Lightningbeam/Changelog.md

1.0.8-alpha:

Changes:

• Mobile/touch UI (experimental, testing only — not built or packaged for mobile yet; enabled on desktop with the LB_MOBILE_UI environment variable): work-in-progress phone-friendly interface with a vertical sliding-window pane stack you drag to reveal panes, a new-file intent picker, a selection inspector sheet, a keyboard-primary music surface, a Focus/Patch node editor, long-press context menus, a command palette, and landscape/orientation support
• Text layers: add and edit text with a chosen font; non-bundled fonts are embedded in the project so it renders on machines that lack them
• Animated GIF export (parallel palette encoding)
• Audio tag metadata (title, artist, album, genre, year, track, comment) is written into exports — ID3v2 for MP3, iTunes/MP4 atoms for AAC, Vorbis comments for FLAC, RIFF INFO for WAV — with sensible defaults (year, artist/album remembered between exports)
• Lossy WebP image export, so the quality control now actually applies
• SVG export now includes text layers, as real font-independent glyph outlines
• Crash recovery: the editor autosaves your work to a recovery file in the background and offers to restore it after an unclean shutdown
• Prompt to save unsaved changes before starting a new file, opening another, or quitting
• Faster saves on painting projects: unchanged raster frames are no longer re-encoded every save

Bugfixes:

• FLAC export previously wrote a WAV file with a .flac extension; it now encodes real (compressed) FLAC
• ProRes 422 export always failed; it now encodes 10-bit 4:2:2 correctly
• Fix VP8 video export with audio (muxed into WebM instead of an incompatible container)
• The WebP "Quality" slider had no effect
• Starting a new file now fully resets the audio engine, so instruments and voices from the previous project no longer linger
• Fix oscillator/synth phase drift over long playback

1.0.7-alpha:

Changes:

• HDR video support: PQ/HLG/BT.2020 video is now read correctly (decoded to scene-linear), with a per-document output mode (clip vs highlight rolloff) and 10-bit HDR export (HEVC Main10, PQ or HLG)
• Hardware-accelerated video decode (VAAPI) for both playback and export, including a GPU NV12 preview path; the editor now runs on a shared VAAPI-capable GPU device so decode → composite → encode stay GPU-resident
• SVG import and export for vector layers: export the current frame to .svg, and import .svg as a new vector layer (Ctrl+I)
• Export fit modes: choose Stretch, Letterbox, or Crop when the export resolution's aspect ratio differs from the document (video and image export)
• Videos imported directly and dragged in from the asset library now use the same placement, so they no longer end up with different aspect ratios
• Resizing the document now leaves raster layers untouched; the Info Panel shows the active raster layer's size and a "Layer to document size" button (scale or expand/crop)
• The active raster layer now shows a dashed outline on the canvas
• H.264 export gained a color-range option (Limited/TV or Full/PC)
• Hide/Show Layer now works

Bugfixes:

• Fix sped-up and jerky 4K video playback (frame-index frame cache + request-based seeking)
• Fix washed-out HDR/10-bit video (propagate stream color tags to hardware frames, P010 import)
• Fix the final frame(s) of a clip occasionally failing to render at the end of the stream
• Fix the CPU export color path producing shifted colors on unusual resolutions (BT.709 + honor the chosen range)
• Fix fills occasionally vanishing after a paint-bucket or lasso cut
• Fix silent gaps in exported audio
• Fix black video thumbnails and decoder thrashing
• Fix file-descriptor and GPU-memory leaks on hardware-import error paths
• SVG export now omits hidden layers; SVG import respects gradient opacity
• Fix the macOS/Windows build (hardware export is Linux-only)

1.0.6-alpha:

Changes:

• Hardware-accelerated H.264 video export: each frame is rendered and encoded on the GPU (zero-copy VAAPI), roughly 2x faster, with automatic fallback to software encoding when hardware acceleration isn't available (Linux, Intel/AMD only for now)
• Video export now runs on a background thread, so the UI stays responsive during export and edits made while exporting no longer affect the output
• Grouped and nested video clips now composite on the GPU path
• Video is now packed into and streamed from the .beam project container

