By Aaron Lee
Kosada’s Vuo is designed as an alternative to Apple’s Quartz Composer (a node-based visual programming language provided as part of the Xcode development environment in macOS for processing and rendering graphical data). Aimed at media producers, VJs, interactive artists, and media-making non-programmers, it enables users to interactively create and mix audio, video, and 2D + 3D effects.
Vuo is the Finnish word for flow, and that’s what Vuo is about. It’sdesigned for media production of heavy-duty graphics effects, professional stage production, multimedia installations, audio integration, and interactive data displays, while still being simple enough for casual experimentation. As mentioned, it’s an alternative to Apple’s Quartz Composer, a popular visual programming tool used in settings from live performances to studio post-production.
Designed for efficiency, Vuo implements CPU and GPU optimizations through automatic multi-threading and OpenGL graphics support, both features Quartz Composer lacks. The tool is built using cross-platform frameworks to simplify future plans for Windows and Linux versions, and apps that run under iOS and Android.
Vuo supports several popular media hardware protocols, such as Open Sound Control (OSC) and Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) and Art-Net for lighting and stage controls. In addition to media integration, users can experiment with other aspects of multimedia, such as stereoscopic vision and with Leap Motion and Kinect motion-capture devices.
Vuo requires macOS 10.8 or higher. It’s available in standard ($49) and pro ($149). The latter’s feature include: antialiasing and motion blur when exporting movies; Art-Net; 3D stereoscopic rendering; a fisheye camera; projection warping (PBMesh); advanced image processing: liquid image resizing, sharpness measurement; advanced 3D object processing: boolean operations, hierarchy flattening; and a dark mode. There’s a 20% discount for college/university students, and for staff and faculty at all grade levels.
Apple World Today Rating (out of 5 stars): ★★★★
