Qlab video out on Syphon server

[Andrea Cremaschi]

Hi,

for who works with QLab and already knows what Syphon is, I've built a tool that let you send your QLab video output to a Syphon server for further processing.

It draws on a framebuffer residing in CPU memory, so maybe this is not a great solution for HD video or heavy video processing, but it's ok for normal work.

Here it is:

https://rapidshare.com/files/3799395488/Syphon_virtual_screen.pkg

Hope it helps, would love your feedback.

Andrea

[Sander Loonen]

Hi Andrea,

that is really cool, but...

I can grab the screen output and put it in syphon.

I dont see the syphon "virtual" screen show up in qlab?

should it?

can you explain a bit more how this functions, or possible uses that you see for it?

grazie,

Sander

--
Change your preferences or unsubscribe here:
http://groups.google.com/group/qlab
 
Follow Figure 53 on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Figure53

[Sander Loonen]

Sorry, I figured it out.

I always forget to check the bar on the top of the screen. 

when I switched screens with Qlab active I had a full system crash though...

but for the rest it works like a charm!

Finally! Jack/soundflower for video is here!

Sander

[Andrea Cremaschi]

Yeah! Happy to see that it is of some help :)

[Andrea Cremaschi]

Ok, I was asked again how does it work, so I suppose it is better to write a little how to..

Download and install Syphon virtual screen :) Reboot. You should find the Syphon virtual screen icon in the status bar (on the left of the system clock).

Through the application menu you can enable/disable the fake additional monitor AND the syphon server. They should both be enabled as default, so you should also find a fake additional monitor already active in your system (check in preferences). You can use this extra monitor as the main video out in qlab (qlab-workspace 

preferences-drag "screen1" to the fake display). When using this extra monitor, QLab video output is piped to a Syphon server and accessible in other Syphon-enabled applications (MadMapper, Quartz Composer … check syphon.v002.info for a list) 

Again: since the frame buffer reside in system RAM and not in GPU RAM this is not the best solution for everyday Syphon work: every frame has to be uploaded to the GPU RAM to be published on a syphon server, and this is a (relatively) slow operation. But still it can be helpful to hijack an application video output that is not Syphon-enabled. As for now, this is the only solution with QLab, while we wait for a real support in the application.

When you aren't using them, I suggest to disable virtual device and syphon server  to avoid CPU extra work.

Enjoy!

Andrea

[scaryxpuppy]

Does it work on Lion

Cant see the ICON anywhwre ?

Sorry - phil



On Mar 25, 9:41 am, Andrea Cremaschi <cremaschiand...@gmail.com>
wrote:

[scaryxpuppy]

Oops - ignore me - found it !!
THANKS!!

[Chris Ashworth]

Very cool Andrea, thanks for sharing this!

[Andrea Cremaschi]

You're welcome :)

All the source (framebuffer and frontend) is available here:

https://github.com/andreacremaschi/Syphon-virtual-screen

[Michel Delvigne]

Great ! It's a good idea ! I use immediately with Coge for manipulate
image and Millumin for mapping. That work.
Maybe that's give some idea for the next version of Qlab...

Thank's

Michel Delvigne
Light Designer and Technical Director

[Benedict Heinzl]

Hello,

I tried it today with my MacPro running 10.7.2. The Application
crashes every time I start it. Is there a way of fixing this because I
am not much of a coder....

BTW: Great Idea, love it :)

[cremasc...@gmail.com]

Hi Benedict,
is it a Mac Pro or a Mac Book Pro? I experienced some issues with notebooks mounting integrated and discrete video cards. If this is the case, actually there is no way to fix it, but there is a workaround: you can enable the virtual device only and leave the syphon server disabled. This will let you use a custom composer in QLab that outputs your video on the virtual screen AND in a Syphon server. (if SVS crashes when you launch it, try to keep "alt" key pressed when launching and it will open with device and syphon server disabled. Now you can disable the "Enable syphon server at startup" preference in options panel.)
Ciao
a.

[jo...@1erang.nl]

Any way to use Syphon to show preview on a local network?

My clients use a webinterface to power Qlab. They use the webinterface on their own computers which sends Applescript commands to Qlab.

This works great, but it would be nice if I can give a preview in the browser of the Qlab output.

I've tried this using several VNC servers and clients, but unfortunately I haven't found a working combination (either no multi-monitor function or OSX authentication).

[Andrea Cremaschi]

Hi, SVS code has been updated (thx goes to anome!) and Benedict's bug is now fixed: https://github.com/andreacremaschi/Syphon-virtual-screen

Maybe I'll release a new installation package in the future, but don't give this for granted :)

ciao

a.

