Whirligig News

Hi all

I've not had a great deal of time to work on Whirligig other the past couple of months but I'm getting back into weekly releases of the betas. Today is the first of these with updated features, bug fixes and general improvements.

So welcome to version 4.743. Here are a list of the updates in this version.

• Hide timebar option so that it doesn’t show up in the playback when skipping forward and backward. Setting/interface/Show progress bar...
  
  
• Whirligig now remembers the volume from your previous session.
  
  
  
• Maximum file name length test to stop crash when player ini is saved.
  
  
  
• Suppressed loading settings checkbox fixed.
  
  
  
• Text in UI sharpness improved for better legibility.
  
  
  
• Command line options added to disable VR and to force player to run using SteamVR. -disablevr and -forcesteam
  
  
  
• Playlist option improved.
  
  
  
• Updated Oculus SDK, Unity3D version and plugins.
  
  
  
• Fixed force mono on all videos. Settings/projections/Depth/
  
  
• Updated plugins, Unity3D version.
  

One of the more complex updates here is the playlist improvement. Playlists were a part of Whirligig before but weren't really easy to create or use. Now I've create a more user friendly version which allows you to drag videos into the window to build your playlists and create multiple playlists. I'm going to add a youtube video once I get a chance highlighting this. I also hope to improve it more with a way to create the playlists from the browser menu.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0g9ICfaxbU


In discussion you get a notification if someone has replied to a post but if you post at the bottom of a news feed then you don't get that notification so it can be easily to miss a reply. I check these news post regularly (mostly). If you do post here with an issue or suggestion please check manually to see if I've replied to your comment. I don't want people to think I'm ignoring them :)


So this is the first of the weekly updates, let's see if I can manage to keep it up for more than one week :)

My updates for the future are a combination of suggestions from you and ideas I've got on improving things. I very much appreciate feedback regarding bugs or feature requests so keep them coming.

Until next time

Happy watching

This update page is going to keep updating itself over the next day so keep an eye out for more details.

Whirligig has been updated to version 4.7. Updates since last default release.

• Updates to Oculus, Steam, Unity3D, video plugins and other plugins.
  
  
• Rooms updated. 18 new rooms.
  
  
• Explorer has options to limit media type. Video/images/other.
  
  
• Shortcut menu added to allow extra functions in playback.
  
  
• Beta language support for Chinese and Spanish.
  
  
• Resume from previous time, on all video option.
  
  
• Option to hide controls during playback.
  
  
• Optimisation on menus to decrease possibility of slow downs.
  
  
• Bug squashing and general optimisation.
  
  

Rooms menu has been redesigned. Lots of new image based Rooms added. Check them out under settings/projection/rooms. Basically 15 new rooms have been added. These are based on stereo 360 degree images so aren't as dynamic as the originals but they have been lurking in Themes for too long and needed to be properly used.






This is a new feature that allows you to bring up a shortcut menu to user defined options. This has been created to add functionality to the Oculus GO/GearVR version and improve usability overall. The shortcut menu can be mapped to the controllers like other options and the Shortcut menu buttons can be mapped in the inputs menu under settings/other/inputs. I've also updated the default options in the gamepad, keyboard and touch controllers so if you want them to be mapped to a standard key simply go in and hit default on each of the control options.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0g9ICfaxbU


A discussion about the latest update. If you have problems or suggestion let me know herre :)
https://steamcommunity.com/app/451650/discussions/0/1743358239845490065/



I’ve worked hard to add new features and improve Whirligig for this default release. If you discover any issues please let me know [email protected]

If you like this update please let me know and positive reviews are always welcome.

I hope you continue to enjoy using Whirligig and happy watching :)

Hi everyone

As some of you are aware I've been updating and updating (not so much recently, it's amazing how Christmas and new year can slip you up). I'm now coming to the end of this update cycle.

Because I'm close to the default update I would love to hear from the people using the betas at the moment of any issues you might be having.

The latest version in beta is Version 4.671 and should fix issues from previous versions that include gamepad issues, crosshair showing issues and probably a few other things. So only minor changes from the previous upload but if you've not tried the latest betas then there are some significant changes from the previous default build include more rooms, better optimisation, a shortcut menu, bug fixes and more.

So if you haven't tried the latest beta give it a go.


I very much reach out to the community to get ideas for features and improvements I can make. I've had a lot of suggestions that I want it implement but I've not had a chance to implement them as I've been working on this default update and an Oculus Go/GearVR version (if you want to try the beta email me [email protected]). As we are coming to the default release I will soon be back to adding new feature and improving the player again.

I apologise to all that hoped that their feature will be added soon. I really really hope that I will be back adding these new features once this default build is release. I want to improve Whirligig and make it the tool that you the users really want.



I've been working on fixing problems with the keyboard shortcut and mapping and this latest beta should be the most stable so far. However if you are going from the default then make sure you reset the keyboard controls back to default. The setup will be mapped all wrong otherwise. When I release the default build I will have this happen automatically but for now I'm leaving it manual to make things easier for people working their way through the betas.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0g9ICfaxbU


In discussion you get a notification if someone has replied to a post but if you post at the bottom of a news feed then you don't get that notification so it can be easily to miss a reply. I check these news post regularly (mostly). If you do post here with an issue or suggestion please check manually to see if I've replied to your comment. I don't want people to think I'm ignoring them :)


So what do I want from you? I really really want to hear bug reports and issue feedback. It would be really good to make this update the best, most optismed, feature laden and bug free version yet. With your help in letting me know of any issues I hope I can achieve this.


