Features

Over two hundred basic building blocks, called actors, are available within the Isadora environment. Some actors perform simple functions like watching for a MIDI event, while others allow sophisticated functions such as warping video imagery. By connecting several actors together you determine how the program will respond to a live performer or viewer. You can also combine a group of Isadora's actors into a custom User Actor.

An example Isadora document

General Features

In addition to its easy-to-learn user interface, Isadora offers the following features:

• Realtime Video Processing Modules — Isadora provides an incredible selection of real-time video processing modules, both those built in to Isadora, and those supplied by FreeFrame, an evolving, open-source standard for video-processing plugins. Over forty FreeFrame plugins are available on the Troika Tronix FreeFrame page.
• A Manual That's Actually Useful — Isadora's manual gives you the basics over the course of 10 tutorials, and then gives comprehensive to every aspect of the program, including important topics as how to squeeze the highest frame rates out of your machine.
• Hardware Accelerated Rendering — Isadora now uses the power of your built-in graphics card to speed rendering to the screen, and allow different types of 3D effects. This new feature also means that there are far more flexible ways to composite images on the screen.
• Control Panels — Create a user interface for your Isadora program. Version 1.1 features several new controls, including Dials, Radio Buttons, and more; and, you can use your own graphics customize the look of sliders, buttons and the background of the Control Panel.
• Custom User Actors — Create your own "actors" by grouping together several Isadora modules. These can be saved for use in other patches, or to be shared with other users.
• Snapshot Feature — Store and instantly recall the settings within a Scene
• Isadora SDK — Got C++? Create your own Isadora modules in C or C++. Click here for more info.

Output Features

Isadora offers numerous was to get render your video: in real-time to an external monitor or video projector, to a DV Camera (MacOS X only), or even to render its output to a movie.

• Instant Compositing — Isadora's hardware accelerated rendering features allow you to resize and composite multiple video images quickly and easily. Especially useful when you are adapting a live performance to a new theater while on the road: no re-rendering of the image to DVD!
• Up to Six Independent Outputs — Isadora now supports up to six "Stages" or output surfaces. With a fast desktop computer and multiple video cards, you can output as many as six independent images from the same patch.
• Crossfading Between Scenes — You can easily crossfade between scenes using 'fade' input to the Jump actor.
• External Video Output — You can now mirror the output of Isadora to a FireWire camera connected to your computer. This allows you to record your visuals directly to tape, or to use a FireWire converter to drive a television monitor.
• Multi-Channel Sound Output — Interfaces to a host of ASIO and CoreAudio ready audio devices like the MOTU 828. (MacOS X only)
• Record Output Feature — Record Isadora's output to QuickTime movie; turn on the optional non-real-time, rendering feature for high resolution (even High Definition) and perfect frame rates.

Interactivity Features

For those who want to interactively manipulate media, Isadora offers numerous ways to communicate with the real world.

• Live Video & Sound Input — Mix or manipulate live video with your prerecorded digital video, or use sound volume and/or frequency to modulate any parameter.
• MIDI — Isadora features full complement of MIDI input and output modules.
• Open Sound Control Support — Open Sound Control (OSC) is an important communications protocol being used by numerous devices and applications like OSCulator, Reaktor, Super Collider, Pd, MAX and others. Isadora's OSC implementation provides fast, high-resolution communication with all of these devices and applications.
• Serial Output — Send commands to external devices connected to the serial (RS-232) ports of your computer (or an external Serial Interface if there are no built-in ports.) This opens up an new world of hardware that you can control with Isadora, including video mixers with RS-232 inputs.

An example of the Control Panels View

Working with Isadora

An Isadora document has three main areas: the Toolbox located on the left, the Scene List located on the bottom, and the Scene Editor which fills the remainder of the window.

Each Scene, represented by the blue rectangle at the left of the Scene List, can contain its own patch—a collection of modules (called "actors" in Isadora) linked together to perform a particular function. To edit each Scene, you activate the Scene by clicking on it, drag actors from the Toolbox into the Scene Editor and then link them together.

The number of actors within a Scene, and the number of Scenes in a document, is limited only by the amount of memory available on your computer.

For instance, if you wanted to play a movie through a video effect called "Dots", you would do the following:

1. Choose Output > Show Stages so that you will be able to see the video output.
2. Import a movie or movies into Isadora by chosing File > Input Media...
3. Drag the Movie Player, Dots, and Projector actors to the Scene Editor.
4. Enter the number of the movie that you want to play into the Movie Player's 'movie' input.
5. Make a link between the Movie Player's video output and the video input of Dots.
6. Make a link between the video output of Dots and the video input of the Projector.

That's it. Any video sent to the Projector actor will appear on the stage. You can now manipulate any of the input parameters of the three modules to fine-tune the manipulation of the video imagery. You could also add a simple element of interactive control by doing the following:

1. Click on the number "5" above the Toolbox, showing the "Mouse & Keyboard Group"
2. Drag the Mouse Watcher actor into the Scene Editor.
3. Connect its 'horz pos' output to the dot size input of the Dots actor.

Now, as you move the mouse left and right on the screen, the size of the dots will change—small to the left, big to the right.

Of course, this is just a simple example. The actors that you add and how you link them together is limited only by your imagination.