How To: Add Quartz-Composer Effects to MediaMaster
Aug/101
Since version 1.2, ArKaos MediaMaster supports Apple’s Quartz-Composer technology. Depending on its configuration, a Quartz composition can be either a Visual or an Effect in MediaMaster Pro.
In this tutorial we will demonstrate how to add your own Quartz-Composer Effects in MediaMaster.
Remark:
Check out the article “How to: Create audio-reactive effects for GrandVJ using Quartz-Composer” for more details about the creation of Quartz-Composer effects. You will also find lots of resources and how-to’s for Quartz Composer on the web or in the Reference Library from the Mac Dev Center.
Simple Mode (MediaMaster Express and Pro) and Fixture Mode (MediaMaster Pro)
It’s easy to add Quartz effects in MediaMaster 2.0 when in Simple Mode, but in Fixture Mode effect presets are defined within the layer fixture and these fixture files shouldn’t be modified in any circumstances. As a consequence, to make use of new effects we have to add a new custom layer fixture that will include new effect presets..
MediaMaster latency test on the A10 Media Server
Apr/100
On the support, we sometimes have to answer questions about the latency between the live input and output on computers running MediaMaster. We know this a concern for most users but actually, there’s no straight answer since the amount of latency you will get will depend on a lot of different hardware and software parameters and therefore will vary depending on your own setup.
In a perfect world, we would have zero frame delay but unfortunately this is not possible with current computer hardware; the simple fact that a computer is processing video already adds one frame of input delay, that frame is needed for the computer to store the complete image before having it processed by the video card. Then you can add another frame of output delay, caused by the video card processing the image. Before or after that, each device that is added to the pipeline – such as a camera, a mixer, a LED controller or a projector – will add some delay into the processing. In the end, if the delay becomes too big you will notice that the sound and the video are out of sync, for example you will hear the voice of the speaker before his lips start moving on the screen.
If we cannot tell what the latency will be with your setup, we can however provide you with a point of comparison by measuring how many frames are needed to process a live input on an ideal setup: MediaMaster running on one of our A10 Media Servers that are specially built and configured to get the most out of our software.
How To: Create audio-reactive effects for GrandVJ with Quartz Composer
Feb/104
In GrandVJ 1.2 we have introduced the support for Quartz Compositions, either as visual or as effect. Note that MediaMaster 1.2 will also support Quartz Compositions, so you can use this with MediaMaster 1.2 too (the beta can be found on our forums)
Quartz Composer is a free graphics and imaging tool on the Mac platform which is available as an optional install that can be found on your Mac OS X DVD since version 10.4.
It allows very easy creation of complex audio-reactive animations or effects which can now be played in GrandVJ (read the previous article about GrandVJ and Quartz Composer). As I’m writing these lines, the last version of Quartz-Composer is 4.0 on Mac OS 10.6 (Snow Leopard).
In this article we will demonstrate how to quickly create a bass-reactive Zoom/Blur effect like the one you can see below:
Important: This tutorial requires that you have some basic knowledge of Quartz Composer: if you have never used it, you really should first go through the “Getting Started”. You will also find some helpful readings at the Apple Developer Connection web site about Quartz Composer.
To create our effect we will simply edit Quartz-Composer’s default template named “Image Filter” to make it audio reactive. Basically, we will connect bass levels of the computer’s audio input signal to the “Amount” parameter of our Zoom/Blur filter. (Read more below..)
Using the right decoder for your video content
Dec/090
One thing that appears obvious to us after more than 10 years of working with the various solutions that can be used on Mac and Windows to decompress video is that not all solutions are equal.
We believe that our users should be able to play almost any kind of media with the ArKaos software and at the same time we do everything a team of developer can to get the best performance on the platforms supported.
Practically the ArKaos software can play media files through the following decoders: QuickTime, FFmpeg, the Flash plugin, Quartz Composer and Windows Media Player. Currently (December 2009) we don’t allow the user to decide through which solution a media will be decoded, instead we try to make the best decision based on our many years of experience and tests. In the case where several video codecs (such as Mpeg4) can be played through different decoders like QuickTime, FFmpeg and Windows Media Player, we always prefer, no matter the platform, to first try to handle those codecs with FFmpeg as we have always had the best results with FFmpeg during our tests, and here’s why..
