In a major update to its software, The Cinema Designer (TCD) will be launching a host of new features throughout June.
Updates include Trinnov WaveForming, heat maps/polar plots for selected manufacturers, additional surrounds, minor loudspeaker position adjustments, acoustic treatment placement for selected manufacturers, and channel updates.
WaveForming
Trinnov’s WaveForming technology delivers a significant advance in low-frequency performance through controlled wave propagation. Designers are now able to incorporate this innovative technology within their home cinema designs.
Working closely with the Trinnov team, TCD can now complete the complex calculations required to properly implement WaveForming within a design in just a few seconds, making light work of the computations and efficiently producing a precise design for this technology.
TCD’s unique 3D viewport provides a visual representation of the wave technology and allows you to make changes in real time, with the tool dynamically recalculating and redrawing the room with your modifications.
Heat maps/polar plots
Another new feature in the update allows TCD to incorporate and illustrate enhanced performance data provided by selected manufacturers. Heat maps and polar plots are overlaid on the 3D viewport to illustratively demonstrate responses of the selected loudspeakers, relative to the main listening position and all other seats.
This new feature allows designers to dynamically adjust the design, in accordance with the loudspeaker data shown by the heat maps. They can also manually adjust seating row positions, with the 3D viewport updating in real-time to place seating in the optimum location.
Additional surrounds
Users can now easily add surrounds that share discreet information – as many as an adjacent pair per row if required. With the design adjusting dynamically as each change is made, users can add and remove the extra surrounds in just a few clicks.
Minor loudspeaker position adjustments
In the real world, there are often practical reasons why the perfect design cannot be implemented, and designers have to be pragmatic about the relationship between the perfect design and what is deliverable on the ground.
To assist with this, users can now make minor adjustments to the placement of loudspeakers, enabling repositioning within 10 degrees of the calculate position to accommodate the physical attributes of the room.
Acoustic treatment placement
Another major upgrade within TCD 2.5 is the placement of acoustic treatment. For selected manufacturers, acoustic products can now be positioned and repositioned within the 3D space. This allows you to make accommodations for the physical attributes of the room, such as windows and doors, increasing the flexibility of TCD and allowing users to deliver designs based on real-world rooms.
Channel updates
TCD 2.5 now includes four additional Dolby configurations: Dolby Atmos 7.1.6 and Dolby Atmos 9.1.6, both providing six height channels, as well as Dolby 2.1 for stereo with subwoofers and Dolby Surround 9.1.
Each Dolby/Dolby Atmos configuration can be selected with one or more subwoofers, giving users more design options.
Training
TCD creator, Guy Singleton is currently hosting training webinars to take users through the TCD workflow, with an emphasis on the new features. These informal sessions are aimed at small groups to allow for a Q&A at the end. To join a webinar, you can email karin@thecinemadesigner.com.