Previous topicNext topic

Text module more versatile

Suggestions for new features for Magic.
Post Reply
Reigel
Posts: 81
Joined: Sun Mar 15, 2015 9:56 am

Text module more versatile

Post by Reigel »

Hi,
I am working with the text module these days and since I never did before I miss some things. Maybe there is already some solution for one or the other question.
First and most important: I would like to control the character(s) through MIDI. This of course makes only sense if You do not want to write TEXT but just characters as a source of grafics. But this is exactly what I want to do. I know that this might be not trivial since there must be some sort of map underlying to assign MIDI values to ASCI.
The same applies to Font which could be more easy. But to keep consistence it would be a good idea to grab fonts not out of the system font folder but of a separate font folder inside Magic.

Then it would help a lot if there were basic adjustments inside the module: translate, rotate, colour.

That's to start with. Maybe You find it worth too?
Best
Reinhard
Magic
Site Admin
Posts: 3440
Joined: Wed Apr 09, 2014 9:28 pm

Re: Text module more versatile

Post by Magic »

I would like to control the character(s) through MIDI. This of course makes only sense if You do not want to write TEXT but just characters as a source of grafics. But this is exactly what I want to do. I know that this might be not trivial since there must be some sort of map underlying to assign MIDI values to ASCI
MIDI-to-ASCII is too specific a feature for implementation inside the Text module. But you could easily accomplish it with an InputSelector and different Text modules.
to keep consistence it would be a good idea to grab fonts not out of the system font folder but of a separate font folder inside Magic.
I'm not sure how that would be more consistent, and I think it would be very inconvenient for most people :).
Then it would help a lot if there were basic adjustments inside the module: translate, rotate, colour.
Those things are best accomplished with the Translate/Rotate/Color modules. It's important that Magic doesn't duplicate functionality inside different modules; it would be more inefficient and would make each module go slower.
Reigel
Posts: 81
Joined: Sun Mar 15, 2015 9:56 am

Re: Text module more versatile

Post by Reigel »

Eric wrote:
I would like to control the character(s) through MIDI. This of course makes only sense if You do not want to write TEXT but just characters as a source of grafics. But this is exactly what I want to do. I know that this might be not trivial since there must be some sort of map underlying to assign MIDI values to ASCI
MIDI-to-ASCII is too specific a feature for implementation inside the Text module. But you could easily accomplish it with an InputSelector and different Text modules.
That's what I am doing now. But it leads to a crowded screen.
Eric wrote:
to keep consistence it would be a good idea to grab fonts not out of the system font folder but of a separate font folder inside Magic.
I'm not sure how that would be more consistent, and I think it would be very inconvenient for most people :).
It's that some people (like me) quite often change what's inside the system font folder for certain reasons. But I will take care.
Eric wrote:
Then it would help a lot if there were basic adjustments inside the module: translate, rotate, colour.
Those things are best accomplished with the Translate/Rotate/Color modules. It's important that Magic doesn't duplicate functionality inside different modules; it would be more inefficient and would make each module go slower.
Ok. You must know better for sure. But it will crowd the screen even much more. Given I use 22 textmodules to cover most common used characters and have at least 3 additional modules for translate, rotate and color we count 88 modules, plus all what comes after that. Here with my system I see that 22 textmodules feeding 6 InputSelectors lead to some 2000 fps with 3240 x1920 px magic screen. That looks like we have some room to spent here. In fact I come to 430 fps with all three additional basic modules inserted. But that's just a snapshot here.

Thanks anyway
Reinhard
Sadler
Posts: 1139
Joined: Sat Aug 02, 2014 7:10 pm
Location: London, UK

Re: Text module more versatile

Post by Sadler »

Depending on how you display your various texts, the translate text technique might work for you. Details in this thread: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1441#p6720

This technique would allow you to group a number of characters (or words) in a single text module and display each individually by controlling the Y position of the text using whatever controller you like. This would allow you to control potentially hundreds of characters with just a pair of nodes for each group. Imagine having a character for each midi note where the note translates the Y position, for example.
text_groups.magic
(3.36 KiB) Downloaded 361 times
Of course, if you can explain what you want to achieve there may be other (better) ways to do it.

I would also recommend developing a method of using 'utility' scenes within 'library' folders, utilised within your performance scenes. I think this is good practice no matter what you're trying to achieve and can simplify complex scenes greatly.

In terms of Text Module versatility, it would be more efficient (in terms of memory, perhaps?) if the text module could display individual lines (or paragraphs) with a scroll feature, only creating a bitmap for the current line/para. It could also be improved to make stylistic use of some fonts easier with more sophisticated text spacing options.
Magic
Site Admin
Posts: 3440
Joined: Wed Apr 09, 2014 9:28 pm

Re: Text module more versatile

Post by Magic »

In terms of Text Module versatility, it would be more efficient (in terms of memory, perhaps?) if the text module could display individual lines (or paragraphs) with a scroll feature, only creating a bitmap for the current line/para. It could also be improved to make stylistic use of some fonts easier with more sophisticated text spacing options.
Something like that might work, but with the caveat that font rendering is CPU-bound. So, it's best to render all lines into an image at once (at the beginning), as opposed to only certain lines in real-time. Then you can just use the sections of the image corresponding to the lines.

But, yes, an option to only display a specific line is a good idea.
Reigel
Posts: 81
Joined: Sun Mar 15, 2015 9:56 am

Re: Text module more versatile

Post by Reigel »

Hi back in 2018,

thanks for thinking with me.
I always try to have things as simple and straightforward as possible because I want to be able to change things quickly even during performance. Things are always in progress. So subfolders and subscenes do not feel right for me because they too many clicks away. I use scene modules in some certain circumstances but very rarely.

To give You an impressionof what I could do look at this: www.die-tonaufnahme.de/WelleLetter.mp4

Please keep in mind: This is just one example and I have a lot more ideas. And this is not refined yet, I did it yesterday in some spare time, and also the music is just a rehearsal, not a performance. So I will delete this link in few days.

It is all made just from this 6 characters no other source. Ok, I could use any other grafical element and import it as png to do the same. But there are certain benefits from characters: You can scale them without loss of quality and since people are so used and trained to characters they will always recognize them from 6 pt to 600 pt. And then I like this set of basic grafical forms. And last: 6 letters in a row pretend to be a word. And even if everybody will recognize quickly that these letters show up accidentally and do not mean anything You will always have in mind: They could ... probably maybe ... have some hidden meaning. This is something I like. It is a mind trick.

Have fun in 2018!
Reinhard
Post Reply