Hi Everyone,

With the recent release of Media Composer 2023.3, we thought we'd give you an update on Titler+.

We have heard your voices loud and clear: the development of Titler+ has taken too long and has not produced the results any of us want. So, in December 2022, we decided to step back and take a different approach. We found the causes of poor performance to be embedded deep within the previous Titler+ underlying architecture, and so we are completely replacing that architecture to meet the needs of today's editorial workflows. 

The new underlying architecture is a far more robust and solid platform that will enable a fast, easy to use, and stable in-context titling tool. 

We still believe that it is important to provide a native, in-context titling tool inside Media Composer. Most current UI elements from Titler+ will remain but we are making the interface more robust and responsive. Many known pain points - promoting from the classic Title Tool; a dockable dashboard; and so on - are being worked on.

We will continue to deliver critical bug fixes for the existing Titler+ but our primary development focus will be on replacing the underlying architecture to improve performance and stability. Additionally, we will provide regular updates including an early beta program. This will ensure you have a voice in its development.  

We do not have a date for the release just yet, but we appreciate the need for urgency. A dedicated team of some of our most senior engineers are working to deliver this as soon as possible. We feel the result will match the exceptional features of Media Composer that customers expect. 

We thank you for all the collaboration and feedback you have provided and appreciate your patience as we work to accomplish this change. 

Chris,

Thanks for the update.

Given all the trials and tribulations of Titler+, I have a question.  Would it make life easier for the coding/design of the next big version of Avid Media Composer to make it incompatible with previous versions?  I am not well versed in computer coding, but sometimes it feels like perhaps things are made much more difficult for Avid because of your policy of backwards compatibility.

Of course I love the backwards compatibility.  But if giving up on that (one time) would mean things like Titler+ and other bugaboos of MC could be rectified more quickly and efficiently, I would be happy to deal with it.    

I'm not very knowledgeable about coding, but it seems like it would be easier to make the new Titler if the programmers were able to make a new version of the sequence/bin file instead of having to work with the constraints of the existing file format.  I can only imagine there are lots of limitations "baked in" to the current formats.

To be clear, I'm not suggesting giving up on the bin paradigm – just wondering if making it incompatible with previous versions would free up solutions for the coders.

Ben

This is welcome news. I only pray that this new version is delivered swiftly and tested fully before being released. So much time and goodwill has been wasted over this. I would also take the hit of losing backwards compatibility if a new, more modern version were to be released that could be developed more swiftly. 

Andi

dlogneb:

Would it make life easier for the coding/design of the next big version of Avid Media Composer to make it incompatible with previous versions?  I am not well versed in computer coding, but sometimes it feels like perhaps things are made much more difficult for Avid because of your policy of backwards compatibility.

Ben, fantastic question, thank you.

The question of breaking backwards compatibility is one that comes up a LOT both internally and externally. It's certainly entertained in conversation... however the realities of this world, especially post-pandemic, forbid it. 

I service editorial teams all of the time... An editor lands a project, be it a Hollywood film, a TV documentary, whatever, and then makes come calls and starts building their editorial team. The result is two main editors and 4-6 assistants, and ALL of them are running different versions of Media Composer. Everything from 2023.3 down to MC 8.2.3.  While that's not our wish, that's the simple reality.  Hence why backwards compatibility is so very, very cherished by all of our users.

That's music to my ears.

However, in the meantime, whatever happend to the automatic listing of titles (whith names) in the timeline list tool? It was working in previous versions (I think).It's not working in this version. For people that are actually trying to use Titler+ is was one of the best functions for the present workflow. Please add it back to the next update if it's at all possible, since I don't know how long it will take to have the (Avid Titler++ Plus Extraordinaire).:-)

Thank you.

...just as a bit of feedback....Titler+ is working as it should here and has not crashed once in v 2023.3....I tried to break it wo success...mostly.....

....good luck with the rewrite....

some comments.....

.....there is no way to save multiple templates or styles as you could in the classic title tool...is this replaced by saving to a bin?  Just the one default style setting is all that can be saved, yes?

....being able to soften a shadow...found that in the effects panel....should that be on the main interface?

...the big issue came up sometimes (more testing needed) making a title with animations such as position and scaling....there were odd frames at the start of the title that were not there when setting up the animation....then using the title as a template and putting it on another spot on the time line, but with a different duration, caused real glitches...maybe you know about this.....either way...it does work sometimes....maybe there is a key to success....more testing

I guess I'm the only one who's confused by the phrasing... Is this new approach, and re-replacing the Titler+ architecture, part of the 2023.3 release? Or this version has nothing to do with it, and the update is that a re-engineered Titler+ will arrive in some version later than 2023.3?

Also, it's been over half a year since December 2022. Any updates on Titler++?

Chris Bové:

Ben, fantastic question, thank you.

 

The question of breaking backwards compatibility is one that comes up a LOT both internally and externally. It's certainly entertained in conversation... however the realities of this world, especially post-pandemic, forbid it. 

I service editorial teams all of the time... An editor lands a project, be it a Hollywood film, a TV documentary, whatever, and then makes come calls and starts building their editorial team. The result is two main editors and 4-6 assistants, and ALL of them are running different versions of Media Composer. Everything from 2023.3 down to MC 8.2.3.  While that's not our wish, that's the simple reality.  Hence why backwards compatibility is so very, very cherished by all of our users.

As much as I can see why you might think this, it's the wrong approach for making good software. You've trapped yourselves in all this spaghetti mess of backwards compatibility when really you should be getting people to move forward and update to newer better versions.

Someone cutting at a professional level shouldn't be using some ancient computer and avid combination. Those most resistant to change (ie afraid that they won't be able to understand how to use a new version of avid) are least likely to switch to other software. People aren't going to switch from Avid if you stop backwards compatibility because there's no viable alternative that does this anyway.

Strip out all the old code and start those parts fresh.  

Running 2023.3 and Titler+ has;

Major delay when typing text for a 1'30" credit roll.

Major stall when attempting to edit the credit roll resulting in inability to edit the credit roll.

Error message;

Exception: BlipPlayer::NonThreadedPlayBlipField: Timed out waiting for single frame player to stop. If scrubbing a complex sequence of unrendered effects, consider rendering them for better performance

Any insight on this?

Deleted all user setting > created new project > created new 1'30" credit roll.... 10minutes to render??? This is ridiculous in comparison to the prior version of the title tool.

Hi Mike

I created a case for this one ( case # 04661978 ) to see if this is a bug and if so, it will be logged and looked at. Your right that the delays are ridiculous .....

Thanks for posting and support will engage shortly.

Marianna

Check out https://community.avid.com/forums/t/208989.aspx please.