DDS, DDSA and DDS with YCoCg. This is in regards to image quality, file size and playback performance as well as to the necessity that the width and height of the video is divisible by 4.

With the support of the Hap codec, we also introduced a small new feature for the File Inspector. When clicking on a *.mov file in the Project tab, the Inspector now displays additional information regarding the codec included in the mov container. When using the Hap codec, the inspector shows that the "Frame Type" is "Hap" in that case. The Frame Type can only be displayed, when the codec is supported natively by Pandoras Box, i.e. is not loaded via the QuickTime Extension which also consumes more performance.
The native support of mov codecs includes now the Hap family as well as the coolux codec of course.
Regarding the coolux codec, you can either render a mov file or an image sequence. In both cases, clicking on the *.mov file or the image sequence file, the Inspector displays the current file format, e.g. "BMP with alpha" or "DDS (in snappy)".

Imagine, you have a video on the timeline and after playing it back you like to keep the last frame as a still image on the screen.

First, you change the length of the container in the sequence, then you select the container and look in the Inspector. You will find a new check box called "Loop". Per default this option is on, resulting in a looping video when the length of a container is longer than the clip itself. When deactivating the "Loop" option, the last frame is hold.

Current Pandoras Box Server hardware can be customized with DVI or SDI input cards. For the SDI input cards this revision offers the possibility to synchronize genlocked input feeds with the same resolution and framerate. This is of interest for a "mask-and-fill" setup or for creating a larger format like a 4K texture. For a Dual SDI card, you can synchronize both feeds from the same card. For a QUAD SDI card, you can synchronize two pairs (the first two and the last two) and for the QUAD 3G SDI card, you can in addition synchronize all four inputs.
To synchronize two or four inputs: Pandoras Box Master > Assets tab > choose the Client with the card and open its "Live Input" folder. Drag all feeds into the Project tab, select them there and make a right-click to choose to synchronize them.
To create a 4K input texture: Pandoras Box Master > Assets tab > choose the Client with the card and open its "Live Input" folder. Drag only the first feed into the Project tab, and there, right-click it to choose to toggle into 4K mode.
Note: The icon of the Live Input in the Project tab will change if the synchronized or 4K mode is activated.
Important: The coolux input card driver installer includes a new version 5.16. 5.16 is only mandatory when you like to use the new SDI input features. There is no need to update, when you like to use the SDI inputs the way you used to.

Very important: Please do not update yet when you use DVI inputs. Currently there is an issue with Dual Link signals!

Virtual Sites combine several Clients to one Site to fasten the programming workflow. This greatly used feature is now more flexible, as it is possible to create a Virtual Site of unalike Clients. For example, you can now sum up a QUAD Server and a DUAL Server, as long as both are PRO or STD or LT editions, meaning that the different number of cameras or output does not matter any more.

coolux has developed a codec for use on PC and Mac. With this codec, content artists can directly produce image sequences for Pandoras Box without any further transcoding step. Keep in mind that image sequence playback is mainly aimed for SSD based systems. Pandoras Box is able to playback uncompressed image sequences. So if the sequence was rendered in an according lossless file format, you can play it back without any quality loss as Pandoras Box never compresses files internally!
More information about the coolux codec in general and the codec settings in detail (including the description about the Quicktime Converter).

With this revision we now support a new format for images and image sequences: .snp files. The tools Dome Master, Splitter, Image Converter and the new Quicktime Converter offer to save images using the snappy format. Pandoras Box itself can playback the format.

To be accurate, the snappy format is actually not an image format itself but a compression library offered from Google. So if you have a .jpg, .png, .bmp or .dds image, snappy compresses the file size but keeps the available quality as it simply reduces the file data. If you work with .snp files, the saving or reading process does not need more time, as the (de-)compression works in highspeed and real-time. In other words, Pandoras Box can decompress snappy image sequences on the fly.
The result is a much smaller file size whereas the size difference depends on redundancy in your visual content, such as alpha channels or same colors in motion graphics. This way you gain a lot more drive space which is especially interesting for SSD systems as their drives normally offer less space.

Naturally, it is not recommended to playback .mov files with Pandoras Box due to several reasons, e.g. synchronization. The Quicktime Converter enables you to convert .mov files, for instance if the content has been rendered and delivered in that format and there is no time to render it again.

You may find the Converter along with all other coolux tools (Warper; Matrix Patcher,...) in the "Tools" menu.

Choose "Convert Single File" or, in case you have multiple files, "Add Files to batch" and select the original .mov file(s). The Converter requires an installed Quicktime Player. Keep in mind that .mov is a container format not a codec itself. Thus, the container can contain any common or uncommon codec. To convert a .mov, the codec used in it, must be installed on the PB system as well.
As a next step, choose the format into which the file(s) should be converted. For instance, you may choose the .avi format or to render an image sequence.

The new Pandoras Box version offers the possibility to colorize layers and other devices. The color is seen in these tabs:
- Device Tree
- Sequence
- Device Viewer

Simply select a single or multiple devices (i.e. Video Layers, Cameras, etc) to open the Video and Graphic Layer Inspector. There you click on the color field and choose any new color. The button "Reset" applies the default color again.

With this version we introduce the support of a protocol called KiNET. KiNET is a lightweight UDP/IP based protocol used to communicate via Ethernet with Philips Color Kinetics light fixtures and power supplies. The KiNET settings are available in the Matrix Patcher only.

The following shortcuts have been added or changed:
- [Ctrl + F]: enters or leaves the fullscreen mode
- [Ctrl + A]: selects all entries in a playlist
- [Ctrl + T]: calls the Assets tab

See here all keyboard shortcuts for a Master system and for a Client system.

