fran.cc
Hi,
I'm the developer of iWall, a text to screen system that is being used by some VDJ users to add SMS text message interactivity to their events.
iWall releases previous to 2.7 were designed using the Flash platform as the only graphic engine for displaying its output screen, and that was enough for people using it standalone or linked to VJ software like Resolume or Arkaos VJ/GrandVJ that also support playing SWF files.
Then I started to receive a lot of requests to make iWall work with VDJ, from VDJ users and also from people that already were using both applications, so I started working on a way to offer better support from the iWall side to the VDJ community.
After reading the comments from Scott on how hard is to integrate Flash Player in VDJ, I started to look for a more stable and solid way to integrate iWall with VDJ, so I took a look at the plugin architecture in VDJ. It was nice to discover that VDJ supports FreeFrame plugins, because I'm a firm believer in open standards, so I started to learn the FreeFrame API and to dust off my c++ skills I not use very often because I'm really happy in my Python world ;)
So, in iWall 2.7 I included a simple FreeFrame plugin that enable VDJ users to show the messages received by iWall over the VDJ output screen. It was working stable, there where some concerns about the CPU usage, but people using it where happy with this as a first attempt to narrow the gap between iWall and VDJ. But there was a BIG problem I cannot fix from the iWall side, and it was that VDJ only shows the first three sliders of each FreeFrame plugin, and the iWall plugin uses four sliders. The fourth slider is used to change the text skin, so people using the iWall FreeFrame plugin under other applications like VJamm or Resolume 2.41 where able to control all the features but people using it under VDJ cannot change the text skin of the plugin (without resorting to annoying tricks like hand-editing the layout files). I asked about this limitation in VDj in the forum (http://www.virtualdj.com/forums/115769/Virtual_DJ_Plugins/Freeframe_plugin_sliders.html) and received a confirmation of the bug from Scott, a comment about the skin size that it is not the problem here, and some inappropriate and off-topic behavior from people developing another text-to-screen system. No solution to this issue nor any reply from the VDJ developers on when this bug will get fixed.
Ok, now I'm working on iWall 2.8, and trying to address all the request for new features for the iWall FreeFrame plugin that originated after the launch of the first plugin in iWall 2.7, so I created a new plugin that shows the messages more like a chat (vertical scroll), added support for announcements, polls and PNG image backgrounds with alpha layer, and coded in a lot of tricks to reduce the CPU usage to the minimum possible. The problem is the new vertical text plugin uses eight sliders to allow more control over its appearance, but after four months the support for FreeFrame plugins in VDJ seems not going to be improved, as the last version I tried (6.0.6) still only shows the first three sliders, and also does not show the name for each slider (just generic slider 1, slider 2, etc).
So, I'm doing my best effort to support all the request from VDJ users, but I really need the cooperation from the VDJ developers to fix the bugs in the FreeFrame host inside VDJ to make the FreeFrame plugins work as expected under VDJ. This is a task that does not need a lot of time to get done, a couple of hours should be enough, and the brave developers doing that will receive all the good karma from the people using both iWall and VDJ ;) Any volunteers?
Francisco
PD: If anyone wants to try the latest iWall 2.8 beta I'm working on with some VDJ users, just send my and email or find me on the chat. I cannot post my email here by some strange forum rules that avoid people to freely communicate as it should be in the Internet age, but use the force and you will find me...
PD2: @Scott, I really appreciate your help, I tried to contact you but cannot find any way to send a direct message using the forum...
PD3: Special thanks to Mark, Troy, Ruud and all the VDJ users helping to improve the iWall FreeFrame plugins with a lot of valuable feedback and testing.
PD4: Sorry for the looooooooong post :)
I'm the developer of iWall, a text to screen system that is being used by some VDJ users to add SMS text message interactivity to their events.
iWall releases previous to 2.7 were designed using the Flash platform as the only graphic engine for displaying its output screen, and that was enough for people using it standalone or linked to VJ software like Resolume or Arkaos VJ/GrandVJ that also support playing SWF files.
Then I started to receive a lot of requests to make iWall work with VDJ, from VDJ users and also from people that already were using both applications, so I started working on a way to offer better support from the iWall side to the VDJ community.