Bugfixes:

• Fix an export hang when a video's audio track is shorter than the video
• Fix a sample key-range overlap bug in instruments

1.0.5-alpha:

Changes:

• Add shape tweens (morph vector geometry between keyframes)
• Add motion tweens for groups and movie clips
• Group geometry and Convert to Movie Clip now work on DCEL vector shapes
• Region/lasso select now cuts the shape and feeds the normal selection, so Group, Convert, Delete and Properties all work from a lasso (hold shift to add to the selection)
• Clip instances now draw on top of a layer's loose shapes
• Add onion skinning for raster and vector layers, with tinted ghosts and settings in the Info Panel
• Images can now fill vector shapes (None / Solid / Gradient / Image fill types)
• Imported images can be placed on the canvas
• Add a raster keyframe timeline UI with explicit keyframe creation; click a keyframe diamond to snap the playhead to it
• Stream audio, video and images to and from the project file instead of holding them in memory, supporting arbitrarily long media
• Persist (and resume) waveforms and video thumbnails in the project file
• Use low-res proxies for fast cold scrubbing of raster frames
• Bound memory use for raster pixels, GPU textures, video frames and decoded images on large projects
• Video export is roughly 4x faster
• Downmix surround video audio to stereo

Bugfixes:

• Fix video export resolution scaling and a post-export UI hang
• Fix gamma handling and improve brush canvas performance
• Fix a save crash on projects with zero or sparse audio
• Fix raster strokes vanishing when committed
• Fix image fill mapping (anchor to the fill's bounding box)
• Fix video thumbnail strip bugs

1.0.4-alpha:

Changes:

• Beats are now the canonical time representation (replacing seconds)
• Tempo can now be non-constant (variable BPM)
• All events now have time references in seconds, measures/beats, and frames
• Add piano roll note snapping
• Snap to beats in measures mode
• Add velocity and modulation editing
• Add pitch bend support
• Add automation inputs for audio graphs
• Add automatable volume and pan controls to default instruments
• Add count-in and metronome
• Add drawing tablet input support
• Set default timeline mode based on activity
• Tweaked automation lane appearance
• Double CPU rendering performance by switching to tiny-skia

Bugfixes:

• Fix MIDI track recording previews
• Fix timeline elements not updating on BPM changes

1.0.3-alpha:

Changes:

• Add gradient support to vector graphics
• Add "frames" timeline mode
• Reduce CPU usage at idle
• Allow group tracks' audio node graphs to be edited

Bugfixes:

• Support Vello CPU fallback on systems with older GPUs

1.0.2-alpha:

Changes:

• All vector shapes on a layer go into a unified shape rather than separate shapes
• Keyboard shortcuts are now user-configurable
• Added webcam support in video editor
• Background can now be transparent
• Video thumbnails are now displayed on the clip
• Virtual keyboard, piano roll and node editor now have a quick switcher
• Add electric guitar preset
• Layers can now be grouped
• Layers can be reordered by dragging
• Added VU meters to audio layers and mix
• Added raster image editing
• Added brush, airbrush, dodge/burn, sponge, pattern stamp, healing brush, clone stamp, blur/sharpen, magic wand and quick select tools
• Added support for MyPaint .myb brushes
• UI now uses CSS styling to support future user styles
• Added image export

Bugfixes:

• Toolbar now only shows tools that can be used on the current layer
• Fix NAM model loading
• Fix menu width and mouse following
• Export dialog now remembers the previous export filename

1.0.1-alpha:

Changes:

• Added real-time amp simulation via NAM
• Added beat mode to the timeline
• Changed shape drawing from making separate shapes to making shapes in the layer using a DCEL graph
• Licensed under GPLv3
• Added snapping for vector editing
• Added organ instrument and vibrato node

Bugfixes:

• Fix preset loading not updating node graph editor
• Fix stroke intersections not splitting strokes
• Fix paint bucket fill not attaching to existing strokes

1.0.0-alpha:

Changes:

• New native GUI built with egui + wgpu (replaces Tauri/web frontend)
• GPU-accelerated canvas with vello rendering
• MIDI input and node-based audio graph improvements
• Factory instrument presets
• Video import and high performance playback

