An Example Splines Based Audio Structure / Peak visualizer

Just to post that there is now a small gallery of the reversioned and rengineered wow labs study items incorporating GL Tool objects instead of sprites.

Cybero Gallery

Just thought it would be nice to share these, they make for such good iTunes visualizers.

Expect more soon.

:-)

whoah! That's a BIG collection of visualizers in the gallery! Thank you!

I'm off to a rough start, however. Upon initializing SpineFlow, iTunes stalls out severely. So ... I've pulled all 18 compositions out of /Library/Compositions and I'll re-add them one at a time and observe. As of this posting, I can confirm that the issue persists with only SpineFlow re-added.

OS X 10.5.7. Intel X7900

I wanted to add that I find your website to be quite nice. I spent some time there last night. Very attractive.

leegrosbauer wrote:
OS X 10.5.7. Intel X7900

Just to be somewhat pedantic, but the x7900 is the CPU, not the GPU -- with QC stuff, it's often the GPU that's relevant (and sometimes ppc/x86, but not the actual model).

(this is a very rough approximate listing)

If you have a MacBook or MacMini from 2007, you could have an Intel GMA950. From 2008, an Intel X3100. From 2009, an Nvidia.

If you have a MacBook Pro from 2007, you could have an Nvidia or an ATI. From 2008 or later, an Nvidia.

If you have an iMac from 2007 or 2008, you could have an ATI. Somewhere they changed to Nvidias too (late '08 maybe?)

If you have a Mac Pro, congratulations ;), and you could have either an ATI or an Nvidia (no hard-and-fast rules for these that I know of).

Ah, thanks! Looking, looking ..

iMac late 2007, Intel X7900, ATI RadeonHD2600, OS X 10.5.7

Thanks again. Also, that graphics unit did require a firmware update early on after release, as I recall. Where do I find the ppc/x86 info? I don't know where to look for that.

PPC (powerPC) was the processor for pre-2007 (2006?) era macs. There was a G4, and a G5 processor (and those have other divisions, but they don't matter at the moment, as you're on an Intel).

"x86" is for intel chip (historically, they were all named with model numbers ending in "86", as in 8086(1970's), 80186(late 1970's), 80286(1980's), 80386(mid-1980's), 80486(late 1980's), then 80586/pentium(mid-1990's), then they went to the "Pentium" branding up to present date)

You can find which Intel CPU you have in the "About this Mac" dialog. It's very likely an Intel Core Solo, and Intel Core 2 Duo, or possibly a Xeon (Mac Pro only).

Note the "Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo" part -- that means it's an Intel (x86, not ppc) Core 2 Duo (sometimes C2D). the X7900 is a specific model of C2D (mine's a T5600 or something, I think?) -- those typically don't matter except for really really obscure cases (I've never personally had to deal with that info as a mac developer, and only a handful of times as a Linux developer in the past)

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Phendrana , close by to some other virtual entities. [metroids methinks & nintendo]

subtle - that's what I really call clever marketing.

Regarding the SplineFlow loading issue, given that you were browsing that gallery portion of my site at the time when I would have been completing uploads and editing, still somewhat in motion there to be honest, but long and short of it is that you might well have downloaded a bit of a partial file, incomplete data - can happen.

I've also had to avoid falling into the habit of uploading a file whilst it is rendering live, that might also be associated with the problem you reported as it can grossly inflate the resulting file in size and adversely affect operation upon reloading in my experience, might simply be a cache related problem there though.

I've taken the personally difficult step [:-)] of my breaking my habit of keeping QC open and running anything when uploading example files and shall have reloaded the Spline Flow in short order.

Learnt a lot from the pedantry sub-thread that might prove useful when shopping around for some new kit.

cybero wrote:
Phendrana , close by to some other virtual entities. [metroids methinks & nintendo]

Yeah, when I got my macbook (white), I needed to name it, and it reminded me of the snowy "phendrana" region from metroid prime (it also has a nice sound to it, to my ears at least). Not actually a plug though :)

(My MacBook Pro, in contrast, is called "Norion", which is another metroid location, due to the mbp's metalic appearance.)

Ok. I should have said Core 2 Duo. Horticultural taxonomy messes me up, too. I'm old and creaky. lol :-)

I've now loaded and observed each composition individually. I also experience the same issues as previously reported with DarkSplineFlowChromatic and SplineFlowPoints. Separately, SplineSpokes2 does not appear in the visualizer index.

(I've attempted re-downloading the referenced compositions but it appears that you may be in the process of reorganizing the links at the moment. I'll wait till later.)

All the other compositions seem to be working well. They are really nice, too! Thanks!

To avoid the rigmarole of installing and de-installing visualizers, just run the visualiser within Quartz Composer , whilst concurrently running the Jelly iTunes visualizer [Quartz Composer visualizer bundle based] in the iTunes visualizer window - not full screen for obvious reasons.

