Copyright © 2024 Traco Systems a.s.

Traco GFX | ReadMe

This is the ReadMe document for Traco GFX app.
This document describes the user visible changes and also some backend changes and bug fixes. We recommend that you read all of the information in this ReadMe thoroughly before installing or using the software described in this document.

Version 2024.3.0

Changes and new features in version 2024.3.0

  • Re-rendering GFX segment by user action.
    • After double-clicking a GFX segment in the Sequence Timeline, users now have the option to click a Re-render button in Traco GFX, which will delete all the rendered images related to that GFX segment from the NEXIS workspace and render them again. The re-rendering action does not automatically reload the asset in the player, which means the newly rendered graphics will not be instantly displayed.
  • The <itemTrigger> MOS property in the gfx objects will contain value TIMED or MANUAL.
    • Previously, this property was not included in the GFX objects created by Traco GFX.
  • GFX images housekeeping is now managed by the Traco ACS Renderer.
    • Previously, a Windows service called Traco Housekeeper was responsible for removing GFX images from the Traco NEXIS workspace. However, starting from this version, the Traco Housekeeper service should no longer be used, as the Traco ACS Renderer pod on the Cloud UX will now manage housekeeping.
  • When submitting a GFX Direct distribution job, the duration can be changed even on the Asset Distribution page.
  • Using the “Open in” context menu on Newsroom Management stories allows to open the story’s linked sequence in Traco MediaDistributor.
  • Clearer and more descriptive error messages for failed jobs in Traco MediaDistributor.
  • Support for XAVC in Traco Encoder.
  • Traco MediaRenderer no longer requires the Viz Engine’s REST Web Service port.
    • All communication with the Viz Engine will now occur via the Engine’s General Communication Port (default: 6100).
  • Estimating necessary disk space on the Traco MediaRenderer machine for GFX burning and distribution.
    • Traco MediaRenderer will attempt to estimate the required disk space before the graphics rendering and burning processes to prevent errors and server crashes caused by insufficient disk space, especially when working with long graphics.
  • Traco licensing
    • Starting with this release, the Traco license is applied as a license string in the Cloud UX admin UI. The Traco ACS Windows service is no longer used for managing licenses.

Fixed in version 2024.3.0

The following issues have been resolved in Traco GFX v 2024.3.0

  • Submitting a GFX Direct distribution job with a duration of 0 seconds is allowed.
  • Parsing an asset’s FPS in Cloud UX v2024.2.0 causes an error, which results in MediaDistributor jobs failing.

Version 2023.7.0

Changes and new features in version 2023.7.0

  • Tracks Mapper
    • A tool for administrators to predefine possible GFX tracks for Cloud UX timeline. Templates can be mapped to tracks and all elements created from the given template will result in the correspinging GFX track from Tracks Mapper
    • This replaces the Viz transition logic layers order setting
  • GFX Direct Distribution
    • Introducing GFX distribution profile type (in addition of the PAM video and experimental NM Rundown) which allows to D&D Viz graphics from Traco GFX to Traco MediaDistrubutor's Asset Distribution page.
    • If a job with GFX profile type is submitted a video clip will be created from the GFX object with the defined duration. This allows the users to render full frame graphics as a separate video file, reingest to PAM and use at is a regular masterclip or just send to any distribution target.
  • In some older versions of Traco GFX a tab named Traco AI was created in Asset Inspector. This is now removed as the Traco AI has been moved to it's own feature pack.
  • Timing Info to mosAbstract
    • New setting, which if enabled, all timed GFX elements will display the timing info in the mosAbstract (e. g.: IN: 00:07 DUR: 00:10 | Traco/ Demo). This allows the users to see the timing from the iNews story.
  • Setting for default gfx duration
    • This will be the default duration of the GFX elemets when adding them to a story/sequence.
  • Holding down the alt key down while starting the D&D of the GFX object will always create untimed gfx object in Newsroom Management story
  • Improved error messages while monitoring Traco MediaDistributor job
  • Traco MediaDistributor jobs statistics in admin UI
  • New XDCAM HD 50 4:2:2 Traco Encoder
  • Traco MediaDistributor custom formulas' dates type new option: Limit selected date till "today"

Fixed in version 2023.7.0

  • Job monitoring was failing on Cloud UX v2023.3 or later
  • In case Traco MediaRenderer node was unreachable, the job assigning process have not even tried to assign to remaining MediaRenderers
  • Submitting jobs using a profile without any assigned distribution targets might fail
  • In multisite systems the STP profiles were not always loaded correctly

Version 2023.3

Changes and new features in version 2023.3

  • DB upgrade required
  • Traco ACS attributes upgrade required
  • Starting from this version all newly created and previously set H.264 Traco Encoders will be creating 128kbps aac audio tracks by default (previously the audio bitrate was variable)
  • Ability for backuping and restoring Traco apps settings' from Cloud UX admin apps
  • Traco MediaDistributor settings UI improved
  • Advanced settings for Traco Encoders like new codecs, extensions, bitrates, etc... (Administrators are required to review their already existing Traco Encoders after upgrading to this version)

Fixed in version 2023.3

  • Mosart timing info parsing errors
  • Starting from Cloud UX v2022.12 the Add Timing and Remove Timing buttons were not displayed correctly after opening a graphical segment in Traco GFX

Version 2022.12

Changes and new features in version 2022.12

  • DB upgrade required
  • Social media formulas improved for digital distribution worklfows
  • Instagram distribution target support in Traco MediaDistributor
  • Media distribution without Traco MediaRenderer in case of no transcoding or rendering is necessary
  • Burning Viz combo templates can be allowed/forbidden if corresponding env variable is set in traco-acs.yaml
  • Mosart timing support for Viz Pilot Edge (Viz Pilot Edge v2.4+ required)
  • Not timed production cues can be created even with a drag&drop operation to the sequence timeline when the GFX duration is set to 0 (previously this was possible only when dropping to the story's script)

