End of the year update

[mcallegari]

2019 is coming to an end, so I thought I needed to give you guys an update of what's going on in the QLC+ project.
First and foremost, the project is not dead. It's just that in 2019 my life has changed.
I opted to spend more time with human beings rather than electronic devices and I also changed job and location.
I now work for a company in the lighting industry, and luckily they allowed me to keep working on my project.
As a matter of fact though, I have very little time to work on QLC+ now.

It is also true that in 2019 I've delivered 2 versions of QLC+ 4 with the planned 6 months release pace, and 4.12.2 seems to be a fairly good version.

But I guess many of you are wondering what happened to QLC+ 5.
Well, that's quite a sad story.
Alpha4 was supposed to be released at the beginning of the year, but there was a showstopper bug I intended to fix. And never did.
As you know, QLC+ heavily relies on the Qt libraries. QLC+ 5 is even more tied to them, especially the 3D preview code.
And the sad thing is that the Qt libraries are not perfect either. Every version they release is a step forward and 2 steps backward.
I struggle to keep QLC+ working on them and it requires a lot of energies and patience.
Now Qt 5.14.0 is out and QLC+ RGB Matrix lead to a crash and the 3D preview is broken.
Plus, Eric decided to leave the project cause of a lack of time (and interest, I'd add). Right now another developer is studying the code to evaluate if he's able to add smoke simulation.

So I never released Alpha4 beecause it was not working like I wanted.

All considered, I reviewed my initial plans and decided to do this:
- release QLC+ 5 with a subset of features compared to QLC+ 4
- declare what's working, what is not and what is missing
- jump to Beta 1 and bugfix it until it becomes ready for production

This means a few VC widgets will be missing (XY pad, speed dial, animation, audio triggers) and a few features too.

However, there are also many good things already in place. The last I've added in the past few weeks is...palettes and fanning!
If you don't know what I'm talking about, here's a screenshot.

Basically a Scene, which is the fundamental building block of QLC+, is now much more powerful.
It can reference fixtures, fixture groups, palettes or specific channel values.
Furthermore, a palette carries also an optional fanning modifier.
So, in theory, once you create a Scene, you will never modify it again. You will only act on fixture groups and/or palettes/fanning.

Now I just need to find some time to consolidate it and then I can finally release something.

In the meantime, I wish you all a happy brand new 2020!

[markzvo]

I think we all understand there is always people behind technology, and a project like this requires good people. The work so far has been great. Congratulations on the new job!

I think the best news here is that the project is not dead and still moving forward (both v4 and v5). Thank you and looking forward to 2020 as well!

[fronk]

Massimo,
New, and still working with 4. Thanks for the work you did get done this year, and making 4 work on the new Raspberry Pi. For me, both extremely worthwhile.

Best to you in the new year!
fronk

[DarkMark]

Happy new year for you as well.

Thanks for all the work and effort you've put into this in the past years. Don't get too frustrated by stuff outside of your control and always be aware that the majority of this community is grateful and patient.

All the best for 2020!

[pauloadriano]

Massimo,

I´m just a new user of your DMX aplication as I moved recently from a Windows Base System (Freestyler) for a full Mac envoriment.

I´m completly amazed on the set of features and stability of the QLC+. I redesigned my setup in one day watchin youtube tutorials. The speed and versatility of the software is amazing.

I use DMX Lighting for my DJ gigs and coorporate Events.

Its absolutly OK that updates take time, but we should be glad from what you gave to the comunity already

If you need help to translate it to European Portuguese advise me.

Best Regards and Happy New Year,

Paulo

[andres robles]

Happy 2020 and happy life !! Great things are built slowly!

[Yarjm]

Massimo
You Rock
Thanks for all the work you do on this project. It really is very good.

[sandinak]

As with the others .. a big thank you. I've been using this tool for 3 years now for our tours and been very pleased. Thanks for the efforts and help!

[filipek.o]

thanks man! i personally treat your software almost like programming language beacouse of so many possibilites with use of loopback! you are amazing!

[McFly]

Hi Massimo.
This is the first time I write down here.
I just want to say thank you. No matter what you do, or where you go, we will always be thankful for what you did.
It's really important for many of us, the product of your effort, and we take great advantage from it. But it is even more overwhelming for any of us to witness what you have achieved as a leading part of our community. Being able of building up all this with your own hands and talent is more than something to be grateful. It is also an example for us. We've been able of being better in what we do, whatever it may be, thanks to your energy and wisdom. That makes us better. And many of us will have the opportunity to help others, thanks to you.
I am sure, you will have a great year. I am certain you will have a greater life, since wherever you go you will be most welcome and people in this industry shall name you before you say your name.

