FAQ.txt - vendor/opensource/projectM - Git at Google


 projectM -- Milkdrop-esque visualisation SDK
 Copyright (C)2003-2007 projectM Team

 This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
 modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
 License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
 version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

 This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
 Lesser General Public License for more details.

 You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
 License along with this library; if not, write to the Free Software
 Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307  USA
 See 'LICENSE.txt' included within this release

 ---------------------------------------------------
                 projectM v.0.94.20 FAQ
                 ------------------
     written by Peter Sperl and Carmelo Piccione
 ---------------------------------------------------

 Q1: What is projectM?
 Q2: What? This preset doesn't look like it does on Milkdrop.
 Q3: Where can I get more presets?
 Q4: What are the system requirements?
 Q5: Why is projectM so slow!!!
 Q6: How can I increase the rendering quality to make projectM look better?
 Q7: How can I configure projectM? (where's the config file?)
 Q8: Where are the presets?

 Q1: What is projectM?
 --------------------
 A: projectM makes pretty pictures from music in realtime.
    Specifically it uses iterative image-based rendering techniques which
    are hardware accelerated via OpenGL.  projectM was developed with
    cross-platform support in mind, using SDL and OpenGL. The only port
    right now is Linux/XMMS, but it should be easy to plug-in to other
    music players on other platforms (even windows and Mac OS X).

    projectM aims for compatability with MilkDrop's latest release (1.04b at
    this time), but we have always intended to surpass it.  This program was
    inspired by Ryan Geiss' wonderful program MilkDrop. www.geisswerks.com

 Q2: What? This preset doesn't look like it does on Milkdrop.
 -----------------------------------------------------------
 A: We know. Some of the simple waveforms (1,2,3,4,5)  are not even close to
    correct. They are similiar, but not exactly the same. Also, the solarize,
    brighten, and darken filters aren't done yet either.

    Sometimes things just don't look right because we might, for example, draw
    shapes a tiny bit too big or small. Small errors propagate and become HUGE
    after a few manipulations. But who knows because it takes forever to tweak
    things like this.

 Q3: Where can I get more presets?
 --------------------------------
 A:  www.milkdrop.co.uk is a great place to start.  However, all their
     presets are packaged in self-unzipping .exe's for win32. I
     extracted them with wine and it worked wonderfully.

     Check out the milkdrop forums at www.winamp.com to find new presets
     daily. The URL is below

 	http://forums.winamp.com/forumdisplay.php?forumid=81

 Q4: What are the system requirements?
 ------------------------------------
 A: To run projectM you need a Linux system w/a sound card and a video card
    with OpenGL hardware acceleration. We find that projectM runs MUCH better
    with the 2.6 series kernel and ALSA sound.

    What does that mean? Well...

    projectM has only been tested prior to me writing this on 4 computers.

    All those computers used some form of Redhat (8,9, & Fedora 1),
    although this should make no differance if you run a differant distro.

    Also, all of them used Nvidia (Geforce 3 Ti200, Geforce 4 MX440 & Ti4200)

    WE STRONGLY RECCOMEND THE USE OF ALSA AND THE 2.6 SERIES KERNEL

 Q5: Why is projectM so slow!!!
 -----------------------------
 A: If projectM is slow for you all the time, and not just on a select few
    presets, you can try lowering the rendering quality, and this will speed
    things up A LOT. To do this, lower the texsize and gridsize (gx,gy) in
    /etc/projectM/config

    Texsize controls the size of the rendered image.  If you think your video
    card is too slow or doesn't have enough memory, then change this. A middle
    value for texsize is 512. 1024 is nice looking, and 256 is for VERY slow
    computers.

    If your processor is the bottleneck, then lower gx and gy. gx and gy
    control the size of the interpolated per-pixel mesh. 24/18 is a low-middle
    value. I run at 48/32 some times on my Athlon 64 3200, and I could
    probably go higher, although some presets slow down for me at this VERY
    high setting.

    Certain presets can be processor hogs and slow the framerate down to
    almost 0.  In this situation my best advice is not to use those presets.
    All the presets that come with projectM should be slim enough to run on
    nearly all machines capable of running projectM in the first place.

 Q6:How can I increase the rendering quality to make projectM look better?
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------
 A: Read Q5 and do the opposite!