[Andrea Cremaschi]

here it is: https://rapidshare.com/files/1899913381/Syphon Virtual Screen.pkg

[Andrea Cremaschi]

Well, you're right.. The package had some installation issues. Actually this is a good thing, because I had the chance to integrate some performance improvements pointed me by fernLightning aka Baby Rabbit. Now CPU usage is always under 4%.. Enjoy:

https://rapidshare.com/files/3975409114/SyphonVirtualScreen.pkg

a.

Il giorno 18/lug/2012, alle ore 21:20, spendergrass ha scritto:

Hi Andrea, trying to get this up and running.  I downloaded and installed the package.  After running the application, it says the "Driver is not loaded" and "Enable Syphon server" is greyed out.  I'm running 10.6.8.  

Thanks a bunch.  I love the idea, can't wait to try it out!

-Sam

[spendergrass]

Hi, thanks for the response.  I'm still having issues getting this installed correctly.  Now it won't even open.  I don't think the new package is actually putting anything in the /Application folder.  I deleted my previous install and tried a fresh one from the new link.  Nothing ever shows up in Applications.

Thanks a bunch,

Sam

[Andrea Cremaschi]

The installer is trying to update your old .app respecting the location you put it in, so it depends on where did you copy/execute it previously. Try to install again and open the install log (cmd-L), select "see all" and search for a row saying "/Applications/Syphon Virtual Screen. app relocated to…"

Good luck and happy video output hijacking!

a.

[Fergus Mount]

Hi Andrea, 

Loving the application thank you. I have just found that you can output the syphon virtual screen in a nice window using Syphon Recorder http://syphon.v002.info/recorder/. I suppose if you wanted to you could even record it! Very useful for previewing cues without having to attach a separate monitor to your laptop. 

Much appreciated

Fergus 

[spendergrass]

You were right.  It was relocating it into some bizarre xcode build directory.  Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.  Everything is working correctly now.  

Thanks a bunch,

Sam

[Andrea Cremaschi]

Hi,

try opening Console: is there any message related to SVS?

a.

Il giorno 16/ago/2012, alle ore 17:52, LandPlankton <si...@sunnysidemedia.com> ha scritto:

Hi,

I have Installed Syphon Virtual Screen on my MacBook Pro OSX 10.7.4.  I have set Qlab to use the virtual screen for output. All video cues are assigned to the virtual screen. I have set up a syphon layer in Millumin but when I click Enable Syphon Server nothing happens. Nothing shows in Millunim and the menu item in SVS still says Enable Syphon Server as opposed to Disable.

I have downloaded the Simple Syphon Server and Simple Syphon Client and they work fine.

Anyone have any Ideas as to why I can't Enable Syphon Server?

Thanks

[LandPlankton]

Hi Andrea,

Thanks for replying

In console I get the following messages when I attempt to enable the server

16/08/2012 17:23:50.971 Syphon Virtual Screen: invalid share context

16/08/2012 17:23:50.971 Syphon Virtual Screen: invalid context

I also get the following type of messages repeating while millunim is running

16/08/2012 17:23:35.519 [0x0-0x1d01d].com.anomes.millumin: CoreImage: detected malformed affine matrix:

16/08/2012 17:23:35.519 [0x0-0x1d01d].com.anomes.millumin: AFFINE [nan nan nan nan nan nan] BGRA_8

Does any of this mean anything to you?

[Andrea Cremaschi]

Well, this happened to me too on a MBP, once, but still I can't figure out why it happens and what is it due to. 

I'm not sure, but it seems related to SVS being badly installed. In that case I repaired permissions and everything went ok.

Try repairing permissions, if it doesn't work try to reinstall last version of SVS: https://rapidshare.com/files/3975409114/SyphonVirtualScreen.pkg

Please report if everything goes ok!

a.

[LandPlankton]

Hi Andrea,

Thanks for the suggestion.

I tried repairing permissions and reinstalling the latest version but unfortunately I am still having the same problem

[Andrea Cremaschi]

Sorry but still I can't tell what is the issue and how to fix it. When I had the same issue I managed to get through reinstalling the kext. In that occasion I noticed that this bug seems to affect not only SVS but every application that uses a shared openGL context. I'll open an issue on the project bug tracker (https://github.com/andreacremaschi/Syphon-virtual-screen/issues/4) and work on this in autumn. 

@LandPlankton: can you tell me which machine and OS?

