The Cinema Designer (TCD) 2.0 Updates Expands Original Vision, Features and Functionality

Back to the hands of its original creator and home cinema designer Guy Singleton, The Cinema Designer application 2.0 introduces renewed features and functionality, now allowing designers to add acoustic treatment and predict room modes. The new 3D models of any cinema environment offer accurate models of where nulls and room modes will occur. The application is also expanding on acoustic treatment placement tools, and adding features specific content creation spaces and production studios.
 
Founded in 2014 by leading home cinema designer Guy Singleton, The Cinema Designer (TCD) quickly became the leading software tool for home cinema design, used by home cinema design professionals worldwide and supported by all the major manufacturers in the custom integration space by delivering the complete models for all their products. Using advanced technical calculations and an intuitive workflow, TCD creates accurate home cinema designs, in a matter of just minutes. 

Committed to making home cinema design a standards driven process, TCD makes short work of the very complex and time-consuming work involved in creating a perfect home cinema design. TCD calculates in minutes what would typically take an experienced cinema designer weeks to design, producing a complete 30+ page cinema design proposal that is client-ready. The software specifies the precise location of the loudspeakers, screen, seating, and projector and provides the amplification and processor requirements, recommended acoustic treatments, RT60 value, and much more.

TCD also integrates with D-Tools software, offering installers and dealers a powerful all-in-one cinema room design tool that allows users to export a TCD design into D-Tools via a CSV file, calculate pricing, tax, required labor and associated costs, in addition to importing TCD’s 3D CAD drawings into Visio. The Cinema Designer adheres to all the CTA/CEDIA Home Theater Audio and Video Recommended Practices, improving performance and eliminating subjectivity in theater design.

In 2018, the Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association (CEDIA) acquired the cloud-based TCD design software and the name changed to The CEDIA Designer. The marriage didn't work, and since early 2022, when ownership of the software returned to its original creators, the TCD team have been working tirelessly to create a ground-up redesign. 
  The refreshed and fully updated version of TCD 2.0 was officially launched on March 17, 2023 and will, continue to evolve with features added progressively in forthcoming weeks, expanding the possibilities from home cinema to production environments and adding even more tools for custom integrators to work with. All the more than 7000 TCD users from 66 countries around the world immediately and automatically had access at no extra cost to the new features and enhanced functionality. 

TCD 2.0 adds a new 3D model to build cinema environments, with new bass waveforms behavior prediction, helping designers simulate the effect of room modes and control the listening experience in every single seat. The new applications offers interactive speaker layouts which move in real-time with the Main Listening Position (MLP) location, and the database now allows the designer to add their own products for each design.

For a more extensive design approach, TCD 2.0 now includes new acoustic treatment placement (within predetermined zones for absorption, diffusion, reflection, and bass management), new CABS (double bass array) features, and added performance metrics, allowing manufacturers to add deep-dive technical data about their products. The New VR viewer now works inside the browser window in real-time.

Over the coming weeks, Guy Singleton, creator of TCD, will host online training webinars for users of the tool. Aimed at small groups, Guy will introduce participants to the tool’s workflow, with a focus on the new features. To sign up for a session, users should email this address.

"TCD is committed to providing our users with the most advanced and intuitive tool for home cinema design," says Singleton. "These new features are the result of our extensive redesign, and we believe they will make the home cinema design process even more efficient, enjoyable and profitable for our users."

"After viewing a demo of TCD 2.0, I am convinced that it will continue to revolutionize the industry, and CEDIA members will undoubtedly benefit from its new, game-changing features. CEDIA’s partnership with TCD enables our members to access to this exciting platform at a substantial cost reduction, and I look forward to personally working with Guy to champion this valuable member benefit within the CEDIA community," states Daryl Friedman, Global President and CEO, CEDIA.
www.thecinemadesigner.com