You can tell you’ve been working on something for a while when you *finally* figure it out, it’s like the world is a happier and more amazing place with furry little animals singing songs to eachother about mountain streams and … pez.

I *finally* figured out the annoying parts of my GUI today ( woo yeah! go me ! ). No, it’s not perfect, but it’s definitely the best it’s ever been, so I thought I’d show it off. Now, it is very simple at the moment, and it still has quite a few bugs in it. But I’ve had to sacrifice ease of use, just so I can get it finished. I’ll fix the problems later. So this is it :

Currently you can only add spheres, so you’ll have to be content with that. It also takes quite a while to load, but just be patient. Now there are certain “rules” you’ve got to follow, or you’re going to break it. So this is what you can and can’t do.

1) Hover over Add -> Click Sphere

2) You’ll see a tab appear at the top of the screen saying “sphere”. Click that tab. DO NOT add another shape, you will break it. You can add more LATER

3) You’ll now see the “create/edit sphere” menu. Change what values you want, give the sphere a name, change the x,y,z and diameter, and when you’re done, press “save_sphere”. HOWEVER, remember the position of the ‘default’ tab at the top of the screen. As when you select ’sphere’, they will both vanish. Click in the area where the “default” tab was before, and the original menu will display itself once more. No, I don’t know why this happens - it’s something I’m still yet to figure out.

And that’s my GUI so far. From there you can Edit or Remove spheres. Remember, only one Sphere tab at a time. I will eventually change this, so that it makes a new tab for each sphere, but for now, this is how it will be! So enjoy.  Here is the link to the applet :

aAVis GUIPrototypev8 Applet

Thanks to Andrew Dekker, the Processing Forums, Wonko and Sojamo ( Creator of the GUI Library I’m using ) for their patience.  Thanks!

Hi mac people. Wondering if you can help me out. This is a possible solution to the audio-input selection problem, it’d be nice if one of you could test it out and see how it works - thanks.

1) First, get this : http://www.cycling74.com/products/soundflower
2) Install it, then choose “soundflower 2ch” as the out, and “soundflower 2ch” as the in under System prefs/sounds.
3) Then download “LineIn” from : http://rogueamoeba.com/freebies/
4) Choose “Default System In” and the output device of your choice ( For Example:Headphones ).

This comes from Robert ( Flight404 ) so it’s a fairly reliable source. Once you’ve done this, head to my previous post, and download the motionblur test. See if it works when you’re playing some music through itunes. Please comment back to this post! Thankyou!

-  Anthony

So now that I’m all nicely moved, I thought it was about time I told you all what I’ve been up to.

I’ve been working on the GUI, come up against some problems, but I think I’ve solved most of them now - I’m working on that tonight and tomorrow and should have something semi-decent ready for the weekend to test loading/saving. Currently I’ve got a version that lets the user create spheres after specifying dimensions. Nothing amazing, but it works, so I’m happy.

As well as working on that, I’ve been doing a series of OpenGL experiments.

Example 1 Was a test of my new particle system. It creates a stream of 3d rotating cubes at the location of the mouse. It also features OpenGL Additive blending.

Example 2 was a happy accident. Once again it’s a stream of particles moving away from the mouse, this time into the Z axis as they rotate. And they are 2D objects. It gives a cool ‘wavy’ feel. I quite like it really!

Besides these three, I’ve also now created something I am incredibly happy with. I call it my motion blur example. I realised that I could use my particle generator to make 3 copies of the same object, each with a slightly lower alpha value and simulate a “motion blur” effect. I also realised that if I made the “particles” move off into the distance, I can get some rather interesting results. So I coded up a simple oscilloscope(esque thing) and added my motion blur class to it. The results were great :

The Osc. Motion Blur example reacts to audio input, and looks quite interesting ( it too, has additive blending ). Unfortunately I have trouble exporting these as applets. However here are the files for those of you wanting to have a play :

Mac Users (1.4mb)
PC Users (1.3mb)

It will react to whatever you have selected as your audio-in. I’ve got a possible solution for mac users which I’ll post in the near by future too, I’d appreciate it if a fellow mac users could test it out for me ? Thankyou.

