Curator release notes

Updated on September 20th, 2024

Get an overview of new features and improvements in the latest version of the Curator system.

This article contains a set of release notes summarising the changes made for each of the Curator releases from 3.2 onward, separated by release.

Please contact IPV support for any additional queries.

Curator 3.7.3

Curator Clip Link (3.5.1.176)

This hot-fix addresses three bug fixes and feature extensions:

  • Folder permission editing will no longer close after an individual change is made.
  • Fix for group removal in Advanced Search pop-up.
  • Security fix removing the remaining reference to an old library (moment 2.24.0).

Curator Logger (2.5.1.33)

  • This version provides a security update of the remaining outdated library to the latest secure version (moment).

Curator for Adobe (3.5.1.43 (PC) / 3.5.38 (Mac))

  • As of this release, a few bug fixes have been made in order to improve right-click functionality when selecting a folder.

Curator File Service (1.4.1.143)

This update of File Service provides improvements and bug fixes to handling of File System stores and related records, including the following:

  • When creating or editing a file system store, File Service no longer attempts to create the root directory on disk.
  • Fixed a bug where multiple identical v1 files were being created.
  • Fixed a bug where unnecessary new storages were created when moved files were synchronised.
  • File paths stored as URLs now synchronise in the same way as network share paths matching appropriate store.
  • When doing metadata synchronisation, File Service will now check to ensure subdirectories match existing stores before creating a new one. 
  • File system stores (Windows file system) will now be made case insensitive by default when doing metadata synchronisation.
  • Fixed a bug where duplicate messages were appearing in the Activity Log.

XFer Agent (2.15.1.21)

  • A bug has been fixed where upload to Azure would fail in certain instances.
 
 

Curator 3.7.2

Curator Gateway (1.10.2.216)

Requirements

  • On installing or upgrading to this release, you must upgrade this service to the version listed above or later.
  • Please note that when upgrading to this release, you must ensure Microsoft ASP.NET Core Hosting Bundle is updated to version 7.0, followed by restarting IIS.
  • As with version 1.9, RabbitMQ must be installed and connection details must be configured in Curator Gateway. Curator Gateway will now automatically go to the RabbitMQ configuration page when the System Administrator logs in and RabbitMQ was not configured.
  • Two pre-requisite settings have now been added to the web.config file and no longer need to be set manually in IIS following this release:
    • <httpRuntime maxRequestLength="1048576" />
    • <requestLimits maxAllowedContentLength="4294967295" />

Updates

This release provides improvements and extensions for the External Identity Providers so that a wider range of the providers can be accepted:

  • Improvements have been made to Open ID identity provider:
    • It is now possible to configure authorisation code flows and these can match the behaviour of different providers by selecting to either send of Authorisation Header or send Secret in the request. 
    • Users can receive additional claims from the identity provider when the Get Claims From User Info Endpoint is selected, and the name of the claim that contains group details can also be set.
  • Improvements have been made when configuring a SAML2 identity provider.
    • In addition to the identity provider's Entity Id, the Curator Gateway Entity Id (Entity Id of the Service Provider / SP) will now also be configured and sent with any authentication requests. 
    • Minimum Incoming Signing Algorithm option can be set to a minimum strength of the acceptable incoming signing algorithm. 
    • Outgoing messages can be signed with a named certificate.
  • A fix has been made for when enabling multiple LDAP providers simultaneously. Further small fixes have been made to the configuration of LDAP and SAML identity providers.

This release provides new features in user management:

  • All passwords are now hidden when being typed in. There is a button provided to copy the password once set.
  • When working with rows in lists the whole line over which the mouse is placed is highlighted.
  • It is now possible to clone workgroups and permissions from an existing user when creating new invitations or to clone workgroups from one active user to another.
  • It is also possible to select a workgroup and add users to it as well as to select a user and provide them with new workgroup memberships.
  • It is also possible to set or modify the user(s) time-limited access, after which they will be automatically locked out.
  • User's email, username and name can be modified for any active user
  • Fixes an issue with temporary lock-out triggered after making more than the set number of allowed failed password attempts and manual user reactivation.

Navigating to Curator Gateway Client for the first time after deployment will generate all required client secrets. This serves the improved security of peer verification between Curator services which necessitates client secrets for all services.

When upgrading Curator Gateway from a version older than 1.9, System Administrator will be redirected to the Organisation page if RabbitMQ connection details are not yet set and will have to set them to successfully save the details. If RabbitMQ details become invalid at any point, for example, the host to which RabbitMQ was deployed was changed, Curator Gateway will not start. Please see the Upgrade Guide for troubleshooting instructions. Curator Gateway is now a publisher of messages to RabbitMQ, so it is important to set it correctly before Curator Gateway comes into use. 

Curator API has been updated in line with using asset references and migrated blobs.

API routes can now have white- or blacklisted IP addresses.

Curator Server (4.3.2.92)

  • On installing or upgrading to this release, you must upgrade this service to the version listed above or later.
  • The Curator Server API for the delete has been altered. As a result of this, the old version will not work and workflows will need to move either to Remove (from Collection) or deliberately to use the new Delete API. This is so that the references can be removed on demand but delete can still stop if there are still references to the file to be deleted.
  • As of this release, the Curator System Administrator link will no longer be available to ADMIN (READ ONLY) users from Gateway.
  • As of this release, Clip Select has been de-supported and removed from Curator Server's database.
  • Siphon Service and SVUtils clients and resources will now be removed out of the box and on upgrade.
  • Client and API routes will now be created in an inactive state for Metadata Central admin, removing the need for these to be manually created via the execution of a manual script.
  • Metadata and panel configuration improvements have been made in support of new IPV Curator For Adobe 3.5.1.39 (Win) \ 3.5.1.34 (Mac) (3.5.2) / IPV Curator For Adobe 3.5.1.37 (Win) \ 3.5.1.31 (Mac) (3.5) functionality.
  • Routing has been added for Curator Connect updates in support of the auto updater functionality introduced in Curator Connect 2.0.1.279 (Win) \ 2.0.1.264 (Mac) (2.0) / Curator Connect 2.0.1.251 (Win) \ 2.0.1.259 (Mac).
  • Folder improvements have been made in this release, including the addition of a search option to return assets in collections of subfolders; and the addition of a method to set a deletion date recursively for folders and their contents and assets and their clip marks, this is controlled by setting the Recursive option to True.
  • This release provides support for Clip Link 3.5 download feature through the creation of a new download role.
  • Provides support for Curator 3.7 and later's use of asset references where copies were used previously by renaming the Delete API, deprecating the previous version of the Delete API and substituting the new API to ensure the original asset will not be deleted.
  • An option has been added to prevent deletion errors where assets are not found or are not available in a folder.
  • Workflow support has been improved in cases where assets are no longer in a collection and another attempt is being made to remove it from the collection.
  • In addition to this, a number of bug fixes have been made in this release to improve the searching and displaying of data across the Curator applications.

Curator System Administrator (2.2.1.82)

  • The Metadata View filter will now match on a unique name, not only on the display name.
  • Fixed an issue where an error was being returned when creating a new folder.
  • A number of improvements have been made to the Configuration page for this release, improving the overall look and feel and security of the code. 
  • The improvements in the display of the Metadata page have been made  to allow sorting on some columns. You can sort on Display Name, Unique Name, Data Type within Metadata Names table and on Workgroup Name within Permissions table.  Please note that you cannot sort on Asset Type, and Data Type sorts alphabetically.
  • Some libraries have been updated to keep them free of vulnerabilities.
  • As of this release, folder management functions which previously existed in Curator System Administrator can now be done in Clip Link. This functionality has now been removed from Curator System Administrator. For more information, please refer to the Clip Link guide.
  • A few bug fixes have been made in this release including a fix for scrolling issues in the Configuration page, protection from inadvertently overwriting existing metadata names, a fix for view switching using the ‘Used in these Metadata Views’ buttons, a more appropriate error message when attempting to change multi-values and minor graphical fix in Mac Safari for the alignment of Metadata Names and Views.

