The new way of defining fixtures

[GGGss]

General Device Type Format (GDTF)

Intro read: http://www.malighting.com/en/news-refer ... ndard.html

The full definition: www.gdtf-share.com

[Fxedel]

Well, have fun migrating 900+ fixtures Not to mention the amount of work to update the engine to a new fixture format. I think it'll be better to wait if GDTF really emerges to an industry standard ...

However, a Plugin for the Open Fixture Library would be a good idea.

[janosvitok]

Let's see if they come up with something more after PL+S in Frankfurt (10.-13.4.).

I have quickly read the spec, here are my comments so far:

- the idea is great, I hope it gets accepted by most players
- the spec needs some cleaning, it seems to leave some open ends
- XML schema would be great
- it doesn't seem the 3 vendors provide fixtures in the new format yet (again, we'll see after PL+S). I'd wait for that (at least to be able to check against known good implementation).
- I would welcome the standard be kept in git somewhere (github?) for easy collaboration and most of all versioning

This post: http://www.ma-share.net/forum/read.php? ... #msg-61038 says the format is extension of MA2 format.
That may be useful to know... (import MA2 fixtures)

[janosvitok]

- another thing for them to do: Licenses. They should clearly state licence of the standard, and the same should ideally do the fixture vendors
it would be great if open fixture definitions would allow QLC+ to use their gobo pictures...

[GGGss]

Licenses ... (that WAS actually the reason I mentioned the article here)

The format is human-readable, royalty-free and easy to implement and maintain.

With GDTF, luminaire manufacturers now have an open and universal data exchange format

I guess every manufacturer of lighting desks have 1-2 employees creating fixture definition files onto their platform.
Now the accent lays with the manufacturers of the devices - they provide the manual - ergo - they provide opensource fixture definition.
So I'm guessing that the industry will quickly hop on the bus. (Unless it's the next Germans' KNX story and nobody is satisfied with what is layed out)

I didn't have the chance to speak to the dev team at Frankfurt fair yesterday (darn! too small a client you know ...) but talking to fellow lightJ's they were excited.

Personal anecdote:

Two years ago I got a call onto my (secret #) mobile from a guy from Brighton (I'm from Belgium) ... they were outloading a production and using a Chamsys desk.
The LD opted to have a secondary battery of 60 Evora B2R's all over the stage. The standard definition file from Chamsys did not comply in any way. They even couldn't fire the bulb.
I once posted a little article onto a forum and BAM 'he found me...' Via Via Via they (he) got hold of my mobile # and, since I have the def files on my dropbox account, the matter was solved in minutes.

I never got any beer for that but I'm reluctant that my luck will strike once (or two) in the future

[janosvitok]

I got an email from GDTF group:

First of all, thank you so much for filling out the interest form on the GDTF-share.com website, and thank you for your patience as we continue to work on getting to the version 1.0 release of General Device Type Format (GDTF). The response we've gotten from the industry for GDTF has been tremendous. To date, we've had over 20 companies inquire about working with GDTF.

So, what has happened since the announcement?

Well, we continue to work with the initial committed companies to further refine the specs of GDTF. As a result, the development of the standard is coming along nicely. If you haven't yet checked out the specs of GDTF, the GDTF wiki is a great place to start to learn more. Here, you will find descriptions of the file format and tutorials to help you create GDTF files.

Additionally, we've been working to prepare the official GDTF database. We're nearing the point of having a beta of the database, and will share much more information with you about this in the near future. Robe is providing GDTF a number of devices out of the gate with the beta release of the Database, and we will be actively populating it with more GDTF files over the next several weeks. Vectorworks is scheduled to support GDTF files on export with their upcoming service pack 4 (expected to be released late June 2018) and MA Lighting will support GDTF natively when the GrandMA3 console hits the streets. We will be sure to communicate with you when we have a demonstration you can try out for yourself.

There are many moving parts as we work to make GDTF a success, and we genuinely thank you for your interest. It's a great motivator for all of us. As we continue to work on this we will contact you with occasional updates, but please feel free to contact us at any time if you have specific questions you'd like to ask or support that you need. You can reach the GDTF group by emailing info at gdtf-share.com

[GGGss]

Nice to read it's moving along (-;
Of course they only mention the 3 manufacturers who came up with the initial idea... no word from Mac, Clay Paky, Chauvet and others ...

[janosvitok]

New progress: you can register and download/upload fixtures. There are about 20 fixtures now.

[mcallegari]

New progress: you can register and download/upload fixtures. There are about 20 fixtures now.

Good, so when are you expecting to deliver the reader/writer for QLC+ ?

[floEdelmann]

I'm currently writing a GDTF import plugin for the Open Fixture Library (see work in progress pull request on GitHub). Once that is finished, we will be able to import .gdtf files to OFL and then export .qxf files from there.

Apparently, the fixtures in the GDTF share are not as well-tested as I thought they would be, so some manual work after importing will still be required.

Does anyone know of a good resource that explains how to convert CIE 1931 xyY color representation (as used in GDTF) to RGB? I tried a few things (have a look at the code), but unfortunately it doesn't produce the correct RGB colors.

[floEdelmann]

The GDTF plugin in the Open Fixture Library is merged! And we now have a UI for importing, too! See a few interesting links:

• A helpful resource for developing the plugin: https://gitlab.com/petrvanek/gdtf-libraries/
  This seems to be an open source repository from one of the Robe developers. From there, I also have a working CIE 1931 xyY color to RGB converter
• Our first imported fixture: Clay Paky Alpha Spot QWO 800 (Massimo, you can copy its QLC+ export to the QLC+ repository if you want!)
• The amount of work still needed after importing: GitHub pull request #610 (look at the amount of commits!)
• Our new import page in the Open Fixture Library: https://open-fixture-library.org/import-fixture-file
  Anyone, feel free to try it!