0.8.1-alpha:

Changes:

• Rewrite timeline UI
• Add start screen
• Move audio engine to backend
• Add node editor for audio synthesis
• Add factory presets for instruments
• Add MIDI input support
• Add BPM handling and time signature
• Add metronome
• Add preset layouts for different tasks
• Add video import
• Add animation curves for object properties

0.7.14-alpha:

Changes:

• Moving frames can now be undone
• A wait cursor is shown during file loading

Bugfixes:

• Fix clicking on layers bug
• Fix "frame deleting" issue when clicking on frames in a scrolled timeline

0.7.13-alpha:

Changes:

• changed file MIME type from text/plain to application/lightningbeam to prevent editor woes on Linux

Bugfixes:

• Port several live fixes to version control
• Fix opening files on macOS
• Improve rendering speed by 10x or more when multiple layers are present

0.7.12-alpha:

New features:

• Add "New Window" command
• Enable files to be opened with Lightningbeam

Bugfixes:

• Fix error when an object is deleted from a frame
• Fix parent references being lost
• Fix objects not showing up when imported multiple times

0.7.11-alpha:

Bugfixes:

• Fix duplicate objects showing up after grouping
• Fix being unable to scroll audio layers into view

0.7.10-alpha:

New features:

• Add proper save/export dialog for web UI

Changes:

• When trying to play an animation and the scrubber is on the last frame, the animation will play from the beginning
• Lightningbeam now uses pointer events instead of mouse events for input, so it can be used with styluses and touchscreens

Bugfixes:

• Fix outlines losing their colors
• Fix audio not opening properly
• Fix delete not working for groups
• Fix undoing group sending shapes to 0,0

0.7.9-alpha:

New features:

• MP4 export is now faster and full resolution
• Added WebM export

Changes:

• Files saved in Lightningbeam 0.7.7 or later are now opened by directly parsing the file structure, bypassing the need to replay every action

Bugfixes:

• Fix frame number after exporting video

0.7.8-alpha:

Bugfixes:

• Fix mp4 export on macOS
• Fix animations in imported clips not playing grouped object movements correctly

0.7.7-alpha:

Bugfixes:

• Fix pasting multiple times
• Hack around broken files

0.7.6-alpha:

Bugfixes:

• Fix errors when images are not present in a saved file
• Save images properly

0.7.5-alpha:

Bugfixes:

• Fix errors when files refer to now nonexistant frames

0.7.4-alpha:

Bugfixes:

• Fix timeline collapse on imported objects

0.7.3-alpha:

Bugfixes:

• Fix some files not importing properly

0.7.2-alpha:

New features:

• mp4 export (unreliable)
• Added "Recenter View" menu option

Bugfixes:

• Fix layer visibility toggle not functioning
• Fix some files not opening properly

0.7.1-alpha:

New features:

• Added "Duplicate keyframe" menu option

Bugfixes:

• Fix importing from file

0.7.0-alpha:

New features:

• Keyframes can now have both motion and shape tweens on the same frame

Changes:

• Tweens are now indicated with colored lines
• Tweens are now attached to keyframes rather than the frames in between them

Bugfixes:

• Fix paint bucket coordinates being incorrect inside of movie clips
• Fix paint bucket not working for large shapes and shapes whose internal coordinates crossed 0,0
• Fixed dragging frames breaking tweens
• Fixed logs being inaccessible on macOS
• Fixed right-click causing a menu with "Reload" to appear which would reset the application

0.6.18-alpha:

New features:

• Errors and debug messages are now logged to a file

Bugfixes:

• Fix mouse clicks going to wrong locations in color picker and outliner when zoomed

0.6.17-alpha:

New features:

• Clicking on an object in the outliner will select it

Bugfixes:

• Fix color picker being unresponsive when color is black
• Fix paintbucket not working in transformed shapes
• Fixed selecting shapes rendering incorrectly
• Fix errors in goToDrame
• Fix being unable to select imported objects
• Fix being unable to open files in some directories
• Fix grouped groups not being copy-pastable

0.6.16-alpha:

