Anyone use VVVV/TD/Unity/UE4/etc simultaneously for projects? If so, why?

How many people use multiple toolkits in their work? I’d love to hear people’s stories about what they use, how they use it, and what advantages they get from a mixed approach.

I used Unity + VVVV once for a VR project, but just for patching and tuning several parameters in realtime. One Machine ran Unity, the other VVVV and communication was done over OSC.

But in the end I code the stuff in c# and build a unity project.
It was just comfortable during development.

While i’m doing all my professional work in unity i still use vvvv from time to time to prototype stuff really quick. I wish i could use vvvv more, but i have to provide pc/mac executables for 99% of my gigs.

1 Like

To me the Core advantage of Unity ( and other software ) is its Asset Management. you can just add .PSD files and edit them while working on a project. Asset Management is the one thing that simply does not exist in VVVV.

My personal dream would be setting up a scene in Unity ( very intuitive Scene editor ), using the export package function and export it for further use in VVVV. The Material editor and animation editor are very powerful.

I really dont mind the patching ( lovvvve it in fact ), its more the issue of having to work with external content and no “easy” way to quickly create a scene / import a scene.

Back to Topic:
Ive done several projects combining ableton live and max Msp and VVVV. The results can be very suprising.

The wonderful part in mixing external software or data sources with VVVV is creating something like a nervous system. It can create very organic experiences, especially when each seperat Software part is created by someone else, reacting to the send/received data. It can give installations the touch of listening to a public conversation. - sometimes very random and pointless - sometimes truely a meaningful experience.

( of course a nightmare for commercial projects? )

Thanks for the amazing responses! Really interesting to hear. Seems like Unity is a popular choice. What kinds of projects are people using it for? I’ve been thinking it might be worth learning either some Unity or some UE4 for 3d stuff, and I’ve heard varying accounts on each for live applications. I’m pretty partial to the native osc and spout support Unity seems to have rather than relying on potentially unstable ue4 plugins, but Unreal probably has the graphical edge.

This looks pretty interesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFHFFfyIAOs

Definitely keen to hear more stories about the tools everyone uses and how they’re used!

Unity also has a huge library of commercial addons and so on, you can pay 10 USD for a car videogame, adapt it and cashout your “custom made interactive racing experience”

UE probably has the most powerfull graphical quality of the renderer. And looks so much easy to have all the shadows, postFX etc to look so shiny.

Also mobile ready… thats big

But when you want to work with multiple screens… sync multiple computers, lighting, electronic, sensors, other systems etc.

Then vvvv has the big advantage.

UE and Unity are GAME engines from/for the videogame industry, and can work for some multimedia/interactive installations stuff.

vvvv and TD are enviroments to work as media servers for multimedia interactive installations, and can work for some videogame stuff

2 Likes

We’ve used vvvv with Unity and UE4 because vvvv is so much better at getting and manipulating sensor data. Then passed the data via UDP to Unity/UE4.

We do most of our apps in 4v, but occasionally switch for 3D asset heavy apps.

This topic was automatically closed 365 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.