If you continue liking Whirligig I'm continue to improve it :)

Hope you all had a merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year.

Keep watching

Phil

And here comes another beta. Work on different rooms and a new shortcut menu added. Probably some other stuff as well. Details below.

Rooms


Rooms menu has been redesigned. Lots of new image based Rooms added. Check them out under settings/projection/rooms. Basically 15 new rooms have been added. These are based on stereo 360 degree images so aren't as dynamic as the orginals but they have been lurking in Themes for too long and needed to be properly used.

Explorer Update
'images', 'Video' and 'other' options have been added to the right so that you can limit what is displayed. Just click on each to show or remove from selection. These selections are saved and will remain the same the next time you load Whirligig.

Optimisation in all menus
Hopefully this should fix the progressive slowdown that was occurring. I'm also hoping that this will improve dropdown menu speed.

Shortcut menu
This is a new feature that allows you to bring up a shortcut menu to user defined options. This has been created to add functionality to the Oculus GO/GearVR version and improve usability overall. The shortcut menu can be mapped to the controllers like other options and the Shortcut menu buttons can be mapped in the inputs menu under settings/other/inputs. I've also updated the default options in the gamepad, keyboard and touch controllers so if you want them to be mapped to a standard key simply go in and hit default on each of the control options.

Plugins and SDK's

All the plugins, SDK's and Unity3D versions have been updated to the latest release.

I’m sure there is a load of other stuff I’ve missed and if I think of it I let you know. There has been quite a few changes in this update so if you run into bugs please let me know.

Spanish and Chinese language support
Change the language under settings/interface/languages.

This is still at it's early stages so expect it not to be perfect and some translations to be missing. I've asked my brother and a friend to do the translations so far. These will be updated more on the final release. Please let me know what you think of this, is it worth it and how I can improve it. I want to support multiple languages but it's a long process to update everything so it's taken me a while to implement. Hopefully once things slow down I'll be able to properly finalise it and increase the number of translations.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0g9ICfaxbU


In discussion you get a notification if someone has replied to a post but if you post at the bottom of a news feed then you don't get that notification so it can be easily to miss a reply. I check these news post regularly (mostly). If you do post here with an issue or suggestion please check manually to see if I've replied to your comment. I don't want people to think I'm ignoring them :)


So this is a continuation of the updates that I've wanted to include. Some are still work in progress but I hope each time I update I add more features and improve the overall experience of Whirligig. I'm currently working on a version for Oculus Go and GearVR which has guided a few of my updates recently. This hasn't stopped me from added features though so I will try and update them parallel. If you're interested in trying the Oculus Go beta email me [email protected],

I hope you continue to enjoy Whirligig and happy Watching :)

Hello again

I've not been releasing many updates recently as I've been working on the Oculus Go and GearVR version. This version is currently in beta and not released yet. If you want to try the beta let me know by email me [email protected]

However I've still been improving the player and trying add new features along the way and I've done quite a bit of optimization. here are some of the new features:

- Room projection changed. Hopefully this will be an improvement. I’m currently adding new room updates so this was part of that. Note living room is a bit dark at the moment but will be fixed very soon.

- New rooms added. Loft day time, Loft night time and Large cinema.







- Font update. Hopefully this should improve the look of the UI.

- Update to all the plugins and Unity3D build.

- Adding support for multi language support. Currently I have a preliminary option for Chinese (I have a Chinese friend helping me out with that) I hope to add Spanish soon as well. The option to change the language is under settings/interface/main options.

- Added an option to hide controllers when playing, under settings/other/input.

- Fixed issues with the keyboard layout being wierd or wrong. This might require resetting keyboard options.

- Code optimisation.

In truth I think I've done loads more changes but I don't really know what they are. If you see any I've forgotten to mention let me know.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0g9ICfaxbU


In discussion you get a notification if someone has replied to a post but if you post at the bottom of a news feed then you don't get that notification so it can be easily to miss a reply. I check these news post regularly (mostly). If you do post here with an issue or suggestion please check manually to see if I've replied to your comment. I don't want people to think I'm ignoring them :)



So that's this times update. I've got a lot of requests for new features which I hope to work on soonish. I'm still working on the Oculus Go version and need to release that. The biggest thing that's stopping that release is network location support. If you have any ideas how to implement that in Unity3D let me know.

You can check out the list of features I'd like to add here:
http://www.whirligig.xyz/new-page/

I am still up for more suggestion though. I added new rooms in the last update because I saw a nice asset on the store and knew how to implement it so for my own sanity I added some. You might suggest something that will be easy for me to add and might get put in soon.

Anyway I hope you like this beta. If you have any problems let me know. Adding bugs can often happen especially if you're trying to improve the code.

Thanks for supporting Whirligig allow me to keep going with the project.

All the best and happy watching.

Phil