Bugfixes:

• Fix importing animations not functioning

0.6.15-alpha:

Changes:

• Lightningbeam can now open/save files in the Desktop and Downloads folders as well as Documents

Bugfixes:

• Fix old files not importing animations correctly
• Fix app freezing when encountering errors
• Fix clicking on timeline selecting incorrect frame when zoomed

0.6.14-alpha:

Changes:

• Make vertex handles semitransparent and always the same visual size

Bugfixes:

• Fix grouped objects losing position on save/load
• Fix copy-pasted objects not being editable

0.6.13-alpha:

New features:

• Rotate functionality of transform tool is now working

Bugfixes:

• Fix grouped objects always having a position of 0,0

0.6.12-alpha:

Changes:

• Rendering the canvas is better optimized

Bugfixes:

• Prevent double-triggering the keyboard shortcuts on macOS
• Fix line widths not getting saved

0.6.11-alpha:

Changes:

• Curve editing is now more predictable

New features:

• "Outliner" pane shows all objects
• Objects can now be imported from .beam files

Bugfixes:

• Fix stuttering during playback

0.6.10-alpha:

Changes:

• Selecting and deselecting are now undo-able

New features:

• Layers now have a mute button
• A web version of lightningbeam is available

Bugfixes:

• Fix audio layers not showing up

0.6.9-alpha:

Changes:

New features:

• Delete frame is now functional
• Very early support for moving frames. Do not use with motion or shape tweens yet!

Bugfixes:

• Fix motion tween being incorrect after adding a keyframe in the middle of it
• Fix deleted frames still being visible
• Fix timeline playing for too long after removing or moving frames

0.6.8-alpha:

Changes:

• Improve stage rendering

New features:

• Add "verbatim" mode to shape drawing
• Add keyboard shortcut for "Add Layer"

Bugfixes:

• Fixed severe bug where all shapes end up on first frame after loading a saved file
• Fixed clicking on frames not updating the stage
• Fixed "Are you sure you want to quit?" message showing up even if the file had just been saved
• Fixed layers in clips preventing playback
• Fixed default filename not getting reset after creating a new file
• Fixed various tools getting confused if the mouse let go of the button outside the window
• Fixed undoing an add layer keeping the removed layer active

0.6.7-alpha:

Changes:

• Default configuration is saved between app launches

New features:

• Added "recent files" list on startup
• Added keyboard shortcuts to menus
• Panes can now be split in two

Bugfixes:

• Fixed layer visibility icons not rendering
• New file dialog now closes when opening a file
• Fixed resize cursor showing up between pane header and content

0.6.6-alpha:

Changes:

• Rename "Active Object" to "Context"
• Objects display their first frame when not editing them

New features:

• Added scrubber to timeline

Bugfixes:

• Fixed timeline not rendering frame backgrounds when scrolled
• Layers were in reverse order
• Fixed delete keyboard shortcut being triggered when typing in a text box

0.6.4-alpha:

Changes:

• "Save As" dialog will use the existing filename as a default

New features:

• Added option to play objects from specific frames
• Added automatic builds for Linux, macOS and Windows

Bugfixes:

• Fixed performance issues with drawing ellipses and rectangles
• Fixed mouse coordinates being incorrect inside a moved object

0.6.3-alpha:

Changes:

• "Reset Zoom" renamed to "Actual Size"
• "Fill shape" now defaults to off

New features:

• Paintbucket can now be used on un-filled shapes
• Layers can be hidden
• New color picker
• Navigation breadcrumbs

Bugfixes:

• Audio layers had no names
• Deleting a layer didn't rerender immediately
• Active layer was hard to see
• New layers were not active by default
• "Play" menu item did nothing
• Objects with multiple layers had incorrect bounding boxes

0.6.2-alpha:

New features:

• Delete objects and shapes
• Zoom in and out
• Import audio (mp3 only for now)
• Multiple layers
• Edit timelines of groups/objects
• Add "revert" menu option

Bugfixes:

• Timeline did not refresh when creating a new file
• Layer names did not display properly
• Fixed copy and paste breaking saved files
• "Line width" input field was not rendering properly on macOS