New machine: EyeScraper

[The Phoenix Hack]

Graphics you can sync to buzz... Calling all graphics devs. Check this out.

We are in alpha stage folks. But I've found the machine to be quite stable.

This is a project to add interactive visualizations to buzz. I've only added a few routines to demonstrate the concept.

In the .rar you will find EyeScraper.dll and all source files related to it. Read the "EyeScraper Readme.htm" for installation instructions as well as details on how to add your own routines. Check the demo bmx, look at the example routines, see what you think.

Get on this train, peeps. Gimme your feedback.

ps thx zephod, btdsys, zeffii for help getting the project this far

[usr]

w00t!

HANCOOKGUY IT TEH CODE!!!
_________________
.nl chefs go blok blok blok

[btd]

(I know, I say that about every new machine)

I might even have a shot at coding a couple of routines (I took a course on OpenGL at university last year so technically I have no excuses not to, but don't hold your breath).

At first I was expecting something which could synch/react to audio... I guess that could be rigged up with peerenvs or something though. Probably better the way you've done it, but it would still be cool to incorporate waveforms or spectral views into the vis routines.

Suggestions: Maybe you could use miex::DescribeParam() to change the parameter names to something more meaningful for individual routines. And maybe you could make the routine system dll-based, so new routines wouldn't need to be compiled in (woudl also make it easier for individual routines to be closed-source).

Is that it? No more feedback? Come on people!

[The Phoenix Hack]

Thanks btd.

Re: your suggestions, all three have been on the table from the beginning, so we're on the same wavelength.

I've gone back and forth on whether it should be an effect and be able to react to audio. I think the reasons for going effect outweigh the reasons to keep it as a gen, so long as people don't forget that it can be used without running any audio through it.

I've not implemented DescribeParam() yet out of sheer laziness. But I agree with you on that. It will help a lot.

I had some concerns about the dll-based routine system but the more I think about it the more trivial they seem. So yes, eventually it will be a dll-based system. No promises when; time is very limited (as I know it is for many of you too) -- in the meantime whatever people come up with will be compiled in with the rest of the machine.

Lookin' forward to your leet routines.

[errorist]

i think it could be better to have a separate application running the vis and a buzzmachine controlling that application .

we all know buzz is not stable and it would be really really annoying to have a sudden death of animation because of a buzz crash .

kind of : the application has its own controls , but you can sequence them controls from buzz with the machine .

just ideas .

import of 3D files from mayor 3D packages would be good too . but i guess you already planned that anyway . and maybe possibility to set deformation attributes to the objects in the 3D package and when loaded into the eyescrapper it does affect those parameters .
_________________
error. no, not idm!!! ERROR!

[phrozenlight]

i love it,

just replaced some bmp with my own picture fun
_________________
listen to my music at www.phrozenlight.tk

[z_tetha]

PEOPLE ! get your codings on !

[kibibu]

I never heard of this project!

Alas! I need more spare time!
_________________

core i7 920, 6gb ram, windows 7
p4 2.4ghz, 1gb ram, xp home
kibibu

[sgorpi]

Cool stuff! haven't got time atm but when i find some i'll see if i can make some cool routines.

i do would like sound data input tho i guess you can use something like Auxbus for that if you want to keep it a generator...

cheers!

[ps]

will you have my children?
this ownz bad, can you force it fullscreen on second video output only? i would so totally have sex with you if you did! been yearning for a way to run my buzz stuff live controlling the visuals at the same time for ages... this would make it all possible.. peerenvs make everything possible.. and its fully extensible.. fuck, i'm gonna port my whole engine into this asap. hope it aint too unstable...
i do all my sound fuckery on buzz, and then have to code the visuals seperatly, and it always sucks major ass that i cant just fuck with it live and jam reusing the same gfx and whatever.. this ownz bad man, seriously.
cant wait to have some free time to play with it properly!

[mute]

ps: yer the proper person to spread the word about an machine like this ;]

maybe if we can get enough renewed interest and fanfare we can get some updates ;]

[tinga]

The first time i'd try this very interesting machine, i ''
i thought than i posted some reply but not!
i don't understand how trigger work but with peer trig this machine is a dream, we can select freq or dyn for top sync effects, i hope the project is not stopped...

[z_tetha]

some of you might be weathered OpenGL/C/C++ programmers and
if you have a moment i would like to pick your brain, maybe steal some of it.

i spent a while lastnight figuring out how to turn an object from 3dsMAX (3dsMAX5 i beleive is free) into a vertex array for
glBegin(GL_POINT); to use

a pretty fast way;
exporting From 3ds as an ASE file.
Then converting the ASE file to a .c type file that includes the vertices and polygon information and writes them as arrays of the necessary datatypes (Using the free"ASE to C" tool)

eventually, after throwing bits of code at the compiler, i was able to draw the

static GLfloat shape[7][3]={.....};

now because i am for the moment only playing with GL_POINT
(and disgarding the polygon information for the timebeing - ofcourse there are wavefront .obj + material importing gl libraries...but i'm a pussy and want to learn the very basics first)
i wonder if it is possible to draw the entire array with just one call like glVertex3fv(shape);
rather than having to (forgive my syntax ..i'm not at home looking at the code so it might look dodgy) do :
glVertex3fv(shape[0]);
glVertex3fv(shape[1]);
glVertex3fv(shape[2]);
glVertex3fv(shape[3]);
etc

Thank you.

