Announcing VDMX6 and VDMX6 Plus!!!

Hello VDMX Fans!

We’re thrilled to announce the official release of the biggest update to VDMX in over a decade: VDMX6!

What’s changed? Oh, just the entire rendering engine.

VDMX6 is now powered by Metal, fully transitioning away from the deprecated OpenGL technology. This update not only prepares us for the future of Mac hardware and OS updates but also opens new doors for upcoming features, improvements, and even more optimizations.

What’s else is new?

Read on! Looking to download the new release or buy a license? Visit the new Vidvox.net homepage!

HAP R

One of the first new benefits of our new Metal rendering engine is we can add support for the latest addition to the HAP video codec family!

Following in the footsteps of HAP Q, we now have HAP R.

What do you need to know about HAP R?

  • The HAP R format creates files that are higher quality than HAP Q, with alpha channels, at about the same size.

  • The latest AVF Batch Exporter utility app in the Extras folder includes support for importing / exporting to the newest variation of HAP.

  • HAP R is more technically known as HAP 7A because it is based on the BC7 texture format.

  • Other developers looking to update their own software to support HAP R will find technical details of the format on the HAP Specification and the HAP in AVFoundation framework GitHub pages useful in getting started.

Stay tuned for more details and benchmarks on HAP R in a future blog post!

Updated Automatic BPM Detection

Along with overhauling the rendering engine we’ve rewritten the tempo tracking algorithm completely from scratch to run natively on both Intel and ARM64 processors. No more having to use Rosetta to take advantage of this crucial feature on newer Mac hardware!

Leaner and Cleaner

Along with the performance boost of switching the rendering engine over to Metal we’ve optimized several other core parts of VDMX, making the app more efficient with an overall lower memory footprint.

New Pricing and Plus Version

One of the top things we hear from people who want to get started in working with live visuals is the financial barrier to entry. Along with adding feature improvements we understand that one thing we can do to make our software better is to make it more accessible to everyone and anyone, so we’ve decided to set the price on VDMX6 at 99 USD.

We have also introduced VDMX6 Plus at 249 USD for users who want to extend their experience by using TouchDesigner and Vuo compositions alongside the rest of the powerful features included in the standard version.

Students, teachers, and hobbyists can apply by email for our educational discounts of 25 USD on VDMX6 and 100 USD on VDMX6 Plus.

Upgrade Discounts

Existing VDMX5 users who purchased their license after September 12th, 2023 are entitled to a free update to VDMX6 Plus.

All other VDMX5 users can write in to receive a coupon to get 100 USD off on VDMX6 Plus.

Customers who have a license of VDMX6 can get the full price off of their original purchase if they choose to upgrade to VDMX6 Plus later.

TouchDesigner Support!

Using TouchDesigner compositions in VDMX6

Yes indeed, as mentioned just above, in VDMX6 Plus you can now use TouchDesigner compositions as interactive generators, effects, and control data plugins.

Note: that using TouchDesigner compositions in VDMX6 Plus requires a TouchDesigner install, and a valid paid TouchDesigner license on the same computer (Education, Commercial, or Pro) Non-commercial will not work.

Example compositions can be found on the VDMX6 dmg in the Extras folder and additional detailed information can be found in the VDMX documentation.

New ISF Generators and FX

No update to VDMX is complete without some new interactive video generators and FX to play with!

In this release we’ve got a new category of FX, Overlays, which include useful FX such as Doodler, Cursor, and Highlighter. These make it easy to add small elements on top of your video without having to do additional layer management.

There’s also some other new fun audio visualizers and glitch FX to play with:

  • Audio Waveform Shape

  • Pattern Glitch

  • Stylize Glitch

Improvements to BlackMagic and Video Capture Support

BlackMagic makes some of the most popular audio / video capture devices on the market, and we’ve just made using them with VDMX even better…

  • Use BlackMagic devices for simultaneous input and output, also known as full duplex mode, on supported devices.

  • Send audio streams to BlackMagic outputs.

  • Lower latency audio capture from BlackMagic inputs.

  • Apply key streams as alpha channels on supported devices.

  • Output alpha channels as external key streams on supported devices.

Themes and Interface Improvements

Find your favorite FX and sources even faster.

A major overhaul like this also deserves some new style, so we’ve included some new color themes and various minor interface tweaks throughout the app to improve overall usability.

One of the most useful UI additions is the new ‘Search’ field for quickly filtering the options in the layer source & FX menus.

Base and Recommended System Requirements

Minimum requirements: macOS 12; Intel or ARM64 Mac

Recommended OS: macOS 13 or later; M1 processor or later.

Sadly, we had to drop support for older OS releases where that could not take advantage of certain features and optimizations to Metal that were introduced in macOS 12. But we will continue to host old versions of VDMX5 to support older systems. See (VDMX Versions for details).