Metadata Central (3.1.3)

  • This release should be paired with Curator Logger 2.4.1.33 or newer, but we recommend using it with Curator 3.7.2 suite and Curator Logger 2.5.1.32.
  • As of this release, there is no longer a need to execute a separate deployment script for Metadata Central Administrator 2.0.1.86.
  • This release provides an ETL update for compatibility to updated Opta Sports data streaming, and provides the ability to simultaneously deploy the Teragator to serve SKOS and Team Sports data. 
  • This release also provides a set of test data to verify that the ETL ingest from the watch folder is working correctly.
  • A number of improvements and bug fixes have been made for this release including provision of the version API call, removal of unnecessary logging that could cause a crash during startup and stopping the MDC Admin API createitem from being able to create records with insufficient parameters.
  • When updating from before version 3.0, the Neo4J databases schema will be upgraded during startup of the Metadata Central. The Metadata Central Teragator service will start, but it will not be active until the Neo4J schema upgrade is completed and the cache loaded to memory. The Teragator is ready to work when the log file states "Finished system configuration. Service is now available." on a separate line of the log file.

Azure Video Indexer 

Using Microsoft Azure, Curator can now be configured to recognise celebrity faces, or to identify custom faces from a library of images as well as to label recognised objects and to create subtitling in Audio recognition process. It is now possible to analyse more than one set of insights (faces and labels) in the same video indexer workflow. For more information on installing the Azure video indexer, please refer to this article. For more information face and object recognition, including building an image library to recognise faces, please refer to this article. For more information on obtaining subtitles for videos, please refer to this article

Curator Connect 2.0.1.279 (Win) / 2.0.1.264 (Mac)

Windows-only operating system updates:

  • Certificates placed into the “Intermediate Certification Authorities” store will now be picked up and used as a source of trusted certificates by default.
  • From the local config file (com.IPV.CuratorConnect.config.json), you can now define extra certificate stores - if these are required, they will need to be added manually.
  • Certificate stores can also now be defined via an environment variable that has also been added (for ease in controlling via group policy).

Configuration updates:

A number of configuration changes have been made independently to both the Curator Connect 1.6 and Curator Connect 2.0 code bases.

  • This release allows you to configure new file2azure Transfer Type Destination Settings and Azure Blob Storage Settings via Curator System Administrator (com.IPV.Connect.config.json v2.2.12 included in this release),
  • You can prevent uploading files with special characters via setting a RegEx in a new Curator System Administrator section, 
  • It is possible to install and use a local PouchDB database in order to view historical activity information including ingest attempts and retry capabilities that are preserved between changes in the client version on disk (installation of PouchDB requires node.js).

Auto updater

Auto updates can now be configured for Curator Connect. For more information on this, please refer to this guide

Curator Clip Link (3.5.1.174)

  • On installing or upgrading to Curator Suite 3.7, you must upgrade this service to the version listed above or later.
  • This release provides compatibility with reference-based asset placements in Curator 3.7.2, and must replace any 3.4 version of Clip Link when working in a 3.7.2 environment.
  • The layout of the video playback controls has been updated to allow for greater precision when viewing and editing video clips. You can now select sections of a video to create a sub-clip from by dragging in- and out-points directly within the video player, and are able to precisely control the playback speed.
  • Additionally, plugin processes can now be added to the same Activity Log and icon as previously used in IPV Curator For Adobe and News Extension.
  • Users will now be able to download single-source hi-res assets from Clip Link using the new Download role.
  • Quick Search suggestion scan can also be expanded beyond the default Name metadata by configuring the following in the web.config: <add key="BasicSearchSuggestions" value="[MetadataViewContainingFields]" /
  • For more information on Clip Link, please refer to this guide.

Additional improvements include:

  • The ability to manually refresh individual tab contents.
  • System Administrators can now edit metadata for assets contained within Trash.
  • Changes have been made to Collections so that users can double-click them and see all the assets within like they would within a folder whilst preserving the right-click ability to Preview in a full screen window.
  • Users can now drag and drop into a Collection provided that both assets are within the same window/tab.
  • When confirming restoration from Trash of single items the restoration parent folder is now listed in the GUI, and the double-click Preview overlay window has now been replaced with a full-screen Preview under a new tab.
  • Various bug fixes have now been made.

Curator Logger (2.5.1.32)

  • The asset player has been revamped in this version to match the player found in Clip Link, allowing for enhanced precision when editing video assets.
  • In addition to this, some libraries have been updated to keep them free of vulnerabilities.
  • Logging is now launched solely by searching for and selecting assets in Clip Link and selecting the 'Open with Curator Logger' menu option, providing a faster and more powerful search and select experience.
  • For more information, refer to this guide.

IPV Curator For Adobe 3.5.1.41 (Win) / 3.5.36 (Mac)

  • On installing or upgrading to this release, you must upgrade this service to the version listed above or later.
  • The asset player has been revamped in line with Clip Link for this release, allowing for enhanced precision when editing video assets, including the ability to mark in- and out-points and directly import these as a sub-clip to the Premiere Pro project bin (this does not save a sub-clip in Curator).
  • This update also provides fixes for locally exporting non-MOGRT graphics and, for AME-panel, correcting timecodes generated for some R3D media.
  • For more information, refer to this guide.
  • Xml files (such as blob metadata) can now be uploaded or fetched to use File Service.
  • In order for Curator for Adobe version 3.5 to use Productions created in previous versions of the product, it is necessary to migrate blob metadata via Curator File Service as a one time event. For more information on this, please refer to the Migrating Blob Metadata tab within the Curator File Service Configuration section of the upgrade guide.
  • The Curator Server API for the delete has been altered. As a result of this, the old version will not work and workflows will need to move either to Remove (from Collection) or deliberately to use the new Delete API. This is so that the references can be removed on demand but delete can stop if there are still references to the file to be deleted.
  • You will need to check that the Curator Server provided configuration version 3.2.0.16 for Curator for Adobe is present in Curator Service Administrator. If this is not present, it will need to be manually imported and its configuration checked/amended.
  • Once the above points are satisfied, it is necessary for Curator for Adobe 3.4 to be upgraded to IPV Curator For Adobe 3.5.1.37 (Win) / 3.5.1.31 (Mac) in order to prevent conflict within the Curator system. As a part of this:
  • You must manually remove the previous version 3.2.0.15 of Curator For Adobe configuration com.IPV.Extension.config.json via Curator System Administrator.
  • You must also manually remove any version 3.2.0.15 com.IPV.Extension.config.json files from any <Curator Server Installation path>\Config\<configuration group>\Premiere Pro\Extensions folders.
  • Inspect all Config folders in the Curator Server installation path e.g. C:\Program Files\IPV\Curator\Server\Config\ for any configuration groups that may have the version 3.2.0.15 of the Premiere Pro\Extensions\com.IPV.Extension.config.json file present within it. You will typically find at least one in the configuration group w[]-u[]-win[]-m[] for all users
    • i.e. "C:\Program Files\IPV\Curator\Server\Config\w[]-u[]-win[]-m[]\Premiere Pro\Extensions\com.IPV.Extension.config.json".

Web Plugins (1.11.1.9)

A number of web plugins have been reviewed and updated for this release in order to improve security and ensure the compatibility with Clip Link forming part of this release.

Workflows

An improvement has been made so that the index ID will now be stored when Azure Audio analysis fails after analysis.

Curator File Service (1.4.0.110)

On installing or upgrading to this release, you must upgrade this service to the version listed above or later with a default Upload Store defined.

  • Credentials can now be added and autoprovisioned from a new Credentials section in File Service for Azure and AWS S3 storage types. Credentials can be used to establish a connection to the storage system(s), and can be shared between several stores. For more information on credentials, please refer to the Managing Credentials tab in the Curator File Service Configuration section of the upgrade guide.
  • SSL options for RabbitMQ can now be set directly from the File Service installer.
  • Curator File Service can now be used to upload xml files and fetch files. As a result of this, it is now necessary to ensure that both an Upload and a Download selection is set specifying one of the Stores defined in File Service.
  • As of Curator 3.7, blob metadata will no longer be created in the database, instead using File Service to access files previously stored in the database, reducing the database storage size and subsequently allowing for Curator system function response times to improve. As a result of this, it is necessary to fully migrate the Curator File Service including blob metadata when upgrading from any system earlier than Curator version 3.7 to 3.7 or later, in order for the Curator system to work. For more information on blob migration settings, please refer to the Migrating Blob Metadata tab in the Curator File Service Configuration section of the upgrade guide.

