Magic Music Visuals

This means that two videos are playing at the same time. Not impossible to deal with, but tricky.

Sure that makes sense.

It doesn't make sense for there to be variables that last more than one frame, because every frame is its own context and would keep overwriting anything you assigned more than one frame ago. The thing that might be helpful for you to be aware of is the "xp" variable, which means "x p...

Sure. I’ve heard about that and will put it on my list.

Anything in Magic can be exported as a video. And then you can load that video back into the VideoFile module.

https://magicmusicvisuals.com/downloads ... dioToImage

Great question. Currently there isn't a way to configure Magic to load a project via MIDI. However, I'm pretty sure that a program like https://www.bome.com/products/miditranslator will let you do it, meaning that you can map MIDI commands to starting and stopping any program on your system, etc. Ju...

Sadler posted the answer above: https://magicmusicvisuals.com/downloads ... #AudioGain

Wrap(3)

As Sadler suggested, it’s best to use the Save Scene To Project and Import Project menu options because they will preserve all the dependencies, including input sources, scenes for scene modules, etc. Otherwise you’ll lose those and wonder why your scene is broken. https://magicmusicvisuals.com/down...

It all depends on how complex your effects are.

If you’re only getting 15fps in Magic then your computer probably just isn’t fast enough to smoothly play back high quality 4K videos. It actually has more to do with disk speed than anything else. I bet that if you uploaded your 4K videos to YouTube they’d play back fine because since they are stre...

If the Speed is greater than 0, you will get some blur in the direction of the trails, even if the Blur option isn't checked. This is because the trails aren't moving at perfect pixel increments.

The only way to get no blur at all is to set the Speed to 0.

Yes that has been requested before and it's a good idea. But there is also an existing function where you can save an individual scene to its own project, and then import it into another project later.

Add > ISF > Masking > Chroma Mask

Did you try the Chroma Mask module I recommended before?

Hmm, well the only way I can fix that is if you let me download your project.

Lynn, I just went to your website because I remembered that other AMD owners were having the same problem with different apps like TouchDesigner or Max, and indeed after browsing through your forums, it does seem like my memory is correct. So although I may be able to find a workaround for Magic, it...

I'm going to add a tweak for the Send Alpha Channel option. I will release the next version of Magic soon because it will have only minor bug fixes. Stay tuned.

Also remember that playlist numbers start at 0, so if you have only two scenes, their numbers are 0 and 1, not 1 and 2. So in this case, the OSC message "scene 2" would do nothing.

I think I figured it out actually. I will let you know when I have something for you to test.

I tried your FFGL on macOS High Sierra and it worked fine. But then I tried it on Big Sur and it didn't work. So I think it might have something to do with the security settings, because every new macOS version seems to be more and more restrictive in terms of what files you can open. Honestly I'm n...

If you post a link for me to download one of your FFGLs that VDMX recognizes but Magic doesn't, I can test it.

When sending video between different apps on the same computer, NDI is much less efficient than Spout. Using NDI is only a good idea if you're sending video between two different computers.

As long as you are willing to use a little math, the Expression modifier provides infinite functionality for designing curves, LFOs, etc.

Make sure your FFGLs are 64-bit. Magic has been 64-bit only for a while now.

This is a known issue with Spout and some AMD graphics cards. There are several posts on here about it. I do not know if there is a solution.

Yes I think the analogy of an output window into a world is a good one. Imagine being in a room and you're looking out the window. The world outside is the 3D world with objects in it. But the 2D window itself is important too. Pixels have no meaning in the outside world, but they do have meaning on...

The effect you're looking for is called Micro Buffer.

Try setting the Mode to "Double", then set Buffer 2 to 9.0 (the maximum) and then set the Buffer Lag to your desired delay.

For simple shapes and lines you can use the Polygon module. For more advanced 3D shapes you can use the Model module.

There isn’t a module for SVGs or things like that because it’s not really possible to hardware accelerate them.

We have an M1 Mini here in the office and it runs Magic fine, but if you are doing serious gigs then you should invest in something more powerful, maybe with a discrete graphics card.

Possibly, but I can't say exactly when.

Load a Hap file, set the Speed to 0, link the Start Time to the Volume, and trigger the Goto Start param when you want to jump. Or you can set up some kind of Expression to trigger the Goto Start param regularly to achieve a smoother motion. Version 2.31 would let you do an Expression like "if ...

