anyone know any vj software

beno 4000

i know its not music as such but was hoping a vj might be able to give me advice on what software is best for getting started on a mac. Have downloaded free trials of arkaos but am looking for a cheaper alternative than paying 300 euro for the full thing. if anyone has any advice on getting in vjing in general, much appreciated.

deevey

Try out neuromixer ... its a hellofalot cheaper than arkaos (which I own) ..the latest version seems well enchanced from the beta i was trialling for a bit yonks ago has midi too.

If you have bootcamp XP up and running OpenTZT would be my weapon of choice .. and totally open source with bazillions of plugins and midi.

Hippotizer is my fav bit of visual Hard/software .. but dont suppose you have 3 or 4 grand lying about :P

The Numark total control looks interesting and would love to try it out sometime - its basically an arkaos hard/soft combo and quite cheap.

Resolume again is windows based .. and again cheap and the dogs nuts .. same plugins as TZT which are free.. has all sorts of mapping / automation functions . and used it at many a gig without any bother.

I would advise going to www.vjforums.com and have a read though some of the forums... i wouldn't go asking "what should I use" simply cause its all been asked and everyones views are different not to mention you'll get lots of "use the search" from the older members, there are lots of internationally famed VJ's on there.

Hardest thing about VJ'ing IMO is getting clips together and playing them at the right time same as lighting an event properly... either buying, editing, or creating clips from scratch isnt easy ... and lots of time is required to render either video or CGI be aware a high spec computer just for this alone might be needed at some stage.. some of the simplest things on screen can enhance a nice hugely for example ... slow motion milk droplets in time with the beat, some people just use video soft synths like milkdrop in their performances .. some just use live cams, some use DVJ's ... some use a stack of computers that would put a microsoft server farm to shame.

For me two laptops with a camera input on both with varying software does it .. oh and a video switcher of some sort (V4 is nice:P).

Second thing about VJ'ing is know your lighting guy and let him know what your plans are .. even work in the box with him .. nothing worse that at a breakdown you have a nice slowmoving dark piece on screen and he decides to throw on flashing crowdblinders and strobe .. (yes it does happen!)

Oh and dont forget to get his programming to miss the screens rather than wash them out.. he can do it.

Jev/N

Resolume is used by most and quite handy to use - v3 is available for macs now too i think

deevey

V3 is not available as yet only to beta testers ... but looks seriously exciting.

Cell and Union By livid instuments, and Vidvox VDMX are two others to check out for Mac which I had forgotton about, Cell is dirt cheap and very fast.

Highly reccommend Livid's free movie export utilty BTW for clip conversions.