Process Engine (3.1.1.56)

  • On installing or upgrading to this release, you must upgrade this service to the version listed above or later.
  • Both Process Engine Service AND Process Engine Agent Service need to be configured with the Process Engine Service Client Secret.
  • This release provides a major change to the Process Engine Monitor website in order to provide a dashboard experience in line with the Curator Gateway website design, as well as a number of other GUI improvements.
  • Several new activities have been provided for use against Azure storage and Video Indexer device, including the ability to get captions and results from the new Microsoft Azure Indexer Device in Device Director 5.19.1.78. Additional new activities have also been added to improve handling of files in File Service that were previously stored as blob metadata in the Curator database, and improve handling of assets and metadata. In addition to this, a number of bugs have been fixed in this release.
  • As a result of changes made for this release, you must deploy core and (if applicable) Edit & Publish modules manually on upgrade as a compulsory step. Without a newly deployed core the 3.7 system will not work correctly.

A number of additional enhancements have been made in this release, including:

  • Changes have been made to the way pagination works, ensuring the results table in the dashboard accurately displays the number of results returned.
  •  A date range has been added to the Process Engine dashboard search, replacing the date submitted search option.

Device Director (5.20.1.33)

  • On installing or upgrading to this release, you must upgrade this service to the version listed above or later.
  • A few stability fixes have been made for this release, including resilience to timeouts when communicating with SoDa device.
  • This release provides a new Azure Video Indexer Device featuring the ability to set a personal model for face recognition other than the default and adding support for transcription and the generation of VTT files and matching sub-clips.
  • As with previous 5.19 hot-fixes, this hot-fix supports SFTP including proper password support for initial submission. We have updated the Xfer Basic Profile to allow two new optional parameters (XFERBASICUSERNAME & XFERBASICPASSWORD) that are transmitted along with an Xfer Basic Job. When these are provided the password will be encrypted, and they will be used for all ftp, sftp and ftps interactions. These will not be used for file system interactions at this time. Default profiles for Siphon and SpectreView will no longer be created out of the box.
  • Subtle yet important changes have been made to the AME Device (please pair this with the IPV AME Panel v3.4.1.2 contained within IPV Curator For Adobe 3.5.1.39 (Win) \ 3.5.1.34 (Mac) (3.5.2)) so that:
    • If Device Director thinks there is a job, but there is no current job, then the job will be Failed and the Status message will read Job was not found in AME.
    • If Device Director thinks there is a job, but the current job is a different job, then the job will be marked as Complete as has previously been the case, but with the status message of Job was assumed to have finished in AME.
  • Handling of the NotFound state during the initial stages of the job has been added so that this is treated as a transient failure unless the job is past the job start timeout (as configured in the profile).
  • This release provides MySQL8 compatibility and allows for the setting of the MySQL port number during the installation process.
  • The website has been upgraded to remove any reference to jquery-migrate that otherwise causes slowdown on air-gapped installations, and the size of session cookies has now been minimised by using a memory cache so that only a short session cookie needs to be sent.

XCode (4.4.1.3)

This version is the final Curator Service that can have the firewall exceptions feature disabled during start up on systems where this is not appropriate. This version also fixes an audio drift in proxies derived from ProRes video.

Xfer (2.15.0.20)

The access control list (ACL) will now be removed when Xfer is moving files within the same volume so that the privileges of the destination folder are assigned after the move as is with moves between volumes.

The Azure Account name and Account key are no longer required in the Device Director profile.

Curator Media Agent (1.2.0.6)

An issue has been fixed so that thumbnail generation errors are now contained to a single asset and its sub-clips, and other assets will not be affected.

 
 

Curator 3.6.9

Curator Gateway (1.9.1.102)

A number of user management enhancements have been made including the following:

  • Ability to edit a user's details directly via the Users section:
    username, display name, and email address are now editable fields - using the edit icon to the right of each field allows you to edit these fields, save them using the save button, or press x to cancel your changes.
    Please note that assets that already have the username saved in metadata during ingest or logging will not be updated to reflect changes made.
  • Ability to clone workgroups and permissions across from one user to another when adding new users via a new Add workgroups and permissions from an existing user option - this allows you to select a user to copy permissions and workgroups across from. 
  • Improved UI for individual additions of workgroups to User's settings and adding users to Workgroups, it provides longer listings of possible values to choose from and is not showing the already assigned options.
  • A fix has been made for when enabling multiple LDAP providers simultaneously.
  • Further small fixes have been made to the configuration of LDAP and SAML identity providers.

Curator Server (4.2.1.82) Hotfix which replaces 4.2.1.78

  • This update removes the Files tab in Curator System Administrator, completing the move of file permissions to Clip Link.

Curator System Administrator (2.2.1.82)

  • Folder management functionality has been removed from Curator System Administrator as of this version and is now available in Curator Clip Link. 
  • Some libraries have been updated to keep them free of vulnerabilities.

NOTE: This version requires the use of at minimum Curator Server 4.2.1.61 and Curator Gateway 1.9.1.50, but as usual should be paired with the latest versions of Curator Server and Curator Gateway that form part of the same suite.

Curator Clip Link (3.4.1.264)

  • The layout of the video playback controls has been updated to allow for greater precision when viewing and editing video clips. You can now select sections of a video to create a sub-clip from by dragging in- and out-points directly within the video player, and are able to precisely control the playback speed.
  • A number of display fixes have been made for this release.
  • In addition to this, some libraries have been updated to keep them free of vulnerabilities.

Curator Logger (2.4.1.79)

  • The asset player has been revamped in this version to match the player found in Clip Link, allowing for enhanced precision when editing video assets.
  • In addition to this, some libraries have been updated to keep them free of vulnerabilities.
  • Logging is now launched solely by searching for and selecting assets in Clip Link and selecting the 'Open with Curator Logger' menu option, providing a faster and more powerful search and select experience.

Curator for Adobe (3.4.1.38 (Win) / 3.4.60 (Mac))

  • The asset player has been revamped in line with Clip Link for this release, allowing for enhanced precision when editing video assets, including the ability to mark in- and out-points and directly import these as a sub-clip to the Premiere Pro project bin (this does not save a sub-clip in Curator).
  • This update also provides fixes for locally exporting non-MOGRT graphics and, for AME-panel, correcting timecodes generated for some R3D media.

Web Plugins (1.11.1.9)

A number of web plugins have been reviewed and updated for this release in order to improve security and ensure the compatibility with Clip Link forming part of this release.

Device Director (5.19.1.84)

A few stability fixes have been made for this release, including resilience to timeouts when communicating with SoDa device.

Xfer (2.14.1.61)

The access control list (ACL) will now be removed when Xfer is moving files within the same volume so that the privileges of the destination folder are assigned after the move as is with moves between volumes.

 
 

Curator 3.6.8

Curator Gateway (1.9.1.78) HotFix which replaces 1.9.1.58

  • Curator is now compatible with MySQL version 8 as well as version 5.7.
  • You can now configure alternate MySQL ports instead of just the default during installation.
  • A number of security improvements have been made for this release.
  • This 1.9 Hot-Fix release, as any from Curator Gateway 1.9.1.64 onwards, requires installation (if not done previously) of the Microsoft ASP.NET Core Hosting Bundle version 7.0 (with version 6.0 still installed) followed by an IIS Restart.

Curator Server (4.2.1.78) HotFix which replaces 4.2.1.70

  • As of this release, Curator is now compatible with MySQL version 8 as well as version 5.7.
  • You can now configure alternate MySQL ports instead of just the default during installation.
  • You can now opt not to set firewall options during the installation process.
  • A user agent can now be added to resource requests.
  • Fixed Solr query generation issue where there are nested negative terms.
  • If you have not already done so as part of upgrading to Curator Server 4.2.1.68 or beyond, you MUST delete and recreate the Solr curator and curator_activity cores when upgrading to this Curator Server version (even if the Solr core was already curator_2_6).

Curator System Administrator (2.2.1.74) Hotfix which replaces 2.1.1.29

  • A number of back end improvements have been made to the Configuration page for this release, improving the overall look and feel.

Curator File Service (1.2.1.96) Hotfix which replaces 1.2.1.88

  • As of this release, Curator is now compatible with MySQL version 8 as well as version 5.7.
  • You can now configure alternate MySQL ports instead of just the default during installation.

