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..

In order to do so, we will first copy some new files to the user’s local MediaMaster resources, where the MediaMaster Library is located:

1. Download the following file “MediaMasterQuartzComposerEffectsResources.zip“, then copy it to “/Users/MyAccount/Library/Application Support/ArKaos/MediaMaster/”.
2. Decompress the zip file by double clicking on it. Two new directories should have been added:
   • “MMFixtures/Layer/” contains a custom layer fixture file.
   • “Quartz-Composer/Effects/” contains two new Quartz-Composer effect files: “MyBassZoomBlur.qtz” and “MyKaleidoscope.qtz”

At this point, those new Quartz effects will be available from the menus in MediaMaster 2.0 when in Simple Mode, continue reading further to learn how to use them with MediaMaster in Fixture Mode.

Adding a new custom layer fixture

Open the file “MMFixtures/Layer/MyCustomLayerFixture.xml” using any text editing software, we will look at how it is made in order to understand how to add new effect presets in a custom fixture. This file is a slightly modified version of the original MediaMaster Pro “Layer Fixture 1.1″, it contains some extra effect presets.

This files defines the DMX channel assignments and the effect presets libraries that we’ll focus on.

The first line of the file defines the name of the fixture, as it will appear in MediaMaster Pro preferences dialog. This name must be different from the other fixtures.

At the very bottom of the XML document, fixture effect library 11 contains four new effect presets.

You may have noticed that the Quartz-Composer effect “MyKaleidoscope.qtz” appears in three presets with different parameters.

An effect preset is basically defined by an index, a name, an effect and a set of effect parameters. An effect can be used in several different presets and even different libraries with different parameters setup.

In a preset, each effect parameter can be either a fixed value or a variable that corresponds to one of the four effect controllers available in MediaMaster Pro.

Based on this small example, add your own Quartz-Composer effects and create your custom fixtures to extend the possibilities of MediaMaster.

Now let’s try this new fixture

Start MediaMaster Pro, and in “Preferences –> DMX –> Patch” choose “My Custom Layer Fixture” as the “Layers fixture”.

Back in the main window, on any layer, select a visual, push the dimmer to the max to start it, and finally select an Effect between 1 and 4 in Effect Library 11.

Now it’s your turn to create your very own Quartz-Composer effects and use them to leverage the visual quality of your show, be creative!

Recently we’ve been in contact with Alioscopy, a French company that develops auto-stereoscopic 3D displays that can produce a sensation of depth without needing cumbersome eyewear and they asked us if we could bring live VJing to their 3D screens.

The problem is, even if you are only mixing footage that is compatible with 3D projection you are still missing live visualizers which are, most of the time, a very important part of the mix and which obviously can’t be pre-encoded for 3D projection..

Alioscopy’s 3D display range currently includes 24″, 42″ and 47″ screens integrating a technology that is based on standard Full HD LCD displays but equipped with an array of lenticular lenses. Each lens overlaps 8 different points of view and casts different images onto each eye, allowing for one only to be seen through the lens from any given angle.

Thus to recreate this feeling of depth, a 3D scene needs to be rendered from 8 different points of view and combined to one auto-stereoscopic image. To achieve this, we developed an easy to use auto-stereoscopic Quartz Composition template wherein you can transform your original Quartz Composer composition to a obtain real 3D sensation on an Alioscopy screen.

Integrating support for Alioscopy in GrandVJ through a Quartz Composition template was a logical step since GrandVJ now fully supports Quartz since version 1.2. – and of course, the same integration will also be supported in MediaMaster – But the big advantage of a Quartz template is that it’s fully customizable by the user; you can fine-tune the depth effect exactly the way you want!

When edited in Quartz Composer, the template appears as a layer above the original composition. Descend the patch hierarchy, paste your scene, adapt the auto-stereoscopic parameters depending on your scene and you’re done. The 3D-enabled composition can be used and mixed as any other Quartz Composition in GrandVJ but of course, it must be output to an Alioscopy screen to see the magic happen.

Now we just have to decide how we are going to go to the market with this new development but you should read more about this very soon..

We have optimized the Quartz Composer integration in GrandVJ 1.2 so that the compostions are rendered natively through the fastest available interface.

Finally, when using a composition as an effect the application will scan the published inputs and map them as effect parameters, if the format is compatible with the engine. GrandVJ can automatically map parameters that are float values, indexes, colors and booleans and there’s one visual input of the composition that receive the cell visual.

