New Features:

• App: Full Snow Leopard compatibility, 64 bits executable.
• Wiimote: initial Motion Plus support.
• SpaceNavigator: Multiple devices supported.
• Wacom: it is now possible to choose in the application Preferences how the mouse pointer should be locked (or not).
• OSC router is now much more transparent as it now handles now not only numbers but also all types of data.
• App: cool new status bar that presents useful notifications to the user.
• App: it is now possible to control the user interface with gestures : swipe left or right to switch back and forth the Scalings Page, swipe down to show the Parameters Window, swipe up to close it.
• App: the Notepad enables users to take notes inside the application.

Changes:

• Wiimote: nunchuk has now 10 bits of precision.
• Wiimote: bluetooth discovery more grafully handled to avoid kernel based problems.
• Wiimote: better error handling.
• Wiimote: more wiimotes types supported.
• Wiimote: fixed a problem where the wiimotes slot would not be properly remembered.
• TUIO: fixed a bug related to the interpretation on cursor mode.
• TUIO: fixed a problem with alive messages being erroneously duplicated.
• Kyma: added the channel velocity to kyma notes.
• Kyma: enhanced automatic hot var / osc message matching.
• Kyma: under some circumstances, Kyma Notes were not released properly resulting in a weird enveloppe ending.
• HUD: optimized drawing in quick look windows.
• HUD: quick look windows now show the values of the output min and max that were set in the scalings page.
• HUD: quick look windows now calibrate the graph’s height to the output min and max values that were set in the scalings page.
• HUD: when the windows are “kept on top”, this now affects the quick look windows as well.
• OSC: automatic back mapping of incoming OSC.
• OSC: When a osc routing has no tokens, don’t route any argument. The previous behavior was to route all the arguments.
• App: new button in the toolbar to start/pause OSC routing.
• App: when a preset is changed, quick look windows are also removed/restored.
• App: sped up application launch.
• App: lots of small refinements in the applications look & feel.
• App: event type and value menus now show helpful labels.
• App: fixed some osc routing editing problems in the parameters window.
• App: fixed a problem that would happen when opening the license document under snow leopard.
• App: allow a multiple row selection for the ‘enabled’ checkbox.
• App: row selection preserved when selecting event type menu.
• App: document is set to dirty on less occasions.
• App: fixed a menu refreshing problem when clearing out the event source.
• App: fixed a bug where event source names would not refresh if they were belonging to an action or a duplicate.
• App: Command-Shift-A is now “deselect-all”.
• App: removed all localizations and kept english only.
• App: columns widths are now properly saved.
• App: we can now monitor application crashes, but also external tools.
• App: fixed a problem where a new document would not be opened if a previously opened file was put in the trash.

A new version

I’m proud to announce the first release candidate of OSCulator 2.9!

So many changes have been done so far, I wanted to give this version a trial before releasing it through the automatic update process.

Social networking plug

I now have a Twitter account I will use for sharing updates and some news. If you download this release candidate, consider following me:

Highlights

Now, the main highlights of this release are :

• Initial Wii Motion Plus support.
• Wacom Tablet users can choose the key combo to use for mouse locking.
• OSC router is now much more transparent as it now handles now not only numbers but also all types of data.

And also other cool new features like a new status bar saving some important real estate, a Notepad to take notes inside the application, and literally tons of bugs fixed. For the complete change log, and a download link, follow this link.

What’s in, what’s out

After talking with some non-native english speakers users, I decided to stop translating OSCulator in other languages. The first reason is how localization (translation), prevented me to make any change to the user interface. The second reason is the dependency on 2 or 3 friends that had to contact every time I was changing text. The last reason is more semantic: I believe that technical software in an identical field of application should be in the same language so all the terms are consistently the same across every programs. The language for multimedia technical parlance has always been English, so I’ll stick to that.

Mac OS X Tiger users should be aware that this major upgrade will be the last for Tiger systems. Back in version 2.7, I announced this was going the last for Tiger, but after many users reaction, I kept the 10.4 support going. For your information, supporting the Tiger platform means spending almost 40% of my working time only on testing and debugging those nasty bugs. Now, the decision is made: OSCulator 2.10 will be compatible with 10.5 Leopard and higher.

All this means that I can spend time on other features like the status bar which not only has a great look, but also reports useful info. I have been able to make lot of subtle changes to the user interface which was stuck since the day I decided to translate oscltr in 4 languages.

Now I’m free and it feels good.

Stay tuned

During the release candidate period I will post some articles about the Motion Plus, I guess this is the part which really needs some explanations. I will also talk about the OSC router, and other tips and tricks.

So, stay tuned. If you have any question, the forum is there to help. Thanks for reading.

Peace, Cam

Ronan sent me this amazing video where he plays retro games using the Wiimote and OSCulator :

While it’s fun to play games from archaeologic times, it’s also fun to have a merry hack party and invent the games of the future. The event will happen in Nuremberg on 6 to 8 november at the “Zentrifuge” Event Hall.

Here’s more information from the the makerjam website:

A weekend marked by fun, innovation and the joy of experimentation. Games developers, designers, artists, programmers, hardware wizards – beginners and professionals – form teams and develop computer games. A competition with the emphasis clearly on fun.

Whether you burn for ideation, concepts, sketching, artwork and design, game logic, hardware design, programming, character development, or audio – the Game Jam has room for every type of talent. The teams are free to choose their controller, programming language, and platform. Work with Flash, a game engine, or a PC game kit. Develop a game for mobile phones, for a PC or for a console – as long as you own the tools and can bring them along. Lash up your old joysticks to a monster control panel, program an iPhone as the central controller, build innovative interfaces with Arduino, or find newer, smarter ways to integrate mouse, keyboard and webcam in your game.