3DFX
SenSei’s 3DFX section contains a collection of plug-ins that manipulate video in 3D space. These plug-ins fall into two categories: Vertex Shaper Stacks and other 3D effects.
These plug-ins require a video source plug-in on the same track. This can be an EboSuite source plug-in such as eArrangement, eSession, eISF, eVideoIn, eSampler, or eSimpler (which generate or play back video directly from Live), or an s_Video Route plug-in (to stream video from another application into SenSei).
Vertex Shaper Stacks
The Vertex Shaper Stack plug-ins allow you to distort a video plane in 3D using vertex effects, which manipulate the vertices (the points that define the plane’s shape).
Each Vertex Shaper Stack plug-in contains four unique 3DFX effects. The additional Master, Slicer, Displacement Texture, Opacity, Origin/Transform, and Camera sections are consistent across all plug-ins.
Use the Slicer section to cut up the shape into separate parts.
The Displacement Texture allows you to control FX parameters based on the texture’s pixel luminance. Use the settings in the Displacement Texture section to adjust the image and fine-tune how it influences the effect parameters. Assign the displacement texture to a parameter by increasing the cyan number.
NOTE: Most SenSei plug-ins can have video applied to them, allowing them to function as 3DFX as well. For example, the Video Storm plug-in is an excellent 3D video effect.
Vertex Shaper Stack 01
Vertex Shaper Stack 01 consists of the Floral, SpiderWeb, Bend and Drop 3DFX.
Vertex Shaper Stack 02
Vertex Shaper Stack 01 consists of the Tessellator, CurlyShell, Bowtie and Radial Wave 3DFX.
Vertex Shaper Stack 03
Vertex Shaper Stack 01 consists of the JellyRoll, Hoover. Messuppalizer and Extrude 3DFX.
Vertex Shaper Stack 04
Vertex Shaper Stack 01 consists of the Worrell, Wavey, SlinkyCone, VSynthazisor 1 3DFX.
Vertex Shaper Stack 05
Vertex Shaper Stack 01 consists of the Spiral, Rose, Weave 1, Star Breaker 3DFX.
Vertex Shaper Stack 06
Vertex Shaper Stack 01 consists of the Twist, Weave 2, Pointy, Flag 3DFX.
Video Storm 01
The Video Storm 01 plug-in breaks a video plane into particles, which can then be manipulated using various forces.
Plug-ins can be Default Lit or Unlit, which represent two fundamental approaches to shading. Default Lit objects fully interact with scene lighting, shadows, reflections, and post-processing effects. Unlit objects, on the other hand, ignore all scene lighting and shading. Default Lit objects are more demanding on the GPU, so Video Storm 01 is set to Unlit by default, you can switch it to Default Lit if desired.
Video Storm 02
Video Storm 02 distributes video across a grid of particles. Unlike Video Storm 01, where each particle represents a single pixel and therefore requires many particles to achieve high resolution, Video Storm 02 maps the entire video texture across the available particles. This means high-resolution visuals are possible even with a relatively small number of particles, as long as the particles themselves are large enough.
The particles can be manipulated using various force parameters, and their shape can be changed using the Object dropdown menu.
Video Waterfall
The Video Waterfall plug-in breaks a video plane into particles that fall or fly away under the influence of a velocity force. The particle lifetime determines which video pixel is displayed along the Y-axis, while the X-axis remains mapped directly to the video’s horizontal pixel position.
Use the Noise parameters to make the particles move in a chaotic, turbulent manner. Enable Collision to allow the particles to interact with and collide against collision-enabled objects.