[Sharing is Glitchy] Video Shuffler Device

[gavspav]

Here is my first go at a video enabled version of the Buffler Shuffler device.

There is a quick video demonstration here: http://www.vimeo.com/8350543

Grab the device here: http://www.digitalfunfair.co.uk/Video_S ... uffler.zip



Instructions

Well its like the Buffer Shuffler but with Video!

First, drag the showvideo device included in the zip file into the first track.
Then drag Video_Shuffler into the first track (and additional tracks if you like)

Ableton plays the audio and the M4L device plays the video.
The device will try to locate the video file from the name of the playing clip in the Live set. If the video file a)has the same name(minus the extension) and b)is in the Max File Path then it should work. Set the autofind extension to /mov or .avi depending on which you want.

Alternatively drag the video file into the Live.drop box in the device and set the file extension to 'none' in the video shuffler device.

The big square toggle opens the Shuffler GUI in a bigger window - useful if you choose 32 steps as you cant see what you're doing otherwise

The null button sets all the directions to X - I found it useful to start from here.

The two rows of 1 - 8 allow you to save and recall shuffler states. These aren't saved with the Live Set (yet)

There is a Ram button which gives you the option of loading the video files into ram.

All the other features are the same as the original buffler shuffler but should work with video - not sure about the constraints feature though as I've never really understood this.

Clips can be looped or not - its up to you - if they are looped to 1 bar they should perform consistently.

For sync to work, clips need to be warped straight at the project tempo from the beginning of the clip. Actually I'm getting a bit confused now - not sure what happens if the video is not at the same speed as the project tempo. In any case its a glitchy effect - shouldnt matter too much.

The height/width/x/y sliders are for video size/position and are modulatable - you could draw clip envelopes and move the video around.

Lastly, clicking on the video window and hitting escape toggles full screen.

If you've got this far then good luck and have fun!

[technog0d]

This is awesome! I have been looking for a creative way to use video within Live. Great stuff! I will definitely use it.

Mike

[zealtv]

nice work! looking forward to playing with this.
especially like the way you have multiple devices feeding one window. very keen to look at the guts of this.
thanks for sharing.

[jon_moore]

Nice work. Can't wait to have a poke around under the hood on this one.

[circuitb]

nice project gavspav!!!
just dropping some ideas...

on option to select the video source: video file / live stream (eg: webcam) : for the live stream option the first pass ...like 1 bar....fill the RAM buffer with the video or again better in the graphic card memory (quite faster: don't know if it's possible in Max?)

[gavspav]

Thanks for the feedback - I should try and optimize/document/organize at some point.

circuitb - I have actually done a live streaming thing in a separate project - an av looper - I filled a jit.matrixset with grabbed frames and recalled them according to the playing position. This is in ram but I dont think storing large amounts of video on the graphics card is really viable - video would either be uncompressed ie take up all the memory very quickly or you'd have to use a codec which can be decompressed by your graphics card.

Unfortunately one of the updates killed the project - I cant even load it now.

Should be easy enough to get such a system working inside this device though.

I really want to be able to pipe web video into the device but cant find a way of getting the internet into max/m4l

I tried the streaming video from one mac to another tutorial thats floating around but no audio unfortunately.

Anyone know how to do it?

[circuitb]

interesting...i'm also working on AV looper
i'm using vvvv for video stuff...so i'm not a Max expert

...a major issue(for me) is the A/V sync since it's done in 2 different softwares(Live/vvvv)
especially when using the reverse/pitch playback features (with a massive workaround i managed to do it with the Looper Device)

anyway the Buffer_shuffler sounds great here

for short videos the GC memory is faster...
with vvvv i can store up to 40 seconds of uncompressed video
in the graphic card memory...(GTX with 2GB)...unfortunately ther's no way to compress/decompress the
video stored in the GC RAM (even if some codecs are GPU based : Codec GPEG2)

for the web stream in vvvv we've something called shared memory :
it's more or less like a video screen capture...it grabs frames
in the directx buffer...perhaps there's a similar thing for openGL?

hope you can recover your project with the upcoming version

[n1n0]

I can not get this to work. I am using Ableton 8.1.1.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

[gavspav]

Can you be a bit more specific?

Does it crash? do you see a video window? Does any video play? Are you dragging videos into the device or letting the device find them automatically.

If you list every step you go through trying to get it to work I might be able to spot why its not working.

[n1n0]

HI,

Thanks for the quick response and help!

It does not crash.

Yes, I see the video window after loading the showvideo module to a track. Its black, and says "grid" at the top.

Video does not play. Audio does if I load the video to a clip.

I have tried both method described in the read_me file.

Ableton Live version 8.1.1.

First, I make a new audio track.

Second, I add the showvideo device to the audio track. A video window pops up that says "grid".

Third, I add the Video_Shuffler to the same audio track.

Fourth, I drop a video file ( myfilename.mov ) to the Video_Shuffler device, and set the file extension to "none". The video name shows up in the "Drop something here box". I hit play, but nothing happens. Just a black screen in the showvideo window.

Fifth, I try alternate method of loading, I redo steps 1-3. Then I drag the video file onto the track and load it into a clip. Set the autofind extension to .mov. trigger the clip, nothing happens.

* I can provide screen shots if that helps.

Thanks again for your time!

[gavspav]

Here's a few guesses as to what might be going on:

Assuming there is a file both live session view and the device then you might need to fiddle around with the width/height/x/y sliders in the device. Perhaps they have all reverted to zero and need resetting. Reckon that might be it?

If not maybe a file issue - its a bit convoluted. I'll go through it again.

Whichever method of loading you choose, you always need to load a clip into your Live Set. Probably best to ignore the autofind bit for now. Drag an audio or video file into the live set, then drag a video file onto the live.drop in the device.
If you do this the file extension doesn't matter.
(if you want the device to automatically find a video file then you must set the file extension before you load the audio clip into Live and make sure that the video file resides smewhere inside a valid Max patch. You can check/set these from Max: Options>File Preferences

Any luck?

[n1n0]

Hey Thanks for the suggestion, I adjusted the height, width x & y, and now its working.

This is super cool! Thanks!

[gavspav]

Thanks for posting.

I've edited the device to set the initial width/height to 320 x 240.

[delicioso]

Looks great. Has there been any more updates?

[gavspav]

Nope. What did you have in mind?

Edit**ah some of the stuff above maybe! No sorry.