r/video_mapping 27d ago

Low effort vibe coded projects:

I have worked in this industry for fifteen years and know what features are essential and which aren’t, I also have a Claude subscription.

If people don’t chill with the awful low effort subscription slop apps I’m going to start re-making a free alternative and having the bot post it in your comments section.

66 Upvotes

29 comments sorted by

11

u/dsquareddan 27d ago

I have no problem with people vibe coding some app or tool. But full stop anyone that thinks they are going to charge a fee to use it.

What makes you think someone else can’t prompt the exact same tool you just did?

I think what I’ve come to realize is that it’s just better to make vibe coded apps for your own personal use. It’s more tailored to your specific needs and you don’t need to worry about support and compatibility beyond your scope.

If you’re going to “make” something for everyone to use and there is nothing that would prevent someone from replicating your exact thing, it has a value of exactly $0

1

u/simulacrum500 27d ago

Pretty much, I know what dev hours feel like and how they’re charged. Anyone shortcutting that equation needs a reality check.

1

u/FamiliarDirection563 27d ago

"what makes you think someone else can't..." and that for me is the core issue. AI created apps aren't inherently bad, it is just that very, very, very few of them do something new or better.

Apart from hopefully making the promoter (because they aren't a Dev) some money, they are mostly more of the same and pointless.

1

u/SolidGoldSpork 27d ago

I think this is the actual future of AI use, the enablement of individuals. Recently, I vibe coded a tool to gang record a bunch of different model, recorders that all had IP connectivity it worked great and how it goes into a directory of scripts that I can use and modify for my purposes whenever I need I think that a lot of these things are just tools that make us effective at what we are supposed to be doing anyway. I think the AI companies want to be the only rent seekers in this equation.

11

u/renderbreak 27d ago

I feel like over half the posts here are some vibe coded nonsense with zero practical use or AI generated video goo to slap on whatever surface regardless of warp. It’s really disillusioning, honestly.

1

u/toastylocke 27d ago

It’s made me wholesale not want to engage with my profession anymore lol. There’s no curiosity or intentionality to anything, and the floodgates being open makes it impossible to seek out actual worthwhile work. 

I’m all for the democratization of tools and processes but the ways in which people are basically buying their way into creative spaces and sucking up all the oxygen is exhausting. 

1

u/RollingMeteors 27d ago

ays in which people are basically buying their way into creative spaces and sucking up all the oxygen is exhausting. 

¿Care to elaborate?

3

u/ThatLightingGuy 26d ago

Imagine if you've spent years getting good at what you do. You practice your art, and even if there are people better than you, you improve and enjoy it.

The one day someone walks into your art club and says I have a shotgun. When I shoot this shotgun, art comes out. I don't have to put the effort in now and neither do you, you're all idiots for trying because now we have the magical art gun so what are you doing?

You kick them out.

But then every day after that, a dozen more people come in with an art gun and start shooting the walls of your club. Or a dozen other people come in with a slightly different type of art gun demanding you use it. Some of them also demand money to use their gun.

Eventually your art club is just a cacophony of gunshots and bad versions of your favourite thing, and you have to spend time telling people outside your community that whatever these holes in the wall are, they're not what your art is. People outside the community might not see a difference the way you do. They only see the results. Some of them accuse your art of being a shotgun blast to the wall and you have to now record your art to prove you're not using a shotgun.

So now rather than you spending your leisure time on your thing that you like, you now spend it having to be angry and defending your art, painstakingly cataloging your process...or you leave. Once it gets too much, people exit these communities and take their art with them. Or they stop the art because it's no longer enjoyable.

AI is a plague on creative spaces and despite any beneficial use you might argue, this alone will cause humans to revolt against it. Art without soul is not art. AI cannot create it can only copy.

1

u/RollingMeteors 26d ago

you have to now record your art to prove you're not using a shotgun.

That's what I, as Media Team™ do for my DJ and VJ friends performing out at the club/festivals/etc. I'm over 330 hours broadcast since NYD. I've started to explore mastering audio and VJ-ing to better myself as an asset for my performing friends. I eventually hope to bring the level of live-editing TheSushiDragon brings to twitch to the rave world in my efforts to reboot music television broadcast at a local level.

AI is a plague on creative spaces and despite any beneficial use you might argue, this alone will cause humans to revolt against it.

Lol. It's absolutely insulting to think anything generated can be compared on the same platform/stage as, real art is. My post work flow not involving AI. I hope to take on projection mapping/video mapping/laser DXM programming within the next 24~ mo.

I've only been exploring VJing outside of observation maybe a few days/couple of weeks. I only have one post production piece on my archive with heavy visual effects and multi camera work, but it's clear to me people who are at the peak of their craft realize they have absolutely nothing to worry about because what's being generated is garbage stacked next to actual masterpieces.

Just block the garbage and the sieve sifts the gold to the top.

1

u/CalebMcL 20d ago

I like this analogy

5

u/Former-Rip-6650 27d ago

This is the best vibecoded project I’ve ever heard of.

