SMPTE/LTC Behavior

"Where is Feature X? I need Feature X! How can you not have Feature X?"
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Arvol
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SMPTE/LTC Behavior

Post by Arvol »

Hi Guys,
I wanted to start a dialogue to see what other people think would be a good idea to possibly add a few features to the SMPTE/LTC behavior.

Currently I built this app to achieve exactly what I am needing for my clients. So I'm not dead in the water, But In order to keep the sheer ammount of applications opened to a minum, I think it would be worth while to see how other people would need features added to see if adding these features natievly to Arena would be worth while or not.

Here's a link to my App LTC Controller. It requires a copy of TouchDesigner or TouchPlayer. (NDI requires a commercial or pro license):
https://www.dropbox.com/s/93ipw6zfc6h48 ... r.toe?dl=0

What does this app do, that I would like to see added to Arena one day:

1.) Like lighting and audio consoles, this app takes an incoming LTC signal and when a channels certain time offset is reached, It fires out an OSC command. The user can specify what the OSC channel name is, as well as specifying what value for that channel is sent out (float 0-1), as well as how long that value is held. So now I can specify a value of 1 being sent for 1 second to trigger a clip that is listening to SMPTE and now when the the LTC's offset is hit, the app will fire the clip, and then the clip (listening to SMPTE) will continue to play in sync with the LTC playhead.
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But what if your client says "man, that one part looks like utter rubbish, can you edit that out" and you don't have the time to re-render someone else's content. You can create a new channel that control's the layers brightness via osc and set a value to 0 and hold it for a duration, then create another channel that raises it back to 1 on a different time offset.
Just like you can in lighting and audio consoles, you can now animate parameters vis the LTC time offset.

2.) What happens if for some crazy reason, you lose your incoming LTC signal? That would be unfortunate as your clips playhead is now paused at the point where you lost signal.
Of course there are hardware solutions for this, but in my app I created a "Failsafe" button that automatically turns the clips transport style from SMPTE (1 or 2) back to Freeplay mode whenever the LTC signal is lost (when the audio's amplitude is 0). This feature can be turned on and off per channel.

There is also a Spout and NDI viewer in the settings tab for remote network viewing of your composition in case the computer running my app is in a different physical location that the Arena computer, this way you can confirm that your signal is being received and you can preview what's actually happening on the Arena computer.

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So what am I suggesting for a feature request for future LTC behavior?

1.) Have a Layer Mode (very similar to the Layers Mask Mode) that allows anything in that layer to be triggered via LTC offset. So if you have 3 clips in that layer and the clips are 00:01:00:00 , 00:02:00:00 , 00:03:00:00. When the LTC offset hits 00:01:00:00, then that clip is triggered and the playhead follows the LTC clock. Then when LTC offset hits 00:02:00:00 that clip is now triggered and the playhead follows. so on, and so on.
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Zoltan brought up a great point, what happens if there are overlapping time offsets?
Such as clip 1 starts at 00:01:00:00 and the clips duration is 3 min long, and clip 2 starts at 00:02:00:00 and is 2 min long.
I would suggest that users be aware of their content and settings and if you have overlapping content, put it on it's own separate Layer set to follow SMPTE triggers, this way you can play both clips and do the positional offset and blending as needed.

2.) Have parameters be able to animate via SMPTE offsets with Envelope control as well for value and animation control.

3.) Have a "Failsafe" option for each clip, in case the LTC signal is lost, the clips can automatically revert back to Freeplay mode. Let's have this an option so people can choose their behavior.

4.) Have end of clip options for clips, just like normal Freeplay mode. (Hold last frame, Last frame is Black, etc.)

5.) In and Out Transition control's for Offsets.

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This is all I have for now. I would love to hear what other people think about these proposed idea's and if there is a better way to think about this. Maybe I'm going about it all wrong?

Anyways, If these features sound like something you Need right now, Maybe give my app a shot and see if it will get you by for now.

I could always ask my LD to do all of this programming in his console, but his plate is already full with his own work, and I think it's a task I as a video guy can tackle without having to rely on him to make me look good ;)


Thanks guys.

~Arvol

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Programfeed
Hasn't felt like this about software in a long time
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Re: SMPTE/LTC Behavior

Post by Programfeed »

Arvol wrote: Wed Apr 10, 2019 16:27
3.) Have a "Failsafe" option for each clip, in case the LTC signal is lost, the clips can automatically revert back to Freeplay mode. Let's have this an option so people can choose their behavior.

4.) Have end of clip options for clips, just like normal Freeplay mode. (Hold last frame, Last frame is Black, etc.)

~Arvol
Love these ideas. To piggy back on Arvol's post, I have a use case with rock music where songs often end with the band vamping past the end of the timecode roll. It would be great to have an toggle/drop-down to tell Resolume what to do with a clip's transport if timecode is lost. Currently behavior is holding the most recent frame, but in the scenario I'm describing it would be better to have the clip continue playing.

Maybe a global settings in Preferences>Audio to set default behavior, and a per-clip override available in clip panel once SMPTE playback mode is selected.

I feel like this is one of those things that sounds simple to me but is probably much more complicated on the programming side to implement.

NKNick
Met Resolume in a bar the other day
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Apr 23, 2019 10:09

Re: SMPTE/LTC Behavior

Post by NKNick »

Would be great to have a hold last frame option with timecode.

We switched 3 touring musicals from VPU to Resolume and it was a lot of work to add working endframes.

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