ENTTEC DMX USB Pro special offer!

As of today you can purchase the ENTTEC DMX USB Pro directly from us at a discounted price. The offer is available to all currently registered users of Modul8 2.6. Simply log into the yourspace page using your serial number and select your country from the drop down menu. The price includes the shipping cost and is best suited for people located within Europe.

Stage and event production relies heavily on being able to control lights using a protocol called DMX. If you have had previous any exposure to stage and event production you will be familiar with light desks and DMX compatible hardware that allow for controlling and automating lighting, smoke machines, lasers etc.

Modul8 can be integrated into any existing stage setup so that it can be controlled with a light controller. Using the module system, it is also possible to develop custom interfaces for controlling DMX devices. A few modules are already available on the online module library.

Live drawing demo by VJ2C

. modul8 v2.6(beta) wacom tablet from a nomad on Vimeo.

My hat is off the VJ2C for delivering to us this very clear and straight forward demo of how to use a Wacom tablet with modul8s Painter module. His little trick with repeatedly pressing the 'add frame' button with a key to reproduce a 'drawn on' look is something I never thought of. Always great when someone not in the modul8 team figures out a way to do something we never thought of. It means that the user base is really energized in exploring all of the possibilities and in return inspiring us with our development efforts.

I recommend you to show it to your friends who use modul8 and even show it to people who simply enjoy drawing and are maybe interested in VJing but are not video loop fanatics. As I have seen with the growing community of the open source TagTool platform, there is tremendous creative potential in this tool being that unlike TagTool you can mix in the usual tool box of VJ materials.

The Painter module is one of those modules that most everyone seems to have missed since its inclusion in v2.5. For me though it was one of those blessings. Firstly because I simply love to draw. I am not one to just sit there (no offense) letting the BPM do the work, and so what better way to pass a night of VJing then to add some live drawing to the mix?


JAB:Visual. A demo. 2008 from ilan katin on Vimeo.

I also found myself looking for creative work arounds to the limitations of the module. Firstly without proper Wacom support there was no pressure sensitivity. My solution for this was to use a MIDI knob bound to the 'dot' width so that I could emulate pressure sensitivity by making the 'dot' size small at the beginning of a line and then making it wider towards the middle giving it that hand drawn feel. It was tricky to do. Try drawing and moving a MIDI knob. It took a bit of practice but felt very satisfying.

Now there is Wacom support. And that is a good thing. For those who may have avoided the Paint module due to this lack of support the path stands open before you.

We still have a ways to go with this though. Would be nice to see the 'pen' tool also have pressure sensitivity added to it. At the moment the Paint system in modul8 needs to be modified and I hope that this can be added in 2.7.

But lets get 2.6 released first.

Soft edge blending with the Dual Head2go and Modul8

Our good friend Deep Visual has provided some answers to many a modul8 users deepest desires. If you are not familiar with his previous efforts I recommend you have a look at his other related tutorials that we here and Modul8 often refer our users to watch.

What's more you can read for yourself how the resulting demo came to be. Big thanks to module making talents of modul8 user Anome of Iduun for cooking up a much needed tool for setting up layers with pixel point precision.

Modul8 at HBO Golden Globes 07' L.A.

I was recently introduced to Bart Kresa of Bartkresa Design. The focus of his company is outdoor projections for a variety of media events and out door promotional displays. For the HBO Golden Globes installation a hybrid analog digital projection was used. 6kW PANI slide projectors were used for the larger image and 1 video projector. Modul8 enters the picture through the video that is inside the HBO logo. To give a true human touch Markus Schneider of thismedia controlled the content of this logo and used a Lemur by JazzMutant to control the elements. The content of the logo was masked using the 'Global Mask' module that comes pre-installed with modul8.

One of the most important aspects I would like to point out about this project is the simplicity of the documentation. While the documentation itself can never replace the physical experience of how the project enhanced the space this is definitely a quick and simple approach with nicely formatted type and photos that effectively demonstrate to anyone interested what exactly was created and for what purpose. I also love the small details such as the reflection of the light on the water and providing a quick glance at what the environment looked like without the projections. Not the least important is how everyone involved in the project is given equal credit for their contributions to it.

Modul8 update to v.2.5.7

Modul8 v.2.5.7 release notes

This update is strongly recommended for all users. The following problems have been addressed with this update:

- Modul8 slow down due to media changing to direct-to-disk in v.2.5.5 and v.2.5.6.
- Crashes due to too much memory usage by Modul8 (occurs often on machine with 4GB or more memory).

If you want to use the modules you have downloaded or created using v.2.5.x it will be necessary to move or copy them from the modules folder of that version and put them in the modules folder of v.2.5.7.

Important note for users of Mac OS X 10.5.x
Because Mac OS X 10.5 uses more memory then the previous system version it is recommended for users who have less than 4 gigabytes installed to change the preferences under the 'medias' tab. Set the value in the field "Start releasing medias when Modul8 uses more then % of the full memory:" to between 60 or 70%.

To download the most recent update access the 'Download modul8 Update' command from the 'modul8' menu. If you cannot please contact us at support at garagecube dot com and we will send you a link.

(vs) Delete Media module

With the release of version 2.5.5 of modul8 several new keywords have been added.
One of them that I am eager to write about is the 'direct_media_change' keyword that allows for management of media such as adding, moving or removing media from the media set.

