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Comment by jbl0ndie | Hacker News Reader

It's a node-based visual framework, I guess. Around 2006 I worked on a project using VVVV to create sound reactive, generative visuals that tracked a pop singer as he moved on an LED stage. The visuals were displayed on the stage.

We had it hooked up to MIDI, time code, video, motion tracking and DMX lighting. Pretty impressive for the time, now I think about it.

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But what is a "visual framework"? The frontpage mentions everything from AR/VR to network streams to modeling... what does one do with this?

It's a visual programming environment for .net (the current stable version is based on .net6 while newer previews use .net8). Visual in the sense that programs are represented as node graphs.[1] You can basically do what ever you could with C#. Using the VL.Fuse[2] library you can also visually program on the GPU. If stuff is missing you can reference just about any nuget package or add functionality using C# (CPU) [3] or HLSL (GPU)[4].

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Node_graph_architecture

[2]https://github.com/TheFuseLab/VL.Fuse

[3]https://thegraybook.vvvv.org/reference/extending/overview.ht...

[4]https://thegraybook.vvvv.org/reference/libraries/3d/shaders....

That's a way better explanation.

I didn't explain it well but I think that's the point, one could do all kinds of visual or audio things, it's one of many multitools for audo-visual media creation. Often these projects need to combine multiple technologies to reach their goals. Often deadlines and expectations are ludicrous. Being able to sketch, prototype visually and build the finished project in the same tool is useful. Forget Figma it takes too long.

If you have a project that needs lights, video, lasers, sound, motion, cameras, exotic sensors etc and speed of creation is maybe more important than long-term stability, something like this might allow you to sketch your way to a solution significantly faster. The real code is always underneath, but it's kind of like having some kind of flow diagram, sketch tool, visual debugger and IDE.

The creative coding 'scene' (at least when I felt part of it) is loosely divided between patcher tools and traditional code-based tooling. vvvv is a patcher, like Max/MSP, PureData and Touchdesigner. You connect function blocks together to do stuff, you can see the data flow between and see the visuals they create. Like creating shaders at a high level of abstraction, I guess.

More code-based languages and frameworks include:

[1] openFrameworks https://openframeworks.cc/ C++

[2] Processing https://processing.org/ Java or JavaScript

[3] Nannou https://nannou.cc/ Rust

Did you tour with them? We might have met, went to a few shows debugging some issues.

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