 Q7: How can I configure projectM? (where's the config file?)
 ------------------------------------------------------------
 A: /etc/projectM/config

 Q8: Where are the presets?
 --------------------------
 A: /usr/share/projectM/presets

	projectM -- Milkdrop-esque visualisation SDK
	Copyright (C)2003-2007 projectM Team

	This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
	modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
	License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
	version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

	This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
	but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
	MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
	Lesser General Public License for more details.

	You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
	License along with this library; if not, write to the Free Software
	Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
	See 'LICENSE.txt' included within this release

	---------------------------------------------------
	projectM v.0.94.20 FAQ
	------------------
	written by Peter Sperl and Carmelo Piccione
	---------------------------------------------------

	Q1: What is projectM?
	Q2: What? This preset doesn't look like it does on Milkdrop.
	Q3: Where can I get more presets?
	Q4: What are the system requirements?
	Q5: Why is projectM so slow!!!
	Q6: How can I increase the rendering quality to make projectM look better?
	Q7: How can I configure projectM? (where's the config file?)
	Q8: Where are the presets?

	Q1: What is projectM?
	--------------------
	A: projectM makes pretty pictures from music in realtime.
	Specifically it uses iterative image-based rendering techniques which
	are hardware accelerated via OpenGL. projectM was developed with
	cross-platform support in mind, using SDL and OpenGL. The only port
	right now is Linux/XMMS, but it should be easy to plug-in to other
	music players on other platforms (even windows and Mac OS X).

	projectM aims for compatability with MilkDrop's latest release (1.04b at
	this time), but we have always intended to surpass it. This program was
	inspired by Ryan Geiss' wonderful program MilkDrop. www.geisswerks.com

	Q2: What? This preset doesn't look like it does on Milkdrop.
	-----------------------------------------------------------
	A: We know. Some of the simple waveforms (1,2,3,4,5) are not even close to
	correct. They are similiar, but not exactly the same. Also, the solarize,
	brighten, and darken filters aren't done yet either.

	Sometimes things just don't look right because we might, for example, draw
	shapes a tiny bit too big or small. Small errors propagate and become HUGE
	after a few manipulations. But who knows because it takes forever to tweak
	things like this.

	Q3: Where can I get more presets?
	--------------------------------
	A: www.milkdrop.co.uk is a great place to start. However, all their
	presets are packaged in self-unzipping .exe's for win32. I
	extracted them with wine and it worked wonderfully.

	Check out the milkdrop forums at www.winamp.com to find new presets
	daily. The URL is below

	http://forums.winamp.com/forumdisplay.php?forumid=81

	Q4: What are the system requirements?
	------------------------------------
	A: To run projectM you need a Linux system w/a sound card and a video card
	with OpenGL hardware acceleration. We find that projectM runs MUCH better
	with the 2.6 series kernel and ALSA sound.

	What does that mean? Well...

	projectM has only been tested prior to me writing this on 4 computers.

	All those computers used some form of Redhat (8,9, & Fedora 1),
	although this should make no differance if you run a differant distro.

	Also, all of them used Nvidia (Geforce 3 Ti200, Geforce 4 MX440 & Ti4200)

	WE STRONGLY RECCOMEND THE USE OF ALSA AND THE 2.6 SERIES KERNEL

	Q5: Why is projectM so slow!!!
	-----------------------------
	A: If projectM is slow for you all the time, and not just on a select few
	presets, you can try lowering the rendering quality, and this will speed
	things up A LOT. To do this, lower the texsize and gridsize (gx,gy) in
	/etc/projectM/config

	Texsize controls the size of the rendered image. If you think your video
	card is too slow or doesn't have enough memory, then change this. A middle
	value for texsize is 512. 1024 is nice looking, and 256 is for VERY slow
	computers.

	If your processor is the bottleneck, then lower gx and gy. gx and gy
	control the size of the interpolated per-pixel mesh. 24/18 is a low-middle
	value. I run at 48/32 some times on my Athlon 64 3200, and I could
	probably go higher, although some presets slow down for me at this VERY
	high setting.

	Certain presets can be processor hogs and slow the framerate down to
	almost 0. In this situation my best advice is not to use those presets.
	All the presets that come with projectM should be slim enough to run on
	nearly all machines capable of running projectM in the first place.

	Q6:How can I increase the rendering quality to make projectM look better?
	-------------------------------------------------------------------------
	A: Read Q5 and do the opposite!

	Q7: How can I configure projectM? (where's the config file?)
	------------------------------------------------------------
	A: /etc/projectM/config

	Q8: Where are the presets?
	--------------------------
	A: /usr/share/projectM/presets