The central source for quartz composer creations.
The built-in patches, followed by the main third-party packs. Plug-ins install to /Library/Graphics/Quartz Composer Plug-Ins. Kineme is the exception and uses the neighbouring Quartz Composer Patches folder.
| Patch | Type | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Image Importer | Provider | Loads an image file and outputs it. Output ports only. |
| Video Input | Provider | Supplies frames from a camera or other external video source. |
| LFO | Provider / Processor | Low-frequency oscillator. Type, Period, Phase, Amplitude, Offset and PWM Ratio inputs; the workhorse for driving values over time. |
| Interpolation | Processor | Eases a value from a start to an end over a given duration. |
| Math | Processor | Arithmetic on input values during evaluation. |
| Sprite | Consumer | Draws an image (or colour) flat onto the viewport. Many inputs, no outputs. |
| Billboard | Consumer | Like Sprite; draws an image into the scene facing the viewer. |
| Cube | Consumer | Draws a textured cube. Often the first 3D thing people try. |
| Clear | Consumer | Clears the viewport to a colour before the rest of the scene draws. |
| Iterator | Macro | Runs the patches inside it N times. How nearly every 'lots of copies' effect is built. |
| Lighting | Macro | Lights whatever objects you place in its sub-patches. |
| Image Filter / Core Image | Processor | Applies built-in Core Image filters, or your own kernel, to an image. |
| GLSL | Processor / Consumer | Drop down to shader code when the stock patches can't do it. |
Most were free; Kineme's QuartzCrystal and QuartzBuilder were paid. Many of the original download links are dead now, but the names still help when an old composition references a patch that isn't built in.
| Pack | What it provided |
|---|---|
| Kineme | The big one. A huge range of extra patches, plus the QuartzCrystal offline renderer and QuartzBuilder (wrap a composition as a standalone app). Kineme patches installed to /Library/Graphics/Quartz Composer Patches. |
| v002 (Vade) | Screen Capture (grabbing apps that don't speak Syphon) and Open Kinect for raw depth data. |
| bangnoise (Tom) | Datamosh and related glitch patches. Datamosh needed 32-bit QC mode. |
| 1024 Architecture | Box2D physics, Kinect input and computer-vision patches. |
| CoGe | From the VJ-software side: a beat detector, an embedded web browser patch, and others. |
| Mirek (mirekz) | GitHub-hosted plug-ins including WebSocket support that talks to Node.js. |
| OpenEmu | Game emulator (NES, SNES, Genesis) exposed into QC, glitching and all. |
The built-in patches come from Apple's archived Quartz Composer User Guide; the third-party list is condensed from the GAFFTA 2012 Quartz Composer plug-ins wiki.