@Dallas: was it a MacPro or a Mac Book Pro?

a.

[LandPlankton]

I have tried reinstalling the .kext but that doesn't seem to have changed anything.

My MacBook Pro specs are:

Processor  2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

Memory  4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3

Graphics  NVIDIA GeForce 9400M 256 MB

Software  Mac OS X Lion 10.7.4 (11E53)

It is the first of the 15" Unibody MacBook Pros.

I have tried running SVS in both graphics modes.

The main reason I have for wanting to use SVS is so that I can then use Millunim to corner pin Qlab's output. Using SVS is the only way I have seen to do anything with the output of Qlab.

The only other way I can think to achieve something like this would be with Quartz Compositions attached to all the video cues.

Thanks Again!

[cremasc...@gmail.com]

Hi,

Thank you for sharing this software! It's a real help for the kind of work I'm doing. I have two questions, and I'm not savvy when it comes to programming, so I hope they aren't TOO ignorant…

You're welcome!

- Is there a way to have SVS not double the main display? E.G. I'm using QLab to send images to MadMapper, but when I enter a Q, it shows up on my main screen. Is there a setting somewhere to change that? Or is that just how it is? 

Check in QLab's workspace preferences if you're sending the video output to the main display or to the virtual one. 

Check also in your system preferences / monitor if the "Mirror Displays" flag is set or not (shouldn't be of course)

Anome wrote a tutorial for Millumin that explains the basic setup: http://lab.millumin.com/tutorials/?name=syphon_qlab

- You've mentioned that, because of the way it's programmed, things may run a bit slow. I'm hoping to use this for a production, and I have a bit of flexibility of what computer I spec. Do you have any suggestions for processor speed/graphics chipset/amount of RAM?

Well, things are quite changed since that first post, now SVS is fast and lightweight..

Processor speed and RAM won't impact on performances. Maybe I would check for a system with fast CPU/GPU data transfer, but I can't help on this. I suppose that integrated GPU, being on-die, should have fastest data transfer rates and best performances, but still they're not as powerful as discrete GPUs and they could be slow to do image warping in MadMapper. I would be really interested of course if you manage to perform some benchmarking..

Ciao

Andrea

Any help you could give on the subject would be much appreciated.

Thank you,

Joe Holdman

[Joe Holdman]

Andrea,

Thank you for the prompt reply! I did have the mirroring function checked, I feel a little silly for not noticing that before. And, now that I have unchecked it, all of my lag issues went away - I'm only noticing the slightest bit while playing video in QLab.

Thank you again for all of your help and for your amazing software! I'll let you know if my production setup ends up being lag-free.

Thank you,

Joe Holdman

[Rob Summers]

Hi Andrea, great bit of software definitely helps with programming qlab, i am using the syphon recorder to see the output  and then can output video and still see my cuelist without having to be connected to another screen.

Thanks for your time creating this.

Rob

[Stephen Swift]

On Fri, Aug 31, 2012 at 1:24 AM, Rob Summers <r...@lstservices.co.uk> wrote:
> Hi Andrea, great bit of software definitely helps with programming qlab, i
> am using the syphon recorder to see the output and then can output video
> and still see my cuelist without having to be connected to another screen.
> Thanks for your time creating this.
> Rob

Agreed, thanks Andrea! It's a great tool when programming on-the-go
without a 2nd display. I've got SVS pumping Qlab output into
Millenium, and previewing the video in Millenium's editor window. I'm
curious, has anyone come up with a more elegant solution? I'd really
prefer just a floating pallet window that I could scale to preview
video.

Stephen

[Andrea Cremaschi]

Thank you Rob and Stephen! :-)
You can use syphon recorder to preview QLab's video output: http://syphon.v002.info/recorder/

[wbdreynolds]

Hi Andrea
I'm having what looks like the same issue - the same ' invalid share context' errors in the console and and the same issue with the syphon server not starting.

i can run the simple syphon server & client and syphon recorder just fine.

i've tried repairing permissions and reinstalling, but no luck.

i'm on 10.6.8, on a late 2008 macbook pro 15".

i do see an update made in september on the git hub page though - but i'm having trouble installing from the source, so any chance of an updated installer file in the hope that might fix the problem?

thanks

will

[mic]

Hi will,

Which version of SVS do you have (Application -> icon "SVS" -> get info)

Did you try installing:

https://rapidshare.com/files/3975409114/SyphonVirtualScreen.pkg

It's beta 1.2.2
ciao

michele

[wbdreynolds]

hi there

yeah, that was the version i installed. still no luck installing it properly though - i can get the virtual screen part to work (my mac does find a 2nd screen and i can set it's resolution), but the syphon server wont start when i press the 'enable' menu option.

thanks

will

[Andrea Cremaschi]

Hi, actually the installer in the rapidshare link is out of date respect of the code on github..

