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Viz Pilot Edge Release Notes

Version 2.4 | Published March 31, 2023 ©

Viz Pilot Edge Release Notes

Viz Pilot Edge 2.4.2

Release Date: 2023-03-31

These are the release notes for Viz Pilot Edge and Template Builder versions 2.4.2. This document describes the user-visible changes that have been made to the software since release 2.4.1.

Fixed Issues

Pilot Edge

  • The MOS XML generated by PDS is now preserved for data elements, in particular for the fields <objTB>, <objType> and <objDur> (VPE-4678).

Template Builder

  • Template Builder will not show the channel-category as an empty tag in the Tags section of the Advanced-dialog box (VPE-4703).

Viz Pilot Edge 2.4.1

Release Date: 2022-12-06

These are the release notes for Viz Pilot Edge, Template Builder and ShowEdge versions 2.4.1. This document describes the user-visible changes that have been made to the software since release 2.4.0.

This is a recommended upgrade for anyone using Viz Pilot Edge and the ShowEdge wrapper.

Fixed Issues

ShowEdge

  • When closing the Viz Pilot Edge plugin, the WebView2 process keeps running, building up multiple process instances over time (VPE-4679).

  • When hosted in ShowEdge, d ouble-clicking the OK button for the Viz Pilot Edge plugin in iNEWS, makes iNEWS crash (VPE-4681).

Pilot Edge

No changes.

Template Builder

No changes.

Viz Pilot Edge 2.4.0

Release Date: 2022-11-17

These are the release notes for Viz Pilot Edge and Template Builder versions 2.4.0. This document describes the user-visible changes that have been made to the software since release 2.3.0.

Release Highlights

With this version, we are addressing some of the most requested customer features as well as some quality-of-life improvements.

The Mosart timing information is now embedded into the MOS XML. Customers can continue to use their existing Mosart HTML panels, no other custom scripting or changes are required on the templates, other than removing the "mosart" field from the title generation. Note that previously created data elements must be resaved to embed this information.

Following customer feedback, we made the following changes to the Save/Save As workflow:

  • The Save/Save As button was merged into one, and we introduced a dialogue where users get explicit information about the actions that they are about to perform on the data element, reducing accidental overwriting.

  • There is a global setting to disable “Overwrite” for data elements. After enabling this feature, it is mandatory to introduce a regular data element clean-up.

Jump to preview functionality will significantly speed up how a user will interact with the templates by automatically jumping to a corresponding preview point depending on what field is selected.

Image metadata can now be accessed via template scripting. This means that if image metadata fields exist, such as Title, Role, etc, they can be used meaningfully when filling a template. This increases the speed with which graphics are created, no longer requiring typing the same information twice, reducing spelling mistakes, and making it unnecessary to switch input language to enter special characters.

Additionally, there is also a new way to dynamically populate a drop-down field.

Improvements and New Features

Pilot Edge

  • Added support to type in right-to-left languages inside text fields (VPE-4457).

  • Added a confirmation box when saving data elements. Ensures clearer guidance for save and save as decisions (VPE-4508).

  • Mosart timing information no longer needs to be part of the title in templates and data elements (VPE-4506). This means that any existing templates that have a title that is auto-generated using the "mosart" field value, can be edited to not use it anymore.

    images/download/attachments/95392535/image2022-6-8_14-33-16.png → images/download/thumbnails/95392535/image2022-6-8_14-34-53.png

    Note: This is not mandatory, customers that wish to continue adding the Mosart timing information within the title can do so.

  • The library item status can now be toggled directly by the library status icon in the toolbar when opening a data element (VPE-4517).

  • Added option to disable the ability for users to overwrite existing data elements (VPE-4573).

  • Added URL parameter override-initial-concept=id for overriding initial concept selection (VPE-4603).

  • Playout instructions panel now has logic to help the user input the timing easier and faster, using an absolute duration value as well as calculated values for the in and out values (VPE-4383).

Template Builder

  • The new feature for image metadata, allows you to access the metadata bound to any image, by using the script editor. When accessing an image's metadata, you can auto-fill the name field within a template, or alternatively display or hide an image that is copyrighted or not (VPE-4467).

  • Added support for auto jump preview points linked to each field defined in Template Builder (VPE-4503).

  • It is now possible to a use a single HTML panel as a full replacement of the fill-in-form. The URL can be set in the Advanced menu > "Full HTML panel URL" (VPE-4501).

  • New dynamic dropdown mechanism is introduced. This allows the designer to create dropdowns that are populated by a JSON array string from another field (VPE-4601).

  • Added warning message when changing or deleting variant names, as this will remove any existing data element connected to the template (VPE-4616).

Fixed Issues

Pilot Edge

  • The silent installation does not fail anymore if a previous WebView2 version is already present on the machine (VPE-4533).

  • Missing image properties when scripting for "width" and "height" as well as "updated" has been fixed (VPE-4577, VPE-4567).

  • The double-scroll bars issue that appears when using an HTML panel, can be solved by using the full HTML panel feature (VPE-4150).

  • Channel information is now passed through to the MOS object (VPE-4463).

  • Fixed issue with the HTML panel title not updating (VPE-4495).

Template Builder

  • Fixed a bad error message with Preview Server (VPE-3644).

  • Fixed the Hidden Field enable/disable issue (VPE-4444).

  • Fixed the random changes in size of divider inside fill-in form (VPE-4608).

Known Issues

Pilot Edge

  • The maximum text length is sometimes inaccurate when using some surrogate characters, like emojis (VPE-4445).

  • 4K resolution images are not supported in Octopus 8 and Octopus X due to memory constraints (VPE-2412).

Template Builder

  • When changing or deleting variant names, data element connected to the template will be deleted. A warning message has been added to inform the users (VPE-4616).

Minimum System Requirements

Hardware

There are no known hardware limitations for Viz Pilot Edge and Template Builder, other than requirements stipulated by newsroom systems hosting the client.

Software

Vizrt components:

  • Pilot Data Server 8.9.1

  • Graphic Hub 3.7.1 (with Graphic Hub REST 2.7.0)

  • Preview Server 4.5.0

  • Media Sequencer 5.4.1

  • Viz Artist 4.2.0

  • Viz Engine 4.2.0

Note: Viz Artist 4.2 and Viz Engine 4.2 are required for transition logic and combo template support. See Setup and Configuration > Configuring Viz Artist in the Template Builder User Guide.

Enable automatic creation of merged geometries when saving a transition logic scene AutoExportTransitionLogicGeometries = 1.

Note: TGA image support requires a codec program like https://www.fastpictureviewer.com/codecs/, to be installed on the same machine as crop service.

Browser

If running Viz Pilot Edge inside a browser, these are the tested browsers:

  • Chrome 107.0.5304.106 (Official Build) (64-bit)

  • Firefox 106.0.5 (64-bit)

  • Safari 11.1.2

  • Microsoft Edge Version 107.0.1418.42 (Official Build) (64-bit)

Newsroom Systems Used for Testing

  • iNEWS 7.7.0.14

  • ENPS 9.0.177 (Browser type Internet Explorer)

  • Open Media 4.4.4359

  • Octopus X (see also known issues above)

Upgrading

When upgrading from a previous version of Pilot Edge, the previous version may still be presented by the host browser for a short time due to client side caching. To prevent this, clear the host browser cache. If you are using the default Internet Explorer host, open Internet Explorer, press CTRL + SHIFT + DEL, select Temporary Internet files and website files and click DELETE.

Documentation

Documentation for Viz Pilot Edge, Template Builder and related software is available at the Vizrt Documentation Center:

Support

Support is available at the Vizrt Support Portal.