Modul8 Team wishes you a Happy New Year for 2010

The modul8 Team wishes you an exciting and productive new year. With it we bring several announcements.



We are pleased to announce update Modul8 2.6.1 and Modul8 2.5.10.

The following changes have been made in Modul8 2.6.1:

- Improved assignment of live video capture feeds.
- Fixed minor problem when updating images in a Movie Folder and added the ability to load an empty folder.
- Fixed a potential problem with DMX when quitting modul8.

In both Modul8 2.6.1 and Modul8 2.5.10:

- Fixed some small problems with the authorization/de-authorization process.

You can download the updates by using your serial number to access the 'yourspace' page located at the following address:

http://www.garagecube.com/modul8/yourspace/

If you experience any problems with modul8 please be sure to contact us at support - at - garagecube - dot - com.


HomeVJ loops!

As a special thank you gift to those who purchased modul8 within the last year, or upgraded to modul8 2.6, we present to you a selection of free video loops from the HomeVJ label.

You can access the yourspace page to download the loops.

The HomeVJ label specializes in a unique flavor of quality designed VJ loops.

For more information about the HomeVJ label visit their website at http://www.homevj.com.




Initially planned for January 4th the deadline has been extended to January 15th.

You can apply through the Mapping Festival website at http://www.mappingfestival.com with your proposals, be it a VJ set, AV performance, theater, dance, installation or lecture/workshop/presentation/demo.

If you want to present your products and/or activities (hardware, software, collective, agency, company, etc) in a space dedicated to VJing professionals, please contact them for more information at: pro - at - mappingfestival -dot - com


Best wishes,
The Modul8 Team

Modul8 2.6 available now!

The live video performance tool of choice gains new features:

Sound Analysis

Fine tune how compositions react to specific sounds. Isolate frequencies using the Sound Analysis Configuration panel and turn sound into movement.

DMX control

Open yourself up to controlling lighting and other stage production tools, or expand your existing control of the stage into video.

We created several basic modules that you can download from the GarageCUBE online module library to get you started. For stage designers you can use the DMX Layer Fixture module to control Modul8 using a light desk.

If you are completely new to DMX and want to control lighting using a MIDI controller you can use the new Midi2DMX module.

DMX control with Modul8 works exclusively with the ENTTEC DMX USB Pro device and requires the installation the Virtual COM driver.

Up to 4 live video feeds

Incorporate several view points using multiple video cameras and mix them together as you would any other media within Modul8.

Import/export MIDI and key mappings

Start every new project with a familiar feel by quickly incorporating the controls that serve you best, or share your Midi/Key mappings with your friends.

Movie folder

Quickly create a slide show by dragging a folder from desktop that contains images and dropping it into the Modul8 media set. Incorporate new images or edit out ones you don’t want on the fly by simply removing images for the folder.

Blend modes

An essential feature for most compositing tasks, blend modes allow for artistic experimentation with any image based media. Furthermore the implementation of these blend modes is very efficient, requiring very little CPU usage, so your frame rate does not suffer when your creative juices start to flow.

Wacom tablet support
The Painter module responds to pen pressure allowing you to add a natural, lively feel to your video performances.

Additional new features:
• Screenshot of preview and output windows
• MIDI device filtering
• Customizable aspect ratio of the preview panel
• Specify the rendering size of your Quartz Composer patches
• Support for Snow Leopard.


New modules
All of the following modules are available for download from the GarageCUBE online module library.

• Midi2Dmx (dmx) - Allows you to control DMX fixtures using your Midi controller.
• DMX fixture (dmx) - Use Modul8 like a DMX control device.
• DMX color test (dmx) - Test the RGB of a DMX compatible light fixture.
• DMX 8 (dmx) - Simple slider control for 8 DMX channels.
• Perspective Transform - A more precise version of the popular Core Image filter
• EqTest (example) - Demonstrates how to access Sound Analysis data using the module system.

Updated modules:
• BPM (global)
• Bpm Router (layer)
• Bpm Router (master)
• PrintedDirectEvent v2 (tool)


How to get Modul8 2.6
If you are already part of the Modul8 community you can upgrade your current Modul8 license to Modul8 2.6.