To be more precise, the kext is still ok, but the app is not. The problem is that baking a package installer has become tricky in Mountain Lion (because of App Store, one could say..). So, while I search some time to investigate on how to build a new package installer,  is a link to the updated app (beta 1.2.2) only.

In two words: download the installer here, install, then replace Syphon Virtual Screen in Applications folder with this version of the app.

Hope it works..

[wbdreynolds]

yup that works - thanks!

will

[ole kristensen]

Hi Andrea,

Great job on the syphon virtual screen - it works like a charm!

However, when you do the next iteration, I'd really like to see an option for custom resolutions.

Right now I'm working on a show where we're using qLab to project stereographic videos using my own custom quartz patch, a matrox dualhead and two projectors.

The output resolution is 2560 x 720, and it's hard for me to work offline, adding realtime 3d object renders without the correct aspect ratio.

So, please, when you have the time - i'd love to have one custom resolution setting in the prefs.

best / ole  

[Lucas Krech]

I'm just catching up on this and would love to use for an upcoming project. Is there documentation or is the process obvious?

-L

Lucas Benjaminh Krech

Lighting and Video Artist

www.lucaskrech.com

646.263.8439

Vimeo.com/LucasKrech

Twitter: lucaskrech

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"More light!"

~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

[wbdreynolds]

Hi Andrea

I just tried to download these installers for svs again for another computer and the links seem to be dead - any chance you could re-upload them please (trying to set up a new computer before the dress rehearsal tomorrow!)

thanks

will

[cremasc...@gmail.com]

hi,

try again, now it should work

it was due to rapidshare maintenance

ciao

a.

[wbdreynolds]

amazing, thanks andrea.

out of interest - did you see my post about running multiple instances of svs? it's a bit out of my programming understanding, but do you think there'd be a way of achieving that?

thanks

will

[Andrea Cremaschi]

ops no sorry, I missed it. but now I answered, check if it helps!

ciao a.

[Andrea Cremaschi]

Hi jake, actually the links are working, please be sure to follow the links in the 'binary section on the page's project on github: 

https://github.com/andreacremaschi/Syphon-virtual-screen

ciao, a.

Il giorno 25/gen/2013, alle ore 21:49, ja...@jacob-n.com ha scritto:

Hey Andrea,

The links seem to be down again. Any chance you could enable them or give alternates?

Thank you!

xJ

--

[ja...@jacob-n.com]

Strange, the links on the github pageI get this page: https://rapidshare.com/#!download|871p1|2519041396|SVS%20%28app%20only%29.zip|394|0|0|Download%20permission%20denied%20by%20uploader.%20(0b67c2f5)

I'm sorry to bug you about it! Is there an alternate link - or could anyone email me the files?

[Andrea Cremaschi]

Sorry jake, you were right. Apparently rapidshare decided to mess with my account..
Please check again on the github project's page, I updated the download link to a dropbox one

Il giorno 27/gen/2013, alle ore 01:20, ja...@jacob-n.com ha scritto:

> Strange, the links on the github pageI get this page: https://rapidshare.com/#!download|871p1|2519041396|SVS%20%28app%20only%29.zip|394|0|0|Download%20permission%20denied%20by%20uploader.%20(0b67c2f5)
>
>
>
> I'm sorry to bug you about it! Is there an alternate link - or could anyone email me the files?
>

[ja...@jacob-n.com]

It works perfectly! Thank you Andrea, you saved my life (and this show).

[pbos...@soundinvestmentav.com]

Hello-

I'm having a problem installing SVS on one of my Mac Book Pros running OS 10.8.5

I was able to install it without problem on a machine running 10.9.1, but on the 10.8.5 SVS opens with a RED icon in the tool bar, and says "Driver not loaded" and "Enable Syphon Server" is greyed out. 

A similar problem was posted on this earlier in the thread, but I wasn't able to arrive at a solution. 

The application is installed and the driver is located in the appropriate folder /System/Library/Extensions/, but this is still not working. 

