Just in time!

Only a whopping 6 years and one and an half months after its first mention during Keynode 13 and to the day exactly 5 years after the release of the The Humble Quad Bundle, you can finally hold it in your own hands. Not exactly as the full release we had planned but as a preview:

To our own surpise we couldn't finish all the things we had planned to release today. Most notably the "windows executable export" didn't make it. We know this is a bummer, but we want to get this right and it just needs some more time.

Apart from that we figured there is no more need at this point, to keep it to ourselves. It is definitely good enough for a preview, definitely good enough to gather some feedback to incorporate into the final 1.0 release for which we take some more time to finish our plans. So let's have a look at what we got:

What's new compared to the vvvv beta series

Forum

To accommodate for the fact that from now on we essentially have 2 products, we added two main categories to the forum:

The existing question, feature, bug, general sections were moved into vvvv beta, and the vvvv gamma section got its own question, feature, bug and general sub-sections. Note that by default the search is constrained to the category you're currently viewing. When you're using vl in beta, still feel free to ask questions in the beta forum. We'll handle that.

Pricing

We've previously announced the upcoming pricing model for vvvv gamma, which we're currently refining and we'll update you on changes to it soon.

Until further notice, the previews of vvvv gamma are free of charge but due to its preview-nature we don't recommend using it in commercial scenarios yet.

Download

Here you go: vvvv gamma 2019.1 preview 344

If you get greeted by this friendly fella, when running setup, please click: "More info -> Run Anyway".

Changelog:

344: 14 05 19

• PerfMeter in Skia renderer (F2) now shows UpdateTime and RenderTime
• added checkerboard style that can be used as a paint for any layer
• improved scrolling behaviour for sliders
• CoreLib improvements
• sped up RepellingCircles demo patch
• several compiler fixes
• compiler performance improvements

318: 09 05 19

• frames now let you choose colors from a palette instead of the color chooser
• frames now move their content along as you drag on their titlebar
• frames now only move elements that are fully contained
• frame is now included in the "surround with" context menu
• press SPACE to force-include frames in selections
• in inspektor changing precision for floateditor now also sets precision for min, max and stepsize.
• can now grab border control points on regions properly without interfering with region resize
• default culture setting is now invariant

303: 08 05 19

• fixed missing dependency for VL.OpenCV

301: 07 05 19

• windows timer is set to 1ms on start
• mainloop uses less performance and doesn't block windows messages
• Skia Renderer has PerfMeter build in, toggle with F2 when selected
• fixed dpi problem with text in SymbolFinder
• ctrl+T/ctrl+shift+T to bake/clear type annotations on datahubs
• fixed "invalid cast in typeunification" error

287: 06 05 19

• shortcuts now work with all tabs closed
• Renamed action "Assign->Pop" to "Assign->Clear assignment" to make it easier to understand what the action does
• Firmata: Tokenizer was stuck in an endless loop
• fixed null exception in ResizeSelectedMouseHandler
• Typewriter: Shift+PageUp/PageDown - select to the beginning/end of the document, cursor stays at the same column.
• OverlayEditor now has minimumsize (again)
• ImageEncoder doesn't have the bmp option anymore as skiasharp can't encode into bmp

273: 02 05 19

• fixed another problem with editors/tooltips and high dpi settings
• fixed "ReguarExpression" typo
• AllAtOnceEditor for vectors now sticks to value of first component
• fixed problem with enum-editors on pins getting stuck
• no more duplicate "Horizontal" entry in IOBox inspektor
• inspektor now also shows elementtype properties for Spread<Vector>
• serialization for custom types doesn't throw errors for inspektor/defaults
• upstream dis/connected iobox no longer looses its settings
• added GroupBy (Length) and GroupBy (Count) nodes to split a spread into spread-of-spreads
• added Clean node: removes slices with empty strings
• added RepellingCircles skia demo