To start you can point your web browser to the following address:
http://www.garagecube.com/modul8/yourspace/

Read more detailed information about the upgrade process in our FAQ on the forum.

Too soon for you to jump into 2.6?
If the features of Modul8 2.6 are not attractive to you, we have released Modul8 2.5.9 so that it is compatible with Mac OS X Snow Leopard.

What is ‘yourspace’?
We are developing solutions for you to manage your account with us. For now yourspace allows you to download Modul8 whenever you need to and see how many authorizations of Modul8 you are currently using. In the future we look forward to providing you with more options and incentives to make yourspace part of your Modul8 experience.

Special limited time offer!
To take advantage of the DMX capability in Modul8 2.6 you will need to purchase the ENTTEC DMX USB Pro device from ENTTEC. As of December 1st, If you purchase Modul8 2.6 upgrade you will be able to obtain a coupon code to purchase the ENTTEC DMX USB Pro device for a discount. The coupon is available to you after you purchase the Modul8 2.6 upgrade and can be obtained by logging into 'yourspace.' The coupon lasts 1 month so if you are interested in DMX now is the time to act, and save!

We look forward to seeing the next wave of creations that follows a new release. Remember to join us on vimeo, facebook, twitter or flickr to share your Modul8 experiences with us.

Best wishes,
The Modul8 Team

Modul8 wishes you all a Happy New Year in 2009!

Modul8 wishes you Happy New Year for 2009!

To all modul8 users and enthusiasts out there we hope you had a happy and productive year of creating live visuals and that the coming year will be just as fulfilling. The past year has been very eventful for the GarageCUBE team. Beginning with the entry of David Geldreich to the development team and followed by many exciting projects that further expanded our personal and professional presence in the world of live visuals.

What do we have to look forward to in 2009?

001++ Modul8 v2.6 in the 1st quarter of 2009

We are pleased to announce that we will be releasing modul8 v2.6 in the 1st quarter of 2009. We will keep you informed of developments on this highly anticipated release through our blog (www.modul8.us) and the GarageCUBE forum (www.GarageCUBE.com/forum).


002++ GarageCUBE team expands

In the beginning of this year we welcomed David Geldreich to the GarageCUBE team. Since that time he has helped us release two updates, provided us with tools and knowledge that have added and enhanced our experience of the development cycle. We are very much looking forward to his continued efforts and contributions to modul8 in 2009.

At the end of this year Eric Morzier joined the GarageCUBE team. You may know Eric from his active participation on the GarageCUBE forum as Sigma6. He has been a user of modul8 from its first release and has authored several very useful modules that can be found in public section of the modules library. Beyond modul8 he has worked in the fields of motion graphics and interactive design and co-founded the collective Sigma6. http://www.sigma6.ch/


003++ Team Modul8 out and about

This year saw many projects that have advanced the medium of VJ'ing as an art form and we were very fortunate to be a part of this process. After the Chicks On Speed/Modul8 'Butt Slaps' installation for Mapping 2008, Chicks On Speed http://www.chicksonspeed.com/ and the Modul8 team came together at the Hangar http://www.hangar.org/ in Barcelona. In 10 days the 'Super Suits' project was born.

Prior to this was our residency at the Exyzt http://www.exyzt.org/ Southwark Lido installation where the surrounding buildings were lit up with time lapse footage and moving portraits of the participants taken by Julie Guiches and Benoit Laurent. Little did we know at the time that this interaction would lead to our final collaboration of the year at the Corps Urbain festival in the Le Brigittines, Brussels under the umbrella of the newly initiated Continent-Virtual http://www.continent-virtuel.org/.



004++ Facebook, Flickr and Vimeo... oh my!

Are you on facebook? We have a group and a fan page dedicated to modul8. It is checked by us on a weekly basis and we announce modul8 related news and events on both of them. You are welcome to find us and join us there, contribute your photos, videos, demos, ideas, reports and discuss VJing, mapping and techniques amongst yourselves. There is also a strong modul8 presence on flickr and vimeo with groups for both.

http://www.flickr.com/groups/modul8/
http://www.vimeo.com/groups/modul8/

Do not neglect to read the former post about the open call for submissions to the Mapping VJ Festival.

