This is a software / hardware video FX box.
With the beLow art collective, among other things, we play live VJ events. These performances need at least a video source (usually Resolume), and effects. The video output is then displayed on a set of projectors or analog TVs.
However I became bored with the effects available in Resolume, its rigid midi mapping, and I guess I just wanted to build an autonomous system capable of doing the job. Much like an analog video processor would do with composite signals, this takes HDMI in over USB, and spits a modified image on HDMI.
It's controllable using any MIDI controller, but supports natively the Korg nanoKONTROL 2. One would have to write a different config.ini file to support another controller.
The green part is optional, but allows to get feedback about what is going on in the program. It is designed to be used on another device, like a phone or another computer for performances reasons, and also because the main computer in the practical setup is a raspberry pi, without a screen.
The web UI that connects to the FX engine is accessible in the UI/ folder, as a HTML page.
It is fairly easy to contribute to this project. It includes a set of filters that just waits to be extended. Creating a filter is simple, and doesn't even require having a midi controller. However, having one can ease the creative process, as you'll be able to change parameters in real time.
- Copy
allpass.py(a fitler that does nothing, the default one) tonewfiltername.py - Rename the class to
WhateverNameFilter - Change the default filter to
WhateverNameFilterinconfig.ini(under[misc]->default_filter). This will use your new filter as the default one when executing the code. - Launch the application
If you have multiple video inputs (like webcams or HDMI to USB capture cards), you can chose the default input id to use in config.ini, under [misc] -> default_input. Inputs can be listed with ls /dev/ | grep video.