After reading the comments from Scott on how hard is to integrate Flash Player in VDJ, I started to look for a more stable and solid way to integrate iWall with VDJ, so I took a look at the plugin architecture in VDJ. It was nice to discover that VDJ supports FreeFrame plugins, because I'm a firm believer in open standards, so I started to learn the FreeFrame API and to dust off my c++ skills I not use very often because I'm really happy in my Python world ;)
So, in iWall 2.7 I included a simple FreeFrame plugin that enable VDJ users to show the messages received by iWall over the VDJ output screen. It was working stable, there where some concerns about the CPU usage, but people using it where happy with this as a first attempt to narrow the gap between iWall and VDJ. But there was a BIG problem I cannot fix from the iWall side, and it was that VDJ only shows the first three sliders of each FreeFrame plugin, and the iWall plugin uses four sliders. The fourth slider is used to change the text skin, so people using the iWall FreeFrame plugin under other applications like VJamm or Resolume 2.41 where able to control all the features but people using it under VDJ cannot change the text skin of the plugin (without resorting to annoying tricks like hand-editing the layout files). I asked about this limitation in VDj in the forum (http://www.virtualdj.com/forums/115769/Virtual_DJ_Plugins/Freeframe_plugin_sliders.html) and received a confirmation of the bug from Scott, a comment about the skin size that it is not the problem here, and some inappropriate and off-topic behavior from people developing another text-to-screen system. No solution to this issue nor any reply from the VDJ developers on when this bug will get fixed.
Ok, now I'm working on iWall 2.8, and trying to address all the request for new features for the iWall FreeFrame plugin that originated after the launch of the first plugin in iWall 2.7, so I created a new plugin that shows the messages more like a chat (vertical scroll), added support for announcements, polls and PNG image backgrounds with alpha layer, and coded in a lot of tricks to reduce the CPU usage to the minimum possible. The problem is the new vertical text plugin uses eight sliders to allow more control over its appearance, but after four months the support for FreeFrame plugins in VDJ seems not going to be improved, as the last version I tried (6.0.6) still only shows the first three sliders, and also does not show the name for each slider (just generic slider 1, slider 2, etc).
So, I'm doing my best effort to support all the request from VDJ users, but I really need the cooperation from the VDJ developers to fix the bugs in the FreeFrame host inside VDJ to make the FreeFrame plugins work as expected under VDJ. This is a task that does not need a lot of time to get done, a couple of hours should be enough, and the brave developers doing that will receive all the good karma from the people using both iWall and VDJ ;) Any volunteers?
Francisco
PD: If anyone wants to try the latest iWall 2.8 beta I'm working on with some VDJ users, just send my and email or find me on the chat. I cannot post my email here by some strange forum rules that avoid people to freely communicate as it should be in the Internet age, but use the force and you will find me...
PD2: @Scott, I really appreciate your help, I tried to contact you but cannot find any way to send a direct message using the forum...
PD3: Special thanks to Mark, Troy, Ruud and all the VDJ users helping to improve the iWall FreeFrame plugins with a lot of valuable feedback and testing.
PD4: Sorry for the looooooooong post :)
Posted Wed 20 Jan 10 @ 12:08 pm
SBDJ
Francisco,
You can ask any questions here, but I'll drop you a message so you can contact me privately should you wish.
Regards,
Scott
You can ask any questions here, but I'll drop you a message so you can contact me privately should you wish.
Regards,
Scott
Posted Wed 20 Jan 10 @ 12:45 pm
fygokentros
what about the price francisco will be a special offer for vdj users?
Posted Thu 21 Jan 10 @ 5:23 am
rdhrkns
@VDJ support,
Please take the time to get in contact with Francisco to work on the Freeframe plugin 'issues'.
I'm using the 2.7 version frequently and am testing the 2.8beta right now. The work on 2.8 will really pay of to the whole community and users of this plugin when it could benefit from the sliders not accessible now from within the settings page.
- Ruud -
Please take the time to get in contact with Francisco to work on the Freeframe plugin 'issues'.
