Modul8 Manual

VERSION 2 .
Table of contents
Introduction..............................................................................................................8
Requirements..........................................................................................................10
Installation...............................................................................................................10
Authorizing Modul8...............................................................................................10
Authorizing Modul8 offline.....................................................................................10
Deauthorizing Modul8...........................................................................................10
TAB L E OF CONT ENTS

The Modul8 Model..................................................................................................11
01
Panels......................................................................................................................12
Getting
MainStarted.
panel.......................................................................................................13
Summary.................................................................................................................15
Media.............................................................................................................................16
Overview..................................................................................................................16
The Media Panel.....................................................................................................16
Special Media..........................................................................................................17
Supported Media....................................................................................................17
Images.....................................................................................................................18
Movies.....................................................................................................................18
Transparency...........................................................................................................18
Performance...........................................................................................................18
Sound Playback......................................................................................................19
Memory....................................................................................................................20

The Dynamic Media................................................................................................20
Summary.................................................................................................................20
Preview........................................................................................................................21
Overview..................................................................................................................21
Grid Mode................................................................................................................21
Layer Mode.............................................................................................................21
Group Inv.MAIN
Mode.PANEL.....................................................................................................21
Group A/B Mode.....................................................................................................21
Output Mode...........................................................................................................21
Out Mix Mode..........................................................................................................22
Summary.................................................................................................................23
SINGLE Output...........................................................................................................24
Overview..................................................................................................................24
Full screen Mode....................................................................................................24
Single Monitor System...........................................................................................24
Summary.................................................................................................................24
MULTI-PROJECTION.....................................................................................................25
Introduction.............................................................................................................25
Basic Principles......................................................................................................25
Hardware Configuration.........................................................................................25
Computer............................................................................................................25
Modul8 - Documentation V. 2.5

2.0 © Copyright 2006
2005 GarageCUBE, Schmid, Edelstein, SNC – All rights reserved
VERSION 2 . 5
Graphic Cards and the video outputs......................................................................25

System Configuration.............................................................................................25
Warning...............................................................................................................26
Activating the advanced mode..............................................................................26
The advanced output setup...................................................................................27
Representation area...............................................................................................27
Managing the clips.................................................................................................28
TAB L E O F CONT ENTS

Creating and deleting clips. ...................................................................................28
01
Clip selection.......................................................................................................28
Position and size of the clip in the representation space. ..........................................28
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Seeing the clips in the preview...............................................................................28
Clip ratio..............................................................................................................28
Routing Table..........................................................................................................28
Managing your setup..............................................................................................29
Annex.......................................................................................................................29
Matrox dualHead2Go and TripleHead2go............................................................29
Layer.............................................................................................................................32
Overview..................................................................................................................32
Managing Layers....................................................................................................32
Working with A/B Layer groups............................................................................33
Play..........................................................................................................................34
Speed. ................................................................................................................34

Loop Mode. .........................................................................................................34
Scratch. ..............................................................................................................35
Movie Options.........................................................................................................35
Setting movie entry/exit points...............................................................................35
Sound Volume......................................................................................................35
Transition.................................................................................................................36
Transform................................................................................................................36
Scale...................................................................................................................36
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Rotation. .............................................................................................................37
Post-colorize...........................................................................................................37
Pixel FX....................................................................................................................38
Saturation............................................................................................................38
Lightness.............................................................................................................38
Contrast..............................................................................................................38
Luma key / Color key. ...........................................................................................38
Noise. .................................................................................................................39
Blur.....................................................................................................................39
Animation Effects...................................................................................................40
Animation Curves.................................................................................................40
Auto Move...........................................................................................................40
Auto Scale...........................................................................................................40
Auto Color...........................................................................................................40
Auto Rotate. ........................................................................................................41
The transformers....................................................................................................42

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Matrix..................................................................................................................42
Patch. .................................................................................................................43
Particle emitter.....................................................................................................44
Layer Local Logical Record...................................................................................45
Layer Sets................................................................................................................45
Summary.................................................................................................................46

Master.........................................................................................................................47
01 .................................................................................................................47
Overview.
Speed. ......................................................................................................................47
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Scale........................................................................................................................47
Alpha-Channel........................................................................................................47
Trace Mode..............................................................................................................47
Quick Effects...........................................................................................................48
Background Color..................................................................................................48
Invert Output Color.................................................................................................48
Output Add Color....................................................................................................48
Sound Level.............................................................................................................48
Global Logical Record............................................................................................48
Summary.................................................................................................................48
Capture.......................................................................................................................49
Overview..................................................................................................................49

Sound Capture........................................................................................................49
Video Capture.........................................................................................................50
Summary.................................................................................................................50
Saving Your Project..............................................................................................51

Overview..................................................................................................................51
Media.......................................................................................................................51
Midi and keyboard..................................................................................................51
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Summary.................................................................................................................51
Midi and keyboard..................................................................................................52

Overview..................................................................................................................52
Default Configuration.............................................................................................52
Configuring The Keyboard.....................................................................................53
Configuring Midi.....................................................................................................53
Contextual Midi / Keyboard mapping...................................................................53
Summary.................................................................................................................54
Recording and rendering...................................................................................55

Overview..................................................................................................................55
The Logical Record................................................................................................55
Record To Disk........................................................................................................56
Summary.................................................................................................................56

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Modules......................................................................................................................57
Overview .................................................................................................................57
Using modules........................................................................................................57
Downloading and installing new modules...........................................................57
Managing your modules .......................................................................................58
standard modules..................................................................................................59

Layer........................................................................................................................59
01
All / Master.............................................................................................................59
Global.......................................................................................................................59
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BPM (GLOBAL)........................................................................................................59
ROUTER (MASTER) and ROUTER (LAYER)..........................................................60
MASK (GLOBAL).....................................................................................................61
CENTER (LAYER)....................................................................................................63
NETWORK (GLOBAL).............................................................................................64
PRESET (LAYER).....................................................................................................65
PRESET DEFAULT (LAYER)....................................................................................66
SCRATCH (LAYER)..................................................................................................66
SLIDE SHOW (LAYER)............................................................................................67
FILTER (LAYER).......................................................................................................69
TEXT (LAYER)..........................................................................................................70
TEXT SUBTITLE (LAYER).......................................................................................71
TEXT CHANGE (LAYER).........................................................................................72

TIME AND DATE (LAYER).......................................................................................72
COUNT DOWN (LAYER).........................................................................................73
MOVIE TIME (LAYER).............................................................................................73
CROSSFADER (MASTER).......................................................................................74
SHAKE (ALL)...........................................................................................................75
RANDOM CROP (LAYER).......................................................................................75
MOVIE RANDOM FRAME (LAYER)........................................................................76
PAINTER (LAYER)...................................................................................................77
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POST COLORIZE PICKER (LAYER).......................................................................79
CHROMAKEY (LAYER)...........................................................................................80
Creating modules...................................................................................................81
Layer Contextual Module.......................................................................................81
Interacting with Modul8.........................................................................................82
Using the keywords................................................................................................82
The keyword families.............................................................................................83
The user-interface builder.....................................................................................84
The global attributes..............................................................................................85
The controls............................................................................................................85
The slider.............................................................................................................85
The knobs............................................................................................................85
The buttons. ........................................................................................................85
The media buttons................................................................................................86
The color pickers..................................................................................................86
The 2D pad. .........................................................................................................87

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The draw view......................................................................................................87

The captions........................................................................................................87
Text and numeric fields. ........................................................................................87
The text list..........................................................................................................87
Shapes................................................................................................................87
Tools...................................................................................................................88
Connecting controls to Modul8 keywords...........................................................88

A simple module examples....................................................................................89
01
A colorize module.................................................................................................89
A pad effect module..............................................................................................93
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Scripting..................................................................................................................96
A brief introduction to Python...............................................................................97
Conditions...........................................................................................................98
Integer. ...............................................................................................................98
Floating-point.......................................................................................................99
List. ....................................................................................................................99
Dictionary............................................................................................................99
Operators..........................................................................................................100
Comments.........................................................................................................100
Packages...........................................................................................................100
The scripting environment...................................................................................101
The Modul8 main functions.................................................................................102
The Module functions...........................................................................................102

setValue/getValue...............................................................................................102
setDefaults / getDefaults.....................................................................................103
setAttribute / getAttribute....................................................................................103
getSharedDictionary. ..........................................................................................103
flushAllControls..................................................................................................103
sendMessageToAllInstances................................................................................103
showGroup / hideGroup. .....................................................................................104
The Modul8 MAINadvanced
PANELfunctions.........................................................................104
Sending midi messages.......................................................................................104
hsbToRgb / rgbToHsb..........................................................................................104
setFilters / getFiltersDesc....................................................................................104
The script types....................................................................................................105
Init(). .................................................................................................................105
MessageEvent(msg,param)..................................................................................105
DirectEvent(type,param)......................................................................................106
KeywordEvent(keyword,param)............................................................................106
PeriodicalEvent(elapsed).....................................................................................106
PauseEvent(paused). ..........................................................................................107
Finish(). .............................................................................................................107
Serialize(outDict)/Deserialize(inDict).....................................................................107
Module serialization.............................................................................................107
The module draw view control............................................................................108
Sharing your modules online...............................................................................110

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Support, Community and Contacts...............................................................112
About..........................................................................................................................113

01
Main panel
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Introduction
Welcome to Modul8! Modul8 is a revolutionary MacOS X application designed for real time video mixing
and compositing. It has been designed for VJs and live performers.
Unlike most of the other video mixers, Modul8 really allows you to create the composition you want
instead of being stuck with a predefined set of filters. And by composition, we mean both spatial and
time-related composition: In Modul8, you can move, rotate, scale your original media just like in a simple
image editor - but all in real time.
01
Modul8 supports almost all quicktime codecs, flash animation and almost all the image formats you
can think about.
MainSimply
panel drag and drop your files to the media panel. They are ready to be mixed. Modul8
works in full resolution, no scale down is done. The output resolution can be in pal, ntsc, svga, xga or
I N T R O D UCT ION
higher. The same is true for your movies: not a single pixel is lost. Modul8 renders your media as you have
compressed it, i.e. with the maximum available quality and highest possible resolution.
To reach this kind of performance, we push your hardware and the OS to the limit: The full rendering
is done through the GPU of your graphic card; each pixel modifier has been altivec optimized and the
whole architecture of the software is fully multi-threaded. Everything has been done to lower the latency
as much as possible at every levels of the application. For example, the movie swapping and looping are
pre-buffered to avoid latency.
Modul8 is able to manage up to 10 different layers each one having its own settings and media.
Layers can be re-ordered at any time with a simple drag and drop. Layers can also be grouped in two
compositions A/B allowing you to work on an animation while you are projecting another one. Full per
pixel transparency is computed between the layers allowing you to obtain an incredible high quality mix
of images. Because we know how important the transparency is in compositing, Modul8 is able to read
full alpha channels from the media. We also offer five different luma-key functions for media that do not
support an alpha channel.
Modul8 works in full 32 bits colors, three channels for red, green and blue, plus the alpha channel.
At any time, you can modulate the channels (both color and transparency) of your media without slowing
down your composition. Altivec optimized filters allow you to change the contrast, the saturation, the
brightness in both positive and negative forms. And of course standard filtering like ultra fast blur and
noise filters are also directly integrated in the main user interface.
Since the V2.0, Modul8 includes an advanced transformer mechanism that allows the creation of
MAIN PANEL
advanced three-dimensional objects from your 2D media: a new matrix mechanism for tiling your video
source that supports 3D extrusion; an advanced real time patch system that lets you create complex
dynamic 3D shapes by combining primitive, displacement mapping, sound waves; and a 3D particle
engine designed for real time manipulation.
Modul8 supports a preview panel that can be used at the same time than the final output. This
panel lets you see the output and much more: you can display hidden layers or group to prepare the final
composition before it is sent to the displayed output (just like with DJ tables). This preview panel can also
be used to move your layers in space with a simple mouse drag.
Modul8 supports direct keyboard and full midi connectivity. The whole user-interface can be
configured to react to midi and/or to keyboard. Modul8 automatically detects and links your external midi
controller to the user-interface. All you have to do is move your external fader, or your button, and Modul8
will interpret the midi message and link it to the button you have selected. You don’t have to know about
midi messages. Modul8 is also able to react directly to sound input: simply plug a microphone to your
machine and link the sound input to the desired effect.
Modul8 is also fully extensible with the module system introduced in the V2.0. An advanced user-
interface builder let you create your own windows and controls such as buttons, text fields and much
Modul8 - Documentation V. 2.5 © Copyright 2006 GarageCUBE, Schmid, Edelstein, SNC – All rights reserved
VERSION 2 . 5
more with a simple drag and drop. You can map your controls to Modul8 functionalities with a simple
configuration panel. And for those who want to go further, it is fully scriptable. An integrated environment
allows you write Python scripts straight from the inside of the application without even having to stop your
animation. An online module library allows Modul8 users to share their modules. This flexible architecture
opens Modul8 to full customization, perfect for advanced installation and performances.
This documentation is a complete reference of Modul8. You will find a description of all the components
of the application.
01
Main panel
I N T R O D UCT ION

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Requirements
On the software side, Modul8 2.5 requires the MacOS version 10.4 (Tiger) or higher (10.3.9 users can
still use Modul8 2.0.3) and quicktime version 7.1.3 or higher to run.
On the hardware side, a G4 processor or higher is required. Because Modul8 uses the GPU of your
video card for the rendering, having a good video card is also critical. An ATI Radeon or an NVidia Geforce
card with at least 32Mbytes of Vram is a minimal configuration to obtain acceptable performances; a
64Mbytes video card is highly recommended.
01
Multiprojection requires a Mac tower with PCI-Express and several graphic cards (depending of the
number of output required). The maximum number of outputs today is eight (four dual-output graphic
Main panel
cards). Typically seven outputs, plus one reserved for the user-interface.
It is also possible to use a device such as the Matrox DualHead or TripleHead to create multi-
projection with Modul8 and the PowerBook. However only linear side-by-side projections are supported
with this configuration.
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Installation
To install Modul8 you simply have to drag the Modul8 folder to your application folder. Before using
Modul8 an online registration is required. The standard Modul8 license allows you to install Modul8 on two
machines simultaneously (different users on the same machines are not counted as different machines).
Authorizing Modul8
To authorize Modul8 on a machine, simply launch the application. If you have an Internet connection,
the procedure is pretty straightforward. Simply fill the form and enter your serial number. Modul8 will 10
connect to a server to validate your machine. Once it is done, you don’t need Internet anymore to use
Modul8. You can always have at least two machines authorized at the same time (and more if you have
a site license). If you need to install a third machine, you have to deauthorize Modul8 on one of the other
machines (see the “Deauthorizing Modul8” chapter).
Authorizing Modul8 offline
Modul8 supports also an offline authorization process for those who need to install Modul8 on a
machine that is not able toPANEL
MAIN connect to the Internet. Please use it only when you really need it, because it is
a much more complicated process. To authorize offline, start Modul8 and select “Offline authorize”. Then
fill the form. Modul8 will give you a challenge code. You need to keep a copy of this code (there is an option
to save it as a text file). Then go to the specified URL on another machine and enter the challenge code.
A validation code will be returned. Restart Modul8 and enter the validation code to finish the
authorization process. It is also possible to deauthorize a machine offline. See the next chapter.
Deauthorizing Modul8
You need to deauthorize a computer when you need to install Modul8 on a new machine and you
already have used the maximum number of registration authorized by your license. It is also important to
deauthorize Modul8 if you sell or replace your machine.
To deauthorize a computer, simply select “Deauthorize” in the Modul8 menu. If your computer is
connected to the Internet you only have to click on “Deauthorize”. Modul8 will connect to a server to
remove the registration of your machine.
It is also possible to deauthorize Modul8 offline. In this mode, Modul8 gives you a code that is saved to a
text file. Then you need to use a machine that has Internet support to access the deauthorization URL and
enter the code previously returned. It is important that you do this last step, because the deauthorization
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process is not finished as long as the server has not unregistered your machine.
The Modul8 Model
Modul8 is based on a layer paradigm. Basically you create your composition by adding and removing
layers. Each layer displays a media (a movie, an image, etc.) and applies spatial and time modifiers to the
original media. All the layers are mixed together in order to generate the final image composition.
A layer is an infinite 3D space where the original media can be moved, scaled and rotated. In other
words, the media can be moved along the axis of a layer and will not necessary fill the screen.
01
The selected layer is the one that you are currently editing. When a layer is selected, all its attributes
Main panel
are displayed in the user-interface. When you switch to another layer the user-interface is updated to
reflect the new layer attributes.
Layers can be used just as a flat list or they can be divided in two groups A/B. In the group mode, you
have two compositions that can be edited individually. A cross-fader allows you to move smoothly from
one group to another. This is pretty useful when you want to display a composition while you are editing
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another one.
A composition of layers can be stored into layer sets. Only the selected layer set is rendered. These
sets can be used to jump quickly from one composition to another. Unlike the layer stack, each layer set
is completely independent from the others (you cannot visually mix two layer sets). A layer set is really a
way to preset or to store a full composition.
A set of master controllers allows you to modify global attributes that are applied to the composition
after the layers have been mixed.
11
Finally, the last key entity is the media. A media represents a visual source that can be linked to
a layer and finally rendered. Modul8 supports several kind of visual sources, like Flash 5 animation,
QuickTime movie, simple image or video live stream. The medias are stored in an internal media bank that
is manipulated through the media panel. A media can be imported to the media bank simply by dragging
its file to the media panel.
Here is a simplified representation of the Modul8 rendering pipeline:

MAIN PANEL
MEDIAS LAYERS FINAL OUTPUT
Media linked to layers Apply effects and

mix layers
Movie Layer 01
Image Layer 02
Movie Layer 03
Movie Layer 04
... ...
MASTER
Master effects
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Panels
The Modul8 user interface is divided into four panels:
02
01 Output
Main panel
01
Main panel
03
Preview
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04
Media
12
01.
The main panel: This is where you manage the layers and the master controllers.
MAIN PANEL
02.
The output panel: This is where the final rendering is displayed. By default it is a resizable and moveable
panel. It can also be redirected to a full screen view on the main screen or on a secondary screen.
03.
The preview panel: This panel is a preview of your composition. It can be used to move the active layer
along the x/y axis and to preview your composition in several different ways.
04.
The media panel: This where you add and manage your media (movies, pictures, etc.).
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Getting Started
There are many different ways to work with Modul8. Typically, the first step is to prepare your media.
It is a critical step because the size and the type of compression of the media have a great impact on
the quality and the performance of Modul8. See the “Media” section for more information about media
preparation.
Once your media are ready you can import them in Modul8. It is pretty straightforward to get your
media in the application. Basically, you drag and drop them to the media panel. You can have up to 80
media stored in the media bank. The media panel is divided in five sections of four by four media slots.
01
There is also a special section for predefined or internal media (like the video capture).
Main panel
When you add a new media, Modul8 automatically chooses a memory strategy for you in order to
obtain the best possible performance. If your media is small enough, it will be entirely stored decompressed
in memory. If this is not possible, the media is stored compressed in memory. If the media is still too big,
it will be simply streamed from the file.

