Hey guys... Lets make a Competition !

Post by **TanookiMonk** » Mon Nov 16, 2015 4:35 am

Ok i was looking at those project example built in with magic ! While those are very important to learn magic, i find there is no "Real" Eye Candy that can show the power of magic. So i think that we could make some great ones that Eric could built in with magic ! What do you think Eric and you guys ?

So if you are interested, here are the rules that we could start with :

Built in module only (No Isf, No ffgl, No Glsl)
No Kaleidoscope as a final module (Can be integrated but no pure and only kaleidoscope)
No Starfield as a final module (Can be integrated but no pure and only starfield)
No sound source needed as we would want a newbie to open those example and look up those great scene fast
Please try to show what the engine is capable of !

Post by **Magic** » Mon Nov 16, 2015 6:37 pm

I think it sounds good! Admittedly I don't put as much time into the sample projects as I should, so I would be happy to include any great new projects with Magic. I will give credit to the author and also offer a free Magic Performer license, and maybe some other prizes too if I can think of any good ones

.

Let me also propose a separate but related competition: I've been looking to replace the big image on the Magic home page (https://magicmusicvisuals.com) with a promotional video. If someone makes a really great one I will put it there and I will also offer a bigger prize including a cash payment of at least $250 USD (I'll pay more if it is truly outstanding). It should be around one minute long and it needs to have great music too (with no licensing issues). I'll keep the competition open for two months or so, but I reserve the right to declare no winner

. Feel free to post here to ask any questions.

Post by **TanookiMonk** » Mon Nov 16, 2015 7:10 pm

Eric wrote:I think it sounds good! Admittedly I don't put as much time into the sample projects as I should, so I would be happy to include any great new projects with Magic. I will give credit to the author and also offer a free Magic Performer license, and maybe some other prizes too if I can think of any good ones .

Let me also propose a separate but related competition: I've been looking to replace the big image on the Magic home page (https://magicmusicvisuals.com) with a promotional video. If someone makes a really great one I will put it there and I will also offer a bigger prize including a cash payment of at least $250 USD (I'll pay more if it is truly outstanding). It should be around one minute long and it needs to have great music too (with no licensing issues). I'll keep the competition open for two months or so, but I reserve the right to declare no winner . Feel free to post here to ask any questions.

This is just too awesome !! Can a scene be choosed in both competition ?

Post by **spacedoctor** » Mon Nov 16, 2015 8:34 pm

Cool, great ideas!

Post by **Magic** » Tue Nov 17, 2015 4:59 pm

Can a scene be choosed in both competition ?

Sure

. But for the video, I would hope that it has more than one scene -- maybe 3 or 4.

Post by **TanookiMonk** » Fri Nov 20, 2015 12:41 am

Ok so here is one entry right there

. Everything was made within magic. I even recreated real molecular structure wich give a more detailed touch to it !

There is some things i could adjust but this can give a good idea of where i wanted to go with this. Maybe i will upload a new version later... will see !

I uploaded the magic file in attachment. So hope this could help somebody out there !

Post by **Magic** » Fri Nov 20, 2015 5:40 pm

Wow that's very nice! The only thing is that it runs kind of slowly on my PC (around 35 fps), which is supposedly a fast machine. Not sure why but I'll have a closer look.

Post by **TanookiMonk** » Fri Nov 20, 2015 5:49 pm

There is definitely something fishy right there because i just tried it on my girlfriend's computer wich is a Athlon X2 255 with 4g of ram and embedded graphics. And it run at about 50 fps !

Post by **TanookiMonk** » Sun Nov 22, 2015 6:55 pm

Hey Eric,

Earlier you said : "It should be around one minute long and it needs to have great music too (with no licensing issues)."

So this is another thing we should look deeper. What kind of music type you would like ? Something Modern ? Uplifting ? Deep ? Hard ?

i was making music today so i just made a little song in 1 hour with chiptune/lofi element that could fit in the hard category. Keep in mind that this is nowhere near from being finished but this could give you an idea of where you want to go with this !

https://soundcloud.com/qitano/magic-mus ... -1/s-wiaws

Post by **Magic** » Mon Nov 23, 2015 6:57 pm

That's pretty good! The length is perfect. And the voice at the end is cool

.

I don't really care too much about exactly what genre the music is. The two most important things are that it sounds professional and that the beat stands out really well in the visuals.

If more than one person makes a really great video, perhaps what I can do is edit them together so there are examples with different music. In that case I would consider multiple winners

.

