Viz Pilot Edge 3.3.0

Release Date: 2025-06-30

These are the release notes for Viz Pilot Edge and Template Builder versions 3.3.0. This document describes the user-visible changes that have been made to the software since release 3.2.0.

Note: Documentation for Template Builder is now distributed under Viz Pilot Edge on the documentation site.

Release Highlights

This release introduces three major new features:

  • Native Mosart Timing Panel, which requires Viz Mosart 5.12.0 to use the new timing structure in the MEM block.

  • Action Panels (requires MSE 5.8.0).

  • Multiplay Videowall Presets, requires MSE 5.8.0 with a playable cache configured for the Viz Pilot backend and Viz Mosart 5.12.0. The current released versions of Viz Trio 4.4.0 or Viz Multiplay 3.3.0 do not support the playout of filled presets from Viz Pilot Edge.

In addition, Template Builder gets several usability upgrades, including the ability in templates to browse the Graphic Hub tree for assets, search the field tree, and use a new powerful context menu in the script editor.

New Features

Viz Pilot Edge

  • Mosart timing information can be added to graphics through a built-in panel outside the templates (VPE-4662).

  • Continue-count for graphics with multiple reveal points can be overridden in the Mosart timing panel (VPE-4698).

  • Multiplay videowall presets can be filled with content and added to rundowns (VPE-5110).

  • A custom date/time range can be specified when searching for data elements (VPE-5533).

  • New URL parameter &action opens the Viz Pilot Edge template in panel-only mode (VPE-5637).

Template Builder

  • A collection of new features makes it possible to create action panel templates designed to remain open in the client and function as control surfaces (VPE-5683).

  • The new global object $pilot was added to scripting, granting access to Mosart timing, configuration and MOS XML (VPE-5859).

  • <mosAbstract>, <objSlug> and <description> are now available from scripting through the $pilot.mos object (VPE-5532).

  • Feed browser now supports hierarchical feeds (VPE-5834).

  • Scene Manager auto updates scene references for older, outdated templates (VPE-5634).

  • Hierarchical feeds can be used to browse Graphic Hub for assets instead of using search (VPE-5835).

  • Input controls in HTML fragments can be bound to template fields scripting objects (VPE-5767).

  • The script editor now has a context menu with various useful functionalities (VPE-5863).

  • New scripting functionality supporting action panels (VPE-5684):

    • app.RunPlayoutCommand, running an MSE command on the current template (take, continue, out)

    • app.executeVizCommand, sensing a viz command to the Viz Engine through a channel in MSE.

    • app.notify, displaying a non blocking notification to the user.

    • Access to environment variables through the $env object.

  • Feed URLs can contain placeholders to fields and $data, to become dynamic (VPE-5863).

  • The field tree can be searched and filtered (VPE-5774).

Improvements

Viz Pilot Edge

  • The status bar with the server status is hidden to save space, unless there are errors in the connections (VPE-5757).

  • Viz Pilot Edge in NLE mode supports redirect when authenticating (VPE-5759).

Template Builder

  • Instead of always opening the root folder, the scene browser in Scene Manager now tries to select a relevant folder when opening (VPE-5897).

  • Nested fields in the table column is now supported (VPE-5848).

  • Error notifications are improved inside the HTML fragment editor (VPE-5766).

  • Script logging to the log window is now also logged to the browser console (VPE-5927).

  • Shift+click to select multiple fields is supported in the Field Tree (VPE-5653).

  • In Scene Manager, it is only allowed to select existing concepts (VPE-5671).

Fixed Issues

Viz Pilot Edge

  • When using Entra ID, roles no longer need to be listed explicitly in the token. For instance, assigning the pilot-admin role now implicitly grants access to all subordinate roles required by clients (VPE-5700).

  • Fixed an issue with z-index of fields, preventing fields from being resized/moved when another field is behind (VPE-5841).

  • The color picker popup opens correctly when small space is available (VPE-5571).

  • Some templates with an empty execution logic could not load (VPE-5956).

  • For text fields with a character limitation, the UI counter now counts non-Western characters similarly to how it is done in Viz Engine (VPE-5913).

Template Builder

  • Library status on data elements will not be preserved after export/import (VPE-5823).

  • The thumbnailUrl in scripting now has the crop URL, if crop is applied (VPE-5839).

ShowEdge

No changes.

Minimum System Requirements

Hardware

There are no known hardware limitations for Viz Pilot Edge and Template Builder, other than requirements stipulated by newsroom systems hosting the client. Though the web browser and its version can affect look and functionality inside the applications.

Software

Vizrt components:

  • Pilot Data Server 9.3.0

  • Graphic Hub 3.9.2 (with Graphic Hub REST 2.9.2)

  • Preview Server 4.7.1

  • Media Sequencer 5.8.0

  • Viz Artist 5.4.0

  • Viz Engine 5.4.0

  • Viz Mosart 5.12.0 (required for Timing Panel)

Note: In general, Viz Engine 4.3 or above is required when importing scenes with Template Builder. Viz Engine 4.3 and above supports Transition Logic with sub scenes. We recommend using Viz Engine 5.1 and Template Builder 3.0 when using Transition Logic and especially with combo templates, as both versions contain substantial improvements. If for some reason the old workflow is needed (creating GEOM objects), please enable these settings in the Viz Engine configuration file:

#Enable automatic creation of merged geometries when saving a transition logic scene
AutoExportTransitionLogicGeometries = 1
 
#Use old style merged-geometries instead of subscene rendering when loading a scene for transition logic
TransitionLogicUseMergedGeometries = 1

Note: TGA image support requires a codec program like https://www.fastpictureviewer.com/codecs/, to be installed on the same machine as crop service.

Browser

  • Tested with Chrome Version 137.0.7151.69 (Official Build) (64-bit)

Newsroom Systems Used for Testing

  • iNEWS 2022.12 (8.2.0.42) (Tested with Show Edge and default newsroom plugin, browser type Chrome 81)

  • ENPS 9.3.4 (Browser type Chrome 75)

Authentication

Any newsroom system hosting Viz Pilot Edge in a modern, secure browser environment, should be able to utilize authentication. This requires:

Upgrading

When upgrading from a previous version of Viz Pilot Edge, the previous version may still be presented by the host browser for a short time due to client side caching. To prevent this, clear the host browser cache. If you are using the default Internet Explorer host, open Internet Explorer, press CTRL + SHIFT + DELETE, select Temporary Internet files and website files and click DELETE.

Previous Versions

In accordance with the Vizrt Global Support Handbook section Software Lifecycle, support for older versions ends 24 months after a subsequent minor or major version is released.

With this release, earlier versions of Viz Pilot Edge and Template Builder, are no longer supported after 2026-06-30.

At the date of this release, Viz Pilot Edge 2.3, Template Builder 2.3, and Pilot Data Server 8.8.x are no longer supported. Support for Viz Pilot Edge 2.4, Template Builder 2.4 and Pilot Data Server 8.9.x ends on 2025-10-03.

Documentation

Documentation for Viz Pilot Edge, Template Builder and related software is available at the Vizrt Documentation Center:

Support

Support is available at the Vizrt Support Portal.