There is a considerably improved import / conversion of older Pandoras Box projects saved under version 4.

Before, the entire timeline was missing. Now, all sites and devices, as well as cues, containers and other timeline settings are converted. Please note that still there are elements that are not possible to be imported:
- Layer Effects (version 5 introduced the Aeon FX engine)
- some Layer Parameters (e.g. Rotation) as version 5 offers two parameters for constant and continuous rotation, instead of one
- Presets in general as version 5.1 introduced a new type of sequence presets not based on active values
- DMX patches as version 5 offers new FX and other parameters

Depending on your project, there might be further attributes. Please check and edit the converted project thoroughly to make sure it works as you expect.

Until this version, the Blend Mode parameter was only available on Servers. It is used to determine how two layers are blended into each other. The default called "Normal" simply hides the lower layer with whatever is present in the top layer. With other modes you can for instance "add" the top layer's pixels to the ones from the lower layer, or set up a Mask and Fill combination.

All Player version have now the included this Blend Mode. More information about Blend Modes...

The sub sections in the Configuration tab now contain a small question mark icon. When you click it, the manual opens and displays the according information for this configuration section. So, if you wonder what a specific check box or option does, simply click the help icon next to it.

Undoubtedly the coolest feature in version 5.7: Venue Sites. In difference to normal sites a Venue Site is never a real Player or Server. The purpose of a Venue Site is to render your programming (of real sites) on 3D objects that form a virtual copy of your stage. That turns the Preview tab from being an abstract image to a very real representation of what is happening on stage.

Regarding real Clients, you include them into the sequence by dragging them from the Assets tab or from the Device Types tab into the Devices tab. You render content on them by spreading media files to it and assigning these resources to layers. With respective settings (opacity, scaling, effects) the resources appear in the 3D space of Pandoras Box. Whenever a Camera Device sees a resource, it renders it as part of its camera texture. Then this texture is send to the Output Device to be re-rendered with the output settings (warping, keystone, softedge). This texture is the real output of your graphics card and is connected to a display device.

Regarding Venue Sites, you include them into the sequence by dragging them from the Device Types tab into the Devices tab. You render content on them by routing textures to it and assigning these textures to Venue Layers. A valid texture is either a camera or output texture from a real site. It can be a real media file too. Mind, that the site needs to be toggled into the preview. Besides the texture, you would mostly apply a 3D object to a Virtual Layer too. The object represents a part of your stage. This can be for instance a flat 2D object representing a display, or it can be a curved object representing a curved projection screen, or it can be a chair object, moving head object, human object. From that point on, the render pass is the same as above. The Venue Layer is captured by a Venue Camera which sends its own texture to the Venue Output, again offering the known output settings. But the Venue Output does not send its result to a real display but to the Preview tab.

You may also preview a Venue Camera and animate it on the timeline. This way you can fly through your 3D stage and look at the content from different angles. Of course you can always export this animation using the Video Export feature.

As with other sites, all settings for Venue Sites can be kept as active values or be stored to the timeline in form of containers. Or you remote control them using for instance the Widget Designer.

There is the possibility to (roughly) simulate projectors including the deformation when hitting screens. That is what makes keystoning and warping necessary. Softedging can be roughly simulated too.
First, add a light layer to your Venue Site. The light represents the projector. The light controls like position stand for the projector's position and the field of view, represents the lens FOV. The projectors image is of course a texture from another site. Now you need another Venue Layer with a 3D object that represents the real screen. Apply a light effect to the layer to "receive" the projector's light.

A sample project can be found in C:\coolux\content\projects\VenueSites_Training_Stage

It is now possible to add multiple cameras to your Server site and connect them individually to the output. The number of outputs is still determined by your product, e.g. two per Dual Server license.
Up until today, there was a fixed pair: one camera per single output. Whatever was seen by this camera was automatically routed to the Output Device as the "camera texture". Now you may choose to add another Camera Device per right-click onto the respective site (Server). Regarding the routing, you may decide what camera sends its image to the Output Device. The Device Controls tab offers a new field, right-click into it and choose your camera. Similar to assigning different images to a graphic layer, you may store the different camera textures as containers to the timeline.

Find new individual settings including the size of the camera texture in the Camera Inspector. This allows for higher (or lower) resolution for rendering the individual passes which helps in many applications: First Pass Anti alias, Flexible texture mapping, Video Export,…

The navigation in the preview tab developed to be more direct which makes the orientation in preview tab easier and more efficient. First of all, you may now choose to preview a camera just as you used to do with an output (right-click in Preview tab > Select Preview). Then the chosen camera view can be navigated similar to the global preview. It is a great time saver that the navigation changes reflect as active values for the controls of the Camera Device. By storing these to the timeline, you can create great camera fly-through animations in a glimpse of an eye. Another option is to create accurate views, e.g. top view, site view, isometric view, particular video export view etc.

The new Preview tab renders camera wireframes with improved design. Per default they are now more plastic and overlapping cameras / outputs can be identified easier. You may adjust the camera's wireframes in the camera Inspector, e.g. set the color and transparency for individual cameras.

Secondly, the rendering from 3D objects has been reformed: object default color, grid appearance and a default light source can be set up to meet your needs.
Last but not least the new preview puts forward with an adjustable grid marking the XZ-plane to make it easier to orient in 3D space. Find these settings in the Configuration tab > Preview Display (also accessible through the right-click menu of the Preview tab).

This version comes with a completely re-designed text editor. The Text Input Resource now offers enhanced formatting options including the possibility to assign different font styles withing the same resource. There is also an automatic horizontal and / or vertical scrolling and offset option.
In addition, it is possible to have an unlimited amount of text or to use a continuous text input.

