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Hi all!
For the 10 people still using VPM these days, today VPDB (or vvvvpm.github.io) the frontend for installing packs via VPM will probably stop working as Github stops supporting the application authentication method that site was using. Unfortunately I don't have time nor incentive to maintain that site anymore. VPM doesn't require this site to work, however it was a key part of installing packs with it. Direct links using the vpm:// or vpms:// URI schemes still work, for example on contribution pages. vpack files uploaded to VPDB are actually safe and sound at https://github.com/vvvvpm/vpdb repository.
In case you desperately need to install something from that repo, you can use the raw content URL of a file from the repo and just replace the http part with vpm. For example
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/vvvvpm/vpdb/master/devvvvs/vvvv/latestalpha_auto.vpack
becomes
vpms://raw.githubusercontent.com/vvvvpm/vpdb/master/devvvvs/vvvv/latestalpha_auto.vpack
Or you can clone that repo and just use VPM file associations on .vpack files.
Sorry for the inconveniences and god-speed!
Previously on vvvv: vvvvhat happened in March 2021
So what have we got?!
Releases:
- There was a vvvv gamma 2021.3.2 release and you can now update your vvvv gamma licenses with a 20% discount
- And for vvvv beta latest previews now include VL 2021.3 already as well
We're in full swing working towards vvvv gamma 2021.4 and latest previews already include the promised TextureFX and are shipping with VL.Video.MediaFoundation for super easy VideoIn and VideoPayer nodes! If all goes well, next up we'll merge the improved patching performance branch into the previews...
Meanwhile, we added the following 3 offers to our portfolio:
- Want a quick intro to vvvv? Request a demo
- Want to get started with vvvv: We offer custom training
- Need a hand with a project? We offer custom support and development
Meetup
The last meetup was one continuous 2h and 24 minute long highlight, smoothly operated by baxtan. Here is what you missed (in case):
- Emanuel Gollop about his work with Robots and Machine Learning
- sebescudie about his Gamma Launcher & VL.ColorLovers
- m box about their inhouse toolkit built using vvvv gamma
- Bersun about his architectural synthesizer
- andresc4 about using vvvv for testing a covid ventilator
- gegenlicht about his PBR Utilities
- The FUSE Team about the status of the FUSE development
Contributions
New:
An update:
Update your nugets for the following:
And as always have a look at the forums Work-In-Progress section for some more recent goodies...
Gallery
Jobs
- Always keep an eye on the vvvv job board
- There are often some more on dasauge.de
- If you need a vvvv specialist or are one yourself, check out this listing of vvvv specialists available for hire
That was it for April. Anything to add? Please do so in the comments!
We get you and your team up to speed!
What we offer
- Basic Training: Get a basic hands-on overview of programming with vvvv. This can range from one day to multiple days, depending on how far you want to take this.
- Specialized Training: You're already familiar with the basics, but are interested to dive deeper into one or more topics. You name it and we'll make it happen for you.
Either way, we'll be preparing custom lessons for you in accordance with your requirements.
Just tell us briefly:
- Who you are
- What kind of training you're interested in
And we'll get back to you as soon as possible!
More options
You can also always learn vvvv on your own:
- Watching vvvv Tutorial and HowTo videos and consulting The Gray Book
- Joining vvvv courses and events at the NODE Institute.
If you're the happy owner of one or even more vvvv gamma licenses, please read on.
(Otherwise, please join the club first)
Remember: If you update your vvvv gamma license before it runs out, we thank you for your loyalty with a 20% discount. Updating a license means keeping it active and allowing you to use all the latest releases for your commercial projects.
Just a few clicks
When logged into the vvvv store you can get an overview of all your vvvv gamma licenses by choosing the "Licenses" section. It could look something like this:
Grayed-out licenses are inactive and can no longer be updated. Active licenses can be updated anytime which will always add one year to their current end-date. You can also update multiple licenses at once to have them all on one invoice. Convenient.
