Reintegrate projectM Visualizer

Gustavo L Conte

I've managed to fix the latency of 5 seconds, it was just because of buffer sizes in the pulseaudio capturing code. Now its instant! whee

Soounds like the ResetGL is important too. by putting it back, several presets started to work better including the Simplest waveform milkdrop test. But the "perspective" is different from what the official projectMSDL renders. At least now it isnt just a flashlight...

Gustavo L Conte

WEll, disabling resetGL makes most of the plugins work exactly like projectMSDL
also performance is decent
I saw on the frontend code that they only use resetGL to INIT and when resizing.

Trying hard here to understand the projection matrix, trying both with orthogonal and gluPerspective

But there are those plugins that brake without resetGL, like the simplest waveform test and some others that turn into a white screen. Anyway even those that work only with resetGL on the render loop, they don't render exactly like they should, and most plugins renders real bad.

jonas

@Gustavo-L-Conte
I suspect this might be a Qt bug, or some issue with using projectm and Qt together, although I'm not experienced with OpenGL at all, and I simply lack time to dig more into it since I already have to much work to do with Strawberry. I also tried QOpenGLWindow like the projectm maintainer suggested, but I'm getting similar results.
https://github.com/orgs/projectM-visualizer/discussions/820#discussioncomment-9911992

Gustavo L Conte

i'm trying now to make ConsumeBuffer work as expected, the pulseaudio Capture code helped me a lot to ddebug the presets because some doest not work with none activity.
I've tested forcing opengl profiles via MEsa envvars, it changes the behaviour of some plugins. But there are a few that really wont work and gives just a white screen. I'm comparing to the real projectMSDL and seveeral are functioning ok, it is certainly a bug in way Qt handles the projection view matrix with QOpenGLWidget etc.. or something related to context too.

export MESA_GLSL_VERSION_OVERRIDE=130; 
export MESA_GL_VERSION_OVERRIDE="4.6";

disable resetGL you will see it works much better, several plugins work equal to the original
if we fix ConsumeBuffer, which is not feeding projectM, and remove resetGL, most plugins will work and music will output the visualization properly. I think this bug or whatever it is someday will come to light and then its just a matter of fixing the implementation. There are many other stuff to care about in the application, I agree. This should not go to master, I believe. Its better to wait ppl from llibprojectM -- Maybe if in v4 they find the way with Qt, then it would solve everything, including these version-ballet between v2 v3 v4 etc

Gustavo L Conte

@jonas here's a present for you

if (projectm_) {
  const int samples_per_channel = static_cast<int>(map.size) / sizeof(int) / 4;
  const float *data = reinterpret_cast<float*>(map.data);
  projectm_->pcm()->addPCMfloat_2ch(data, samples_per_channel);
}

Not rdy yet, but on the face of the goal

progressssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssszzzzzzzzz

If i divide by two only half the waveform are rendered, so I tried dividing by 4
Gonna understand that, in the mean time, if you're still going to work on it, change the ConsumeBuffer rooutine ASAP so things work for better debugging....

Gustavo L Conte

this works too, even better, and makes much more sense

const unsigned int samples_per_channel = static_cast<unsigned int>(map.size / sizeof(size_t) / 2);
const float *data = reinterpret_cast<float*>(map.data);
projectm_->pcm()->addPCMfloat_2ch(data, samples_per_channel);

Gustavo L Conte

if (projectm_) {
    short samples_per_channel = static_cast<short>(map.size / sizeof(size_t) / 2);
    const short *data = reinterpret_cast<short*>(map.data);
    projectm_->pcm()->addPCM16Data(data, samples_per_channel);
  }

I think I finally got it. Output is finnally as expected, interacting with the song. We only have to divide by sizeof size_t, in samples_per_channel!!!! Now its working just like when I use the pulseaudio Capture code. (also I've removed the resetGL on the render loop)

Screenshot from 2024-07-05 16-52-13.png
Zylot - Crosshair Dimension (Light of the Ages)

Now we need to fix the projection / OpenGL extensions or whatever is wrong that brakes rendering of plugins.

