Hi everybody,

I have been experimenting with real-time motion graphics. And at the moment I am trying to build a very basic VJ application in Processing. I have read in this forum that it is nearly impossible to get real-time Beat Detection right in Processing.

I just did some research and I found that it is possible to export keyframe data from After Effects. I created this square in AE, and then I made it move/shake for 5 seconds. Then I copied the data into a text file.

I was wondering how I can use this data in Processing.

Here is what the data in the text file basically looks like:

Adobe After Effects 8.0 Keyframe Data

     Units Per Second      29.97
     Source Width      1
     Source Height      1
     Source Pixel Aspect Ratio      1
     Comp Pixel Aspect Ratio      1

Transform      Position
     Frame      X pixels      Y pixels      Z pixels      
     0      356.006      270.637      0      
     1      357.534      269.087      0      
     2      358.118      264.868      0      
     3      363.94      263.778      0      
     4      364.682      263.464      0      
     5      353.781      268.166      0      
     6      361.781      273.339      0      
     7      354.7      264.606      0      
     8      358.354      263.514      0      
     9      359.743      264.946      0      
     10      358.644      272.881      0      
     11      359.628      267.893      0      

If somebody could help me understand how to use this data in processing to make a simple object move, it would be great.

Thanks,
Sumit

@Cedric,

Thanks for replying back. That makes perfect sense to me. I'll try it out and let you know how it goes.

@V

I'm excited about this as well! Had my eureka moment last night, although I'm sure other people must've been using this technique. I have been using After Effects for 8 months now, and there's a plugin called Trapcode Soundkeys (not included with AE), which lets you analyze the music. There are ways to do this using the in-built AE plugins too ... but its not as accurate at times.

1. This Soundkey plugin lets you set up a a spectrum for the music in your composition (the AE stage) ... takes about 5 seconds.

2. Lets say you want to produce an animation which is reactive to the drum sound in your music file. Now, all you have to do is graphically select the region of the sound spectrum where the drum beats are formed (usually the left side).

3. Everytime there is activity on the left side of the spectrum, it records keyframes, which are nothing but numbers (and hence exportable to text files). These keyframes are then used to affect the motion, rotation, alpha ... infact any property of any object that is created!

I did a motion graphics piece a few months back using this technique and the in-built AE plugins. Google "Electronic Music is here to stay" ... a vimeo video will show up as the first result.

Pretty accurate. Compared to the beat reactive thing I've been trying with processing. The videos are all on my Vimeo page.