Changelog

v3.18.4 -> v3.19.0

🚀 New Features

Help Mode

  • Added a dedicated help mode to assist users during show creation.

Proximity Warning Lines

  • Visual warning lines to alert when drones are too close.

3D Mesh & Animated Mesh Converter

  • Ability to convert 3D and animated meshes into drone formations.

Direct Take Off Option

  • New option to launch drones directly without grid initialization, going directly to the first formation.

Compass

  • Introduced a compass tool for better orientation while building shows.

New color effects

  • Added a library of color effects.

  • Updated UI for easier selection and customization.

UI update

  • Enhanced main tabs with emojis and icons for improved visibility and navigation.

Live color update

  • Optimized color update efficiency.

  • Introduced a follow drone color option for synchronized visuals.

  • Added drone connection controls.

Speed Check Option

  • Added speed verification to ensure drones do not exceed safe speeds during takeoff and flight.

Enable Glow Button

  • Added an Enable Glow button to simulate real-life drone brightness, providing a more accurate preview of how the show will appear in the night sky.

🔧 Fixes

  • Updated LightShow Creator to work seamlessly with Blender 4.4.

  • Ensured scene.frame_end updates correctly during manual takeoff.

  • Resolved issue with missing imports causing errors.

  • UI now properly reflects changes to selected color effects.

  • Suppressed erroneous color tag messages when using magic color.

  • Improved display of warnings for minimum distance violations in All-in-One Platform.

  • Corrected issues with color keyframes not applying correctly during show import.

  • RTL cancellation now properly stops calculations; added warnings when waiting time becomes excessive.

  • Introduced a reset button to clear live color issues when opening new files.

🔄 Changes & Improvements

RTL distance limitation

  • Reduced minimum distance 1.5m -> 1m for RTL

Update frame end after a 'go to target'

  • Adjusted frame end logic in transition.py for smoother animations.

Anchors creation warning

  • Displayed warnings when trying to add too many anchors at once.

Take off checks improvement

  • Refined takeoff verification process.

Family grid defaults

  • Set family grids with 2m spacing between layers and updated default takeoff altitude for better usability.

Auto take off adjustments

  • Aligned auto takeoff grid behavior with angled takeoff options.

  • Ensured frame_end updates correctly when using auto takeoff.

v3.16.2 -> v3.18.4

🚀 New Features

New Takeoff Mode: "All in One Platform"

  • Introduced a new takeoff mode for IOStar3.

Mesh Image & Mesh Text Enhancements

  • Easily create 2D drone formations using:

    • Images → Convert any image into a drone shape.

    • Fonts & Text → Generate formations based on text.

Auto Takeoff Button

  • Automatically generates a grid and launches all drones.

  • Ensures proper speed & security distance in a single click.

Safe Delete Protection

  • Prevents accidental drone deletions when pressing X or DEL.

  • Drones can still be removed via right-click or the collection tab.

🔄 Changes & Improvements

Return to Launch (RTL) Algorithm Update

  • Improved drone behavior for smoother landings.

Initialization Parameter Lock

  • Parameters can no longer be modified after show initialization.

RTL Behavior Enhancements

  • Further refinements for drone movements and positioning.

Blender Compatibility

  • LightShow Creator is now working with the latest Blender version. (4.3.2 LTS)

Update Brightness Factor

  • Replace factor multiplication with a percentage for better understanding.

v3.15.0 -> v3.16.2

New

  • Apply brightness Factor

    • The 'Apply brightness factor' can modify the brightness of selected drones using a multiplying factor.

    • Current drone individual brightness will be multiplied by the given factor (increasing brightness if factor > 1, reduce it if factor < 1)

Changes

  • Fix bug where drones were moving after landing

  • Reset RTL start frame when landing to avoid increasing frame

  • Fix duplicated points in family grids

  • Remove RTL correction when checking takeoff

  • Switch off the LEDs during the land and not during the RTL sorting

  • Fix export bug occuring after Drone Grid removal

v3.11.0 -> v3.15.0

The Lightshow Creator is now compatible with Blender 4.x versions

The Lightshow Creator minimal supported version is now Blender 3.6

New

  • Automatic RTL

    • The automatic RTL replaces all drones on their original takeoff positions

    • The RTL time can vary depending on the parameters used and the number of crossing trajectories.

Automatic RTL

  • Add Family Grids

    • You can now create the family grids automatically.

    • It can be use to easily land the drones by using a normal Go to target.

Family Grids

  • Color effect

    • You can now control colors with Geometry Nodes

    • This is similar to Magic color but much more flexible

  • Live color (Beta)

    • With the GCS Beta version 2.7.0, you can control drone color from Blender (currently limited to 3 color channels).