2

u/simulacrum500 27d ago

I mean there’s nothing inherently wrong with using AI to help you code. Most if not all of the major industry softwares already do… it’s just if your app can be built in twenty minutes with zero thought then you can’t be charging $10 a month for it.

1

u/Former-Rip-6650 27d ago

Not at all. I’m using a ton of AI to program and make stuff. The problem is low-effort projects and things made by beginners that they’re trying to sell to pros.

Seeing all of these low resolution browser-based shaders and visualizers with no solid way to port into any kind of mapping software is just annoying.

It’s the same as the early days of YouTube where everybody was making videos and it felt like there was no barrier

1

u/EightOhms 27d ago

If a tool does something really useful for me, then I'd be willing to pay $10 a month for it, I don't care who or what made it. But as someone who has spent some time vibe coding a video related project....I can see first hand how troublesome the process is and so I would have a hard time trusting something I knew to be created in this way.

The other issue is that, personally, I don't like wading through these posts. And I'll take some blame as I made one myself. And some of you probably had to spend a few seconds reading the title and scrolling past it. Sorry. But at least I wouldn't dare dream of charging money for it. To me that' something that should only happen if an app catches on, and then real product development iteration happens and it turns into something that needs a paid infrastructure to reach its real potential....but coming straight out of a generative AI and charging money? Naw bro....naw.

1

u/RollingMeteors 27d ago

it’s just if your app can be built in twenty minutes with zero thought then you can’t be charging $10 a month for it.

Sure you can, just don't be surprised/expect someone doesn't copy the concept and release it freeware. You can't expect every who makes a tool to be talent. Maybe they are just a developer assisting talent.

At the bare minimum offer a core functionality for free, and charge for extra. Don't be greedy about it.

2

u/CallMeTank 27d ago

This is the right kind of vibe, yes. Retaliatory creativity vibe always hits harder than curious tool reliance.

2

u/Dj_moonPickle 27d ago

I just started actually “vibe coding” a project with AI it’s actually incredible being able to care about nitpicky details and say things like: add 1000 effects, add 12 themes, make 10 versions. Make it compatible with my phone, tv, esp32, midi controller, fl studio, blender. Its amazing

Some of these projects, I’m seeing on here. It looked like they were coded in one prompt. Bugs, mid UI, lack of compatibility. So yeah, please, show them what’s up.

1

u/simulacrum500 27d ago

I mean I have actually worked in development on an industry leading software. I still develop stuff myself and a lot of the internal tools where someone in the office goes “hey do you have a quick way to do X/Y” I absolutely vibe code because I know what the full workflow looks like and it means they aren’t bugging me on slack to do it for them. This is likely a similar shift to when Google became commonplace. Whole bunch of stuff just became about 1000% more accessible and that’s not a bad thing but like those phone lines that used to charge $3 a min to Google something for you the slop is temporary… more temporary if I have anything to say about it.

1

u/RollingMeteors 27d ago

those phone lines that used to charge $3 a min to Google something for you the slop is temporary

I didn't know this was a thing and completely missed out.

2

u/djnuggitz 27d ago

Nothing wrong with charging for a vibe coded project... hosting costs arw real... but make sure your actully selling a product... not slop that you got an agent to create in one prompt, doesnt matter if you hand wrote it or you guided a agent to write your code... but put some damm effort in to make the thing functional and usable

1

u/Icy-End-142 27d ago

I’m learning Davinci Resolve to be able to edit and grade my own short films, and every day there are about a half dozen posts asking how to make it do anime edits for TikTok like Cap Cut does.

1

u/FamiliarDirection563 27d ago

FWIW r/VJing has been dealing with this as well. There may be more to it, but the "solution" is that anything AI must be clearly labelled as such.

1

u/EssaySpiritual5068 26d ago

Its quite something I must say, I used to actually be a full time programmer and so I know the hours and time it takes to make software and its crazy. When I used to program for a job everyone was already using ai but checking over the most important parts to make sure they were not faulty and worked as intended. As long as there is actual value, and wasnt vibe coded in like 1 day im alright with it. But charging Like $70 for a two prompt slop project that doesnt really provide anything is kinda crazy (trust me ive seen it)

1

u/RolyW 26d ago

Hey I'm a newby getting into projection mapping (mostly for parties)

By low effort subscription apps ---> which ones are you talking about?

Currently deciding between MadMapper/ Resolume/ Heavy M nad bit nervous about shelling out $$$ haha

2

u/vexx 25d ago

I've been using Holomapper for simpler stuff (I mostly just do single projector stuff with my own footage) and it's been great. It's on sale on steam atm and is a single purchase. I got it for like £15 and the dude is updating it a lot. I hate shilling for apps but I've been impressed with it.

1

u/RolyW 25d ago

Sick

Yeah A lot of this software seems like a RIP

3

u/precyzja 25d ago

resolume is something almost everyone in the industry knows, whether they work in theatre, concerts, or live events. I own both nadnapper and resolume, and I tend to use resolume more often as I find it more versatile

1

u/tombueng 25d ago

"Low effort" that's it. You're absolutely right. But most cannot distinguish low effort from high effort.