Guru Session #6: Using Custom Macros + User Actors (April 3rd, 2020 - 6pm CEST/5PM GMT/12pm EDT/9am PDT)

mark

Dear Community,

In today's session, targeted at more novice levels, we'll introduce you to Isadora's User Actors and Macros. This powerful feature of Isadora allows you to group together several Isadora actors to create a new custom actor of your own design. We'll start by explaining the difference between User Actors and Macros and showing how they can streamline your workflow. Then we'll carefully build a few together, so you can learn how to change and update them multiple instances of the same actor, and - if you like -- how to share your actors with the Isadora community. I'm going to go at a nice slow pace today so you can all follow along and walk away knowing how to take advantage of this fundamental part of Isadora.

6pm CEST (Europe)
5pm GMT (UK)
12pm EDT (East Coast USA)
9am PDT (West Coast USA)

Live Stream URL will be posted here and on social media at 5:50pm CET.

I'm looking forward to starting my weekend with you all :)

Best Wishes,
Mark

mark

@mark

Click this link to watch the Live Stream (for later viewing also)

Files to Download

Isadora File for Guru Session #6

See you all at 6pm CEST/5PM GMT/12pm EDT/9am PDT!

Best Wishes,
Mark

Woland

I had fun making a thing

Guru 6 Shapes Random.izz

jfg

I could not be there today but I looked later and had a question about the "passthrough" user actor. I have been using a similar user actor for a long time and found that the automatic adjustment of inputs and outputs does not work even if I set in and out to "match property".

I think it's normal but I wanted to know what you mean.

best

Jean-François

mark

@jfg said:

the automatic adjustment of inputs and outputs does not work even if I set in and out to "match property".

Well, in the case of a "thru" actor I always set the data type by double clicking the User Input and User Output. What you cannot do is make an input or output on the "outside" of the User Actor mutable -- their data types is always fixed.

If you simply add a User Input and User Output, their default data type will be a float. If you connect the two of them together, their data types are no longer mutable and they both become a float. This means that the input and output of the User Actor will also be a float.

Does that answer your question?

Best Wishes,
Mark

dbini

i have a bunch of little User actors - all set for different types of in/out

jfg

@markyes.

thank you

Jean-François

Lauri

@mark Thank you for a brilliant session! I didn’t have time to join it then. But after seeing it through yesterday, one question emerged into my mind.

Back in the times of Isadora v1.x, I remember reading that using excessively User Actors / Macros with heavy load video processing within them would have slowed down the processing (compared to that that they would be all in the base level – no macros or user actors).

Hopefully I remember totally wrong, but I would like to ask if – with Isadora v3.x – it makes any difference to compose complicated heavy duty patches using “heavy” actors inside “multi-layered” User Actors or Macros?

Thanks in advance!