I've looked at the files you named.

There seems no real consistent connection, two did not have name and full copyright or Free Software Licence information in the information list, one had not been categorized by type, yet all appear in my visualizer list. I've noticed this kind of behaviour before now, however it seems inconsistent, though points probably to some general work routine related matters such as having full editorial information and being stylized so that what is maybe 'forgiven' on one's own machine does not become a problem elsewhere.

I shall have to look to making sure that the files are thoroughly formatted and categorized prior to launching them into the vastness of the www :-)

Thanks for your feedback.

My thanks to you. These are really nice visualizers!

cybero wrote:
To avoid the rigmarole of installing and de-installing visualizers, just run the visualiser within Quartz Composer , whilst concurrently running the iTunes visualizer in the iTunes visualizer window - not full screen for obvious reasons.

Under this circumstance, I get the same results with the visualizers in question even though they are now in a separate folder on the desktop and no longer in the /Library/Compositions folder. With the iTunes visualizer running, upon opening the compositions in Quartz Composer the computer stalls out. Force quitting iTunes seems to clear the issue and the compositions then run well in Quartz Composer. SplineFlow is really beautiful!

As mentioned in my edit of my previous post above, I'll redownload after you've had a chance to review the gallery page. Currently the links seem to be under revision.

Seems I can still edit this post, so I will: I don't know if it's significant or not, but the AccelerateYourMac website has just now posted some reportage that indicates that the ATI RadeonHD2600 GPU that I have was indeed involved in yesterday's update of OS X to v 10.5.7. They report that changes have been made to the 3D drivers between 10.5.6 and 10.5.7. Given that information, and for comparative purposes, I've also reviewed all of the wowlab visualizers which had been previously installed. They seem to still be acting normally.

hohoho...

Network....Vandelay.

Computer- Sans Serif.

The very unfortunate thing is that I now have Metroid music stuck in my head. Or maybe NOT so unfortunate. It is pretty cool music...

To digress... it amazes me how Metroid was setup to have levels spawn endlessly in certain cases.

Is that approved by Wow Labs, or are you just going "gung ho" with it?

Well now there's a good question, gtoledo.

I have just ventured forth with this, although I have been in prior communication with wowlabs regarding other matters and await reply.

wowlabs website states that their original files require Intel + Leopard, as I discovered, this isn't so and advised them of this.

Your question has prompted me to mail them again and to more closely examine their stated copyright arrangements, which are generally everything on their website.

In point of fact the study items would seem to have been originally published as copyright wowlabs - no surprise there .

The reversioned files are being published in the same sort of spirit with a Free Software Document Licence covering with prior credit given to the primary originator, although much of their original work has been altered, removed, replaced and so on.

To be honest if the answer to my most recent mail to wowlabs comes back in the negative I shall of course comply.

Personally don't see that any actual commercial copyright infraction has been made, but await the lab's response.

See their site for details

Quote:
Double-click on the downloaded file. Follow the instructions on the screen for installing.

System requirements: Mac OS X 10.5 or later. iTunes 8.0.1 or later.

Platform: intel

It is freeware, but only for private, non-commercial use, educational use.

contact: info@wowlab.net

Probably covers all the bases, after all I'm literally giving these away, just as wowlabs did with their original and thoroughly creative work for the iTunes visualizer.

Great study items.

No doubt- they are great study pieces and from looking at the stills of your stuff, what you have done looks awesome. I haven't looked at any of it (the qtz's themselves).

I think that "private" in that statement on their site is an operative word. The qtz's are kinda free business cards for their company, in a sense. Note that these come with an installer setup, and the qtz's themselves are a bit obscured in the original download file.

What a difference another site navigation route makes, mine was look at each sample and then click / download them individually. I see the main installer link though.

Private / Personal - non - profit , mm we shall see.

As I've publicly stated, if wowlabs require the files to be taken down, then I'll oblige.

They are freeware, not for profit, to study and enjoy.

Well the primary difference between wowlabs originals and the rversioned compositions I've posted up are the use of Kinem GL plgin dependent objects, splines, dots, line and so on.

Perhaps there will be a need for an update to Kineme GL to accomodate this.

Perhaps it is the post update blues that usually sorts itself out after CRON scripts have run.

We shall see.

On my PPC 10.5.6, just about to run and see if I need / can get an update. [turns out I do, we shall see what happens thereafter]

Doubt that I'll get the same problem as I run a GeForce 5200, not an ATI card. Physical drivers, have to be exactly right or else they can cause all sorts of problems.

Wowlabs originals used only Sprites, default primitives and Imported / embedded images and so don't come anywhere close to running into any plugin dependent problems at all.

Yeah. In all honesty, I've never had great confidence in my graphics card. It came out of the gate flawed initially and Apple quickly had to issue a firmware fix-o for it and occasional glitching has appeared, albeit infrequently, ever since.