How To: Create dynamic Flash text for GrandVJ
Oct/093
Author: ECIN
About: Ben Guerrette is an interactive motion graphics designer and founder of triggermotion.comWeb: http://www.triggermotion.com
A post by Guest Author VJ Ecin (Ben Guerrette), find more about him at the end of this article..
Here’s my second tutorial showing how to take advantage of the Flash capabilities within ArKaos GrandVJ. This one covers the creation of dynamic text visuals. I’ll go explain how to tap into the “statement” variable within Flash so you can create your own text based clips.
I’ll also touch on the “duration” and “position” variables, which if used properly, allow playback speed adjustment of code based animations. We’ll be using some basic ActionScript 2.0 that’s a little more advanced than the previous tutorial.. Note that it will also work for NuVJ and MediaMaster since the variables are the same.
You can download the final .fla and .swf files here or follow along the video tutorial below.
How To: Master output fade in GrandVJ
Sep/091
Some users have asked on the forum how to do a master output fade or a blackout button in GrandVJ.
In mixer mode, you could always assign a black image and assign it to layer 8 but people using the synth mode (or if you simply don’t wanna waste an additional layer) have to use some tricks to acheive it.
The key is to use the master brightness and contrast on the master: If you pull the brightness to zero and the contrast to the maximum, all output will be blackened.
So we want to go from the “normal state”:
To the “black out state”:
Using a single controller or key.
How To: Create audio-reactive Flash for GrandVJ
Sep/099
Author: ECIN
About: Ben Guerrette is an interactive motion graphics designer and founder of triggermotion.comWeb: http://www.triggermotion.com
A post by Guest Author VJ Ecin (Ben Guerrette), find more about him at the end of this article..
As promised, here’s the first in a series of tutorials showing how to take advantage of the Flash capabilities within ArKaos GrandVJ. Note that it will also work for NuVJ and MediaMaster since the variables are the same.
In this tutorial I’ll explain how to tap into the EQ data to create some simple audio-reactive animations. We’ll be using some basic ActionScript 2.0 for the inexperienced Flash programmer. I won’t go into much detail on the how the code works but it should be enough of an introduction to allow some experimentation in creating new content for your VJ arsenal.
You can download the final .fla and .swf files here or follow along the video tutorial below.
MediaMaster driven by grandMA through eDMX
Aug/091
We’ve been working hard since 3 months on the next upgrade of MediaMaster: the version 1.1 which will be released in a few days.
All the new features will be announced with the release but here’s already a video tutorial demonstrating the new support in MediaMaster 1.1 for grandMA’s MA-eDMX protocol. This allows a much better networking between grandMA lighting consoles and a media server running MediaMaster.
Advantages of using Flash for VJ content
Aug/090
Author: ECIN
About: Ben Guerrette is an interactive motion graphics designer and founder of triggermotion.comWeb: http://www.triggermotion.com
A post by Guest Author VJ Ecin (Ben Guerrette), find more about him at the end of this article..
While a lot of VJ content is produced with high-end motion graphics, 3D modeling, and video editing software, Flash provides some advantages over these platforms not immediately obvious. Although its primarily purpose is as a tool for web development and user interface design, its now a portable weapon of choice that fits nicely into any VJ’s arsenal. Besides its scalability, small file size and custom programming abilities, many video mixing software companies like ArKaos, are now embracing its capabilities by adding the ability to feed Flash EQ and text data for real-time visual manipulation.
ArKaos LED Mapper on Schnick-Schnack C100
Aug/090
Here’s a quick tutorial on how to use the LED Mapper extension to map the output from ArKaos MediaMaster to a wall of 6 Schnick-Schnack C100 LED Panels. As you will see, it’s pretty self-explanatory and really easy to achieve..
There is no specific hardware necessary to convert the video signal for the LED Panels, ArKaos MediaMaster outputs the signal in ArtNet through an Ethernet cable that goes to a network switch connecting the 6 C100 panels together.
The total surface is 6 sq. meters (3x2m) and 18 DMX universes are used to drive the 2400 LEDs.
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