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[sKiZo]

Sorry if I'm posting in the wrong spot.

I was playing around yesterday with the Visualization Studio and came up with what I think is pretty nice ...



Close to what I want for a basic display, but I'm lost on a couple tweaks I'd like to make.

- Add a progress bar to the bottom like what we see in theater view. Better yet, an elapsed time in text?

< < <  3:41 of 7:20  > > >

... or something like that.

PS ... is there a list of "globals" (e.g. "COVER_ART") I can use in the VS settings?

- Can't figure out how to change the background color of the screen. Seems as if that would be easy, but I haven't been able to nail it down.

- I'd also like to be able to space the track info a little lower on the screen, adding a bit of blank space between the top line and the blob scope in the top half of the screen.

- I'd also like to be able to play around with the vertical centering of the blob. Once again, I'm sure that's simple enough and I'm just missing the proper setting.

- Can I add a frame around the cover art? That'd be a nice touch for when the blob cycles to the same color as the art.

Here's a copy of my "work in progress" if anyone's interested.

sKiZo's Covers

PS - is there a VS SDK? Might make for an interesting read if I get totally bored and the walls start closing in when the snow starts to fall up here in the Great White ...

[StFeder]

Better yet, an elapsed time in text?

< < <  3:41 of 7:20  > > >

You can use REMAINING_TIME and ELAPSED_TIME for that.

PS ... is there a list of "globals" (e.g. "COVER_ART") I can use in the VS settings?

As far as I know: NO. I'd like to have one, too. But I'm afraid this list would be quiet short 

- Can't figure out how to change the background color of the screen. Seems as if that would be easy, but I haven't been able to nail it down.

I thought this was an easy challange but I didn't manage to change the color...

Longer time ago I had problems with the studio myselfe (here). I got a solution but never understood why (and how) this works.

I'd love to see a better support to vis studio. It was a powerfull tool when we were able to use it together with html track info pages. But some time they made a change to some engine and MC lost one of its great features (and a very big argument for use at ballroom events ).

[sKiZo]

Thank you kindly sir ... I now have a handy dandy time remaining counter under the track information. Had some fun with the font color and transparency so it's big, but not distracting. I also managed to arrange things so the bar graph stays behind the time display.



And ... a link to the latest version:

sKiZo's Covers V

Took a peek at your track info page. Nice! I may be able to steal a few ideas from that. I do see where without an sdk or faq, building a visualization is something of an arcane art though - I was just basically poking at stuff to make mine work - does it hurt when I do that? Well don't do that - kind of approach. I did learn fast to rename the last working version whenever I started VS so I wouldn't lose what work I had if something went wrong as VS seems to want to save it whether you want to or not when you exit the module. It's also handy to drag the VS window to the right some so you can see the display window on the main screen - that updates any changes so you can see what's happening. Text alignment is truly bizarre, at least in my experience. And flush only works if you remember to jiggle the handle. <G>

Still, all in all, I do like what I ended up with better than anything else I've got. Great for a rainy day project.

PS ... I did figure out one kludge approach to changing the background color involving an obscenely large blob scope beneath the other objects. I'll have to play with that some and see what pOps out.

[StFeder]

There is a small track info SDK here http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Track_Info_Template_SDK. Does it help or are you just using visualizations studio? Than this SDK will not help.

I'd happy seeing you steal some of my ideas! Perhaps in the end you'll have something I'd like to have I'd share my trackinfo page, but there is a big picture included and embedding visualizations doesn't work any more So it's useless right now 

[sKiZo]

Just a VS newbie here and that's as far as I've gotten. Wasn't aware that the Track Info displays were a completely different thang. I did try plugging in a couple tag headers (DURATION, GENRE) using VS with no luck, but haven't given up there. Now that I know it's a basic HTML Plug 'N Pray project, it might be a fun project now that the long cold winter (brrrrrrrrrr) is just around the corner here in Michigan ...

Again, thanx for the help.

* Still looking for a frame for the cover ... and hoping for a way to plug the Theater View progress bar in, but other than that, I'm happy with it. I did try putting an oscilloscope in the lower frame along with the bar graph, but that was just way too busy for my liking.

PS ... is there a Theater View SDK? But that's just crazy talk ...

[jeffspl311]

You can use REMAINING_TIME and ELAPSED_TIME for that.

So I'm thinking this reply was only true if using Visual Studio? I tried to use this with a custom Track Info visualization and it didn't work. I tried:

• REMAINING_TIME
• TrackInfo_Insert_REMAINING_TIME
• TrackInfo_Insert(REMAINING_TIME)
• TrackInfo_Insert(Remaining Time)

Is there any equivalent for use in a Track Info visualization?