So I think just make whatever you like, because that way it will be the best.

Post by **Fractal Grinder** » Wed Nov 25, 2015 8:17 pm

So for your competition Eric I have a few questions because im super interested:

All we need is a finished Mp4 or other video file or do you want a project file?

Can we submit multiple entries?

When is the deadline?

Do we have to host the file somewhere where it can play or can we just send you the full quality uncompressed file?

Post by **Magic** » Thu Nov 26, 2015 6:39 pm

The main thing I need is the project file, but of course I also need any supporting assets (audio files, images, models, etc.). You can easily collect these all into one place using the File > Collect Assets command.

I don't need the exported .mp4 because I will render it myself. This way you don't need to send me a big video file, and also I'll be able to re-render it at higher resolution in the future (for example, 4K).

All the project files I like will be included as sample projects in future versions of Magic. This includes the project file for the video on the web site home page, if one is good enough for that. All the supporting assets will be included also, so that's why they have to be original or at least public domain.

Yes, you can submit multiple entries. Any project file that gets used as a sample project will result in a free product key for the author. Any project file that gets used in the home page video will result in the minimum $250 cash prize also. I will also credit the author(s) publicly on the web site, with a link if they want.

As I've said before though, I reserve the right to choose none at all for the home page video if I feel they aren't good enough for that

.

I will also test any project files to make sure they run at least at 30fps in fullscreen mode on my 13" MacBook Pro (Mid-2012), which I consider to be a "medium-level" system (2.5 Ghz Intel Core i5, Intel HD Graphics 4000).

The deadline will be the Sunday after New Year's Day (January 3).

Lemme know if you have any other questions! And feel free to post works-in-progress in this topic if you want feedback.

Post by **TanookiMonk** » Mon Nov 30, 2015 2:39 am

Thanks to you guys (Eric and Sadler) We talk about the "Z-Fighting" problem earlier (See : viewtopic.php?f=2&t=557)

So i want to share a good cube example for shiping with magic so here is what i did :

Post by **Sadler** » Mon Nov 30, 2015 3:59 pm

Cubes look great - mesmerising. If I might suggest, with Random on each RGB the colours change so quickly they lose saturation - I guess due to persistence of vision or because all three RGB values rarely converge at high saturation values. If you did want to slow down the colour change and increase saturation you could replace the RGB module with an HSB module with Random on Hue, a Hold modifier to control the speed and an offset to control the range.

: hsb.png (15.76 KiB) Viewed 125345 times

Anyway, just a suggestion!

Post by **Magic** » Tue Dec 01, 2015 4:33 pm

So i want to share a good cube example for shiping with magic so here is what i did :

Very cool! I think I agree with Sadler that a Hold modifier would make the random colors a bit less dizzying (Hold 0.2 looks good to me), but really it's just a matter of preference. Overall, still a great job

Post by **jsljustin** » Fri Dec 04, 2015 5:03 pm

Hi Eric,

do we post a link to a video here? As I have a video to an original song I did recently as a promo for my latest CD. The song and video is quite long actually, around 6 minutes, but there are 3 sections in it (a few minutes worth) that feature magic visuals quite heavily. Should I post it here? I can also edit it if there are sections you like better than others for your promo idea.

Edit - The reason I am asking this question again (I just read an earlier post of yours after posting originally) is that my magic project files and music assets are quite small in size, but then when you add all the other video layers and compositing elements, the project size is in the GB range, so not really practical to upload here.. and then of course you may or may not have issues with syncing it all up, as I put a lot of work into getting everything synced, not something that can just be handed over and easily managed.. the video I did took many months of hard work, compositing, editing and rendering to complete..

Thanks.
Justin

Post by **Magic** » Fri Dec 04, 2015 6:02 pm

Hey Justin, you can post a link to the video now if you want (so people can give you feedback), but eventually -- before January 3 -- I would need you to send me all the assets. I need to be able to render the final video myself, so that I can do it at very high quality using the .png export option, as well as add titles, change the resolution/length, etc.

However, I'd strongly prefer it if projects didn't require a lot of supplemental assets, because I do want to include them in the Magic release, and I can't have the file sizes be too big. In fact, it would be best if all the assets weren't bigger than a few MB total.

One other reason I need your project file is to see how fast it runs. I want it to run at 30-60 fps on a modest computer so that most people will be able to use it.