While VDMX6 will run on macOS 12 and Intel machines, the biggest performance gains are found in the newest OS releases and hardware where Metal itself is more optimized. We strongly recommend updating to macOS 13 or later where possible.

The Future???

With so many changes behind the scenes to create a stronger foundation for us to build on, one of the most existing parts of the VDMX6 update is what will come next… make sure to keep your eyes on this blog, tag and follow us on Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram, and sign up for our email list to get the latest news from VIDVOX!

Updating from VDMX5? Read the FAQ!

We tried to make the process of updating from VDMX5 as seamless as possible: for example opening existing project files will create a copy that will be automatically updated to for the new version and GLSL based ISF shaders will be automatically transpiled as Metal shaders on launch.

Beyond that, we know that people updating from older versions have a ton of specific questions about the update process and we have created a VDMX5 upgrade FAQ page on this topic in the VDMX6 documentation. This page includes a listing of major changes to be aware of, and if needed we are also happy to answer questions you may have by email or on the forums.

With VDMX6 moving into Metal, some older plugins, custom FX, or ISF shaders may not be immediately compatible with the latest version. We recommend testing out the demo of VDMX6 first before making a full transition. If something is incompatible VDMX will do it’s best to give you a warning. And the best part is, you can have VDMX5, VDMX6, and VDMX6 Plus all installed on the same machine without conflict!

Dispatch from Mapping Festival 2024

Once again we have traveled across the Atlantic to join the Mad Mapper team for the infamous Mapping Festival in Geneva! As always it was a fantastic time getting to spend time with amazing visual artists from all over the world, seeing some mind blowing performances, and participate in workshops showing off the latest techniques in live visuals and projection mapping. We leave having spent time reconnecting with old friends, meeting new ones, and eagerly awaiting our next chance to come back!

For those who could not make it to Geneva this year we have published the slides and accompanying notes from our two day workshop on getting started with using GLSL and ISF for creating real-time visuals and effects to use in apps like VDMX and Mad Mapper, which you can find here: https://bit.ly/isf-mapping-2024

We also have some photos to share! Geneva is a beautiful city and an absolute joy to visit.

And be sure to follow us on instagram for more live updates and pictures from events such as this!

ISF Website 2.0!

As many of you know, a few years ago we released the https://www.interactiveshaderformat.com/ as a place where people could share their custom GLSL based generators and effects to use with VDMX and other software for live visuals. Today we are excited to announce the first major revision to the website, with a redesign to make it easier to find and create shaders.

Read More

January 2020 Back to School Sale

Once again we'll be running our special sale on VDMX for students and teachers heading back to school over the next couple of weeks with an extra 100 USD off; and we're even more excited to extend this same discount to ALL customers!

This means that from January 13th through January 20th, everyone can get a license of VDMX for just 249 USD, and students / starving artists pay only 99 USD.

Along with making great software for VJs and our related open source projects, one of the areas we have tried to focus on is creating educational materials to help visual artists at all levels help improve their craft. Over the last few years our website tutorials section has served as the main outlet for our various lessons, demonstrations and conversations of the various techniques used for all aspects of live visual performance. We also recently launched VV Edu, a set of lesson plans for teachers to use as a starting point for teaching live visuals and VJing in the classroom.

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Introducing ISF for Jitter

Today we are extra excited to announce an open source collaboration with the team over at Cycling74, creators of Max. Now all of the amazing ISF shaders that come with VDMX and on interactiveshaderformat.com can be used right alongside your other Jitter code using the jit.gl.isf object, available on Mac and Windows!

You can install jit.gl.isf directly from the Max package manager panel, accessible from the File menu. If you don’t already have any ISF shaders installed, also grab the free ISF Editor app for your appropriate platform. The free editor tool comes with the same standard set of 300+ generators, effects, and transitions we bundle with VDMX to get started with.

With this release Max joins the over a dozen apps and frameworks that support ISF as a standard for GLSL shaders. With ISF, there is no need to convert or translate code when moving between software. Write your generators and effects once, then use in Max, Motion, Final Cut Pro X, VDMX, on the web, and other video platforms. The specification includes conventions for working with multi-pass shaders with persistent frame buffers, allowing for the creation of complex compositions in a single easy to share file. The ISF documentation pages include detailed walkthroughs of the specification along with useful reference notes and a quick start for learning the basics of GLSL.

Want to learn more? Read more about it on the ISF for Jitter website, watch an introduction video tutorial, and visit the Max forums for more details from the Cycling74 crew. Developers curious to take a look under the hood can find the open source codebase in the jit.gl.isf repository. For the latest in ISF news, follow the @ISFVideo account on Twitter.

And don’t forget to check out some of our other tutorials describing techniques for using Max and VDMX together, such as using the OSCQuery Helper tool for simplifying OSC sync and sharing video streams via Syphon.

Black Friday To Cyber Monday Weekend Sale 2018

Hey everyone!

SURPRISE!