Process Engine (2.19.1.70) HotFix which replaces 2.19.1.60

  • As of this release, Curator is now compatible with MySQL version 8 as well as version 5.7.
  • You can now configure alternate MySQL ports instead of just the default during installation.
  • You can now opt not to set firewall options during the installation process.
  • It is now required to enter a Client Secret when installing Process Engine in order to connect to Curator Gateway and Curator File Service APIs.
  • Support for Azure Transcription Service when combined with new workflow module ‘Azure Video Indexer’
  • Ability to delete from an Azure container, extending previous support for Azure Blob Storage (uploading and downloading)
  • A number of security and bug fixes have been made for this release.

Device Director (5.19.1.82) Hotfix which replaces 5.19.1.61

  • As of this release, Curator is now compatible with MySQL version 8 as well as version 5.7.
  • You can now configure alternate MySQL ports instead of just the default during installation.
  • You can now opt not to set firewall options during the installation process.
  • Support for Azure Video Indexer, where combined with Xfer 2.14.1.58 and the new Azure Video Indexer workflow module.
  • Extension of support for Azure Blob Storage, where combined with Xfer 2.14.1.58

Curator Connect (1.6.1.109 (Win) \ 1.6.1.113 (Mac))  which replaces 1.6.1.109 (Win)\1.6.1.106 (Mac) 

  • This release is now certified for use with Mac OS Sonoma
  • The 1.6 release requires the use of minimum Curator Server 4.0.1.131 and Curator Gateway 1.5.1.151.

Curator Clip Link (3.4.1.171) HotFix which replaces 3.4.1.132

  • As of this release, folders and their permissions can now be edited and managed directly from within Clip Link itself by right-clicking on a folder tree or folder asset in the search results, offering the same functionality as previously found within Curator System Administrator. For more information on this, please refer to the Curator Clip Link Guide.
  • NOTE: When upgrading to 3.6.8, to prevent searches potentially returning no results when running the search and report plugin, you may need to manually import the latest version of the Spawn - Search and Report workflow (this can be found in the "Curator Arrival 3.6.8\Additional items for Partners" folder in Dropbox) and add it to Process Engine. To do this, from Process Engine Monitor, go to Process Definitions, click Choose Files and select the latest version of the "Spawn - Search and Report" in the File browser pop-up. Once selected, select Import Definitions to update this workflow to version 1.4.0.

Curator for Adobe (3.4.1.34 (Win)\3.4.56 (Mac)) HotFix which replaces Curator for Adobe (3.4.1.30 (Win)\3.4.52 (Mac))

  • This release of Curator for Adobe is fully compatible with Adobe 2024 applications.
  • With a fix for importing assets from the Curator to set metadata on imported assets metadata
  • Fix for fallback proxy import when Source Extension is not set on an asset
  • Fix for importing sequences from within productions on Mac OS 
  • Fix the management of import, the failed imports now offer a restore option.
  • Updated Edit and Publish - Adobe module version 1.12.0.0 is included.

Curator Media Agent (1.1.1.13) HotFix which replaces 1.1.1.9

  • You can now opt not to set firewall options during installation by manually setting the option in the service's configuration file before starting the service for the first time. 

XChange Manager (2.7.1.21) HotFix which replaces 2.7.1.11

  • As of this version, AWS S3 devices can now be configured without the need to provide credentials (via the use of EC2 instance roles if the service is running within AWS)
  • As of this release, Curator is now compatible with MySQL version 8 as well as version 5.7.
  • You can now opt not to set firewall options during the installation process.

Xfer (2.14.1.58) Hotfix which replaces 2.14.1.57

  • Identically named objects already stored in Azure Blob Storage will now be overwritten. operations are extended to allow the deleting of the objects, which requires Device Director 5.19.1.78 or greater.
  • Xfer Agent is now capable of using FTP, SFTP and FTPS protocols when invoked as a job for Xfer Basic in Device Director 5.19.1.58, with authentication where appropriate which can be set in Xfer Basic profile or in the input details.
 
 

Curator 3.6.7

Curator Gateway (1.9.1.69) HotFix which replaces 1.9.1.58

This version provides a security update. This HotFix requires .Net Core Runtime Hosting Bundle 7.0 to be installed in order to resolve an unexpected error when checking out a Production within Curator For Adobe. .Net Core Runtime Hosting Bundle 6.0 must also be installed in order for File Service to run correctly. 

Curator Server (4.2.1.70) which replaces 4.2.1.68

This version fixes two issues. One with nested advanced searches with negative terms, and another where in resource API calls a userAgent field is required.

Curator Clip Link (3.4.1.132) HotFix which replaces 3.4.1.115

This HotFix fixes issues and provides a few extensions to the function of sub-clip/bookmark creation.

Curator Connect (1.6.1.109 (Windows)/1.6.1.106 (Mac)) Hotfix which replaces 1.6.1.102 (Windows)/1.6.1.106 (Mac)

This HotFix is for Windows only and fixes a number of operating system and configuration issues.

Note: The Curator Connect client app MUST HAVE WRITE ACCESS to the Mezzanine and Higher fidelity source material locations when using the Associate Mezzanines functionality. 

Curator Logger (2.4.1.33) which replaces 2.4.1.30 

This HotFix addresses an issue with rosters sometimes not being loaded when logging in Sports mode, as well as updating an optional deployment script necessary for logging in Sports mode, removing a bug affecting use of resource API for loading rosters in the "1. Team Sports Generic.sql" script.

Device Director (5.19.1.61) which replaces 5.19.1.34 

This version provides a security improvement. This HotFix makes changes only to the Device Director website.

Metadata Central (3.0.11)

This release provides API support for the newly redesigned Metadata Central Administrator 2.0.1.86 and speeds up the API used by Curator Logger in Sports mode, allowing operation with large databases of historical games and rosters.

Metadata Central Administrator (2.0.1.86)

This release provides a completely new application with the ability to review and alter the rosters present in Metadata Teragator's database.

Process Engine (2.19.1.60) which replaces 2.19.1.53 

This version provides a security improvement. This HotFix makes changes only to the Process Engine Monitor website.

XFer (2.14.1.51)

This new release provides a number of AWS S3 improvements, extends support for AW S3 VPC interface and fixes a bug affecting the copying of assets between S3 buckets.

 
 

Curator 3.6.6

Curator Logger (2.4.1.30) HotFix which replaces 2.4.1.27

  • As of this HotFix, incorrect metadata will no longer be displayed when switching assets in media logging. The correct metadata will now display when switching assets.
  • An issue has been fixed whereby when entering batch mode, asset metadata would be loaded into the controls (including when switching between assets in the batch).

Curator for Adobe (3.4.1.30/3.4.52) HotFix which replaces 3.4.1.27/3.4.47

  • Latest checked in Production will no longer incorrectly display as checked out from the Productions menu.
  • Users can now configure and manage multiple instances of Curator Gateway from within the Curator for Adobe extension and switch between different Gateways without having to log out and back in again using the Curator Gateway menu. Where multiple Gateways have been configured, a Gateway icon will be displayed from the Curator for Adobe menu from within the menu, showing the name of the active/in-use Gateway and allowing for different instances of Gateway to be viewed and selected when the icon is clicked. Using the Manage gateways section of the Curator Gateway menu, new Gateways can be configured, and existing instances of Gateway can be updated or deleted. 
    Where you use very little space to operate Curator for Adobe (less than half of the menu can be seen without scrolling) please expand horizontally before using the Manage gateways menu.

Curator Clip Link (3.4.1.115) HotFix which replaces 3.4.1.108

  • An issue has been fixed whereby thumbnails would suddenly disappear during use until a user logs in again.
  • As of this release, it is no longer possible to add duplicate instances of an identical asset to a collection.
 
 

Curator 3.6.5

Curator Server (4.2.1.68) HotFix which replaces build 4.2.1.66

This release fixes an issue with the Browse Projects/ Recent Projects feature in Curator for Adobe 3.4 in Premiere Pro (finding assets by the presence or name of a project file). It upgrades the curator_activity core to version _2_3.

You MUST delete and recreate the curator and curator_activity Solr cores when upgrading to this Curator Server version even if the Solr core was already curator_2_6 (including updating from Curator Server 4.2.1.66). This release provides a new activity core: curator_activity_2_3.

Curator Clip Link (3.4.1.108) HotFix which replaces build 3.4.1.107

A fix has been made allowing .jpeg (in addition to .jpg) thumbnail files to be loaded into the asset Preview when NFX is used (affects only NFX streaming). This version must be run against Curator Server 4.1.1.207 or greater.