Once the media have been imported you are ready to mix them. Modul8 is layer oriented. A media is
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always represented through a layer.
1
13
1 The initial first layer

At the beginning, only one layer is
present. You can see it in the layer
list at the left of the main panel.
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01 All the attributes of the selected layer are

represented at the right of the layer list.
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For instance, if you examine the rotation
section of the transform area, you will see
three knobs: X, Y and Z. These controllers
represent the current rotation angle of the
selected layer. When you select another
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layer, these knobs are updated to reflect
the angle of the newly selected layer. This
is true for all the layer attributes displayed
beside the layer list.
In order to get a layer to display a media you have to link them together. Simply selecting a layer and 14
clicking on a media in the media panel does this. You can also use midi or keyboard shortcuts to manage
this operation. By default, the keys 1 to 9 (please note that is it not the keypad keys) are assigned to the
first nine media. See the “Midi and Keyboard” section for more information regarding input configuration.
As soon as a media has been linked to a layer, it is displayed in the final output panel (unless the layer
is hidden). The media is also automatically played in loop mode.
Changing the attributes of the layer is reflected in the final composition. For example, if you modify
the Z knob in the rotation
MAIN section,
PANELyou can see your media rotating in real time. This is true of all the others
Modul8 controllers. Every change updates immediately the final composition in real-time.
Some layer attributes should be activated before they are applied to the composition. For example,
the “saturation” is not applied to the media before you enable it using its title button. However, the controls
of the filters are not disabled even if the zone is deactivated. It allows you to prepare the filter before it
affects the composition. This is also true of all the sections that have a title that can be activated (contrast,
luma-key, auto move, etc.).
You won’t find a X/Y control in the layer attribute section. This is because you can directly move your
layer using the preview window. Simply click on the grid and move the mouse to drag your layer along the
X/Y axis.
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01
Main panel
Simply click and drag your mouse in this zone to move

your layer.
O V E RVI E W
The preview panel can also be used to see the full final output (it is pretty useful when your do a
projection that you cannot see) or simply the current layer. The “output” mode allows you to see the full
mix. The interesting feature of the “mix” mode is that it displays the layer in the preview panel even if it is
hidden, allowing you to prepare a layer before it is sent to the final output. When you are working in A/B
group mode, you can also see a specific group or simply the group that is not displayed in the output
display using the “group inv” tab. This is the mode that you use when you want to work on a composition
while you are displaying another one (See “Working with A/B layer groups” chapter). 15

Finally you can use the master controllers to apply global modifiers to your composition. These
controllers are not layer related. They are applied to all the layers and/or after all the layers have been
mixed.
MAIN PANEL
For example, you can use the “speed” slider to change the movie time rate of all your playing movies
instead of modifying the layers one by one.
Summary
In this chapter, we saw:
• The minimum requirements to run Modul8

• The different panels and their rules
• A quick introduction to the different components of Modul8
The next chapters will examine in details all the functionalities of Modul8.
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Media
Overview
In Modul8, any visual source that can be represented by a layer is considered as a media. This
includes movies, Flash animations, simple images, text and video capture. Some media are files while
some others may be dynamic media (for instance the live video capture or the text).
For the user, all the media are managed the same way. For example, you can use all the filters or the
geometric transformation on a movie, a video capture or a Flash animation. Only the initialization is a bit
different if the media is a file or an internal dynamic media. A media file has to be dragged to one of the
five media banks while internal media are displayed in a special bank.
01
Main panel
The Media Panel
The media panel is made of a five different banks plus a special bank for internal dynamic media.
You can click on the 1-5 numbers to change the current bank. Each bank has a 4x4 grid designed to
receive media.
3 2
ME D I A
1
16
1 A loaded media
2 The current
media bank
3 Enter the edit
mode to get info
MAIN PANEL about your medias
and edit them
To add media, you simply drag it to one of the empty box. You cannot drag a media to an already
occupied box. You have to remove it first by entering the edit mode and then using the “del” button. Once
it has been removed you can drag a new media to the empty area.
You can also use the “Import Media...” function in the “File” menu to import your media using a
standard dialog box. In this case the media are simply added to empty zones in the media panel.
When you click on a media it is automatically linked to the selected layer. This can be avoided by
clicking on the “I” button. In “info” mode you can select and work in the media panel without affecting
the current layer. It is pretty useful if you need to rework your media without modifying the playing
composition.
In this mode you can access information about your media such as the codec, fps, duration, etc.The
info button can be used to get info about a media and edit some of its attributes.
The info mode enables also several new functions to arrange your media. First of all, in this mode
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you can drag and drop your media to re-arrange your set. It allows you to change the order of the media
and to move a media from one set to another. You will find functions to delete a media, reveal its file in the
finder or force it to be preloaded in memory.
01
Main panel
ME D I A
Several media options can be set: 17
Bilinear Filter: By default Modul8 filter your media to smooth the pixel when the resolution of the
screen is higher than your media. If you want to see un-smoothed, squared pixel when you scale your
media, you should turn off this option.
Lossless Quality: This allows you to choose if you want your media to be rendered in lossless quality.
In this mode, the media is not transformed and rendered exactly as it was compressed (you will see a big
difference with interlaced media such as DV).
Memory storage:MAIN PANEL

There are three different strategies for Modul8 to access your media: Not compressed
in memory, compressed in memory or streamed from the disk. The first option allows the faster playback
but it uses a lot of memory, while the last one uses nearly no memory at all, but requires heavy disk access.
Modul8 automatically try to find the best possible storage when you import a media, however you can
change it manually from here.
Special Media
If you look at the media panel, after bank number eight you will see a special tab. This is where you
can access the bank of internal media. This place contains three special media slots, one for entering the
text mode (see the “Text” chapter), one for activating the video capture (see the “Capture” chapter), one
to display color bars that can be useful to set up a projector or a video monitor and the last one which
represents dynamic canvases (like for live painter) These special media can be used just like any other
standard media that have been imported to Modul8. They can be linked to a layer, mixed, etc.
Supported Media
Besides the internal media (like video capture), Modul8 supports several different media file formats.
Currently, they can be divided in two categories: image (no time line) and movie (a time line).
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Images
Modul8 supports most of the image formats (png, bmp, pdf, psd, gif,etc.) However Modul8 does not
support CMYK color format (you have to convert CMYK images to RGB before importing them). When an
image format is composed of several pages (like in a pdf) only the first one is displayed. Complex multi-
layered images (like PSD images) may require a pre-render and a merge of the layers before Modul8 is
able to display them correctly.
The alpha-channel when available is used directly in Modul8 (see the “Transparency” chapter).
Images are always stored in memory, so the file format does not affect the rendering performance.
01
Movies
Main panel
Modul8 uses Quicktime to import movies, so Modul8 can read most of the Quicktime codecs. Flash
5 animation can also be read but you have to be very careful of the boundary size of your animation if you
want to obtain good performances.
Even if Modul8 can read most of the Quicktime supported formats, you will obtain completely
different performances depending of the codec that has been used for compressing your media. See the
“Performance” chapter for more information.
ME D I A
Transparency
Modul8 supports a full per pixel 8 bits channel for transparency. It allows you to create very high
quality transparency effects.
For images you have several image formats that supports per pixel transparency. We highly recommend
that you use the “PNG” or the “PSD” format to store your image with transparency.
18
Regarding movies, there is one codec included with Quicktime that supports per-pixel transparency:
the “Animation” codec. Unfortunately, this codec is very time consuming and is therefore not very efficient
for real-time playback. A solution is to create small loops that can be stored entirely decompressed in
memory, this way the decompression is not necessary and you will have very efficient per-pixel and per-
frame transparency.
Of course, Modul8 is able also to generate on-the-fly transparency using luma-key or the layer mixer
MAIN
too (see the “Layer” PANEL
chapter) for media that do not support transparency.
Performance
If you have some experience with real time video, you know that using the correct codec for video
compression is critical in order to obtain good performance. This is especially true with Modul8. Even if
most of the codecs are supported, you will see huge differences in performance if you re-compress your
media with the appropriate codec.
The best codec for Modul8 today is the Photo-JPEG codec.

If your movie is in black and white you should use the “Graphic” codec.
For per-pixel transparency you can use the “Animation” codec. It is a time consuming codec, but if
your media can be stored decompressed in memory (in other words, if it is a short loop) you will be able to
use it at no speed cost and enjoy a per-pixel alpha for each frame of your movie.
For long movies, you may also use the DV codec especially since the V2.5 where the performances
have been a lot improved.
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Sound Playback
Modul8 fully supports video sound. By default sound output is disabled in the master panel. To turn
it on, you simply have to change the sound level using the “out” knob.
You can also change the sound volume for every layer individually using the play option (in the “opt”
tab at the top-left of the layer settings).
Sound is correctly managed also by the cross-fader. It means that when you cross-fade from a group
to another, the sound will also be cross-faded.
01
Changing
Mainthe panel
transparency of a layer lowers the sound volume of the layer.
If you don’t need sound at all, you can turn it off in the preferences. In this mode, sounds is completely
ignored and it will improve the performance of Modul8.
ME D I A
19
MAIN PANEL
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Memory
By default, Modul8 tries to entirely store a media in memory if it takes less than 30 Mbytes (this limit
can be changed in the preferences). If the media fits uncompressed in memory it is entirely loaded and
stored decompressed (please note that this mode is not used if a movie has a sound channel). It is the
best case, because it takes no CPU time and no disk access to play the movie. However it works only
with pretty short (or small) loops (unless you have a huge amount of memory). If the media does not fit
decompressed in memory, Modul8 tries to store the media compressed in memory. This way the media
can be played without disk access. If the compressed media is still bigger than the 30 Mbytes limitation,
the media is streamed from the disk.
01
This isMain
the automatic
panel mechanism. However you can change the memory mode by hand by using
the “info” button of the media panel. In the media info zone, there are three checkboxes that allow you to
change the memory mode directly. The panel will also show you an estimation of how much memory is
required for each different mode. This is very useful to prevent an out of physical memory situation that
would cause a dramatic slow down of Modul8.
Of course the best case is when a media can fit entirely decompressed in memory. You will reach
incredibly good performance, but you will suffer a huge memory cost.
Most of the time, you will have your media compressed in memory; this is a middle-path where your media
still takes CPU time for compression but on the other hand does not require disk access and stays pretty
ME D I A
small in memory.
Please note also that not all the media linked to the media panel will stay all the time in memory. If
you don’t use a media for a long time and your physical memory starts to be low, it will be removed from
memory. Next time you use it, an asynchronous mechanism will reload it, causing a short delay the first
time you use it.
20
It is possible to know the memory state of a media by checking the media panel. When a media is not
in memory, a red icon is displayed on its preview. When the media is loading, an orange icon is displayed.
When no icon is displayed, it means that the media is loaded and ready to be played.
The Dynamic Media
Modul8 also supports several other media types such as real time video capture, text or live painting.
These medias (with the exception of the video capture) are typically accessed through modules. Please
MAIN
see the corresponding PANEL
chapters for more information.
Summary
In this chapter you learned about media management in Modul8. The following points have been
covered:
• How the media panel works and how to import media files.
• There are internal media (like video capture) and external media (movies, images...)
• Modul8 supports most of the image and movie formats.
• Full per-pixel transparency is supported for movies and images as long as the media format (or
codec) supports it.
• The best codec to obtain good performance is the “PHOTO-JPEG” and the “Graphic” for black
and white movies.
• Modul8 supports three memory modes: decompressed in memory, compressed in memory,
streamed from the media file.
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Preview
Overview
The preview panel is an area where you can see, prepare and move along the X/Y axis a selected
layer. The preview panel can also be very useful to see your composition when you are doing a projection
that you cannot see. This panel can work in four different modes that will be covered in the next chapters.
Whatever the current mode is, you can always move your layer by clicking in the panel and dragging the
mouse. It is a very intuitive way to move the selected layer in 2D space.
Grid Mode
01
Main
The grid modepanel
is the default mode. It simply displays a grid and a target that can be used to see
where is the center of your layer proportionally to the size of the output composition. This is a minimal
mode that consumes nearly no CPU time. The Grid Mode has also a very useful “center” button that can
be used to re-center the selected layer. Please note that in every mode, you can also double click in the
composition to re-center the layer.
Layer Mode
PREVIEW
The layer mode displays only the selected layer. It is a pretty useful mode when you have a complex
multi-layered composition and it becomes difficult to identify the modifiers you are applying to the current
layer.
Group Inv. Mode
This mode is useful when you work with A/B layer group. In this case your layers are divided in two
groups A/B, with only one being displayed at the same time. This allows you to prepare a composition 21
while you are displaying another one. The “Group Inv.” mode basically displays the composition that is
not displayed in the final output. For example, if you are displaying the group A in the final output, it is the
group B that is displayed in the preview. When you cross-fade from one group to another the “Group Inv.”
mode also inverses the two displayed compositions. This is the mode you should use when working with
the A/B layer groups.
Group A/B Mode
These two modes simply display either the layer group A or the group B.
MAIN PANEL
Output Mode
The output displays a full copy of the final output view. It allows you to see quickly exactly how your
composition looks and is very useful when the final output is a projection that cannot be seen from where
the video mixing is done.
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Out Mix Mode

The mix mode is similar to the output mode with one difference: the selected layer is displayed in
the preview panel even if it is hidden in the final composition. The mix mode has been designed to allow
the preparation of a layer before it is sent to the final composition. You simply hide a layer by using its
checkbox in the layer list. Then you can work on it in the preview panel and when it is ready simply re-
enable it.
01
Main panel
PREVIEW
The layer is hidden in the final
output preview
22
MAIN PANEL
In mix mode, the layer

is d
isplayed even if it
is hidden
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Summary
This chapter allowed you to learn how to use the preview panel. The following points have been covered:
• The preview panel can be used to view part of or the full output composition.
• It can be used to move the selected layer along the X/Y axis.
• A mix-mode allows you to prepare a layer before it is sent to the final composition.
• How to preview the A/B layer groups
01
Main panel
PREVIEW
23
MAIN PANEL
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SINGLE Output
Overview
The output view is where the final composition is displayed. By default it is rendered to a resizable
and moveable panel. However, you can enter a full screen mode where it entirely covers the screen. This is
typically the mode that you will use if you have a second screen or when you connect a projector to your
computer.
Full screen Mode

01
To enter the full screen mode, go to the “Output” menu and select full screen. If your computer
Main
supports more panel
than one video output, the full screen view is placed on the second screen, if not, it is
placed on the main screen over the user-interface (see the “Single Monitor System” chapter).
O U T P U T V IEW
You can exit the full screen mode by going to the “Output” menu and selecting “Windowed” or by
pressing the keyboard shortcut COMMAND-T.
Single Monitor System
Modul8 supports computers with only one video output. However in full screen mode the user-
interface is entirely covered.
In this case, the only way to exit the full screen mode is to press COMMAND-T.
Mixing without the user-interface requires that you use a midi table or keyboard shortcuts. Actually it
is pretty easy to configure Modul8 (see the “Midi and Keyboard” chapter) to get it working without visual
feedback. 24
Summary
This chapter allowed you to learn how to manage a full screen context:
• You can at any time switch from full screen to windowed output.
• When more than one video output is available, the second one is used for full screen.
• If only one video output is available, the full screen mode will cover the interface. In this case
you should use the midi or the keyboard to pilot Modul8.
• When the MAIN PANEL
user-interface is covered by a full screen context, use COMMAND-ESCAPE to go
back to “Windowed” mode.
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MULTI-PROJECTION
Introduction
The advanced projection mode is a technic that let you output several video streams from one single
computer. It is possible to have up to eight outputs simultaneously with a computer as long as the computer
has several video cards installed.
The outputs can be used by video projectors, monitors or any other devices which support the output
video format of your graphic cards. These multiple outputs can represent together one single image like a
video wall or a completely independent set of multiple compositions.
M U LT I P R OJ ECT ION
Basic01
Principles
Main panel
The main composition of Modul8 can be segmented into rectangular cuts named “clip”. Each clip
can be directed to one or more video outputs simultaneously. The number of clip, their size or position can
be modified in real time by the user.
Any thinkable placement in space is possible, even crossings or multiple scales of the clip.
Hardware Configuration
Computer
Only the computers which supports PCI-Express video cards let you fully use the multi-output features
of Modul8. At the time this documentation was written, It means the last PowerMac G5 generation or the
Intel Mac Pro.
Nevertheless there is an alternative to use multiple VGA output on other kind of machines like portables.
This solution is described in the annex.
25
Graphic Cards and the video outputs
It is critical that you use graphic card with 3D acceleration. These cards usually have two DVI video outputs,
which means up to eight outputs on one single machine, typically seven for the projectors and one for the
Modul8 user-interface. If you don’t need the user-interface, you can even use the eight outputs.
For the formats that are different than DVI, Apple proposes DVI adaptors to video (composite and s-video)
and DVI to VGA adaptors.
Notes:
MAIN PANEL
In order to obtain the best performances, it is advised to install the same video cards. Also note that some
video cards support only video composite and s-video on one of their two DVI outputs.
System Configuration
In order to use the advanced projection mode you have to configure your computer in the system
preferences. Be sure to quit Modul8 and to check that all your devices are connected to the video cards.
Open the System Preferences panel in the Application folder of Mac OS X.
Click on the “Arrangement” tab at the top of the window and deselect “Mirror Displays” if it is activated.
Then go to the “Display Tab” and select “Gather Window”. In each window you should set the resolution,
the colors and the refresh rate. Try to use exactly the same settings for all displays in order to have the
best possible performances.
Notes:
If the number of windows does not correspond to the number of connected screens or projectors, you
should click on “Detect Displays” in the Display tab.
The ‘Show Monitor’ option in the menu bar let you change and visualize your screens and resolution in the
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menu bar of the Mac OS X.
Warning
To avoid stability problem in advanced mode, you must quit Modul8 each time you change the number
of outputs or the system preferences. It means that each time you connect or deconnect a device, you
change the output resolution or refresh rate, etc. you must quit Modul8 and restart it when it is finished.
Apple advises to turn on your computer and all the connected devices before changing the connections.
If you do that, be sure to turn on the screens and the projectors before the computer.
01
For the best performances it is critical that each projectors and screens use the same resolution and
refresh rate.Main panel
Activating the advanced mode
o activate the advanced mode:
1) Open the advanced output setup window from the ‘output’ menu
26
2) Select the Advanced Output Enabled checkbox
MAIN PANEL
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The advanced output setup
1 6 7 8 9 10 12
01
Main panel
11
27
3 4 5 13
MAIN PANEL
(1,2) Representation area for editing the clips
Each clip can be represented and modified in this area.
(3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11) Attributes and configuration
To edit and to configure the different elements and parameters available in the advanced mode.
(12) Routing Table
Can be used to route the clips to the video outputs.
(13) gestion des configurations
Can be used to load and save pre-defined configuration.
Representation area
This zone (1) is a representation of your composition space (like you see it in the output or in the preview)
where you can see the clips. A dark blue rectangle represents your preview window boundaries. The
proportion of the preview can be changed in the preferences of Modul8 in the preview tab.
Each clip is represented by a rectangle, where the orange clip represents the selected one.
The representation is a virtual space : you can move the view (just like a camera) by clicking on the
background and moving the mouse while maintaining the button pressed. You can re-center or change
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the representation scale by using the ‘Center’ button or the pop-up menu (5)
Managing the clips
Creating and deleting clips

