A call for source code

[J_Darnley]

Hello everyone. I've been working on rewriting AVS into a plain C library. I would like to start out by thanking the old Nullsoft for releasing it under the 3-clause BSD license. I've come quite a way through the code base, removing the C++ classes as I go. I'm nearing the end of the built-in components with about a dozen to go. There are still a few major structure features missing (like effect lists and an actual Winamp plugin).

Now onto what I want.

I'm looking for source to APEs, the plugins for the AVS plugin. I'm particularly interested in the ones that come bundled with Winamp: Texer, Texer II, Convolution, Colour Map, and Multi Filter. If you are the author of one of these and read this: please get in touch. I would greatly appreciate a reply from you, even if it is a flat out no. I will also try to find some current contact information for the authors and see if I can speak to them directly.

Finally, I guess I should add a link to my code. I didn't want this to be seen as advertising though. If you want to look: https://gitorious.org/jdarnley/advan...ization-studio

[Victhor]

This could be huge (if achieved in time for next Winamp release )

[DrO]

it couldn't be included with 6.x due to being GPLv3. it shouldn't stop people using it, but it's a no-no for official inclusion if things were to progress to that stage.

between now this, justin's newer version, the build i tried to patch and other varients, AVS is somewhat off a mess with what can and cannot be used.

as we're not going to natively ship it in the 6.x distro since it only truly works on XP and we don't have the time / resources to try to bring it to a point of removing the DirectDraw requirement and getting it to work correctly on modern OSes). we'll instead just provide a standalone installer for what was in the main installer for those wanting to get it still.

anyway good luck on trying to get source code for them, we tried a few years back with no luck or being told that the source code had long since been lost.

[Victhor]

This can't be huge

[DrO]

just being practical as i could see what your comment was hinting at. so sorry to bring you down to the land of realism, but AVS as-is i.e. what counts as the official version is a pain to deal with, has been in its death-throws for a while when it comes to 'official' support. hence why it'll be spun-off as a legacy download (which i've been pushing for to happen for a few years).

if something modern and which still supports all of the old presets correctly without the legacy issues could be created (officially or via a 3rd party) then that'd be good for those still wanting to use AVS on modern OSes. but sadly none of the projects i've seen so far either are license-permissive (as we cannot use GPL code) or have been started and then just stop without anything off use that can be back-ported to help with the official version or they don't resolve the fundamental issues (which is stability and fullscreen not working).


J_Darnley: if we (well mainly me) can help with any Winamp related questions then do ask and will try to answer as best as possible.

[Victhor]

I know, I'm all enthusiasm and not much realism hehe.

I know most projects end up like you say in the last paragraph, so that's what I was trying to avoid, sometimes encourage is all it takes to at least have something done to the end.. (it isn´t like my comment will spark and help the project all the way ´till it's finished, but..)

[J_Darnley]

It's good to see that there is a little interest. I'm sure that I will have questions later when I actually try a Winamp plugin, thanks DrO.

[Warrior of the Light]

whose contact information do you need?

[Yathosho]

While I doubt that UnConeD still has the sources for his APEs, the best way to get in touch is probably his Twitter account

[Yathosho]

Have you had a look at Webvs? Azeem has reverse engineered some of the effects afaik. Getting your heads together could be of benefit for both projects.

[J_Darnley]

I wanted to post an update after coming back to work on this.

I've rendered a short video for anyone who wants to see somthing. You can get through this magnet link magnet:?xt=urn:btih:a122b516cdf80be9...monii.com:1337

I really need to get effect lists working.

whose contact information do you need?

I've located the author of Texer II, Color Map (and others), Steven Wittens, here: http://acko.net/blog/avs/. I'll be sending him an email shortly.

I'm still looking for:
Tom Holden, the author of "Trans / Convolution filter"
Contact info for jheriko, author of "Trans / Multi Filter". I see a deviant art URL in the filter so I might see if I can resurrect my ~10yr old account there.
Anything about the author of "Trans / Texer" like a name, a nick, something.

While I doubt that UnConeD still has the sources for his APEs, the best way to get in touch is probably his Twitter account

Ugh, maybe, eventually. I might ask someone with an account to send him some sort of PM.

Have you had a look at Webvs? Azeem has reverse engineered some of the effects afaik. Getting your heads together could be of benefit for both projects.

I have seen it and have been thoroughly put off by the javascript. It has more black magic than the C++ I've been decoding to write this. I also found AVS file decoder which, despite also being javascript, was actually extremely helpful at showing me how to parse the files.

[Warrior of the Light]

pm sent

[J_Darnley]

Okay. I now have a question.

In an Effect List there is an input/output blend option list, in these lists there is a Buffer entry which lets the user select one of the eight global buffers. My question is: does the selected buffer act as an alpha "channel" for the purposes of blending the input and output buffers together?

I think it does because I have seen this adjustable blend mode being used as an alpha blend in Dynamic Shift but the depthof() function threw me because it comes from Unique Tone.

If you're going to look at the source code, let me point you to the lines: r_list.cpp, lines 676 and 856.

[Yathosho]

The most important question for me: do you design this with Winamp-independency in mind? Or, even better, cross-plattform? I don't think that many people still use Winamp anymore, maybe a small dedicated core.

[J_Darnley]

The most important question for me: do you design this with Winamp-independency in mind? Or, even better, cross-plattform? I don't think that many people still use Winamp anymore, maybe a small dedicated core.

I do indeed design the core library to be independent from both Winamp and Windows. I have not yet tested on anything but 32-bit Cygwin (read this as Windows if you don't know what it is).

I have a very basic filter for FFmpeg's libavfilter library. I am using that to test the code by rendering simple AVS presets (that I save in vis_avs) to test each component as I create it. Doing that I can check that it doesn't horribly crash and that the output looks similar to what vis_avs is showing.

Nobody can use this code with Winamp yet as I haven't written a plugin for it. That is my ultimate goal though.

If you would like to try compiling, or writing a plugin for something else (VLC was mentioned in another thread), please feel free. I will answer any questions and address any issues you have.

P.S. I would like to bitch about the complexity of Dynamic Movement. This one is not very easy to make a half-way intelligent port. Then again, maybe I am just over thinking it.