Curator Clip Select (2.13.1.40) HotFix which replaces build 2.13.1.38

This HotFix provides a fix for .jpeg (in addition to .jpg) thumbnail files loading into the asset Preview when NFX is used (affects only NFX streaming). 

Curator Logger (2.4.1.27)

As of this version, saved Sequence metadata can now be loaded in media logging mode. This release also provides a fix for .jpeg (in addition to .jpg) thumbnail files loading into the asset Preview when NFX is used (affects only NFX streaming). 

Curator System Adminitstrator (2.1.1.29)

This release provides bug fixes and addresses features that were requested by customers reviewing the redesigned version 2.0. Improves navigation between tabs. In the Metadata tab adds the ability to sort by the columns in the metadata list. The metadata list as well as metadata and view information will now refresh after a save or selection of a view by all available controls. The Delete Metadata Name is now moved to the bottom of the metadata information (right-hand side) screen portion.

Device Director (5.19.1.34)

This release provides a number of improvements for reliability, performance, and futureproofing. We fixed problems with the website refreshing so that it displays the latest statuses as well as improved the performance of jobs submission and made sure that Xfer jobs that require identification will continue if the Device Director server restarts. We included OOTB the Xfer AWS S3 device, improved the XCode profile support, and support the Signiant template. Additionally, this release updates the SoDA connector so that when SoDA reports success the process now checks that each file was successful; also there is now support for checksums in results.

XCode (4.2.1.16)

This release provides bug fixes and support for:

  • Early access to all timecode information necessary for some WAV (*.wav) files to transcode successfully. Due to the new access, prior to audio being transcoded, to the relevant timecode basic iXML Broadcast WAV metadata including that stored at the far end of 'Broadcast' WAV files. There is also a fallback for the bad internal metadata structure preventing seeking to the far end, in this case, the files that can be transcoded with only front metadata will still succeed. NOTE: The access changes only work with a 'seekable' (i.e. file://) input URL. 
  • MP4 sources that have one frame edit list, in most cases a frame to allow the audio codec to initialise, can now optionally retain that offset frame (matching Adobe software loading behaviour). IPV does not support edit lists in general, but for this case, you can request IPV support to set up additional parameter to retain these frames.
  • Additional timecode handling in MP4 from some cameras (Sony) that do not write the atom timecodes correctly. XCode will use the Sony metadata format to extract timecodes where needed.
  • Additional handling option for the MFX sources with bad per-frame timecodes. The limitation is that this method will always generate a continuous timecode stream. IPV support can help in setting up the XCode options for these sources. 
 
 

Curator 3.6.4

Curator Server (4.2.1.66) HotFix which replaces build 4.2.1.64

This version provides a further fix for assets with a large asset history when searches are run from Curator for Adobe. You MUST delete and recreate the Solr core when upgrading to this Curator Server version even if the Solr core was already curator_2_6 and any earlier build of Curator Server.

Core workflows update for when upgrading to Curator 3.6.4

If your Process Engine after previous upgrade to 3.6 with or without patches is running Core version 3.6.0.5, import Workflows-Core-3.6.0.7.zip provided with the release. Use this core import as usual during an upgrade of the Process Engine. This version completes our handling of S3 bucket http addresses and in systems configured for proxies with many (8+) audio files produces zip files only where there are relevant manifests. For more information on this, please refer to this article.

 
 

Curator 3.6.3

March 2023

Curator Server (3.2.1.64) HotFix which replaces build 3.2.1.61

Version 4.2.1.64 fixes a problem with Advanced Search where returned assets have large Asset History metadata fields, and updates Solr to version 8.11.2 to remove the need to notify security scanners that the Apache Log4j vulnerability in earlier Solr is deactivated in Curator. You MUST delete and recreate the Solr core when upgrading to this Curator Server version even if the Solr core was already curator_2_6.

As with Curator Server 4.2.1.61, this version requires the use of Curator System Administrator 2.0.1.178 and Curator Gateway 1.9.1.50. The database is version 3.2.0.0 and Solr to version curator_2_6.

 
 

Curator 3.6.2

February 2023

Curator Gateway (1.9.1.58) HotFix which replaces build 1.9.1.50 

Version 1.9.1.58 contains security enhancements. 
 
 

Curator 3.6.1

February 2023

Version 3.4.1.107 fixes a single issue allowing you to deploy plugins without the need to change the asset type descriptions in the configuration files.

IPV Curator For Adobe (3.4.1.27 (Win) \ 3.4.47 (Mac)) HotFix which replaces build 3.4.1.26 (Win) \ 3.4.46 (Mac)

Version 3.4.1.27 (Win) \ 3.4.47 (Mac) fixes a single issue reinstating the Live Markers import feature in Premiere Pro, which was absent in the previous build.

 
 

Curator 3.6

Overview of changes in this version

This release provides the redesigned Curator System Administrator 2.0 which greatly improves the administration of metadata and views and allows other configuration pages of the Curator System to be brought into one place.

Curator now also provides access to remote storage methods that are available to the Curator system via HTTP only. This facilitates hybrid deployments where access to on-prem storage is frequently only via HTTP. Access is provided by the new Curator File Service Node which is deployed directly on storage and communicates with (master) File Service. The Node is downloaded from the File Service's website and is configured to its master by default.

This release further extends the use of the Advanced Search and saved Searches to Curator for Adobe

This release also better facilitates security settings in AWS deployed systems. The XChange can be deployed to use EC2 instance roles rather than explicit credentials and File Server changes download from S3 request from HTTP to API allowing it use of IAM account already configured for Upload.

For more details see the release notes below:

Curator System Administrator 2.0.1.178:

  • This release provides an overhaul of the Curator System Administrator GUI (and its configuration via Curator Gateway 1.9.1.50), replacing the previously separate pages for Metadata Names and Metadata Views with a unified "Metadata Name and Views" page. This page is now the landing page in Curator System Administrator.
  • The Metadata and Views page allows you to configure all of the properties of the metadata including Resources to use to populate value selections, the layout under which it will be accessed in client applications (this is customisable from this page), as well as Workgroups' permissions for each metadata field.
  • Metadata can be filtered by a range of options including view, asset type (where available) and name, among others.
  • From this page, you can also access links to all of the Curator System configuration pages, shown in the left-hand menu.
  • Further client links can be optionally configured in Curator Gateway. 

Curator Gateway 1.9.1.50:

  • Supports client links, from which a centralised list of config pages in Curator System Administrator is based. Additional client links can now be configured, and can then be displayed in Curator Gateway MyApps tab via a dropdown menu next to the name of the application in which these were set. Please note that in order for this to work, the Client must have a valid Client Root URI (so available to Web Apps). These also can be queried via the Get Clients API from other applications (implemented in Curator System Administrator). 
  • Curator Gateway now writes queues to RabbitMQ for some Workgroup operations to avoid database blocking where a lot of permission setting is required. The port, server, and SSL status for RabbitMQ communication are settable which allows the use of a remote service including AWS AmazonMQ implementation. You will also need to check and change (if necessary) the server and port for RabbitMQ in the Organisation menu of the Curator Gateway.
  • Please be aware that from Curator Gateway 1.9 onwards Microsoft .NET Core Version 6.0 must be installed and IIS must be restarted following this. Failure to complete these steps will result in website/authentication from other apps failing.

Curator Server 4.2.1.61:

This version requires the use of Curator System Administrator 2.0.1.178 and Curator Gateway 1.9.1.50. Curator Server 4.2.1.61 upgrades the database version to 3.2.0.0 and Solr core to curator_2_6. Upon successful upgrade, delete and let the Curator Server recreate the Solr core in order to save storage and prevent it being loaded to memory.

This release provides the following:

  • This release provides OOTB support for the configuration of client links in Curator System Administrator 2.0.1.178 and Curator File Service 1.2.1.88, allowing client links to be added which enable CSA to centralise direct links to the administration pages of the Curator services as well as adding a client for the Node of Curator File Service to Curator gateway to enable its authentication.
  • The port, server and SSL status for RabbitMQ communication are now settable which allows use of a remote service including AWS AmazonMQ implementation. On upgrade and OOTB, Curator Server will default to previous setting of localhost with standard ports and no SSL
  • Metadata can be now marked as unsearchable where search is never used or has no value. OOTB and on upgrade Thumbnail or Asset History will be set as unsearchable. This allows us to remove the tokenisation in the Solr index making progress towards making the index smaller and faster to produce and update.
  • The changing and cloning of the Workgroups are entirely asynchronous to avoid locking up the database where workgroups contain permissions to multiple metadata and folders. This change introduces the requirement for configuration of RabbitMQ within the Organisation tab of the Curator Gateway 1.9.1.50 so that Curator Gateway can update the queue and start an asynchronous job in Quartz and Solr for the rights update to the index.

