Notch Blocks

What are Notch Blocks? #

Notch Blocks are self-contained, single-file exports from Notch Builder that enable the delivery of real-time & interactive Notch content. Notch Blocks by design do not come with any playback mechanism and are intended to be used to deliver final content for playback (and control, through exposed parameters) in a media server or other software that has native support to open and run Notch Blocks.

A Notch Block allows you to play back the content that you have built inside of Notch, but without any of the performance overhead associated with the additional requirements of the Notch Builder software. They are the most lightweight and solid way of displaying Notch content.

Content creators across the globe can deliver new & original content remotely in a single, self-contained file, natively supported in all major media servers.

You can also export Notch content as standalone executable files to be run without a media server. See Standalone.

The Notch Block file size cannot exceed 4 GB due to Windows limitations. To reduce the size, consider removing project resources or unembedding some resources.

License Requirements #

There are two parts to licensing Notch Blocks in media servers:

Firstly, media server blocks must be exported from the authoring tool Notch RFX.
Secondly, the media-server needs a Playback license to play-out the Notch Block. There are multiple types of Playback licensing:
- Leased Playback Licenses - which provide unlimited resolution media-server block playback. (This is the most common form of Playback license)
- Fixed Install Playback Licenses - which are for projects locked to a location and without changing content.
- Watermarked Playback Licenses - Available at no-cost (other than the cost of the Codemeter Dongle) to test media server block workflows.
- Notch RFX - which acts as a Playback license up-to 4K resolution** as long as the RFX dongle is present in the media server.

** To use your RFX license to play back older 0.9.23 Blocks (up to 4K), you must have exported the blocks with 0.9.23.254 or later. If you run an older 0.9.23 exported Notch block in a media server (at under 4K) while using an RFX dongle for play out, and get a watermark with an RFX license, then you probably need to re-export the block with the latest 0.9.23 release.

Using Notch Blocks #

Notch Blocks are loaded directly inside of a media server, serving as another video source that generates your Notch content in real time. Running directly inside the server like this allows for real-time content to be generated in the same frame as it is output from the server.

Almost all properties of any node that makes up the Notch Block can be controlled just like any other property in you media server. As well as allowing full control of your visual content, you can also send in video content from your media server such as pre-rendered video or live camera feeds into your Notch Block. For more information on setting up and working with exposed properties in media servers, see Working WIth Exposed Parameters

When a Notch Block is running, it can be edited remotely from any PC on the same network that is running Notch Builder (with an RFX license). This lets you make adjustments to your Notch content while it is being run on the media server and sent out to screens, projectors, lighting fixtures etc. See Network Editing for a guide on setting up and working with Network Editing.

Notch Blocks are a key part of building live generative content for large canvases. Running multiple simultaneous instances of a Notch Block across multiple servers lets you create content for massive resolutions. For more information on this type of setup see Multi Machine Considerations.

See Managing Performance in Media Severs for information on viewing, analysing and optimising your Notch Block’s performance inside a media server.

When exporting a Notch Block, files that are embedded in the project will be packaged in the export. Therefore, it is important to be aware of what is and isn’t embedded in your project, especially when moving PCs or exporting files. More information on embedding and unembedding resources can be found in the Resources Panel section of the manual.

Native support #

Native Notch playback is all major media servers & applications. Notch Block playback is available as a commercial SDK, so if your preferred application/media server is not listed, it may be worth getting in contact with them. SPOUT (an inter-application texture sharing technology) can also be used with media servers that support it.

Hardware and software media servers & applications with native Notch integrations:

We strongly recommend that you read Managing Performance in Media Servers.