where is it? (temporary link)

[geiss]

(in case you missed Rova's note: )

The viz mega sdk (VMS) is temporarily hosted, and available, here:

http://www.geisswerks.com/vis_megasdk_v102.zip

It should be up on winamp.com by friday, at this URL:

http://www.winamp.com/nsdn/winamp2x/...gins/vis.jhtml

It's like Justin's viz mini-sdk, but bigger. Basically, it takes all that code that each plugin author has to labor through to write a plugin, and hands it to you, so you can just get to the work of putting polygons on the screen.

From the docs:

Purpose of this package
-----------------------
This package is for DEVELOPERS who want to write their own
visualization plugins.

It aims to provide a codebase that enables all developers
(beginning to advanced) to easily build robust Winamp 2.x
visualization plugins whose graphics are to be generated
though the DirectX 8 API. This codebase will 1) drastically
reduce the time it takes to write your plugin, 2) ensure
that it is robust (if you follow directions), and 3) give
you built-in support for cool features, like (for example)
multiple monitors. (See below for more details.)

Feel free to base any plugins on this "framework"; that's
the point.

Features
--------
-SOUND ANALYSIS: the framework provides your plugin with a
high-quality FFT (fast fourier transform) for doing your
own frequency analysis or drawing spectra. Framework
also provides super-simple loudness levels for 3 bands
(bass, mids, and treble), each damped at 3 different rates.
-SUPERIOR MULTIMON SUPPORT. Your plugin will work on systems
with multiple display adapters, as well as systems with
a multi-head card. For multi-head cards that (annoyingly)
treat all screens as one giant display (ie. 2048x768
or 1024x1536), yours users can use 'fake' fullscreen mode
to run your plugin fullscreen on just one monitor!
-ALLOWS YOU TO RELIABLY SWITCH between fullscreen and windowed
modes while the plugin is running (provided you follow the
directions below) by double-clicking the window or hitting
ALT-ENTER. Also supports safe use of ALT-TAB while
fullscreen.
-HIGH-PRECISION TIMER gives you accurate time and fps readings.
Also filters out pauses, so the animation speed doesn't
spike when it shouldn't.
-provides a SAMPLE CONFIGURATION PANEL for the plugin, featuring
just about all the settings that are (or should be?) common
to every plugin: multimon support, help, choice of fullscreen
display mode (including color depths and refresh rates),
the option to start fullscreen, and full-scene anti-
aliasing options for both windowed & fullscreen modes,
and so on. Also handles the reading/writing of these
settings to/from the .INI file that will store your plugin's
settings. Add new controls to the configuration panel is
easy, as well as using the .INI file to save their values.
-POWER-SAVING FRIENDLY: the plugin will recover gracefully
when the monitor goes into sleep mode and then later
comes back online (*provided you've written your code
correctly; guidelines given below.) (Note that your
computer shouldn't go into standby while Winamp is playing
music, so your plugin never has to worry about recovering
from standby; just from the monitor going to sleep.)
-CPU-FRIENDLY: when the window is minimized, or when you're
in fullscreen mode and ALT-TAB out, the plugin sleeps to
preserve CPU.
-ERROR REPORTING: gives detailed error messages (and
suggestions) on failure.

Required software
-----------------
1. Nullsoft Winamp 2.X (~1 MB)
http://www.winamp.com/
2. Microsoft DirectX 8.0+ - (~11 MB)
http://www.microsoft.com/directx/
3. Microsoft Developer Studio (Visual C++) 6.0
a retail product
4. Microsoft DirectX 8.0+ SDK (Software Development Kit)(~173 MB)
http://www.microsoft.com/directx/
5. MSDN (Microsoft Developer Network) help library
(OPTIONAL) (~1GB)
also a retail product; optional, but highly recommended
to have around. If you can't get the CD's, though, you
can always access the help database online at
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/