garageCube

[Lumenarius]

Long time user and big time fan of both pieces of software.

On a recent project, Resolume Avenue, for a still unknown reason, cannot playback 3840 x3840 DXV or H.264 content smoothly over 5-10 FPS. Even though it was confirmed 100% working for 3 weeks without any changes being applied. This is a permanent installation and things just kind of have to work right. It's our business and livelihood.

Read full post on their forums here: https://resolume.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=99486

Thank god MadMapper works or else the show would be dead in the water. We are missing a few key features and had to render down the entire show flow into a static 90 minute file but it works... Thankfully!

My question is can MadMapper 6 replace Resolume Avenue?

THE ONLY REASON we use Resolume is because Avenue can handle making a show with more than one video file.

WE DON'T USE Resolume Arena because the mapping in there sucks. MadMapper crushes it in UI/UX for both projection and LED mapping. No contest.

If we just 1 video file to play and that is the entire project then MadMapper once again is the pure winner. No weird DXV conversion. Less apps running. No Spout. Etc.

However, if we need to make a real show with multiple videos and MadMapper is lacking and is not user friendly.

Imagine for instance we need to have a single video play for a walk in look and then there is a trigger to have the software play a 5-10 videos as a playlist, with transitions, for the main show, and then after that last video ends the software automatically triggers a walk out look where it stays until the next show is manually started.

MadMapper doesn't really do this well. I have tried lots of ways for years.

The means to which we can create a "playlist" in MadMapper are either non-existent or kind of hacky in version 5 and below.

The only way we have found is to make a cue for each stage of the show but then if we change the mapping calibration we have to go into every cue instance and update that calibration or when we trigger the cue with the next video the mapping is off. Now make 5 distinct shows and this problem compounds vastly. Hence, the modular separation of Playback and Calibration applications.

But, with MadMapper 6 there appear to be a number of new tools in the sense of a "timeline" and we are looking into these in earnest.

As we dive in over the weekend with the MadMapper 6 Beta I just want to get a feel from the devs or other users who know both pieces of software and to see if we can reasonably switch?

We don't need every feature Avenue. We literally just need a playlist. Play 1 video, then the next, and the next, then the last; all automatically. Transitions would be great too but I'll take no transitions if it actually just works.

I would upgrade in a heart beat if we can achieve this and we have about 10 remote installations and another 2-3 internal machines we would upgrade to MadMapper 6.

In our experience of over 12 years with MadMapper is truly reliable and performs significantly better with more video codecs than Resolume and we are frankly terrified that our other installations will eventually suffer the same unknown Resolume issue we are with the most recent project.

Thank you for the input.

[Lumenarius]

After watching this video twice I am BLOWN AWAY at what MadMapper 6 can do.

https://youtu.be/K5678-aQAcc?si=NGs6M8ufWXlooaAF

Unbelievably good job. So many good ideas in here.

The new timeline feature is a game changer and will define the space for years to come. Seriously. This is going to elevate the game so high. I can't think of any other software which can do these things in addition to the core mapping engine.

More to learn but safe to say that YES. MadMapper 6 can replace Resolume Avenue in our workflow AND THEN SOME!

[Lumenarius]

Here is a video showing some of what I came up with to solve our problem using the new MadMapper 6 Beta 5.

I am not sure if this is the best way to do it but I was able to create what we are looking for using the new Timeline feature with x2 Montage tracks and a "Pre-Mix" output.

Looking forward to seeing how this develops!

https://youtu.be/Ja_JI988BLI

[littlejohn]

The only way we have found is to make a cue for each stage of the show but then if we change the mapping calibration we have to go into every cue instance and update that calibration or when we trigger the cue with the next video the mapping is off. Now make 5 distinct shows and this problem compounds vastly. Hence, the modular separation of Playback and Calibration applications.

I don't know if you have ever tried but I use seperate video loopbacks for the content which output into individual quads which send out to each mapped area/video display, this way when I change the mapping it doesn't affect the content, you could probably do this with spout too, then you just have to be sure to not save any fixture position data into any cues. And definitely don't use scenes unless you want a surprise after you have mapped everything nicely!

Also, the advanced cue settings are not really well documented in the manuals and so it took ages before I realised there was a better way of altering cue contents, its the radio button next to the cue thumbnail size BTW!!

MM6 is certainly a step up in the Game of LED and really leaves resolume behind.

[angelaevans8x]

I don't know if you have ever tried but I use seperate video loopbacks for the content which output into individual quads which send out to each mapped area/video display, this way when I change the mapping it doesn't affect the content, you could probably do this with spout too, then you just have to be sure to not save any fixture position data into any cues. And definitely don't use scenes unless you want a surprise after you have mapped everything nicely! Block Blast

Also, the advanced cue settings are not really well documented in the manuals and so it took ages before I realised there was a better way of altering cue contents, its the radio button next to the cue thumbnail size BTW!!

MM6 is certainly a step up in the Game of LED and really leaves resolume behind.

The way you use separate video loops to optimize content mapping is clever! Avoiding fixed position data makes the workflow more flexible, and MM6 is indeed making significant strides in the LED game.