Thanks,
Jeff

[StFeder]

So I'm thinking this reply was only true if using Visual Studio?

It only works for Visualization Studio, found via right click to any display view and selecting something found under Visualizations. After that, again right click to the display and select Visualization Studio.

Is there any equivalent for use in a Track Info visualization?

I think it is possible somehow, but I don't know how. I think it demands some programming skills and you already got the pointer in your other thread

[Denon82]

Hey Guys,

Thought I'd add my own twist to this visualization. I do have a few more tweaks I'd like to do and I'm hoping someone can help out. As you can see I have some file information being displayed, Bitrate and Sample rate. I'd like to add filetype and bit depth at the end but I can't figure out the tag for it. And I'd like to remove the 0's at the end of the sample rate. So in the end I'd like it to look like this, "1000kpbs 192khz 24-bit FLAC". Any advice?

Thanks!

[William-NM]

I haven't done much in the Visualization Studio, but thought it might be worth trying the code [placeholders] for customizing the display area. I use these to display the sample rate, etc.  (accessed by right-clicking on the name of the song that is playing and choosing "Customize Display". Food for thought, anyhow.

[Denon82]

Thanks William-NM! That was it, I was missing the []. I ended up with "BITRATE Kbps SAMPLE_RATE KHZ [BIT DEPTH] bit [FILE TYPE]". For some reason I only had to add the [] around the BIT DEPTH and FILE TYPE but not BITRATE and SAMPLE RATE. Not sure why, but it works well this way. The only other change I'd like to make is to have the sample rate display as 44.1 khz instead of 44100khz.

I attached my final result so far.

[sKiZo]

Nice! Forgot I put that up here. Good to see someone got some use out of it!

Get a chance, post up your MJV file and share ...

Haven't made any updates for a while, but here's the latest version here.



I added a semi-transparent layer to mirror the top rays as background on the bottom half of the screen. You'll notice it partially hides the time display in the screen pic, but it's so fast it's not noticeable at all when running. I tried moving the time on top, but then it was way too bright for my tastes. I also shuffled the layers up top a bit to get rid of some image streaking around the edges from the original build.

http://www.brainfartz.com/images/Stereo%20Stuff/htpc/mc-stuff/sKiZo%20JAN14.mjv

[Denon82]

Looks good! Here's my mjv file, thanks for sharing!

[William-NM]

Thanks for sharing, guys!

Denon82: Not sure how to shorten the kHz value. Glad you were able to get a bit closer to your vision, though.

[theoctavist]

How to use this with jrmc?

[William-NM]

I hadn't installed these since doing a clean Windows10 / MC21 install, so here's what I did:

• DL & save the .mjv somewhere like your desktop. (They're just text files, so when I clicked on one and it popped up in a text window, I just copied it to the clipboard and pasted it into a new notepad window and saved as anyname.mjv.)
• In your favorite file manager, go to C:\Program Files (x86)\J River\Media Center 21\Visualizations\Vis Studio\  (or your system's equivalent).
• Create a directory named something like Cover Art or whatever you like.
• Copy the .mjv files into it (requires admin priviliges).
• Close MC and, if running, Media Server (in system tray).
• Restart MC, Play something.
• While in Playing Now view, Right-click on the top screen, choose "Visualizations>Cover Art (or your new folder name), click the viz you want.
• Enjoy!

For even more visualization bliss, track down the MilkDrop2 thread.

William

[sKiZo]

Milkdrop is still bloody murder to install and keep working I hear ... keep hoping we get a good install eventually. The Geiss modules are pretty spectacular. Kinda like the LCD display add on - sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, and if it doesn't, you haven't a clue what you did right to get it ... er ... right! <G>

If you're into commercial addons, a real good package is SoundSpectrum's Aeon ... it'll cost you, but seems to be quite stable now (in v19 at least), with a wide variety of options. Only thing I can't get to work is having it save my preferences if I go for a custom display. I've also got G-Force, but that's way too busy for my tastes.

[wombat66]

Milkdrop is still bloody murder to install and keep working I hear ... keep hoping we get a good install eventually. ...

Plus 1

[William-NM]

I hear 'ya. I wish I knew how to make a proper installer, but in the meantime, I pulled together all the files and steps into an "install pack" -  still a pain, but maybe a little less so.
sKiZo - Aeon looks good. $30 seems a little steep, but catch me on the right day....

Here's the post with the DL links:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=99526.0

William