History of GDTF & MVR

GDTF is Formally Announced March 2018

Vectorworks, MA Lighting and ROBE Lighting formally announced the General Device Type Format (GDTF) and My Virtual Rig (MVR) format. GDTF-share website is created and many of the world’s largest manufacturers pledged to support these common and open formats.

March 2018

Vectorworks, Inc., MA Lighting and Robe Lighting acknowledge the issue and propose a solution: a human-readable, royalty-free standard that could be used by lighting manufacturers, CAD programs, visualizing software and lighting consoles.

April 2018

GDTF and MVR are presented at a press conference on the show floor of Prolight + Sound in Frankfurt. Discussions begin with additional manufacturers about needs for the format.

April 2018

MA3 unveiled with native support of GDTF and MVR.

September 2018

GDTF and MVR fully supported in Vectorworks Spotlight and Vision.

Version 1.0 Arrives March 2019

MA3 unveiled with native support of GDTF and MVR.

Fixture Builder Created March 2019

Founding members, along with input from interested parties including ETC, Green Hippo, and Chamsys, evolved the format to bring the inaugural 1.0 version to life.

September 2019

Work with DIN begins to ensure GDTF is recognized as an official standard.

December 2019

Chamsys announces import support for GDTF file format.

April 2020

Depence² announces import support for MVR.

GDTF Gets DIN Spec Certified June 2020

GDTF officially recognized by DIN as a specification, DIN SPEC 15800.

Format Code is Released for Public Use December 2020

Began publishing GDTF/MVR projects on GITHUB, making the format code available to anyone wishing to use it.

September 2020

Began hosting open sessions, allowing anyone to attend and provide feedback.

September 2020

The GDTF website and database is moved to a purely independent, not-for-profit organization host. Manufacturer pages are added and the ability to save files is made available to users.

December 2020

Unreal Engine 4.26 supports GDTF.

March 2021

Capture Sweden announces import/export support for MVR.

GDTF updated in DIN SPEC 15800:2022 November 2021

GDTF format evolves to support .glTF .svg and non DMX based control protocols.

November 2022

GDTF has a dedicated booth at LDI 2022.

December 2022

Unreal Engine Announces Support of GDTF and MVR

April 2023

GDTF group and supporters run a dedicated booth at Prolight 2023.

MVR Gets DIN Spec Certified December 2023

MVR officially recognized by DIN as a specification, DIN SPEC 15801.

February 2024

GDTF Group Releases GDTF and MVR libMVRgdtf Library 9.0.6 to the Public