Note that you can change who's paying for the license: This will mostly make sense for people who started out with an "Individual" license but start feeling more pro and now want to pay as a "Freelancer, SME,...". But there are also reports of pro's feeling lucky and turning into a big fish. You will not be judged!
Email notification
You're all busy people, so in order to help you find a good moment to update you'll receive 3 email notifications:
- 4 weeks
- 2 weeks
- 1 day
before a license end-date to remind you of the possibility to update earning the discount.
That's already it. Shouldn't take you more than two minutes to update your licenses once a year. For the benefit of not having to worry about which version you're eligible to use and the peace of mind of properly feeding your workhorse...
We'd like to give you a tour!
Depending on who you are, vvvv can be your:
- Creative coding toolkit
- .NET live-programming environment
- Show control station
- Rapid prototyping toolbox
- Physical computing hub
vvvv is equally well suited for realizing projects and using it in research and education, especially in the following fields:
- Generative Design
- Interaction Design
- Data Visualization
- Computer Vision
- Virtual- and Augmented Reality
- Machine Learning
You can start your own research about vvvv in The Gray Book or request a demo, where we jump on a screen-share call with you and answer all your questions. This should be the quickest way to figure out if vvvv could be a good fit for you and your team.
In order to be able to tailor a demo for you, please tell us:
- Who you are
- What field you're working in
And we'll get back to you as soon as possible!
Our engineering team is here to help!
What we offer
- Project Consulting: Guiding you in planning the structure of your application, finding workflows and splitting workloads among your team and discussing strategies to make parts of your current project reusable in the future
- Project Support: Sharing responsibility for the success of your project by collaborating with you
- Custom Development: Adding support for a certain device, API or feature in vvvv that you need to realize a project
Just tell us briefly:
- Who you are
- What kind of support or development you're interested in
And we'll get back to you as soon as possible!
More options
You can also always get help:
- via the forum and chat
- the job-board
- or from vvvv specialists available for hire
Previously on vvvv: vvvvhat happened in February 2021
On the road again!
This time towards vvvv gamma 2021.4. Nothing much in the public previews yet, but a few things probably dropping there in the next few weeks. In particular, we've been working on the patching performance issue, TextureFX, the Buffer nodes and the Settings UI. So expect these things to show up in previews first. And if you haven't yet, please review what happened recently in VL.Stride land.
The last meetup was a blast again. Many thanks to host ravazquez and everyone who presented:
- maxss: Everything is Growing Everything Is Math
- domj: Schema's repo on github is now open. See: scnq-schema
- ravel: An AR tool for online presentations
- dottore: State of the FUSE project
- remony: I Want You... to be a bot
Learning
- Check out our latest tutorial: Generating a Recursive Broccoli
- Watch the Timeline your data using VL.Kairos webinar by dottore
- Follow the vvvv gamma Learn Log by takuma
Contributions
Some new:
- Point Sprites VL.Stride by catweasel
- DDS cubemap Stride Assets by AKa-visuals
- VL.GnerativeGestaltung by phlegma
And update your nugets for the following:
And as always have a look at the forums Work-In-Progress section for some more recent goodies...
Gallery
Jobs
- Always keep an eye on the vvvv job board
- There are often some more on dasauge.de
- If you need a vvvv specialist or are one yourself, check out this listing of vvvv specialists available for hire
That was it for March. Anything to add? Please do so in the comments!
Dear Devvvvelopers,
As you're well aware, vvvv gamma has been on an earlybird discount for nearly a year now. We bow to the early adopters and supporters who've bought their licenses already. ThankyouSOverymuch!