By far the most efficient codec to use in the VideoFile module is Hap, which has an Alpha option. https://hap.video/using-hap.html

Yes that's correct. You can only use one device at a time, but that device can have as many inputs as you want. See this post for a screenshot of a device that has 12 inputs: https://magicmusicvisuals.com/forums/vi ... p?f=3&t=10

Magic does have a "Beat Clock" source option.

Other than that you could create a "fake" track in your MIDI file that has one note per beat or something like that.

The VideoFile module does support some codecs with alpha, but maybe not HEVC.

You can easily do this with the VideoFile module and its Goto Start parameter, but the caveat is that your video must use one of a very specific set of codecs that allow you to jump directly to any frame. For example, mp4's won't work very well. The best codec is Hap, but Motion JPEG will also work,...

Ok, I understand. Yes, individual characters would require an excessive number of modules for long phrases. I guess I will put a "Text Animation" module on the to-do list. Perhaps Magic is the wrong tool, but I eschew more expensive software all the time for Magic - for creative and conven...

The ABSTRACTS project loads fine for me, but there are a lot of missing third party modules and asset files. Same with a couple others I tried. Otherwise no problems/crashes on Windows or macOS. As a first step, you might try emptying your Additional Module Folders in case there's something in there...

Thanks, I will look into this.

Thanks. Might have something to do with the AMD graphics card.

When you run Magic successfully, and then quit, does the Activity Monitor still show it running?

Maybe the graphics card isn’t being “cleaned up” properly after quitting…

That is more or less what a Scene Module does.

In a future version you will be able to assign custom keyboard keys to control things, but not now unfortunately.

I don't think it's Big Sur specifically, because we have a computer running Big Sur and Magic runs fine on it. What kind of graphics card do you have?

See the table of keyboard shortcuts (https://magicmusicvisuals.com/downloads ... dShortcuts). There are shortcuts for going forward and backward through the scene tabs, and forward and backward through the playlist.

Haha, very fun. I think the only thing that would make it a bit better is some slightly more realistic shadows for the mallets.

Try the 64-bit version.

That is what the mute/solo buttons are for. https://magicmusicvisuals.com/downloads ... l#Playback

Your graphics driver is definitely not installed properly. It should say AMD if that’s what you have.

There is almost never a need to reinstall Magic. Just select Help > Reset All Settings.

I think the only reason that would happen is if your graphics card is not working properly. When you go to Help > OpenGL Info, what does it say?

Magic uses generic RGB.

You want the InputSelector module.

Is the light on immediately after you start Magic?

The main difference for you is that in the "Composite mode" drop-down box in OBS, you need to select "Premultiplied alpha" or "Default" if you want the video coming from Magic to have a transparent background so that you can layer it on top of your OBS stream.

This user created a good tutorial video about it:

Not sure. If you post a link so I can download your Blender file, I can test it.

Some of the effects don't support alpha channels. I'm not really sure if there's a "workaround" per se.

To create a spectrum with a custom number of lines, use the Iterator module. For examples, see the sample project called IteratorSpectrumExamples.magic. Because of the (different) way in which an FFT generates a spectrum, the number of lines in the FFT Color Lines and Spectrum modules cannot be chan...

Why not just use separate Text modules, formatted the way you want, and all connected to an InputSelector, which has the input selected from the Iterator? This restriction has been brought up in other contexts (point data etc) and while this can be seen as one of Magic's strengths (simplicity) it is...

So it doesn't show up in the drop-down list, as described in https://magicmusicvisuals.com/downloads ... #MIDIInput?

I can't say that this would be a high priority for us. You can easily create whatever text you want in some other app, save it as an image with an alpha channel, and load it into Magic using the Image module.

Hi guys, I'm pleased to announce that Magic 2.31 has been released, with some fun new features and some important bug fixes. Many of the items below were suggested/reported by users, so please keep the feedback coming! - New "Null" module . This basically does nothing, and uses the absolut...

Are you trying to use it for audio input or for MIDI input?

https://magicmusicvisuals.com/forums/vi ... 8353#p8352

A thing I think might be contributing... my mixer uses channels 11/12 as the output. Does magic have an auto output to channels 1&2 by chance that could be causing there to be no sound to my ch 11&12? Yes, I'm pretty sure that's the problem. With the demo, I don't have to close the audio in...

Uninstalling does not reset the settings because they are stored in a configuration file which remains on your computer. You have to select the Reset All Settings option from the Help menu.

Oops sorry I forgot to get back to you on this. Yes, you figured it out and your formula is mathematically identical to what Magic does, but here is perhaps a simpler way to go about it: There is a variable called currentFrequency which is set to 20 (as in 20 Hz) to start with, and then it loops ove...