Version 2022.3

Changes and new features in version 2022.3

  • DB upgrade required
  • Starting from this version the Traco ACS v2 settings are defined in the service's config yaml file and are loaded during the feature pack installation. Previously these had to be defined in the service's Kubernetes Config Map.
  • Starting from this version the Traco ACS Renderer settings are defined in the service's config yaml file and are loaded during the feature pack installation. Previously these were part of the Traco GFX admin app.
  • Cancelling distribution jobs from the Traco MD Jobs Review page
  • Monitoring and management interface for Traco MediaRenderers as a separate page in Traco MediaDistributor Cloud UX app
  • QuickSubmit role removed from Traco MediaDistributor, while role Available changed to Create
    • These changes allow to hide the Create Job button and show only the Submit button in the Asset Distribution page
  • In the Jobs Review page of Traco MediaDistributor only the last 100 submitted jobs will be visible by default
  • New setting on Traco MediaDistributor profile level to set the default value for STP and media distribution Overwrite option

Fixed in version 2022.3

  • GFX segment start time was not saved correctly to iNews story if set to 00:00:00:00
  • Fixed an issue when Pilot Edge URL was defined with additional parameters in the URL like custom Pilot MOS ID
  • Traco MediaDistributor was not working for non-master users when no Profile Group is defined in the admin app
  • Traco MediaDistributor formulas with field type Selectbox crashed the UI when the no options were defined for it
  • When the job Create&Submit or Submit button was clicked in Traco MediaDistributor's Asset Distribution page, users were allowed for a short period of time to re-submit the same job second time from the Queued Jobs table
  • Problems fixed in the distribution process if whitepsaces were at the beginning/end of Viz concepts or variants

Version 2021.11

Changes and new features in version 2021.11.1

  • Displaying additional information in the Jobs Review page like Overwrite and Video ID
  • Assigning jobs to Traco MediaRenderers will be prioritized based on the job's submit time

Changes and new features in version 2021.11

  • Compatibility enhancements with Cloud UX 2021.11
    • Removing depreacted APIs
  • MOS workflow integration for Chyron graphics using Camio-Luci web interface
  • Starting from this version it will be possible to create production cues with a secondary MOS ID for defined Viz templates
    • The secondary MOS ID must be defined in the Traco GFX Admin application
    • The secondary MOS ID will be used for each data element when the element's Viz template has an assigned template tag TRACO_GFX_SECONDARY_MOS_ID
  • Submitting burn GFX jobs with Viz Combo templates is not possible anymore
  • Displaying and working with production cues created by Viz Pilot News (ActiveX) when they were created in the iNews desktop client
  • ObjDur MOS attribute is no longer added to the production cue if it was not sent from the graphics system
  • Option for manually changing the asset's Video ID of an asset before submitting distribution job
  • Video ID validation before submitting distribution jobs
  • Cloud UX GFX preview rendering changes:
    • On Demand rendering or re-rendering Cloud UX preview graphics
    • Automatically render whole Viz graphical segments, if the used Viz data element's template has an assigned template tag TRACO_GFX_RENDERED_PREVIEW
  • The size of the graphical system's iFrame will be automatically adjusted to fill the avilable content of the Traco GFX app
  • Production cues handled by Traco GFX can now be converted from timed to not timed, and also not timed to timed
  • The puzzle button for drag&dropping the graphical object to iNews will be hidden 3 seconds after starting the drag&drop operation

Fixed in version 2021.11

  • In specific circumstances the CLoud UX track info was incorrectly added multiple times to prodution cues
  • When submitting a distribution job, the Video ID was not correctly parsed from the iNews story when the used distribution profile had the Burn GFX option disabled
  • ObjID was not handled correctly when it was conating a slash or backslash
  • GFX burning was failing when there was no animation in Viz scene's stage

Version 2021.7.1

Changes and new features in version 2021.7.1

  • Octopus NRCS support
    • Creating, editing and previewing GFX objects for Octopus stories
    • Burning GFX for Octopus stories
  • Settings app redesigned
    • Traco GFX settings app now contains two separate Save buttons for Traco GFX General settings and for Traco ACS Renderer settings
  • iNews workflow improvements
    • In media distribution workflows the linked story's video id will override the sequence's video id during the STP operation
    • In media distribution workflows if a GFX object (mos xml) from the story does not include track (layer) information, it will be automatically parsed. This will result in appropriate z-index of the burned graphical objects.
  • Media Distribution jobs can not be created till the Quick Send button is disabled, e. g. when the sequences or it's linked story is not saved

Fixed in version 2021.7.1

  • Non-Transition logic layer names are displayed incorrectly for Octopus NRCS

Version 2021.7

Changes and new features in version 2021.7

  • Elements in Traco GFX footer rearranged
  • Option for automatically updating clip titles on airspeeds based on the sequence name in media distribution workflows
  • Option for media overwrite in media distribution workflows
  • Improved UI of media distribution jobs review
  • In media distribution workflows the final output filename can be set based on the sequence's Video ID, Display Name, MOB ID or Job ID
  • Skipping viz data element burning in media distribution workflows when it's template has tag TRACO_GFX_NO_BURN

Fixed in version 2021.7

  • Error messages displayed by Traco GFX may overload the web browser in Avid MediaCentral | Cloud UX 2021.3 or later
  • Media distribution was failing when the sequence's linked story had less then two production cues
  • Graphics burning was not always respecting the Viz transition logic layers order (z-index)