To create or delete a clip, simply select the plus and minus button (9)
Note. The delete button will erase only the last added clip whatever is the current selection.
Clip selection
01
After you did create several clips, use the pop up menu (8) to select a clip.
Main
You can also panel
simply click on a clip in the representation area (1)
Note : the orange clip is the selected one, the parameters (3,6,7) are always relative to this one.
Position and size of the clip in the representation space

After you have selected a clip you can change its position and size in the space. This can be done by
selecting and dragging with the mouse. For more precision you can also use the numerical fields (3) and
activate the magnetize function (4)
Notes : The spatial coordinates are based on the view center which is at (0,0)
These coordinates are defined on an arbitrary scale which is the same one used in the Modul8 composition.
This virtual scale is relative to the working space and the pixel size is defined by the resolution of the
video outputs. For a 4/3 ratio the virtual scale is fixed to -320 to 320 for the width and -240 to 240 for the
height.
Seeing the clips in the preview 28

It is possible to see the clips over your composition in the preview window. To do this, select the ‘show’
option (10). You can also use the ‘show all’ or ‘hide all’ (10) function to show or hide all the clips.
In order to improve the visibility you can change the clip color (7).
Notes : In the Modul8 preview window, the clips are displayed in every mode but the ‘OUT’ mode, which
displays the final composition as it appears in the video outputs.
Clip ratio
MAIN
The ratio represents PANEL of the clip.
the proportion
Usually you will use a ratio that corresponds to the ratio of your video outputs.
The 4/3 is the most common ration today.
You can change the clip ration in the pop up menu (8).
Routing Table
The routing table (12) can be used to link your clips to specific video outputs. Basically each output
corresponds to one of the graphic card output. The selected clip will be displayed in full screen to the
corresponding output. The output number correspond to the screen number as it appears in the system
preferences. The main output is usually the screen which contains the menu bar where the Modul8 user
interface is displayed. You can send the same clip to several outputs or one clip to each outputs depending
of your requirements.
As long as you are not in full screen mode, you can see all the outputs as floating windows on the main
screen. It is useful to prepare your configuration. Use the “Show Info” (11) option to see in each output
windows its corresponding screen number.
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Managing your setup
You can import or export your setup (13) to a file in order to use them in different contexts. A setup can be
changed in real time during a performance. Simply save a set of setups and when you need to change one,
use the “Import Setup button” to load it. The new setup will be automatically displayed in your outputs.
Annex
Matrox dualHead2Go and TripleHead2go
01
t is possible
Maintopanel
do multiple projection with Modul8 using one of these Matrox devices. Basically these
devices double or triple the size your desktop and then split it in several outputs. This is pretty useful when
you want to do multiple projection without a MacPro or a G5 PCi-Express tower. However the advanced
setup mechanism of Modul8 cannot be used with this mode, because Modul8 will see only one output.
The key to have a projection at the correct size, is to change the preview ratio in the preferences
(Preview tab) in order to adapt it to the very wide display resolution. For a dualHead2Go you should select
the 8/3 ratio and for the TripleHead2go the 4/1 ratio.
Schema 01: 5 projectors VGA connected + 1 preview 29
P1 P2 P3 P4 P5
MAIN PANEL
preview
G5
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Schema 02: 5 projectors VGA connected + 1 preview
P3
01
Main panel
P2
P4
P1
P5
G5
preview
30
Schema 03: 5 projectors (3 VGA + 4 video) + 1 preview
MAIN PANEL
P1 P2 P3
preview
G5
TV1 TV2 TV3 TV4
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Schema 04: 7 projectors VGA connected + 1 preview
P1
01
Main panel
P7
P2
preview
G5
P6
P3
P4
P5
31
MAIN PANEL
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Layer
Overview
They layer is a key paradigm in Modul8. Basically, when you create a composition you always work
with layers. A media is always represented through a layer and all the modifiers you will apply to the media
are achieved through a layer.
Modul8 supports ten layers that can be mixed together. Layers at the top of the list are at the top of
the composition (in other words, they are stacked starting from the last one to the first one).
Each layer represents one single media. When you select a media it is automatically linked to the selected
01
layer. You change the selection of the layer simply by clicking on it.
Main
All the controls panel
at the right of the layer list reflect the current state of the selected layer; they are updated
each time you select another layer.
Managing Layers
Managing layers is pretty easy. You can add, remove or duplicate layers using the buttons at the top
of the layer list or by using the corresponding items in the “Edit” menu. When you add or duplicate a layer,
it is inserted at the current selected layer position.
L AY E R
32
The layer stack
MAIN PANEL
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You can change the order of the layers by clicking in an empty zone of the layer box and dragging it
in the layer list. The composition is immediately updated when the layer is dropped.
01
Main panel
Change the layer order
with a simple mouse drag
L AY E R
Each layer can be turned on/off by using the checkbox directly linked to it in the layer list. A slider
also allows you also to change the global transparency of a layer. At the bottom, a caption displays the
media currently linked to the layer.
33
1 2
3 4
MAIN PANEL 1 Turn layer on / off

2 Transparency
3 Linked media
4 Selected media as an
orange border
Working with A/B Layer groups
While it is possible to work with the ten layers as one composition, Modul8 is able to divide the
ten layers in two groups of five layers. In this mode, you have two simultaneous compositions called
respectively the group A and the group B. The main utility of this mode is its ability to display one group in
the final output view while you are working on another composition in the preview window.
By default, the layer stack is just one continuous composition made of ten layers. To divide the
layer stack in two groups A/B you simply enable the cross-fader by turning on one or more A/B transition
option.
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In the current version of Modul8 there are two transition effects to cross-fade between the groups A/B:
01
Main panel
Fading: The layers disappear using transparency
Scaling: Each layer is reduced until it disappear entirely
These two modes can also be combined.
Typically you turn on a cross-fading mode for the two groups A/B. The most common usage is to
use the fading mode on both A/B and then use the “Group Inv.” mode in the preview window to see the
inverse of the final output.
L AY E R
It is also possible to turn on a cross-fading mode for only one group. In this case, using the cross-
fader will have an effect only on the selected group.
Play
The “play” section is for all the animated media that have a predefined time line (typically movies). For
images, texts or video capture, this section does nothing. It includes function to alter the playback speed, 34
the loop mode, etc.
1
MAIN PANEL 1 Time speed
2 2 Loop mode
3 Scratch and set entry point
4 Second scratch knob and marker
3 5 4 5 Play direction
Speed
The speed slider allows you to change the playback speed of the media linked to the layer. You
can use the reset button to set it back to its default speed. Depending of the codec, using a time speed
different than the default one may require more CPU time.
Loop Mode
By default, movies are automatically played in loop mode. However you can change the loop mode using
the three icons:
Simple loop mode: Movie is restarted when the end is reached
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Ping-pong: Play direction is reversed each time the end or the start of the movie is reached
Play once: Movie is stopped when the end is reached. You can restart it by clicking on it in the media
panel.
You can also change the play direction by using the arrows bellow the loop mode icons (see the next
chapters).
Scratch
Beside the loop mode icons you can see three different controllers. The arrow can be used to quickly
change the direction of a playing movie.
01
The two knobs
Main can be used to scratch your movie. In other words, these knobs are directly linked to
panel
the time line of your movie, so when you turn it you directly jump to a specific position in the movie. The
first and the second knobs are identical with one small difference. The first one also marks the default
entry point of the movie. Each time the media is restarted by clicking in the media zone, it is restarted at
the position of the first scratch knob.
These knobs can also be used as two markers. When you click on them the movie directly jump
where the knob is currently positioned.
By linking midi controllers to these two knobs combined with the reverse direction function, you can
L AY E R
easily reproduce the scratch sensation from the audio world, but with images instead of sound.
Movie Options
Just beside the “Play” section is the movie options tab (“Opt.”). This section gives you two more
options to control your movie:
35
MAIN PANEL
Setting movie entry/exit points
This control allows you to select a section of the layer. Only the selected area will be played and
looped. This is a double slider where you simply move the entry and the exit point of the movie. The
current position of the movie is immediately moved to be in the selection if required. Please note that it is
a layer option and that changing the attached media won’t change the selection.
Sound Volume
This knob allows you to specify the sound volume for this layer.
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Transition
Beside the movie section, there is a “Transition” tab that allows you to access the media transition
options. A transition is an effect that is applied when a media is changed in a layer. By default, when a
new media is linked to a layer, it is immediately replaced by the new one in the composition. However
sometimes you may want to have a smoother transition between the media changes.
01
Main panel
L AY E R
The only transition effect available now is the cross fading. When enabled, the two medias are cross-
faded until the old one becomes entirely transparent. The transition duration can be modified using the
“transition time” knob.
Transition effects can be applied to any media from any kind of media. For instance you can use it on
text or on a video with a patch transformer allowing the achievement of complex effects very easily.
36
Transform
The transform section can be used to scale and rotate a layer by hand. See also the “FX” chapter for
automatic scale and rotation.
2
MAIN PANEL
1
2
1 Proportional scale
4
2 Scale multipliers
3
3 Non proportional scale
4 Rotation
Scale
The main slider of the scale area simply does a proportional scale of your media. Clicking on “reset”
will reset the media to its default screen. Non-uniform scaling is achieved by using the “+x”, “+y”, “+z”
sliders. The z coordinates are useful for 3D objects like patch or matrix.
The small buttons above the scale sliders can be used to multiply the effect of the scaling allowing you to
set very high scale values.
The normalize option is useful when you want the size of your media to be normalized to the size of
the screen whatever is their original pixel size. By default, Modul8 respects the original size of the media.
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When this option is selected, the original size is ignored, and the full screen size becomes the default size.
Please note that you can continue to scale your media even with the normalize mode enabled.
Rotation
You can rotate a layer not only on a plane but also spatially. In Modul8 the Z-axis goes inside the
screen. So for a simple 2D rotate you simply use the Z knob. By using the X and Y knob you can also
perform perspective rotation on the X-axis and Y-axis. If you click on the small zones around the rotation
knob, you can jump directly to a predefined angle. For instance, clicking below the Z rotation knob will
rotate immediately the layer to 180 degrees.
01
You can use the “reset” button to reset all the angles to zero.
Main panel
Post-colorize
The post colorize section allows you to modify the color channels after all the effects have been
applied. Post-colorization has no CPU costs because the filtering is entirely done through the GPU, so
they are very fast.
L AY E R
37
These filters are called “Post-colorize” because they are applied at the very end of the filter/transformer
chain. It means also that effects that are based on the pixel color (like the patch transformer displacement
mapping) won’t be affected by the result of the post colorize function. Post-colorize really changes the
color after all the other effects have been applied.
MAIN PANEL
Basically there are two post-colorize functions:
• The “minus” sliders allow you to modulate each color channel independently from zero to the
original pixel color of the media. In other words, this function removes color from the original
medias. If your media is entirely blue and you set the blue channel to zero it will become black.
Also in the same situation if you change the red channel it won’t have any effect on the media,
because the red is already at zero.
• The “plus” sliders allow you to increment the value of each color channel independently. If you
set all the sliders to the maximum value, the media will become white. This is an additive mode;
it will never remove light from the original source.
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Pixel FX
The pixel FX section represents a chain of predefined pixel level effects that modifies the content of
the medias. These effects are cumulated from the left to the right.
01
Main panel
Saturation
This is a pixel filter that modifies the saturation of the media. You can turn it on by clicking on the
title bar of the effect. The knob allows you to change the intensity of the saturation. By default, it is
L AY E R
a moderated saturation, however you can use the boost button to create over-saturation effects. The
“inverse” button can be used to reverse the saturation function allowing you to inverse the color of your
source. Saturation is a time consuming filter, so turn it off by clicking on the title of the saturation section
when it is not required anymore.
Lightness
38
This pixel filer modifies the brightness of the media. It supports two different modes:
• Graduation: This is an additive/subtractive linear brightness.

• Glow: Increments the brightness using a factorial value.
Contrast
This filter allows you to change the contrast of your media. You can turn it on by clicking on the title
MAIN
bar of the effect. The PANEL
knob is used to change the intensity of the contrast. By default, it is a moderated
contrast, however you can use the boost button to create over-contrasted effects. The “inverse” button
can be used to reverse the contrast function allowing you to inverse the color of your source. Contrast is
a time consuming filter, so turn it off by clicking on the title of the contrast section when it is not required
anymore.
Luma key / Color key
This filter can be used to generate per-pixel transparency dynamically. You can turn it on by clicking
on the title bar of the effect.
It is pretty useful for media that do not have transparency information or when you want to change
the transparency dynamically.
Modul8 supports two luma-keys and three different color keys. The luma key tries to generate
transparency based on the luminosity of the source while the color keys are based on the intensity of a
color channel.
The possible keys are:
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• Luma key: the darker the pixel, the more transparent it gets. Black is 100% transparent while
white is 100% opaque.
• Luma key inv. This is the inverse of the standard luma key. The darker the pixel, the more
opaque it gets. Black is 100% opaque while white is 100% transparent
• R: the redder the pixel, the more it gets transparent
• G: the greener the pixel, the more it gets transparent
• B: the bluer the pixel, the more it gets transparent
By default, when a luma key is enabled, the original alpha of the media is not applied anymore. If you
want to combine the alpha of the source with the result of the luma you have to set the “Preserve alpha”
check box. 01
Main panel
While the luma-key filter is less time consuming than the saturation and the contrast filter, it still can
slow down the composition. You should turn it off when it is not required by clicking on the title bar of the
effect.
While the luma-key filter is less time consuming than the saturation and the contrast filter, it still can
slow down the composition. You should turn it off when it is not required anymore by clicking on the title
bar of the effect.
Noise
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The noise filter can be used to generate pixel level random noise in the media. First you can choose to
apply colored or monochromatic noise using the “colored” option. In color mode, the noise filter generates
different values for each color channels while in monochromatic mode it generates one random value and
applies it to all the color channels.
Then you can choose to apply the noise to the RGB channels, the alpha channel or both. When you 39
apply it on the alpha-channel it modifies the transparency of the source.
Blur
The blur filter supports two different real-time blur effects. The “Fast X” is a very fast horizontal blur
that has very low CPU requirements. The “Box” blur is a more sophisticated blur that is slower than the
“Fast X” blur though. These blurs effects are not proportionally slower to the amount of blur you set. So
incrementing the amount of blur does not slow down the effect.
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Animation Effects
The “Animation FX” section contains a set of effects that are entirely achieved through the GPU of
your graphic card. In other words, they are fast and do not use a lot of CPU time. Most of these effects are
geometrical effects that do not modify the content of the media. They simply transform the whole layer.
Some of these effects can also be controlled in several ways going from sound input intensity to sinusoidal
curves and more.
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Main panel
Animation Curves
L AY E R
It is possible to apply a motion curve to most of the animation effects (auto-move, auto-scale and
auto-rotate).
Possible functions are:
• Sound-In: It is based on the intensity of the input sound. You can use it to synchronize the
motion with a sound entry. 40
• In: Increment the position of the layer on the selected axis.
• Out: Decrement the position of the layer on the selected axis.
• Linear: Increment and decrement the position of the layer on the selected axis linearly.
• Smooth: Apply a sinus function to the position of the layer on the selected axis.
• Random: Randomly change the position of the layer on the selected axis.
• Cut: Apply a square curve to the motion.
Auto Move
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The auto-move section is used to program an automated motion of the layer along the X/Y axis. To
enable it, simply select the title of the function. The pop-up menu allows you to change the function that
is applied to the layer position.

You can choose the axis of the auto-motion by selecting one of the arrow icons: left/right, top/bottom
or both. All the functions have a size and a speed slider that can be used to modify the amplitude and the
speed of the effect. A “strob” slider can also be used to obtain a stroboscopic motion.
Auto Scale
The auto-scale section can be used to program an animated uniform scale of the layer. To enable it,
simply select the title of the function. The pop-up menu allows you to change the function that is applied
to the layer scale.
All the functions have a size and a speed slider that can be changed to modify the amplitude and the
speed of the effect. A “strob” slider can also be used to obtain a stroboscopic motion.
Auto Color
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The auto-color section is used to apply an automated color modulate/additive function on every
color channel independently (including the alpha-channel for transparency). To enable it, simply select the
title of the function. The pop-up menu allows you to change the function that is applied to the layer color
modulate.
When you select “+”, it is the color additive that is animated. If you select “-“, it is the color modulate
(that is only subtractive). You can select the two modes simultaneously.
Basically, the auto-color sets the color channel from 0 to 100 percent in modulate mode and to 100
percent to 200 percent for the additive mode. You can change the speed of the auto-color function by
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using the four sliders: Red, Green, Blue and Alpha-Channel (transparency). The higher the slider, the faster
the channelMainis modified.
panelIf you set a slider to zero, the color channel won’t be modified anymore and it will
stay as it is.
Auto Rotate
The auto-rotate section can be used to program an automated rotation of the layer on the axis X, Y
and Z. Each axis has a different slider that can be used to change the speed of the rotation on the selected
axis. The small button beside the slider can be used to change the direction of the rotation.
At the bottom of the auto-rotate section is a “strob” button that can be used to lower smoothness of
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the rotation.
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The transformers
The transformer section allows you to transform the initial geometry of the object in a more complicated
shape. Typically a media is rendered on a surface that can be rotated, scaled, moved. However by
default this surface is always flat, unique and as similar as possible as what was the original media. The
transformer section can be used to reshape this surface. Current version of Modul8 supports three kinds
of transformers: the matrix, the patch and the particle engine.
Matrix
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The matrix transformer allows you to tile your layer in a grid of up to ten by ten. It is also possible to
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tile your media panel
in the Z direction allowing three-dimensional tiling and even extruding the tile on the Z-axis
for generating cubicle tiles.
L AY E R
To enable the matrix, simply select the title of the matrix section.
If you want to increment or decrement the tiling on one single axis you can use the arrow buttons beside
the X/Y/Z axis or directly click on the number button and drag the mouse up and down until the required
number is reached.
The “space” slider allows you to change the space between the tiles. There are also three checkboxes that 42
allow you to alter the way the grid is represented:
• Flip: Allow you to create a pattern that flips the image on even and/or uneven columns and rows.
• Resize: When set the grid is resized proportionally to the original media size. Otherwise, the grid
is created without modifying the original size of the media.
When you increments the tiling on the Z-axis you should use the “deep space” option to set an
amount of space between the tiled media.
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The extrusion slider can be used to extrude each tile on the z axis allowing the creation of 3D
dimensional cubicle tiles
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Patch
The patch transformer renders your media on a grid of polygons where each vertex can be modified
independently. You can choose the base shape of the patch using the small icons under the shape title: flat,
x-cylinder, y-cylinder, sphere. All the effects that you apply to the patch are relative to its base shape.
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Main panel
You can also choose the fill mode using the small icons above the “fill mode” title: wire frame, points,
filled.
Another important component of the patch transformer is the amount of surface subdivision. This
subdivision can be set using the “Div X/Y” parameter. Of course higher these values are, slower is the
rendering time of the patch. On the other hand higher subdivision means smoother surfaces.
L AY E R
When working in wire frame or point mode, you can use the “thickness” to change the size of the line
or the points.
The next section of the patch user-interface contains functions to modify the height of the vertices of
the patch. This is where can really shape your patch the way you want.
One of the most powerful functions of the patch deformer is its displacement mapping functionalities. 43
Basically displacement mapping reads the lightness of the source media and maps it to the patch vertex
height. For instance, if you have a black and white source image, all the areas where the pixels are black
will stay at the same level, while all the white areas will be extruded by the amount of displacement
mapping. Please note that it is not a simple 2D effect. The extrusion will generate a true 3D shape that
can be rotated, scaled, etc. This powerful function allows you to create complex 3D animation with simple
2D videos. It is also interesting to note that the displacement mapping is applied after all the pixel effects
have been computed. It means that you can also modify the shape of the patch using a blur or a noise
pixel filter.
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The displacement mapping is able to work on the RGB channel and/or the alpha channel. For example,
you may want that the displacement mapping to be relative to the transparency of the object but not to the
color content. In this case, you can choose the alpha option and deselect the RGB checkbox.
A noise function can also be used to generate height noise on the patch vertices. You simply use the knob
to set the amount of noise you want.
For those who work with sound input, it is possible to map directly the sample capture curve to the
patch allowing a direct representation of the sound motion on the 3D object. You can also use the delay
option, so the sound curve is scrolled over the patch over time. Please note that these sound effects cannot
be recorded by the logical record function. If you want to generate a movie with a patch representation of
the sound capture, you need to use the direct to disk record function.
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Particle emitter
Modul8 supports real time 3D particle emitters. This emitter is implemented as a transformer allowing
any media to be rendered by the particle engine. The particle emitter can be moved, scaled, rotated, etc.
using the standard layer functions. In this case all the particles are transformed simultaneously (even the
ones that already have been created). This is because the layer contains the whole particle emitter, so
modifying the layer modifies the whole particle system.
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Main panel
By default, particles always face the viewer. When you rotate the layer it rotates the gravity point of
every particle, but they always stay in front of the viewer (their surface is not rotated). It is possible using
the module mechanism to have a greater control over the particle system, see the module chapter for
more information.
L AY E R
The particle emitter is controlled using several parameters. Here is a description of all the controls:
• Life: This is the life duration of the newly created particles.