We'll just sit tight and see how it goes. Thanks again for the compositions. They are really nice. It amazes me how industrious you folks are in here. phew. Hard workers! (now it's my turn .. I'm off to paint a heap of fences)

Post update to 10.5.7 and both wow labs and the re-versioned Kineme GL object files run brilliantly.

Boy , do I feel sorry for anyone adversely affected ATI card wise. That must really burn.

Oh yeah, I think you are safe :) I just remembered that the first time I saw those qtz's, noting the whole installer setup, and trying to figure out where they put the qtz's in the system.

The stills look extremely impressive, and look like they really took those setups up a few notches! All I can say is "duuuude". In a good way ;) I really have to use that spline more!

Well, don't feel sorry. I'm not crying. Just reporting. I finally got done painting and I've had a chance to look for the log info. Here's a bunch of iTunes related stuff from this morning at about the time of our initial discussions. Maybe somebody can make sense of it. I myself don't know how to read it, but I think it's related to the issues under consideration.

Any assistance would be appreciated.

Lots of safe-mode-style problems (QCAudioInput failed to connect to blah blah happens because QCAudioInput isn't allowed in iTunes, as far as I've seen).

Then, some Javascript errors (the script in a|x's initial composition had some bugs that triggered these every so many frames). These cause the "Render Failed at time xx.yy" lines.

Finally, some memory allocation failures (lines with mmap, and 16777216 in them) -- this could be due to Javascript leaks, other iTunes problems, or some memory leak in QC, QT, or iTunes (difficult to tell, really).

Ok, thanks. I'll just set those few comps aside and if the subject gets revisited I'll try to make inquiry at that time if it seems appropriate.

It perhaps might be that the compositions are not loading correctly, causing iTunes to stall out? Your posting today on the mailing list regarding missing nodes got me to wondering about that possibility, although I realize it's not the same circumstances.

Thanks for your review of the log.

cwright wrote:
Then, some Javascript errors (the script in a|x's initial composition had some bugs that triggered these every so many frames).

Ooops, yes. Fixed in later versions though...

a|x

Thanks for the invaluable feedback.

Definitely going to iron out the kinks in the failing composition.

Most definitely don't need any QC Audio Input kicking off in iTunes. [my bad]

Although I see one other of my compositions listed in the console copy, that one's error as such is just that it doesn't create a preview - at that time - Also that sort of error also is reported in the same log is it not for user interface related items, such as

Creating thumbnail' timed out for '<QLThumbnailRequest /Users/leegrosbauer/Desktop/Saved Setups and Effects/Inactive Effects/3D Transformation.qtz>' 

so, I'm kind of ignoring that one.

I was really most worried about JavaScript errors when I first read through your post this morning, last thing I want to be handing onto people.

The composition kicking off some errors did not even have JavaScript in it - LOL - I love it - however, that QC Audio Input is most definitely worth pursuing and removing.

A repurposed FeatherLight shall be getting uploaded soon.

Thanks again

Thanks for the favourable and helpful feedback, gtoledo, cwright, leegrosbauer.

All of the constructive enquiry and feedback has been most useful to me.

Pre-flight checking of Quartz Compositions.

Ah, I can see a page dedicated to such essential matters in the offing.

But first, bearing in mind what you all have fed back to me, I shall be rather more carefully vetting products prior to publishing them.

Purchasing Performance Inspector also seems like a good idea in the long run.

'Twas FeatherLight / Chromatic that did create many of those reported errors with my redundant incorporation of QC audio input. How negligent of me :-(

I have taken down the offending item, although it is currently in 'intensive' care :-) it shall be back on the field of play shortly after an extensive refit and a couple of day's holiday.

Another similar, spline based audio interactive animation aka visualizer has taken that malingering lameface's place in the rankings - SplineBlossom floats into place < or is it just edges into place by a margin - [CSS pun ] > •

To be honest, I found replacing entirely far easier than reverse engineering my reversioned file.

{ definitely looking forward to purposing some more of my own originals - another gallery window to populate with cheerful puppy dogs wagging their tails advertising hot chocolate }

I shall surely be treading confidently , but carefully, through future composition publishing.

In the meantime Cybero Gallery is , in effect my sample thread until further notice, though I expect to be submitting solutions, problems and surprises a plenty as I bring together the three things I'm especially liking, Quartz Composer, Kineme Tools and music :-)

My thanks again to you for the delightful compositions, cybero.

I would also like to offer my apologies for being late with the log. I'm not comfortable with the console and tend to forget that it's a primary diagnostic tool for programmers, which I am not. As I've mentioned elsewhere, I'm old and creaky as well as not being a coder. ummmm ... toss some liniment at me? Just use construction-worker parlance: "Hey buckwheat! You still broke down over there? Give us the blinkin' log before you lose consciousness again, ok?" ahahahaha :-)

Salut, cybero. The Gallery is lovely.

No worries, better console sometime than never IMHO :-)