Create a text input as usual (right-click in the Project tab > Add Text Input), the Inspector tab now offers new options and the button "Open in Resource Editor". There you may find the full scope of possibilities.
You may need .net 4 installed for using the new text input plugin.

The latest Pandoras Box audio feature development makes it possible to input ASIO sound as well as HD-SDI embedded audio, opening up a whole new world of real-time media compositing.

You may input ASIO sound and route it to any ASIO output by assigning the input to the according ASIO track. This means that audio inputs can be arranged on any Pandoras Box timeline, or can alternatively be triggered via external commands.

Audio delay settings are available per Resource, Layer or on Clip Level. That enables you to set up different delays for different output signal chains.

Next to the feature to input, route and delay audio inputs, it is possible to record ASIO inputs via the Video Recording tab.

The Compact Player is a 9.5" wide and 1.5 rack units high. It is a i5 hardware running a Win7 operating system. It is equipped with a 120 GB SSD hard drive and an NVIDIA graphics card (GT640 GPU 1Gb dedicated RAM). The systems RAM is 2GB.

The Compact Player comes with an included Compact Player license (no sequence, 2 Video Layers, unlimited Graphic Layers, 1 Output).
The Compact Station can be combined with any other additional license, e.g a Manager, Player (multi-license), Widget Designer...

The allowed playback performance is 2 x 1920x1080 for MPEG2 or DDS image sequence.

Regarding audio support, the Compact Player license has no included ASIO Tracks as other licenses do. Eventhough the hardware does not nativly support ASIO, to install the ASIO4ALL driver is possible. When using this driver, coolux cannot guarantee synchronization. Audio playback on Video Layer (with MP3, WMA, WAV format and embedded sound) is supported.

The connections in the back and front:
       1x DVI Out (DVI-D Single Link and Dual Link, DVI-A)
       1x HDMI Out (incl. Audio Support)
       1x GB Net
       5x USB (2x USB 2.0 (black) + 3x USB 3.0 (blue)
       1x eSATA (red)
       1x DC Power IN, external 19V PSU
       2x Mini Stereo Jack Out, 1x Mini Stereo Jack In, 1x Optical Toslink Out (so far not supported)
       1x SD Card Reader
Read more...

The NET Link is a modifiable interface device build to:
- provide sensor information as input signals to Widget Designer or the Warper and / or
- control relays by sending output signals.
Through these programs sensors can control layer and sequence parameters in Pandoras Box. In return, Pandoras Box can trigger the devices too.

Regarding the hardware features, the NET Link is a customizable device and comprises:
- a housing: choose between the small chassis depicted above or the 19" rack module
- min. one processor unit
- changeable boards: coolux delivers the NET Link ready-to-use as ordered by you. However, you may modify the NET Link by changing the boards at any time. Currently, seven boards are available covering analog and digital boards as well as input and output ones. Show examples...

The Calibration Link is a small NET Link device equipped with two analog fibre input boards for the input of 16 fibre cables (single-core, diameter of 0.98mm²). It is specially designed for an automated re-calibration of a projection setup, e.g. in a fixed installation where a projector or a screen have been moved. Show example...

The EDID Link is a device to manage DVI-EDIDs and communicate these to the graphics card.

It can be used to generate and constantly hold an EDID whenever a display device is not able to send a correct or the exact needed EDID to the source. In addition the EDID Link will ensure, that a monitor is simulated even when none is connected to it, or powered down. The EDID Link does not need any separate power.

Per default, the EDID Link comes with preinstalled EDIDs (i.e. a preset list) and can be used without additional software. The software addresses more advanced users and allows to read and modify EDIDs or create new ones and store them to the available preset list. Read more about the hardware and software.

Above the Sequence tab you will now find a button bar, offering the most used commands like "Store Active" and "Reset"in an easy and fast accessible way.
The bar with its icons can be hidden, and enabled again via the Tabs menu > Button Bar > Sequence.

When you right-click on a container, you find additional options in the context menu. You may split one clip at the nowpointer's position. If you have several container within the same track selected, you may merge them. If they have different options regarding Lock to time or free-run, media file, mesh file etc., the first container in time wins.

The option "fullscreen is single" has moved. It still has the same effect: ignoring a second display and forcing Pandoras Box' fullscreen onto one single display. In previous versions, it was present in the Pandoras Box Client window, now it is available in Pandoras Box Master interface. Open the Configuration tab > Render Engine and select the Client you like to set up. There you might also find all other options regarding the Client's render engine.

Besides the known .x format, Pandoras Box version 5.7 now supports 3 additional formats for two- and three-dimensional objects. The Project tab accepts .fbx, .3ds and .obj files, either dragged in from the Assets tab or any file explorer. If your *.fbx or *.3ds contains subobjects (groups of objects), you may set up the hierarchy level in the automatically opened dialog. "1" results in one file in the Project tab whereas "2" results in a folder containing subfiles and so on. In that case, you may drag any hierarchy level, single file or folder onto a layer (Video Layer, Graphic Layer, Output Device, Venue Site Layer etc.).

You may adjust the global appearance of 3D files in the Configuration tab > Preview Display and for each file separately in the File Inspector.

Regarding the spreading mechanism, several optimizations have been undertaken, leading to more robustness, flexibility as well as better and safer file administration. Most importantly you will notice a new behavior indicating inconsistent files. Before, only the missing or corrupt file itself had a red exclamation icon, not the folders above. This has changed. Every folder, regardless of his hierarchy level is marked with the warning icon as soon as it includes an inconsistent file. Furthermore there is an "Inconsistency Info" dialog that helps to identify defective or missing media. To access it, right-click on any folder and select "Inconsistency Info".