Live color

Changes

  • Fix VVIZ support for FWsim

  • Fix magic color LED registering to match the preview.

v3.5.3 -> v3.11.0

New

  • VVIZ export to add pyrotechnic effects to your show with FWsim or Finale 3D

  • Experimental - Add option to RTL at the end of shows

  • Add option to scale the show to increase the maximum range up to 4x

  • Experimental - Add follow path

Changes

  • Drop retro-compatibility with .blend files created with version 3.5.2 and lower

    • You can use version 3.5.3 to convert your old files

  • Improve Go to target workflow

    • New transition algorithm proved collision-free if minimum distance between anchors is respected

    • Add the number of selected drones and targets below Go to target

  • Improve Add anchors workflow

    • Do not resize automatically the mesh or Bézier curves after adding anchors

    • The minimal distance between anchors does not limit scaling the object

    • Warn if the minimal distance between anchors will or could cause a collision during transitions

    • Automatically merge double vertices on mesh when adding anchors

  • Initialize by default the timeline in seconds instead of frames

  • Rename Set interpolation by Change interpolation

  • Set alpha to 0 by default for added emission material

  • Minimal supported Python version is now 3.10 (previously 3.8).

  • Improve check error messages to include total of infractions and the number of drones concerned

v3.5.2 -> v3.5.3

Fix

  • Use the selected keyframe type for Go to targets

  • Fix Mesh errors in the console

Performance

  • Rework RGBW Emission material to avoid FPS performance regression in some case. Remove White visualization in Material Preview.

v3.5.1 -> v3.5.2

New

  • The automatic creation of markers can be enabled or disabled for each type of action. Before After

Fix

  • Register LED is improved for linear and bezier interpolation. Before (Linear / Bezier) After (Linear / Bezier)

Performance

  • Mesh is 384x faster. Blender was slowing down with objects with many anchors.

v3.2.2 -> v3.5.1

It is highly recommended to read again the documentation to not miss new information.

New

General

  • All buttons and properties are documented in Blender inside tooltips.

  • Add units to properties.

  • The panels are reorganized and have the same arborescence as this documentation.

  • Hide/Show options automatically depending on the context.

  • Blender 3.6 should be preferred

  • Markers are added automatically for batched actions like (Takeoff, Land, Go to target, …)

Performance

  • Progress bars have been added in the system console to follow the progression of long tasks

  • The collision check is much faster

  • The export is also faster

  • Increase FPS when playing the show

JSON show file

  • Change the binary format

    • The binary format is now more compact

    • The exported color events can now either be a constant or a linear interpolation.

  • Change name convention

    • .json is automatically added to the filename during export, no need to add it manually

    • The date and time are added automatically to the exported file

  • Add metadata to the generated files

    • The Blender version

    • The Lightshow Creator and Loader version

    • The physical parameters (minimal distance, and maximum speed profile)

  • The JSON show range file generated with Import & Export range are different from JSON show file and can only be used in Blender with Import range.

Conversion

  • Old shows generated with previous versions can be converted to this new version.

  • The converted show should be checked (show parameters, import back after exporting the converted show, …)

Initialize the show

  • Drone repartition

    • Improve the mechanism to choose the placement of drones

    • Add an interactive visualization of the placement of the drones

    • Drone are now placed next to each other in the same family

  • Purge scene has been removed

  • Prepare the scene has been added to set up the show on a new file

  • Add keyframe type selection for the different keyframes (Takeoff, Land, Go to target, Set color, Magic color, Fire)

Takeoff & Land

  • Integrate Angle takeoff in Initialize show

Formation

  • Mesh

    • Remove Scale mesh by making Min distance interactive

  • Transition

    • Add staggered transitions

    • Add swap tools to fix collisions

    • Replace the checkboxes with named switches

    • Cannot use Go to target before taking off

Color

  • Materials

    • Use only one material instead of two (increase FPS)

    • Change drones and effectors materials to visualize the white channel

  • Set color

    • Add Bezier interpolation

    • Add Set interpolation

    • Add Pick color

    • Add Swap color

    • Add Remove white

  • Magic color

    • Apply effectors only on visible drones (hidden drones will be ignored)

    • Add Interpolation between registered keyframes

    • Update effector is applied immediately (no need to change the frame)

  • Color Settings

    • Add Emission strength

    • Add RGB / White ratio

    • Add support for Solid shader viewing mode

Check

  • Use recommended show parameters by default (minimal distance and speed profile settings)

  • Add Min distance for the collision check

  • Add Check takeoff

  • Add Check autopilot format

  • Failed checks will select the faulty drones and move to the first infraction frame if applicable

Import & Export

  • Export

    • Make Export angle interactive

    • If all checks pass the export should be successful

    • Fix increasing infraction errors during the export

  • Import

    • Can only use Import from a new file

    • If the export is successful the import should not produce errors

Import & Export range

  • Can export part of a show to reuse in other show

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