PINE Motion V5

Customer beta preview:
We are inviting existing customers to test V5 before the public release.
These notes describe the beta firmware and matching app versions.

1. Customer Highlights

Two PINE II controllers. Up to eight motors. One app.

Expand beyond four motors by connecting two PINE II controllers in PINE Motion.
Manage up to eight motors from the Android or iOS app, with Device Groups and
clear connection information to organize your setup. Both controllers require
compatible V5 firmware and the matching app.

Get to know every mode

New step-by-step tutorials are built directly into the app, helping new users
get started and existing users discover more of PINE Motion. Highlighted controls,
examples and visual demonstrations explain motor setup and recording modes.
Revisit the tutorials whenever you need a refresher.

Keep an eye on your recording

Follow progress through ongoing Android notifications or iOS Live Activities
on the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island on supported iPhones. Time and picture
counters show the information relevant to your recording, while improved
restoration helps you return to the current recording after reconnecting.

A new look, your choice

V5 introduces Modern Light and Modern Dark, two new designs for PINE Motion.
Clear controls, readable dialogs and improved layouts bring a fresh look to
the app. The familiar Legacy design remains available.

More dependable, from connection to completion

V5 brings substantial stability improvements and bug fixes across the firmware
and both apps. Bluetooth connection and reconnection, motor configuration,
keyframe capture, move-data transfer and recording progress have all received
attention, along with numerous crash fixes.

2. Features and Improvements

The following overview covers the customer-facing changes in PINE II V5
firmware and PINE Motion for Android and iOS. Feature availability depends
on the controller, firmware and platform.

Connections and PS4 Control

• Two PINE II controllers, up to eight motors: expand your setup and control it from one mobile app.
• Device Groups 1–10: assign the intended controllers to the same group, with Bluetooth Master and PS4 address settings available in Controller Info & Settings.
• View connected motors, identify controllers and edit their Bluetooth names from a clearer connections screen.
• See a controller’s advertised serial number before connecting where supported by its firmware.
• More reliable discovery, connection retries and restoration of controller information and motor lists.
• PS4 primary and ALT assignments support larger setups, with improved pairing-address handling, configuration storage and controller feedback.

New Designs and Tutorials

• Modern Light and Modern Dark: new appearance options alongside the original Legacy design.
• Clearer controls, dropdowns, dialogs and Help access, with layouts suited to different screen sizes.
• Portrait and landscape layouts for Pro and Live, with more room for graphs and scene controls.
• Step-by-step tutorials for the home screen, Motor Settings, Motor Quick Setup, Pro, Video, Time-Lapse, Live, 360°, Giga-Pixel, 3D Scan, Macro, Astro and Turntable.
• Visual demonstrations and example keyframes explain the workflow without moving connected motors. Tutorials can be skipped, revisited and replayed from the menu.

Motor Setup and Profiles

• Not Configured identifies motors that still need an appropriate profile.
• More reliable retention of profiles, names, calibration, degrees/mm units and speed settings after reconnecting or changing the connected setup.
• Motor colors help identify controls and graphs. Both Android and iOS save motor names for the specific controller serial number and motor port. Android additionally checks for duplicate motor names.
• Clearer maximum-speed information, including actual speed alongside the percentage setting.
• XML profile imports apply the full configuration, and Motor Quick Setup sends saved settings including High Speed and PS4 ALT assignments.
• Calibration checks in the app and firmware reject invalid or unusably small values.
• Clear setup and transfer feedback, with protection against automatic setup interrupting an active recording.
• Guided motor setup uses photographs of Black Forest Motion products to help select the right profiles. Configurations can be imported by scanning a QR code, with clear motor-port assignments.
• Classic setup and calibration assistance remain available. Prepared bundle configurations are available in a limited pilot, including Android support for motors connected later.

Pro Mode

• Program video moves lasting up to 24 hours, with up to 25 keyframes per motor on compatible V5 firmware.
• Enter hours, minutes and seconds when editing keyframes, scaling a move or positioning the time marker. Video duration follows real elapsed time, independently of time-lapse output frame rate.
• Inspect long moves using close-up zoom or wide scales up to 10 hours per screen. Quickly center the view on the current time marker.
• Smoother time-marker navigation and responsive Android graph rendering when zoomed into a small part of a long move.
• Read position and velocity using graph markings and suitable scaling for very slow moves. Adjust how many motor rows appear before scrolling to give graphs more space.
• Improved middle-keyframe smoothing and Bézier handling for shaping transitions.
• Save and restore long moves through XML presets.
• Reverse move to START: first move to the final keyframe, then follow the programmed path backwards to the start. Available for Pro video and time-lapse.
• Uploaded keyframe data is checked against a controller checksum before moving to START on compatible V5 firmware. A failed check triggers one automatic retransmission, followed by Retry/Cancel.
• Clear transfer and positioning status, including percentage upload progress on Android.
• More reliable long-duration playback, picture-count retention, video/time-lapse conversion and recording restoration.

