The Cinema Designer (TCD) has released major updates to the software, bringing more functionality to the online cinema design tool. The new features will go live during June 2024, and all subscribers will automatically see the updates as they become available.
TCD is used across the globe by over 8500 professional home cinema designers, allowing them to produce technically precise home cinema designs and exceptional renders and reports, in just a few clicks of the mouse.
The TCD team has been working hard to implement new features that will improve the functionality of the software. These features include:
- Trinnov Waveforming
- Heat maps/polar plots for selected manufacturers
- Additional surrounds
- Minor loudspeaker position adjustments
- Acoustic treatment placement for selected manufacturers
- Channel updates
Trinnov 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.
The TCD development team has worked closely with Trinnov to implement Waveforming within the TCD workflow. Within just a few seconds, TCD completes the complex calculations required to properly implement Waveforming within a design. TCD makes light work of the computations, efficiently producing a precise design for this revolutionary technology. TCD’s unique 3D viewport provides a visual representation of the wave technology and allows users to make changes in real-time, with the tool dynamically recalculating and redrawing the room with the designer’s modifications.
Heat Maps/Polar Plots
TCD now incorporates and illustrates 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 major feature allows users to dynamically adjust the design in accordance with the loudspeaker data shown by the heat maps. Users can manually adjust seating row positions with the 3D viewport updating in real-time to place seating in the optimum location.
Additional Surrounds
Adding more surrounds is simple in TCD 2.5. Users can now easily add surrounds that share discrete 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 dilemma, users can now make minor adjustments to the placement of loudspeakers. Each loudspeaker can be repositioned within 10 degrees of the calculated position to accommodate the physical attributes of the room.
Acoustic Treatment Placement
A major upgrade within TCD2.5 is the placement of acoustic treatment. For selected manufacturers, acoustic products may now be positioned and repositioned within the 3D space. This allows designers to make accommodations for the physical attributes of the room, such as windows and doors. This increases the flexibility of TCD for designers, and allows them to deliver exceptional designs, based on real-world rooms.
Channel Updates
TCD2.5 now includes four additional Dolby configurations: Dolby Atmos 7.1.6 and Dolby Atmos 9.1.6, both providing six height channels; 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 an even greater palate of design options.
For more information, visit www.thecinemadesigner.com.