252: 27 04 19

• fixed dpi handling for fonts in editors
• can now set ApartmentState of BusyWaitTimer to make UI threads
• mainloop now has high precision
• added PerfMeter to VL.Skia
• editing comment/string now keeps size of editor
• comments now have correct initial size
• StringEditor on pin now has wider fixed width
• fixed problem with paddings differing between single and multiline textbox
• fixed setting bool pin value via dragging
• fixed interaction in signature view of patch explorer
• fixed deadlock when implementing interfaces

230: 24 04 19

• fix for regions inside operation definitions disappearing
• fix for patches with more than 10 operations showing later operations as black
• quad icon now works for all themes
• previous/next icons now colored correctly in all themes
• string editors/comments now have a configurable "Max Visible Characters" to prevent low performance with too long lines

222: 18 04 19

• VL.Skia Camera 2d is not experimental anymore
• fixed pin interaction in signature view
• fixed an edge case when then node browser wouldn't show up
• fixed IOBox rendering freezes
• added many tags to VL.CoreLib to find nodes faster
• VL.Skia is referenced by default for new documents
• toggle toggles on every mouse click
• IOBox values are not applied while typing anymore

200: 15 04 19

• inputs/outputs of definitions/regions and groups can be moved (again)
• fixed problem with documents not opening anymore
• fixed file path serialization of dependencies when the path couldn't be made relative to the document itself
• fixed coloring of pads and region bordercontrol points

191: 13 04 19

• a comment that only holds a link can be right-clicked to open in the browser
• recent sketches now show in reverse order: most recent is topmost
• fix: improved recizing of nodes, regions and ioboxes
• fix: input/output indicators on pins and pads are now in sync with tooltip (again)
• fix: selected spread ioboxes can now be deleted with backspace when hovered with the mouse

180: 11 04 19

• fixed background for definition patches
• Skia ButtonBehaviour now lets you specify which buttons to listen to

177: 10 04 19

• new setting DocumentAskOnFirstSave sets whether to ask for save location on first document save
• added "Show Intro Patch" to quad menu, to recall intro patch even if it's not shown on startup
• reactivated play/pause mode visualization
• various coloring/theme fixes
• active tab is underlined (again)
• definition patches now have a hatched background
• removed RestructureDocument from patch context menu
• default count of a collection pin group can now be configured
• Skia Group defaults to 2 inputs (again)

150:

• VL.OpenCV now comes with demo patches in Help Browser!
• fixes for Skia ImageReader and ImageWriter
• added '-m' or '--allowmultiple' command line arg to allow running multiple instances side-by-side
• shortcuts are deactivated for patch when Finder box is open
• several fixes for IOBox drawing and interaction

139:

• fixes various assembly not found exceptions when using nodes of the Midi category, the Script region or binary serialization: a, b, c

137:

• fixes problems with pin-editors: a, b, c
• enables spread-editors directly on pins

134:

• Info.vl in now called Intro.vl
• double-clicking .vl files will open with the already running instance
• Skia renderer goes fullscreen via F11 or Alt+Enter
• many fixes and tweaks

Apart from the promised and still missing parts, we're aware of quite some little glitches still and will update the download link above periodically. So please check back often and report your findings!

Yours truely,
devvvvs.

Who Dominik Jančík (domj)
When Sat, May 25th 2019 - 13:00 until Sun, May 26th 2019 - 18:30
Where Vzletná, Milady Horákové 56, Prague, Czech Republic

This two-day pilot workshop will introduce you to the secrets of light equipment and principles of visual programming.

Schéma is a new software based on vvvv and VL for controlling audiovisual installations developed in Prague. It allows for simple control of various lights and creating a wide range of animations through a combination of basic building blocks.

I posted more about the software itself in the WIP forum
https://discourse.vvvv.org/t/schema-streamlined-visual-programming-for-physical-devices/17545
Overview also available here http://schema.domj.net/

You will learn how simple it can be to breathe life into various light sources such as classic and smart lightbulbs, moving heads, LED strips or christmas light chains and what kind of equipment is required.

