The OSCQuery protocol makes it easy for software that supports OSC to access each others parameters for remote control, without a lengthy setup process. Within VDMX there are a few ways to take advantage of this and in this tutorial we will focus on using the OSCQuery Client plugin which can be used to browse the address space of a server and add UI controls that are automatically configured to send to it.
Basic Usage of OSCQuery Client in VDMX
In some ways the OSCQuery Client is similar to the Control Surface plugin, with the important difference that the UI controls being viewed and manipulated are representations of parameters in the remote software. For convenience, like the Control Surface plugin, the values associated with these parameters are also published locally as data-sources within VDMX.
Step 1: From the inspector for the OSCQuery Client plugin can select a remote server to connect to and which elements you’d like to remotely control.
Step 2: Use the UI elements in the main plugin interface to remotely control the parameters of the remote system.
Step 3: Parameters are also available as local data-sources to control sliders, buttons and other UI elements.
You can use the OSCQuery Client alongside a variety of different software, including other copies of VDMX. In this video demonstration, a Control Surface plugin is used on Computer 1 to publish parameters which automatically appear in the listing on Computer 2. Once these UI elements are added to the OSCQuery Client plugin on Computer 2, any changes made on either system are automatically kept in sync. If needed additional computers can be made to work in sync by connecting to VDMX on Computer 1. More information on using the Control Surface plugin to publish parameters from VDMX can be found in the Control Surface documentation and the OSCQuery Introduction Tutorial.
Though not supported by all software, when possible the OSCQuery Client and Control Surface plugins will establish a bi-directional connection and update the listing and values of UI elements in response to web socket notifications and OSC messages.
Using OSCQuery Client to Control Visuals
In the second part of this tutorial we'll look at an example that demonstrates using the OSCQuery Client to remotely control visuals in another copy of VDMX running on another computer.
From the OSCQuery Client inspector, the parameters of each of the four Control Surface plugins on the second computer can be browsed and added. From the 'My Controls' tab the local ordering of the parameters can be adjusted.
As a final detail, an NDI® Output plugin is added to the computer generating the visuals and streamed back to the control machine for preview. This step can be repeated to send each individual layer as its own stream, within the bandwidth limits of your network.
Tips and Notes:
The OSCQuery Browser window can be used to quickly view the address space and access the parameters of remote servers, and more.
Multiple OSCQuery Client plugins can be used to remotely control different servers at the same time.
The free OSCQuery Helper and MIDI OSCQuery Helper can be used to publish address spaces for most OSC and MIDI enabled software.