Gustavo L Conte

Yes! Put this on drawBackground , just after the Init()
also, remove the resetGL

glShadeModel(GL_SMOOTH);
glClearColor(0, 0, 0, 0);
glViewport(0, 0, width(), height());
glMatrixMode(GL_TEXTURE);
glLoadIdentity();
glMatrixMode(GL_PROJECTION);
glLoadIdentity();
glMatrixMode(GL_MODELVIEW);
glLoadIdentity();
glDrawBuffer(GL_BACK);
glReadBuffer(GL_BACK);
glEnable(GL_BLEND);

glBlendFunc(GL_SRC_ALPHA, GL_ONE_MINUS_SRC_ALPHA);
glEnable(GL_LINE_SMOOTH);
glEnable(GL_POINT_SMOOTH);
glClearColor(0.0F, 0.0F, 0.0F, 0.0F);
glLineStipple(2, 0xAAAA);

also change the ConsumeBuffer as I sent the post before. Tell me what happes; I'm done here.

Gustavo L Conte

hmm made a few tests and the trick seems to be the
glEnable(GL_BLEND)
but a few plugins that did work, stop working,

anyway, huge progress now!

Gustavo L Conte

I just noticed now that the presets that seem not to work with these new conditions, actually fade to black only when selected in the interface, but when they run as a playlist, they DO WORK AS EXPECTED. I've just selected a few presets that work and doesnt work, and realised they worked when played by projectM itself as a playlist. This is very good news! Means all adjustments in ConsumeBuffer and drawBackground are ALMOST done; its just a matter or understanding why when we select via the menu, some presets do not work. NICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gustavo L Conte

projectm_->initRenderToTexture();
 Resize(sceneRect().width(), sceneRect().height(), container_->devicePixelRatio());

dunno if this change anything, but I forgot to mention that: I've put on the end of the Init() function

PS: its also better to put like 15 seconds to test the playlist. THe presets seem to have kinda of a "initlization" mode and trigger the visualization after about five seconds when fed by the ConsumeBuffer

Gustavo L Conte

Considering what I posted before, about the way selectPreset(index) brakes some presets, making it impossible to preview via the interface, I've made this disgusting, ugly hack to enable preview. The problem is that the indexes are incremented in projectM, so I have to pick index-1 making impossible to get index = 0 which would be the first preset of the list LoLLL

void ProjectMVisualization::SetImmediatePreset(const int index) {

#ifdef HAVE_PROJECTM4
  if (projectm_playlist_instance_) {
    projectm_playlist_set_position(projectm_playlist_instance_, index, true);
  }
#else
  if (projectm_) {
    if ( index <= 0 )
      return;
    Lock(false);
    projectm_->changePresetDuration(1);
    projectm_->selectPresetPosition(index-1);
    // Create a QTimer to call Lock(true) after a delay
        QTimer::singleShot(500, this, [this]() {
            Lock(true);
            projectm_->changePresetDuration(duration_);
        });
  }
#endif  // HAVE_PROJECTM4

}

pretty ugly, but its the proof of concept about what I've posted before. It works. Every single plugin works in the preview now, except the first one (yuck)

PS: the idea here is, instead of setting the preset directly, making projectM make a transition as if it was playing as a playlist queue of the main window. This way, it does not brake the preview, since they all work when projectM manages the transition.

Gustavo L Conte

Thats it! If we put those OpenGL commands in drawBackground,
change the static_cast to englobe both ( map.size / sizeof(size_t) ) /2 in ConsumeBuffer
with these changes in settings:

  s.smoothPresetDuration = 0;
  s.presetDuration = duration_;
  s.shuffleEnabled = false;

and my brand new ugly disgusting hack that now makes the preview work for the first element:

void ProjectMVisualization::SetImmediatePreset(const int index) {

#ifdef HAVE_PROJECTM4
  if (projectm_playlist_instance_) {
    projectm_playlist_set_position(projectm_playlist_instance_, index, true);
  }
#else
  if (projectm_) {
    Lock(false);
    projectm_->changePresetDuration(1);
    if ( index <= 0 )
      projectm_->selectPresetPosition(projectm_->getPlaylistSize());
    else
      projectm_->selectPresetPosition(index-1);
    // Create a QTimer to call Lock(true) after a delay
        QTimer::singleShot(500, this, [this]() {
            Lock(true);
            projectm_->changePresetDuration(duration_);
        });
  }
#endif  // HAVE_PROJECTM4

}

I believe we have a working v3 integration with projectM! I executed the program for more than ten hours without segfaults or bugs.

