Changes & Improvements in MediaShout 7.6.3
- NEW FEATURE - New cue type for Comments
- Previous versions of MediaShout offered a cue type which was dedicated to comments only, so we have added that to version 7. These cues do not perform any action with any screen or sound, and as such they cannot be 'Fired'. They are simply a place to add a note to the operator or a useful comment. For consistency with other v7 cues, you can name the comment cue anything you want, and there is space below that for any additional comment or note.
- Previous versions of MediaShout offered a cue type which was dedicated to comments only, so we have added that to version 7. These cues do not perform any action with any screen or sound, and as such they cannot be 'Fired'. They are simply a place to add a note to the operator or a useful comment. For consistency with other v7 cues, you can name the comment cue anything you want, and there is space below that for any additional comment or note.
- NEW FEATURE - Added Compact view of the Script pane
- It can be very helpful sometimes to see more cues in the Script pane, and you don't always need to see the thumbnail images. This feature will hide the thumbnail images so that more cues are visible at once. To enable this feature, there is a new control at the bottom left corner of the script pane which will switch between Full Script view and Compact Script view. There is also a corresponding menu option and keyboard shortcut in the View menu.
- It can be very helpful sometimes to see more cues in the Script pane, and you don't always need to see the thumbnail images. This feature will hide the thumbnail images so that more cues are visible at once. To enable this feature, there is a new control at the bottom left corner of the script pane which will switch between Full Script view and Compact Script view. There is also a corresponding menu option and keyboard shortcut in the View menu.
- NEW FEATURE - New settings to hide mouse on the Main & Stage displays
- It can be pretty embarrassing and distracting to have the mouse pointer accidentally 'wander' into the screen which your audience is looking at when you don't intend for that to happen. This new control, found in the Display settings, will allow you to Hide or Show your mouse visibility on the Main and Stage displays.
- It can be pretty embarrassing and distracting to have the mouse pointer accidentally 'wander' into the screen which your audience is looking at when you don't intend for that to happen. This new control, found in the Display settings, will allow you to Hide or Show your mouse visibility on the Main and Stage displays.
- NEW FEATURE - New "Recently Used Fonts" list at top of the Fonts menu
- When you are using several fonts often, it can be tedious to scroll down the font list to find a particular font over and over. This Recently Used Fonts list is always at the very top of the font list, and it will show the five most recent fonts which you have used.
- When you are using several fonts often, it can be tedious to scroll down the font list to find a particular font over and over. This Recently Used Fonts list is always at the very top of the font list, and it will show the five most recent fonts which you have used.
- NEW FEATURE - Media used in the current script now shown in Media library
- Users often run into a situation where they have used a media file (image, video or audio file) in a script, and they want to reuse it on a new cue. If you have forgotten where that file was stored, or if you moved a script from one PC to another, it be difficult to reuse the same media. This feature will list all of the media files which are used in a given script in the Media library tabs under the heading of the script title. You can simply drag and drop files from the library to reuse them any time you want! (Note: Some SC7 scripts do not currently display their media files, but if you using that file type you should be on the same PC where you created the script anyway -- so the files should be available locally. In this event, if you lose track of one, just save a copy of the script as an SC7X file, and they will then be displayed in the library.)
Pro Tip: You can also drag and drop from the Media Library directly to Windows Explorer (including your desktop), so you can easily export a picture or video from a script when you need to!
- Users often run into a situation where they have used a media file (image, video or audio file) in a script, and they want to reuse it on a new cue. If you have forgotten where that file was stored, or if you moved a script from one PC to another, it be difficult to reuse the same media. This feature will list all of the media files which are used in a given script in the Media library tabs under the heading of the script title. You can simply drag and drop files from the library to reuse them any time you want! (Note: Some SC7 scripts do not currently display their media files, but if you using that file type you should be on the same PC where you created the script anyway -- so the files should be available locally. In this event, if you lose track of one, just save a copy of the script as an SC7X file, and they will then be displayed in the library.)
