Wish-list for future versions:

[magdesign]

Here you may ask for new features and give some ideas for functions you are missing on the PocketVJ Exhibition.

[Michael91]

Hi Magdesign,

I'd love a function to control the opacity / brightness of a video to fade it in or out. I need this on a theatre production soon, it would be great to work with PocketVJ. Controls preferably through OSC or Artnet.

Thanks!

[magdesign]

Hi Michael
I thinking since a long about this feature.
Would it be primary with the videoplayer to make fade in / fade out or would it be needed also in other functions?
(I'd like to get an exact use case, since fading could also be done into the video file and brightness/contrast could be adjusted via projector/tv).

[Michael91]

Hi!

Yes fading needs to be done with the videoplayer. I'll use it in a theatre production. Sometimes files needs to start fading to black on cue. Some acts vary in duration every night. Or cues need start fading together when a lightcue is fired.

Is it a function that is too hard to process for a raspberry pi?

Thanks!

[magdesign]

I already have an idea how to fade to black, its doable ;)
Would it work with presets, e.g. 10 second fade and a 5 second fade which you can then trigger via CP or DMX/OSC/UDP.

But the tricky part is on how to handle it on the user side:
e.g. If you play a video, then you are able to fade to black, but the video will still run in the background, should it go to pause when the fade reaches black? or should it stop?
To fade-in a video would mean starting video, going to pause and making black, then fade in and un-pause.
So producing a fade-in in the videofile on your videoeditor before exporting would make much more sense.

What do you think about this?

Edit:
I am nearly there, can fade from black to full with a value from 0-255.

• Would you prefer to do this with your own fader or should I make a preset in time?
• When fading to black, should it stop at the end or go to pause or the movie keep playing?

[Michael91]

That's amazing!

That's exactly what I need. I would like to use this parameter separate from the play mode. It would be great to also be able to fade in PNG files for instance. Is that possible with the same function?

• I would like to use my own fader, I don't need a preset time. Just an Artnet address would be fine.
• When fading to black the video should continue playing. This way you can be very flexible with programming.

Thanks in advance!

[magdesign]

Ok, function is integrated and can be adjusted via DMX/ArtNet:
On Universe 15 slot 6 you can send values between 0-255 to adjust the playing videos alpha.
Will update the user manual and videotutorial soon.

About images I will dig in later on, next part is to integrate bluetooth beacon support.

[magdesign]

Just added a slider in CP as well, so you can fade with mouse:

Still searching for a good solution to manipulate image transparency, but I guess I have to write an image engine to move, scale, fade images with sliders or with DMX/OSC/Midi.... (maybe I call it grandPA engine :-)