-I tried to manually load the driver using Terminal

sudo kextload /System/Library/EWProxyFramebuffer.kext

-but terminal responded with 

/System/Library/EWProxyFramebuffer.kext failed to load - (libkern/kext) not found; check the system/kernel logs for errors or try kextutil(8)

-I then checked Console which responded with 

1/8/14 9:10:50.710 AM com.apple.kextd[12]: Can't open CFBundle for /System/Library/EWProxyFramebuffer.kext.

1/8/14 9:10:50.711 AM com.apple.kextd[12]: Can't open CFBundle for /System/Library/EWProxyFramebuffer.kext.

1/8/14 9:10:50.711 AM com.apple.kextd[12]: Error: Kext /System/Library/EWProxyFramebuffer.kext - not found/unable to create.

I apologize that I'm fairly new to using terminal so I'm not entirely sure how to proceed. 

Thank you for your help!

Best-

Patrick

[Andrea Cremaschi]

Hi,

you can’t load EWProxyFramebuffer once the system is loaded (and the correct folder is /System/Library/Extensions, anyway :) )

When did you download the installer? I released a new version of the installer last week, so be sure to use that one. You can find it on the project’s homepage:

https://github.com/andreacremaschi/Syphon-virtual-screen

In the “Installing - Binary" section

ciao

a.

---
You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "QLab" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/qlab/W4PQVwpBzN0/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to qlab+uns...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.

[Patrick Bosworth]

I wound up updating the OS and the installation went perfectly. It was a company computer and I had to wait to get the "OK" on upgrading the OS, but the problem has been resolved. 

Thank you for your help!

Patrick

[Andrea Cremaschi]

ok happy to hear :)

ciao

a.

[Patrick Bosworth]

Hello again-

I've run into an intermittent problem with the Simple Client software, and I'm not sure if there is a workaround for it. When SVS and Simple Client are launched I sometimes do not have a visual curser in the Simple Client screen and cannot see where I am tracking. If I click and drag I can see the selection box that appears behind the cursor point, but otherwise I have no way of seeing the cursor. 

I have SVS setup on multiple machines and it works on some and not on others. 

Have you run into this before and if so is there a fix?

Thanks again for your time!

Patrick

[Andrea Cremaschi]

No sorry, actually I move the cursor in the blind too..

Please open an issue in the github project’s page if you’d like to, so this gets tracked.

Ciao

[papag...@gmail.com]

Hi Andrea,
my congratulations for your project.

i have installed the latest build but i have lags when i send the serato video output in the virtual screen, many lost frames and jumps.
I use resolume arena but the same issues i have with syphon simple client.
I use the latest macbook pro 15'' with the discrete NVidia gf750.

Sorry for my poor english,
Best Regards
Panos Papageorgiou
Greece

[papag...@gmail.com]

[CK]

Hello andrea I've download the latest version of SVS, to use as a bridge between  Qlab and MadMapper.

I run the syphon on 10.8.5 machine, and when I launch the application and I click on the icon in the status bar, the application close automatically after few seconds.

Do I've missed something?

there is a way to fix it?

Thank you ;)

Le dimanche 25 mars 2012 11:41:11 UTC+2, Andrea Cremaschi a écrit :

Ok, I was asked again how does it work, so I suppose it is better to write a little how to..

Download and install Syphon virtual screen :) Reboot. You should find the Syphon virtual screen icon in the status bar (on the left of the system clock).

Through the application menu you can enable/disable the fake additional monitor AND the syphon server. They should both be enabled as default, so you should also find a fake additional monitor already active in your system (check in preferences). You can use this extra monitor as the main video out in qlab (qlab-workspace 

preferences-drag "screen1" to the fake display). When using this extra monitor, QLab video output is piped to a Syphon server and accessible in other Syphon-enabled applications (MadMapper, Quartz Composer … check syphon.v002.info for a list) 

Again: since the frame buffer reside in system RAM and not in GPU RAM this is not the best solution for everyday Syphon work: every frame has to be uploaded to the GPU RAM to be published on a syphon server, and this is a (relatively) slow operation. But still it can be helpful to hijack an application video output that is not Syphon-enabled. As for now, this is the only solution with QLab, while we wait for a real support in the application.

When you aren't using them, I suggest to disable virtual device and syphon server  to avoid CPU extra work.

Enjoy!

Andrea

[cremasc...@gmail.com]

Hi Cinzia,

there is no evident reason..

Please open a issue on the project's issue tracker so we don't flood this mailing list: https://github.com/andreacremaschi/Syphon-virtual-screen/issues

and try to send me your log (i.e. let SVS crash, then open Applications/Utility/Console and copy me the last 100 lines from the system log)

ciao

a.