Curator for Adobe 3.4.1.26 (Win) / 3.4 (46) (Mac):

  • This release provides ability to handle the redirect instruction from File Service so that this version can be used on systems where access to storage is only via HTTP (hybrid deployments with on-prem storage). 
  • This release also provides the Advanced and Saved search as with ClipLink 3.4 including all fixes present up to Clip Link 3.4.1.105. 
  • The GUI layout has been improved to make it less crowded with better access to menus and buttons.

This release is not suitable for use with Live Markers Import feature. This facility will be added in a future update.

  • Adobe software versions considerations:
    • Minimum: suite Adobe CC 2022 is required, including AME for remote export.
    • Adobe CC 2023 is compatible with this version - note however that the Photoshop 24.1.0 has a bug, so please upgrade to 24.1.1 or newer.

Curator File Service 1.2.1.88:

  • From this version onwards, File Service Node deployment is now available, provided from within installed File Service. More information on this can be found here. Please read in there how to deploy hybrid systems utilising File Service Node to allow for access to storage locations with restricted access (HTTP only). The Node is downloaded from the File Server's website and is already configured to its master. 
  • Changes have been made in order to clean up the storage that File Service holds. For assets containing high res files that are moved or deleted, File Server will now clean up the information to ensure non-relevant information is not retained, freeing up storage space.
  • The way files are being fetched by File Server from AWS S3 has changed from an HTTP request to an API request. This has no bearing on user experience and facilitates tightening and simplification of the security settings for buckets. 
  • The port, server and SSL status for RabbitMQ communication are now settable which allows use of a remote service including AWS AmazonMQ implementation.

In a basic installation (and for upgrade) it is now required to have Microsoft .Net Core version 6.0, followed by restarting IIS. You will also need to check and change if necessary server and port for RabbitMQ. This also allows deployment with AmazonMQ implementation.

XChange 2.7.1.11:

  • This release allows AWS S3 devices to be configured without providing credentials via the use of EC2 instance roles if the service is running within AWS.
  • Null or empty filenames will no longer cause an error when loading the asset list. "Simultaneously" detected files (e.g. after a server or service restart) will now be processed in modified date order (FIFO). The amount of time required to wait for a change in last modified time or file size is now configurable globally via the service .config file.
  • Further bug fixes and improvements have been implemented, including disabling TSL 1.1 as previously released in other IPV product websites as well as absolutely aligning the user avatar/name/cogwheel control in XChange with that of the Process Engine and Device Director websites as well as various managed queued improvements (access to message body, deletion of one or many messages, rising, lowering and resetting the priority, and queuing Completed and Failed messages).
 
 

Curator 3.5.4

Curator for Adobe (3.3.1.43 (Win) \ 3.3.57) HotFix for MacOS only which replaces build 3.3.1.43 (Win) \ 3.3.52

Version 3.3.1.43 (Win) \ 3.3.57 fixes one issue with notarizing the MacOS installer pkg.

 
 

Curator 3.5.3

Curator Server (4.1.1.210) Update which replaces build 4.1.1.207

Version 4.1.1.210 facilitates cloning of the workgroups in large databases where workgroups hold permissions to 100+ metadata and folders. The operation becomes asynchronous to avoid database locking.

Version 3.4.1.105 fixes a single issue with loading Saved Searches where search contains a range of datetime values. 

Please note you might need to use the workaround for these remaining known issues:

  • Reload the page (F5) if Clip Link loads with red banner displaying - Fatal Error - Error getting filter view columns - The HTTP request is unauthorized with client authentication scheme 'Anonymous'
  • Always use Range DateTime searches in Advanced Search - You cannot set DateTime searches with seconds so exact search can only find assets with metadata where seconds are exactly 0
  •  If deploying plugins that need to act on sub clips you need to add both alternative spellings of subclip/sub-clip in the config file:
 <allow type="subclip"/>
 <allow type="sub-clip"/>
 
 

Curator 3.5.2

Dec 2022

Process Engine (2.19.1.47) update replaces version 2.18

Version 2.19 with the addition of new workflows will part form of the Curator 3.6 but is offered as accelerated release for Curator 3.5.1

This version can be standalone used with reminder of Curator 3.5.1, it does not contain any updated workflows. It offers SQS queue messaging (activity to post a string message onto a given AWS SQS queue). This release also offers further improvements and fixes including a rare race condition where a process never registers as complete

This version provides the following:

  • Ability to cancel Device Director jobs.
  • Activity specifically for making Curator API calls to Curator Gateway.
  • Support for RabbitMQ messaging exchange.
  • Updated versions of GhostScript (9.56.1 for Windows (64 bit)) and MediaInfo (v22.03) so these can be updated in Curator Installations. 
    NOTE: It is possible that other versions close to the above GhostScript version number will also function as expected, however, no other versions have been tested and verified to work with PE 2.19 other than version 9.25 for Windows (64 bit).
  • Support for Public Service API v8.2.1 for Vidchecker.
  • Extended support to send more metadata supporting the Louise 1.6 API.

This is a bug fix patch that fixes: 

  • Bulk edit of metadata where more than 50 assets were selected; 
  • Inability to move Trash assets from Collection/Production; 
  • Problem where metadata name (AssetType) instead of its value was shown for Asset Type metadata.

Curator Clip Select 2.13.1.38 which replaces version 2.13.1.29

This is Hot-fix version 2.13.1.38 for Curator 3.5.2 Updates. It includes everything in the previous Curator Clip Select 2.13.1.29 release plus a change to use image proxies instead of database essence. This allows optionally the removal of image essence from the Curator database (please contact IPV Support for this), which would reduce the size of the database, its backups, and the time is taken to do those backups.  
This version also resolves various minor bug fixes. 

Curator 3.5.1

This release completes the migration of Curator Clip Select functionality into Curator Clip Link, including:

  • A completely new advanced search and saved search GUI has been written from the ground up. 
    Note: Saving a search will save all search and filter configuration details present in the GUI. This includes all simple/regular search term(s), advanced search configuration, AI generated assets, filters and asset types to display, and the system / specific folder selected. Everything is saved as part of the "search". 
    Note: All saved searches are visible to all users (though you can filter to display only your own), and only the user that created a saved search or an Administrator can delete them. Different users can create saved searches with the exact same name between them, but the same user cannot save duplicate named saved searches.
  • A new System Tree and an updated Asset List have been implemented, allowing for assets and folders to be dragged and dropped between the two and within themselves under the Folders tab 
    Note: You cannot drag assets from the Filters tab Asset List into the Folders tab System Tree. You can however cut and paste between the two as described in the new right-click context menu functionality below.
  • Thumbnails can now be set in the asset previewer. For sub-clips, this can only be set within the limits of the start and end frames, and for bookmarks only on the bookmarked frame itself. This option is deactivated for Image type assets.
  • New right-click context menu functionality (NOTE: this will only appear for relevant asset types):
    • Show asset locations - Opens a new bottom tab and displays the folder(s) and any collection(s) that the selected asset resides within.
    • Navigate to the original folder - Navigates from a "shortcut" to the original asset location.

Move Assets (under Folders tab) and Move folder acts like a "cut" option for assets (including folders), before "pasting" them with Place assets into the System Tree or Move to in the Asset List. 
Note: If you move an asset and then change the selected folder in the System Tree then you will no longer be able to place the assets. The contents of the "cut buffer" are lost when you change folders. You must therefore place the asset by either right-clicking the destination folder in the System Tree or else a child folder already visible in the Asset List.

  • Various bug fixes
  • UI/UX improvements including improved sorting and searching functionality for assets.


Curator for Adobe

This version fixes an issue causing marker metadata to not display correctly in Premiere Pro. This version requires at minimum the use of Curator File Service 1.1.1.34, Core Module v3.5.0.5 and the Edit & Publish Module v1.9.0.1 in order to support Mogrt (motion graphics templates) functionality.