Post by **Derek Gee** » Fri Dec 04, 2015 8:21 pm

Not sure if this will be useful or not, it's just a simple text effect demo that uses a sample of an instrumental hip hop track I wrote many years ago (so there won't be any copyright issues). The file contains 5 basic scenes and a 7 scene playlist that's time synced to transition with the music track... and that's about it really. I chose to use the Text Options because they are a recent addition to Magic... I also kept it pretty simple just to show some basic functions to the newcomers

Zip File Download

Post by **jsljustin** » Sat Dec 05, 2015 12:33 pm

Ok Eric thanks..

I thought part 2 of this comp was for a promotional video... so assets are still needed for that? I realise you want to re-render, but unfortunately my videos are all at 25fps (as we use PAL standard here) so I don't imagine you are going to have a good time converting them to 30fps, unless you have something like Twixtor..

I'd like to submit a video still, but I am not sure, as I didn't just use magic in them, but used magic as complementary effects in them, so they do have a lot of assets outside of magic, as well as chroma-keying and so forth..

Post by **Magic** » Tue Dec 08, 2015 6:46 pm

I really want people to be able to see how the video is made. So that's why I need the project file. And the project should be quickly downloadable -- no more than a few MB including all the supplemental files. Everything will eventually be included in the main Magic download.

An easy way to keep the size small is to create most of the video using Magic only. It would also help to keep the focus on Magic, which is the main point. Know what I mean?

Post by **Kvasnik** » Tue Dec 08, 2015 11:09 pm

hi so I will submit a project also (with 3/4 scenes), with some music.

In case the project is not used I wouldn't mind contributing just the music. I plan to make some new 1 minute track for the competition, some fairly basic and mild techno, but if anybody needs music to use you can check my soundcloud (https://soundcloud.com/kvasnik) and scroll down past some of the more weird music I have there

What I'll make though will be more mainstream / standard production than what I have on soundcloud.

Not fussed about money for the music as I can relate to wanting copyright-free material (my student film-making days).

Another possibility is to split the track into parts (e.g. kick drum, synths, bass). It's what I plan for the magic project I'll contribute.

Just a heads up till I come up with something.

Post by **jsljustin** » Wed Dec 09, 2015 7:22 am

Yes, thanks Eric, I now understand what you are asking.. I realise you basically just want magic to have full focus, hence my video(s) are too full of other things..

Will try and see if I can do some videos just using magic and music.

Thanks.
Justin

Post by **TanookiMonk** » Mon Dec 21, 2015 2:43 am

So here is a little scene for showing of how to handle the random modifier

Post by **TanookiMonk** » Mon Dec 28, 2015 5:34 pm

Hey Eric, Merry Christmas

!

Could you please give a link for a high resolution logo of magic ! It could be usefull for your competition ! Thanks !

Post by **Magic** » Wed Dec 30, 2015 6:02 pm

Sure, try this: http://downloads.magicmusicvisuals.com/ ... 24x768.png

Is that big enough? I can post a bigger one, but it would use a lot of VRAM (in Magic).

Post by **Magic** » Sat Jan 02, 2016 1:44 am

A few people emailed me and asked if they can have a bit more time for the competition. I don't think it would hurt too much to extend it for another week, so I'll accept submissions until Sunday, January 10. I hope you all had good holidays -- now get back to work!

Post by **TanookiMonk** » Tue Jan 05, 2016 4:48 am

Ok so here is my entry. I decided to make it without any external plugin (Isf, glsl, ffgl). Maybe i could have come up with something more complex but this way is a good promotional video as it can show up what magic can do on its own. I had fun doing this and hope that even if i do not win this competition, this entry will still be recycled in magic in any way !

Listen fullscreen, 1080p and volume high for best experience :

I can't wait to see your entry guys !

Edit : i uploaded a version that runs at minimum 25 fps on my out dated system, but runs at 35-40 Fps most of the project. This version also contains all assets
Here is the link : https://www.dropbox.com/s/7hghfkxk25jhv ... l.zip?dl=0

Post by **Fractal Grinder** » Wed Jan 06, 2016 3:09 am

So I am gonna try my best to get a video out to you by Sunday. Just saw this now so idk we will see if i make anything up to my standards.

Post by **jsljustin** » Sat Jan 09, 2016 5:38 pm

Sorry I was unable to contribute, in the end my recording computers' motherboard died and I was unable to get a song down for this..

Hope you get some good entries Eric, and thanks for the competition..

Cheers
Justin

Post by **deskmate** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 2:10 am

I also had a week full of Murphy's Law. Anyway, don't know if this qualifies but here's mine.............