Since ever the Configuration tab amasses numerous settings influencing the overall appearance and behavior of the Pandoras Box Master interface. Now it consists of many more sections and settings that allow to be user-defined and perform as initial settings. In other words, we implemented the feature to have default settings which individualizes, eases and fastens your entire workflow immensely.

Amongst many settings you may define for instance the properties of a container (Lock To Time, Preroll, Fade In, Duration) or the type for a cue or whether resources should have FluidFrame enabled per default. Each newly created container, cue or resource, is initialized with these settings.

The Aeon FX tab awaits you with three improvements.

A new Search Field helps all who forgot the exact name of a particular effect or just the folder containing it. It also makes finding an unknown but suitable effect easier too. Simply start typing into the Search Field (e.g. Color) and automatically it filters effects and shows only those somehow including the typed letters, e.g. Color Only, Target Color Burn, ....

Secondly, an Effect Explorer has been developed. You may find it under Tabs > Launch FX Explorer or within the right-click menu from an effect.
To the left, it shows all effects in a file tree. Select one and its description pops up in the right part. It is almost the same description as the one found in the manual: exemplary images, a short sentence what the effect does and a table listing all available parameters. At the browser's bottom you may find the controls of the currently selected layer. By clicking on an effect, it is instantly added to the controls and you may try out how the effect interacts with the layer's media file and how changing the parameters influences this. If you found the effect you were looking for, click the "Ok" button underneath the controls and the Effect Explorer will close after adding the chosen effect to the layer with its the current parameters (as active values). If you like to keep that effect but add another one on top, click the "Add Next FX" button. If you like to try another effect instead, simply select it from the file tree. When adding more effects, you may even say where an effect should be positioned, e.g. between FX3 and 4.
"Close" will discard the entire effect collection added since launching the Explorer and close the dialog itself.

Last but not least, there is a new effect type: so called generic effects allow to generate moving content in real time, without the need of pre rendering anything. In addition they are independent from the pixel resolution from your outputs as the layer with the effect can be scaled as you wish.

Pandoras Box version 5.7 added a new set of softedge blending shaders to the Aeon FX tab. The main change to the default softedge options for an Output device is that the curve parameter controls are strength and width of the curve instead of shifting it left and right. Plus, there is an additional Offset parameter that lets you control the center /white/grey point of the blend. Thirdly, there are parameters for RGB gamma corrections which might need to be applied when you want to adjust a good projector to a bad one.

The Leica 3D Disto tool comes automatically with the installation of a Pandoras Box Manager. It is accessible in the "Tools" menu. The tool requires that the Leica hardware, specifically the 3D Disto, is connected and the drivers are installed. Please note, that the distometer cannot be purchased through your local distributor but we are happy to forward contact details.

In short, the motorized distometer measures points with great accuracy and in return can laser to any point, measured before. It draw our attention as it can be used in complex 3D scenarios to measure projector positions and object position. It reduces setup times significantly.

With this Pandoras Box version we included fundamental settings to allow easy adjustable, pixel accurate settings. The new section in the Configuration tab "Unit Management" lets you setup how 3D Units relate to pixel units within one system or across multiple Clients.

When the "Unit Translation Mode" is set to "Fixed relationship" you can enable in the Configuration tab section "Devices / Parameters" a Pixel Readout for Parameter Values. The Device Control tab then allows to type pixel values for parameters like Position.
Furthermore, the Layer Inspector allows additional settings like "Media Pixel Size" or "1:1" for the Layer Sizing Mode to match the main medias resolution instead of scaling it to fit in the horizontal or vertical fullscreen size.

Using this decidedly "pixel oriented workflow" makes it easy to set up and use split pictures, and also aids the communication flow between operators and content designers, who are used to thinking in terms of pixel values anyway.

Pandoras Box revision 9055 now supports a new format for images and image sequences. The dds format claims to perform better than other formats like jpg, png or bmp. In Comparison to these formats dds images save performance. In addition, always depending on the kind of content, it possible to achieve better results regarding the quality than the mpeg format can provide with videos.

The Image Converter supports the dds format as well, thus it is possible to convert images and provide them for Pandoras Box. More information about image sequences in general and the Image Converter.

There is a new media type provided by Pandoras Box and Widget Designer: a so called "Canvas". To create a Canvas in your Pandoras Box project, right-click in the Project tab and choose "Add Canvas". It can then be applied to a layer of your choice, e.g. a Graphic Layer. The Canvas consists of graphical elements that may be created in Widget Designer. It is for example possible to draw on it and create other elements on the fly. Hence, the Canvas changes the appearance dynamically and Pandoras Box renders the image interactively in real-time.

In Widget Designer (higher Rev 506) please find the "Canvas Template Manager" under "Tools". It lets you create a template which is seen in a preview window. Then you can set a background color and when right-clicking in the preview, you may add text, ellipses and rectangles.

Furthermore, there are dedicated nodes under "Create > Nodes > Interaction". They can be used to draw on an existing Canvas Asset in Pandoras Box based on the local mouse movement. To visualize these movements in Widget Designer as well, you may use the item "Drawing Canvas" under "Create > Panel".

Dragging and copying containers has been improved. If you now drag a container it can be shifted to another layer as well, it is not restricted anymore to the layer were it was created. If shifting a container to another layer type, the container turns red to indicate that some keys might get lost. In addition a warning dialog pops up. This dialog can be deactivated in the Configuration tab - Sequence by unchecking the option "Warn when clip drag would lead to change of layer type"

If you like to shift a container without moving it to another layer, hold down the [Shift] key. This locks the layer "borders".

