nuclearsugar

In the VJ community, QuickTime is still used heavily due to the HAP codec being decompressed on the GPU and includes support for an alpha channel.

https://hap.video/benchmarks.html

The unattainable is unknown!

I've been reading through these for years when on public transit and just this week passed the 500th SCP. It's quite difficult to tell apart different writing styles, so it really does feel like one giant database of scary objects.

I wonder how this compares to the Binisoft Windows Firewall Control wrapper. Is the included firewall in Windows any good?

Worked with a friend to create NestDrop. It's a VJ interface wrapper for the Milkdrop engine with support for Spout output. http://nestimmersion.ca/nestdrop.html

Also curated and organized about 9800 Milkdrop presets from the community. https://thefulldomeblog.com/2020/02/21/nestdrop-presets-coll...

OBS + OBS Spout Plugin + OBS NDI plugin allows for so much flexibility for artists.

Especially since the Spout plugin allows you to output the whole canvas, or just output a scene by adding a Spout filter (alpha channel is transmitted too).

https://github.com/Off-World-Live/obs-spout2-plugin https://github.com/Palakis/obs-ndi

I've tried using several different todo apps but always found myself feeling scattered.

So I've kept it minimal and just use a text editor in the cloud, which is Google Docs. I can use the app on my phone while doing errands or can open it in a web browser on my laptop. The history is occasionally useful too.

But I strictly only maintain 3 documents to keep the scope limited:

- Todo Current /// items to work on this week, ordered based on priority

- Todo Future /// waiting on aspects before items can work on, reason listed

- Todo Art /// personal projects

Been using this system for years and it's been great for keeping streamlined and focused.

Very curious to see if this codec gets implemented into After Effects. I've been rendering out of Maya to a PNG sequence for many years since it's lossless and includes an alpha channel. But the decompression times leave me wishing for TIFF, TARGA, EXR, or such... But the cumulative file size difference is dramatic. And that matters when I'm rendering for example 10 tests, each with 2 layers, and also each have 10,000 frames.

Indeed their official and unofficial discographies are fantastic. Especially the huge Aphex Twin SoundCloud dump containing 250+ songs sprawling his whole music career.

Creating astronomy visualizations often involves all sorts of fun tricks. I work in a planetarium as a 3D animator and each day has interesting unique challenges. Indeed we have to remain mindful of not pushing Maya too hard when it comes to series of scale.

We use fluids as a way to create 3D nebulae that can be flown through. https://thefulldomeblog.com/2013/08/20/the-nebula-challenge/

Or if you constrain the fluid into a sphere, then you have a dynamic volumetric sun. https://thefulldomeblog.com/2013/07/30/customizing-a-close-u...

When needing to fly through a star field, relying on particle sprites is an easy way to quickly render thousands of stars. https://thefulldomeblog.com/2013/07/03/creating-a-star-field...

Background stars are achieved by point-constraining a poly sphere to the camera. Having a poly sphere allows for easy manipulation to create realistic diurnal motion. https://thefulldomeblog.com/2013/11/13/background-stars-v2/

Flying through a galaxy field can be achieved with loads of galaxy images mapped to poly planes. For galaxies that are seen edge on, we sometimes add more detail by emitting fluid from the image colors. https://thefulldomeblog.com/2013/07/16/flying-through-a-gala...

Simulating the bands of Jupiter is tricky but I've done some experiments with 2D fluids. https://thefulldomeblog.com/2014/01/30/jupiter-bands-simulat...

And of course since the visuals are rendered for a planetarium dome, we gotta render using a fisheye camera. These days all render engines support fisheye, but 10 years ago it was a different story. https://thefulldomeblog.com/2019/09/07/exploring-render-engi... https://thefulldomeblog.com/2013/06/28/fisheye-lens-shader-o... https://thefulldomeblog.com/2013/07/23/stitching-hemicube-re...

Every CGI toolset has its strengths and weaknesses depending on the project. Also while the knowledge transfers between each software, they each have their own unique implementations for just about everything. It's hell to learn a new CGI toolset.

For work and also hobby I create 3D animations and experiment with all sorts of things in Maya. A recent turning point was using Redshift to render everything and suddenly I can do overnight GPU renders at high quality. Here are some of my projects released using a CC license -

https://www.jasonfletcher.info/vjloops

You might enjoy this VJ friendly version of Milkdrop. http://nestimmersion.ca/nestdrop.html

Also a huge library of curated and organized presets (with previews). https://thefulldomeblog.com/2020/02/21/nestdrop-presets-coll...

