A revvvview of Ars Electronica 2023
Guest Post What vvvv contributes to the Ars Electronica Festival
A visual live-programming environment that takes you from rapid prototyping to final production.
Visual Live-Programming with vvvv
Very Visual
vvvv is a visual-first live programming environment for the .NET ecosystem. Its language VL combines metaphors known from dataflow, functional and object oriented programming.
There is no need to write any code, unless you really want to.
Inherently Fast
vvvv programs are compiled and run on the .NET virtual machine. As such they are as fast as if you’d write them in C#.
Want to use all the cores of your CPU? With VL it requires no rocket science to have parts of your program run on separate threads.
Quick To Iterate
vvvv has one mode: Runtime. Modify your program while it is running, compilation happens in the background.
With its state hot-reload technology, vvvv saves you precious time: There is no need to restart your program to see the effects of changes you make.
Ready To Connect
vvvv comes with support for many hardware devices, like color and depth cameras, the serial port,…
Also, it speaks most common protocols, like OSC, UDP, TCP, Art-Net, ZMQ, MQTT, Websocket, HTTP, RCP,…
Open To Extend
vvvv can be extended with custom nodes written in pure C#. No proprietary plugin-wrapping boilerplate code is needed.
This allows you to directly consume almost any .NET library from nuget.org, without having to write a single line of code.
Proven To Perform
vvvv’s initial release was in 2002. It is since in use by people around the world to build live-shows and permanent installations.
Built To Be Learned
vvvv comes with a built-in HelpBrowser that gives you direct access to examples and explanations. A series of video tutorials provides you with the fundamentals in no time.
If you need a hand, a caring community is waiting for you to join. vvvv’s chat and forums are both open 24/7.
The Road Ahead
Want to know what we are currently working on and what to expect in upcoming releases?
Check Our Roadmap
Multi-Paradigm
- Combines metaphors known from dataflow, functional and object-oriented programming
- Strictly evaluated
- Regions aka visual code blocks (loops, if, delegates, ...)
- Process nodes aka simple lifetime management
- Adaptive nodes aka adhoc polymorphism
Advanced Type System
- Statically typed
- Automagic type inference
- First class support for mutable and immutable datatypes
- Generics aka parametric polymorphism (with bounded quantification)
- Interfaces aka subtype polymorphism
Supportive IDE
- Runtime value inspection
- Reactive/Async programming
- Easy multithreading
- Compiles to C# using Roslyn
- Consumes any .NET assembly by providing all methods as nodes
Core Libraries
- 2d drawing (GPU accelerated) with SVG and PDF export based on SkiaSharp
- Serialization, async File IO, XML and JSON parsing and generation
- 2d and 3d math library with collision detection operations
3D rendering
- High-level scenegraph based workflow with lights, shadows, an extensive material pipeline and various PostFX (ambient occlusion, depth of field, …)
- Low-level shader based workflow with full access to the engine
- VR output
- Based on the Stride 3d Engine
Visual GPU programming
- Procedural noise
- Signed distance field rendering
- Customizable particle systems
- Vector fields
- Fluid simulation
- Provided via the contributed FUSE library
Computer Vision
- Image filters
- Feature detection and tracking
- Aruco 3D marker tracking
- Camera and projector calibration
- Based on OpenCVSharp
Devices and IO Protocols
- Kinect v1, v2, Azure
- Intel RealSense, Orbbec Astra, Nuitrack
- IDS-Imaging uEye cameras
- Leap Motion
- SerialPort
- OSC, MIDI, DMX, ArtNet, Firmata, UDP, TCP, RCP, WebSocket, HTTP, ZMQ, MQTT, …
Anything missing?
- Browse the full list of VL packages available
- Access >100k .NET packages via nuget.org
- Learn about extending vvvv with your own nodes
Showcase
Recent
Past
Learn
Getting started
Video Tutorials and HowTo's
Documentation (The Gray Book)
Integrated Help Browser
Help: Chat, Forum
Community
Forum
Get answers to your questions or find them in existing discussions in the vvvv forum.
Open Forum
Meetups
Join us for a meetup: real-world, in-person drinks and presentations around vvvv.
Open Meetups
Licensing
T.R.U.S.T
vvvv is protected by our (pattern pending) T.R.U.S.T model:
- No copy-protection
- No feature limitations
- No mandatory registration
- We trust you to declare your commercial use of vvvv correctly.
That’s the world we want to live in. If vvvv helps you make a living, then help us make a living by providing vvvv for you.
Commercial Use
Any commercial use requires a per-developer license. Commercial use includes academic research and usage by NPOs and NFT artists.
Buy licensesFree Use
vvvv can be used freely without any limitations for the following purposes:
- Evaluation
- Non-commercial use
- FOSS development
- Contribution development
- Teaching and learning vvvv
Support
Request a Tour
Curious to learn how vvvv can help you get things done?
We'd like to give you a tour!
- A free screenshare call to walk you through vvvv
- Giving you an overview and helping you getting started
- Answering all your questions
Custom Training
Looking to give your vvvv expertise a jump start?
We get you up to speed!
- Basic training for teams
- Specialized training for teams and individuals
- A Custom learning experience in accordance with your requirements
Custom Support
Using vvvv in a commercial project and need a hand?
Our engineering team is here to help!
- Guiding you in planning the structure of your application
- Sharing responsibility for the success of your project
- Custom feature development
Download
vvvv is free without any restrictions for non-commercial use.
Commercial use requires a License.
vvvv gamma
First released in April 2020, vvvv gamma is the next generation of vvvv, entirely rewritten from scratch.
vvvv beta
In development since 2001, vvvv beta has been used by many companies worldwide to create large media environments.
Go to vvvv.orgContact
Imprint
vvvv - Dießl & Gregor GbROranienstrasse 10
10997 Berlin/Germany
VAT: DE275566955
groupӘvvvv.org
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