Output and performance

How do I get video out to a projector?

Performance → Fullscreen output, then pick the display. The entry reads DISPLAY NAME · WIDTH × HEIGHT.

If it instead reads · current composition, that display's native mode either could not be verified or has a dimension above 4096 - the composition then keeps its own size and is scaled onto the display.

For setup without a second screen, Performance → Open windowed output gives you the same picture in a resizable window. See Output and fullscreen.

Can I still use the console while the output is fullscreen?

Yes - the console stays available, and global presentation options are deliberately left alone so operator controls are not suppressed.

But be realistic on a single-display Mac: the fullscreen window is borderless, covers the entire screen including menu and Dock, sits above both, and can take key status. The console is not hidden, but it is covered. Plan your show around that.

Escape closes the output.

Escape isn't working, what now?

Use whichever controller you have: the output window's close button in windowed mode, Performance → Close output, or the Close output button in the Output monitor header.

Blackout isn't hiding everything - the editor preview is still lit

That is by design. Blackout cuts only the output mailbox - its mechanism is twofold (master opacity forced to zero and the mailbox reporting no valid image), and it also silences file audio. The composition preview inside the editors stays live so you can keep working while the room is dark.

Why is my output black after enabling surfaces?

An enabled surface setup with zero surfaces outputs black. Add a surface.

If geometry is the problem instead, the committed setup is preserved and the error appears next to the controls - invalid geometry never mutates your working output. Runtime failures produce a black canvas plus a named issue string in the Surfaces view rather than a crash.

Can I project onto an angled or irregular surface?

Yes, within limits: rectangular input crop plus convex four-corner perspective, up to 16 surfaces, each with its own flips and opacity.

What the app deliberately does not offer: mesh warping, masks, soft-edge blending, per-surface colour controls, and multiple simultaneous physical outputs. See Limitations.

Independent Preview audition is unwarped. A qualifying sole-live Preview can mirror mapped program output, including master processing and blackout. See Preview behavior.

Where do output settings get saved?

In three places, which is worth knowing before you wonder why one change did not stick:

1. Inside each .uvj set.
2. ~/Library/Application Support/ULTIMATEVJ/OutputMapping.json, rewritten on every change.
3. Portable .uvjoutput presets you save explicitly.

Explicit New or Open preserves your current mapping rather than resetting it.

I set 60 fps but I'm not getting 60 fps

The frame rate is a request, not a guarantee. The app is unusually explicit about this: its own diagnostics say a requested timer cadence is configuration rather than evidence of presentation, and the status line tells you when a display's refresh rate is below your request, or when the display's cadence could not be verified.

Use Settings → Performance → Render backend, Native effects kernels, Frame production and Frame preparation for real numbers, and read the status line next to the output (which reports · N fps requested, display mode M Hz or · Display cadence unverified).

Options are 15, 30 or 60 fps; anything else is normalised to 30. Frame presentation is paced off the previous real display time rather than a dumb CPU timer.

How do I record my set?

Press REC in the footer. Two constraints catch people out:

• Composition width and height must be even. An odd dimension fails with "H.264 recording needs even output dimensions and 1–120 FPS."
• Frame rate must be 1…120.

Output mapping is applied, so what you see is what lands in the file. The recording itself is H.264 video only - no audio track, since the recorder never connects to the audio engine.

Recording captures the frame rate implemented only when the container is written. See Recording.

Can I record audio?

No. The recorder creates exactly one writer input, for video, and has no connection to the audio engine. Every recorded file is silent. This is stated in two places in the UI, including "Recordings remain silent."

Quitting seems to hang when I've been recording

That is not a hang - quit waits for recording finalization on purpose, so your file is never truncated. A SIGTERM restart goes through the same gate.

Does it support Syphon or NDI?

No. Neither exists - there is no frame sharing to or from other applications.

Not verified

• Whether the console genuinely stays usable in practice on a single-display Mac: the source does not suppress presentation options but the output window can take key status, and actual focus behaviour was not measured.
• Sustained frame rates on any specific display configuration - no throughput or endurance guarantee exists in code.