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Receive video from another app

Bring NDI video from another application into Spectralite to drive lighting.

Spectralite can take live video from another application and use its pixels to drive your fixtures. The transport is NDI (Network Device Interface), a protocol that sends video over an ordinary network with no capture hardware. Any application that outputs NDI works: media servers, VJ tools, compositing environments, and screen-capture apps all appear to Spectralite the same way.

How it works

The sending application publishes a named NDI stream on the network. Spectralite discovers that stream and samples its pixels inside effects, so a bright region of the video can push a fixture brighter, or a color area can tint a group of lights. Nothing is recorded; the video is read frame by frame as it arrives.

Enable NDI output in your application

Every NDI source shares the same three settings: turn NDI output on, give the stream a descriptive name so you can recognize it later, and pick a resolution. Lower resolutions cut network load, and 720p is usually enough to drive lighting. Where that control lives depends on the application.

Resolume

Resolume Arena 7 or Avenue 4 and later can output NDI. Open Preferences (Cmd+, on Mac, Ctrl+, on Windows), go to the Output tab, find the NDI Output section, and click Add NDI Output. Name the stream and set its resolution there. Resolume's own NDI documentation covers the remaining options.

TouchDesigner

TouchDesigner outputs NDI through an operator, with no minimum version for the feature. Add an NDI Out TOP to your network, connect your visual output into its input, and enable the operator's Active parameter. Set NDI Name so the stream is easy to find. See the NDI Out TOP reference for the full parameter list.

VDMX

VDMX 5.2.8 or later outputs NDI through a separate NDI Output plugin from Vidvox, not a built-in setting. Install the plugin into your VDMX plugins folder and restart VDMX, then enable NDI Output from the Plugins menu. In the plugin, pick the source, set a name and resolution, and turn on Enable. Vidvox publishes an NDI Output plugin tutorial.

Connect and use it in Spectralite

Put both machines on the same network

NDI discovers sources automatically when the sending machine and Spectralite sit on the same subnet. Prefer wired Ethernet. On wireless, use a 5GHz band for the bandwidth, and keep the video and lighting traffic on a dedicated network for larger shows.

Enable NDI input in Spectralite

Go to Edit > Inputs > NDI and switch on NDI input enabled and Auto-discover sources. The NDI input dialog has no source picker. Sources are consumed by the NDI Input node in the Node Editor and by the built-in NDI Input layer effect, and adding either one pulls the first available source automatically.

Drive lighting from the video

For an immediate result, open the Timeline panel, click + Add new layer, and choose the built-in NDI Input effect. The incoming video drives your fixtures at once. For custom behavior, open the Node Editor, create or edit an effect, add an NDI Input node to sample the video, and connect it to other nodes to shape how the pixels map to light.

Performance

Keep the source resolution modest: 720p in place of 1080p noticeably lightens both the network and Spectralite. Drop the sending application's frame rate when real-time response is not critical, disable unused layers, and use the NDI HX codec where the source supports it. On the network side, wired gigabit Ethernet and a shared subnet keep discovery reliable. Inside Spectralite, sample the video at a lower resolution in effect nodes and keep NDI-driven effect graphs simple.

Troubleshooting

Stream not appearing

  1. Confirm both machines are on the same network.
  2. Check firewall settings. NDI uses UDP port 5353 for discovery.
  3. Restart NDI output in the sending application.
  4. Try entering the source IP by hand if automatic discovery fails.

Latency

  1. Switch to wired Ethernet.
  2. Reduce the source resolution.
  3. Lower the source frame rate.
  4. Simplify the effect node graph.

Dropped frames

  1. Reduce video resolution.
  2. Close applications you are not using.
  3. Check for network congestion.
  4. Watch CPU usage on both machines.

Color looks wrong

  1. Verify color space settings match (sRGB or Rec.709) on both ends.
  2. Check gamma and brightness in the source application.

Receiving DMX Input

Let an external console or application drive Spectralite over Art-Net or sACN

Resources

Manage fixtures, effects, mappings, and colors. Share them with other users.

On this page

How it worksEnable NDI output in your applicationResolumeTouchDesignerVDMXConnect and use it in Spectralite1Put both machines on the same network2Enable NDI input in Spectralite3Drive lighting from the videoPerformanceTroubleshootingStream not appearingLatencyDropped framesColor looks wrongRelated