Viz Engine

Version 3.9.1 | Published February 12, 2018 ©

Communication

In this section, network connections can be set. External control software, for example, Viz Trio, uses TCP/IP network connections to send commands to the Viz Engine renderer engine (some external communications are also through UDP). Viz Artist expects the commands at the ports which are defined here.

The Communication panel has three tabs, Global, Shared Memory and VDCP (Video Disk Control Protocol).

Global Properties

images/download/attachments/30918315/configuringviz_communication_global.png

  • General Comm. Port: Set a general communication port for receiving external commands when in On Air Mode. Make sure to update settings on the client side if you change the default port. The default is port 6100 (TCP).

  • Additional Communication: Enables sending of commands to Viz Engine on UDP and Multicast, or a combination of the two. Video Wall setups use this.

  • Udp&Multicast Port Number: Set the port number for the computers that share the same virtual IP address.

  • Multicast IP Address: Set the shared virtual IP address.

    Note: The default maximum number of TCP connections is limited to 255. Within this number of connections, a user defined limit of maximum connections can be set.

    images/download/attachments/30918315/configuringviz_comms_additional.png

  • Enable GPI: Enables initialization of supported Sealevel GPI/O devices when Viz Engine starts.

  • MUX Isolated Port: Port number for isolated sessions - no shared data (NLE).

  • MUX Shared Port: Port number for shared sessions - shared data (NLE).

  • MUX Fixed Port: Port number for fixed sessions - shared data, no reference counting (NLE).

  • Still Preview Port: Port number for still preview.

  • Multi Touch Input:

    • Server UDP: Multi Touch events are retrieved from the Viz Multi Touch Interface (see protocol documentation, Viz MultiTouchServer). An external server application connects to the touch device, translates the hardware messages into the Viz Multi Touch Protocol, and sends it via UDP to Viz Artist or Engine. This triggers the internal Multi Touch events in scripts utilizing the plug-in API.

    • Mouse: Enable this to use a standard mouse to test Multi Touch trigger callbacks.

    • Win7 Touch: Viz Artist and Engine uses Win7 Touch messages to generate Multi Touch events.

    • TUIO: (Tangible User Interface Object) Select this if the touch device and/or application works with TUIO/OSC (Open Sound Control).

    • Leap: Leap Motion is a hand and finger-tracking device. Activate this to receive multi-touch events from Leap.

    • Win Stylus: Activates stylus pen input.

  • Multi Touch Port: Port number where Viz Engine listens for the multi touch server. Required for Server UPD communication.

  • Multi Touch IP Address: IP address where Viz Engine listens for the multi touch server. Viz Artist and Engine sends keep-alive messages to the Multi Touch Server. You need to enter the IP address of this server. Required for Server UPD communication.

  • TUIO Port: Set the TUIO (Tangible User Interface Object) port number to communicate with a TUIO enabled multi-touch device. TUIO is a protocol for Table-Top Tangible User Interfaces. The default port for most TUIO applications is 3333.

  • Display Diagonal (inches): Used for gesture recognition. Viz Artist and Engine can calculate transformations with momentum. For this, it needs to know the real, physical, screen-dimension to calculate the correct animation speeds. The value is in inches.

  • Display Aspect Ratio: Used for gesture recognition. The real aspect ratio of the screen is required, as some screens do not have pixel aspect ratios of 1.0.

    images/download/attachments/30918315/configuringviz_comms_multitouch.png
  • Frame Accurate Viz Comm.: Frame accurate commands through TCP (commands delayed by ring buffer and specified FAVC bias). Enable only for external control that supports special frame accurate command execution. Used with Frame Accurate Output.

  • FAVC Bias: Define delay in fields, in addition to ring buffer size, for frame accurate commands via TCP or GPI. This is the bias in frames for the commands, if Frame Accurate Viz Comm. is set to On. Allows negative values.

    images/download/attachments/30918315/configuringviz_comms_frame_acu.png
  • Command Field Dominance: States when to handle the commands sent to Viz Engine. For example, when set to Odd Retrace Counter, Viz Engine handles all commands on odd fields. Not valid in progressive video output modes. Options are:

    • Always.