• Part. Sec.: This is the number of particles par second that are generated.
• Size: The size of the newly created particles.
• Speed: This is the motion speed of the newly created particles.
• Radius: This is the radius of the sphere that represents the emitter. If you set the radius to zero, 44
all the particles are generated at the exact layer position in space. When you set a non-zero
radius, particles are generated randomly inside the sphere that is defined by the layer position
and the emitter radius.
• Apert.X/Y: This is the cutoff angle of the particle emitter. The emitter works a bit like spot light: It
generates particles in a line, a cone or a sphere depending of the size of aperture angle. If
you set both values to zero, all particles will have the same direction and will follow a line. If you
set both values to the maximum value, each particle can have any direction so they will produce
a sphere. By manipulating these two angles you can shape the flood of particles.
• Gravity: You can apply a gravity factor to the particle emitter using this function.
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• Transparency In/Out: The particle system is able to interpolate the transparency of the particle
during their lifetime. You can use these options to apply a fade in/out effect on the particles.
• Size In/Out: Works like the transparency In/Out function but with the particle size instead of the
transparency.
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Layer Local Logical Record

Beside the global logical record that is described in the chapter “Recording and Rendering” each
layer is able to record and playback the users action. We call a logical record, a record that is not based
on the brute force of compressing the frame to the disk, but simply recording the user actions. The layer
local logical record controls are situated just below the layer area. Just like for the global record you can
find the following controls (from the left to the right):
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Main panel
• Clear: erase the current record
• Play: playback the last record
• Stop: stop the playback or the recording
• Record: start recording new actions.
Unlike the global record, only the actions in the selected layers are recorded. It means also that all the
other actions (liker master controls changes) are ignored. It is really a per layer record.
Another difference with the global logical record is that the local record is a cumulative record. And
L AY E R
this is where this functionality becomes really powerful: As long as you don’t reset the record, old actions
are not erased but merged with the new ones and when you restart a new record you can see the playback
of the already recorded actions while you add new actions.
For instance, you can record a mouse drag of the layer, stop it and restart a new record (without
clicking on the clear function). The last record will play back as a loop. Now if you modify the noise filter,
the modifications will be merged with the mouse drag previously recorded. After that, you can modify 45
another state of the layer and it will be also added to the current record, and so on.
The logical record works a bit like a looper allowing you create short loops of actions that can grow
up in complexity when you add new actions over the old ones.
Layer Sets
The list of the layers that appears in the main user-interface panel is stored in a layer set. There are
MAIN
eight different layer PANEL
sets that can be used in the application. Only one layer set is active at any time. You
can change the current layer set simply by clicking on one of the layer set buttons at the top of the Modul8
main panel.
Please note that only the layer settings are stored in a set. The current state of the master controller
is not stored in the active layer set.
You can at any time jump from one set to another. The composition of the new set is immediately
displayed and the user-interface is updated to reflect the state of the set.
Layer sets are pretty useful to store a composition that you like and want to re-use later. They can
also be used to prepare several compositions in a document and quickly jump from one to another.
When working in A/B layer group mode, the layer sets are also divided in two groups. The layer sets
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at the top of the layer stack are used to store the layer of the group A, while the layer sets at the bottom of
the layer stack are used to store the layers of the group B.
Summary
This chapter described the notion of layer, its central role in Modul8 and the effects that are directly related
to it:
• A Modul8 composition is the result of the rendering of the layer stack.

• Each layer represents a media.
• 01
A layer has a set of attributes that allows you to modify and animate the original media.
• TheMain
attributes of the layer include pixel level filters to modify the media content and a set of
panel
effects to animate and transform the media.
• Transformers can be applied to modify the shape of the media surface.
• It is possible to use a layer local recording mechanism that supports cumulative
action recording.
• Layers are grouped in layer sets that can be used to quickly jump from one composition to
another.
L AY E R
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MAIN PANEL
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Master
Overview
The master section can be used to apply attributes that will modify the whole composition. In other
words, the master controls are applied to all the layers and have no influence on the current selected layer.
Please note that the master attributes are not stored in the layer set. If you change the current layer set,
the master attributes are immediately applied to the new set.
3
011 1 1
4 5
Main panel
2 2 2 6
1 Set global speed, scale and transparency using

these sliders.
MASTER
2 Set global color modifiers using these RGB
sliders.
3 Quick effects.
4 Trace mode.
5 Set the sound input and output level
6 Set the global record
47
Speed
The speed slider can be used to change the frame rate of the current project. It acts as a multiplier
that slows down or accelerates the animation of the scene. The master speed changes proportionally the
time rate of all the movies and all the effects in all the layers.
Scale
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The scale slider is a global size multiplier. It works like the master speed but instead of being applied
on the frame rate, it is applied to the size value of all the layers.
Alpha-Channel
This slider is a global transparency multiplier. It allows you to increment the transparency of all the
layers of the scene.
Trace Mode
In trace mode, each layer becomes a painting brush that draws its media over the background. You
can use this mode to fill the composition with traces of the animated media. The trace mode also allows
you to generate motion blur effects.
The level of trace defines how long the trace will stay in the composition before it disappears. When
the maximum level is set, it is never cleared and the background becomes a painting canvas.
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Quick Effects
There are three buttons that can be used to quickly apply a global modifier to your composition.
These effects are applied as long as you press the button and are removed when you release it.
• Invert: Invert the colors of the composition

• Flash: Flash the composition
• Still: Pause all time lines (animation)
Background Color
01
These Main panelcan be used to modify the color of the background. This color always appears
RGB sliders
behind all the layers.
Invert Output Color
These RGB sliders can be used to invert each color channel of the final composition independently. If
you set the three sliders to the maximum value the colors of the composition if entirely inverted.
MASTER
Output Add Color
You can use these RGB sliders to add color to the final composition. For example, if your composition
if entirely red and you set the green slider to the maximum value, the color becomes yellow. If you set the
three sliders to the maximum values, the composition becomes white.
Sound Level
48
You can set two sound levels: one for the sound input and one for the sound output.
The sound input level is used to set the sound capture. It can be useful when your signal is too weak
or too strong. Please note that it does not replace the sound input level in the system preference. You still
may have to change this setting if your sound saturates or is not strong enough.
The sound output level controls the sound level of all the playing layers. The individual sound level of
every layer is always relative to the master sound level. When it is set to zero, no sound is played.
MAIN PANEL
Global Logical Record
You can access the global logical record from the master panel, including all the main functions: clear,
playback, stop, recording. See the “Recording and rendering” chapter for further informations.
Summary
This chapter described the use of the “Master” controllers of Modul8.

The important points are:
• The master controllers are applied to the whole composition independently of the currently
selected layer.
• The master values are not stored in the layer sets.
• The master controllers can be used to apply global time, spatial and color modifiers to the
composition.
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Capture
Overview
Modul8 supports both audio and video live capture. Audio capture can be used to synchronize effects
with the sound intensity, while video capture can be linked to a layer for real-time representation just like
any media.
Sound Capture
01
Using sound capture is pretty straightforward. Simply select the sound capture flag in the effects that
you want to be synchronized with the intensity of the sound input.
Main panel
C A P T U RE
1 Select sound in
At this time, Modul8 simply does pure sound intensity analysis of the captured sample and applies it
to the required effect.
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You can also use the sound input level slider in the “master” panel to control the level of the captured
sound intensity.
Modul8 uses the default sound capture devices as it has been set in the system preferences.
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Video Capture
Video capture is used to display images coming from an external camera or any video source that
can digitized in real time by your machine. Typically, you will use a DV camera or a web-cam connected
to the computer via Firewire. To enable video capture, simply go to the special section in the media panel
that is labeled with an asterisk (*), and select video capture to get the current layer displaying the image
coming from the video source.
1
01
Main panel
C A P T U RE
1 Use the special
media bank.
2 Select video 50
capture
Video capture can be used just like any other media. You can apply all the filters, the effects, etc.
Video capture is CPU time consuming because of the time required for frame decompression, so you
may experience a slow down of the application depending on your configuration.
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You can change the quality of the video capture in the preferences. However, you should be careful
with this setting because the higher the quality, the higher the CPU gets hit. In other words, only use high
quality video capture when you really need it.
Summary
In this chapter you learned how audio and video capture works. The main points are:
• Sound capture can be linked to several real time effects.

• The effects use the sound intensity of the captured samples.
• The sound input level can be changed in the master controllers.
• Video capture is started in the media panel.
• All the effects and the modifiers can be applied to video capture once it has been linked to a
layer.
• Video capture quality can be modified in the preferences.
• The higher the quality, the higher the CPU gets hit, thereby slowing down the application.
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Saving Your Project

Overview
Modul8 is able to save your current project to a file so you can reuse it later. Simply go to the file
menu and select “save as” to save your project. To open it, use the “open” function in the file menu. When
a document is open, its name is displayed in the title bar of the main Modul8 panel. When a document has
S AV I N G YOUR PROJECT
been created, you can save your modifications simply by using “save” in the file menu (or COMMAND-
S).
The file extension of a Modul8 document is “.md8”.
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Media
Main panel
Modul8 does not save the media with the document. Only the structure of the composition is stored.
It means that if you want to move your composition to another machine you have to move the media with
it. For the same reason, if you delete a media that is used by Modul8, it won’t be reopen the next time you
load your project.
Modul8 saves the absolute paths of the media in the document. However if the media cannot be
found, the application tries to find them relatively to the document file. It means that you can easily
rearrange your media like you want in sub-directories as long as the Modul8 document is in a parent
directory.
A simple way to organize a project is to put it in a directory with the Modul8 document at the top of
the hierarchy and the media in one or more sub-directories. This way you can easily move the project with
its media on your hard disk or to another machine.
If you have several projects that share the same media, simply save all your documents to a parent
directory of the media’s directory.
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Of course, if you never move your media you don’t even have to worry about that.
Midi and keyboard
The midi and keyboard configuration is always saved in a document. However when you open it, the
default global configuration is used instead of the saved one. This is because most of the people don’t
want to have a configuration that is relative to the project but simply want to set it once and always use
the same one.
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However, if you need a special configuration for a specific project, you may want to configure the
midi and keyboard and link it in the document. This is especially true with contextual midi (see the “Midi
and keyboard” chapter). To use the configuration saved in the document instead of the default one, open
the application preferences in the Modul8 menu and go to “Key/Midi mapping”. Change the radio button
from “Use Default Configuration” to “Use Document Configuration”. After you do that, Modul8 will use the
configuration saved in the document. You can jump at any time from one configuration to the other, even
after the document has been opened.
Summary
In this chapter, you learned how to save and reopen your projects. The important points are:
• The media are not saved in the document.

• Modul8 can retrieve a moved media as long as the media is in the same directory or in a sub-
directory of the document.
• It is possible to have one midi/keyboard configuration by document instead of the default one by
setting the “Use Document Configuration” option in the application preferences.
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Midi and keyboard

Overview
Modul8 supports a very intuitive procedure to configure the midi and the keyboard. Basically, you
simply link any midi controller or key to almost any of the user-interface controllers. A live mechanism
allows Modul8 to automatically detect a moved midi controller or a pressed key and link it to the selected
user-interface.
MI D I A N D KEYBOAR D
Default Configuration
01
When you open Molul8 or when you reset it using “New” in the file menu a default configuration is set.
The default Main panelhas already several keyboard shortcuts but no midi mapping.
configuration
The following keyboard shortcuts are defined by default:
• F1-F6 Change the media bank

• 1-9 (not on the keypad!) Set the corresponding media in the first nine media banks.
• Top/bottom arrows Change the current layer
• Left/right arrows Change the value of the current slider/knob
To see the default configuration, go to the “Options” menu and select “Edit Key Map”. This will
display all the controls in blue with their associated keyboard shortcut:
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MAIN PANEL
The “Save Map As Defaults” can be used to set the default configuration for the current shortcuts.
The default configuration is reset each time you open Modul8 or use the “New” function in the “File” menu.
The default configuration is also used, when you open a document unless you set the “Use Document
Configuration” options in the preferences (see “Saving Your Project”).
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To reset Modul8 to the initial default configuration, use the “Reset All Maps To Factory Settings” in
the “Mapping” menu.
Configuring The Keyboard
Configuring the keyboard is pretty easy. All you have to do is select the “Edit Key Map” item in the
“Mapping” menu. In this mode all the controllers that supports midi mapping are displayed in blue.
To associate a key, simply select a control and press the key. The caption of the key appears over
the control. When you go back to the normal play mode, pressing the key will have the same effect as
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clicking on the control. Please note that key shortcuts (unlike midi) due to their on/off nature have no effect
on sliders or knobs.
Main A same key can be associated only to one controller at the any time. You cannot
panel
associate the same key to two different controllers.
To unlink a key from a controller, simply select the controller and press backspace.
Please note that Modul8 uses low level key information to identify the keyboard, for this reason
Modul8 makes a difference between a number in the main keyboard and a number in the keypad.
You can clear the key map using the “Clear Map” function in the “Mapping” menu.
To exit the keyboard configuration mode, simply reselect the “Edit Key Map” item in the “Mapping”
menu.
Configuring Midi
Configuring midi is pretty similar to keyboard configuration. First of all you select the “Edit Midi Map”
item in the “Mapping” menu. All the user-interface controls that can be linked to midi are displayed in 53
green.
To map the midi to the user-interface, simply select a user-interface controller in green and send a
midi message to the computer. For instance, if you have a midi table, you can select the required slider
in the user-interface and move the slider on the midi table; Modul8 will identify the midi message sent by
your table and link it to the controller.
To unlink a midi message from a controller, simply select it and press backspace. If you want to
clear the entire midi configuration,
MAIN PANEL use the “Clear Map” function in the “Mapping” menu. To exit the midi
configuration mode, reselect the “Edit Midi Map” item in the “Mapping” menu.
Contextual Midi / Keyboard mapping
Modul8 supports several levels of contextual mapping. When you are editing your maps, three buttons
are displayed at the top of the main Modul8 panel: focus, position, layerset+position. By default you are
working in the focus mode. It means that midi or keyboard mapping is directly associated to the user-
interface controls independently to the current layer or the current layer set. Now suppose that you want to
control the scale value of the first layer with a slider of a midi table and the scale value of the second layer
with a different slider of the same midi table. In standard midi mode this is not possible, because the midi
message is directly associated to the scale slider independently of the current layer.
The contextual modes have been designed to resolve this kind of issue. Basically, the midi message
or key is associated to a user-interface element in its current context. For example, if you associate a
midi message to the scale value of the first layer, the midi message will modify only the scale value of this
specific layer, even if it is not the current selected layer.
In this the position mode, you can associate different midi messages or keys for each layer
independently.
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When you set the layerset+position mode, you can also associate different midi messages for
each layer set independently. In other words, each layer set can have a different midi and keyboard
configuration.
This is also true for the media panel. Each media bank represents a different context. So you can link
your midi messages directly to the media number 4 of the bank number 2.
Summary
In this chapter you learned how to configure the keyboard and the midi to control Modul8.
01
The following points have been covered:
Main panel
• Modul8 has a default midi/keyboard configuration that can be changed
• Midi message and keyboard shortcuts can be associated to almost all user-interface controls.
• Modul8 is able to automatically detect midi messages and keyboard presses, and links them to
user-interface controllers.
• Special modes can be used for layer contextual mapping.
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MAIN PANEL
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Recording and rendering
R E C O R DING A ND RENDERING
Overview
Modul8 offers two different strategies for recording and rendering your animation. The first one,
which also the most straightforward, simply captures the frames of the animation, compresses them using
a specified codec and save them to a movie file. It is the “Record To Disk” functionalities.
The second way is to use the global logical record mode. The “logical record” records all the changes
that occurred in a composition (instead of capturing the frame). Then you can render your record to a
movie later. The logical record is much more efficient than the “Record To Disk” mode. It is a lot faster
01
and uses nearly no memory allowing you to record hours of composition without using disk space. Also,
because theMain panel
rendering is not done during the live composition, it is possible to use it to render movies at
very high resolutions. For these reasons, most of the time it is much better to use the “Logical Record”
mode. The only limitation of the “Logical Record” is when you need to record dynamic media coming from
the outside of Modul8 like video capture or sound input. The logical record does not record data coming
from the outside of the application. It means that if you need to capture effects that are relative to the
sound input or compositions that contain video input you’ll have to use the “Record To Disk” function.
The Logical Record
This mode can be used to record all the changes you did to a composition and render them later to a
movie. It is important to understand that your composition is not rendered immediately. When you use this
record mode, only high-level changes are recorded (like changing the contrast level or moving a layer). It
means that this record mode is very light in term of memory usage and CPU cost. For this reason, it is the
preferred mode to record and render movies.
Because it is a logical record, the resolution and the codec of the movie are not specified at record
time but at render time. It is very handful because it allows you to record a movie and render later at very
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high resolution and experiment various codec renders without having to restart a record.
The record data is saved in your document project. If you need to save several different records,
simply saves your document under different names.
You start a logical record from the master panel. At the right bottom of the master area, you will find
several buttons:
• Erase: TheMAIN PANEL

