Previous topicNext topic

Big Task, Big Result ! Magic in a FFgl plugin

Suggestions for new features for Magic.
Post Reply
TanookiMonk
Posts: 131
Joined: Sat Sep 19, 2015 12:27 am

Big Task, Big Result ! Magic in a FFgl plugin

Post by TanookiMonk »

Ok i know i post a lot these days but hey im a dreamer so deal with it :)
Nah seriously its just that this software has just opened a lot of new possibilities for me so i cant stop to think for new things.

Ok imagine this : i know we can actually import magic project into another but what could be awesome is to be able to save them as a module. Within these module we could select parameter that we could change and show on the top of this module (Like any other plugin). Saved module would automatically be saved and added to the right click mouse menu for quick adding. So with this we could share new plugins with the community!

But what if we take this further. If those module could be loaded intot a FFgl plugin host. That mean people from other software could use Magic Plugins but still not create it ! So i think that Magic community could grow larger with this kind of feature and make people more aware of Magic too.
Magic
Site Admin
Posts: 3440
Joined: Wed Apr 09, 2014 9:28 pm

Re: Big Task, Big Result ! Magic in a FFgl plugin

Post by Magic »

i know we can actually import magic project into another but what could be awesome is to be able to save them as a module. Within these module we could select parameter that we could change and show on the top of this module (Like any other plugin). Saved module would automatically be saved and added to the right click mouse menu for quick adding. So with this we could share new plugins with the community!
Well, when you import a project, you can already use one or more of its scenes as modules (with inputs): https://magicmusicvisuals.com/downloads ... eneModules. And the scenes are always in the right-click menu. But having parameters in the scene modules is a good idea, and I will certainly add it to my list :). Another thing I'm planning is the ability to save one scene directly to its own project, so it can easily be imported by itself as a scene module into other projects.
But what if we take this further. If those module could be loaded intot a FFgl plugin host. That mean people from other software could use Magic Plugins but still not create it ! So i think that Magic community could grow larger with this kind of feature and make people more aware of Magic too.
Someone else asked me about that recently. I think it's possible to use Magic as a standalone plugin, but it would have to wait until Magic 2.0, since it would require a lot of redesign, and I wouldn't want to introduce bugs into what is otherwise pretty stable nowadays. Also, I'm not sure if FFGL is the right way to go. FFGL is outdated, almost not even maintained (the last post on their community site is from 2011), and doesn't have enough of the functionality that would be required -- FFGL plugins only have a subset of the features of Magic modules. Also, FFGL doesn't officially support 64-bit. Unless they are planning on updating it, I'd have to use a different plugin format, perhaps one that is native to Magic. In that case, other apps would have to specifically add support for using standalone Magic plugins, similar to supporting Flash or Quartz or something like that.

The other thing is that you can already use Spout or Syphon to share Magic with other apps, and running Magic as a plugin in another app wouldn't necessarily provide that much benefit from a performance standpoint. I think it's probably better to add features to Magic so people wouldn't have to use other apps at all (and feel free to let me know what those features are :)). But, if enough people really want to use Magic as a plugin, I will certainly consider it!
TanookiMonk
Posts: 131
Joined: Sat Sep 19, 2015 12:27 am

Re: Big Task, Big Result ! Magic in a FFgl plugin

Post by TanookiMonk »

Eric wrote:
The other thing is that you can already use Spout or Syphon to share Magic with other apps, and running Magic as a plugin in another app wouldn't necessarily provide that much benefit from a performance standpoint. I think it's probably better to add features to Magic so people wouldn't have to use other apps at all (and feel free to let me know what those features are :)). But, if enough people really want to use Magic as a plugin, I will certainly consider it!
Well i get that :) ! and yes you are right there is other way to achieve this ;) ! I was pointing out this idea as a way for getting more people interested in magic as i feel it could create some needs for them :P ! Thanks Eric !
Post Reply