DPM alpha 1.4.0

Thanks for joining the closed test. DPM helps you keep track of the figures you learn or teach: what each one is, how it is counted, what you need to know first, and videos of it. This is an early build, so expect rough edges, and please report them. Each update shows what's new when you first open it, and Settings, What's new lists every change.

What you can do

Lists of figures

• Make a list per dance or group, and let it grow from course to course. Start blank or from a template (West Coast Swing, Salsa, Bachata, Brazilian Zouk, Argentine Tango, Lindy Hop) with a few starter figures and types. The West Coast Swing template already shows what builds on what, and with no lists yet you can open an example list to see it all on the Map.
• Each figure has a name, type, counts, an optional rhythm and level (beginner, intermediate, advanced), a description, tags, prerequisites and videos.
• Rhythm is written the way dancers count it, for example 1 2 3&4 5&6 for a six-count West Coast Swing pattern, and the app suggests the dance's basic rhythms for the counts you entered.
• Tags work well for a whole course or a festival weekend, so one list can grow over the years. Tags and prerequisites are found with a few letters in order, like sgpsh for Sugar Push.

Variations as modifiers

• A variation is a modifier on a figure rather than a new figure: a whip with an inside turn is the basic whip plus “with inside turn”.
• Some modifiers apply to every figure (a hesitation, a hand change) and carry their own demo videos. Others are attached to single figures, each with videos of that combination.
• A modifier can have a short description, and its position says where it changes the figure: Entry, During or Exit.

Map

• See how figures build on each other, as a timeline (one lane per type) or as a network you can pan, zoom and arrange by hand.
• Search or filter and the Map shows the matches together with the chain that leads to them.
• Prerequisite loops are pointed out instead of silently breaking the picture.
• In the network, pan and the figure under the mark in the middle shows in a card, with its first video after a moment; tap the card to open it.

Reels

• Flip through every figure that has a video, one per screen: up and down between figures, sideways through a figure's videos. Handy for a quick refresh before a social.
• Browse the open list or all your lists at once.

Videos

• Add a video from your gallery, record one with the camera, or paste a link. YouTube (with an optional start time), Vimeo (unlisted and password-protected videos too), Dropbox share links, streams and direct links to a video file play inside DPM. You can also start a new figure from a video.
• Share a link or a video to DPM from another app to add it to a figure. DPM asks once more before adding a link it can't play.
• Put online (the cloud button under a phone video): share it to YouTube or Vimeo, then share or paste the link back. The link takes the video's place, so it can go into a list you publish.

Video tools (Android, all on your phone)

Open a figure, go to Videos and tap Edit video:

• Shorten cuts a clip down to the part you need.
• Anonymize (experimental) turns up to 30 seconds into a silhouette video, or keeps the dancers as filmed and covers only their faces: tap the dancers, each one you pick is outlined in their colour, and they are tracked through the clip, so you can share a figure without showing faces. The original stays in your gallery.
• Transcribe speech writes down what the teacher says. Tap a line to jump there, or add lines to the description.
• Suggest name and description drafts both from the transcript. Nothing changes until you tap Use suggestion.

Transcription needs a one-time download of about 61 MB, suggestions about 1.3 GB and a phone with at least 6 GB of RAM. Manage both under Settings, On-device models. No video, audio or transcript leaves your phone. Long jobs run in the background and send a notification when done.

Sharing

• Publish a list to get a short code and a QR code. Others subscribe with either and their copy stays up to date. Subscribed copies are read-only, and only you can update or stop sharing your list. No account is needed.
• When you publish, you can let subscribers suggest patterns for your list, up to a daily limit per subscriber or in total. Suggestions wait in the list's List tab for you to add, dismiss, or mute whoever sent them.
• You can also make a list members only: then only the subscribers you let in can open it. Anyone else with the code can ask to join, and you let them in, turn them away or remove them from the List tab.
• The share sheet shows how many phones follow your list. To pass a list on, such as to the teacher taking over your class, Hand over gives a one-time code; the share code stays the same, so everyone keeps following.
• Or export lists to a file (with or without videos, optionally read-only) and import them on another phone. Transcripts are left out unless you choose to include them.

Make it yours

• Two styles: After Hours (the default) and Clipboard (denser, for running a course), each in light and dark.
• Compact list puts each figure on one line, so more fit on the screen.
• App icon in indigo, amber or coral.
• Nine languages: English, Chinese, Hindi, Spanish, French, Arabic, Bengali, Portuguese and German. The app follows your phone's language until you pick one.

Known limitations

• Android only for now; an iPhone version comes later.
• Arabic text reads correctly, but the layout is not yet mirrored right to left.
• Suggestions need a phone with 6 GB of RAM or more and are hidden on smaller phones.
• Your lists live on your phone. Export them now and then as a backup, since uninstalling the app can delete them.

What helps most

• Anything that crashes, freezes or loses data, with what you did just before.
• Places where you didn't know what to tap next, or a word didn't make sense.
• Dance terms or starter figures that are wrong for your dance.
• How the video tools work on your phone model: speed, result, battery.

Send feedback to dance-pattern-mapper@pm.me, or through Send private feedback on the app's Play Store page.