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2.1 Release Notes

Release date: 15th May 2024

File Version Bump

Scenes created in Cavalry 2.0.3 will be converted when opening them in Cavalry 2.1.0. The file will be copied to a new scene which will need saving – you'll notice the legacy scene will be named <yourSceneName> [Converted].cv on opening. Any scenes saved in 2.1.0 onwards will not be fully compatible with any previous versions of Cavalry.

What's new in Cavalry 2.1?​

📣 Make some noise!! 📣

Cavalry 2.1 is all about audio including audio export, multi-track audio playback and big improvements to the Sound Behaviour.

New Features​

General​

  • New Label Palettes tab in the Color Window which can be used to set custom Label Colors for Layers, Keyframes and Time Markers.
  • New Audio Monitor Window.
  • The Audio Smart Folder is now a feature.
  • Users with Starter licences can now export the first selected Layer to Lottie to evaluate the feature.
  • New Try Pro window. This can be accessed from the button in the Shelf and is intended to provide simple examples that use the Professional features. Note that Starter users will be switched into 'Restricted Mode' which prevents saving and rendering – deleting the Pro Layer(s) will restore saving and rendering.

Audio Import​

The list of supported audio file types has been expanded to include:

  • .mp3 audio files.
  • .aac audio files.
  • .caf (aka Apple Loops) audio files.

See here for the full list of supported audio file types.

Audio Export ​

Audio can now be exported to the following formats:

  • New Audio Only Format (.aac).
  • MP4 (h264).
  • QuickTime (Motion JPEG, Uncompressed 422, ProRes 422, ProRes 422 HQ, ProRes 422 LT, ProRes 422 Proxy, ProRes 4444, ProRes 4444 XQ).
  • WebM (VP8, VP9).

Audio Playback​

More controls for handling audio playback:

Embedded audio

Note that audio contained within video assets is not supported.

CLI​

  • Support for audio export has been added to the CLI.

Behaviours​

  • The Sound Behaviour is now a Starter feature and includes the following improvements:
    • Frequency Scale - Choose a model to sample the audio file's frequencies with.
    • Frequency Range Hz - Customise the range of frequencies to sample the file within.
    • Band Weighting Graph - Control the contribution of individual frequency bands to the output value.
    • Active Bands (Output) - The number of active frequency bands selected in the Equaliser.
    • Volume Adjustment - Animate the volume of the audio track.
    • Pan - Bias audio to the left/right channel.
    • Play Audio - Animate audio playback on/off.

Scripting​

New features have been added to the APIs:

API​

Cavalry​

Script UIs​

Enhancements​

  • Loading video Assets is now much faster in many cases.
  • The Camera tool now includes a 'Dolly' hotkey.
  • The Time Editor now auto-scrolls when marquee selecting Keyframes/Clips outside of its current view.
  • The Import Google Sheet... dialogue has been visually improved.
  • Loading Google Sheet Assets is now multi-threaded meaning multiple Assets will now load concurrently and no longer block interactions while calling the data from Google's API.
  • When duplicating a Composition in the Assets Window, Guides are now also duplicated.
  • The Timeline now displays a timecode ruler when the Frame Indicator is in that mode.
  • Dynamic Rendering - The Number of Renders attribute is now Dynamic Range meaning ranges can be set per RQI and it's now possible (with scripting) to render an arbitrary set of sequences.
  • A modal window now warns of any missing fonts when loading a Scene.
  • Missing fonts are now marked as such in the Attribute Editor.
  • It's now possible to delete all selected Render Queue Items in the Render Manager.
  • It's now possible to delete the active Composition from the Assets Window. Note that if the Composition that becomes the new active Composition is within an hierarchy, it will be moved up to the root level (this needs improving!).
  • Inactive Behaviours now output 0 or their input value (this is not exhaustive across all Behaviours just yet).
  • New Circular generator type in the Color Window.
  • The Value Array can now output the total of all its values.
  • Support for mice with horizontal scroll.
  • Freeform scrolling with a trackpad is now supported in the Time Editor.
  • A Group now has options to determine how Shapes within it visually combine with each other and other Shapes outside the Group.
  • It's now possible to connect a String to a colour and vice versa.
  • New 'Bind Selected Shape' button added to the Corner Pin Shape.
  • New 'Create and Connect Rectangle' button added to the Bounding Box Utility.
  • New audio examples added to Create > Demo Scenes > Audio.

Notable Bug Fixes​

  • Using the middle mouse button to pan the Time Editor no longer breaks vertical alignment with the Scene Tree.
  • The <frame> Render Token is now working again.
  • View > Draw Outside Composition Boundary is now working again.
  • Shapes that have been manually connected as Bodies to a Forge Dynamics Shape now show the correct UI when opening their settings (cog icon). Note that this bug will still occur when making the connection via the pop up menu in the Scene Tree.
  • An empty Sub-String String Manipulator crash is now resolved.
  • A crash using a Transition String Manipulator with Transition from End is now resolved.
  • Fixed a crash when right clicking certain areas of a Text Shape in edit mode.
  • The length() API member function is now working as expected.
  • The Footage Shape now correctly reads the dimensions from images within an Image Smart Folder.
  • The Time Editor no longers becomes vertically misaligned after undoing the Pre-Compose Selection action.
  • The direction when horizontal scrolling with a supported mouse has been unified.

Notes​

  • The Quick Add Window is now called the Add Layers Window and included as part of the default Workspace.
  • Audio Smart Folders and Image Smart Folders are now limited to a maximum depth of 5 sub directories.
  • The new Blending and Opacity Mode for a Group may change the appearance of some legacy Scenes in certain edge cases. Try switching to Artboard from the default Individual Layers mode if this is the case for you.

API changes​

  • A Time Marker's Color attribute has been updated to Draw Color Id. The scripting path has also been changed from drawColor to drawColorId and now accepts a number. Any scripts that use this path should be updated to be compatible with Cavalry 2.1 and above. See the createTimeMarker example.