Holding down the [Ctrl] key whilst dragging a container activates the copying function. As soon as you let go on the same layer or on another layer you have created a copy from the original container. You might do this with multi selected containers or keys as well. More information about programming in the sequence...

Storing active values as key frames in the timeline has been extended with more options. First of all, there is a new command "Store Active to Time" when right-clicking in the Sequence tab's time bar. A dialog opens asking for a time where all keys should be created.

Furthermore, you may decide whether you like to store ALL active parameters or just those belonging to a certain device or parameter group. In order to store, for example just the X Position, expand all parameters in the Device Tree (e.g. using the +-symbol) and make a right-click on the parameter "X Pos" and say "Store active". If right-clicking on a level higher, in our case "Position", keys for X Pos, Y Pos and Z Pos are created if they were all active. In the same manner active values can be stored per layer or per Server / Player / DMX device.

Last but not least, if you have an active value and then create a key by right-clicking in the timeline on the parameter track, the newly created key will adopt instantly to the value and thus deactivate the active status from the parameter.

More information about the right-click menus in the Device Tree tab...

The Configuration tab offers now the possibility to set up automatic key creation. You may choose whether there should be always keys programmed for the parameters opacity and volume as soon as a container is created. If you choose the option "single key" a key is created at the beginning of a container, the option "Fade in" creates two keys and "Fade in and Out" four keys. If choosing a fade scenario you may set up the fading times.

In the example depicted left (click to enlarge the picture),a fade in and out scenario is set up with the default time of one second. As soon as a right-click is now made in the Sequence tab, for example in the opacity track or X Pos track, a container is created holding automatically four keys, two for the fade in and two for the fade out.

Besides, these four keys are generated as soon as an active value is stored (creating a container) or when an asset is dragged from the Project tab into the sequence.

Pandoras Box version 5.5 includes the feature to access internet pages and render them as so called "Browser Assets" in order to make them visible on graphic or video layers.
To create a browser asset, simply right-click in your Project tab and say "Add Browser", then assign a domain (e.g. http://coolux.de) and texture size within the Browser Inspector. You may as well change the look by influencing the background color. The asset can then be assigned to a layer, just like a video or image. You may click on the left picture in the middle to enlarge the depicted GUI.

Please note that the render and loading process might take up to 15seconds depending on the texture size and web site complexity. This is also subject to the internet connection.

In addition, version 5.5 features the possibility to accept click events (click inputs) happening on the Master or Client system, for example when a mouse button is clicked or when an AirScan is used. The click input is then routed to the visible layer and in case it is a browser asset, it executes the underlying link. These click inputs can be single touch inputs when using Win XP or multi-touch inputs when using Windows 7 and higher.
To activate click events, select the Client in the Device Tree tab and turn to its Inspector. The button "Input Settings" opens a dialog where you can activate your output(s) of choice and the option to route the local inputs to layers.

Routing them to a Widget Designer Device requires this device in your Device Tree and allows to monitor and work with the mouse input information in the Widget Designer. This recently introduced feature is called Layer Picking. The chapter includes a step-by-step example and detailed information about Layer Picking.
If you like to be able to click in the rendered preview tab on your Master, simply activate the "Picking Mode" by highlighting the link symbol in the right upper side from the tab as seen in the left image at the bottom.

As a third feature we introduced "Pointer Layers" to make the mouse pointer visible. Right-click in the Device Tree tab, choose "Add Layer > Pointer" and assign a media to it. Now, depending on the layer's opacity, this pointer layer is automatically shown:
a) in the Preview tab if you are in the picking mode
b) in the Client's small render window
c) in the Client's fullscreen render window

Version 5.5 comes with the newly developed Pandoras Box Web Server. It offers remote control of a Pandoras Box project that can be implemented into a web site. All PB Automation commands, known from the SDK, are now executable in JavaScript language, and thus can be embedded in the HTML code by your web developer.

The Web Server settings can be found in the Configuration tab - Web Server.
Per default the port number used by the web server is 6214. We have prepared a demo web site to show what can be done and how the PBAutomation commands are implemented in the web site's code. If you like to view it, open a Pandoras Box Master - this activates the web server. Then go to your browser and enter your IP address and the port number, e.g. http://2.0.0.100:6214 (alternatively you may copy-paste the address from the Configuration tab) - this calls the web server and shows the delivered web site. This site contains a link to the demo site which is installed per default in the web root folder under c:/coolux/content. If you like to write your own site please make sure to place it in this web page root directory.

Please note that the internal Pandoras Box Web Server can be used without access to the internet, it is meant to be used in (secure) local networks. For bigger installations it might be of interest that external web servers can be used in combination with the PB web server. For example, an Apache HTTP Server can be used or any other web server that supports the scripting language php. This server is then used to deliver the web sites to the browser and forward commands to or receive information from the PB web server. This setup has advantages for larger installations and for those that need access to the internet (as the PB server can be invisible), or for database applications.

Pandoras Box now offers a particle system for Player solutions as well. Up until version 5.5 the FireFly™ particles were restricted to Server systems. The feature has been redesigned to match the 2D compositing space on Players.
Particle systems make flexible content creation possible and can be used for creative as well as interactive solutions. As known from the 3D particles, various emitters can be setup consisting of different parameters that influence the look and behavior of the FireFly Particles.

A new startup dialog pops up as soon as Pandoras Box is started. It gives you the choice to either load a (recently) saved project or start a new one.
If you like to start a new project you can name it in this dialog but it is not mandatory any more to decide the saving path at this stage. As well, the choice is given to start with or without defining advanced configuration settings.