    • Odd Retrace Counter: Execute commands at an odd retrace counter.

    • Even Retrace Counter: Execute commands at an even retrace counter.

    • Intern. Always/Extern. Odd: Execute commands internally always and externally at an odd retrace counter.

    • Intern. Always/Extern. Even: Execute commands internally always and externally at an even retrace counter.

  • On air Mouse Events: Set mouse events in On Air Mode to On or Off.

  • REST Webservice: Enter the port number for communication with the Viz Engine REST interface. The default is 0, which deactivates the Webservice.

    Note: To view the current documentation for the REST interface, go to http://localhost:<port number>/#/documentation

    • Install: Enter a port number and click Install to install the Webservice.

    • Uninstall: Remove the Webservice.

      IMPORTANT! The Webservice does not automatically install when User Account Control (UAC) is active. Click Install to activate the Webservice.

  • Enable Logging: Enable Webservice logging to the Viz Console.

    images/download/attachments/30918315/configuringviz_comms_webservice.png
  • GFX Port: Set the GFX Channel starting port number (GFX2: GFX Port+1, GFX3: GFX Port+2. For example: 55000, 55001, 55002, etc.

Shared Memory Properties

images/download/attachments/30918315/configuringviz_communication_smm.png

  • Multicast IP Address: Set the address for synchronizing distributed shared memory map without a Graphic Hub.

  • Multicast Port: Synchronize shared memory between all Viz Engines listening to the multicast.

  • UDP Port: Set the UDP listening port for the shared memory input.

  • TCP Port: Set the TCP listening port for the shared memory input.

  • Debug: Enable Shared Memory logging for UDP and TCP communication.

  • Master Engine IP Address: Set the IP address of the master Viz Engine which holds the complete shared memory map (loaded during startup of Viz Engine).

  • Master Engine Port: Set the initializing port for the shared memory on startup (the command port of the master Viz Engine).

  • Master Poll: Enable to make a Viz Engine load the shared memory map from the master Viz Engine, through the selected communication protocol. Available options are:

    • Inactive

    • Commands

    • UDP

    • TCP

See Also

To Limit the Number of TCP Connections

Since Viz Engine 3.3, the number of TCP connections to Viz Artist can be set in the Viz configuration. The maximum number of TCP connections is limited to 255. If set to 1, the first control application connecting to Viz Artist/Engine will get exclusive control over Viz Artist/Engine.

  1. Open the Viz Config file (for example: Viz-<hostname>-0-0.cfg).

  2. Under SECTION COMMUNICATION set ‘max_tcp_connections’ to the number of TCP connections required.

This setting applies to the default port (6100) and the Multiplexing Ports.

VDCP Properties

The VDCP (Video Disk Control Protocol) tab enables the configuration of up to eight external controllers which can then have basic control over clip-channels and render-layers (Front, Main, Back).

images/download/attachments/30918315/configuringviz_vdcp_properties.png
Basic control is the ability to set a clip and to start, stop, pause or continue playback of a clip, or the scene animation in the specific layer.

  • Controller <1 to 8>: Configure up to eight external controllers.
    Each Controller has these parameters:

  • Enable: Make the Controller connection Active or Inactive

  • Protocol: Select a protocol (TCP/IP or Serial connections) for the external control device

  • Port: Enter a port number. This port is where an external VDCP client can connect to the specified VDCP controller of the Viz Engine.

  • Mode: Select a mode:

    • Clip Channel: Enable the control of a selected video clip channel

    • Layer: Enable the control of animation in a layer

  • ID: Available if Mode is set to Clip Channel. Select a Clip channel (an ID (1 to 16)) to control

  • Layer: Available if Mode is set to Layer. Select either Back, Main or Front