Datamosh 1.0
Datamosh documentation
What Datamosh is, the two plugins it installs into Resolume, and where to find everything in these docs.
Datamosh is a pair of FFGL plugins for Resolume Arena and Avenue that make live video look like a broken video file: one shot melting into the next, motion piling up into blooms, fast movement smearing into trails. It works on any source Resolume can play, including cameras, capture cards and NDI, at any resolution.
Two plugins
Installing Datamosh gives you two plugins that share one licence.
- Datamosh is an effect. It appears in Resolume's Effects list, and you can drop it on a layer, a group or the whole composition. It takes the motion of its own input and uses it to push that input's pixels around.
- Mosh Transplant is a mixer. It does not appear in the Effects list: it appears in a layer's blend-mode dropdown. It takes the motion from one layer and applies it to the pixels of another, so a clip of spinning shapes can drag a completely different picture around.
Both have the same controls, and Mosh Transplant adds one of its own (Motion Source).
How it works, in one paragraph
Real datamoshing breaks a compressed video file so that the decoder keeps moving old pixels along the motion it was told about, instead of refreshing the picture. Resolume plays codecs like HAP and DXV that store every frame whole, so there is no motion data to break. Datamosh works out the motion itself, on the GPU, every frame, and then does what a broken decoder does: it stops refreshing some pixels and keeps moving them. Because the plugin estimates the motion, it works on anything that moves, and it cannot desync or fall apart in the middle of a set.
What it talks to
- Resolume Arena or Avenue 7.3 or later, on macOS or Windows. 7.3 is needed for the collapsible parameter sections, and 7.4 for the licence status to show in the panel.
- letissier.ie, now and then, to start a trial, activate a licence and check in. That happens on a background thread. It never holds up a frame, and being offline never stops a running show.
- Nothing else. There is no separate app and no window: every control is a parameter in Resolume's panel.
Where to go next
- Installing: the installer, the trial and your licence key.
- Getting started: from a fresh install to your first melt in ten minutes.
- Datamosh parameters: every control, what it does, its range and default, with a clip of each one moving.
- Mosh Transplant: the blend-mode version and its extra control.
- Licence field: everything you can type into the Licence field.
- Guides: Look recipes, Playing it live, Audio reactivity and Using Mosh Transplant.
- Troubleshooting and the FAQ when something is not doing what you expect.
- InstallingInstall Datamosh on macOS or Windows, start the free trial or enter your licence key, update to a new version, and uninstall.
- Getting startedFrom a fresh install to your first melt, your first triggered burst and a hands-free transition on every clip change.
- Look recipesThe five Style presets and exactly what each one sets, plus recipes for creeping damage, masking, and getting away from a look that is too clean.
- Playing it liveMap Hold to a key, fire bursts, melt every clip change automatically, sync to the beat, and get out of trouble mid-set.
- Audio reactivityMake the mosh pump with the music using Audio Amount, and use Resolume's own audio linking for everything else.
- Using Mosh TransplantSet up Mosh Transplant as a blend mode to push one clip's pixels around with another clip's motion, and what makes a good motion clip.
- Datamosh parametersEvery control on the Datamosh effect, section by section as Resolume shows them, with its range, default, what it does and a clip of it moving.
- Mosh TransplantThe blend-mode version of Datamosh, which moves one layer's pixels with another layer's motion, and the controls only it has.
- Licence fieldEverything you can type into the Licence field, what each status means, the locked state, offline activation and crash reports.
- FAQShort answers about the trial, licences, offline use, compatibility, and the questions people ask most about Datamosh.
- TroubleshootingWhy nothing is moshing, why a control seems dead, why the plugins do not appear, and what to do about each, in the order worth checking.