I'm using the 2.7 version frequently and am testing the 2.8beta right now. The work on 2.8 will really pay of to the whole community and users of this plugin when it could benefit from the sliders not accessible now from within the settings page.
- Ruud -
Posted Thu 21 Jan 10 @ 9:12 am
fran.cc
@FYGOKENTRO It is not enough with iWall being about half the price of all similar products? ;) Anyway I understand it sometimes is beyond the average budget of the mobile djs. I'm open to implement some sort of cross promotion or special price for VDJ in the future, but before thinking about that I'm looking to get some issues resolved related to VDJ as I explained in my previous post, so I can offer a complete solution for using iWall under VDJ that offer all the available features that are already working when using iWall with other VJ software packages.
Posted Thu 21 Jan 10 @ 9:47 am
uwinmedia01
@ FYGOKENTRO - from what I could gather on the iwall website, their product runs about 350 (USD)
Posted Sat 23 Jan 10 @ 6:53 am
fran.cc
For those of you interested in trying out iWall 2.8, now it is on open beta and you can get it from here http://www.iwall.com.ar/download.en.html
The FreeFrame plugins are working with VDJ, but you still cannot access all the controls in them as the bug in VDJ FreeFrame support remains unresolved/unacknowledged. I filed a support ticked about that 6 days ago at the VDJ support page, but I didn't get any reply until now.
If you have any questions about this beta you can post it here, or you can send it by mail to the iWall support address where all support requests are replied within one business day.
Francisco
The FreeFrame plugins are working with VDJ, but you still cannot access all the controls in them as the bug in VDJ FreeFrame support remains unresolved/unacknowledged. I filed a support ticked about that 6 days ago at the VDJ support page, but I didn't get any reply until now.
If you have any questions about this beta you can post it here, or you can send it by mail to the iWall support address where all support requests are replied within one business day.
Francisco
Posted Sun 24 Jan 10 @ 9:06 am
jdbudd123y
Hey Francisco
It's DJ TROY
I was using iwall this past weekend and notice that the poll was listing all the option "A.Dance,A,dance" instead of just showing "A.Dance" i am also going to try to tweat my settings to reduce the cpu. it seems iwall is runnin about 34% of the cpu
It's DJ TROY
I was using iwall this past weekend and notice that the poll was listing all the option "A.Dance,A,dance" instead of just showing "A.Dance" i am also going to try to tweat my settings to reduce the cpu. it seems iwall is runnin about 34% of the cpu
Posted Sun 24 Jan 10 @ 8:50 pm
fran.cc
@DJTroy
Ooops, I forgot to try it with multiple keywords per option. I will check what is happening with that and upload a fixed version.
About the CPU usage, one thing that consumes a lot is the alpha background of the messages box, when I set it to 0 or 100% here the CPU usages drops by around 9%. If you are going to set background alpha to 0% it should be useful to use some layout that have a solid color background for the letters, like the one with black letter and green 'tape' background, to assure text remain legible.
Francisco
Ooops, I forgot to try it with multiple keywords per option. I will check what is happening with that and upload a fixed version.
About the CPU usage, one thing that consumes a lot is the alpha background of the messages box, when I set it to 0 or 100% here the CPU usages drops by around 9%. If you are going to set background alpha to 0% it should be useful to use some layout that have a solid color background for the letters, like the one with black letter and green 'tape' background, to assure text remain legible.
Francisco
Posted Mon 25 Jan 10 @ 8:00 am
fran.cc
Ok, now using multiple keywords in polls is working as expected using the FreeFrame plugin :)
The fix is now included in the latest beta (http://www.iwall.com.ar/downloads/iwall-install-2.8.exe), but you can also download just the updated plugins from here http://www.iwall.com.ar/downloads/freeframe-plugins.zip
@DJTroy: Thanks for reporting this :)
Francisco
The fix is now included in the latest beta (http://www.iwall.com.ar/downloads/iwall-install-2.8.exe), but you can also download just the updated plugins from here http://www.iwall.com.ar/downloads/freeframe-plugins.zip
@DJTroy: Thanks for reporting this :)
Francisco
Posted Mon 25 Jan 10 @ 10:18 am
Joop3m
hi fran.cc,
please review the link.... it's not working
thanks
Joop
please review the link.... it's not working
thanks
Joop
Posted Mon 25 Jan 10 @ 2:21 pm
fran.cc
Sorry, it seems the left bracket got included in the url, and also S3 changed the permissions when I updated the file :-/
Here is the correct and working link:
http://www.iwall.com.ar/downloads/iwall-install-2.8.exe
Francisco
Here is the correct and working link:
http://www.iwall.com.ar/downloads/iwall-install-2.8.exe
Francisco
Posted Mon 25 Jan 10 @ 2:48 pm
jdbudd123y
@Francisco
Thanks for the heads up on the CPU fix i was racking my brain all day.... everything looks perfect!! One Question is there anyway to get a pie or the bar chart in the plugin?