These configuration settings can be found as usually in the Configuration tab which has been restructured into several chapters. The configuration settings for Clients were moved from the Inspector tab to here as well and can be viewed after selecting the according Client from the drop-down list. The tab in general includes some new options, e.g. regarding the behavior of the  Pandoras Box Web Server.

All configuration changes concerning software settings are stored in the show file itself and are loaded when opening the project on a different computer. Settings concerning the hardware (the system itself) are stored on the local machine.

We now support a relative path whereto content can be saved. This is especially of interest for users that use the "Bundle Project" feature.

When saving a project a folder named "assets" is generated just next to the show file. If you copy content files to that folder and drag them from here into your Pandoras Box project the content links are relative. That means that you can move the project folder ( including the *.xml and asset folder) to every path wanted without the need of re-linking the content.
You may as well use the assets folder as a "Watch Folder" in Pandoras Box...

Importing content to your Pandoras Box project has been facilitated by two features.

Firstly, you may turn a folder in the Project tab into a so called "Watch Folder" by clicking on it to view its properties in the Folder Inspector and, there, ticking the according check box. If the folder already contains files, the check box can be found after clicking on the +-symbol in front of "Attributes of Folder".
A dialog opens and lets you choose a folder on the hard drive. Now, all files contained in that folder are imported to your Watch Folder and in consequence to the project. Additional files copied to the folder on the hard drive automatically appear in the Watch Folder. Modified files are reloaded optionally (read below). Removed files, either in Pandoras Box or on the hard drive will still exist in the other place.

Secondly, it is possible to open the Windows Explorer or any other file explorer and simply drag files and folders from there into Pandoras Box. You may either complete the mouse drag in the Project tab, in the Preview tab or in the Device Tree tab as depicted left.

All files in the project are monitored constantly on the hard drive and as soon as a file changes, an automatic reload is executed by Pandoras Box. In addition the reloaded file is spread to connected Clients.

In former versions you only had the possibility to reload content manually, either by restarting Pandoras Box entirely or by clicking the Reload button in the File Inspector. A reload is necessary when content has changed on the hard drive after having been imported to Pandoras Box. This concerns especially still images as Pandoras Box saves them as a separate cache file. With the triggered reload, this cache file is now renewed automatically.

If you like to turn the monitoring off, please uncheck this option in the Configuration tab, section "General Settings". There you find as well the option to deactivate an automatic spread triggered by a file change.

The default value for the opacity parameter has changed to be 255 or 100%. In former versions the default value has been 0. If you like to return to that behavior you may uncheck the check box "Default Opacity is full" in the Configuration tab, section "General Settings". Please note that this option results in a different show appearance when switched during or after show programming.

The default volume parameter for video layers and ASIO tracks has changed from -96dB to 0dB and can be toggled with the same check box.

Setting up parameter smoothing is now possible per each Layer and Parameter separately not only for translation, rotation and scaling parameters per system. The default smoothing setting for all parameters is still 500. That means that active values are applied to the parameter not instantly or abruptly (0ms) but within 500ms in order to smooth movement.

If you like to change the time frame or deactivate the smoothing entirely, e.g. when working with a lighting console and color effects on the layers, select the Client in the Device Tree tab and turn to the Inspector tab. The system-wide smoothings are still modifiable in the Inspector directly, whereas the button "Individual Parameters" opens the Smoothing dialog that enables specific modifications.

A Playlist offers the easy and fast possibility to play a certain number of media files in a row without the need of programming separate containers on the sequence.

In the Project tab's right-click menu, you may find the command to add a Playlist. In order to add media files to it, select the Playlist and look for the new tab "Playlist" (next to the Particles tab). Now you may drag and drop images, videos and audio files from the Project tab into the Playlist tab. Each newly dragged resource will simply be added at the end of the list (even when the Playlist is already playing back). If you like to put the files in another order, (multi-)select an entry and drag it between to others or assign a different "Index" number. Deleting files is possible with the Delete key on your keyboard or by choosing the respective command in the right-click menu.
You may as well change the duration, fade time and transition effect - again, multi selection applies the chosen setting for all selected items. Further to the right you find "In" and "Out" times that take effect on videos or audio files only and define the starting and ending frame. Notes for internal use can be added too.

The overall duration of all files (minus the fade times, as there, two files are played back at the same time) results in the length of the Playlist. This is displayed in the Playlist Inspector. It offers general settings like Folder and File ID, resolution or aspect mode.

As a last step, the Playlist needs to be assigned to a video layer. You may assign it as an active value or program it on the timeline as one single container. Please note, that you may assign the same Playlist to several video layers. Then the playback status can be different per layer, e.g. one layer can be in pause mode showing the file with index 5, the other in play mode between index 10 and 11. The Playlist tab offers a drop-down menu containing all layers the Playlist has been assigned to. Depending on this drop-down menu, the Playlist changes and displays the layer's playback mode and the currently active index file with a green highlight. In the image to the left (which can be enlarged) the chosen Playlist on Layer 1 is currently fading between two images.

Version 5.5 includes a new version of the Warper. In addition to the import of third party 3D objects it is now possible to attach so called "Markers" on them. They are available using the tab "Marker". First add some markers and position them on the virtual object looking at your screen. In the "Calibration Mode" you may position the marker's second instance within the projected image on the real object. Having done so, the button "Update Cal" calculates the camera position that fits the best to the relative distance of the two marker instances.
As a last step (that can be alternatively taken before positioning the markers) you need to set the Lens factor or FOV in the tab "Camera / View". Read more...

We developed a new interplay of Pandoras Box and our tool "Matrix Patcher" that is more time-saving and opens up new possibilities when working with Art-Net LED walls. Create a patch in the Matrix Patcher and export (or update) it in real-time to your Pandoras Box project with one click. Drag the new format ".pbx file" on any(!) output and save it onto the timeline. The preview can be toggled between the visualization of the DVI output and the Art-Net patch.

