Ecosyste.ms: Awesome

An open API service indexing awesome lists of open source software.

Awesome Lists | Featured Topics | Projects

https://github.com/danomatika/rc-visual

(obsolete) a simple SDL-based 2D visual engine for robotcowboy
https://github.com/danomatika/rc-visual

Last synced: about 1 month ago
JSON representation

(obsolete) a simple SDL-based 2D visual engine for robotcowboy

Awesome Lists containing this project

README 

        
rc-visual

===================================



the robotcowboy visual engine



a simple Open Sound Control 2d graphics engine



Copyright (c) [Dan Wilcox](danomatika.com) 2007 - 2013



DESCRIPTION

-----------



The rc-visual package contains the following parts:



1. rc-visual - OSC-controlled 2d engine

2. rc-visual-send - OSC notification command tool



This group of tools allows any OSC-capable program to control simple 2d visuals which are specified in xml scene descriptions. A notification tool can control a running graphics engine.



These tools are developed for the robotcowboy project, a wearable computer

music system using Pure Data in GNU/Linux. See http://robotcowboy.com



QUICK START

-----------



Here's a quick start to build and install for Ubuntu/Debian on the command line:


sudo apt-get install libsdl-dev libsdl-gfx1.2-dev libsdl-net1.2-dev libsdl-ttf2.0-dev libsdl-image1.2-dev liblo-dev

git clone git://github.com/danomatika/rc-visual.git

cd rc-visual

./configure

make

sudo make install




If everything finished successfully, you're good to go. 



BUILD REQUIREMENTS

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



The following libraries are required:



* SDL

* SDL_gfx

* SDL_net

* SDL_ttf

* SDL_image

* liblo (lightweight osc)



### Linux



Install the required development versions of the libraries using your distro's package manager.



For Debian/Ubuntu, you can use use `apt-get` on the command line:


sudo apt-get libsdl-dev libsdl-gfx1.2-dev libsdl-net1.2-dev libsdl-ttf2.0-dev libsdl-image1.2-dev liblo-dev




### Mac OS



On Max OS X, they can be installed easily using [Macports](http://macports.org) or [Homebrew](http://mxcl.github.com/homebrew/)



#### Macports



* install the Macports binary and setup the Macports environment

* goto the Terminal and install the libs:


sudo port install libsdl libsdl_gfx libsdl_net libsdl_ttf libsdl_image liblo




If you use the default Macports install location of `/opt/local`, you will need to set the Macports include and lib dirs before running ./configure:


export CPPFLAGS=-I/opt/local/include && export LDFLAGS=-L/opt/local/lib




#### Homebrew



* install the Homebrew environment

* go to the Terminal and install the libs:


brew install sdl sdl_gfx sdl_net sdl_ttf sdl_image liblo




### Windows



Windows support should work, but hasn't been tested. I'd recommend installing binary versions of the required libraries and building rc-visual in MiniGW/Cygwin.



BUILD AND INSTALLATION

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



As this is an GNU autotools project, simply run on the command line:




./configure

make

sudo make install




This readme, example config files, and resources are also installed to your doc dir, something like `$(prefix)/share/doc/rc-visual`.



By default, the configure script installs to `/usr/local`. To change this behavior, specify a new dir before building the project:




./configure --prefix=/path/to/install/dir




If using Macports on Mac OS X, it is recommended to use the Macports default prefix of `/opt/local`.



USAGE

-----



All applications have a full help usage printout, use -h or --help.



----

### rc-visual



[1]:https://raw.github.com/danomatika/rc-visual/master/doc/rc-visual_screenshot.png



![image][1]



    % rc-visual scene_file.xml



Starts rc-visual using the given xml scene description. The file sets connection information (if not using defaults) and lists visual scenes and scene elements. Look at the `example.xml` file installed to the doc folder or in the `data` folder  of the source distribution for details.



See the pd patches in the pd folder for info on how to communicate with rc-visual.



Note: Values set on the command line override those in the scene file.



#### Options



You can also specify values on the command line which override values in the config file:


  -i, --ip                     IP address to send to; default is '127.0.0.1'

  -p, --port                   Port to send to; default is '8880'

  --listening_port             Listening port; default is '7770'

  --connectionId               Connection id for notifications; default is '0'




#### Event Streaming



rc-visual streams keyboard event information in the following OSC address format:




/rc-visual/devices/keyboard KEY




* _KEY_ is the current key pressed value



#### Notifications

 

rc-unitd also sends status notification messages:


/rc-visual/notifications/connect ID

/rc-unitd/notifications/disconnect ID




* _ID_ is the connectionID specified in the config file or as a the command line option (0 by default)



----

### rc-visual-send



    % rc-visual-send



Used to control a running rc-visual. Can be used to signal scene changes, scene file loading, and send a quit command.



Load a config file (clears current):


% rd-visual-send file some_file.xml




Reload the current file (for live changes):


% rc-visual-send reload




Go to next scene:


% rc-visual-send scene next




Go to previous scene:


% rc-visual-send scene prev




Go to scene by number:


% rc-visual-send scene 1




Go to scene by name:


% rc-visual-send scene scene1




Tell rd-visual to shutdown:


% rc-visual-send quit




#### Options



rc-visual-send has ip and port setting options similar to rc-visual:


  -i, --ip               IP address to send to; default is '127.0.0.1'

  -p, --port             Port to send to; default is '7770'

  -q, --quiet            Don't print a summary




Example, tell rc-visual running on machine at 10.0.0.100 using port 10100 to shutdown:


% rc-visual-send -i 10.0.0.100 -p 10100 quit




----

### Console Error



As rc-visual uses SDL, it will not work over a SSH connection and you'll get the following error:


Error: Graphics: Unable to open a console terminal




Run it from a real terminal on the machine.



DEVELOPING

----------



A Premake4 script and IDE files can be found in the prj folder.  Premake4 can generate the IDE files from a given lua script.  Download Premake4 from http://industriousone.com/premake.



Make sure the externals are built by calling the prj/setupbuild script which runs configure and calls make in the externals dir.



You can enable a debug build using:


./configure --enable-debug




I develop using an IDE, then update the autotools files when the sources are finished.  I run make dist-check to make sure the distributable package can be built successfully.



FUTURE IDEAS/IMPROVEMENTS

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



* greater image support through libDevil?

* animated gif support

* scene transitions, fades

* different render backends (OpenGL)

* lua scripting support (to create dynamic scenes)

* plugin architecture