Now let’s have a quick look at how you can use Quartz compositions with GrandVJ..

Using compositions as sources

The quick way to use a composition as source is to import it just like you do with any movie, by drag and drop on a cell or by reaching your .qtz through the file browser. When doing so, GrandVJ will save the path to the .qtz file in your project as it does for any other visual.

For your convenience, GrandVJ installs a set of source compositions in “/Users/<username>/Library/Application Support/GrandVJ/Quartz Composer/Visuals”, these are listed in GrandVJ under the “Quartz-Composer (User)” section of the sources browser so that they are always available when you create a new project.

The idea is that you can also add your favorite source compositions there so that you always have them ready when you work on your projects.

Playing compositions as source does not allow modifying the variables from within GrandVJ.

Path for user compostions as Sources	User compositions as Sources

Using compositions as effects

System compositions as Effects

For effects, GrandVJ will add all the compositions from your system that are supported. It does it by automatically scanning the system folder “/System/Library/Compositions”. These compositions will appear in the application under the “Quartz-Composer (System)” section of the effects browser. You can use them as starting point to develop new effects. You can also add your own compositions as effects, just drop them in the local directory “/Users/<username>/Library/Application Support/GrandVJ/Quartz Composer/Effects”. They will appear in the “Quartz-Composer (User)” section of the effect browser.

Path for user compostions as Effects	User compositions as Effects

About the parameters

As a quick example, let’s have a look at the effect parameters from the system composition Image Hose. With the Quartz Composer application (found in Developer > Applications – you need to have installed Apple’s developer tools of course), open the file “/System/Library/Compositions/Image Hose.qtz” (ore better, open a copy) here’s what you should see:

Image Hose composition

Open the inspector (Editor > Show Inspector) and from the menu, look at the Published Inputs & Outputs, here’s what you have:

Image Hose composition parameters

In GrandVJ, the first 4 parameters that can be mapped automatically will be displayed. In this case it will be PrimaryColor, SecondaryColor, Pace and Size:

Quartz composition parameters in GrandVJ

As you can see, GrandVJ will only display the meaningful part of the parameter name and remove all _ProtocolInput strings from parameter names – this allows to easily display the full parameter name in the panel – it will also make things a little nicer by capitalizing the first letter of the parameter if necessary.

There are many resources on the web where you can find information and help about creating your own Quartz compositions, you can start by looking at Apple’s Developer Connection.

Note: you can download GrandVJ 1.2 beta 2 from our forums

Charlie is the guy with the funny colorful hood, of course we spotted the GrandVJ software interface on his laptop, with the Korg Nano’s..

So we sent him a little message to know more about him; read the full post for his explanations below the video.

Charlie explains:

The visual mix on the Samsung LCD screen on the desk was made with GrandVJ, of course I re-embedded the mix on the screen when rendering the final video to get a better image quality than what you get when filming a screen.

It only took me two takes of live mix on the 2 minutes music track from Zôl to get the result you see on the screen and actually I bought GrandVJ just the day before! Now I really intend to continue to use it..

In the past I have used ArKaos VJ MIDI then tried some other VJing software but I’ve never been really satisfied.. But when I tested GrandVJ that was all I was looking for. It’s fun, efficient, easy to use, adaptable, perfect when you need to be reactive and play instinctively.. And most importantly, it’s stable; no sudden crash!

My usual setup is very basic, I like to play quick with raw content, I prefer spending more time to prepare my loops, to film them and invent them than to configure software and controllers..

I’m using NanoPAD and NanoKEY controllers from Korg, with 24 loops per bank. I use the NanoKEY for opacity and as for the effects I’m mainly using Zoom Bass at the moment because I found it great to give the tempo a kick when it’s getting down after a speedy one hour mix!

I’ll definitely take some more time to dig GrandVJ and its functionalities but as it is I’m really glad I found such a great tool.

If you like it, keep an eye on Charlie Mars’ creations for more stuff like this, now that he’s getting used to GrandVJ :)

He can be found on his own web site but also on Vimeo, YouTube, DailyMotion and MySpace.

Here is the result:

Ok there is a black frame when switching queues but hey, it’s a prototype :)

It’s fully multithreaded so development is moving forward carefully. There are threads for the network synchronization, video decompression, OpenGL rendering and status update to the server