Overall I’m relatively happy with my progress so far. Next on my list is to work on loading and saving presets, and from there, the completion of the GUI. After that, all that remains is to add the various graphical elements, and various effects. That will be the long and hard - although interesting part.

- Anthony

So I moved my blog! woo!

So I’ve now got hosting and can store files locally.  This should increase the amount of data I can store and can therefore offer you , the public a little more insight into what it is I’m up to.  Tonight I’ll post my current status, should be a good long post - have achieved some very interesting things which I’d like to share.  Until then, please feel free to test the commenting, that’d be great.

- Anthony

First things first, thought I’d just mention the latest update to my blog, on the right hand side you can now see a list of what needs to be done in order to complete my prototype. Highlighted in green are the elements that are complete, highlighted in orange are the elements I’m currently working on. So you can keep track of my progress. And this leads in to my current problem.

In processing there are two options for GUI’s ( Graphical User Interfaces ).

1) Use a GUI Library
2) Code it all yourself from scratch

Option 2 would take a *long* time, so this leaves option 1. However, even option 1 has problems. Processing has 4 GUI Libraries ( that I am aware of ).
- controlP5
- MyGUI
- Interfascia
- SpringGUI
They all work fine by themselves. However add P3D or OpenGL, and they tend to break. MyGUI and Interfascia seem to die all together. SpringGUI works with P3D but not OpenGL, and controlP5 works with openGL, however the 3D elements always draw on TOP of the GUI. I tried running the GUI elements in a separate window, however that caused issues, and it seems to only work part of the time.

I have heard rumors of a way of re-coding MyGUI to work in conjunction with OpenGL, but I am not 100% sure of its authenticity ( or on the re-compiling process, I’d have to brush up on that ).

So I’ve gone to the processing forums for support, I’m hoping someone there can offer a suitable solution - Until then, I’m sort of forced to put everything on hold - so hopefully I’ll get a solution before then.

If I can’t get a solution, I will have to work out a possible solution. Even if this means ensuring no 3D elements move closer than 0 on the Z axis, and drawing all the GUI elements on that point. This will mess up perspective, but it may be the only compromise open to me.

- Anthony

I was bored yesterday afternoon, so I sat down and re-coded from scratch my beat detector. I received an email from Robert Hodgin ( aka Flight404 ) on some tips to getting beat detection working effectively.

His short answer was it’s very tricky. He’s still trying to figure out the best way to do it himself, and throughout the googleverse it’s about the same story wherever you go. The best way to do it I’ve decided is a version very similar to his own :

Basically you divide the FFT stream up into X number of segments ( I’ve chosen 6 ), the sizes get larger as they move to the right of the stream ( bass to treble ). For each of these segments ( or “Zones” ), you then calculate an average value, and a “threshold” value. If the average moves higher than the threshold, then you have a dramatic increase in that zone, and possibly ( I say possibly ) a beat.

Talking is boring, how about I show you.
Windows Users : Click here ( .rar 1.4mb )
Mac Users : Click here ( .rar 1.3mb )

Unrar the files. The instructions are in the mac .rar file ( there’s a readme.txt ). The program listens to your microphone. Windows users, you can go to your recording preferences and set your recording input to equal your audio output and get direct sound from winamp or wmp or whatever you use. Mac users ? no idea ( if someone figures out how to do it, tell me please !).

Let me explain what you’re seeing :

The Red lines are the zone “averages”. The yellow lines are the “threshold” values. When 2 or more areas trigger at the same time, I’m saying that’s a “beat”, the screen will flash white ( very quickly ). You’ll notice it’s still very jumpy, and requires a LOT of tweaking ,but I think I’m getting there. It’s kinda cool though.

Watching it, I’ve noticed certain trends. In the next version, I’m going to experiement with the timing of the thresholds. How much higher than the current value it has to be to trigger a threshold change, and maybe even “weighting” certain zones to be worth more than others ( as they seem to contain “beat” related frequencies more often than others … ) Suggestions ?

That’s it for now. Enjoy.

- Anthony