[z_tetha]

and in relation to ps's request

http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/topic.asp?topic_id=423755

a dirty hack, might be turned into a phoenix hack

- Eyescraper can then detect screen resolution of second monitor
- Open/Close a WS_POPUP or WS_VISIBLE onto that screen

read http://homepage2.nifty.com/Mr_XRAY/Halbow/Chap23.html towards the end for Win32 information (differences between the WS_ windows)

an interesting debug read about detecting screen resolution of dual monitor displays :
http://gaim.guifications.org/trac/ticket/130 Eeek
and
http://www.codeguru.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-349215.html
and http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms724385.aspx ( i think this is a winner )

[kibibu]

[mute]

maybe he was thinking of blender? http://www.blender.org/cms/Home.2.0.html

[kibibu]

[z_tetha]

you know the way when you ask something out loud sometimes you answer your own question?

yep, got home popped the array into a function with a for loop and whoop.

[mute]

[z_tetha]

has anyone seen or heard from fallout lately?

[etruscan]

Nothing useful to add here apart from saying that this is fuckin' cool man! I want to try chucking one into a track and syncing with PeerEnv or whatever. Another cool thing would be to be able to port WinAmp AVS code in (purely because there's lots of cool stuff around in that environment) but I guess that's hardly a priority. Wicked stuff man!!

[ZIplock]

[wayfinder]

I don't know, buzz IS unstable sometimes, and it doesn't matter whether it's some machine or not because there's no way I'm giving up cheapo amp, ld mixer or the polac loaders at the moment...

I know my way around buzz pretty well by now, I think, and it still catches me off-guard sometimes (#buzz can attest to my periodic swearing!)
_________________
wayfinder

[Xenobioz]

I agree buzz can be unstable, try changing the audio preferences. You are lucky you can do it once without buzz crashing.

And yeah many of the machines, mostly generators have bugs.

Buzz has other kind of bugs too, allthough I dont think anyone disagrees with me on that. One of the most annoying and hardest one to get rid of is the "master volume midi bind bug". Its like a virus! infecting one buzz file after another.
I think everybody knows the "blah blah" bug. This "bind bug" is just like it.

I guess you could practice safe buzzing, by closing buzz between songs.
_________________
xenobioz.com

[tinga]

[Mirfus]

[The Phoenix Hack]

Hey all -

I'm not dead - I was hibernating. Let me say I was quite surprised to come back to this page and find new interest after nearly two years of no comments... You guys stunned me and I thank you for your words - very encouraging.

I will take the project up again. It was always my plan to do so. Family life started to take up more and more of my time and I just didn't have the time management skills to balance both that and all of my hobbies. Needs of the family have only grown (my second child is due to be born by the end of this month), but I have gotten much better at managing my time thanks to things I've been forced to learn at work in order to survive.

Anyway the point is I had made plans to get back to work on this even before I visited this site again after a long absence.

While I make no guarantees about the rate of progress, I'll keep folks posted as best I can as long as interest seems to continue.

You guys rock and so forth. Special hello goes out to friends at #buzz who know me as Fallout. Special hello also goes out to anybody who feels special. If that's not you, we need to talk.

[tinga]

Young children are great thing! (and a too short time)
And sure they like flashing colors, crazy effects dancing with music

like us...

[z_tetha]

Falllout! a second kid ! excellent!

was wondering what you were up to, your hotmail address seems to have had little effect when i tried it.

good to see you back. looking forward to some next release

[ps]

finally got some free time and i been porting some things into eyescraper these last couple days.. successfully even.

wasted an afternoon struggling to have a side project within the solution to easy recompile+test the gl stuff without the buzz machine stuff, making a new .dll and reloading it on buzz all the time can be hassle... gave up on dependencies issues and decided to still use the good old copy paste.. -_-

have found a few glitches with the params update and and resized gl windows in the meantime but nothing that cant be easily fixed i believe..

would be cool to have a way to crossfade between modes (kinda like visual inertia or something) to have a different effect per mode instead of implementing a whole engine into just one of them and bearing with long loading times..

[ps]

[rymix]

Yo Fallout! Good to have another dev and friend getting back into the scene

We too have kid two coming (in September). Congrats!
_________________
www.rymix.net

[ps]

[Mighty Pea]

[z_tetha]

bump.

it's been so long since this machine first materialized and a lot has changed and appeared on the scene since. does anyone know of any efforts to do anything with this machine?
_________________
buzz packs | Buzé | buzzchurch search

[SIXAFTERSEVEN]

Where the .... have I been. (I know I have read this thread but I cannot recall actually testing this machine out...)

Please keep this project going. It would work wonders for those of us who want to do live performance or those of us who want to create videos without having to use winamp visualizations.

It is inspiring to hear I am not the only one who tries to write music and raise my kids.
_________________
6/\F+3R73\/E/\/

[wde]

Milkdrop 1.04 source code is available here if someone wants to integrate that in to EyeScraper.

[kibibu]

[JoaCHIP]

Haha great little app. It doesn't seem to react on the sound input, but I guess that's why you donated the source!

Here is a modified version that listens to the amount of bass and treble (see the preset "Rotating thingies" for a demo of that.)
_________________
www.robotplanet.dk/audio/ | www.makemusic.net

[thOke]