cross icon can be used to erase the current record.
• Play: Play the current record
• Stop: Stop playing the current record.
• Record: Start a new record. If a record already exists, the new one is added at the end of the old
one.
The slider above the logical record buttons can be used to move the current position inside the
current logical record.
Once a logical record has been done, you can render it to a Quicktime movie. Simply go to the
“Record” menu and select “Render Logical Record”. A dialog box allows you to set several different
options for the rendering.
First of all you can choose a codec using the pop-up button.
Then you can set the resolution of the movie. Modul8 works only in 4/3 format, so the height of the
movie is always proportional to the width. To specify the resolution you change only the width.
You can also specify the frame rate of your movie. Higher is the frame rate, smoother is the animation
but bigger is the movie.
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You don’t have to render the full logical record. The start and end times allow you to specify the time
R E C O R DING A ND RENDERING
range that you want to render.
Two sliders allow you to set the level of compression you want. Higher is the value better is the quality
but bigger will be the movie file.
Before starting the render, you have to select the output file. You write the path by hand in the text
field or simply select the button beside the text box to specify a name and a path for the file.
Then simply select “render” and the movie will be rendered to a standard Quicktime file that can be
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used in any other application.
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Record To Disk
Unlike the logical record, this mode directly records the animation to a movie file while the composition
is playing. This mode is much slower and is difficult to use for recording live events. You should use it only
when you need to record compositions that are based on live input such as sound capture or live video
capture.
To start a record to disk, you simply select “Record To Disk” in the “Record” menu. A dialog box
allows you to set several different options for the capture to disk.
First of all you can choose a codec using the pop-up button.
Then you can set the resolution of the movie. Modul8 works only in 4/3 format, so the height of the
movie is always proportional to the width. To specify the resolution you change only the width. Please note
that it will change the size of your output window, in order to capture it at the correct size.
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You can also specify the frame rate of your movie. Higher is the frame rate, smoother is the animation
but bigger is the movie.
Two sliders allow you to set the level of compression you want. Higher is the value better is the quality
but bigger will be the movie file.
Before starting the render, you have to select the output file. You write the path by hand in the text
field or simply select the button beside the text box to specify a name and a path for the file.
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Then simply select “Record” and the record to disk will begin. Once started, everything you do is
added to the movie file at the frame rate you specified in the dialog box. When you want to stop the record,
simply go to the render menu and select “Stop Record To Disk”.
Summary
In this chapter you learned how to record and render Modul8 compositions. The following points
have been covered:
• Modul8 has two different record modes: logical and direct to disk
• Both these modes allow you to render movie in size using different codecs and frame rates.
• The logical record is the preferred mode unless you need to capture composition that uses live
input (sound capture or live video).
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Modules
Overview
The module architecture is one of the new exciting features of Modul8 introduced with the V2.0 and
greatly extended since the V2.5. Basically, modules are small extensions that add new functionalities
and new user-interface paradigms to Modul8. They are saved as small external files that can be shared
between users on the GarageCUBE online library.
The real power of this architecture is in its full integration into Modul8. You don’t even need to be
a programmer or special tools to create modules. They can be created directly from the inside of the
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application without even having to stop the playing animation. Actually you can even create modules while
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you are performing.
Using modules
Using modules is pretty easy. You can access the modules from the “Module” menu. When you
select the “Show” sub menu, the list of all the available modules is displayed.
M O D U L ES
Beside each module name a small icon shows the state of the module: when an orange arrow is
displayed, it means the module is currently running. Modules are active only when they are running. As
long as they are stopped, they won’t do anything.
To display a module simply select it in the module list. If the module is not already running, you can
launch it by clicking on the blue arrow at the right/top of the module window. Once launched, the controls
become active and the arrow icon becomes an orange “pause” icon. You can pause at any time the
module by clicking on this icon.
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If you want to reinitialize completely a module you can select the “Restart” option in the “Module”
window. In this case, the module is restarted as if it was launched from the first time.
You can also stop and reset all the modules using the “Stop All” function in the “Module” menu.
You can close or minimize a module using the two buttons at the left of the window. Please note that
closing the window of the module does not stop it.
Modules can do many different things, so the usage of a module depends a lot of how it has been
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designed and for what PANEL
purpose.
Downloading and installing new modules
Modules are simple files saved in a folder called “Modules” beside the application. You can install a
module simply by copying it to the “Modules” folder. The module will be available the next time you launch
the application.
GarageCUBE maintains also an online library of modules that can be browsed directly from the inside
of Modul8. You can open the browser by selecting “Online Library” in the “Modules” menu.
At the right of the window is your current installed modules list. The left of the window allows you
to access the online libraries of modules. There are currently two libraries that can be selected using the
tabs:
The GarageCUBE library: This is the official library of modules made by GarageCUBE. You can only
download module from this library.
The public library: This is a 100% public library. Any user can upload and share its modules in this
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library.
To get information about a module simply select it. A description of the module will appear at the
bottom of the window.
Because there can be many modules in these libraries, the browser is able to sort the list by name,
author, etc. Simply click on the column title to resort the library. You can also use the search filter to display
only the modules that include the passed keyword.
Once you have found an interesting module you can install it simply by selecting it and clicking on
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the “Install” button. The module is downloaded and added to your local library. The module is also ready
to be used; Main
you simply
panelhave to start it.
Once a module has been downloaded it is not immediately saved. It allows you to test modules
without installing them. To save the new modules, simply use the “Save All Changes” function in the
“Module” menu. If you downloaded some new modules and you quit Modul8, the application will ask you
if you want to save them.
M O D U L ES
The public library can also be used to share the modules you created. See “Sharing your module
online” for more information.
Managing your modules
Because modules are simple external files, it is pretty easy to manage your module list. You can
delete modules simply by dragging the files in the “Modules” folder to the trashcan.
Now the module editor includes also functions to add, remove or rename modules. You can open the
editor by selecting the “Editor” item in the “Modules” menu. 58
Once open, you will see at the right of the window, your module list. At the bottom of the window,
there are functions to add, delete or duplicate a module. You can also rename a module by double clicking
on its name.
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standard modules
This chapter describes the standard modules designed by the GarageCube team. Some of them are
included within the Modul8 application while some should be downloaded from the online library. Please
not that this is not an exhaustive list.
The modules can be divided into three main categories:
Layer01
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These are modules that are layer related where all the parameters are dynamic. The displayed content
shows the current active layer. It also means that deleting a layer also deletes the parameters in the module
that are related to this specific layer.
All / Master
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These modules work on a set of layers (or all layers) or on the parameters of the masters situated at
the bottom of the main Modul8 user.
Global
These are modules which give functionalities that cannot be included in the two previous categories.
For instance, it can be a network or module some function that are not layer related.
BPM (GLOBAL) 59
This module generates a time repetitive beat (BPM is for beat per minute) that can be reused by other
modules like the module filter or the bpm router. It is very useful to synchronize effects or an automate
tasks based on music tempo.
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5
3
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You can set the speed of the BPM directly with the pre-defined button (1), by entering a numerical value
or by using a knob that can be easily linked to midi.
You can also defining the speed of the BPM manually using the “TAP” button (2). This is a very intuitive
way to synchronize your animation to the tempo of the music.
Also to synchronize the beat precisely to the rhythm you can press the “Synch” button, the “<” and the
“>” button which allows you to move the beat lightly forward or backward.
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It is also possible to synchronize the BPM using a midi clock*(3).
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A light sllows you to see the current tempo (4).
* You need a specific hardware or software, which sends midi clock messages to use this feature.
Note : Settings are not saved for this module.
M O D U L ES
ROUTER (MASTER) and ROUTER (LAYER)
These modules are very powerful tools to automate several parameters* of Modul8 using the current
BPM.
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A 2 B
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8 9
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To automate a control, use the “pick” button (1) and then select it in the main user interface of Modul8.
The name of the control will appear in the space under the “pick” button (2). You can unlink the control
by selecting the name and then click on “remove”.
To active the routing, select the control you added(2) and then select the “play” button (3). Now you
can change the curve (4), the quantization (5), the start and end points (6) and the phase to generate
offsets (7).
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The preference button (8) (exists only in the master version) allows you to define if you want your
parameters Main panelin your project document or in the module itself (so your parameters will always
to be saved
be active when you open Modul8).
* For the layer version, it should be a layer parameter, while for the master it should be a master parameter.
This is the only difference between the two modules: one has been designed to work with the active layer
while the other will have only parameters which are not updated when the active layer is changed.
M O D U L ES
Note: In the layer version, the settings are automatically stored in your document when you save your
project.
Warning: These modules are based on the BPM module, they work only if it is active.
MASK (GLOBAL)
This module works on an independent layer, which is in front of all the standard Modul8 layers and let you
create a global mask.
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This new layer allows several new possibilities (1):
Showing a layer only on your final output whilst still being able to see your composition in its original
form in the preview. This can be very useful when you want to mask some areas of your image when your
screen does not have a standard shape, like a rounded screen for example. It is also very useful if you want
to add a texture over the composition.
Showing a layer only on the preview but not in the final output. This can be useful if you want to place
marks to help you placing elements in space.
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Showing a layer in front of both the preview and the final output.
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The module is made of the following parameters:
(1) Activating the mask in both the output and the preview
(2) Changing the transparency
M O D U L ES
(3) Changing the blending mode
(4) Changer the media speed (if it is a movie)
(5) Connect the speed to the master speed in order to have a speed relative to it.
(+) The other parameters are divided in four areas which can be selected using tabs.
(6) Choosing the media

(7) Defining the position in space with the possibility of entering numerical values. 63
(8) Changing the post-colorize
(9) Changing the size of the media, where 1 means full screen. You can use bigger value using the
numerical field.
(10) Changing the size in a differentiated way.
Note : The settings are saved in a Modul8 document.
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CENTER (LAYER)
This module let you change the center of your layer. It is pretty useful when you want to do un-
centered rotation.
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The cross represents your layer. You can change its center simply by moving it.
Note : The settings are saved in Modul8 documents.
NETWORK (GLOBAL)
This module allows two or more modul8 to be interconnected through an ethernet or wi-fi network.
Basically each Modul8 will receive or/and send all the commands made by the users. It means that each
Modul8 can be at the same time a client and a server. You can decide what parameters are sent or not to
other machines.
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1
M O D U L ES
3
64
To use the network module you should have all your machines connected to the same local network.
You should verify that they are connected to the same sub-network using the information in the module
(3).
If it is not the case you should change your system preferences and restart the module (in the Modules
menu «Restart»).
Then chooseMAINif your PANEL
module should send, receive or both (1). You don’t need to target a specific
computer, all the actions are sent over the network.
You can activate the reception filter (2), which allows you to receive only some keywords. For
instance, if you want to receive only the master actions.
Tip: If you are using a wi-fi network be sure to avoid using cryptography (WAP), which slows down a
lot data transfer.
Note : Settings of this module are not saved.
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PRESET (LAYER)
This module can be used to memorize and restore the parameters of your layers. It works as a bank
of predefined settings.
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M O D U L ES
3
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A – Normal mode (by default) :
Simply press on a preset button (1)
The new settings are directly apply to the selected layer.
B – Edit mode:
To activate this mode, press on the edit button (2).
With the snapshot buttons (3) you can capture the parameters of the currently selected layer. You can
give a name to the capture using the text field at the left (3).
With the snapshot parameters, you can filter what parameters should be captured. In this case only the
chosen parameters are applied, without modifying the other settings of the layer.
You can save the preferences of the modules in your global settings using the save button (5).
The “reset all” button (6) erases all the setting and the “revert to saved” (6) let you revert to the last saved
settings.
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Please note that only the parameters of the main Modul8 interface can be saved using this module.
Some parameters of other modules like the filters module can’t be captured with this module.
Note : The settings of the module are not saved in the document.
PRESET DEFAULT (LAYER)
Like the “Preset” module this module let you memorize the settings of a layer. However this time for
using them as default values when a new layer is created.
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3
1
2
M O D U L ES
If the module is activated, the memorized parameters are applied each time a new layer is created.
Capture and save the parameters of the selected layer.

Clear the saved parameters
An option which allows to use the same media set by default that the one of the last selected layer when
a new layer is created. 66
Note : The parameters are automatically saved in the preferences of the module.
SCRATCH (LAYER)
This module adds some functionalities useful for scratching and changing time position in a movie in
a more precise and effective way than the main Modul8 interface.
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4 2
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This module works only on one layer at the same time whatever you choose in the layer selection (1).
To scratch, you can use two different knobs (2):

Absolute: The position of the beginning and the ending is relative to the beginning of the movie, just like
in the Modul8 interface.
Relative: It is an endless knob which let you forward and backward in the movie. In this mode, the speed
is defined by the “r.speed” buttons (3).
You can memorize up to three entry points in order to jump directly to a position using the knobs and the
01
“go” buttons (4).
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You can forward or backward for one or five frames in your movies using the “frame position” buttons
(5).
Also you can change the playback speed and the stopping speed of your movie gradually using the
“movie speed” buttons (6).
M O D U L ES
Note : The settings of this module are saved in Modul8 documents.
Tip : If you need to control several layers simultaneously from this module you should duplicate the whole
module from the interface builder.
SLIDE SHOW (LAYER)
With this module you can create a slideshow for each layer of your composition. 67
This module always displays the parameters related to the selected layer.
1
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3
5 4
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Automated mode : Simply launch the slideshow using the play button (1).
Manual mode: Go forward and backward using the “previous/next” buttons (6).
You can choose the start and last media of the slideshow using the “from” and “to” fields (2). These
numbers represents the media* contained in your media set. The “get” button (2) let you get the currently
selected media.
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You can set the duration between each media change using the knob (4). You can also change the scale
panel (4).
Main buttons
with the “1,10,30”
The “wait movie” button is useful when you want the movie to be entirely played before jumping to the
next one.
You can also activate a fade in/out transition (5) and set the direction of the slideshow, including a random
mode.
M O D U L ES
Note : The settings of the module are saved in your Modul8 project.
* To know the number of a specific media, you can use the “info” button, at the left/op of the media win-
dow. The number will appear at the left top under “media id”.
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FILTER (LAYER)
This very powerful module allows the usage of several filters both internal (Modul8 filters) or external
(CoreImage and FreeFrame*). This is a per-layer module, which means that each layer maintains its own
filter list and that the parameters displayed represent the selected layer.
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01 2
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5
M O D U L ES
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4 6
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8
3
9 7
You can apply up to four different filters to each layer using the tab at the top of the window (1).
Each one of these filters can be activated or deactivated quickly using the “Enable” button just above
(2).
Selecting and applying filters :
You can use four different banks of favorite to organize your preferred filters (5). By selecting all, you can
see all the available filters.
When you select one of the filter in the list (4), the filter parameters are displayed at the center of the
window (5)
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Animation :
All the parameters can be animated, either using a predefined speed relative to the master, either by linking
them to the BPM.
Once you have selected a filter, choose one of the parameters that you want to animate in the list at the left
(6) and them click on “Animate” to activate it. You can choose the curve, the start and the beginning and
also invert the phase. Then, you can change the speed or base the animation on the module BPM (8).
01
Favorite edition:
Select the edit
Mainbutton (9) to display the complete list of the filter. Then select one of the four favorites you
panel
want to edit (3).
Using the “add” button you can add the selected filter to the favorites and with “remove” remove it.
Select “Edit” to go back to the normal mode.
M O D U L ES
To add new freeframes in Modul8, copy your files to the Plug-Ins folder beside the Modul8 application.
Then restart Modul8. Be sure that your FreeFrame plug-ins are compatible with your configuration. PowerPC
only or Intel only filters work only on the same hardware. Only Universal filters work everywhere.
Warning: Because the FreeFrames filters are coming from different developers, they can compromise
the stability of Modul8. GarageCube cannot guarantee the stability of the application when you installed
these plug-ins.
Notes : The settings of this module are saved into the document when the project is saved. The favorites
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are saved in the global preferences.
TEXT (LAYER)
This module can be used to write and manipulate texts.
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Each layer can display a text and all the regular effects can be applied to the text just like for any
other media.
When you write or paste some text in the text field (1), the text is automatically applied to your layer. You
can choose the font by selecting its name (2), or in the favorites list, or in the global font list (4).
You can modify the resolution in pixels of your text using the corresponding knob (3) and or course the
size of the representation using the standard layer parameters (scale.)
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Main
A shortcut let panel
you also change the typeface using the standard, italic, light and bold buttons (6)*
Editing the favorites:

To add to the favorite, select the “ALL” tab (4) and then select a font and finally use the “Add To Favorites”
button. You can remove it from favorites by selecting “Favorites” and using the “Remove From Favorite”
button.
M O D U L ES
* As long as the typeface exists for this font.
Note: The settings of this module are saved in Modul8 documents.
TEXT SUBTITLE (LAYER)
This module is able to store five different texts and get them displayed as subtitles in the layers.
This module works with the text module.
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1
4
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2 3
You can launch the sub-titling with the “Play” button (1).
Once you have chosen one of the five stored texts (2) you can edit it directly in the text field.
Use the knob to change the scrolling speed (4).
All the other settings regarding the text can be changed in the text module itself.
Note : The parameters (1),(2),(4) are different for each layer, while the associated texts are common to
all the layers.
The settings of this module are saved in Modul8 documents.
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TEXT CHANGE (LAYER)

This module can be used to change automatically the text of one or several layers using a word list.
A colon must separate the words.
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M O D U L ES
3 2
You can launch the animation using the “PLAY” button (1).
You can modify the list directly in the text field (2).
You can change the display speed (3).
The random mode (4) can be used to change the display order randomly. 72
The fade mode generates a cross fading during text transition.
All the other settings regarding text can be done in the Text module itself.
TIME AND DATE (LAYER)
A simple module which displays the time and date in a a layer.

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(1) Select the display mode (24h, 12h, etc.)