DJ T-ROY
Thanks for the heads up on the CPU fix i was racking my brain all day.... everything looks perfect!! One Question is there anyway to get a pie or the bar chart in the plugin?
DJ T-ROY
Posted Mon 25 Jan 10 @ 11:16 pm
fran.cc
@DJTroy
Pie and bar charts are supported only when using the Flash skins at this time, FreeFrame vertical text plugin supports polls but it shows only the number of votes for each option without a graph.
If there is enough interest on this I will consider writing new FreeFrame plugins specially for polls with charts and include it in iWall 2.9.
To keep track of all the new ideas and bug reports for iWall I started a new user community for it at GetSatisfaction, it is on pending aproval as "official" community, but people can start using it anyway to post their feedback so it is accesible to all users. The community page is here http://getsatisfaction.com/iwall and I hope get the feedback widget installed this week on the iWall website when the community get the official aproval.
Francisco
Pie and bar charts are supported only when using the Flash skins at this time, FreeFrame vertical text plugin supports polls but it shows only the number of votes for each option without a graph.
If there is enough interest on this I will consider writing new FreeFrame plugins specially for polls with charts and include it in iWall 2.9.
To keep track of all the new ideas and bug reports for iWall I started a new user community for it at GetSatisfaction, it is on pending aproval as "official" community, but people can start using it anyway to post their feedback so it is accesible to all users. The community page is here http://getsatisfaction.com/iwall and I hope get the feedback widget installed this week on the iWall website when the community get the official aproval.
Francisco
Posted Tue 26 Jan 10 @ 4:49 pm
jdbudd123y
@Francisco
Thx Fran i will check that out.
I was doing some Texting and couldn't figure out why the text all of the sudden it wasn't go up on the screen. i thought it might of been a glitch but then i started to break each word down and they all went on the screen except one... The "&" sign blocked the whole text from appearing.
DJ TROY
Thx Fran i will check that out.
I was doing some Texting and couldn't figure out why the text all of the sudden it wasn't go up on the screen. i thought it might of been a glitch but then i started to break each word down and they all went on the screen except one... The "&" sign blocked the whole text from appearing.
DJ TROY
Posted Wed 27 Jan 10 @ 8:29 am
jdbudd123y
Thought i would put some Pictures of Iwall 2.8 VDJ FreeFrame in action
Some Features Include:
Text Messaging
Private Flirts messaging
Prizes Drawings
Polls (like you see on American Idol)
Vertical & Horizontal Text
Bulk Messaging
PIP Can be done with the help of the plugin Backdrop
All in One Package at a very low price
This one is running scroll text and your logo with iwall...cpu around 77%
Horizontal Scroll
Polls
Some Features Include:
Text Messaging
Private Flirts messaging
Prizes Drawings
Polls (like you see on American Idol)
Vertical & Horizontal Text
Bulk Messaging
PIP Can be done with the help of the plugin Backdrop
All in One Package at a very low price
This one is running scroll text and your logo with iwall...cpu around 77%
Horizontal Scroll
Polls
Posted Wed 27 Jan 10 @ 10:04 am
fran.cc
@DJTroy
I tracked down the cause, it seems a problem with specials chars like & and < messing up the markup used for messages in the FreeFrame plugins. I will develop a fix for the plugins and post here when they are ready to download.
