Eternal Light - Take control of your memories
Setup
1. About
Eternal Light 0.4
Eternal Light is a Quartz Composer based software which aims to make abundant photographic memories accessible and perceivable.
The tool simply reads out folders that contain image files (gif,png,jpg) and plays them in alphabetical order at any speed
(currently up to 25fps) or synced to sound. A TouchOSC based iPad interface gives you control over the Quartz Composer
Application.
This is a very early version of the Eternal Light software and, as such, there are quite a few setup steps necessary to have it
functioning on your machine but if you follow the instructions below it should be relatively simple.
Requirements
- Mac OSX
- Snow Leopard / Lion
iPad or Android Tablet
-Software
- XCode 4.1 or later
- TouchOSC for iPad/Android
- Soundflower
- Syphon Recorder (optional)
- Rogue Amoeba Linein (optional)
- Patches / Plugins
- Kineme Structure Tools
- Kineme File Tools
- Hexler qcOSC
- Syphon Plugin
- v002 Movie Player
- v002 Optical Flow
Installation instructions
1. Install XCode 4.1 (or later)
http://developer.apple.com/xcode/
Quartz Composer is a visual programming environment which is bundled with Apple's Xcode tools. In order do get Eternal Light to
work you have to install the XCode Development Package on your s ystem. Usually the Xcode Package is included on the CD-Roms
which come with your new Mac. If you can't find the discs anymore, you might have to buy a Apple Developer Account (99$ a year or
so ...) in order to be able to make Quartz Composer run on your Mac. If you are running Lion you can download the latest Xcode
release for free from the Mac app store. Just open the mac app store (not the itunes store!) and search for Xcode.
As Quartz Composer is a part of Xcode, you might have it already installed on your system. Look for the Quartz Composer
Application under /Developer/Applications (and not in standard/Applications directory!) If it is there you're okay! Otherwise
install Xcode as detailed above.
3.3. Soundflower
Soundflower is a free Inter-application Audio Routing Utility. It becomes very handy, if you plan to play audio
from the same machine where you run the Eternal Light Software. Soundflower lets you route the audio signal to
Quartz Composer, which is essential for the syncing of the images to the sound.
http://cycling74.com/soundflower-landing-page/
Download and install Soundflower (you may need to restart after installation).
3.4. *optional* v002 Syphon Recorder (this allows you to record the output of Eternal Light)
syphon.v002.info/recorder/
Download and copy the application wherever is best for you.
3.5. *optional* Rogue Amoeba LineIn (this allows you to use external audio with the sync function)
http://rogueamoeba.com/freebies/
download the LineIn application, unzip and put it wherever is best for you.
2. Installing
patches & plugins:
NOTE - Where it states to place a file in:
/Library/Graphics/……
Please make sure this is your main Mac Library located in the root of your drive. Not the Library folder located in your
username folder.
2.1. Kineme Structure Tools Patch
http://kineme.net/release/StructureTools/01
Place the plugin file in:
/Library/Graphics/Quartz Composer Patches/
2.2. Kineme File Tools Patch
http://kineme.net/release/FileTools/04
Place the plugin file in:
/Library/Graphics/Quartz Composer Patches/
2.3. Hexler qcOSC Plugin (this allows the TouchOSC app to control Eternal Light)
http://hexler.net/software/qcosc
Place the plugin file in:
/Library/Graphics/Quartz Composer Plug-Ins
2.4. Syphon Plugin (this allows recording of your output using Syphon Recorder)
http://syphon.v002.info/
Use the link on the right which reads 'Quartz Composer' to download
Place the plugin file in:
/Library/Graphics/Quartz Composer Plug-Ins
2.5. v002 Movie Player Plugin (this allows the video output)
http://v002.info/plugins-sources/v002-movie-player-beta/
Place the plugin file in:
/Library/Graphics/Quartz Composer Plug-Ins
2.6. v002 Optical Flow Plugin (this allows the feedback effects)
http://v002.info/plugins/v002-optical-flow/
Place the plugin file in:
Library/graphics/quartz composer plug-ins
3. Tools & Apps you need
Download and install the following tools / applications:
3.1. TouchOSC for iPad / Android (this is the controller application)
iPad - http://itunes.apple.com/app/touchosc/id288120394?mt=8
Android - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.hexler.touchosc
Install the application on your device through its respective app store.
3.2. TouchOSC Editor (this allows you to install the control layout file (EternalLight-0.2-46.touchosc) onto your device)
http://hexler.net/docs/touchosc-editor
Download and install the application.
