indivisual - VJ-Synthesizer

What is it?

indivisual - VJ-Synthesizer is a rhythm based animation tool giving you the ability to have shapes dancing and flickering to the music. The most settings can be "oscillated" so that different variations on how a shape is moved, rotatet, transformed, modified, colored, lit, sized, postprocessed, ... can be mixed in.
There also is a mechanism to record samples and then mix them in sequences with different composite operations. Those sequences can be flipped, sliced, accelerated, slowed down, ... and also can be used as shape material.

To get an idea of what can be done with it, visit my YouTube channel

Getting Started

• For the best performance you should install Google Chrome

• Install Node.js

• Install yarn

• On debian (ubuntu/mint/...) you can install Node.js and yarn by executing:

  sh ./debian-installer.sh
  

• After installing yarn you might have to restart the command line/terminal window.

• Execute the following lines in your command line within the installation directory:

  $ yarn install
  $ yarn start
  

• To use as single page application open http://localhost:8081

  • Learn how to use in seperated windows or even multiple machines here

• Take a look at the indivisual-assets repo to get some assets and presets and install them into [nodejs-runtime-user-home]/indivisual

• Load the application and check out the content under "presets"

For Developers

There is no clean code in there. There also is no explicit design pattern except a plugin concept designed by myself.

However, I tried to clean up and remove the messiest parts of it since i retired from my part-time job as a VJ performing video life acts in some well known clubs in Munich.

Therefore, things do not work together perfectly sometimes.

But still it is pretty much fun to play with!

Deprecated Powerful Features on Insecure (non SSL) Origins

When not running on localhost, it is not possible to use microphone or audio input without SSL. You have to enable SSL.

Server options can be found here

How To

Tutorials

• Getting started
• Displays, Video, Mapping & Masking
• Source, Sequences & Samples
• Audio, Timing & Osci
• Lighting & Background
• Camera & Layer
• Pattern
• Shape & Material
• Coloring & Filter
• Rotation & Locking
• Sizing & Offset
• Shaders (Postprocessing)

Understand

• A lot of settings are based on three.js settings. To understand these, you have to dig into three.js docs

Samples & Sequences

• ... awesome ...
• Slow on GPUs but fast on INTEL's internal graphics cards

Shape-Editor

• ... more explanation here ...

• In the controller, set shape_geometry to custom

• Open http://localhost:8081/setup.html

• Press S to enable shape controls

• ... more explanation here ...

MIDI Controllers

• If you own an Arturia Beatstep, simply connect it. If the device uses factory settings, it will work immediately and the layout will just work fine.
• Otherwise, you have to build up your own layout. Have a look at MidiController.yml
• ... more explanation here ...

Plugins

indivisual comes with a set of funny plugins. Nevertheless, you might want to extend it with some of your own ideas. In this case you can add your own plugins for the most settings available.

To find out more read plugins tutorial.

Questions & Answers

• Create an issue for your question

Contributing

If you have any suggestion, features, or you found a bug, feel free to contribute to this project. Just open a pull request or an issue.

Used Libraries and Credits

Many thanks to:

• https://github.com/mrdoob/three.js
• https://github.com/tweenjs/tween.js
• https://github.com/glowbox/maptasticjs
• https://github.com/colejd/guify
• https://github.com/mrdoob/stats.js
• https://github.com/nodejs/node
• https://github.com/yarnpkg/yarn
• https://www.shadertoy.com/
• https://uberviz.io/viz/word-problems/
• All the people contributing to web technology