(2) Select run to display the time
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COUNT DOWN (LAYER)

A simple module that displays a time count down in a layer.
1
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3
4
M O D U L ES
(1) Launch the count down
(2) Reset the count down
(3) Change the duration
(4) Display a text when the count down is finished
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MOVIE TIME (LAYER)
This module can be used to change the time position or the time speed of a movie relatively to the
sound input.
1
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2
You can activate or deactivate the module for every layer with the ON button (1).
Time position (2).
The movie jumps to the end when the sound is very strong and to the beginning when it is very weak.
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The “AMP” button can be used to modify the amplitude of the effect.
Speed (3)
The speed of the movie is accelerated when the sound is strong, or decelerated when the sound is
weaker.
The “AMP” button can be used to modify the amplitude of the effect.
Random (4)
Change the position in the movie randomly.
The FREQ button can be used to adjust the speed of these changes.
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Note: The module use the sound input of your computer, don’t forget to configure it in your system. Also
be sure to set the input sound level inside Modul8, which is deactivated by default. You can find this
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setting at the panel of the main user interface.
right-bottom
The settings of this module are saved in Modul8 documents.
CROSSFADER (MASTER)
M O D U L ES
A simple module, which can be used to automate the transition between the group A and the group
B when the cross-fader is activated.
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2
(1) Setting the speed
MAINof the transition in seconds. Set zero for cut.
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(2) Press A and B to go from one group or another
Note : settings are not saved.
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SHAKE (ALL)
A simple module that shakes all your layers.
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1
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4
M O D U L ES
2
You can set a continuous shake or a push shake (1).
Choose the level and the speed of the vibration (2).
Select the group, which should receive the effect (A for top layers and B for bottom layers) (3).
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You can also select the vibration axis: vertical, horizontal and along the Z-axis.
Note: With a very low speed and a very high level this module can be user to generate aleatory motion.
RANDOM CROP (LAYER)
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A simple module, PANEL
which animates the cropping.
2
Activate or deactivate the module per layer.
Select the axis (x vertical, y horizontal)
(3) Choose the speed
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MOVIE RANDOM FRAME (LAYER)

A simple module that changes the time position randomly in your movies.
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2
Activate or deactivate the module per layer.
M O D U L ES
(2) Choose the speed with the knob, change the speed with the 1,2,3 button.
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PAINTER (LAYER)
The painter can be used to draw to a layer and even create simple stop motion animation.
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5 2 3 7
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Draw:
Choose the size of your brush (2), its color (3) and the type (4).
Then you can draw to the canvas (1) and result is automatically sent to the selected layer.
To erase select “erase” (6), then you can select the using the picker (the color box beside the color
selection)(3).
You can draw to up to 10 different layers (these are internal painter layers) that you can select in the layer
list (5).
To erase your image you can erase all or only one layer (7).
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You can store your picture in order to create an animation. Each time you click on add (8) a new image is
added to the animation (the image is added at the end).
With the speed knob (8) you can play back and choose the speed of the animation in your layer.
With the pos knob (8) you can move inside the animation linked to the Modul8 layer. You can erase an
image of your animation using the “rem” button (8). You can also erase the whole animation using the
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reset button.
Warning : It is not possible to add an image at the middle of your animation or rework your animation
yet.
Note : Your drawings and animations are saved in the Modul8 document.
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POST COLORIZE PICKER (LAYER)

The post colorize picker is a module which let you work on the post colorization of your layer with
more advanced representation than with the standard Modul8 interface.
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3
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5
(1) Choose if you want to work on modulation or on additive.
You can change the red, green blue just like in Modul8.
You can also work on the color using the tint, saturation or luminosity.
You can also modify the color by clicking directly on the color gradients
If you click on the color box, you can access the system color picker.
(6) Reset all your parameters.
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CHROMAKEY (LAYER)
This module can be used to generate a color key that will be transparent in your media. It can be used
for instance to extract a character filmed in a blue box.
1
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M O D U L ES
3
8
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(1) Activate the key using the ON/OFF button

(2,3,4) Tools to define the color.
(5) Display the color key. You can click on it to access more advanced functions including a picker.
(6) You can use this to set the key tolerance.
(7) This can be used to blur the transparency layer (alpha channel).
(8) These tools can be used to adapt the alpha value in order to increase the quality of the transparency
border.
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Creating modules
While using the modules from the other users is cool, creating your own modules is very exciting. A
module allows you to manipulate keywords that represent functionalities of Modul8. It works a bit like a
client/server relationship where Modul8 is the server and the module the client. The client gets and sets
values that are managed by the server. Then the server sends events to let know the client that something
has been changed on his side.
What can be done with modules?

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• Manipulate
Main panelthe current Modul8 controls using different user-interface paradigms.
• Adding new animation effects that are based on the layer position, scale, rotation and the
existing filters.
• Automate and animate any functionality of Modul8.
• Shortcut the current Modul8 layer paradigm (manipulating several layers as if it was one).
• Generating dynamic content (like the painter module)
M O D U L ES
What cannot be done with the current implementation?
• Manipulating a media at the pixel level (adding low level filters).

• Adding more objects that it is permitted by the current user interface (ten layers for instance).
While it is not a requirement, all modules should have a user-interface. Modul8 includes an interface
builder that is very easy to use. Advanced modules can also use scripting to implement new functionalities.
Nevertheless, it is possible for simple module to connect directly their controls to Modul8 functionalities
without even having to write a line of script. It allows you to create new user-interface paradigms without
having to learn scripting. 81
Modules creation is done through the module editor that can be open from the “Modules” menu.
The module editor is divided in two main areas: at the right is the list of installed modules. At the left
is the module editor.
You can edit a module simply by selecting it in the module list. To add a new module simply use the
add button below the module list.
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Please note that the changes are not saved until you select “Save All Changes” in the “Modules”
menu. If you modified some modules and you quit Modul8, the application will ask you if you want to save
them.
Layer Contextual Module
Since the V2.5, Modul8 offers two kinds of module:
Master module
Layer contextual module
When you create a module, by default it is always a master module. It means that the module (unless
some behaviors are scripted by hand) ignores the state of the layers. For instance, if you change the
current layer, it will not affect the content of the module. Now suppose that you want to create a module,
which lets the user sets different options for each layer, reflecting different behaviors. For instance, an
auto-rotate module should allows the user to specify if he or she wants it to run for a specific layer and
at what speed. In this case, you will create a layer contextual module. In this mode, the module contains
an internal copy (or instance) of itself for each layer. The user-interface is automatically updated when the
current layer is changed in order to reflect the state of module for the active layer.
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Creating a layer contextual module does not require anything special. All you have to do is to set the
“Layer Contextual” flag in the module attributes. Modul8 automatically takes care of everything.
Interacting with Modul8
As written before the module architecture follows a client/server metaphor where the module is the
client and the Modul8 application the server. Whatever you plan to do, from simple user-interface mapping
to scripting, it always follows the same schema.
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The communication is done through simply keywords each one representing functionalities or
Main
internal data panelFor instance the keyword that is linked the additive post-colorize red value is
of Modul8.
“ctrl_layer_color_additiveR”. Suppose that you want to do a module that changes the red value of the
additive color, all you have to do is to send a new value to Modul8 with the “ctrl_layer_color_additiveR”
keyword. Because this keyword corresponds directly to a control of the user-interface, once changed the
main user-interface is automatically updated to reflect the new value.
This is the easier way to interact with Modul8: modifying the controls of the main user-interface.
M O D U L ES
Modul8 supports also “direct” keywords that have no representation in the main user-interface. These
keywords can be used to access special features of Modul8 or to add effects that do not modify the main
user-interface. For instance, if you want to do an auto-rotate effect, you can simply animate the rotation
knob of the main user-interface. Unfortunately if you do it this way the user won’t be able to use the knob
anymore, because it will change all the time. Also suppose now that you have two modules that use the
rotation of the layer to create a motion effect. They will try to use the same knob, causing a conflict that
will result with only one module working correctly.
Direct keywords resolve this problem by being module local. In other words, each module keeps a copy
of its direct keywords and then merges them together before they are applied to the final composition. 82
For instance we saw before the post colorize red additive keyword: “ctrl_layer_color_additiveR”
the corresponding keyword for the direct mode is “direct_layer_color_additiveR”. It works exactly the
same with two main differences: first it does not modify the main user-interface; then, if several modules
manipulate the color additive of a layer, the module mechanism will correctly merges the result of all the
changes.
For this reason, most of the time it is better to use direct keywords when possible.
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Using the keywords
As we saw in the precedent chapter, the keywords are grouped in two main families: the direct
keywords and the control keywords.
The direct keywords modify directly a parameter of Modul8 and they resolve automatically the
conflicts of several modules accessing the same keyword. The direct keywords always begin with the
“direct” name.
The control keywords modify a control of the main user-interface of Modul8. Once the control is
modified it updates automatically the composition to reflect its new value. The control keywords always
begin with the “ctrl” name.
The name structure of the keywords follows a hierarchical structure. For instance the “direct_layer_
alpha” keyword that allows you to change the transparency of a layer is made of three components:
direct: It is a direct keyword

layer: It is layer relative (by opposition of a master controller)
alpha: Its functionality, changing the alpha channel.
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The bottom line is that keywords can be represented as a hierarchy. For instance, all the keywords
that are direct and layer relative begin with “direct_layer”.
There are many keywords in Modul8 and many more will come in future versions. A simple way to see
what keywords are available is to open the keyword browser from the “Modules” menu.
The browser automatically represents the hierarchical structure of the keywords. So for instance if
you click on “direct” you can see all the direct keywords and so on. When you select a keyword you can
see its description at the bottom of the window. The browser can also be used to insert keyword in a script
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or in user-interface builder.
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Of course, to each keyword corresponds a value. The value type (if it is a floating point number, an
integer or a text) depends of the keyword type. Now most of the controls work with floating point numbers
going from 0.0 to 1.0. For example, if you want to change the transparency of a layer to 50% you can pass
0.5 to the “direct_layer_alpha” keyword. If you pass 0.0, the layer becomes 100% transparent, and for 1.0
it becomes entirely opaque.
M O D U L ES
There are two ways to modify a keyword:
By using the interface builder and connecting your control directly to a keyword.
By using scripts.
Most of the keyword’s value can be modified or read. However some are read only or write only. See
the next chapter to know how to set or get the value of a keyword.
The keyword families
Keywords are grouped in families. As described in the two precedent chapters, the two mains groups 83
are the direct keywords and the control keywords.
For the controls, four sub-groups follow:

layer: These controls are contained in a layer.
LayerStack: Controls related to the layer stack.
master: These are master controls.
ui: These are controls that allows to access main user-interface parameters.
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Then, each of these families has sub-groups like color, position, rotation, etc. The best is to use the
browser and see the description to learn what keyword and what group does what.
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The user-interface builder
Every module has a window. Even a module without a user-interface (entirely made of scripts) will
have its own window. If your module does not include any user-interface, it would be a good idea to at
least put a text caption in the window to explain what your module is supposed to do.
By default the module editor shows the user-interface of the module when it is open. The module
editor is made of three main components:
• The user-interface builder

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• The script editor
• TheMain
information
paneldescribing the functionality of the module
You can move from one section to another using the tab at the bottom of the editor (Visual, Scripts,
Info).
The user-interface builder is the first main component of the module editor. Most of the time your
modules will have at least a minimal user-interface and this is where you will create it.
M O D U L ES
The creation of your user-interface is pretty easy. When you create a new module you can see its
empty window in the editor. At the top of the editor, you can see the information relative to the selected
object in the window. If you click on the module window title in the editor it shows the global information
relative to the module such as the window size.
At the bottom of the editor you can find all the control types. The control types are divided in five
sections:
• Controls: simple controls such as buttons, etc. 84

• Text controls: text controls such as text field, etc.
• Shapes: decoration objects
• Tools: editor tools
• Groups: managing groups of objects
Adding a new control is as easy as dragging and dropping it in the module’s window. Once a module
has been added just click on it to edit it. You can drag it in the window to move it to a new place or resize
it by clicking on the right/bottom box of the control selection. You can select several controls by clicking
on them and pressing the Shift key or simply by clicking in the background and dragging the mouse. To
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remove a control, simply select it and press “Command + Backspace” or select “Delete” in the edit menu.
The control is immediately removed.
When a module is selected, all its attributes are displayed at the top of the editor. The control settings
are divided in three parts:
• Attributes: Control main attributes.

• Key word connect: Direct connection of the control to a Modul8 keyword (without scripting).
• Script: Script related options.
While the options of the “connect” and “script” sections are nearly similar for all controls, the attributes
are really specific to the control type. For example, a button does not have the same attributes than a pad
or than a text field. Nevertheless all the controls have at least a name that can be set in the attributes panel.
The name is useful to identify a control from a script.
In the Modul8 model, almost all controls (with the exceptions of the decorator objects) represent one
or more values. Most of the time these values are floating point numbers. For instance controls like knobs,
sliders or number fields are used to represent a value that can be edited by the user. Now some other
controls can represents more than one value. Typically the color picker represents three values: one for
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the red, one for the green, one for the blue. In this case, each value can be mapped to a different keyword.
Most of the time you will connect these values to a RGB color attribute, however there is not limit in how
you can use the output of the control. It is possible for example to connect the color picker to the x,y,z
rotation angle of the layer. In this case, changing the red will change the x angle, changing the green will
change the y angle and changing the blue, the z angle. This example shows the flexibility of the module
mechanism.
The global attributes
When you click in the window background or on the window title in the editor, the global attributes of
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the module appear at the top of editor. Currently only the following attributes are available:
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Width/height: the window size of the module
Layer contextual: when this flag is set, the module contains an internal copy of itself for every layer.
See the “Layer Contextual Module” chapter.
The controls
M O D U L ES
The module architecture supports many different types of controls. Each control type has its own
attributes and behavior. This section contains a description of every control available in the current version
of the interface builder.
The slider
The slider allows the user to set a floating-point value. The range of the value is specified in
attributes using the minimum/maximum values. Typically the range goes from 0.0 to 1.0.
The attributes of the slider are: 85
• Default value: the default value to set when the module is launched.
• The minimum value: the value when the slider is empty.
• The maximum value: the value when the slider is full.
The knobs
Knobs represent a floating-point value in a specified range, just like sliders.

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There are two different kinds of knobs: one that allows only a rotation from the minimum value to the
maximum value and another one that is entirely circular (it loops from the minimal value to the maximal
value). The circular mode is useful for representing angles while the standard mode works more like a
slider.
Both knobs have the same attributes than the slider:
• Default value: the default value to set when the module is launched.
• The minimum value: the value when the knob is at its minimal rotation.
• The maximum value: the value when the slider is at its maximal rotation.
For a circular knob, maximum and minimum values are nearly at the same rotation.
The buttons
There are three kinds of buttons: the push button, the checkbox and the radio button. While all
these buttons are supposed to work differently, they have all the same attributes. The main difference is
the way they are initialized and they representation. When you create a new checkbox, its attributes are
automatically set in toggle mode. However it is possible to set a push button in toggle mode for instance.
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Now for the clarity of your user-interface, try to use the button as they are supposed to work:
• The push button: send an action

• The radio button: mutually exclusive options
• The checkbox: on/off option
The attributes allow you to associate three different values to a button:
• The down value: It is sent when the button is pressed

• The up value: it is sent when the button is released
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• The continue value: it is continuously sent as long as the button is pressed and only if the
“continuous”
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The other attributes are:
• Selected: Is the button selected by default (works only in toggle or mode).

• Continuous: Enable the continue value.
• Toggle: Set the button in toggle mode.
M O D U L ES
• Caption: The caption of the button.
The “Exclusion group” attribute allows you to group mutually exclusive buttons such as the radio
button. In other words, all the radio buttons in a module that has the same exclusion group name, are
mutually exclusive (when the user selects one, it deselects another one). If you want to have several
groups of radios, simply give a different exclusion name for each group.
The “Show Media” allows you to transform your button into a media preview button. See the “media
buttons”.
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The media buttons
A media button is a standard button, which displays the thumbnail of one of the media in the preview
panel instead of its standard shape. You can transform a button into a media button simply by setting in
the Show Media option the media number going from 1 to 128 (where 1 is the first media of the first set
and 128 the last media of the last set). If you set 0, the button will display its regular shape.
The color pickers

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There are three typesPANEL
of color picker today: One to select an RGB color, one to select a unique value
in a gray scale and the last one which allows you to open the system standard color picker.
The main difference between the fpickers is the number of value they send. The RGB picker manages
three different values (see “Connecting controls to Modul8 keywords” for more information) while the gray
scale, only one. The system picker is able to manage up to four values (red, green, blue and alpha). Please
note also that the first pickers send values immediately and do not show the last value that has been set.
They really send immediate actions just like a button. Their values are always in the range of 0.0 to 1.0,
where 0.0 is black and 1.0 is white. Color pickers do not have special attributes.
Unlike the first two pickers, the system color picker displays the last selected value in a box. When
the box is selected a dialog box is open to let the user pick a color.
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The 2D pad
The 2D pad allows the user to specify two values X/Y on a 2D pad. Dragging a cross over the pad
modifies the values. The pad can be used typically to move an object on a plane or to edit two values
simultaneously (two effects for example).
The pad works with two floating points values. These values works like for a slider, with the initial
default value and the minimal, maximal values for both X/Y axis.
The bottom/left represents the minimal value where the top/right represents the maximal values.
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The draw view
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This control is a very advanced control, which allows a user to generate images dynamically. It can
be to create control with custom shapes or to generate images that will be sent to the composition. This
control can be used only from the scripts.
The captions
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Captions are simple texts that cannot be edited by the user. There are two kinds of caption, the
standard one that uses the Modul8 font and the text one that uses the system font. The text caption is
useful when you want to write texts in languages that cannot be represented by the Modul8 font.
Text and numeric fields
The text and numeric fields allow the user to enter by hand a number or a text. The numeric field
works with floating point values. You can specify the minimum and maximum values, plus the default initial
value. 87
The text field has different attributes. First you can enter a default text if required.
Also the text field includes two different settings:
• Accept line feed: When not set, the field exits when the user presses the return key. When set,
the return key insert a line feed.
• Live: When set, the text is resent each time to the script each time it is modified. When it is not
set, it is sent when it is validated or the user exits the field.
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The text list
This control can be used to represent a text list. There are several ways to initialize a text list. When
you select the “Init With” attributes, you can set a list of text separated by a coma. For instance: red, green,
blue. It is also possible to initialize it automatically with the list available font in the system. If you write
scripts you can initialize it also dynamically (see the Script chapter).
The text list sends the user selection as its value. The user selection can be represented in three
different ways:
• Abs. Index: The value is the index in the text list. If there are 10 text in the list the value goes
from 0 to 9.
• Prop.Index: The value is a floating point in the range of 0.0 to 1.0 where 0.0 means the first
element is selected and 1.0 the last.
• Text: The value is the selected text.
Shapes
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The shapes allow you to use decoration element to your module. Basically it allows you to include
surface and lines to your module. Surface can be round rectangle or box. The lines can be dashed or
filled.
Tools
The tool section does not contain objects but tools that allow you to re-arrange the user-interface.
There are currently two functions useful to change the display order of the elements:
• Bring to front: Bring the selected objects to the front.

