In HeavyM, in addition to the built-in library of visual effects, you can play your own external content. These medias are displayed in shapes called players.
Media players have been completely revamped in HeavyM 2 to come back better, faster, stronger! There's now a whole new management with a source bin and the possibility to create playlists.
As of HeavyM 2.12, players can support these types: Photos, Videos, GIFs, Webcam streams, Syphon/Spout streams, NDI streams, DeckLink input, Generative Shaders, Text.
Check out the video tutorial below, or follow the written instructions after it.
Inserting medias in your project
What are "Sources" and "Medias"?
In HeavyM 2, your medias are stored in the Source Bin and you can then choose where to display them, they are not contained in a specific shape. In addition, the bin is common to all sequences throughout your project.
The process works like this:
- You store your Medias in Sources, of which there are two types: Solo Sources (1 media) and Playlist Sources (multiple medias that can be played successively).
- You then connect these Sources to all the players you want. All players associated with the same source will be in sync as they are displaying content from the same place.
Adding content to the Source Bin
The Source Bin is located on the right of the interface. To add some content inside, you can simply drag and drop videos, photos, GIFs in it, or use the menu at the top of the panel to select a type.
If you choose one of the first types in this menu, the single medias you add will be stored in Solo Sources. If you choose "Playlist", this will create en empty Playlist Source, where you'll be able to add all types of medias in the same source.
Displaying sources in players
Connecting sources to players
Once you've added your sources in the bin, you can then choose the player(s) in which to display them. This means that you can play the same source in different player areas at the same time and control it from one place only!
To display a source in a player, select the player and you'll see a target button appear on the thumbnails in the bin, whether they are Solo or Playlist sources. Just click on the source you wish to connect, and it's done!
Note: for videos, GIFs and images, you can also directly drag & drop the files in the canvas. If you drop one file, it'll create a player and a Solo source linked to it. If you drop multiple files, it'll create a player and associate it with a Playlist with all the medias in it!
Choosing a display mode
By default, sources are displayed in the whole rectangle area of a player. But you might want to show them in another polygonal shape, or even a whole drawing in multiple parts. Well you can do so by using faces as masking areas.
Indeed, players have two display modes :
Unclipped (display in full) : the content is displayed in the whole area of the player. It is the default option.
Clipped (display in group faces) : the content is clipped by the faces of the group that the player belongs to. It means that it is displayed only in the parts of the player area that are over/under a face from the same group.
You can switch modes for each player, either from the corresponding icon in the Layers panel, or by using the dropdown in the Properties of a specific player.
Arranging players in the layer panel
The position of a player in the layer list is important, especially if you intend to combine it with group effects. As mentioned previously, the group in which a player is placed already has an impact if you use the "Clipped" display mode.
But even within a group, the order can be important, as the content of the player, no matter which display mode is used, will always be displayed in front of group effects from faces below it in the layer tree, and behind faces above it.
Note: generally speaking, the order of shapes in the layer tree impacts on the rendering in a similar way: a shape is displayed in front of the ones below it in the pile, and behind the ones above it.