Curator Logger

  • This version contains a number of Curator Logger 2.3.1.67 Hot Fix issues that were not present (listed below), as well as some GUI data-control related issues:
    • Subclips are no longer duplicated when switching between assets
    • The keyboard shortcut for frame stepping has changed to SHIFT + > or SHIFT + < to skip forward and backward through frames
    • Cleared asset values will no longer appear following a save
    • With a value selected, the dropdown list for dependent metadata now displays options that correspond with that value
    • Vue-ui has now been updated to fix an issue with the Date Time picker
    • The logging lock button now works correctly


Curator Connect

This version contains a Hotfix for a BoringSSL certificate expiry issue and multiple mezzanines for camera card functionality that builds upon the previous hot-fixes' ability to upload (and create appropriate side-car files with the source locations) mezzanine or hi-res source files.

Curator Gateway

GUI improvements:

  • Deactivated users will now be hidden by default with the ability to display these provided by a toggle
  • The ability to delete users has been removed in order to maintain history and integrity
  • API routes will now be sorted alphabetically

New functionality:

  • The ability to obtain a user's avatar for possible future usage
  • The ability for Curator Gateway to create the System Administrators group with a dynamic GUID if this does not already exist in the database created by the Curator Server creation scripts. 
    Note: At the present time if this functionality is required, it will render the system unusable as it does not link the sysadmin user to the CG created System Administrator workgroup. 

     
  • A bug has also been fixed where a deactivated user requesting a password reset would result in a webpage error.


Curator File Service

This Hotfix version includes all that was included in the previous release plus fixes an issue processing messages and adding files to the CuratorFileService database, as well as providing a fix and guidance on settings for migration of the metadata stored paths information from larger Curator Server databases.

Process Engine

For this version, the provided core version needs to be updated from 3.5.0.7 to 3.5.0.9 (this requires manually upgrading via the Process Engine Monitor for existing systems). This Hotfix version fixes a Write to File activity locking issue as well as improving memory spike and general usage issues.

Metadata Central

  • This version extends the support for the Simple Metadata Hierarchy to multiple SKOS documents where the hierarchy is independent of others, improving the ability to log controlled vocabulary with multi-level hierarchy of descendants and now also with independent Topics which can be updated on regular bases.
  • The 'document label' is now a compulsory part of the input and defines the Topic search space for descendants in the hierarchy. The list of available schemas for ingesting via ETL and the formats of the inputs is provided in the ETLSource.config file. The current list of schemas is: smt, stats, ngss, optaf01, optaf40, ipvxmlv1, sportradarV1, warnermedia, ipvskosxmlv1; and the input formats are applicable to specific schemas.
  • This release also moves the log file of the MDC Teragator to the familiar C:\ProgramData\IPV\Metadata Central Service\Logs directory in line with other Curator software. 
    NOTE: NHL readout fix for nonresponding streaming service requires an on-site test due to the lack of access to the relevant data streaming service for confirmation of readouts.


Curator Server

  • This version upgrades the database version to 3.1.0.0, providing the minimum requirements for Curator Clip Link 3.4.1.89 and greater Advanced Search and Saved Search functionality.
  • As with Curator Server 4.0, during an upgrade from Curator Server pre-4.0, you must delete and let Curator Server recreate the Solr Core during startup.

XCode

The 4.1 release changes slightly the 4.0 release functionality around its ability to decode the Alpha only from Apple ProRes 4444 HQ & XQ material. For efficiency reasons, where ProRes 4444 with Alpha needs to be decoded, a Control Switches value of renderalpha must now be manually set in the Device Director profile used (this will be HLS-FMP4-D1 by default). When this setting has been saved, subsequent transcoding should generate an alpha stream for any input format that carries alpha as part of the encoding (usually ProRes 4444). That alpha stream may be empty. For input formats incapable of carrying alpha, you should not get an output alpha stream. If the switch is not enabled, you will get a proxy but a separate alpha channel will not be generated.

When using the 4.1 XCode release, in order for HLS proxies to show the correct number of frames on output, you will need to disable edit lists by manually enabling the Control Switches value of disableqtelst in the Device Director profile used.

As of this release, XCode will automatically attempt to transcode hi-res source files with the .mpeg extension as if they had .mpg extension. The HLS manifest format has also now been updated so that Safari v15 on the MacOS can play streams correctly if they have alpha sub-streams. As of this release, you can also set the "HLSTHUMBNAILWIDTH" param for Hoverscrub thumbnail size (e.g. in xsysconfig.sys) in order to improve the the visual quality of these thumbnails when displayed by appropriate clients such as Curator Clip Link.

It should also be noted that as of this release, encoders are now exclusively Main Concept for AAC and H264, and MPEG and WMV outputs are no longer possible.


XFer

This release provides:

  • Additional support for AWS S3 VPC interface endpoints using Service URLs beyond that in the previous XFer 2.13.1.13 release
  • Ability to set a delete source on completion option to Xfer AWS S3 DD jobs by adding the Property awss3.deleteSourceOnCompletion with value true, and the ability to set the storage tier for an object uploaded via a DD Xfer AWS S3 job (XFER-293) by adding a Property for awss3.storageclass with any of the following values: STANDARD | REDUCED_REDUNDANCY | STANDARD_IA | ONEZONE_IA | INTELLIGENT_TIERING | GLACIER | GLACIER_IR | DEEP_ARCHIVE | OUTPOSTS (only if Outposts is configured as available in AWS)
  • It is now also possible to copy/move multiple files at the same time (similar to BlackPearl) using a DD Job syntax of one file per line and a matching number of destination lines.


Device Director

An issue involving a race condition between submitting a job and clean-up tasks that could cause the monitor to stop monitoring (and therefore updating) jobs has been fixed.

 
 

Curator 3.5

Curator for Adobe – After Effects and MOGRTS

MOGRTs (Motion Graphic Templates) are created in Premiere Pro or After Effects to enable fast and consistent branding across departments.

Support for remote working with MOGRTs

  • Ability to create a MOGRT and upload (register) it to Curator
  • Ability to search and find MOGRTs in Curator and download or place that MOGRT on the timeline in Premiere Pro
  • Ability to send projects using MOGRTs for remote render
  • Ability to check in and out a project with MOGRTs for remote render

Sub-clips

  • Users can select media and then create sub-clips
  • Those sub-clips can be added to a Collection or create new sub-clips against the parent

Workflows on request

  • Once created, they may be used in the Send To workflows to render and publish to destinations, including Social Media
  • A Collection might include bumpers, which can be included in the render

Launchpad in Appcues

  • Allows users to run Appcues on demand
  • Notifications when new Appcues are added
  • Available in Clip Link and Curator Logger in this release
  • Targeting new features and infrequent User Journeys
  • We are expanding support in the remaining web apps and targeting learning paths in future releases

Feature Focus

Feature Enhancements

  • Support for Motion Graphic Templates (MOGRTs) in Curator File Server and Curator for Adobe
  • Support for After Effects (MOGRTs) in Curator File Server and Curator for Adobe
  • Reduced reliance on Shared Storage

Metadata Central

  • A SKOS file dropped into a watch folder can be used as an additional data source. Examples include:
    • A .csv file translated into SKOS using the IPV Translator utility
    • A Third-Party tool, e.g., SKOS export from Mondeca
  • Ability to create sub-clips for collections

Curator Connect

  • Mezzanine upload
    • Ability to create a local mezzanine on-site and upload or replace the mezzanine with high-resolution media when uploading bandwidth permits
    • Useful for on-site shoots and dallies workflows

Noteworthy Workflow and Maintenance

  • Batch ingest
    • Alternative ingest method by providing an S3 prefix and driving a batch ingest using a dedicated Web App
    • Useful for back catalogue or bulk ingest
  • General
    • Ingest performance enhancements for placeholder creation
 
 

Curator 3.4

Curator for Adobe Workfront

Main deliverables

The main deliverables that are part of the Adobe Workfront Integration module are

  • IPV Curator Adobe Workfront Connector License
  • Curator Workflow Agent – An IPV Microservice providing an integration and workflow execution engine
  • Curator core workflows supporting the integration
  • An Adobe Workfront web application within Curator to publish production status information back to Workfront
  • Templates and forms for Adobe Workfront and instructions on configuring them
  • Helpjuice Partner instructions on deployment and configuration

Partner deployment responsibilities

Partner deployment responsibilities include deployment of the Adobe Workfront forms and templates and ensuring they work with their customers to customise the Workfront user journey.