Best wishes again from all of us at the modul8 team to you.

Modul8 version 2.5.8

Hello everyone,

An update to modul8 has been uploaded to the servers today. The update adds some modifications to existing features and resolves some conflicts that have emerged with the recent updates to Mac OS X.

What's new:
- Support for .swf file playback using Flash 10.
- Support for video capture (live video feed) at HD resolution.
- Default memory settings in the preferences are now set to 60MB, 60%, 128MB.
- Default video capture settings are now at the maximum quality.

Fixes:
- Potential crashes when changing media quickly.
- Potential freezes during a logical render.
- In Leopard the output window did not return to front when switching to modul8 from another application.
- Possible crashing when detecting video cards.

To download the most recent update access the 'Download modul8 Update' command from the 'modul8' menu. If you cannot please contact us at support at garagecube dot com and we will send you a link.

If you want to use the modules you have downloaded or created using v.2.5.x it will be necessary to move or copy them from the modules folder of that version and put them in the modules folder of v.2.5.8.

Enjoy and have a great weekend!

Modul8 update to v.2.5.7

Modul8 v.2.5.7 release notes

This update is strongly recommended for all users. The following problems have been addressed with this update:

- Modul8 slow down due to media changing to direct-to-disk in v.2.5.5 and v.2.5.6.
- Crashes due to too much memory usage by Modul8 (occurs often on machine with 4GB or more memory).

If you want to use the modules you have downloaded or created using v.2.5.x it will be necessary to move or copy them from the modules folder of that version and put them in the modules folder of v.2.5.7.

Important note for users of Mac OS X 10.5.x
Because Mac OS X 10.5 uses more memory then the previous system version it is recommended for users who have less than 4 gigabytes installed to change the preferences under the 'medias' tab. Set the value in the field "Start releasing medias when Modul8 uses more then % of the full memory:" to between 60 or 70%.

To download the most recent update access the 'Download modul8 Update' command from the 'modul8' menu. If you cannot please contact us at support at garagecube dot com and we will send you a link.

Lido article preview

I am still furiously trying to finish my article on my experiences at the Exyzt/Sara Muzio installation: Lido Southwark London. It is a bit long for a blog post but well worth the effort I think to treat ones work by their own standards. I am also trying out ecto as it appears to be very useful for writing and laying out things. More importantly it has a flickr integrator that I am trying out by inserting this image that is the north wall of the site.

In other new Boris and I are heading down to Barcelona, Spain to do a VJ gig at La Terrazzza club. Note that I have no idea if this photo is indeed the club at all but there is a flickr tag finder that I just had to try out.

Modul8 v.2.5.6 boo boo fixer

In quick response to some of the complaints showing up in my support mail and the forums the team has just released a quick update from v.255 to v.256 to address the following:

- A rare usage of the Python keyword "setValue" that would result in a crash.
- Flash playback in modul8 crashing PPC and Intel based computers.
- Modul8 crashing when using two displays.

To download the update you can access the 'Download modul8 update' command from the 'modul8' menu. If you receive an error trying to do this then just email me at support at modul8 dot com and I'll send you a fresh link. Not to be confused with fresh drink... we're not quite there yet. ;)

v.2.5.5 bumps?

Reading about some troubles people are having with modul8 v.2.5.5. A common one turning up is caused by the use of the 'inside-us-all' FreeFrame plug-ins. Another more serious problem is related to basic 1 monitor/projector output.

Luckily for all of us the team has solved the latter while the former may be in the hands of users to ask the authors of these FreeFrame plug-ins what may be the problem. If you are having a problem of any minor or major importance please do send us an email to support-at-garagecube-dot-com so it can be included in v.2.56. Quickly! We are looking to get this out by the end of the week.

The forum is back!!!

After being bombed by some spam bots the forum was shut down for a bit. We are back on with a mighty (simple and elegant) spam blocker. So now prancing around the GarageCube forums should be spam free. Yay! Thanks Boris!