This is the final call for everyone who still hasn't taken the bait:
Insert Coin
Still need convincing?
vvvv has the self-proclaimed "most fair commercial licensing model" in the world. Let's have a look:
- No copy-protection
- No mandatory registration
- No feature limitations
- Pay per size of your business (Individual, Freelancer or SME, Big Fish)
- You own the last version you paid for
- Monthly payment options
What this means for your business
- No hassle with dongles or other kinds of DRM:
- Production: download -> install -> run vvvv wherever you need it
- Deployment: export as executable and distribute
- Everyone always gets the full functionality, no artificial limitations
- By paying less as a smaller business, it is easier for you to get started. By paying more as a bigger business, you're investing in a healthy and diverse user base and allow us to keep vvvv free for educational use
- As opposed to current trends in software licensing where you can no longer use a software when you stop paying for its subscription, with a yearly vvvv developer license you own the last version you paid for, forever.
- You can easily add developers to your team temporarily by paying for their seats monthly
As you can see, we don't need no #NFT to trust you to correctly declare your commercial use of vvvv.
Happy patching evvvveryone!
Since the first public preview release in summer 2020, we've made steady progress and released many updates based on feedback and bug reports. In case you didn't follow the daily changes, this blog post highlights additions you might have missed and are worth checking out.
Help and Example Patches
First and foremost, we added loads of new help and example patches. It is already a nicely browsable list in the help browser, with more in development:
Model, Mesh, Material and Texture Tooltips
A core feature of vvvv is to have a live preview of your data. And since you can patch your own tooltips to do exactly that, we patched previews for Materials, Models, Meshes, and Textures. More to come!
Material Cleanup
A Material describes the rendering pipeline. This is very fundamental and after working with the first iteration for a while we found some improvements:
We reduced the number of base nodes and added easier building blocks to customize a material. There are help patches for most of these, check the help browser and the material category in the node browser. It basically mirrors the Stride documentation.
Simpler Data Input
The parameters of a material are GPU values, either float or color. For the GPU a color is just a vector with 4 components, so we now have inputs of type GPU<Float32> and GPU<Vector4>. We simplified the node-set in a way that you can use a single value, a texture, or any dynamic GPU value. There are also nodes to input different values per instance. The reworked nodes are internally built with ShaderFX. If you are interested, have a look inside the new nodes to get an idea of how you can build your own.
Async Compilation and Caching
Compiling complex materials takes a while because there are often several shader stages involved. Stride has a mechanism to compile a material in the background and cache the compiled shaders on disc. So the next time the same material is used, it loads almost instantly. So when you see a geometry blinking green, it means that the material is compiling in the background and will be saved to disc. If it is blinking red, the material has an error.
In practice, this means a patch loads much faster the next time you open it.
Virtual Reality
Rendering any scene into a VR headset is now straightforward, just have a look at the new help patch.
Aspect Ratio and Units
When you build on-screen displays you often need pixel or device-independent units (DIP). And if images are involved, they should keep the same aspect as they are stored. For these tasks, we now have new nodes that calculate these spaces for you. And the QuadRenderer got aspect ratio modes that depend on the connected texture:
Perspective Look at Rectangle
Simulating a perspective that behaves like looking through a window is an important tool. It allows you to create cameras for interesting things like virtual productions and head tracking. There is also a help patch to get you started.
Spout and Shared Texture
You can now share textures with other software using Spout or shared textures. Spout 2 support is also planned for the next release.
Patch Script
This workflow is for advanced users. It allows you to attach a patch as a sync script to an entity. That's a common workflow in ECS-based game engines and you can find many tutorials on youtube that use this design pattern.
In some cases, this has an advantage over just placing an entity node in a patch and building logic around it. For example, you can retrieve your attached script-patch from the entity somewhere else and call operations on it. You can check out a use case in the forum thread How can I modify a material without changing the original node?. There is a help patch as well.
Light Shafts
Thanks to the efforts of TremensS we got help patches that explain how to use LightShafts:
Video Tutorials
So far, we released two video tutorials:
Other Bits and Pieces
Move to Official Stride
After we’ve done many pull requests that fix bugs and add features that we need, we switched to the official Stride release nuget packages. This allows for an easy workflow when you load a Stride project since the version now matches to what the Stride installer downloads by default.
