what if I made a little visual programming language for my synthesizer 🤔
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I'm thinking something like this for the visual language frontend. The nodes are grid aligned with space between for connections to run. Placing a new node in that space would insert a new row or column into the grid. Wire paths will probably be automatic, and the whole thing would ideally have a deterministic textual representation to make revision control easier.
Also important: graph cycles are allowed. If there's a feedback loop, the value is pulled from the previous frame's computation or is zero if there is no previous frame.
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Also important: graph cycles are allowed. If there's a feedback loop, the value is pulled from the previous frame's computation or is zero if there is no previous frame.
Commutative instructions get to be variadic. I'm not sure what to do about non-commutative instructions syntaxwise. I'll probably have it make you select which parameter your connecting when you draw a connection, and then display information about the connection when you touch wires, and draw the name along the wire where possible. Color coding and ordering where the inputs connect also would make sense to supplement that.
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Commutative instructions get to be variadic. I'm not sure what to do about non-commutative instructions syntaxwise. I'll probably have it make you select which parameter your connecting when you draw a connection, and then display information about the connection when you touch wires, and draw the name along the wire where possible. Color coding and ordering where the inputs connect also would make sense to supplement that.
I'm really tempted to just not have division or subtraction, and provide rcp and sign flip as instructions instead. Likewise who needs clamp when you've got min(max(v, low_bound), high_bound), right? I think I'd want lerp and some other functions that don't really fit this syntax well though so idk I'll have to think about that.
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I'm really tempted to just not have division or subtraction, and provide rcp and sign flip as instructions instead. Likewise who needs clamp when you've got min(max(v, low_bound), high_bound), right? I think I'd want lerp and some other functions that don't really fit this syntax well though so idk I'll have to think about that.
One of the fun things about designing a visual programming language is "how can I put less work making this" and "what if it wasn't super annoying" can coincide on the same solutions! Like what if instead of trying to drag and drop a noodle between two nodes on opposite sides of the world, what if you just select both and enter noodle mode that temporarily puts them side by side so you can draw the connections you want.
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One of the fun things about designing a visual programming language is "how can I put less work making this" and "what if it wasn't super annoying" can coincide on the same solutions! Like what if instead of trying to drag and drop a noodle between two nodes on opposite sides of the world, what if you just select both and enter noodle mode that temporarily puts them side by side so you can draw the connections you want.
also graph travel mode. zoom in on one thing and just see what's connected to it and travel to neighbors
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also graph travel mode. zoom in on one thing and just see what's connected to it and travel to neighbors
i have no share holders! no KPIs! no customers! the ux only has to be awesome for meeeee! bweeehehehe!
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i have no share holders! no KPIs! no customers! the ux only has to be awesome for meeeee! bweeehehehe!
playing around with the rules for automatic wire placement tonight and i got a marvelous idea. normally i'd want to avoid parallel runs of wires when it improves readability to do so, but the exception to this rule is if the destination is the same then its better to consolidate. here's a mock up
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playing around with the rules for automatic wire placement tonight and i got a marvelous idea. normally i'd want to avoid parallel runs of wires when it improves readability to do so, but the exception to this rule is if the destination is the same then its better to consolidate. here's a mock up
my current wire placement rule set is this:
1. groups of wires that all connect to the same parameter on one node are evaluated to see if a wire wrap path makes sense. if so, these are placed first, and the cost of the path is raised arbitrarily high for other wires.
2. wires that travel the farthest go second and search for the shortest path with the fewest bends
3. wires that have the shortest path go last, avoid parallel runs, but favor perpendicular crossings
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my current wire placement rule set is this:
1. groups of wires that all connect to the same parameter on one node are evaluated to see if a wire wrap path makes sense. if so, these are placed first, and the cost of the path is raised arbitrarily high for other wires.
2. wires that travel the farthest go second and search for the shortest path with the fewest bends
3. wires that have the shortest path go last, avoid parallel runs, but favor perpendicular crossings
ideally things will be color coded by destination and wires will have different colors and textures to make it easier to tell them apart, as well as UV animation. Also highlighting / isolating connections when you select things.
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ideally things will be color coded by destination and wires will have different colors and textures to make it easier to tell them apart, as well as UV animation. Also highlighting / isolating connections when you select things.
another thing I want is a mode for isolating parts of the patch. stuff like selecting a node and having it highlight it's connections is common place, but I'd also like to have a mode for isolating the entire expression tree that roots on that node. dunno if anything does that.
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another thing I want is a mode for isolating parts of the patch. stuff like selecting a node and having it highlight it's connections is common place, but I'd also like to have a mode for isolating the entire expression tree that roots on that node. dunno if anything does that.
I figure the eagle eye view of a patch can be a little obtuse if I have reasonable tools for examining, navigating, and organizing what I have.
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I figure the eagle eye view of a patch can be a little obtuse if I have reasonable tools for examining, navigating, and organizing what I have.
also I am delighted that people keep thinking of examples of games instead of other visual programming languages in response to this thread. it's one of the ways I know I'm on the golden path.
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also I am delighted that people keep thinking of examples of games instead of other visual programming languages in response to this thread. it's one of the ways I know I'm on the golden path.
I put it to the test by translating my test patch from my python fronted to a hypothetical equivalent node based representation without regard for wire placement and then stepped through my wire placement rules by hand. I'm very pleased with the results, it's a lot clearer to me what it does than the python version is at a glance.
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I put it to the test by translating my test patch from my python fronted to a hypothetical equivalent node based representation without regard for wire placement and then stepped through my wire placement rules by hand. I'm very pleased with the results, it's a lot clearer to me what it does than the python version is at a glance.
I want this to be real so bad XD
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I want this to be real so bad XD
Test grid background and placeholder tiles. I wasn't quite aiming for windows 9x buttons but it sorta veered that way. dunno if I'll keep them
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Test grid background and placeholder tiles. I wasn't quite aiming for windows 9x buttons but it sorta veered that way. dunno if I'll keep them
now, this may seem like I'm just fussing around on trivial details, but i assure you this is all going according to plan
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