For the first time ever we are doing a Black Friday / Cyber Monday sale, getting in the spirit and jumping on the bandwagon of this runaway train we call capitalism!!!

The sale runs from Friday, November 23rd through the morning of Tuesday, November 27th!

During this time we’ll be taking 100 USD off every purchase from our online store!!!

And this sale stacks with our regular educational, just send us an email with a picture of your photo ID (or other similar proof of enrollment) to get your coupon code to double down your discounts and get VDMX for only 99 USD!!!

Or if you are not a student, we also offer a “starving artist discount” – do a small community giveback project, such as sharing videos loops or making a tutorial to get an extra discount.

Announcing VV Edu: A free and open source curriculum for teaching live visuals and VJing

Along with making great software and open source projects, one of the areas we have tried to focus on is creating educational materials to help visual artists at all levels help improve their craft. Over the last few years our website tutorials section has served as the main outlet for our various lessons, demonstrations and conversations of the various techniques used for all aspects of live visual performance.

Today we are extremely excited to announce that we are taking the next big step in our educational offerings, and as you might imagine, we’re doing it open source style: https://vidvox.github.io/vvedu

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Introducing OSCQuery Protocol

One of the most useful techniques for artists working with audio and visual software is the OSC protocol for sending control information from one application to another. While MIDI is great for a lot of situation, OSC was designed to be more extensible and allow for a variety of different datatypes, greatly expanding the possibilities within the community of real-time digital art. Over the years the ecosystem of tools that support the protocol has grown and now we are excited to release a new extension to help the community take OSC to the next level.

The OSCQuery Protocol is an agreed upon specification that extends the base functionality of OSC to make it easier to construct impromptu or improvisational interfaces between different systems…

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VIDVOX Workshops at Mapping Festival 2016

Next week we'll be heading to Geneva to join Mapping Festival to teach a few special workshops and presentations.

If you'll be in town for the festival we'd love to get a chance to say hi! Leave a comment below or send us a message to let us know who to look out for, or just show up at one of the events listed below.

On Wednesday, 4th May:

VJing: WTF is it? – a brief history and introduction to the world of VJing and its related fields.

On Thursday, 5th May:

VDMX Master Class – a two part class that will cover the basics of performing, producing and manipulating visual media with VDMX and advanced tips for pro users.

Writing ISF Shaders For Live Visuals – for this class we will look at the possibilities offered by the GLSL coding language to create live visuals (some examples can be seen on sites like interactiveshaderformat.com and shadertoy.com).

ProjectMilkSyphon – Free MilkDrop Music Visualizer to Syphon App For VJs

ProjectMilkSyphon is a free app to create sound reactive visuals from an audio input to your computer such as a built-in microphone or line in and mixed into your favorite VJ software over Syphon.

This tool is possible thanks to the projectM community who did all the years of hard work that are behind this project and generously made it available under the terms of the LGPL.

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VIDVOX at VJ London April 2016 Meetup and Showcase

If you happen to be in London next weekend we'll be joining VJ London for a special meetup to talk about VDMX. They've also lined up some excellent AV sets of local talent to keep us entertained!

The event will be on 10th April 2016 starting at 7:30 PM at the Westbank Gallery (3-5 THORPE CLOSE London W10 5XL GB) – see flyer below, VJ London website and facebook for more details.

Hope to see lots of you there!

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New Years Sale – Get VDMX for only $249 until January 16th, 2016

Happy New Year Everyone!

To celebrate 2016 we're running a special sale on VDMX through January 16th for a special price of only $249!

And as an added bonus, during the sale, students and starving artists can apply to get VDMX for as little as $99! Visit the buy page for more details, or send us an email with a scan of your school photo ID or a proposal for the starving artist rate.

This is also a great time to review some of your favorite tutorials or get started with learning the general fundamentals of VJing.

Minneapolis VJ Hang Out At Slam Academy On June 1st

Slam Academy hosts DJ, Ableton and other music production classes.

This year the VDMX crew is heading back out to the wonderful Eyeo Festival and as a bonus this time we've lined up a special VJ hang out session hosted by our friends at Slam Academy.

The plan is for something informal – a chance to share some drinks, pizza and stories with other performing visual artists. And of course we'll have a projector set up for impromptu demos or jamming, so bring along laptops for showing off.

This event is free and open to the public – hope to see you there!

Date: June 1st, 2015

Time: 2-5 PM

Location: Slam Academy, 1006 S Marquette Ave, Minneapolis

VDMX Workshop At Dubspot NYC Featuring Ben Krall On March 29th

VDMX co-creator David Lublin hosts this visual performance workshop with special guest Ben Krall on content creation and performance with VDMX5. Ben will discuss his approach to building the video design for The National's 2013-2014 Trouble Will Find Me international tour and share some of his experiences from video and lighting designs for concert tours, theatrical shows, and architectural / fine art installations. Together Ben and David will discuss approaches to live design, production planning and fabrication, freelancing, and visual art. 

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