Dynamically Instantiating a Subpatch
Is it possible to dynamically instantiate a subpatch in Max 5? I need to create numerous instances of a subpatch on the fly using the 'thispatcher' object or some other method. The only way I can think of doing this is creating an external that can be instantiated through scripting commands sent to 'thispatcher'. Any thoughts?
If you'd be a bit more specific on to how/what this subpatch is or is going to do i could probably answer your question a bit more specific but for now i think "poly~" will do. As this will, like your request, instantiate multiple instances of the same patch. If thats all you want using poly compared to thispatcher is a hassle and creating your own external even more so.
HTH
FRid
Sorry...
it's the other way around "using thispatcher is a hassle compared to poly"
First off thanks for your prompt response, I'm pretty new to these forums. I'm looking at poly` but I don't know if it's quite exactly what I'm looking for.
My aim right now is to create a series of overlapping video matrices that can be instantiated/resized on the fly so it resembles a tunnel in perspective (and each matrix would be a different video). It would look like you're reversing out of the tunnel; the newest instance of the video matrix would be the largest one and the oldest instance would be the smallest one.
I've worked up a subpatch that can calculate the correct perspectival dimensions and output it as dstdimend and dstdimstart values for a jitter matrix. But in order to maintain the tunnel-like illusion, I need to be able to give different dimensions to each matrix.
Also, is there any jit object that can display multiple overlapping videos? I've been using jit.Lumakey but I don't know if that's appropriate to what I'm trying to do.
My patch right now is giant mess, but here it is if you'd like to take a look.
Thanks again.
Your patch doesn't work, something about a missing connection but i think i got the idea. How much layers of "depth" are you going to use? Plus what's also important is the number of videofiles you'll be using, i assume the jit.dx.grab was merely to present the idea?
I'm starving right now so i'm going to do some cooking but i'll get back to you soon and see if i can help further.
Good luck,
FRid
I was going to determine that after testing--but I'm thinking about 10-15 layers of depth with about 10-15 different video files.
I think this is somewhat the desired effect? So what's left now is loading in the movies, blend them so they'll display all at once. I am using jit.alphablend for this but i'm a little stuck setting up a proper matrix for the alpha-channel. (also check out jit.op)
Now regarding poly, in the examples-folder is a patch using poly~ to load in three different movies, however it will only display one of them at once (only one output). I think you can get around that by naming each jit.matrix inside the poly differently and send each matrix individually to the parent-patch by having a matrix with the same name in the parent patch.
FRid
Yup, this is exactly the kind of effect I'm looking for. I'm doing some experimenting with the js object to see if I can get the jit.qt.movie, jit.lumakeys instantiated and sorted dynamically. The idea is to have a new layer triggered by a user's motion and possibly have the user control the distance between the layers.