The Curator Adobe Workfront web app is configured out of the box to reflect the metadata; partners may extend the form using the layout configuration tools within Curator System Administrator.

Partners are also responsible for adding necessary customer-specific workflow extensions utilising the library of IPV-based nodes and flows in the Curator Workflow Agent.

Configuration guides

A full set of configuration and deployment instructions are included here.

Flow-based programming – Curator Workflow Agent

This is a licensed option; contact sales@ipv.com for more information.

IPV Workflow Agent

  • A new IPV Microservice extending the Curator developer platform for integration and workflow execution support
  • This has been designed as a containerized system running on Linux. The approach to this is to keep it simple - one purpose, one responsibility.
  • As a scalable unit, the engine includes a Node-RED execution engine
  • Flow-based programming, extending Curators Developer platform

Benefits include the following:

  • Technical teams can easily build workflows and add new devices for customer projects
  • Horizontal scaling with elastic compute will be available with dynamic service launch and termination
  • Rapid workflow and device extensions with a library of IPV-based nodes and flows

Node-RED high-level Benefits

  • Extending the Curator platform; Node-Red is a lightweight system, offering a low-code programming solution; or sophisticated programming for advanced users
  • Node-RED is a mature project, open-sourced in September 2013. It has regular releases and a strong community.
  • The public repository on GitHub has a lot of contributions, including the engines, Nodes, Dashboards, Flows, etc.
  • The community is well supported with channels such as a forum, Slack, user guides, tutorials, API reference, etc.
  • More than 3,500 nodes and over 2,000 flows. Ready made integrations include: IoT, SQL and NoSQL databases, Microsoft Cognitive Services, and GCP Storage, to name a small selection relevant to media workflows

Housekeeping

Feature Enhancements

  • Ability to localise Graphics directly into a Premiere project
  • Updates to accommodate recent RED changes for Get Clip Info

Camera Cards

  • Full Camera card structure preservation, including empty folders

Clip Select

  • Hot-fix for searching and creating sub-clips

Noteworthy Workflow and Maintenance

  • Analytics
    • Improved memory management
    • Update to latest NEO4J
  • File Catalyst
    • JobID management improvements
 
 

Curator 3.3.1

Curator Connect and ingest workflows

Consistent Metadata Views

  • Alignment of Curator metadata views for consistent selection and presentation of input fields
  • This allows for connection to a resource handler which presents dynamically managed vocabularies including third-party sources. For example, Mondeca thesaurus.
  • Enabled across all the web apps for metadata entry and edit consistency

Curator for Adobe

Support for Proxy workflows with Alpha

  • XCode will consume a ProRes 4:4:4:4 HQ and generate an IPV proxy that preserves the alpha channel

Use in remote workflows

  • Importing that proxy to Premiere includes the Alpha Channel
  • Remote conform will take the alpha channel into account when swapping to the original media

Housekeeping

Client SSO Authentication

  • Curator for Adobe and Curator Connect that use embedded frame works (Chromium) now support Google as an authentication service

Noteworthy Workflow and Maintenance

  • XFer
    • S3 to S3
    • VPC Endpoint (Private Link) for S3 is now supported. S3 buckets can now be accessed privately over the AWS network and egress costs can be reduced in hybrid environments with Direct Connect.
  • XCode
    • Supported format extensions including long (over 12 hour) recordings
 
 

Curator 3.3

Graphics panel (Photoshop and Illustrator)

This is a licensed option; contact sales@ipv.com for more information.

  • Graphics teams can now utilize Curator by bringing its search and discovery power into Photoshop and Illustrator
    • Curator will work with image/graphics assets, such as .psd, and .ai files
  • Initial features in this release include:
    • Lock and release
    • Place images
    • Upload rendered graphics back into Curator
    • Import graphics proxies into Premiere Pro
  • Note: In 3.3, assets must be in EBS or a fixed S3 bucket and not moved

Batch export

  • Ability to simultaneously export multiple Premiere Pro sequences to different destinations
    • This saves editors significant time by removing repetitive export processes. For example, a master sequence e.g., 1 minute and a number of shorter sequences for social media e.g., 15 seconds 1:1 Instagram, 30 seconds HD Facebook, 10 seconds 9:16 Stories TikTok.

Curator Connect and ingest workflows

Upload to S3

  • Direct upload to an S3 bucket

Metadata at ingest

  • Aligning with the Curator Logger, this new metadata views approach allows for consistent selection and presentation of input fields
  • Arrival 3.3 Update 1: Allows for connection to a resource handler which presents dynamic managed vocabularies including third party sources. For example, Mondeca thesaurus.
  • Important Note: Metadata input Consistency: IPV are enabling this input method across all the web apps for consistency, targeted for Arrival 3.3 Update 1 (November 2021)

Custom AI face search

This is a licensed option; contact sales@ipv.com for more information.

  • Extends AWS Rekognition face detection to include non-celebrities
  • Enables Curator users to create custom face Collections and use those to perform face detection searches
  • Benefits brands and broadcasters who cast lesser-known/unknown actors

Housekeeping

Upgrades

  • Critical metadata for more modules and default features is now automatically included in the upgrade
  • The critical API routes (proxies, new file server) and permissions for default Curator clients are automatically added on updates, requiring only configuration of the client-specific storage

Archive

  • Black Pearl; Semicolons can now be used in file names, multiple files can be restored and archived in single jobs
  • StorNext; ability to create multiple tape copies in Device Director job

Noteworthy Workflow Enhancements

  • Transparency on thumbnails
  • Resilience improvements in Process Engine, specifically with very large numbers of activity status records in the database
  • Adobe Media Encoder job aborts when occasionally AME stalls
  • General admin improvements: e.g., Improved loading speed of MediaStores page in Process Engine Monitor
    • E.g., Device Director –adding devices to a new group

Documentation portals

IPV Partner and Customer support documentation

  • Introducing Helpjuice, a new Wiki-style information portal for Customers and users, system administrators, and Partners. From here, you can:
    • Watch how to training videos
    • View release, installation, and configuration guides
 
 

Curator 3.2

This is a licensed option; contact sales@ipv.com for more information.

Extended admin support

  • Extended admin support in Clip Link, introducing more of the admin capability previously only available in Clip Select
  • Folder browsing tree and full location shown and navigable using location breadcrumbs
  • Direct display of clip-marks from a parent asset menu
  • Delete is now included, so it is now possible to add items to the trash or find and restore them

Custom web apps

  • Businesses can now create their own web apps that can be launched through the right-click context menu
  • It is possible to register these in the Curator Gateway as options for driving workflow and integration touch points.

Curator Logger

This is a licensed option; contact sales@ipv.com for more information.

Asset type filtering

  • Asset type filtering is now possible in Curator Logger (as it is in Clip Link and Curator for Adobe)

Source of Truth

  • Designation of a Source of Truth (the “source” clip) for Batch Logging, e.g., so that game data can be seeded from a selected asset.

Curator for Adobe

This is a licensed option; contact sales@ipv.com for more information.

Asset connect menu improvements for large bins

  • Additions to the “Connect” menu (introduced in 3.1 Update 1)
    • Disconnect All
    • Connect to Hi-Res
    • Check Out project offline
    • Import entire folders

Copy to clipboard

  • Ability to copy the name of the asset or folder to the clipboard for ease of use.

Rekognition in Images and AWS Translate

Extended Rekognition support

  • Rekognition for images including labels, celebrity, face and Text search, content moderation
  • Text search in video

Translate support

  • Adds automated multi-language subtitle creation capabilities to Curator
  • Multi-language captions

Intelligent asset overwrite/de-duplication

  • De-duplication is currently handled by asset name – which can be insufficient to determine whether an asset already exists
  • New capability will enable intelligent asset overwriting/de-duplication based on MD5 checksums
    • If there’s a match, the user will be notified that a match already exists
    • If no match, ingest as normal
  • Benefits users by ensuring only one of each asset exists
  • Benefits businesses by reducing wasted storage

Advanced streaming security

  • Streaming of the proxies may be configured to stream via the Curator Gateway bringing additional security following OAuth 2 security flows
  • IPV has used a professional agency of ethical hackers to run penetration testing
  • Arrival 3.3 and 3.3.1 includes further work to address minor vulnerabilities identified in Transport Layer Protection and Authentication across the estate
 
 
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