You will also have the option to brainstorm your own building block which will then be implemented in front of the group in the VL visual programming language.

If you’re interested in this topic but don’t have a controllable light of your own to play with, no problem! A simple DIY device for dimming battery powered christmas lights (or other similar light sources) will be offered on the spot. This device can connect to WiFi and communicate with the Schéma system.

This pilot workshop will primarily offer you:

• Early access to the development version of Schéma
• Overview of the various technologies you can encounter while dealing with light control at music and theatre venues, audiovisual installations and others (DMX, ArtNET, OSC, MIDI)
• Overview of the necessary and optional hardware equipment for light control from a PC (DMX converter, MIDI controllers, …)
• Introduction to the principles of visual programming and dataflow
• Familiarization with the Schéma system
• The option to influence future development of the system
• A live example of using the VL visual programming language

Please prepare the following:

• A computer running vvvv beta getting started
• An external PC mouse is recommended

The workshop will be carried out in czech or english depending on the common language of the participants.

The workshop will be streamed online.

More information and booking here https://www.facebook.com/events/2217690264988190/

previously on vvvv: vvvvhat happened in March 2019

have you tried it yet?

it is still hot and regularly updated! if you haven't yet, maybe the latest IOBox update convinces you to give it a go. massive thanks to everyone who is testing and giving feedback and reporting bugs. very much appreciated!

while we're onto fixing the still most pressing bugs we're now concentrating on 3 final things we mentioned in the roadmap: tooltips, executable export, documentation. these are the areas where we're hoping to have something to show next.

meanwhile if you have thoughts on working with Kinect2 in vl, please let us know.

and thanks to u7angel we have recordings of a recent vvvv gamma workshop, a presentation about Ocean Of Air and a VL.Xenko demo.

Contributions

happy to see vl based contributions rolling in...

Gallery

and some more not to miss:

• Bodies In Motion: Humanscale by m9dfukc
• Scalable storytelling environment by MESO
• Bosphorus: Data Sculpture by Refik Anadol

Jobs

and again some relevvvvant jobs are posted on jobboard Das Auge.

that was it for april. anything to add? please do so in the comments!

jojojo IO,

one of the more important features for quick prototyping in vvvv always were the IOBoxes. Here is an update that finally brings the vl IOBoxes up to par (and beyond) with what you were used to from vvvv beta.

Support for Spreads

Most notably missing so far was proper support for spreads. Sorted. When creating an IOBox via "start link -> middleclick" you now always get an interactive IOBox for the supported primitive types: ints, floats, bool, string, path, color, enum, even if they are spreaded or spread-of-spreaded or...

Or configure your own, by first creating a normal IOBox via right doubleclick and then configuring its type (middleclick it) via the Inspektor to a Spread type:

Key to spread IOBoxes is that you can directly set their count, without the need to open an inspektor. By default they now show a maximum of 5 entries and add a scrollbar to show more. If you want to see more, you can change the "Maximum Visible Entries" count via the Inspektor.

To quickly modify a constant spread you can also insert/remove slices when the inspektor is active:

Same as with other editors, the spread editors also work on inputs of a node to quickly tweak values:

And you can now specify defaults for input pins that are spreads:

Override values temporarily

Mostly useful for numbers and bools, in vl you can override upstream values directly, by manipulating an IOBox that sits in the middle:

Numbers

What we're used to from beta: Entering values via formula now also works:

Vectors

Vectors now allow you to change all components at once:

Also the Inspektor now shows all properties that you get on a float IOBox, so you can now also configure e.g. a vectors precision.

Strings and Chars

Both can now optionally show non-printable characters:

Colors

Color IOBoxes now also show you transparency:

Paths

Paths finally can be reduced to smaller sizes and show proper path ellipsis, ie. preferring to keep the last part of the value visible:

Click the little O icon to open the current file/directory with their associated program. ALT+click the icon to show the file/directory in the explorer.

Matrix

For completeness:

This is it for now.. Available for testing in both latest alphas and gamma previews.