TroikaTronix Support Policy

Complimentary Email-Based Technical Support

TroikaTronix provides complimentary email support to Isadora users who have an active, up-to-date Isadora license in the form of finding solutions to technical issues directly related to the currently-supported versions of the software itself, the online License Portal, TroikaTronix Community Forum accounts, and Add-Ons Page accounts.

If you are experiencing an issue with the software please contact us via our support ticket system with a description of the problem. We will get back to you within 1-2 working days.

TroikaTronix does not provide complimentary consultation or support via telephone, voice chat, video chat, or remote access. However, at the sole discretion of a TroikaTronix Team Member, TroikaTronix may ask to consult with you via voice or video chat application, such as a telephone Zoom call to resolve an issue.

Scope of Support

Our team offers troubleshooting for users running Isadora 2.6.1 or later on supported hardware for the following topics: 

  • Installing Isadora
  • Isadora 3 License Activation
  • Isadora 2 License Registration
  • USB Key License Registration (Isadora 2 & 3) 
  • Configuration
  • Connectivity
  • Error messages
  • Unexpected or unresponsive interactions
  • Issues with Official TroikaTronix Actor Plugins available on the TroikaTronix Add-Ons page

Our team also assists with issues pertaining to the online License Portal for Isadora 3, TroikaTronix Community Forum accounts, and Add-Ons Page accounts.

Bugs and Known Issues

For the purposes of our support policy for Isadora, we define a known issue (aka, a bug) as a specific, discrete case that can be addressed by isolating its origin to a reproducible cause. In all cases, we will do our best to provide workarounds and alternative solutions until a fix is available. Any previously-undiscovered issues in Isadora 2 that are brought to our attention and confirmed as a bug will be treated as known issues but will not be fixed as Isadora 2 is no longer under active development.

TroikaTronix Community Forum

The TroikaTronix Community Forum is a great place to ask our generous community for help and advice on topics that are not related to specific technical issues. There are many helpful and knowledgeable Isadora community members who can help explain actors/features, recommend hardware to purchase, brainstorm how to implement your design ideas, and share example projects with you. Please post on the TroikaTronix Community Forum rather than creating a support ticket if you have a question about/request pertaining to any of the following topics: 

  • Extensive design and/or technical consultations
  • General advice/best practices
  • How to use specific actors/features
  • Equipment purchase recommendations
  • How to implement a design idea
  • Custom-made example files

The forum is also the place to ask about and report issues pertaining to the new TroikaTronix Add-Ons Page.

What Our Team Will Do When You Contact Us With A Problem

  • Determine if the issue can be resolved by updating Isadora, downloading the latest Official TroikaTronix actor plugins, your operating system, or another piece of software (such as a hardware driver). As appropriate, we will help you obtain and install these updates.
  • Determine if the issue can be resolved by updating Isadora, your operating system, or another piece of software (such as a hardware driver). As appropriate, we will help you obtain and install these updates.
  • If a known troubleshooting solution is available that matches your issue, we will provide links to support articles, tutorials, manual references, email instructions, or other documentation to help you resolve the problem.
  • Attempt to identify if your computer hardware or equipment is the cause of the issue, or determine whether the issue is caused by third-party software. However, TroikaTronix is unable to provide further support for issues caused by hardware or third-party software.
  • In the event we determine that the problem is caused by a verified, but currently unresolved issue, we will:
    • Notify you that the problem is caused by a known issue (see above), including documentation we have describing the issue where appropriate.
    • Notify you as soon as we develop a fix, including instructions on how to install a support patch as soon as it is available.
    • If possible, offer an alternative solution or workaround while we work to resolve the issue.

Exceptions

We can only provide support if you are running Isadora on one of the following system configurations:

  • Isadora 3: macOS 10.14.x (Mojave) through macOS 13.x (Ventura) with a 64-bit Intel, AMD, or Apple silicon (ARM/M-series) processor, or on a 64-bit version of Windows 10 through 11 with an Intel or AMD processor.
  • Isadora 2: Windows 10, macOS 10.10.x (Yosemite), 10.11.x (El Capitan), 10.12.x (Sierra), and 10.13.x (High Sierra).

We cannot provide support in the following cases:

  • Isadora 3.1 when running on versions of macOS earlier than macOS 10.14.x (Mojave).
  • Isadora 3.0.x when running on versions of macOS earlier than macOS 10.11.x (El Capitan)
  • Isadora when running virtual machines, Linux, systems that use non-Apple hardware to run macOS (“Hackintoshes”), or machines that have multiple discrete GPUs.
  • You are using computer hardware five years old or older, or computer hardware that does not meet Isadora’s minimum system requirements. (Please note that Windows 10 computers with ARM processors are currently not compatible with Isadora.)
  • Your system uses an eGPU or a tablet device such as the Microsoft Surface Pro. As Isadora has not been extensively tested with this equipment, our team is not able to assist with troubleshooting these systems. 
  • We determine the issue is caused by a hardware/equipment or compatibility issue (such as a defective part, computer hardware not equipped to handle the resolution/number of simultaneous channels of video playback, capture, and/or output that your project requires). 
    • Due to the wide range of configuration options available on PCs, it is not possible for our team to test Isadora with every possible piece of computing hardware to ensure compatibility and optimal performance. For this reason, we recommend PCs users carefully research their options prior to purchasing a custom PC system for the purpose of running Isadora.
  • We can attribute the issue to third-party hardware or software that is not supported by TroikaTronix.
  • Your patch is using custom JavaScript actors, GLSL Shaders, FF plugins, FFGL plugins, or other custom actors or plugins, and we determine these actors to be the cause of the issue.
  • We determine that the issue is caused by the way in which you built your project and/or the use of media in a suboptimal format. 
    • It is not always possible for us to completely review your Isadora project and associated media. Due to the programmable and flexible nature of Isadora, resolving some issues may require revising or rebuilding your project or reformatting the media you are using.

Older Versions of Isadora

Many issues are resolved by updating Isadora. Our team provides technical support for Isadora 2.6.1 or later. However, TroikaTronix is no longer actively developing Isadora 2 and earlier, and future updates will be available for Isadora 3 only.

We cannot provide troubleshooting support for users working with older versions of Isadora, however, we will show you the best practices for updating and migrating your projects to the latest version of Isadora.

Updating Patches with Numerous CPU-Based Plugins

Please note the process of upgrading some legacy patches to the most recent version of Isadora will involve replacing many older, inefficient CPU-based video actors with their newer, GPU-based counterparts. This will be fairly labor-intensive. For this reason, extensive use of CPU-based video effects is discouraged in general; they perform poorly and, in some cases, we’ve had to remove certain CPU-based video effects from the program entirely because it was no longer possible to support them.

Isadora 3 and Old 32-bit Plugins

Isadora 1 and Isadora 2 are 32-bit applications and can support 32-bit third-party FreeFrame (FF), FreeFrameGL (FFGL), and/or custom Isadora plugins. 

Isadora 3 is a 64-bit application and therefore cannot support 32-bit plugins.

It is therefore important to understand that projects created in Isadora 1 or 2 that rely on 32-bit third-party plugins will be difficult to transfer to Isadora 3.

Conversely, it is also important to note that 64-bit plugins cannot be used with Isadora 1 or Isadora 2.