COBRA Show Creator BETA Version 1.5.1 Release Notes

Dawson Seibold

Updated November 12, 2024 22:02

COBRA Show Creator version 1.5.1 BETA release is the next generation of COBRA Show Creator, featuring a refreshed design, an all-new way of working with STEP events, and integrated lite firework inventory management. Under the hood improvements will allow for more advanced features to be added in the future.

COBRA Show Creator BETA version 1.5.1 transitioned out of BETA as production release 2.0 on November 11th, 2024.

Refreshed UI

A modern approach has been taken to the existing UI, allowing users to still be familiar with the location of their favorite features while breathing new life into the design. UI sections that used to open in a separate window, such as the Audio Studio, are now integrated directly into the main window, decreasing the chance the popup window gets lost. The right sidebar has been transitioned from a tabbed system to a compact accordion system allowing for easy access to users Fireworks, DMX Effects, and Show Details. The preferences section has been completely redesigned to allow for easy customizations. The waveform event drawer will now automatically expand when multiple events are stacked on top of each other to allow for easier editing and visibility.

STEP Events Workflow

Working with STEP events has been transformed in version 1.5.1 allowing for more control while scripting STEP and Combined shows. STEP events now seamlessly integrated into the timeline allowing for easy manipulation. A STEP event will show as a timed event with a STEP flag until export where the correct offset will then be calculated. Users can easily drag and drop the order of STEP events using the Waveform Event Drawer under the waveform.

A new column has been introduced allowing for users to quickly recognize different event types such as STEP, Timed, Comment, and Alternate events via icons and colors. This new Event Category along with a new Calculated Event Time column has been added to the report designer. The existing Event Time column has been renamed to Absolute Event Time.

Integrated Lite Firework Inventory Management

NOTE: To take advantage of the new inventory upgrade, add the inventory management upgrade to your COBRA Portal account. While the inventory upgrade is in BETA, it will be offered to testers for free and will become a nominal paid upgrade once released.

In conjunction with COBRA Portal, COBRA Show Creator has built-in lite inventory management to allow for easy tracking of user's fireworks from the warehouse to the shoot site. The right sidebar now includes a new Show Details section that allows for setting a budget, show date, show status, and viewing which fireworks are associated to that show. Learn more about the Lite Firework Inventory Management.

Disable Firing Groups Support

COBRA Show Creator now supports COBRA firmware version 7.0 and with that comes support for disable firing groups. In the show settings section, users can create disable groups by setting a color and a name. These disable groups can then be added to events by clicking on that events disable group cell. Users can set default disable groups that automatically get added to new shows just like custom columns in the preferences section. Learn more about the Disable Firing Groups.

Other Changes

Partially rewritten with a new underlying platform.
Minor bug fixes and tweaks

COBRA Show Creator Version 1.5.1 BETA was released on July 17th, 2024 (2024-07-17)

Incremental Build Updates

Build 2024.10.25.1

Resolved an issue where warnings and errors in the Event Table were hidden behind the header row.
The Event Table now automatically scrolls to the item you're searching for.
The Find & Replace window now automatically focuses on the search field when opened.
Fixed an error that occurred when pasting text into the Find & Replace input fields.
All rows containing your search term are now highlighted in the Event Table.
Matching search terms are highlighted in green when viewing search results.
Fixed an issue where Find & Replace didn't work for custom columns.
Show Details inventory costs now display exact amounts instead of rounding to the nearest dollar.
Fixed a display issue where long firework details were not properly shortened to fit the available space, in the Show Details section.
Corrected the maximum length for the Fireworks section description and ensured it truncates properly.
Exported CSV file names now limit to 45 characters and exclude special characters when the Script Name is blank for shows on firmware version 5.1+.
Resolved an issue that prevented updating comments in comment events.
Improved performance in detecting inventory changes while editing show details.
Fixed an issue where inventory changes were only synced the first save after opening the application.

