Altinex has announced the release of AVSnap Version 5, the latest revision to the company’s AV systems design and control software.
Designed to facilitate a complete development environment for any size AV system, the new AVSnap V5 offers numerous enhancements designed to make AV system sales professionals, design engineers, installers, and programmers more productive.
AVSnap V5 offers a design interface tailored to both advanced users and beginners. Built-in and user-defined libraries make it easy to use any manufacturer’s equipment, highly useful in system designs where products from multiple equipment providers must interact together.
The software has provisions for a complete BOM (Bill of Materials) and cable list, which simplifies equipment ordering and installation cable requirements. Only a short amount of time is required to learn the basic features of AVSnap in order to start creating productive drawings.
Paramount among AVSnap V5’s new features is the addition of AJAX technology to the Web server portion of the software. Ajax (sometimes called Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) is a way of programming for the Web that eliminates the hourglass. Data, content, and design are merged together into a seamless whole.
Thus, when a person clicks on something in an Ajax driven application, there is very little lag time. For AVSnap V5, this newly incorporated technology decreases application response time, and it is possible to control the AV equipment using a PC, an iPhone, iPad, or any other mobile device.
The new software offers increased loading speed during startup. The software is ready to use simply by clicking on the AVSnap icon.
Similarly, AVSnap Meeting—an integrated collaboration tool that enables sales professionals and others to present their project and/or provide technical support for a customer or co-worker—now offers four times the speed of previous versions.
This new version also provides added control for GIF animated objects (FW, REW, STOP and START) for more realistic animations when designing a GUI (Graphical User Interface).
Further, a Face detection object has been added for control applications. As a result, user independent face recognition can enable GUI visibility on a touch panel. In other words, when the user approaches the touch panel, it will automatically wake up and display the GUI to be used.
AVSnap V5 now includes a new bookmark feature in the code editor that greatly simplifies programming. Programmers no longer need to be concerned about long code—just place a bookmark and jump back and forth between different parts of the code.
Equally significant, AVSnap V5 offers simplified TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) and UDP (User Datagram Protocol) communication status. Users can now open the port viewer and see all of the communication activity between the program and the various controlled devices.
Larry Drum, CTS, Altinex regional sales manager for the Central United States, notes, “Compatible with Windows XP, Vista, and 7, AVSnap Version 5 offers AV professionals a wealth of features that enable them to design cutting edge AV systems. It is also a tremendous tool for demonstrating a system’s capabilities to prospective customers. With its increased performance speed, AVSnap Version 5 is highly responsive, easy to use, and a pleasure to work with. I’m confident integrators, designers, and sales pros will find much to like.”
AVSnap V5 will be available on December 12, 2011, and is free. It can be downloaded here.