Multi-Lapse

• Capture up to five time-lapse sequences by visiting each programmed slot in turn.
• A fixed capture schedule on compatible V5 firmware maintains a consistent image-to-image interval for each sequence.
• Both apps calculate the minimum interval from camera timing and movement between viewpoints.
• Sequences can have different lengths. After a warning at start, shorter sequences continue photographing at their final position while longer sequences finish.
• Total frame count follows the longest sequence. Slot and motor-path checks help identify incomplete programming before starting.

Video and Time-Lapse

• More reliable keyframe capture, positioning at the start and completion feedback, including two-controller setups.
• Improved recording progress and restoration when returning to the app.
• Time-Lapse start options include automatic, delayed, scheduled and manual start, with Android countdown notifications for scheduled recordings.
• Improved continuation after moving to another frame while paused.
• Keep active at end continues camera triggering and picture counting after the programmed movement finishes.

360° Panoramas

• Start at nadir or zenith, with automatic positioning from a saved tilt reference and confirmation when no reference is stored.
• Choose whole-degree tilt angles for every row and select the first and last rows for partial panoramas.
• The tilt convention is nadir = -90°, zenith = +90°, with guidance for setting the correct motor direction.
• Optionally return the head to the selected starting position after the panorama.
• Pan and tilt use degree-based motors. Other motors remain stationary unless they have programmed keyframes.
• Build panorama time-lapses with additional motors. Edit frame numbers and positions, delete keyframes, long-press to move to them and restore saved keyframes.
• Minimum time-lapse intervals account for a full sphere capture. Android also offers Set minimum and applies the minimum for programmed multi-sphere time-lapses.

Live, Giga-Pixel, 3D Scan and Macro

• Live: automatically sized scene tiles in portrait and landscape, background images from camera/gallery now also supported on iOS, and arrival feedback that waits for all participating controllers.
• Giga-Pixel: improved motor-assignment retention, capture-time calculation and matrix progress.
• 3D Scan: more accurate total-time and progress reporting, including the turntable return to its starting position.
• Macro: more reliable coordination of step length, picture count and recording completion, including negative-direction moves.
• More reliable storage of keyframes, motor assignments and recording settings across these modes.

Astro, Turntable, Freerun and Intervalometer

• Astro and Turntable retain their independent motor activity when used alongside other supported recording modes.
• Mode-access checks protect against conflicting motor assignments while allowing a return to an active mode.
• Clearer multi-motor layouts and scroll indicators.
• Improved Freerun control spacing and joystick visibility, plus a clearer Intervalometer layout.

Progress, Updates and Reliability

• Ongoing recording notifications on Android and Live Activities on supported iPhones, including Lock Screen and Dynamic Island displays.
• Mode-appropriate picture and time counters, with recording-state synchronization after reconnecting.
• Open a recording from its notification, reconnecting first when necessary.
• Browse suitable firmware in the online library and read release notes before updating. Normal update recommendations select stable releases rather than betas.
• Improved Over-The-Air (OTA) firmware updates for PINE II, with progress, recovery information and reconnection guidance.
• View installed firmware and boot-partition information on compatible controllers.
• Optional news and offer notifications, with user notification controls.
• iOS now writes log files automatically, which users can share with our support team for troubleshooting.
• Improved support logs, Bluetooth communication and handling of missing responses, plus extensive crash and stability fixes.
• Android 16/API 36 support, improved system-bar layout compatibility and permission requests when the relevant feature is needed.

Compatibility

The new firmware is for PINE II, not first-generation PINE, PINE R or
PINE LITE. The apps retain supported older-controller functions; newer
features require suitable hardware and firmware.

Autonomous recordings can continue on the controller while the app is away.
Fresh controller status requires reconnection. Notifications depend on
permissions and operating-system limits; a 24-hour move does not guarantee
an uninterrupted 24-hour background display.