grandMA3 User Manual Publication

Other Enhancements 2.5

 Updated predefined content:

  • Updated demo shows:
    • Demoshow_grandMA3
  • Updated the predefined macros.


 Improved status center:

  • The World Master status indicates which world is reduced in intensity. When the master of the selected world is pulled down, the status displays the icon + "World". When the master of any other world is lowered, the icon + "World" x (+ y and so on) is displayed. The maximum amount of allowed characters is 6. The order in which the pool numbers are displayed depends on the order in which the masters were lowered. For example, when lowering an executor assigned to World 2, the text ‘World 2’ will appear below the World Master status icon. Tapping the world master status icon opens the temporary world masters window. For more information on the masters window see Features.
  • Added Group Masters status (). Works similiar to world master status, but the pool numbers are displayed in an ascending order.
  • Added Pause At End status (). The icon is displayed if Pause at End is active. For more information, see Improved recipes.
  • Improved the tooltips for the status icons.

 Improved world master:

  • The world master for world 1 is linked to the grand master and the two always have the same value, as world 1 contains all fixtures in the show file.

 Improved the message center:
  • Commands that cannot be executed in the command line are displayed in the command line warnings and errors categories. The text is displayed in the same colors as the command line feedback.


 Improved MAtricks:

  • Enter a speed master via Speed Master in the bottom of the MAtricks editor. If a speed master is set in addition to Speed From / To values, the speed master acts as a scale factor for the speed values. 


 Improved special dialog:

  • Shapers have mirror buttons. 1/3 mirrors the shapers vertically, 2/4 mirrors horizontally, Rot mirrors the rotation. To display the buttons on the left side of the window, enable Mirror Bar in the shapers settings.


 Added MAtricks to shapes:

  • Add MAtricks values same as in recipes directly to shapes in the edit mode of the shapes pool object. 


 Improved 3D visualization: 

  • While 3D is initializing, the status of the shader compilation is displayed. If the shader compilation fails, an error message appears.
  • Added culling to optimize how objects or surfaces are rendered, improving performance. Cull Mode is added to Render Qualities. 
    Force None will cover both sides of a triangle mesh, which could impact the performance. This is the default.
    From Material will take the predefined cull mode of the mesh. 
    Added a Cull Mode option to Meshes. Front: Hides the outside faces of the mesh. Back: Hides the inside faces of the mesh. None: Displays both the inside and outside faces of the mesh. Auto: Automatically detects the mesh orientation and switches between Back and None accordingly.


 Improved presets:

  • The title bar of the preset editor can be edited.
  • If more than one phaser recipe is added to a preset, the additional phaser recipes reference the first phaser recipe in the preset.


 Improved preview:
  • Master Controls and the Custom Master Section now indicate preview mode. All executors that affect the preview environment are indicated by a red frame. 


 Updated predefined content:

  • Auto Focus to Next Cell in the recipe editor window settings is enabled by default in new shows.


 Improved Lua:

  • The Lua Core has been updated to Lua v5.5.0

Important:
If you work with Lua bytecode, it is necessary to recompile it with the updated LUA compiler.


 Improved user rights Presets in user configuration:

  • Users with user rights Presets can update presets and change the preset update mode of their user profile. This also includes Store /Merge.
  • The default user right for the Remote user has changed to Presets.
  • Storing new presets or other objects is not possible.
  • Editing recipes is not possible.
  • Setup is not available in layout viewer and 3D viewer.


 Improved timers:

  • The Linked User Profile in the Timers editor was added to define one user profile per timer. The setting can only be edited, if the Timer Link Type is set to anything but  Not Linked. The linked user profile receives pop-ups from the corresponding timer.


 Improved sequence sheet:

  • In track sheet mode and with an active filter or a mask, the sequence sheet always displays the currently running cue.
  • Rearranged the columns in the sequence sheet. Sync, Speed Master, Speed Scale, Morph, and Delay To Phase are now subcolumns of the new column Phaser. 


 Improved display settings:
  • Added Wing ID to the grandMA3 onPC Configure Display settings, allowing users to define the displayed wing in the command wing bar for each display individually. For more information see command wing Bar in the User Manual

 Improved temporary filtering in the attribute definitions tab in the patch and the agenda viewer:

  • Added  in the title bar to enable or disable temporary filtering. A yellow filter row is displayed at the top of the sheet. For more information see Temporary Filtering.
  • Added  in the title bar to clear all temporary filters.
  • Added temporary filter for Main Attribute in attribute definitions.
  • The temporary filter for Hide in attribute definitions is now a selection pop-up.


 Improved executors:
  • Added Render Style to the title bar of the assign menu. The options are Default, Pool, and Executor. Executor displays details about the assigned object. Pool offers a simplified look reduced to name, appearance, and master value. If the executor is set to Default, the render style that is defined in the page settings is applied. To define a render style per page, added Render Style to the object settings in the Page Pool. Press MA to display the index number of the assigned object in the top right corner on executors that are set to pool render style.
  • The Quickeys virtual LED is now displayed on the executor label if a quickey pool object is assigned.