Thanks. Best wishes.
Adrián from Argentina. (sorry for my English)

[mitscherdinger]

Thanks for the news!
I wish you the best in your new job!

I always wondered… As the fundings to hire Eric were so quickly collected: Ever thought about getting a fulltime developer for QLC+? What would be the price per month?

Sorry, this is somewhat indiscreet, but I like the idea for QLC+ being the Ardour of lighting…

Greets!

[AJAY06]

HAPPY 2020 Massimo !!!!!!

Never give up is the secret

You have done an amazing job so far and I am sure there is more to come . I have purchased very resently your version for raspberry PI and it all works just great for now.


QLC + forever

Adrien

[Ranger762]

Congrats to the entire QLC crew for their work! I'm still a newbie, but it's relatively easy to get a grip on the program, which I'm grateful for as I tend to be technologically challenged I can't wait to see it evolve even further and become better and better!

[giacomo]

dear Massimo,
maybe these sad days could be an occasion for a beta qlc+5, we're all home and we could try and test it, I'd be glad to give my little contribution to the project.
I try to be optimistic and look beyond this time.
I wish everyone the best.

[netmindz]

I well understand the pressures of trying to balance, work, life and open source involvement too.

Has been a few months, so would be good to hear a bit of an update on your current thinking. The current situation especially has had a big impact for anyone connected to the live events sector

[Krsound]

Thank you for everything thing that has been done. I know I am going to get slam by user GGGss for this but I don’t mean this rudely or with disrespect. What would it take to get a stable version of QLC+5. Maybe all the features are not there but I have been reading everyone’s post on the blogs and I see about new features wanted added let’s get it up and running first without crashing how about that features. I know and understand it’s a Alpha it’s been that for almost 3 years and we seen previews since 2015. All I am trying to say is let’s stop with all the new features and let’s get a stable QLC+ 5.0.1. QLC 5 to me is worth paying for to me it’s that powerful.

[GGGss]

You rang my Lord?

[Mibmusic]

Thank you for everything thing that has been done. I know I am going to get slam by user GGGss for this but I don’t mean this rudely or with disrespect. What would it take to get a stable version of QLC+5. Maybe all the features are not there but I have been reading everyone’s post on the blogs and I see about new features wanted added let’s get it up and running first without crashing how about that features. I know and understand it’s a Alpha it’s been that for almost 3 years and we seen previews since 2015. All I am trying to say is let’s stop with all the new features and let’s get a stable QLC+ 5.0.1. QLC 5 to me is worth paying for to me it’s that powerful.

I posted this in 2018 and I still feel the same!

Happy birthday Massimo,

I am a new user of QLC+ and I like it a lot. But to be honest I was really supprised that I could download it free of charge. To be honest, I think sooner of later you will probably need it give up because in this world, one cannot survice on charity and goodwill. (Look at what an amazing job you are doing with QLC 5, you need to get a reward for that)

Having that said, I'd look at implementing a license model in QLC+ asap! It's up to you how that model would look but I picture 3, or more choices. A free license (x-amount of fixtures, scenes, etc) paid license 1 (annual fee for extra fixtures, scenses and some goodies like midi and scripting) and then a full license with 3D and all you can get.

I think in the end every single user of QLC+ will benefit! After that, you can start to offer extra services for example musicians like me. I am using QLC+ to add some extra lights and fog to our backing tracks and I start them via MIDI. So you could develop integration profiles for Roland users (all kinds of drumkits) Kemper users (amazing guitar amp) etc. Of course this comes with a paid license. But by bringing these worlds together you will open a whole new market.

I think a lot of users will not like my post but I for one would like to see you online with QLC+ for a long time!

[Krsound]

I have been thinking about what mibmusic said and I don’t think that would be a good idea to have to buy licenses to get x amount of QLC items. Then you would be competing with everyone else’s software. However I think QLC+5 is free but with out the 3D feature. The forms of why QLC+5 is not out yet is all the features and coding of the 3D and Qt5. Massimo said he doesn’t do this for the money however the one thing that is taking money is the 3D. So pay for the 3D feature.

[mitscherdinger]

I remember the crowdfunding for getting a 3D view and how fast the money was collected to pay an external developer. I always wondered why this was never repeated for the "standard" development of QLC+.