The maximum number of controllable panels has increased enormously as it is now possible to save a specific network card and target IP address within a fixture. This allows as well to separate the Art-Net data from the Pandoras Box show data.
In addition to these improvements, the Matrix Patcher offers an array tool, a great time-saver when working with several tiles from the same type.

From now on, Art-Net data for matrix patches can be sent within any IP range, it is not tied to the Art-net specification to be sent over a 2.x.x.x network anymore!
As well, Pandoras Box accepts incoming Art-Net from outside the 2 IP range.

The Configuration tab offers per each protocol a drop-down lists with all network cards installed on the system. Select one and restart the application. Now the entire Pandoras Box communication of Master and Clients will be transferred by this defined adapter and its IP address.
You may choose a different network adapter for the Pandoras Box show data, DMX / Art-Net Mode, CITP Thumbnail Exchange and Streaming ACN and of course for the Client.
Thus you can for example separate the show data generated  by the video / graphic containers and their keys in the timeline from all Art-Net data.

The User Interface of Pandoras Box Master software may be altered in a more flexible way. Right-click on a pane or tab and choose to break it out of the main frame. Now it can be moved and scaled independently. In addition each tab can be split into two. Read more...

Image sequences have the advantage of keeping the best possible image quality, preserving alpha channel information and allowing more flexible and safe workflow. With Pandoras Box 5.3 it is now possible to add image sequences directly to your project and play them back.

In addition we do offer SSD drives for our Server hardware. Compared to normal hard drives they allow better playback performance regarding image sequences and other uncompressed video formats.

The new device type "Widget Designer" allows to execute commands directly from the timeline in a very convenient workflow. The commands can be now stored within keys.

Primarily, Widget Designer has a built-in script language allowing you to create customized routines of commands that control specific features of Pandoras Box, Widget Designer or other 3rd party products and protocols but it was only possible to call these commands from Widget Designer itself. Currently there are over 800 commands available.

Now it is possible to execute commands as soon as Pandoras Box' timeline calls them up, that means at a defined time in the show. This topic explains in detail how to program Widget Designer commands directly into the timeline and how to get trigger values from it.

With the feature "Layer Picking" in version 5.3, content interaction has gone one step further. It is now possible to recalculate the mouse position within the preview or even the Client´s fullscreen window and thus recognize what layer is touched and where exactly on the layer the mouse is located. A layer has become a true interface. This chapter explains "Layer Picking" in more detail.

From now on, layers can explicitly set to be included or excluded by the first Pandoras Box render pass and thus be placed outside from the warp / keystone / softedge structure. This setting is available in the layer's Inspector. More details regarding the Video Processing Pipeline can be found here.

Combined with new effects, it allows to set up blacklevel compensation when working with multi-softedged projection(s).

The Image Converter is able to render a mpeg video from an image sequence. In version 5.3 it includes the feature to generate a black-and-white mask in addition to the main video. You may choose to include the b/w information side-by-side like, resulting in one video. In Pandoras Box, the Masking effect "Alpha Left Right" (respectively "Alpha Top Bottom") separates the two videos again and renders them while applying a keying effect to the main video.

This workflow leads to transparency (alpha channel) in mpg-videos and saves far more performance than other codec solutions.

There are new functions within the Pandoras Box SDK (PB Automation). Please refer to the chapter SDK that has been revised and now offers many examples and detailed description.

The number of available ASIO Tracks has been increased. Unlimited audio tracks for synchronized audio playback, are available for:
- all Pandoras Box Server PRO versions
- Pandoras Box Manager PRO
- Pandoras Box Editor and
- Pandoras Box Offline Manager

See Audio Tracks for more information. The Product Overview informs about the available number of ASIO Tracks on other products.

There is a new version for the Widget Designer. Among many features and enhancements, the new build-in Web Server allows to export pages to be accessed online with using a standard web browser.

StreamiX is a TCP based Desktop Streamer that works as a Live Input in Pandoras Box. This tool streams any Windows XP / Win7 desktop region without using capture cards.

Pandoras Box Media Encryption is a technology that encrypts media in order to protect content from being played back by unauthorized persons or systems without permission. To decrypt the media it is necessary to possess the correct key and policy. They can be transmitted digitally or be bind to an optional additional hardware Media Dongle to make the process even more safe. It is possible to set a time limit for the playback.

Light Layers allows setting a light source to illuminate other Video and Graphic Layers. The light source is customizable, e.g. it can be adjusted in its direction and color. As well it can project any media, images and videos. Video and Graphic Layers with a Light Effect may receive the light and cast shadows on themself and other layers. Again, the way how they reflect light is adjustable, thus it is possible to give them a specific material look.

All Pandoras Box 5.1 playback products support ASIO Audio Tracks. In most cases the number of ASIO Tracks available to each playback product is equal to the number of Video Layers. For detailed information please have a look at the Product Overview.

Users can now animate and control the Warper via keys in the timeline or any other Art-Net sending device. In return the warping object influences the layer on the timeline in real-time.
This new development is perfect for realizing projects that involve the tracking of moving head projectors and moving sets, where the warping has to change in a seamless way according to the different positions. Click here for a step-by-step tutorial.

With version 5.1 there are two different Warper variations available. The Warper 2D is available for all Player products. The new Warper 3D is available on Server products.
3ds Max files can now be directly imported and used for warping - they can be edited too. In addition, the Warper mesh points can be moved and worked with along the Z axis. Camera View settings are possible and can be applied to a Camera Layer in Pandoras Box with one mouse click.
Global planar textures can now be applied to multiple meshes as well.

