ETCs Eos receives Augment3d with the software update v3.0

ETC has officially released the Eos v3.0 software, equipping the Eos platform with powerful three-dimensional programming and augmented reality control. This update marks the official integration of the highly anticipated Augment3d toolkit into Eos. With Augment3d, users can program moving spotlights with unprecedented speed and ease, visualize their cues in an imported model of their room and even position lights with the push of a button on an augmented reality smartphone “focus stick”. Over 5,000 beta users have tested the software in the past few months, and their feedback has helped create one of the most exciting new Eos features to date.

The new software runs natively on the latest hardware in the Eos family and can be used with the ETCnomad software on Mac and PC. Educators, students and those looking to learn the software can download the latest ETCnomad software for free and use the Augment3d programming area to create virtual design projects in offline mode. ETC has also created a virtual light lab show file that enables students to use Augment3d to learn more about lighting.

The Augment3d Light Lab Show file

If the educational potential of Augment3d seems perfectly matched for the current moment of distance learning, the long-term professional applications for Augment3d are even more powerful. Augment3d supports over 50 different 3D file extensions for importing venues or set models. With a Vectorworks plugin you can easily import your fixture plot. Even without an existing diagram or model, you can use the tool for estimating the device position to quickly reverse engineer the spatial coordinates of your moving devices from just four focus palettes. Loading into a new touring venue has never been easier.

Once you have your virtual rig, Augment3d has a ton of new tools to keep you focused and a breeze. You can position the beam of a moving or static spotlight with a click or a touch. Enable stick-beam visualization to use focus handles to drag your beams into place, then keep their spacing as you move multiple selected fixtures together. You can even focus from the device’s perspective for an electrician’s perspective. A new “Staging Mode” offers a busking-friendly alternative to “Live” and “Blind” that lets you preview and edit your looks before recording or playing them back. A new keycap for your console in staging mode can be found on the ETC website.

The remote apps iRFR and aRFR from ETC now also offer an exciting new augmented reality function “wall”. After you’ve scanned an AR target placed in your room, you can view and select your lights with your phone’s camera, swipe up or down to control the intensity, hit the zoom, and find your rays with the “Find me ”Or by using your phone as a pointing stick.

However, the Eos v3.0 update contains more than just Augment3d. The graphical user interface (GUI) has been given a major overhaul, including new display management features that let you drag and reorder tabs. Additional information has also been added to the Faders, Palettes, Presets and Groups displays. Users working in video applications can now toggle optional reference overlays in the color picker to make it easier to choose camera-friendly colors.

Updates to Magic Sheets include options for creating non-interactive objects or Magic Sheets for display only, as well as the ability to change the type of an object while retaining all other related information. Magic Sheet objects can now also be linked to softkeys, display a color assigned to a specific target macro, or monitor the status of networked relays and timecode clocks. Additional Magic Sheet functions provide improved control of the mechanical dowsing rods and individual cells in one device.

The software also introduces new tools for working with effects, multi-cell fixtures, fixture parameters, and more. With Eos v3.0 you have more control over “random” effects, so you can either create a “real chance” that’s different each time, or audition different “random” effects until you find one you like. New controls also let you add multiple mirrors to your offset selection, reverse your channel selection when using a skip offset, or use the channel selection order from a group to create an offset pattern. A new graphic shows an animation of the offset pattern applied to your selected channels. A new multi-cell tool makes it easy to create subsets for all cells in a channel, while another new function lets you copy the value of a parameter to other parameters. Other updates speed up the patching of pixel maps and the updating of fixture profiles.

Due to the requirements of the 3D programming environment, Eos v3.0 is not compatible with some older Windows XP-based Eos hardware. However, the new software includes an option in the shell that allows you to start the desktop in an earlier software build in case you need to use it with XP-based hardware.

More information is available at etcconnect.com/eos

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