Nice screenshots :) Just a comment about them, if you are going to disable the alpha background in the vertical plugin as it shows on your screenshots may be a good idea to edit the layout file you are going to use to set the font in bold so it gets more legible over the video, or also set a solid background for each line as in the horizontal scroll screenshot. The layout files are stored at c:\iWall 2.8\freeframe\layouts and you can use any plain text editor like Notepad to modify them. The markup used for the layous is similar to HTML and is described here http://library.gnome.org/devel/pango/unstable/PangoMarkupFormat.html If you need help with that, just let me know :)
Francisco
I tracked down the cause, it seems a problem with specials chars like & and < messing up the markup used for messages in the FreeFrame plugins. I will develop a fix for the plugins and post here when they are ready to download.
Nice screenshots :) Just a comment about them, if you are going to disable the alpha background in the vertical plugin as it shows on your screenshots may be a good idea to edit the layout file you are going to use to set the font in bold so it gets more legible over the video, or also set a solid background for each line as in the horizontal scroll screenshot. The layout files are stored at c:\iWall 2.8\freeframe\layouts and you can use any plain text editor like Notepad to modify them. The markup used for the layous is similar to HTML and is described here http://library.gnome.org/devel/pango/unstable/PangoMarkupFormat.html If you need help with that, just let me know :)
Francisco
Posted Wed 27 Jan 10 @ 1:06 pm
fran.cc
@DJTroy
Fixed! Here you can get the new FreeFrame plugins http://www.iwall.com.ar/downloads/freeframe-plugins.zip and they are also included in the standard iWall 2.8 installer.
Francisco
Fixed! Here you can get the new FreeFrame plugins http://www.iwall.com.ar/downloads/freeframe-plugins.zip and they are also included in the standard iWall 2.8 installer.
Francisco
Posted Thu 28 Jan 10 @ 7:58 am
rdhrkns
Hands up for the 2.8 version !
I just completed a private party this weekend doing some visuals on the side overlaid with the iWall SMS service. The crowd was texting like crazy and really enjoyed the old digitized 16mm shortclips in the back pulled from the Clipbank randomly.
- Ruud -
@DJTroy:
"...cpu around 77%", What system spec's are you running ?
Using a brand new Dell studio 17" after some initial high CPU loads (ca 40%) I further optimized the system, disabling services under Windows not needed/wanted. -> CPU is between 25-35%. Running Clipbank or Picure Rotation + iWall.
What did help me also was the way I prepare my Clipbank movie clips and images for the Picture Rotation plugin. Some wise words can be found here: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dhjs2rsx_0g87srqfr&hl=en#Appendix_1_Optimising_Your_Sys_7247178734595373.
@VDJ Development:
Please, please look into fixing the missing sliders problem posted by the iWal developer in this thread !
I just completed a private party this weekend doing some visuals on the side overlaid with the iWall SMS service. The crowd was texting like crazy and really enjoyed the old digitized 16mm shortclips in the back pulled from the Clipbank randomly.
- Ruud -
@DJTroy:
"...cpu around 77%", What system spec's are you running ?
Using a brand new Dell studio 17" after some initial high CPU loads (ca 40%) I further optimized the system, disabling services under Windows not needed/wanted. -> CPU is between 25-35%. Running Clipbank or Picure Rotation + iWall.
What did help me also was the way I prepare my Clipbank movie clips and images for the Picture Rotation plugin. Some wise words can be found here: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dhjs2rsx_0g87srqfr&hl=en#Appendix_1_Optimising_Your_Sys_7247178734595373.
@VDJ Development:
Please, please look into fixing the missing sliders problem posted by the iWal developer in this thread !
Posted Mon 01 Feb 10 @ 1:09 am
Joop3m
@Francisco:
I'm gonna try the 2.8 lite version coming saturday.... I was wondering: Is there a way to disable not only the tel number, but also the alias for the public?
In this way only the messages are shown...
hmm... just wondering ;-)
I'm gonna try the 2.8 lite version coming saturday.... I was wondering: Is there a way to disable not only the tel number, but also the alias for the public?
In this way only the messages are shown...
hmm... just wondering ;-)
Posted Wed 03 Feb 10 @ 10:19 am