I would suggest going into Mac system preferences and setting your default sound output device to the built in speakers, and see if it fixes the problem. Over the years, there have been reports from some users that certain audio interfaces don’t work with Magic. Sometimes I have gone to the trouble ...

Are you using the built-in sound output?

I don't think two applications can directly use the same camera at the same time.

There is a module called "Chroma Mask" which gives you more control, but also needs more GPU power.

Yes, that will work fine if you are only streaming. But if you are also playing to a live audience, it would be quite strange to delay the audio!

Live video will almost always be behind live audio. Audio is much easier to transmit (especially using analog connections) and therefore has much less processing delay than video.

I think there is a reasonable way to do this, which is to link the Start Time parameter of each VideoFile module to a Global with an Increase modifier. When each video becomes active in the MultiMix, it will therefore start at the correct time (as long as the Scene Start parameter is enabled, which ...

My first advice would be to make sure of your audio/MIDI/OSC sources. If you are using live sources to animate your scene, these won't work for movie exporting. You have to use audio/MIDI files for exporting and make sure they are hooked up to your modules properly.

Magic projects are sufficiently complicated that they have to be recreated from scratch when a change is made. It's not as simple as just inserting the change into the file, because changes often have cascading consequences. I will see if there's a way to just "empty" the file without comp...

Sadler, the bands are definitely logarithmic so simple math won't work. Tomorrow I can get you the formula for getting the frequency range based on the bar number.

Ok, I will take a look.

If you review the 2.31 features (https://magicmusicvisuals.com/forums/vi ... f=6&t=2394) you will see it says: Movie exporting now uses uncompressed (CD-quality) audio in all .mov formats.

mp4's do not support uncompressed audio.

Ok, the only way I can check this is if you post a link to let me download the exact wav file that has the problem.

I understand what you're saying, but the purpose of the InputSelector is to render only the active input. With an "OutputSelector" you would be rendering *all* the outputs, even if only one of them is active. This would be horribly inefficient. It may seem that a scene gets rendered from l...

That is why you should organize your modules into folders which will be reflected in the menu.

The menus are very complicated and cannot be rearranged easily.

Double buffering off means much higher frame rate means higher GPU load.

No, I don’t think you’re understanding how it works. When you have multiple inputs to an InputSelector, only the selected input is active.

Are you saying that a module should be automatically selected right after it's added?

The Scene Start parameter in the VideoFile module is exactly for that.

If you are going to be playing a lot of video files in Magic then you might want to use Adobe to encode them into the Hap format. But maybe Resolve can do that already, I'm not 100% sure.

Why would this be useful?

I suppose one could make Scenes for each Video (XYZa, XYZb, XYZc), but that seems like the wrong way about it. To me it seems like that’s what you would be doing anyway. The only difference is that you’re saying it shouldn’t be global. But whether it’s global or not has no effect on anything other ...

I am not 100% sure, but I know that the lower-quality codecs can do this to a certain extent, particularly the mp4's that use a 4:1:1 colorspace. They consolidate some colors in order to increase compression. If you want better output quality, use Apple ProRes, or for 100% pixel-for-pixel perfection...

Definitely not!

You are describing Scene Modules: https://magicmusicvisuals.com/downloads/Magic_UsersGuide.html#SceneModules Also keep in mind that individual scenes can be saved to their own project: https://magicmusicvisuals.com/downloads/Magic_UsersGuide.html#SavingScenes And then later imported into another pro...

An increase of 1 means +1 per second. An increase of 2 means +1 per 1/2 second. An increase of .5 means +1 per 2 seconds. As you can probably guess, the formula for the increase value is 1/(number of seconds). So in your case, 1/30 = 0.03333333333.... Magic only lets you use four decimal places so t...

or is that only possible with particles like DrawWithMouse?

I don't know what that is...?

Magic does not currently support physics in the way I think you are asking, but yes, you could use a series of transforms/delays/oscillators/etc.

It probably wouldn't be too hard to format it like GLSLSandbox or Shadertoy or ISF, but you'd need to have some understanding of GLSL.

The connection between modules is for graphics only. That is a principal feature of Magic.

In the future it is possible that we will add some other way for the Text module to receive strings, such as with OSC.

You don't have to do any of that. The issue is fixed in the 2.31 Beta: https://magicmusicvisuals.com/forums/vi ... 394#p10798

I'm not 100% sure because I didn't write the NDI modules. Have you tried asking at https://spout.discourse.group/?

Search found 2950 matches