FX simple fading/transitions (like media)
  • jasonbeyers
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    Posts: 125
    Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2018 7:16 am

    FX simple fading/transitions (like media)

    by jasonbeyers » Sat Oct 01, 2022 7:49 pm

    Currently, if a cue is changing the FX selection on a given surface, the FX will change as soon as the cue plays -- regardless of the transition time specified in the cue. In contrast, if a cue changes the media selection for a surface, the incoming media will gracefully fade in (if the cue has a non-zero transition time), even if that means that two medias will be playing at the same time for a short while.

    It would be great if the FX selection can fade like this too, purely for live purposes. This would mean that two different FX would be active at the same time, during the transition itself (and a simple mix of the two post-FX textures would suffice).

    At the moment, when I want to change FX in a live setting using a cue, I need to initialize the incoming FX to be "inactive" in some way (FX enabled but with some relevant slider set to 0). From there, I can gracefully turn the level higher on the new FX to complete the transition. For many FX this level is "Mix", or "Level", or something else that serves as the most important slider.
    So in this model, my FX transitions end up like this:

    1. (initial state) FX1 on surface, with effect fully noticeable
    2. (after playing cue) FX2 on surface with effect disabled via a relevant slider (to the audience this looks like "No FX")
    3. (after turning MIDI knob) FX2 on surface with effect fully noticeable

    It's not a bad workflow but it's also not very interesting, visually. It means I *need* to return to a seemingly-no-FX state every time I want a clean-looking transition. And it also means I need to add some "effect level" slider to every FX, even if conceptually they don't make much sense (like a "mix" slider on a geometric/repeater effect, which feels a bit silly).

    But I also realize that having proper FX fading will mean two FX are churning at the same time - for the same surface (like what happens when you fade two materials on a surface). This is something an end user can design around & plan for, based on GPU hardware.

    This would be quite handy for live VJing with MM. Thanks for your consideration!

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