Resolume 4.1 New Features from Resolume on Vimeo.
Mapping is more than just “that thing you do with a big pile of boxes or the facade of a building as a gimmick.” It’s increasingly expected that you’re ready, as a live visualist, to produce output in shapes other than just the rectangle. It might be “projection mapping,” as in, with a projector, or it might be using other outputs. But just as you’d expect a live visual app to be able to mix or layer, you may soon expect it to be able to easily produce different output shapes, too.
We’ve seen inklings of that in different apps, but Resolume Arena 4.1 goes further. The Resolume crew are proud enough of their progress that they even manage a none-too-subtle dig at the way MadMapper works in their promo video. (See the video at top for everything new in 4.1.)
Unfortunately, with these features in-demand by some highly-paid shows, you do have to pay extra for that functionality – woe to the independent, cash-strapped VJ. Arena costs €699 versus €299 for Avenue. In fact, I think at the moment just one visual software developer includes built-in mapping in the standard version, the whole landscape will change. But the functionality looks well worth it, so maybe even that cash-strapped VJ will pick up the gig to pay for the extra cost.
There’s also some great new stuff in the “vanilla” version of Resolume, Avenue. What’s new:
- Arena: masking and cropping in the Advanced Output. (The implementation, while close enough to MadMapper that you could almost accuse it of copying, improves on that rival in some key ways; see the video.)
- Arena: Route layers directly to slices. (Note to all developers: every single app ought to work this way.)
- Layer Router (all versions): Create a clip that uses input from any layer below. (They suggest “picture in picture” effects, but I can imagine some creative applications for this.)
- Syphon everywhere! Syphon input and output is now native on the Mac – no plug-ins needed.
Other improvements: 14-bit MIDI (using pitch bend), drag-and-drop effects, the ability to see the amount of time remaining on a clip, improved Blackmagic support and performance, MIDI step mapping improvements, and lots of other little tweaks and fixes.
See the full details:
Resolume 4.1 Released!