The Warper 3D will be explained in detail in the next version of this manual.

The preset feature has been improved. Not only single snapshots from active values can be taken. Now, a preset can hold an entire set of keys. Both preset variations can be applied at any (other) point in time to any (other) layer. In this way one situation can be created and then be reused severally in the programming process.
In addition a preset can be modified in later programming and automatically change all according keys in the sequence.

V5 QUAD Server and QUAD Player workstations now support 3G. The manual explaining the Quad setup can be found here.

The Inspector has been improved, allowing a faster and easier work flow. It is now possible to multi-select items and modify them all at once. This applies to all possible items such as key frames and containers, cues, files and layers. The Inspector informs you how many items are selected and applies the new settings to all in the same way.

Pandoras Box is featuring an easy and fast work flow when working with rotated LED video tiles.

Previously the Matrix Patcher was only used if working with LED tiles controlled via Art-Net. From now on it plays also an important role if working with LED video tiles that are connected via DVI and a LED video processor. Most LED video processors are capable of creating only horizontal and vertical layouts for the video tile alignment. As soon as any of the tiles are rotated (in any angle), content mapping can be very difficult and complex to setup.
For those creative applications Matrix Patcher and a new Pixel Re-Mapping FX were designed.

Pandoras Box Image Converter now supports direct Mpeg Encoding (where PB Encoder license is available). This will decrease render and converting time significantly.

Pandoras Box Splitter now allows to export 24bit png files requiring less space on the hard disk. In addition a new function "Output Auto-Alignment" allows easier and faster work flow.

The Curve Editor has been improved: New value references, different mouse modes and an improved zoom function create a more comfortable overview and faster work flow.

The video export offers users to greatly improve their work flow and export entire scenes as HD video while having the flexibility of a real-time editing system. For live video ingest, you can now record & capture from any live input source up to 2K/HD.

The dynamic shader effects engine enables users to create and combine an almost unlimited number of effects. All effects and animations are automatically synchronized across the system network, see AEON™ FX Engine.

FireFly™ allows for the creation of elaborate real-time particle effects in a true interactive 3D compositing space. Various emitters can be setup and applied with forces such as Wind & Gravity, see FireFly Particles.

The new QUAD Server and QUAD Player workstations offer users up to four independent HD DVI outputs with built-in EDID Management.

The Pandoras Box Manager Software now supports ASIO audio interfaces and offers synchronized multi-channel audio playback, see Audio Tracks.

It is now possible to re-structure individual layers easily per drag & drop. This way the rendering order can be instantly re-ordered and organized according to your project setup. Arranging your layer structures has never been easier, see Device Tree chapter.

Create and add any number of graphic layers depending on your project needs. Make use of the new efficient source routing to route any video layer sources to any other layer.

IMAGE CONVERTER
Many operators find themselves being handed an ever greater variety of picture data with different sizes. The Image Converter can recalculate images prior to them being used, in order to maximize the overall system's performance efficiency. It also offers high performance batch conversions and can turn image sequences into video files.

DOME MASTER
This tool is a spherical map converter that allows the conversion of dome master files to spherical map files, making it an essential tool for the dome content production workflow. Its sub-pixel accuracy allows optimum image sharpness for large scale projections. It processes up to 8K files.

SPLITTER
With the Splitter, one can create files for panoramic projections and/or dome projections. The Splitter allows users to render out the individual split files needed for individual projectors. The Splitter can also batch image sequences and export video files.

With Pandoras Box version 4.7 50/60p video playback has introduced a "High Performance Mode" that requires more system and gpu ram.
From this release on the "High Performance Mode" should only be used if you intend to playback or process high frame rate content or live inputs.
This feature can be found in the Client/device inspector or if you are running in standalone mode in the Configuration Tab.

FluidFrame™ Technology addresses a challenging and highly complex topic in frame rate conversion common to all media servers, live video processing units as well as signal processing in general.
With FluidFrame™, a smooth cross-conversion that can take any input and output frame rate, supporting both interlaced and progressive sources and clips is possible now.
This way for example 59.94 video input signals are displayed without any frame drop on 60Hz output displays. FluidFrame™ can therefore also handle 50Hz to 60Hz real-time conversions.
In addition to this, it allows smooth playback of high-speed frame rates such as 50 or 60p content and higher. FluidFrame™ Technology can be applied to any live video input or content playback scenario ranging from straight forward Live Video processing to the synchronization of multiple HD SDI streams for Live Stereo 3D applications.

The File Menu now allows you to bundle your project under a new name and location. All content used in the timeline will be copied to the new location as well as the show file. This option allows you to only have one folder to archive your show on a external hard drive. To play your show again, just copy this folder at its original location on your hard disc and all paths will be recovered.

Choose for each layer how it should handle the aspect ratio of the loaded media files.
Four modes are available, see detailed information in the Layer Inspector:
1. none (by default) - same behavior like before, see Figure B.
2. Horizontal Fit, see Figure C.
3. Vertical Fit, see Figure D.
4. Horizontal and Vertical Fit, see Figure E.

Example:

Figure A: this is the original media file.

Figure B: Layer Aspect Ratio is set to "None" and the image is scaled to a 4:3 layer.

Figure C: Layer Aspect Ratio is set to "Horizontal Fit", the files aspect ratio is kept and it fits horizontally into the layer.

Figure D: Layer Aspect Ratio is set to "Vertical Fit", the files aspect ratio is kept and it fits vertically into the layer.

Figure E: Layer Aspect Ratio is set to "Horizontal and Vertical Fit". Regardless whether the file is upright or crosswise, all parts of the file will always be shown in its original aspect ratio.