 Improved layouts:
  • Added Render Style. The style of each layout element can be set up individually. The available styles are Executor, Pool, and Default.
    The render style can be set for the entire layout in the settings of the layout object. This render style is applied to all layout elements that are set to Default. Additionally, individual render styles can be applied in the Render Style column in the Layout and Layout Element Defaults tabs.

 Improved the running playbacks window:

  • Added Touch Mode to the window settings. Additionally, Touch Mode replaces the Off Mode setting.
    The options are:
    • None:
      Tapping an object does not perform a command.  
    • Off:
      Tapping an object immediately turns it off.
    • Select:
      Tapping an object in the running playbacks window performs a select command in combination with the object you tap.

 Improved preset playbacks:

  • In the speed settings of an executor,  Sync can be set individually if a preset is assigned to an executor or per default in the Preference and Timings - Preset settings. If enabled, it synchronizes the fixtures of the phaser. For more information about Preset Playback in general see Use Preset in the user manual.
  • Speed Master in the executor settings of the assigned preset is grayed out and cannot be edited, if a preset has MAtricks with Speed Master stored already.


 Improved network menu:
  • If the session switches to TCP only communication, TCP is indicated in orange in the bottom right corner of the Session cell on the master station. 
    For more information on TCP, and the IP addresses in sessions see Protocol Details.
    Hint:
    This does not necessarily mean that the network is defective. For example, no data can be sent in an empty show file, resulting in a TCP indicator.


 Improved plugins and macros:

  • Added a play icon ()  and removed "0.0%" in the progress bar of a running Plugins pool object.
  • Added a play Icon () and the running macro line (number and name) is displayed in the progress bar of a Macros pool object.


 Improved playback keywords:

  • Playback keywords that interact with a sequence or preset while pressing and holding an executor (Swap, Flash, Black, and Temp) can now also be used directly within pools. To use this feature, enter the desired keyword (for example, Flash) into the command line, then tap and hold a pool object (for example, Sequence 1). The selected action will be applied as long as the object is held.


 Improved grandMA3 onPC on Windows®:

  • grandMA3 onPC for Windows now allows users to specify a graphics card on systems equipped with multiple GPUs.
    To assign the desired graphics adapter, right-click the grandMA3 onPC application and click Properties, select the Shortcut tab. Append adapterindex=X to the end of the Target field where X is the index of the desired graphics card.

Example:

C:\Program Files\MALightingTechnology\gma3_<version>\bin\app_sstem.exe HOSTTYPE=onPC adapterindex=1.

To determine the adapter index, start grandMA3 onPC, open a System Monitor window, and scroll to the top of the displayed information. Available graphics adapters are listed with their respective indexes, for example:

Use the corresponding adapter index value when configuring the application shortcut.

  • Adapter [0] (selected) – currently selected graphics adapter.
  • Adapter [1] – additional graphics adapter.


 Improved grandMA3 onPC on macOS®:

  • The application structure was updated. The installer now creates a dedicated grandMA3 onPC application in the Applications folder, replacing the previous launcher-based setup. This new approach enables a separate app for each grandMA3 onPC software version and a grandMA3 Terminal app. Even if the Terminal app was deleted, it can still be accessed through the grandMA3 onPC software application.
    Hint:
    The new grandMA3 application can still be launched through the legacy Launcher. After installing the new version and then starting the legacy launcher, the new version will start once. After this initial start, the previously selected version will start up again if the launcher is started again.

  • To start an additional onPC Instance or a grandMA3 Terminal, right-click on the grandMA3 application icon in the Dock or click on File in the title bar of the software or use a shortcut (command + N) to open a new instance and (command + T) to open grandMA3 Terminal. Up to 5 software instances are allowed per device at the same time.
    Important:
    To ensure full functionality of grandMA3 onPC, allow access to Local Network, External Media (USB drives), and Microphone permissions when prompted by macOS.

  • The installation process of grandMA3 onPC on macOS was significantly optimized. Users will benefit from a noticeably faster installation experience.
  • The grandMA3 onPC application icon was redesigned to better align with native macOS visual style, as it is now displayed within a square app icon frame. Once the application was launched, the currently running software version number is displayed in the upper section of the icon, allowing users to quickly identify the active version directly from the Dock. In addition, grandMA3 onPC for macOS Tahoe 26 is now categorized in Creativity in Launchpad. Previously, the application was in the Other section. A new startup splash screen was introduced for grandMA3 onPC on macOS. The splash screen is displayed immediately after launching the application and remains visible while grandMA3 is loading.


 Updated Carallon fixture library to version 20.1.1.


 Improved the selected speed master:
  • Added LearnMode to the EditSetting tab in the assign menu for the master "Selected Speed".

 Improved tags:

  • Added Pause and Off to Pool Action of tags.


  The stability of the grandMA3 software was improved when using the web remote feature.