Build 2024.10.4.1

Resolved an issue that prevented users from pasting content via the right-click context menu while editing event table cells.
Made improvements to pasting single new events.
Fixed a problem on certain devices where the "Save As" option in the right-click context menu for downloading audio files when exporting a show did not function properly.

Build 2024.9.30.1

When enabling the script event spell checker feature in preferences, the browser's spell checker is enabled automatically without requiring a page reload.
Added support for firmware versions 6.1 and 7.1.
Improved the firmware selectors to hide firmware versions 6.0 and 7.0 unless already selected.
Fixed a layering issue where the events table header was on top of the What's New popup.

Build 2024.9.27.1

Enhanced snapping of STEP events to their parent after edits such as updating event times, deleting events, or modifying events before the parent.
Resolved an issue where converting STEP or Timed events with children to ALTERNATE caused the children to disconnect from their parent.
Corrected an issue where removing a position column value still added a position indicator to event descriptions upon export (Control Panel Gen 2 Position Feature, 6.1+).
Fixed a bug causing CSV imports to fail when notifications attempted to play sounds on certain devices.
Improved the CSV show import process to ensure the created show opens in the environment that initiated the import.
Introduced the ability to disable the browser’s built-in spell check in the Events Table cells, following user feedback on interference from the spell check UI.
Resolved an issue where truncated text was limited to a max width of 145px.
Enhanced the color of the waveform scrollbar handle for better visibility.
Added a 'What’s New' section to the top-right header for users to easily view recent changes and access release notes.
Introduced a banner after major releases to notify users of new features and updates.

Build 2024.9.16.1

Introduced a new, relative time column to the event table, which displays the time difference between an event and its parent STEP event when applicable. Added a setting to enable/disable this new column in the preferences under the events section. To learn more about relative event times and how they interact with your show in COBRA Show Creator see: Understanding Event Time and Relative Time in COBRA Show Creator
Fixed an issue where the browser translated user-entered data, such as duration in the event table, and the icons on the page.
Reintroduced the ability to use the ESC key while editing a cell in the event table to cancel and revert any changes made.
Fixed an issue where dragging a My Firework or My DMX Effect into the events table caused the placeholder row to get stuck.
Fixed an issue where dragging and dropping multiple events in the waveform event drawer did not work if one of the events had a duration greater than 60 seconds.
Added a feature where, when one or more events were selected in the event table, those same events were selected in the waveform event drawer to make dragging and dropping easier. This matched the previous functionality where selecting an event in the waveform event drawer also selected the event in the event table.
Fixed an issue where, when playback reached the end of the waveform, the play/pause button did not reset to the play icon from its pause icon.
Fixed an issue where the new undo/redo functionality did not work when using the insert above/below feature.
Fixed an issue where the event info popup in the waveform event drawer was not always removed when the mouse exited the waveform event drawer.
Updated the max audio box filename length for firmware version 6.0+ to 31 characters.
Implemented a new feature where, upon export (for firmware version 6.1+), if there is a custom column in the show labeled "position," that custom column value is appended to the end of the event description to be used by the Control Panel Gen 2.
Fixed an issue where, in some cases when zoomed in, dragging and dropping an event in the waveform event drawer resulted in the event jumping to a different location in the show.
Fixed an issue where, while zoomed in during dragging and dropping events in the waveform event drawer, the vertical red line indicator did not line up with the beginning of the event pill.
Updated the Show Details UI to allow non-inventory management upgrade users to view the available information with the upgrade.
Built upon the STEP event overhaul introduced in version 1.5.1 by improving the following logic:
- STEP events snap to the previous event as they did in the current version of COBRA Show Creator.
- STEP events can no longer be dragged on the waveform, and any of their children's events cannot be dragged before the parent step event.
- When adding new events, if a STEP event was selected in the event table and the playhead was at an event time after the selected STEP event, the new event was added as a child to the selected STEP. This also caused all STEP events (and children) to be shifted to make room for the new event.
- When adjusting the event time of a child event under a STEP, and the new absolute event time was greater than the next STEP event's, all STEP events (and children) were shifted to make room for the event's new time.