Animated Clock

Did you know even the time of day can be used as an interactive element in Isadora? Take a look at this animated clock example patch, we hope it’ll give you some ideas on how to bring the element of time into your work!

Auto Re-launch Isadora (macOS AppleScript for Installations)

Intended for use when using Isadora to run installation art pieces on an Apple computer, this download is a text file that contains instructions on how to create an AppleScript Application that will monitor whether Isadora is running or not. If it finds Isadora is not running, it will re-launch Isadora. Combined with the Isadora Preferences, this will ensure your installation stays up and running no matter what.

 

Note: It is also linked at the top of the text file, but I also suggest configuring your installation computer by following the steps laid out in my macOS Isadora Production Computer Setup Guide.

Text Comparator Expanded

This User Actor has all the functions of the normal Text Comparator actor but adds an additional mode that detects if the incoming string (‘text 1’ input) contains the string specified in the ‘text 2’ input. This additional mode is extremely useful for parsing text where you’re not looking for an exact match, but rather to see if a certain character, word, or series of words is present somewhere in the incoming string. I use this User Actor in tandem with ZoomOSC to parse Zoom chat for chat commands in order to make Zoom-native, interactive games, Zoom Chat commands, chatbots, voting/polling/scoring mechanics, and virtual theatre functions with Isadora.

PTZ Camera Control

These user actors are for use with the PTZOptics PT20X-SDI-G2 camera (and other cameras that use the VISCA protocol). Control is done through commands based on VISCA protocol through TCP / IP. If you use another form of communication (RS-232, RS-485 e.g.) the sent commands do not change. The PTZ control of the camera is done through an HID compatible arcade joystick (you can use whatever you want but it has to be HID) and you will have to configure the ports in Isadora to correspond with the functions.

Runtime Recorder

This User Actor can record your start time, current time, and runtime into a text file. If you put this in a background Scene at the beginning of your file, you can use it to automatically record the exact time your show starts, ends, and how long it lasted. This can also be useful for debugging if you’re leaving a file running long-term and finding that it experiences issues after a certain amount of time. This User Actor allows you to:

  • Define a suffix to add to the filename
  • Set the interval at which you want it to write the current time and runtime to the text file.
  • Turn it on and off (which will start the timer over in a new file)
  • See the filename, start time, last recorded time, and runtime on its outputs.

Please note that this User Actor should be put into a background Scene (video tutorial, written tutorial) that you leave active, as you need to enable the User Actor and then have it continue to be in an active Scene in order to keep updating the times in the text file. Every time you enable and disable this User Actor, or leave and re-enter the Scene it’s in, the User Actor will create a new text file with a new start time.

 

Changelog v3 – 2022-12-07

  • Fixed some math inside the Time Converter User Actor that’s used internally.

 

Changelog v2 – 2022-12-06

Inputs

  • Added a non-functional “—write interval—” input purely for labeling purposes. (It relates to the inputs below it.)
  • Renamed the pre-existing write interval inputs from “write interval (mins)” and “write interval (secs)” to “mins” and “secs”
  • Added write interval inputs for weeks, days, and hours (so now the write interval can be any combination of weeks, days, hours, minutes, and seconds).

Outputs

  • Cleaned the text on the outputs so that a fresh version of the User Actor shows timecodes of “00:00:00” instead of the random values that were present when I ran my last test
  • Added a “write” output in case anyone wants to trigger anything at the same time
  • Connected the “Runtime” output to the series of actors that makes the runtime timecode. Previously it was connected to the associated output on the Data Array, so it would only update at whatever interval you set. With this change, the runtime output will update for you visually in real time instead of at the set intverval.

Misc

  • Added Javascript-powered User Actor inside to handle time conversion from weeks/days/hours/minutes/seconds to total seconds for the intervals.

JS text – Matching, splitting, joining

This JavaScript example patch has five scenes. Each scene in the patch deals with a number of methods and provides examples for typical text based task useful when working with text based data sources e.g. XML, HTTP, JSON.

Scene 1: Searching or matching text

Scene 2: Searching or matching multiple text simultaneously

Scene 3: Joining text

Scene 4: Splitting text

Scene 5: Replacing text

Auto-Launch Isadora and Enable Serial Ports Workflow for macOS

This Auto-Launch Isadora and Enable Serial Ports Workflow for macOS will allow you to set up an Apple computer so that, whenever you turn it on, it automatically logs in, launches Isadora, and triggers the “Enables Serial Ports” menu command. Once you understand the process, with a little bit of Googling for the correct bits of AppleScript, you’ll be able to automate all sorts of things on startup for macOS-based Isadora art installations.

The download includes an Automator workflow, a detailed readme document, and an AppleScript file (in case you want to edit or adapt the script yourself).

Note: If you are on Windows, you can trigger hotkeys for menu items in Isadora by using Andy Carluccio’s AutoHotkey Launcher Actor: https://troikatronix.com/add-ons/autohotkey-launcher-actor/