Fullscreen
Got some fixes, however, there is one known bug. In a multiscreen setup, when the window is too far on the right on one screen, it goes fullscreen on the next screen to the right. We’ll try to fix this in the upcoming releases, of course.
TextureWriter
Easy node to write textures to disc. You can use this in combination with the incremental main loop mode to export animations.
General Advice
Most high-level nodes, like Sphere, DirectionalLight, and so on, are simple patches made from more fundamental building blocks. A good way to think about them is to see them as a "default setup" and not a finished black box.
So if you miss a feature, or a node does too much, look inside and copy parts of it, or the whole definition into your personal library document to customize it.
We also try to stay as close as possible to the Stride documentation. So if you are looking for more info on a certain feature, it is always worth peeking into it.
Contributing
If you have a useful addition or you want to contribute in any other way, you are welcome to fork VL.Stride on GitHub and make a pull request. We are always happy about new help and example patches.
What's Next?
As a first step we want to improve:
- Input event handling (Mouse, Keyboard, Touch, Gestures)
- TextureFX
- GPU resources handling, aka buffers and textures
We'll also add these features:
- Entity picking
- Load Model Animations
- Load Model Materials
And we are also working together with the FUSE team on more advanced rendering node libraries built on top of VL.Stride.
Looking forward to seeing what you will create with it! -> Latest download is always here.
yours,
devvvvs
P.S.: The gallery of VL.Stride impressions also got some new additions.
Here we are now!
Getting vvvv gamma 2021.3 out, including the 3d engine VL.Stride, was the last big milestone to bring vvvv gamma up to par with (and far beyond) vvvv beta. One could think this would give us a bit of a break but far from. The next big mountain we're looking forward to climb is right in front of us and it is called: .NET5.
.NET is the framework that vvvv gamma is built on and version 5 was just released a few months ago. It comes with a lot of goodies but also a bit of work for us to adopt to it. So moving vvvv gamma to .NET5 is our next big priority which we plan to ship with 2021.5 towards the end of the year.
Before that, we're planning to release 2021.4 around the end of May in which we take a lot of preparational steps towards .NET5 but don't do the switch yet. Like this, we're hoping to not delay the next release for too long and already get some nice things out earlier.
So here is a first attempt at a public roadmap. Let's see how that goes...
Planned for vvvv gamma 2021.4
Library
Since we now have the most common things in place, we're going into a cleanup phase here with these priorities:
- Update to the latest NuGet API to allow you to use all the latest nugets
- Streamline VL.CoreLib by moving parts that are not really "Core" or "Windows only" into separate libraries and making them open source
- Get more of the most significant nugets stable, starting with Audio and Video
A big focus will also be on further improving VL.Stride:
- Improve Mouse, Keyboard, Touch nodes
- Rework Buffer and Texture nodes
- Allow for simple shader creation
- Add a clean set of TextureFX
- Add Entity Picking
UI/UX
We all have a lot of wishes in this area but tackling some of the bigger things here will still have to wait for the switch to .NET5. For now, we're concentrating on the following:
- Tackle the existing performance issues that you face when handling larger projects
- Improving the workflow for setting the data type of pads
- Providing a UI for the Settings
Language
While there are many ideas how to improve the language with new features, we will need to focus on a cleanup of an already shipped language feature: with this release, we'll fix some bits regarding generic type definitions.
Planning a release ahead is difficult and can be disappointing when you mostly see the things that again didn't make it to the shortlist. We've also already laid out 2021.5 and 2021.6 internally but don't yet feel comfortable publishing them yet. The move to .NET5 still has a few unknowns that we want to better understand before we talk more about it. Therefore in the meantime, we only offer a few general notes about our further agenda. To be reviewed after each major release.
Apart from the upcoming major releases, we're committed to regular smaller bug-fix releases to the current 2021.3.x branch.
As always, you can follow our development by test-driving the daily previews.
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