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• Send to back: Send to back the selected objects.
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Connecting controls to Modul8 keywords
It is possible to connect controls directly to the Modul8 keywords without writing scripts allowing the
creation of new user-interfaces pretty easily.
To connect a control to a Modul8 keywords you need to select the module and then the “UI Connect”
tab at the top of the editor window.
M O D U L ES
Basically, each control can be mapped to up to 10 different keywords. You select the map at the left
of the “UI Connect” section. For example you can do a slider that at the same time change the blur and
the saturation. In this case you will use the map 1 and the map 2 to creation to connection. As long as you
need only one map, you don’t have to use the map popup.
Under the map pop-up is another pop-up that represents the value of the control you want to
connect. While some controls like the slider simply represents one single value, some other like the pad
may represents two or more values. In this case, each value can be mapped to a different keyword. For
example if you create a pad you will have in the pop-up the x and the y value. You can choose to connect 88
the x to the blur keyword and the y to the saturation to modify the two values simultaneously.
Then you have to choose to what keyword you want to connect the control value. The “to” field allows
you to enter the name of the keyword, however it is a lot easier to use the keyword browser or the picker.
The picker allows you to directly pick a keyword in the main user interface of Modul8. Click on pick,
select for instance the additive color slider and that’s it, the connection is done.
You can alsoMAIN

use thePANEL
browse button if you want to choose a keyword by name or a keyword that
cannot be picked.
Once the keyword has been set you can choose to what layer you want the map to be effective.
Possible values are:
All layers: The control changes all layers simultaneously.

1-10 layer: The absolute layer number.
Active layer: The current selected layer.
The last attribute is the “expression”. This is a powerful function that allows you to enter a
mathematical expression that is applied to the value before it is sent to the keyword. By default it is set to
“value=value” which means the value is sent as it is. However you may want to create several maps each
one sending a value that is normalized in a different way. For instance to multiply the value per two, simply
set “value=value*2”, etc.
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A simple module examples

In this chapter, we will create two simple modules without scripting (see the “Scripting” chapter
for scripting samples). The first module is a simple module that allows you to change the additive post-
colorization and the second one will allow the modification of two effects simultaneously using a pad.
A colorize module
Creating a simple colorize module is very simply and can be pretty useful.
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First of all, open the module editor and click on the add button. Then give a name to your module
(“Colorize” for
Maininstance).
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The first step is to add the required controls. We will begin with the rgb color picker. Go to the
“Controls” tab at the bottom of the editor and drag the rgb color picker to the module window.
Once added, move it and resize it until it is big enough. Keep a bit of room so we can also add a gray
slider later.
M O D U L ES
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Once added select it and go to the “Keyword Connect” section at the top of the editor.
Now we are going to connect the RGB values to the active layer. By default the “red” is selected in
the pop up value. So we are going to connect the red value to the red additive post-colorize. Click on the
pick button and select in the main user-interface the red additive slider in the post-colorize area (at the
right top of the window).
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M O D U L ES
90
For the “In:” field, select “Active Layer” so it will send the value to the active layer:
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Now the red component is connected and should work. Let’s try it. Go to the module menu and select
show “Colorize”. Click on the arrow button at the top/right of the module to start it.
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Click in the color picker and examine the red additive color changing:
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M O D U L ES
As you can see only the red component is changing. Now we want to be able to change also the
green and the blue. Go back to the editor. In the value pop-up just below the “Map” pop-up there is the
“red” value that is selected. Click on the pop-up and select the “green” value. Once you can see the
keyword is now empty. This is because each value has a different connection. Click another time to pick
and select the green slider this time. Also do not forget to select the “Active Layer” in the “In:” pop-up.
Now the green is connected:
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All the modifications are entirely dynamic. So you can immediately try the module to see if the green
component is also changing.
You should be able to connect the blue component by your self now. Once it is done you can modify
the three additive sliders of the active layer with picker.
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Now we are going to add a gray picker to modify the three additive sliders at the same time, changing
the luminosity of the layer. Add a gray picker beside the RGB color:
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M O D U L ES
92
Go back to the UI connect tab. As you can see in the value pop-up you don’t have the red, green and
blue values but only “level”. This is because this control exports only one value. However what we want
is to set this value to three different keywords so we can change the red, the green and the blue additive
color with only one control.
To do this, we need to use the maps. Basically we are going to map three times the same to the
three-color keywords.
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So first let’s connect the red. Use the pick button and select the red additive slider, just like you did
before. And then select the “Active Layer” in the “In:” pop-up. You should have this:
You can also try the module right now to see what does the gray picker. It should modify only the red
additive color.
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However what we want is to modify the three values. So select the “Map 2” in the map pop-up. And
now connect the green slider:
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Now the gray picker changes the red and the green. Go to the “Map 3” and connect the blue keyword.
This time it is done. You can change the additive color just as if it is one luminosity slider.
A pad effect module
In this example, I want to be able to use a pad that changes both the saturation and the contrast
M O D U L ES
effects.
First of all, create a module called “ColorPad” and then add a pad control:
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By default, the pad attributes are set to work from 0.0 to 1.0. It is perfect because like most of the
Modul8 keywords, both the saturation and the contrast effects are set using a normalized value from 0.0
to 1.0. So we won’t have to change the attributes.
Go to the “UI Connect” tab. In the value pop-up you can find “x” and “y”. It represents the two axis
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of the pad. We are going to connect the contrast to the X and the saturation to the Y.
To do that use the keyword browser and select: ctrl_layer_pixelFX_contrastLevel.
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Now theMain panel
keyword to change the contrast level is linked to the x value. Let’s do the same with the
other axis. Select the “y” value and then use the browser to select this keyword: ctrl_layer_pixelFX_
saturationLevel.
M O D U L ES
Now let’s try our module. Go to the module menu to show the “ColorPad” menu. Launch it using the
“arrow” icon at the top/right of the window.
As you can see when you drag the mouse in the pad, both the saturation and the contrast level
knobs are modified depending of the axis. However we still have a small problem. If the saturation or the 94
contrast effects are not enabled in the main user-interface, their level will be changed but the effects won’t
be applied until you select the effect by clicking on the tab. While it is an acceptable way to implement it,
it would be a nice to be able to turn on the effect when it is to a non-zero value and to turn it off when it
is at zero.
Actually this can be done pretty easily. Both the saturation and the contrast effects have a keyword to
turn them on/off. These keywords expect to receive True or False value. The convention is that any value
that is non-zero is considered as True and zero as False. This is good new for our effects because this
is exactly what weMAIN PANEL
want. When the pad is at zero, we want the effects to be turned off. And when it is at
anything but zero we want the effects to be turned on.
Now let’s use a new map for this purpose. Select the “Map “ and for the x value select the “ctrl_
layer_pixelFX_contrastOn” keyword. Be sure to link it to the x value and not the y value, or it won’t work
properly:
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Now do the same for the y value but with the “ctrl_layer_pixelFX_saturationOn” keyword:
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Go back to the module and try it. As you can see when one of the axis reaches zero the effect is
turned off. In the following capture, the x is at zero, so the contrast is off:
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M O D U L ES
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And when it is not at zero, it is turned on:
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M O D U L ES
This module is working perfectly but there is still a small problem. All the maps are done directly on
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the active layer. It means that when the active layer is changed, the module is not updated. For a module
like where all the functionalities are layer contextual it would be better if it has a different state for every
layer. This can be done very easily. All you have to do is to set the layer contextual option. Click on the
background of the module (or on the title) to see the module global preferences in the editor. Then select
the layer contextual checkbox. That’s it. Now your module will have a different state for each layer. When
the layer is changed, it is automatically updated to reflect the changes.
These two examples show you the incredible flexibility of the module system. And this is without even
having written a line of script.
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Scripting
Modul8 integrates a complete scripting environment. The scripting language is Python. A brief
introduction to this language is included in this documentation, however for a more advanced tutorial and
for the complete reference go to the official python web site:
http://www.python.org
Beside the scripting language it is important to understand what is the Modul8 scripting model.
Modul8 is a multi-threaded application. It means that several tasks can be executed simultaneously. For
example while a pixel filer is applied, new frames can be rendered on screen, new movie data can be
streamed from the disk, etc.
So how scripts are executed in this context? The scripts are linked to the rendering thread. So what is
the rendering thread? It is the place where the on-screen animation is achieved. In other words, the scripts
are executed between the on screen render of the new frames.
For instance, typically the rendering thread follows this schema:
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A) Call the required scripts

B) Animate and prepare the object (rotation, scale, …)
C) Render a new frame to the screen
Back to A)
It means that a script will never be executed at the same time than a new frame of the animation
will be generated. And this is a good thing, because it allows the scripts to be synchronized with the
animation. It means also that if your scripts do a loop, new frames won’t be rendered until the loop is
finished. It is very important to understand that. You can’t animate an object by creating a loop, because
no frames will be rendered until the loop is finished. To animate objects you have to use special scripts
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called “PeriodicalEvent”. This will be covered in the next chapters.
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So how the scripts are connected to Modul8 ? Basically it exists several script types. Each script type
handles a specific event in Modul8. For example, you have a script type that is called each time a midi
value is modified, or when a module is launched for the first time, or when a control of the user-interface
is modified.
Each module implements its own list of scripts. All you have to do is select the required script type
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and write your script here. They will be called automatically when the corresponding event occurs.
A brief introduction to Python
Python is a pretty easy language to learn. This chapter gives you a very short introduction to Python
in the context of Modul8.
Python is a line-oriented language. It means that each line defines a sentence. For example, here is
a simple python program that prints two message to the console.
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print “hello”
print “world”
The first like is executed and then the second one. The “print” keyword is a special function of Python
that print a message to the console. This simple script prints “hello” and then “world”.
The variables in Python are simply defined by assigning them a value. You don’t have to define a type
(if it is a floating point, an integer or a string). It is implicit.
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For example, you can define the variable ‘i’ this way:
i=0
In this case “i” is created with the value of zero. You can print the value of ‘i’ this way:
print i
In this case it simply returns 0. In Modul8 you can see the result in the console.
There are two important functionalities in every language: loops and conditions.
Loops
Loops in Python are very easy to define. For example, a 10 iterations loop, can be written this way:
for i in range(0,10):
print i
Let’s decompose these two lines. The first line defines the loop. The “range(0,10)” defines a loop that
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starts at 0 and does 10 iterations. The variable ‘i’ is used as an index during the loop iteration. During the
first iteration it is equal to 0, then to 1, and so on. At the end of the line you can see the ‘:’ character. In
Python it defines the start of a block of expressions.
Every language needs a way to define an expressions block. In this case it is used to define what
instructions are part of the loop and where the loop ends. In Python, expressions blocks are defined using
indentation by inserting “tabs” characters at the beginning of the line. In the precedent example, the block
has only one line; it is the “print i” instruction. As you can see the print instruction does not start at the
beginning of the line.
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Now if I add a new line like that :
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print i
print “end”
As you can see the new print is at the beginning of the line. It is after the “for” block and will be
executed only once the loop is finished. The output of this script will be:
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0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8 98
9
end
Conditions
Conditions are very easily defines too. The ‘if’ can be used to define a condition blocks:
if i==0:
print “i is zero”
else:
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print “i is not zero”PANEL
In this case two expressions block are defined but only one will be executed. If I is equal to zero the
first one is executed, else it is the second one.
Of course it is possible to insert new expression blocks in existing expression blocks. For example:
if doloop==1:
print i
else:
print “bye bye”
In this example, the loop is done only if the ‘doloop’ variable is equal to one. As you can see the loop
block is in the first condition block. If ‘doloop’ is not equal to 1, “bye bye” is printed.
Python defines several type of variable. Let’s take a loop at the most common ones:
Integer
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It is a simple integer value. You define it like that:
i=120
It is also possible to use negative number
i= -10
Floating-point
TThe floating points are used a lot in Modul8. They are defined this way:
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i=10.0 Main panel
or
i=-230.124
String
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Strings are used to store text. A string is a chain of characters enclosed by ‘ or by “:
str = ‘Hello’
or
str = “Hello”
List
A list is more complicated type. It is used to store a list of values. 99
You can define it this way:
mylist = [0,10,20,30]
It defines a list of four numbers: 0,10,20,30
You can access or modify the entry of a list this way:
mylist[0] = 1 MAIN PANEL
Set the first entry of the list to 1.
Dictionary
A dictionary is another type a little bit more complicated but very useful.
It allows you to map a value to another. For example, imagine that you want the word ‘house’ to correspond
to the value ‘ a build for human habitation‘. In this case ‘house’ is the key, and the definition is the value.
You can define your dictionary this way:
mydict = {‘ house’ : ’ ‘a build for human habitation.’}
As you can see you write the key, followed by : and then a string for the definition.
Then if you write this expression:
print mydict[‘house’]
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The definition of the house will be printed.
Of course you can use any type of Python, not only strings:
mydict = {‘red’:0, ’green’:1, ‘blue’:2}
In this case:
print mydict[‘green’]
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… will print 1.
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Operators
In order to do any kind of computing you need to have at least some mathematical operator. Most of them
are obvious:
+ : addition
- subscration
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/ : division
* : multiplication
For instance:
y = (10 * 0.5) + 0.33
For conditions, you can use these operators:
== equal 100
!= not equal
<= smaller or equal
>= greater or equal
< smaller
> greater
For instance:
if i!=0:
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print “i not equal PANEL
to zero”
Comments
You can insert comments in your code using the # character. The rest of the line is ignored by Python when
is character is found:
i=0 # set i to 0
Packages
The Python language contains a large library of functions that can be used from any program. Functions are
grouped in Python modules or packages. You will find the list of available packages (or Python modules)
on the python web site.
Some of them like the math module are very standard and can be very useful in the Modul8 context.
Before using a Python package you should import it.
To import the math package:
import math
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Once imported you can use all the math functions of this package:
print math.cos(0.5) # Do a cos of 0.5
See the Python web site for more information.
The scripting environment
The scripting environment is made of several components designed to simplify your life when coding
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in the context Modul8.
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Before being able to script anything you need to have at least a module created. The best solution
to discover the scripting is to create an empty module. So go to the module editor and add new module
called “ScriptTest”. You can remove it later when it is not required anymore.
Once your module is created, select the “Script” tab at the bottom of the window. This is where the
scripts are written. At the top of the editor is a pop-up that allows you to select what script you want to
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edit. A script is always executed when a specific event occurs. By default, the pop-up shows the “Init()”
script. This script is called when the module is executed the first time or when it is restarted.
Let’s try to write our first simple script. Write this simple line in the “Init()” script:
print “Hello World!”
This script simply writes “Hello World!” to the console. Modul8 includes its own console that is pretty
useful for debugging script. You can find it in the “Script” sub-menu of the “Module” menu. Open it.
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Now go to the “Module” menu and select “Restart”. The script is restarted and the Init script is called.
“Hello World” should be printed in the console. If you restart it another time, the text will be written another
time.
When you modify a script, it is not immediately executed. You should call the “Restart” function to
restart the module. You can also use the “Resync” function in the “Script” sub-menu. The main difference
is that the “Resync” function does not restart the script but simply updates the changes you did to the
executing module. It is pretty useful if want to apply an update without restarting completely your module.
However the “Resync”
MAIN does not call the “Init()” script, because the module is not restarted. So if you did
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any change in this function you will have to restart the module to see the result.
The module architecture is able to show you automatically an error in your script. Try to modify your
script like that:
print a
Restart it. The error window open, showing you the error and its position:
If you double-click on the error, the module editor jumps directly to the position of the error in the
scripts. You can also click on the “Go to Error”.
The script sub-menu includes also several useful tools to write code:
Shift Right/Left: Allows you to shift the indentation of the selected block of text.
Comment/Uncomment: Comment or uncomment the selected block of text.
The keyword browser can also be used to insert a keyword in a script. Simply open it from the menu,
select the script and click on the insert button. The keyword is automatically inserted in the text at the
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cursor position..
The Modul8 main functions
In order to communicate with Modul8, you need to use a global object called “modul8”. All the
communication is done by using the famous Modul8 keywords and two functions: setValue and
getValue.
These functions are defined this way:

modul8.setValue(name,value,layer)
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modul8.getValue(name,layer)
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For example to get the value of a keyword:
modul8.getValue(‘ctrl_layer_color_modulateG’,1)
This example returns the rotation x of the first layer.
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For values that are not layer relative (Master Controls for instance), the layer parameter is not used and
you can pass any value.
If you pass zero to the layer variable, it is the active layer that is used. The number from 1 to 10 is for
absolute layer referring.
For the setValue you can also pass –1 to the layer parameter, in this case the value is set to all the layers.
Please note that for layer contextual module, the layer is not used at all. Simply pass zero.
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The Module functions
While the Modul8 functions allow you to communicate with the Modul8 application and its keywords, the
Module functions can be used to communicate with your module and its user-interface. All the functions
should be sent to the “module” object.
For instance:
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module.setValue(‘myRedColorSlider’,’red’,0.5)
Here follows a list of the functions:
setValue/getValue
These functions can be used to get or to set a value to the controls of your module.
They are defined this way:
module.setValue(name,valueIndex,value)
module.getValue(name,valueIndex)
The name is the name of the control that you specified in the interface builder. The valueIndex corresponds
to the value want to change. Because some controls can have several values this is where you specify the
value you want to get or set. For example, the pad has two values: the x and the y. You can pass the value
index using an integer index or by passing a string with the name of the value.
For example, for a pad:
module.setValue(‘myPad’,’x’,0.5)
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module.setValue(‘myPad’,’y’,0.5)
is the same as:
module.setValue(‘myPad’, 0, 0.5)
module.setValue(‘myPad’, 1, 0.5)
setDefaults / getDefaults
These functions can be used to store a permanent dictionary in your module. It is very useful if you want
to store preferences that can be re-used even when Modul8 is quitted and restarted later. Please note
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that this dictionary is saved inside the module file. So if you share the module online or move it to another
machine, the preferences
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Typically you will use the getDefaults function in the Init() script and the setDefaults in the Finish() script.
These two functions are very easy to use:
module.setDefaults(dict)
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module.getDefaults() # returns the dictionary with the preferences
setAttribute / getAttribute
These two functions can be used to get or to set attributes of your user-interface controls.
Their definitions are:
module.setAttribute(name, attributeType, value)

module.getAttribute(name, attributeType) # return the attribute value
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The name is the name of the control as you specified it in the user-interface builder. The two other
parameters depend of the control type.
Here is a list of the possible attributes:
HIDDEN: Show/Hide the control, the value should be True or False