Screenshot from 2024-07-08 09-08-44.png

jonas

@Gustavo-L-Conte said in Reintegrate projectM Visualizer:

if ( index <= 0 )
  projectm_->selectPresetPosition(projectm_->getPlaylistSize());
else
  projectm_->selectPresetPosition(index-1);

This looks wrong, since the index starts with zero, getPlaylistSize will be too high, needs to do - 1. Also, why are you using index-1 when the index is set? Doesn't IndexOfPreset return the correct index?

Gustavo L Conte

@jonas Its because i need to set the PREVIOUS preset, so that it elapses the transition, thats the only way I found not to bug some presets (that bug only on the preview); After fixing stuff, in the preview interface, some presets bug, i dunno why. But when they are playing normally as a playlist. when projectM is managing the transition, without us forcing with SelectPreset, this bug does not occur.

So I managed to do this ugly hack, that sets the previous preset, unlock, lets projectM do the transition, then "quickly" locks again after the timer

Read my previous posts, it was quite a journey. Thats the only thing missing I believe, to work with v3.

v2 is used on ubuntu and has some issues, i posted previously about that too.

The -1 would segfault, so I force the LAST preset to begin the first, when index = 0 is selected.

Gustavo L Conte

now my elegant BEAUTIFUL hack is gorgeous!

we got ConsumeBuffer consuming
we got drawBackground drawing
we got playlist preview selector selecting and previewing
we aint got no segfault, mon!

YES WE HAVE PROJECTM v3 (and v2 maybe) working

void ProjectMVisualization::SetImmediatePreset(const int index) {

#ifdef HAVE_PROJECTM4
  if (projectm_playlist_instance_) {
    projectm_playlist_set_position(projectm_playlist_instance_, index, true);
  }
#else
  if (projectm_) {
    projectm_->selectPreset(index, true);
    projectm_->changePresetDuration(1);
    projectm_->setPresetLock(false);
    projectm_->selectPrevious(index);
  
    QTimer::singleShot(1500, this, [index,this]() {
      projectm_->setPresetLock(true);
      projectm_->changePresetDuration(duration_);
    }); 
     
  }
#endif  // HAVE_PROJECTM4

}

jonas

@Gustavo-L-Conte
short is the same as int16_t, 2 bytes because the consumed buffer is 16 bit, but size_t is 8 bytes, I'd like to understand why that is correct.
Another thing is that channels are hard-coded, so if the buffer has more then 2 channels, it will be wrong so we should pass channels to ConsumeBuffer

Gustavo L Conte

@jonas I really tried to understand that. I did put size_t because I saw somewhere that map.size type was size_t in gStreamer

The channels I tought it wouldnt be an issue, but thinking about it, it is.

###GstMapInfo

A structure containing the result of a map operation such as Memory.map. It contains the data and size.

struct GstMapInfo {
GstMemory* memory;
GstMapFlags flags;
ubyte* data;
size_t size;
size_t maxsize;
void*[4] userData;
void*[4] GstReserved;
}

its not the buffer, its the SIZE of the buffer, thats why its not 16 bit like the buffer itself!
Maybe thats why

Gustavo L Conte

This post is deleted!

Gustavo L Conte

Just found this, maybe useful

https://lwn.net/Articles/750152/

if (projectm_) {
  projectm_->setShuffleEnabled(false);
  projectm_->selectPreset(index, true);
  projectm_->changePresetDuration(1);
  projectm_->setPresetLock(false);
  projectm_->selectPrevious(index);

  QTimer::singleShot(1250, this, [index,this]() {
    projectm_->setPresetLock(true);
    projectm_->changePresetDuration(duration_);
    projectm_->setShuffleEnabled(true);
  });
}

Here's an improved version 0.1b to prevent altering shuffle globally in the settings. But don't forget to set smoothPresetDuration = 0 in the settings, this is required.

B I N G O
MilkDrop was heavily Windows-based, implemented with DirectX, Win32 APIs, and assembler. ProjectM did a good job of replicating the functionality in a cross-platform manner but one DirectX-specific piece remains: the shader code in the preset files. Some presets can contain GPU shader programs as mentioned previously. Because they were written for MilkDrop, they are in HLSL, a shader language for DirectX. Support for HLSL was provided in projectM by NVIDIA's Cg toolkit, but that has long been deprecated and is unsupported. Either manual or automatic conversion (possibly using something along the lines of HLSL2GLSL for Unity) needs to be added along with code to compile and upload the shaders. This would greatly increase performance and capabilities, enable the most advanced presets, and drop the dependency on an out-of-date and unsupported proprietary framework.

I saw on some presets some kind of shader language. The ones that bug!