Library

A folder of images, videos, audio files, 3D models or EEG recordings lives in one node, and its Path output is the current file. Cable Path into an Image's Path, a Video or Audio Player's File, Model Import's File or EEG File Import's File — the file node stays exactly what it always was, and the library is a separate thing you can take away, swap or share between several of them.

Drop a folder (or several files of one kind) on the graph, or right-click ▸ Add Media Files…, and a Library appears with its kind read off the files, already wired to the right node — and to a Canvas or an Audio Output if you asked for a ready-to-use drop. The inspector shows the source (a watched folder, or a picked list), buttons to add, rescan, reveal and Relocate… for files that moved to another Mac or drive, the sort order, and a thumbnail grid where a click picks and a drag reorders.

The order is by file identity, not by position: renaming a file keeps its slot, a folder change never reshuffles what you set by hand, and the order survives save, load and undo.

Loading never stalls a frame. The image cache decodes off the main actor for pre-warming and is bounded — least-recently-drawn textures leave when the cap is exceeded — so a folder of a thousand pictures does not become a memory problem.

Kind (int, default Images) — Images · Videos · Audio · 3D Models · EEG Recordings. A library holds one kind at a time; changing the kind releases the old files.

Index (int, default 0) — pick a file by number. Cable a Counter, a MIDI note or a fader here and the library becomes a selector.

Next, Previous, Random (bool) — rising-edge steps. A key press, a beat or a Timer pulse moves the library on by one, back by one, or to a file chosen at random.

Advance (int, default Off) — Off · Every N seconds · On Finished. Every N seconds runs on Advance Time (float, default 3); On Finished waits for the Finished input, which is where you cable a Video or Audio Player's own Finished output to get a real playlist.

Library Loop (int, default Loop) — Loop · Once — Hold · Ping-Pong. What happens when stepping reaches the end.

The outputs: Path is the current file and Name its display name; Index and Count are where you are and how many there are; Position is the same thing as 0…1 for a progress bar; Finished reports that the library itself reached the end; Library is the whole list as a structure, which is what an Interactive Preview takes; and Preload carries the previous and next paths, for a Video Player's Preload input.

• Slideshow: Library (Kind Images, Advance Every N seconds) → Path → Image → Canvas. One node and two cables.
• Video playlist: Library (Advance On Finished) → Path → Video Player File, and the player's Finished back into the library's Finished. Cable Preload into the player's Preload input and each switch is a cut rather than a load — leave it uncabled on a laptop or a long-running exhibit and files open on demand instead.
• VJ picker: Library → Library → Interactive Preview → Canvas, with the preview's Drive Source on: clicking a thumbnail in the render window sets this node's Index directly, with no extra cable.
• MIDI-triggered clips: MIDI Receiver (note) → Index — a pad per clip.
• Beat-stepped stills: Audio Beat Detection (Kick) → Next, Library Loop Loop.
• A folder of recordings: Library (Kind EEG Recordings) → Path → EEG File Import File, stepping through subjects or sessions with Next.