It's referencing the Beeple Christie auction

Experimenting with 3D animation by creating VJ loop packs. Maya + Redshift is a powerful combo that allows me to follow crazy ideas and still render on my home computer rig.

I'm sharing videos often including the alpha channel embedded (using the HAP codec). Also using a seedbox to distribute the videos so as to overcome hosting fees, which become costly for the amount of data I'm sharing.

https://www.jasonfletcher.info/vjloops

Milkdrop is still alive! Here is an epic collection of the best presets.

https://thefulldomeblog.com/2020/02/21/nestdrop-presets-coll...

This needs a SCP number.

Long live Milkdrop!

Here is a collection of the best 9,795 presets that I curated. https://thefulldomeblog.com/2020/02/21/nestdrop-presets-coll...

Now just use the OTCA Metapixel, build a computer within the simulation, and let it go wild!

http://www.amandaghassaei.com/blog/2020/05/01/the-recursive-...

https://codegolf.stackexchange.com/questions/11880/build-a-w...

https://github.com/QuestForTetris

Also, for some context...

Milkdrop is a open-source music visualization engine which renders on the GPU. Over the last 19 years, about 52,000 Milkdrop presets have been created by the community. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MilkDrop

NestDrop doesn't include projection mapping tools. But it does output a Spout video stream, so you can link the Spout video stream into Resolume or MadMapper and then do your projection mapping.

Please check out the user manual. http://nestimmersion.ca/assets/nestdrop_user_manual.pdf

Personally I think that VJ-ing is all about human intuition and carefully listening to the music. It's tricky to improvise and find visuals that match the given mood, layer realtime NestDrop visuals and pre-rendered visuals together, all while trying to keep things fresh and alive. I don't think it's a skill that can be automated with the same level that a person can pull off. NestDrop just creates visuals which respond to the beat, it's just one piece of the puzzle... Not an utter solution.

Why so harsh? It's a demo video for a (free) preset collection.

The project is created by NEST Immersion and it's a Milkdrop fork. NestDrop.

I wanted to use music without worrying about copyright concerns, and so I used my own techno music. It's just a demo video to showcase the preset collection that I curated.

Sure anyone can just click presets, but performing with Milkdrop visuals is just one piece of the puzzle. Layering it with pre-rendered custom visuals is another piece that heightens the art form. And then the actual performance of matching the mood and changes in music, it's a skill that is difficult to master when performing live and juggling many different aspects. Combine that all together and you have something that takes an artists eye to pull off in a polished fashion.

It really was a huge amount of work... And I'm happy to be done with it.

For those interested in learning more about my curation and organization process, here is a blog post about it. https://thefulldomeblog.com/2020/02/21/nestdrop-presets-coll...

Definitely, there are a few different options:

You can save different user profiles. The information saved into the XML file includes: settings selections, window position, Preset favorites, Preset hotkeys, Sprite effects, open & closed queue windows (name, size, position, Preset lineup, linked Sprites, deck number).

You can also organize the Presets into your own categories and subcategories using the following folder architecture. --- Category: Folders placed directly into the Presets folder are treated as the main categories . A section label is automatically created to help easily identify categories within the library window. They are also listed within the ‘Active Preset Locator’ context menu. --- Subcategory: Any nested folders within the main category folders are treated as subcategories. Bookends are used to separate all subcategories within the library window.

NestDrop will index all Presets found within the <Plugins\Milkdrop2\Presets> folder. It will also index any nested folders. You can install your own Presets to this location.

Yeah definitely! Any projection or monitor can be used.

Here is an example flat video I recorded using the Lightjams Spout Recorder - https://vimeo.com/391524665

Very cool! Thanks for sharing.

When using NestDrop you can easily record the Spout video stream by using the Lightjams Spout Recorder. Depending on your GPU there is a delicate balance between resolution and fps. https://www.lightjams.com/spout-recorder.html

Only Window 7/10 is supported.

Milkdrop was created 19 years ago and so it utilizes DirectX 9.

We use the Spout framework for sharing the GPU texture to any other software (which supports Spout).