Install the Eternal Light layout to your device. (EternalLight-0.2-46.touchosc)
Instructions for installing the layout can be found at:
http://hexler.net/docs/touchosc-configuration-layout-transfer-wifi
alternatively you can manage your TouchOSC layouts using iTunes, for instructions see here:
http://hexler.net/docs/touchosc-configuration-layout-manage-itunes
4. Setting up Eternal Light
4.1. Make sure your iPad/Android and your Mac are on the same Wifi network.
There are two ways to achieve that:
4.1a. Login into an existing Wifi network with both devices. *Or*
4.1b Create a Wifi network with your Mac. Click on your Wifi icon in the top right of the screen. (If it is
off turn WiFi on) Then go to 'Create network' at the bottom of the menu which appears. Enter a name and
optionally a password and click OK. Then on your iPad/Android join this newly created network.
4.2. Start Soundflowerbed and edit your audio settings.
With Soundflowerbed running go to System Preferences > Sound and set the input device to Soundflower (2ch).
Then set the output device also to Soundflower (2ch).
This loops your computer audio through Eternal Light and back out of the output specified in the Soundflower settings.
You can access the Soundflower settings using the 'flower' icon in the top right of your screen.
NOTE: When you are finished using Eternal Light / Soundflower be sure to go back to System Preferences > Sound
and change your input and output devices back to normal otherwise your audio will not work without Soundflower running!
4.3. Launch Eternal Light in Quartz Composer.
You can do this by either double clicking the file (EternalLight-0.2-069.qtz) or running the Quartz Composer
application and then selecting open and finding the file on your Mac.
4.4. Setup your PHOTO and VIDEO directories.
In Quartz Composer go to the Editor view (the linked boxes on a black background) and find the two purple boxes in the
bottom left titled 'video path' and 'image path'.
For both double-click on the white dot to the left of the text 'Directory Location' in the textbox that appears either
type the path to your respective VIDEO and PHOTO directories or clear the box and simply drag the respective folder
onto the textbox and the path will be entered automatically.
Your PHOTO directory must be arranged with more folders inside it. Each folder must then contain image files (png,
jpg, gif) and nothing else. Each folder within the PHOTO directory will display as a button on the control device.
Your VIDEO directory must only contain video files. Each video file will display as a button on the control device.
4.5. Launch the TouchOSC app on your iPad/Android and connect to Eternal Light.
Once you have launched the application go to settings and if both the Mac and the device
are on the same network you should see under the 'connections' header:
OSC:your mac's name.local
Select this and check that it is enabled.
You should see an IP address under the heading 'Local IP address' make a note of this.
Back in Eternal Light on your Mac go to the Editor view and find the blue box on the right titled 'OSC Sender', click on this so
that it is highlighted and press 'Cmd - 2' and a new window should open.
In this window there is space to enter an IP address. Enter the address you previously made a note of from your control device.
Now press enter and close the window where you entered the IP address.
4.6. Play!
Now you have a Quartz Composer window labelled 'Viewer' this is the Eternal Light output.
You can move it to another display and make it full screen, put it wherever you want!
Now the controls on your iPad/Android running TouchOSC will control the playback of your images and videos.
If you want to use the audio syncing feature simply play some audio on your Mac and set the TouchOSC controls to either 'Peak'
'Lows' or 'Mids' and then set the sensitivity using the gain slider.
Alternatively set it to BPM and you can tap your own constant BPM to effect the FPS or simply set a constant Framerate.
4.7. *optional* Recording output with Syphon Recorder
To record the output of Eternal Light simply run the Syphon Recorder app, make sure that the Eternal Light output can be seen in
the preview window and hit record.
You can change the compression settings in the preferences section.
NOTE - This is resource intensive and you will need a powerful Mac to record Eternal Light successfully.
4.8. *optional* Use LineIn to use external audio rather than your Mac audio
Go to System Preferences > Sound and set your input to whichever input device your external audio is coming from.
Open up LineIn and set the input to whichever input your audio is coming from, then set the output to Soundflower (2ch).
Click 'Pass Thru' and your audio will pass through Soundflower and Eternal Light and then be played out of whichever output you
have specified in your Soundflower settings.
Subsequent use.
Once The above setup has been completed the only steps to repeat for repeated use are those in section 4 with the exception of 4.4 unless
you move your PHOTO and VIDEO directories.
ENJOY!
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