- NEW FEATURE - Added more cue functionality to Quick Cues
- Until now, MediaShout 7 Quick Cues could only show a single media file. With this new addition, each Quick Cue is a single-cue script, and you can use multiple objects and other normal cue features to create these cues. If you previous had set up some Quick Cues, those should be converted to work with this new system automatically. If not, you can simply go the Quick Cue menu in the lower right corner of the screen and select 'Edit Cue' on one of them to get started. The cue will open like a normal script in the Editor, and when you are finished you can simply hit Save, or close and save the script. (It will automatically save in the correct location, but if you need to access them for transfer or backup purposed, they are stored in the My Shout\MS7\Quick Cues folder.) Note that you cannot add any additional pages to these cues, and you need to set them to Mirror if you want them to display on the Stage display. (We are working to remove that limitation.) As always, you can fire the Quick Cues using the F4, F5 and F6 keys on your keyboard at any time!
- Until now, MediaShout 7 Quick Cues could only show a single media file. With this new addition, each Quick Cue is a single-cue script, and you can use multiple objects and other normal cue features to create these cues. If you previous had set up some Quick Cues, those should be converted to work with this new system automatically. If not, you can simply go the Quick Cue menu in the lower right corner of the screen and select 'Edit Cue' on one of them to get started. The cue will open like a normal script in the Editor, and when you are finished you can simply hit Save, or close and save the script. (It will automatically save in the correct location, but if you need to access them for transfer or backup purposed, they are stored in the My Shout\MS7\Quick Cues folder.) Note that you cannot add any additional pages to these cues, and you need to set them to Mirror if you want them to display on the Stage display. (We are working to remove that limitation.) As always, you can fire the Quick Cues using the F4, F5 and F6 keys on your keyboard at any time!
- NEW FEATURE - Added 'Collapse All' and 'Expand All' options for script pane
- The ability to collapse and expand cues can be really helpful when you don't need to see all of the pages and want to see more cues. But it could be very tedious when you wanted to collapse or expand a large number of them. This feature will do that all at once for you, and it can be used in a couple different ways! You will find new options for Collapse All Cues and Expand All Cues in the View menu, along with their corresponding keyboard shortcuts. But here's a 'Pro tip': simply hold CTRL and click on the arrow of any cue to perform the same action on all cues! If the cue you clicking is collapsing, all other cues which are currently expanded will also collapse, and the reverse is also true if you are expanding a cue.
- The ability to collapse and expand cues can be really helpful when you don't need to see all of the pages and want to see more cues. But it could be very tedious when you wanted to collapse or expand a large number of them. This feature will do that all at once for you, and it can be used in a couple different ways! You will find new options for Collapse All Cues and Expand All Cues in the View menu, along with their corresponding keyboard shortcuts. But here's a 'Pro tip': simply hold CTRL and click on the arrow of any cue to perform the same action on all cues! If the cue you clicking is collapsing, all other cues which are currently expanded will also collapse, and the reverse is also true if you are expanding a cue.
- NEW FEATURE - Can now click 'Main Next' viewer to play cues (switchable)
- There was a feature in most previous MediaShout versions which allowed the operator to set a viewer to show the next thing coming up on the Main display (Main Display Next), and if they clicked on that viewer it could optionally fire it. Version 7 has always had the 'Main Display Next' viewer option, but not the ability to 'Click to Fire', so we have now added that option. To use this feature, there is a new control to enable/disable it below the Main Display Next viewer (Yes/No switch).
- There was a feature in most previous MediaShout versions which allowed the operator to set a viewer to show the next thing coming up on the Main display (Main Display Next), and if they clicked on that viewer it could optionally fire it. Version 7 has always had the 'Main Display Next' viewer option, but not the ability to 'Click to Fire', so we have now added that option. To use this feature, there is a new control to enable/disable it below the Main Display Next viewer (Yes/No switch).
- NEW FEATURE - Toolbar button to enable/disable the alignment guides
- There is a feature of MediaShout 7 that many users may not be aware of, and it allows you to align multiple objects in the cue to each other. To use this feature, you previously had to hold the SHIFT key while dragging objects, and alignment guides would appear to help you align the edges or center of the objects to each other easily. We have now added a new button at the end of the lower toolbar which will enable this feature for the objects on the current page -- and you don't have to hold down the SHIFT key! It is a simple toggle, so enable it when you want it, and click again when you are finished. (The 'old' way of hold SHIFT also still works if you prefer that method.)
