Simple Video Capture/Input Workflow | July 2017

[Daniel B. Chapman]

I'm going to reference this long standing thread as the baseline for this post:

I have a simple project requirement:
1) Run QLab or some other media server on a computer

2) Pipe that media server into Vision (PC) as a Video Input/Camera Input to be visualized for the design team so I can integrate video and lighting in a video rendering.

 

Vision theoretically supports video capture cards but we don't have a list of approved devices. I don't particularly care if this is Vision 2 32-bit, Vision 2 64bit, Vision 4, or Vision 2017, I just need this to work for this (simple) project. Has anyone had luck getting camera to work in the last couple years? I'm open to any suggestion (including piping it in via OpenFrameworks or Processing if I have to).

 

 

 

[Daniel B. Chapman]

I'd like to bump this topic, would it be possible to get a response to this even if the answer is "we don't have a workflow"? I'm about ready to head into pre-production and I thought this was  "likely fixed" in SP4.

[Edward Joseph]

For other users interested in this topic:

 

I spoke with Daniel a bit ago, and there may be dependency issues present for virtual capture devices in windows 10. In other words, there may be some backend libraries missing from windows 10 to cause this to work. Daniel has noted that on an older chipset, this is working as expected. 

 

We at the office also have notice that mac capture seems to work as expected. 

 

I will update all related posts once we can narrow down the issue with virtual capture devices. 

 

NOTE: If you are getting no capture devices populating, a blank preview, or a black video screen within vision, please update to Vision SP4 using the direct links below, this is also a full installer:

 

http://release.vectorworks.net/nnapub/all/{brandedmajor}/{brandedminor}/V100/Vision2017-V100-installer4-win.exe

http://release.vectorworks.net/nnapub/all/{brandedmajor}/{brandedminor}/V100/Vision2017-V100-installer4-osx.dmg

 

[Dominic Fanelli]

Has there been any improvement or support for video input in Vision 2018?  I would like to take a feed from the Barco E2 and send it into vision for display on the virtual screens.  Would a Data Path card work for this?  https://www.datapath.co.uk/video-capture-cards

 

Best,

Dominic Fanelli

Alford Media

[Daniel B. Chapman]

Dominic,

 

As of this point, no, I don't think it is fixed. If you get it working I would absolutely love to hear what your system is so I can track down what's happening on mine. I just tried 2018 on a Windows 10 and had the same, result. I've had some luck with Vision 2.3 and an Aver Media card but the rendering quality just isn't there for my clients. 

 

I'm being a pest here on the forums in the hopes that this will elevate the issue to "needs to be fixed" rather than "backlogged". 

 

Here's the card I'm using with Vision 2.3:

https://www.amazon.com/AVerMedia-Definition-Composite-Component-C027/dp/B002SQE1O0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1505419715&sr=8-1&keywords=avermedia+capture+card+pcie

Edward has been very helpful with trying to make this work but I think the bottleneck is on the developer side of this problem. It is frustrating because Vision is definitely the easiest workflow right now but 2.3 definitely has issues with black-levels and ambient lighting to get something "dark" working. 

 

I've attached a screenshot so you know what you're getting into. These are the same models (and no, I didn't pick that ugly orange color, that's an R02 I think). As a designer trying to figure out if my shots work or doing focus points 2.3 is fantastic. If I'm trying to show this to a client it is a no-go.

 

If this is a road block for you I'd encourage you to contact support. I think I'm the only one bugging them on this issue so it isn't a priority.

 

Best of luck!

(The dark one is Vision 2017, the lighter one is 2.3 with 0 ambient lighting)

Edited September 14, 2017 by Daniel B. Chapman
Clarification of the images

[Edward Joseph]

Hey Daniel, Vision 2.3 was built initially back in....2006? So it's using a pretty old version of DirectX (7 I believe) which caused a few issues, like not being able to properly produce black. If you are still using Vision 2.3 try lowering exposure as well, as that is also attached to geometry.

 

For the record, 2018 was just released and the installers can be found here:

http://release.vectorworks.net/nnapub/all/2018/SP0/391023/Vision2018-391023-installer1-win.exe

 

http://release.vectorworks.net/nnapub/all/2018/SP0/391023/Vision2018-391023-installer1-osx.dmg

 

We've added bloom, performance improvements, better  beams, animated haze, all sorts! We've also fixed that pesky control channel issue with things like the VL4k's. Capture devices are #1 on my list, and I make sure the dev team knows it, it would be great if you guys could let us know how it works out for your respective capture devices. 

[Daniel B. Chapman]

Thanks Edward,

 

On my Windows 10 box there's no change for video, I might make it to my studio to fire up the Mac Pro and see if there's any difference. I'll be using the demo as I'm officially "expired" until this bug is fixed but I'm happy to test builds as they come out. I'll reinstall the capture card today and take another look sometime this weekend.

 

I've messed around with the median luminescence ('M' and 'N' are the hotkeys if I remember right) and I can't really get a black level. I end up dropping the contrast to make it reasonable but you end up with that weird blown out color as a result. 

 

I'm happy to hear video is on the list. As a programmer who does a lot of 3D and 2D graphics I bet it isn't that big an issue once you get a solid test-box together. I really, really, really recommend you guys use a clean box for testing. As I let you know my ancient backup computer does still show Spout/Virtual Cams in Windows 10x64 and I bet it is either the age of the hardware or something funky since that was upgraded from Windows 7. Also, don't forget about my other post where I show the green/magenta bug in the Mac webcam. I think that's probably a solid clue.