Wasting no time module master Gael Abegg Gauthey of Vision Sonore who brought us the legendary (vs) Sequencer jumped into action during the beta phase of v.2.5.5 and created (vs) Clear Mediaset (all). It allows for clearing the whole media set (oooh... harsh) or each media set.

Lets see if anyone can outdo him by by creating tabs of each media set with a grid of 16 check boxes in each one so that media can be deleted selectively. Ooooooh. Anyone?

Modul8 v.2.5.5 Released!

I am pleased to announce the final release of Modul8 v.2.5.5!

Big thanks to all those who participated in the beta testing phase. Your continued support and feedback is essential to the further development of modul8.

Modul8 v.2.5.5 update is free for all registered users of modul8 and can be downloaded by using the 'Download modul8 update' command from the 'modul8' menu within the application. The command will launch your default web browser and then download a .zip file that will self extract to an .image file. Inside the image file you can drag and drop the application into your applications folder.

If you want to use the modules you have downloaded or created using v.2.5.4 it will be necessary to move them for the modules folder of that version and put them in the modules folder of v.2.5.5.

Listed here are numerous added features and fixes that come with this update.

If you have any troubles downloading the update please do not hesitate to contact 'support [at] garagecube.com' for assistance.

It was a long and arduous journey and we have now finally arrived. You all know what this means of course. Time to get back to work on the...

Until then.

Interview with sequencer module creator Gael Abegg-Gauthey

Some time this past fall Boris Edelstien of GarageCube showed me a module called '(vs) Layer Sequencer (Master). It was very nicely designed and it's functionality was intriguing. While it did not much fit my own needs Boris was entranced by it.
Initially I was going to write a review about the module, how to use it, it's pros and cons etc. I decided to contact it's creator(s) and ask some questions about it. I followed the URL address provided by the modules author and the response I received was very generous and detailed. As a result this module review has been transformed into a brief profile of Gael Abegg-Gauthey, the gentleman who replied to my inquiry.

Gael Abegg-Gauthey is 33 years old, and lives in the alps of France in Annecy. His artist name is VJ Lupin. He is the co-founder of VisionSonore "a visual playground company" dedicated to video events, video production and of course VJ gigs. He was a former Art Director/ developer (a title he jokingly refers to as "a 5 legged sheep") in a digital communication agency he also founded Megalos and Flash Teacher in a multimedia school(Gobelins - annecy) . He is an animation film geek loves to experiment with interactivity. His work is inspired by video games like Testuya Mizuguchi's Rez project, digital art by John maeda, Nam Jun Paik's videos, Gilles Roussi's living digital light sculptures and japanese urban pop (sub) culture . He discovered modul8 during a gig in Geneva and he was totally amazed with the new approach of "live moving visuals." He eloquently elaborated on this further in the following paragraph:

"Video compositing was what I was searching for in a live video software mixer. Thanks to my working habits as a graphic designer and motion designer I was used to composing pictures more than mixing images as traditionnal A/B mixing.
On the top of that modul8 was the first instance I could see being able create none square elements for a composition thanks to the alpha channel possibilities. I finally found a 'non-cheating' technique to make things tranparents as I was used to with other video software. Modul8 almost is the ultimate video playground to. I only wish it had several blend modes and then it would be the ultimate tool."

I need to mention that the first version of Modul8 had blend modes. I hope very much that it returns in v.3. Now for the Q and A.

M8.u - Was there a specific project that you were working on that made you realize you needed this particular functionality?

Gael - When I first had the idea for this module I was just a modul8 rookie. I was a former resolume user before I had enough money to afford a Mac. Switching to M8 presented amazing possibilities. I was somehow lost in this 10 layer architecture canvas. The resolume experience was more simple and now I had to be more efficient like when you are working in a video editing and video post production environment. I was really concerned about music and it's rhythm and tried to find a way to mix M8's possibilities with a music & rhythm matching tool. Then the paradigm of time pattern used in most video and music softwares seemed to solve my problem and I decided to build the sequencer module.
now thanks to this module I have more time to work on color, composition and effects while the modules switches on and off video patterns and builds an additional visual rhythm based of my translation of music into visual triggering patterns.


M8.u Have you been using it on many other projects since you have created it?

Gael - Yeah sure, I'm using it almost everytime I am playing at a gig or when Visionsonore uses Modl8 for video events. We used it for the short french films festival in Munich, for the 100 th anniversary party of Rossignol Ski, Schwarzkopf Hair show, and artist's shows like david grumel, delavegas, doctor flake, Flore...


M8.u Have you received any feedback about it from other users?

Gael - Oh yeah i didn't expect such positive comments on this module. Of course most of the users have requests and I'm frustrated not to having enough time to give them additional functions to fulfill their requests. If I have time I'll add the midi clock based function and a smart 10 layer sequencer setup. I also would like to create an effects sequencer. Programming is so fun with modul8 and the imagination of M8's users is endless. I hope many of them will try to make their M8 fantasies come true and share it with other M8 users.

In closing Gael mentioned that he is starting a video label for users, graphic designers and motions designers. His company has set up a survey to find out what a lot of us are up to in our VJ'ing practice. In his spare time he is writing a book on how to code modul8 modules. We have a lot to look forward to.