- There is a feature of MediaShout 7 that many users may not be aware of, and it allows you to align multiple objects in the cue to each other. To use this feature, you previously had to hold the SHIFT key while dragging objects, and alignment guides would appear to help you align the edges or center of the objects to each other easily. We have now added a new button at the end of the lower toolbar which will enable this feature for the objects on the current page -- and you don't have to hold down the SHIFT key! It is a simple toggle, so enable it when you want it, and click again when you are finished. (The 'old' way of hold SHIFT also still works if you prefer that method.)
- IMPROVEMENT - Alignment guides can now also align to the page itself
- See the description above for the Alignment guides if you are not already familiar with them. These guides previously could only be used to align two or more objects on a page with each other, but they never referenced the page itself. So if you only had a single object, there were no guides available. This has now been changed to have alignment guides reference the borders of the screen itself, so you can easily center an object or align it to the exact edge of the screen using the alignment guides (using either the SHIFT key or the new toolbar button).
- See the description above for the Alignment guides if you are not already familiar with them. These guides previously could only be used to align two or more objects on a page with each other, but they never referenced the page itself. So if you only had a single object, there were no guides available. This has now been changed to have alignment guides reference the borders of the screen itself, so you can easily center an object or align it to the exact edge of the screen using the alignment guides (using either the SHIFT key or the new toolbar button).
- IMPROVEMENT - Collapsed cues now auto-expand during Auto-Scroll (in Edit mode only)
- Collapsed cues can simplify the view in the Script pane, but if you are firing your script, it is usually very helpful to see which page is being fired. This new feature will automatically expand each cue that is collapsed as you are firing through your script, and when it moves on to the next cue, it will re-collapse the cues behind it. (Note that because cue firing in Presenter mode is normally done with the thumbnails or list in the center pane, this feature has not been implemented in that view as it shouldn't normally be needed there.)
- Collapsed cues can simplify the view in the Script pane, but if you are firing your script, it is usually very helpful to see which page is being fired. This new feature will automatically expand each cue that is collapsed as you are firing through your script, and when it moves on to the next cue, it will re-collapse the cues behind it. (Note that because cue firing in Presenter mode is normally done with the thumbnails or list in the center pane, this feature has not been implemented in that view as it shouldn't normally be needed there.)
- IMPROVEMENT - Cleanup to remove some visual clutter in script pane
- As we created the new Comment cue and were working with the graphics and controls shown in the script pane, we noticed that it was unnecessarily cluttered. So we removed some extra graphic 'dividers' that didn't really serve much function, and now it looks a bit simpler and 'cleaner'. (At least we think so, so let us know if you do or don't like it!)
- As we created the new Comment cue and were working with the graphics and controls shown in the script pane, we noticed that it was unnecessarily cluttered. So we removed some extra graphic 'dividers' that didn't really serve much function, and now it looks a bit simpler and 'cleaner'. (At least we think so, so let us know if you do or don't like it!)
- FIXED - Crash when creating Media library thumbnails if corrupt file present
- The previous update release of MediaShout 7 added a new feature which shows subfolders within the Media library paths, but with that we also discovered that any corrupt files in the Media library could potentially cause a crash when we tried to create a thumbnail image for them. So we changed the way that we make those thumbnails, and now it shouldn't crash even when it runs across a file that it doesn't know how to deal with.
- The previous update release of MediaShout 7 added a new feature which shows subfolders within the Media library paths, but with that we also discovered that any corrupt files in the Media library could potentially cause a crash when we tried to create a thumbnail image for them. So we changed the way that we make those thumbnails, and now it shouldn't crash even when it runs across a file that it doesn't know how to deal with.
- FIXED - Crash in certain conditions when changing font size on Lyric title page
- There was a particular sequence of steps involving changing the font size on a lyric title page which would cause a crash if done in a certain way. We identified and fixed it, but if you run across any other repeatable sequence which does this, please let us know.
- There was a particular sequence of steps involving changing the font size on a lyric title page which would cause a crash if done in a certain way. We identified and fixed it, but if you run across any other repeatable sequence which does this, please let us know.
Hopefully this has helped you get started with the new fixes and features in MediaShout 7. If you have any questions about these, or anything else with the software, please reach out to our support team and they would be glad to assist!
(2024-05-24, DF)