NDISyphon is a small utility created by VIDVOX that converts NDI feeds to Syphon feeds (and vice versa). Very useful when working with both NDI and Qlab (which doesn’t inherently support NDI)
COST: Free
NDI Syphon
NDI Tools
NDI Tools are a suite of tools made by Newtek for sharing video and audio across networks using the NDI protocol. While it is usually geared towards running on local networks as of version 5 it is possible to share video sources across the internet using NDI Bridge. NDI has direct compatibility with most modern video programs and has plugins for the Adobe Creative Cloud.
While NDI can be fairly CPU heavy to encode and decode, it can open up a whole host of possibilities for sharing video across various machines. There are apps available to share smartphone cameras and screens as NDI sources and the tools package contains the NDI webcam utility which creates a virtual webcam (for zoom, etc) using any NDI feed on the network.
The full set of tools is Windows only but the MacOS tools still offer a lot of functionality.
COST:
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NDI Tools are free
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Some apps are paid
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Specific hardware is also available
OBS
The Open Broadcast Software Project or OBS is a free and open-source software that is used for video recording and live streaming. Since it is open source, there are a lot of available plugins to extend functionality and there is a very active modding community. Originally only available via a plugin, OBS now has integrated Virtual Camera functionality. This allows you to take your OBS composition and turn it into a camera feed that can be used anywhere where a regular camera input would be taken (Zoom etc). This function opens up a wide range of streaming and remote working possibilities without requiring expensive software or hardware. OBS has a highly customizable interface but because of this can seem a little intimidating to new users.
Chroma keying can be done directly in OBS and can be pretty clean when paired with quality lighting. The combination of OBS, chroma-keying, and vdo.ninja can be quite powerful for long-distance collaboration where the desired outcome is for multiple feeds to exist in the same virtual space.
OBS has plugins that add functionality for NDI and Spout
COST: Free
Projects that used OBS:
Packet Sender
Packet Sender is an open-source utility available on MacOS and Windows that allows for sending of TCP and UDP packets. Extremely useful when troubleshooting network commands (such as shutter commands to a projector or cues to a microprocessor.
COST: Free
Snap Camera
Snap Camera is an application which allows users to add Snapchat lenses to any incoming video feed and then output as a webcam. Snap Camera is a quick and easy way to add Augmented Reality filters or effects to a video feed and there is a huge library of user created lenses to choose from. If a custom filter is needed, it can be created in the companion application Lens Studio. Snap Camera allows hotkeys to turn filters on and off but there is usually a small amount of lag so if you want to be able to “cue” filters a more custom solution is probably needed.
COST: Free
Syphon Virtual Webcam
Created by TroikaTronix/Isadora, Syphon Virtual Webcam is a small utility that converts syphon feeds into a virtual webcam. Useful when using a program that doesn’t inherently support virtual cameras/NDI or when NDI might be too heavy for the system.
COST: Free