Post by **Terry Payman** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 8:00 am

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/4sk34kgzx6fr ... zFHKa?dl=0

Post by **Terry Payman** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 8:18 am

Terry Payman wrote:https://www.dropbox.com/sh/4sk34kgzx6fr ... zFHKa?dl=0

Hopefully comp 2.magic in the above directory will be acceptable as my last-moment entry - I've had very little time to work on Magic but wanted to submit something that featured waveforms.

It's a sample project rather than a full Magic "showreel", using multi-track sound which has been further filtered with the aim of producing clean waveforms. I didn't quite finish it, and there's a lot of cleaning up to do.

I'll render it as it stands, as my formal entry, but will make a further cleaned-up version.

Edit: I finally got the video to render. I'd left the default Stereo Mix feeding "Input 0" on the last three scenes, rather than using one of my audio files, so unsurprisingly those scenes rendered black. I didn't have time before the deadline to look at (or tune) these scenes (which came from an experimental project) and there are still missing FFGL edge detection modules so they're not as intended. This whole project is really just a combination of such experiments - I hadn't got enough time to extract all I wanted from my past work, or to successfully replace the FFGL modules with ISF equivalents.

I didn't want to post this publicly as it's really not finished
Use password magic

Credits
Music - Joe Payman
Droste GLSL code - ArKano22 http://www.gamedev.net/topic/590070-glsl-droste via SCORPION https://www.shadertoy.com/view/4tlGRn
ISF GLSL shaders- Vidvox http://vdmx.vidvox.net/blog/isf

The Magic files are in a zip-file here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/7c8heiobb9uku ... y.zip?dl=0
I substituted MP3 files for the WAV's in my original submission.
comp 2a1.magic is the unfinished project file I submitted just-in-time, 2a2.magic is the version with the correct final scenes that I finished later.

Updated video with correct final scenes. The last scene shows all the waveforms.

Post by **artnik** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 9:11 pm

I love the Droste effect Terry used in his submission. I am NOT a coder, but I tinkered with the .fs file to turn the Branches and Scale constants into sliders with a range of -100.0 to 100.0 and to take image input. Some of you may find it useful.

At most values, there's a rhythmic "pumping" of the magnification instead of the smooth scaling that occurs with scale set to the default of 0 .5

Any math genuises here know why this might happen? I'm very curious.

Cheers!

DROSTE.fs: Droste GLSL code - ArKano22 http://www.gamedev.net/topic/590070-glsl-droste via SCORPION https://www.shadertoy.com/view/4tlGRn; (2.46 KiB) Downloaded 1792 times

Post by **Terry Payman** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 10:50 pm

artnik wrote:... I tinkered with the .fs file to turn the Branches and Scale constants into sliders with a range of -100.0 to 100.0 and to take image input...

That's really cool - thanks for sharing! It's so much more versatile. I see what you mean by the "pumping" - but I can't at the moment see why.

Post by **artnik** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 11:33 pm

Updated with Offsets for X & Y (Origin is UL)

DROSTE.fs: (3.01 KiB) Downloaded 1727 times

Post by **Magic** » Tue Jan 12, 2016 4:31 pm

Thanks very much to all of you for your contributions!

Firstly, I'm going to improve upon my initial offer and give a free product key to everyone who created a video

-- TanookiMonk, Deskmate, and Terry Payman. (If I've missed anyone, please let me know.) Please send me a private message with your e-mail address and let me know if you want an activation added to your existing key, or if you want a separate new key.

Secondly, although I don't think I'm going to put any videos on the web site's home page, I've decided to create a new Gallery page for the "best-of" user-submitted videos. Tanooki and Terry, I will put your videos at the top, and I'm going to split the cash prize between you two

. So in your e-mail, also tell me how I can send you $125 USD. Deskmate, I enjoyed your video but it has a bit too much "default" content (from existing sample projects) for me to use on the web site.

Thanks again to everyone, and I hope we can have another competition later this year. I'll be looking to add more user-submitted videos to the new Gallery page, so start thinking about what you'd like to create!

Post by **TanookiMonk** » Tue Jan 12, 2016 5:10 pm

Hey thanks Eric ! This is great !! Congrats to you Terry and deskmate ! This new video section will be very cool !

Post by **Terry Payman** » Tue Jan 12, 2016 11:04 pm

Very generous! Thanks Eric!

Post by **Kvasnik** » Thu Jan 14, 2016 9:30 pm

Sorry I missed this one, I have been pretty busy with other projects. I saw Tanooki's video and thought it was great - better than what I would come up with!