FRAME: Change the size and the position of the control. You should pass a list of four values:
x,y,width,height
SCRIPT_MESSAGE: Set a new script message
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TEXTLIST: Set a new text PANEL
list. Only for the text list control
CAPTION : Change the caption of the control. Only for button and caption
SHOW_MEDIA: This is keyword that can be used to set the media associated to a button. Pass 1 to 128
to display the media thumbnail or 0 for the standard button shape
getSharedDictionary
This function returns the global shared dictionary. This dictionary is useful to allow the modules to
communicate together and share values. By default, all the modules are executed in completely separated
spaces to avoid any conflict of variables and functionalities. However there is a global dictionary that any
module can use to read or to store values. This function can be used to get this dictionary.
flushAllControls
This function can be used to force all the controls to flush their values to the Modul8 keywords. It is useful
to force a resynchronization of your module controls with Modul8.
sendMessageToAllInstances
This function is useful in layer contextual mode when you need to communicate to all the other instances
of your module. You simply call it with the message and a parameter. Then all the instance of your module
will receive a MessageEvent call with the msg and the param you set.
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showGroup / hideGroup
These two functions allow you to show or to hide a group of control. Simply pass the group name as you
set it in the editor:
showGroup(mygroupname)
The Modul8 advanced functions
Beside the standard function set/getValue function the Modul8 object has several other useful functions.
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Sending midi messages
It is possibleMain
to send midi messages from Modul8 to an external or virtual midi device.
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The function to send midi message is:
modul8.sendMidiMessage(endpoint,channel,message,value1,value2)
The endpoint is the name of the device that should receive the message. If you pass an integer instead
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of a string, it will be the index in the device list (for instance zero for the first device). You can obtain the
midi device list, using the modul8.getMidiDestinationsList() function.
The message can be either directly a numerical message or a string. For string, possible values are:
NOTE_OFF, NOTE_ON, POLY_AFTERTOUCH, CONTROL_CHANGE, MODE_CHANGE, AFTERTOUCH,
PITCHBEND, SYSTEM.
The value1 and value2 represents the midi value. Possible values depend of the message type.
hsbToRgb / rgbToHsb 104

These two functions can be used to convert rgb value to hsb value. Sometimes it can be useful to work
in hue/saturation/brightness mode instead of red/green/blue.
You simply pass a list with the three values, and a converted list is returned:
hsb = modul8.rgbToHsb([1,1,1])
setFilters / getFiltersDesc
These functions canMAINbe used to manipulate and apply filters to a layer. Because Modul8 supports filter
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such as the FreeFrame or CoreImage, the filter list is dynamic. You can obtain a list of all the filters
including all the parameters for every filter using the getFiltersDesc function. This function returns a list
with one entry per filter. Each entry is a dictionary. For instance the Modul8 Contrast filter looks like this:
{
‘FILTER’: ‘(M8) Contrast’,
‘PARAMETERS’:
[{‘DEFAULTVALUE’: 0.0, ‘TYPE’: ‘BOOLEAN’, ‘NAME’: ‘Boost’},
{‘DEFAULTVALUE’: 0.0, ‘TYPE’: ‘BOOLEAN’, ‘NAME’: ‘Invert’},
{‘DEFAULTVALUE’: 0.5, ‘TYPE’: ‘STANDARD’, ‘NAME’: ‘Level’}]
}
FILTER contains the name of the filter and PARAMETERS contains a list of the possible parameters.
For each parameter you have the default value, the type, and the name. STANDARD means that it is a
value going from 0.0 to 1.0 while BOOLEAN is a True/False value.
To apply one or more filters from a script you use the modul8.setFilters() function:
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modul8.setFilters(filterList, layer, future)
The filterList contains the list of the filter you want to apply. If you plan to apply only one filter you simply
create a list with one entry.
A filter is defined with a dictionary, which should have at least two entries. First entry is the name of the
filter, the second is a dictionary containing the parameters and their values.
For instance, here is a dictionary, which defines a contrast filter:
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contrastDict = {
‘FILTER’: ‘(M8)
MainContrast’,
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‘PARAMETERS’:
{
‘Boost’ : False,
‘Invert’:False,
‘Level’:0.5
}
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}
This dictionary defines a contrast filters of 50% with Boost and Invert disabled.
To send this filter to the specified layer:
modul8.setFilters([contrastDict], layer, False)
The last parameter is a future parameter and is ignored yet. You should simply pass False.
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You can pass several filters like this:
modul8.setFilters([contrastDict,chromaDict], layer, False)
If you want to remove all the filters you simply pass an empty list:
modul8.setFilters([], layer, False)
The scriptMAIN
typesPANEL
Each script type is linked to a specific event. This chapter describes all the script types and how and
when they are called.
It is important to understand that in Modul8 all the declared variables are available from every script.
So typically if you declare a variable
Init()
This script type is called each time a module is started. It is the right place to declare global variables or
to do any kind of required initialization. The init() function is not called when the user click on the pause
button in the window menu. It is called only:
The first time the module is started

When “Restart” is selected
After a “Stop All “ has been selected and the module is started again.
MessageEvent(msg,param)
This script is called each time a control is modified in the user-interface of the module. It is called only if
a message has been defined in the interface-builder. To define a message, select you control in the user-
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interface and go to the Script tab. You can enter the message here:
Whenever the control is modified the “MessageEvent” script is called with the message you set in the
“msg” variable and a dictionary in the “param” variable. The dictionary typically contains several entries:
A ‘NAME’ entry that defines also the name of the control and one or more keys containing the modified
value of the control. You can test the this script by simply printing the passed parameters:
print msg
print param
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Then change a control that has a script message defined and see the result in the console.
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DirectEvent(type,param)
This script is called each time a midi message is received or a keyboard key is pressed or released. It
allows you to shortcut the standard user-interface of the input mapping. Most of the time it is better to use
controls and let the user maps the midi like he wants. However if you want to handle directly the midi or
the keyboard you should use this script.
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The “type” variable is a string that defines the type of event. The “param” is a dictionary that includes the
parameters related to the event (the key pressed or the midi information).
You can test this script by printing the received parameter:
print type
print param
KeywordEvent(keyword,param)
This script allows you to track changes made by the user in the Modul8 keywords. For instance when the 106
user rotates a layer, the rotation keyword is modified. In this case you may want to change the state of
some of your controls to reflect the new state of the layer rotation. This is the place were it should be done.
Each time a keyword is modified, this script is called with the modified keyword and its new value in the
“param” variable. It allows to track focus layer changes, effects changes, etc.
PeriodicalEvent(elapsed)
This script is called repetitively and should be use to do any kind of periodical actions. It is the place to
implement animation or motion. The passed parameter is a floating-point value that represents the time
in second that elapsed
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function is called between frame renders. So as long as you are in this function, no frames will be rendered
to the screen. It means that doing a loop in this function that simply change the rotation of a layer just
won’t work to do an auto-rotate or any kind of animation. This is because this script is synchronized
with the render process. Animation must be implemented over multiple called of periodical events and
animation should be time based so you should always use the elapsed variable to calculate the speed of
your animation.
For instance let’s try to implement an auto-rotate periodical. We are going to user a direct key so the user
can continue to use the rotation standard user interface.
We are going to use a global variable that we call ‘zangle’ to store the current angle. The best is to initialize
it in the Init() script:
zangle = 0.0
Now in the periodical script:
zangle = zangle + elapsed*360

modul8.setValue(‘direct_layer_rotation_z’,zangle,0)
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The first line increments the “zangle” value by 360 degrees per second. It is important to use always the
elapsed parameter to compute the speed of your animation so it is time based and not based on the speed
of the machine.
The second line simply passes the new zangle to the active layer z rotation.
If you follow these simple rules, you can do custom animation very easily in Modul8.
PauseEvent(paused)
This script is called when the user pauses a module by clicking on the pause button in the module window
or when it un-pauses it using the play button. It allows you to insert an action before and after the module
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is paused. Please note that pausing a module is not the same as stopping it or restarting it. Pause is a
temporary action.
Main For example you should not save or read preferences here, but in the Init() and Finish()
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scripts.
Finish()
The finish script is called each time the module is entirely reset by a “Stop All” or a “Restart” or when the
application quits. Each Init() call is balanced with a Finish() call. It is typically used to store preferences.
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Serialize(outDict)/Deserialize(inDict)
These two scripts are called when a document is saved (serialize) or open (deserialize). It allows you to
save data such as module parameters or states into the user document.
The serialize function give you a dictionary which is private to your module where you can store the Python
objects you want to be stored. Once a document is open you receive through the Deserialize function the
dictionary filled with the objects that was serialized before. Then it is up to you to update your module with
these values. See the module chapter about serialization.
Module serialization 107
When a user open a Modul8 document he or she expects to see exactly the scene as it was saved before.
Now suppose that you did a module that animates a layer at the specific speed. The users changed the
speed using a knob for instance and then he saved the composition to a document. What happens when
he open the document ? Does you module will automatically be update with the speed set before the
document was saved ? Does Modul8 automatically save the sate of the module ?
Well, the answer is yes and no. Modules are complex beast and there is simply no way for Modul8 to
automatically saveMAIN
the complete
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However serialization can be done nearly automatically for most of the simple modules. Each control has
an “Auto-Serialize” option that can be found by selecting a control in the interface builder. If you set this
flag the state of the control will be stored when a user save a Modul8 document. When the document is
open the state of the control is set to the correct value and the script message associated to the control
(if any) is sent to your scripts allowing you to update internal values if required. Simply setting this option
will allow most of the module to be automatically serialized. It is event possible to serialize the content of
a draw view with it.
Now it is not always possible to use this kind of automatic serialization. For instance you may want to
save data which are not related to a control, like a list of values. In this case you should use the “Serialize/
Deserialize” script functions.
When a module is saved the “Serialize” function is called with a dictionary as a parameter. Basically you
can store python object such as strings, numbers, lists and dictionaries in this dictionary.
For instance:
* Serialize(outDict)
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outDict[‘thespeedofmyanim’] = animspeed
outDict[‘listofnames’] = namelist
When a document is open by the user the deserialize function is called with a dictionary containing
the values that was saved in the document. Then you can get back these values and use them in your
module:
* Deserialize(inDict)
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animspeed = inDict[‘thespeedofmyanim’]
namelist = Main
inDict[‘listofnames’]
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Most of the time it is safer to check that the key really exists in the module. This will avoid errors if you
change or add key in future versions of the module.
For instance:
If ‘thespeedofmyanim’ in inDict:
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animspeed = inDict[‘thespeedofmyanim’]
if ‘listofnames’ in inDict:
namelist = inDict[‘listofnames’]
The module draw view control
There is a special control in the Modul8 user-interface builder that is called a draw view. This control can be
used to create dynamic animation, custom control and much more. For instance, the painter module uses
this control to allow the user to paint, to display the brush and to send the drawings to the composition.
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While all the other controls are pretty simple the draw view is more complicated and much more powerful.
Basically it is an area where your module can draw what it wants. Of course it can also send the drawing
into the composition as a static image. It can even store frames over multiple internal layers and then send
a specific frame to create pre-computed animation.
This control can also receive mouse input from the user, like mouse click and mouse drag. It is very useful
when you want to build a custom control (a button with a specific look for example).
First of all it is important

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understand how to draw to the view. Actually it is very easy! You simply have to
call draw functions such as “module.drawLine” and when all the drawings are finished you call “module.
finishDrawings”.
For instance:
module.drawLine(‘myview’,x1,y1, x2, y2, pointSize,r,g,b,a)

module.finishDrawings(‘myview’)
This will draw a line going from (x1,y1) to (x2,y2) in the control view called ‘myview’. The width of the line
is specified using pointSize and the color by r,g,b,a (color range is 0.0 to 1.0, a is the alpha channel). The
finishDrawings call will actually draw the line. It allows you to send several draw commands and then get
them rendered in the view.
The simple drawing functions
The draw view supports the following drawing functions:
module.frameRect(‘view’,x,y, w, h,r,g,b,a)
module.paintRect(‘view’,x,y, w, h,r,g,b,a)
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module.frameOval(‘view’,x,y, w, h,r,g,b,a)
module.paintOval(‘view’,x,y, w, h,r,g,b,a)
module.drawLine(‘view’,x1,y1,x2,y2,drawShapeSize,r,g,b,a)
module.drawCurve(‘view’,x1,y1,x2,y2,cpx1,cpy1,cpx2,cpy2,drawShapeSize,r,g,b,a)
The text drawing functions

It is possible to draw a string using the default Modul8 font using this function:
module.drawString(‘view’,myStringToDraw, x, y, r,g,b,a)
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The bezier functions
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It is also able to draw Bezier curves. You start a new Bezier curve using the following function:
module.bezierNew(‘view’)
Then you can add new points and lines using these functions:
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module.bezierLineTo(‘view’,x,y)
module.bezierMoveTo(‘view’,x,y)
Once your Bezier curve is finished you can draw it using the following fuction:
module.bezierDraw(‘view’,lineWidth,lineCapStyle,r,g,b,a)
The lineCapts allows you to speficy the shape of the curve at the edge, it can be: “ROUNDLINE”,
“BUTTLINE” or “SQUARELINE”.
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Erasing content
To erase content you need to enter the erase mode:
module.enterEraseMode(‘myView’)
Then you can use all the standard drawing functions to erase content.
When it is finished you can use the following function to exit this mode:
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module.exitEraseMode(‘myView’)
Multiple layers
Each draw view may contain one or more layer. By default only one layer is active. However sometimes is
may be useful to create a background and then draw to a front layer without having to rebuild completely
the draw view.
Using multiple layers is very easy. To select a new layer you simply call this function:
module.setDrawingsLayer(‘myView’,’myLayerName’)
It is up to you to choose a name for every layer you plan to use. If you call this function and the layer does
not exist it will be created. Once a layer has been selected all the drawings are executed in it.
Receiving input in the draw view

In order to create interactive draw view it is necessary to allow your script to receive mouse input.
First all you have to define a script message in the interface builder just like you do for standard controls.
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When a user will click and drag the mouse in the view you will receive your script message in the
MesssageEvent script.
In the param dictionary you will have an ACTION keyword describing the action type. It can be:
MOUSEDOWN: The mouse button has been pressed in the view

MOUSEUP: The mouse button has been released
MOUSEDRAGGED: The mouse has been dragged
For each of these messages you will also receive the mouse position in view coordinate as ‘X’ and ‘Y’
01
entries in the param dictionary.
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Sending the drawings to the Modul8 composition
You can send the content of your draw view as a standard image into a Modul8 layer.
You simply have to call this function:
M O D U L ES
module.sendContentToLayer(‘view’,caption,layer)
The caption is a simple string that will be displayed in layer caption of the main Modul8 interface.
This function can be very useful if you want to create dynamic content in the Modul8 composition.
Creating animation
The draw view is able to store one or more frames, which can be sent at any time to the composition. It is
very useful if you want to pre-compute an animation.
110
The first function is:
module.addContentToFrameStack(‘view’)
Basically this function will add the current content of the view to the frame stack. This is an invisible action.
The draw view has an internal frame list that you can manipulate as you wish.
When you want to send a specific frame to a Modul8 layer, you can use this function:
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module.sendFrameToLayer(‘view’,caption,layer,frame)
This function works exactly like the sendContentToLayer function. The only difference is that instead
of sending the content of the view to the layer it sends a frame that has been stored before using the
addContentToFrameStack. You pass the frame number starting at zero for the first frame.
If you want to delete a specific frame you can use:
module.removeFrame(‘view’,frame)
If you need to remove all frames:
module.removeAllFrames(‘view’)
Sharing your modules online
Once you have created a great module you may want to share it with other users in the public online
library. Sharing a module is very easy. First of all you have to fill the module description so the users know
what your module is doing what version, etc.
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To do that, you should use the Module editor and select the info tab:
Verify also that there is no other module with the same name in the online library. If it is the case you should
find a new name. Once you have filled the description, open the online browser and select the “Public
Library”. Then select your module in the “Modules” list and click on the Share button.
You can at any time remove your module from the library by clicking on the “Unshare” button.
If you create a new version of your module you can update it simply by re-using the “Share” function. The
module is replaced online. It is a good idea to change the version of your module when you improve it, so
Modul8 users know that changes have been done to your module.
01
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M O D U L ES
111
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Support, Community and Contacts

The official Modul8 site: ................................... http://www.garagecube.com/modul8
GarageCUBE distributes Modul8: . .................. http://www.garagecube.com
For information: ................................................ info@garagecube.com
S U P P O RT A ND CONTACT
Technical support: ............................................ support@garagecube.com
Public Forum: ................................................... http://www.garagecube.com/forum
Bug Report: ...................................................... http://www.garagecube.com/bug
Fax: .................................................................. +41 22 800 16 18
01
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GarageCUBE
C/o Ultrapepita
3, Rue de la Muse
CH-1205 Geneva
Switzerland
112
MAIN PANEL
VERSION 2. 5
About
Original Concept: Boris Edelstein and Yves Schmid
Engine Programming: Yves Schmid
Python Programming: Boris Edelstein
Graphic Design: Vincent Schambacher and Matthias Grau
User-Interface: Matthias Grau, Boris Edelstein and Vincent Schambacher
Documentation: Yves Schmid, David Hodgetts
Testing: Jerom Doudet, Marco Gavini, Ilan Katin, Henrik Lundbergh,
Anton Marini, Michel Parenti, Daniel Vatsky, Chika Iijima
01
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ABOUT
113
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QuickTime® is a trademark of Apple Computer

OpenGL is a trademark of SGI
FlashTM is a trademark of Macromedia, Inc

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VERSION 2 .

TAB L E OF CONT ENTS

Modul8 - Documentation V. 2.5

Graphic Cards and the video outputs......................................................................25

TAB L E O F CONT ENTS

Modul8 - Documentation V. 2.5

TAB L E O F CONT ENTS

Saving Your Project..............................................................................................51

Midi and keyboard..................................................................................................52

Recording and rendering...................................................................................55

Modul8 - Documentation V. 2.5

TAB L E O F CONT ENTS

Modul8 - Documentation V. 2.5

The draw view......................................................................................................87

TAB L E O F CONT ENTS

Modul8 - Documentation V. 2.5

Support, Community and Contacts...............................................................112

TAB L E O F CONT ENTS

Modul8 - Documentation V. 2.5

Authorizing Modul8 offline

The Modul8 Model

Here is a simplified representation of the Modul8 rendering pipeline:

MEDIAS LAYERS FINAL OUTPUT

Media linked to layers Apply effects and

The Modul8 user interface is divided into four panels:

1 The initial first layer

01 All the attributes of the selected layer are

Simply click and drag your mouse in this zone to move

In this chapter, we saw:

• The minimum requirements to run Modul8

Memory storage:MAIN PANEL

The best codec for Modul8 today is the Photo-JPEG codec.

The Dynamic Media

Group Inv. Mode

Group A/B Mode

Out Mix Mode

In mix mode, the layer

Full screen Mode

Single Monitor System

menu bar of the Mac OS X.

Activating the advanced mode

o activate the advanced mode:

2) Select the Advanced Output Enabled checkbox

The advanced output setup

Managing the clips

Creating and deleting clips

Position and size of the clip in the representation space

Seeing the clips in the preview 28

Managing your setup

Matrox dualHead2Go and TripleHead2go

Schema 01: 5 projectors VGA connected + 1 preview 29

Schema 02: 5 projectors VGA connected + 1 preview

Schema 03: 5 projectors (3 VGA + 4 video) + 1 preview

TV1 TV2 TV3 TV4

Schema 04: 7 projectors VGA connected + 1 preview

The layer stack

MAIN PANEL 1 Turn layer on / off

Working with A/B Layer groups

Simple loop mode: Movie is restarted when the end is reached

Setting movie entry/exit points

• Graduation: This is an additive/subtractive linear brightness.

Luma key / Color key

The possible keys are: