Whirligig News

So I've been releasing betas without announcements for a little while. Here is the beta version 4.2 with a list of all of the features, updates and fixes since last time.


Ive tried to catagrise these a bit better as things like bug fixes and plugin and engine updates aren't that interesting. So I've started with new features first and hopefully that makes it easier to get to the good stuff :)

• Mono when paused option so you can have it mono when the menu is visible. available from the setting menu/general 01 and good when watching 3D films where the 3D comes into the room.
  
  
• Added new background glow menu. Available from the settings/buttons menu. This feature allows you to change the size, saturation and brightness on the glow.
  
  
• Increased the size of the settings menu.
  
  
• Added tool tips to settings menu. In an effort to improve the settings menu I've added tool tips. This is a small addition to hopefully a big overhaul to the settings menu that should come soon.
  
  
• New feature, resume from previous time. This feature when turned on (go to settings and switch on "Resume from previous") when you load Whirligig a dialogue box will appear asking if you would like to resume from previous time location.
  
  
• Added a new menu and changed other of the other menus. This is going towards a new menu system which will allow changing menu colours.
  
  
• System where if you go into a menu from setup it will return to the settings after quitting that menu.
  
  
• Changed Mixed reality laser angle so it matches the laser in the Windows mixed reality home.
  
  

• Unity3D 2017.3.1f1
  
• Updated Oculus SDK's
  
• Updated Steam SDK for Unity3D.
  
• Updated AVpro plugin for Unity3D.
  

• Unity3D 2017.3.1f1
  
• Fixed Hotspot issues.
  
• Fixed when video ends options.
  
• Fixed command line loading problems.
  
• Fixed load by command line when used in conjunction with included ini files.
  
• Fixed ini file load on startup with Commandline feature load.
  
• Fixed issue with the shortcuts in explorer where the shortcuts 1 to 4 wouldn’t work with the Vive controllers and in general if you held it a certain length of time.
  
• Fixed issue with explorer being able to access folders in the root or a folder inside another folder of the same name.
  

So I've looked at the initial feedback and I've updated one feature which I hope will be appreciated by a few. Stretch now is reporcented in percent rather that an arbitrary number. So the default is 100% and 200% is twice the width and 50% is half. The maximum on the main UI is 200% you can go above this using the keys but not the slider. I think this will be enough for most peoples use. This is to fix the problem for half width SBS videos which need to be double the width. It's only the first version so there might be sone display bugs in the numbers but hopefully not.

The other update is that pause when HMD removed has now been improved to include Vive (posible MR headset but I haven't tested it) support and two new options have been added to this including restart media and reset YAW when removed. Hopefully this all works well fingers crossed.

Feedback on both these options would be very appreciated.


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 update, if you haven't updated since the last announced beta is feature packed. I hope to continue updating and improving as usual in the future betas to come. However I do need to update the default build for Oculus, Vive and Steam Stores. The place I want to get to is a better looking settings menu and more streamlined menus menu so that people can choose the look of the main UI with more ease.

So as usual any feedback is welcome. If you run into bugs or have suggestion for new features please let me know.

Until the next update.

Happy watching

Phil

So I've been releasing betas without announcements for a little while. Here is the beta version 4.2 with a list of all of the features, updates and fixes since last time.


Ive tried to catagrise these a bit better as things like bug fixes and plugin and engine updates aren't that interesting. So I've started with new features first and hopefully that makes it easier to get to the good stuff :)

• Mono when paused option so you can have it mono when the menu is visible. available from the setting menu/general 01 and good when watching 3D films where the 3D comes into the room.
  
  
• Added new background glow menu. Available from the settings/buttons menu. This feature allows you to change the size, saturation and brightness on the glow.
  
  
• Increased the size of the settings menu.
  
  
• Added tool tips to settings menu. In an effort to improve the settings menu I've added tool tips. This is a small addition to hopefully a big overhaul to the settings menu that should come soon.
  
  
• New feature, resume from previous time. This feature when turned on (go to settings and switch on "Resume from previous") when you load Whirligig a dialogue box will appear asking if you would like to resume from previous time location.
  
  
• Added a new menu and changed other of the other menus. This is going towards a new menu system which will allow changing menu colours.
  
  
• System where if you go into a menu from setup it will return to the settings after quitting that menu.
  
  
• Changed Mixed reality laser angle so it matches the laser in the Windows mixed reality home.
  
  

• Unity3D 2017.3.1f1
  
• Updated Oculus SDK's
  
• Updated Steam SDK for Unity3D.
  
• Updated AVpro plugin for Unity3D.
  

• Unity3D 2017.3.1f1
  
• Fixed Hotspot issues.
  
• Fixed when video ends options.
  
• Fixed command line loading problems.
  
• Fixed load by command line when used in conjunction with included ini files.
  
• Fixed ini file load on startup with Commandline feature load.
  
• Fixed issue with the shortcuts in explorer where the shortcuts 1 to 4 wouldn’t work with the Vive controllers and in general if you held it a certain length of time.
  
• Fixed issue with explorer being able to access folders in the root or a folder inside another folder of the same name.
  

So I've looked at the initial feedback and I've updated one feature which I hope will be appreciated by a few. Stretch now is reporcented in percent rather that an arbitrary number. So the default is 100% and 200% is twice the width and 50% is half. The maximum on the main UI is 200% you can go above this using the keys but not the slider. I think this will be enough for most peoples use. This is to fix the problem for half width SBS videos which need to be double the width. It's only the first version so there might be sone display bugs in the numbers but hopefully not.

The other update is that pause when HMD removed has now been improved to include Vive (posible MR headset but I haven't tested it) support and two new options have been added to this including restart media and reset YAW when removed. Hopefully this all works well fingers crossed.

Feedback on both these options would be very appreciated.


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 update, if you haven't updated since the last announced beta is feature packed. I hope to continue updating and improving as usual in the future betas to come. However I do need to update the default build for Oculus, Vive and Steam Stores. The place I want to get to is a better looking settings menu and more streamlined menus menu so that people can choose the look of the main UI with more ease.

So as usual any feedback is welcome. If you run into bugs or have suggestion for new features please let me know.

Until the next update.

Happy watching

Phil

So I've uploaded two beta versions since last time and news posts are probably going to be this way in the general future. I think it makes more sense to post announcements when there have been enough changes to shout about :)

One of the updates in this beta is the addition of a new custom format. This custom format is for Youtube videos that are formatted in there new proprietary cubemap format. You can read about this format here:

https://youtube-eng.googleblog.com/2017/03/improving-vr-videos.html

Now I spend a lot of time on Whirligig and have gained a lot of experience in VR and VR video but there is such a lot to learn and one thing I was having difficulty with was creating this format. I reached out to VR Toolbox and they kindly provided me with a custom OBJ that fitted the bill. I very much appreciate them allowing me to use this and I highly recommend you go over to their Steam page and check out there product:

http://store.steampowered.com/app/488040/VR_Toolbox_360_Desktop/

It provides a wide range of tools to allow you to steam online video, have several browsers windows open while playing games and a whole lot more. So check it out.

So onto the updates this week and without further ado:

• Added “Gaze support”. Actually I’ve called this "timed select" in settings. When this is selected, on the main UI you will get a timed select without having to press a button. I'll improve this in time but this is the first iteration so I hope you like it.
  
  
• Added “save ini with media file”. Whenever you open a media file, an ini file containing all of the settings gets created in the roaming folder, so that it will open up with the same settings next time. When this option is turned on the ini file will be saved with the video so you can keep the settings with it and pass those settings onto others if you wish.
  
  
• Added “load default option”. When this is selected whenever Whirligig is open it will open the default media, meaning it will not open the previous video you were watching.
  
  
• Added new custom format designed for youtube VR videos. This custom projection was kindly provided by VR Toolbox: 360 Desktop. Check them out on Steam :)
  
  
• Fixed none VR update Screen.
  
  
• Fixed custom projection not showing the name at startup.
  
  

• WebCam support added. So I’ve added support to display camera feeds. This is the first iteration so there may be bugs but it generally works. So the support works very much in the same as Mirrored Desktop support (which needs looking at as it crashes). So the easiest thing to do is create a text file with the extension wbc such as "example.wpc" then when you open it you will be displayed the webcam feed. There is an accompanying menu for the webcam support, which can be found in the buttons menu under settings. Here you can cycle through the webcams if you have more than one. Webcam cycling can also be assigned to an input key.
  
  
• The second feature added is colours to indicate file types. So I haven’t fully settled on the colours yet as it’s a proof of concept but hopefully it should work ok. This will help you distinguish between image files, video files and other special files.
  
  

On top of these updates I've also been fixing bugs and generally tidying up code...again.


To start using the betas (and if you want the latest features and bug fixes it's recommend as I'm quite active in beta releases) all you have to do is right click on Whirligig, go to properties, go to the beta tab and select whirligig_early_access_latest_beta. This beta is always updated with every version. If you just want to try this beta only select whirligig_early_access_v4.19. If you want to stop using the betas select 'none'.


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 so far this year I'm managing to keep up with my weekly updates. The next big thing I'll be tackling is the setup menu. I keep adding new functions which is great but I just cram them into the old setup which isn't. So hopefully you'll see improvements there next time and if I have time I'll also look at adding new features as well.


Until the next update.

Happy watching

Phil

So I've uploaded two beta versions since last time and news posts are probably going to be this way in the general future. I think it makes more sense to post announcements when there have been enough changes to shout about :)

One of the updates in this beta is the addition of a new custom format. This custom format is for Youtube videos that are formatted in there new proprietary cubemap format. You can read about this format here:

https://youtube-eng.googleblog.com/2017/03/improving-vr-videos.html

Now I spend a lot of time on Whirligig and have gained a lot of experience in VR and VR video but there is such a lot to learn and one thing I was having difficulty with was creating this format. I reached out to VR Toolbox and they kindly provided me with a custom OBJ that fitted the bill. I very much appreciate them allowing me to use this and I highly recommend you go over to their Steam page and check out there product:

http://store.steampowered.com/app/488040/VR_Toolbox_360_Desktop/

It provides a wide range of tools to allow you to steam online video, have several browsers windows open while playing games and a whole lot more. So check it out.

So onto the updates this week and without further ado:

• Added “Gaze support”. Actually I’ve called this "timed select" in settings. When this is selected, on the main UI you will get a timed select without having to press a button. I'll improve this in time but this is the first iteration so I hope you like it.
  
  
• Added “save ini with media file”. Whenever you open a media file, an ini file containing all of the settings gets created in the roaming folder, so that it will open up with the same settings next time. When this option is turned on the ini file will be saved with the video so you can keep the settings with it and pass those settings onto others if you wish.
  
  
• Added “load default option”. When this is selected whenever Whirligig is open it will open the default media, meaning it will not open the previous video you were watching.
  
  
• Added new custom format designed for youtube VR videos. This custom projection was kindly provided by VR Toolbox: 360 Desktop. Check them out on Steam :)
  
  
• Fixed none VR update Screen.
  
  
• Fixed custom projection not showing the name at startup.
  
  

• WebCam support added. So I’ve added support to display camera feeds. This is the first iteration so there may be bugs but it generally works. So the support works very much in the same as Mirrored Desktop support (which needs looking at as it crashes). So the easiest thing to do is create a text file with the extension wbc such as "example.wpc" then when you open it you will be displayed the webcam feed. There is an accompanying menu for the webcam support, which can be found in the buttons menu under settings. Here you can cycle through the webcams if you have more than one. Webcam cycling can also be assigned to an input key.
  
  
• The second feature added is colours to indicate file types. So I haven’t fully settled on the colours yet as it’s a proof of concept but hopefully it should work ok. This will help you distinguish between image files, video files and other special files.
  
  

On top of these updates I've also been fixing bugs and generally tidying up code...again.


To start using the betas (and if you want the latest features and bug fixes it's recommend as I'm quite active in beta releases) all you have to do is right click on Whirligig, go to properties, go to the beta tab and select whirligig_early_access_latest_beta. This beta is always updated with every version. If you just want to try this beta only select whirligig_early_access_v4.19. If you want to stop using the betas select 'none'.


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 so far this year I'm managing to keep up with my weekly updates. The next big thing I'll be tackling is the setup menu. I keep adding new functions which is great but I just cram them into the old setup which isn't. So hopefully you'll see improvements there next time and if I have time I'll also look at adding new features as well.


Until the next update.

Happy watching

Phil

So we are now in 2018 and one of my resolutions is to start releasing regular updates again. It all got higgledy piggledy at the end of last year. I'm hoping to change that with weekly/fortnightly updates.

So here is the first update. I'm going to list the updates for the latest beta and then follow it with updates since the last beta news post. So for starters.

• Updated Unity3D to 2017.3.0f3.
  
  
• Custom skip backward/forward has been removed and it’s features have been integrated into the standard skip backward/forward. There is now an option in the setup menu (f2 or the cog on the main UI) that allows you to set the default speed of the skip forward and back. There is also an option to turn on preview video or not. The default skip forward and backward has always not included a preview of the video as some videos really don't like to do this and it can make it combusom to search through the video especially on slower machines. On faster machines you may not have this problem though so if you want to see the video update as you skip backward and forward try this option.
  
  
• Added 90 degree options for fisheye and Barrel.
  
  
• Fixed file truncation issue in the explorer so that filenames won’t be cut really short if they exceed the limit.
  
  
• Added youtube custom projection for cubemap type Youtube videos. This was gratefully supplied by a user and adapted by me.
  
  
• Added warning information into Video Path options so that people know that they will have to switch the audio source over manually for DirectShow and Video Lan.
  
  
• Updated reset menu so that you can either reset the whole player back to factory settings (clean install) or clear the history of the player. I've also added the reset menu to the buttons menu in settings.
  
  
• Fixed Over Under Fisheye which hasn’t worked in previous beta versions. No one mentioned this and I only came across the problem by accident so I guess its not used very much.
  
  

• A position reset on start for Vive and Mixed reality. This is mostly due to the MR headsets repositioning themselves each time the program starts.
  
  
• Added detection of Mixed Reality headsets so that when in the inputs menus the Mixed Reality controllers will be show in place of the Vive controllers when using the MR Headsets.
  
  
• Updated the AVpro video plugin. This will improve compatibility and increase stability, hopefully.
  
  
• Updated sort by date to be last modified rather thn created.
  
  
• MR support integration started. Now the position gets reset when you start Whirligig which should solve the problem of the menu being in a weird place at start. I've also worked on a change of input menu but haven't fully integrated it yet.
  
  
• Added multi subtitle support for video Lan videos. Now you can cycle through the subtitles on the new menu (accessible from the buttons menu and multiple menu options).
  
  
• Added a new menu that includes options for volume, subtitles on and off and track selections.
  
  
• Added a scale option to the positions menu to allow a much larger degree of movement if required.
  
  
• Added auto detect to removal of headset. You can turn this on in settings so that when you remove your headset (currently on Oculus) the video will pause.
  
  Added auto detect video by filename. You can turn this on in the settings.
  Example_SBS.mp4 (This will auto set the video to side by side)
  Example_TB.mp4 (This will auto over and under)
  Example_OU.mp4 (This will auto over and under)
  
  
• Replaced reverse subtitles to Arabic support with a proper formated script.
  
  
• Made VR default on if you have a headset plugged in.
  
  
• Removed the directory list limit.
  
  
• Added Hue to the adjustment menu.
  
  
• Added a new adjustment menu to Barrel giving more options including height degrees and squash.
  
  
• Added new options to allow barrel 100 to 360.
  
  
• Fixed a bug when glueUI where you couldn't move the sliders because of the lock. Now the lock will be removed when the menu is at an angle. This unfortunately means the slider locks won't be applied when the menus are at an angle but at least you can use them. This might be fixed in the future but it took me ages to try and fix it and this was the best I could come up with.
  
  
• Removed Timecode Server from individual video settings and added it to the main settings. This now means you can switch this off and on in the General menu 01.
  
  
• Locks added to sliders in the settings menu.
  
  

On top of these updates I've also been fixing bugs and generally tidying up code.


To start using the betas (and if you want the latest features and bug fixes it's recommend as I'm quite active in beta releases) all you have to do is right click on Whirligig, go to properties, go to the beta tab and select whirligig_early_access_latest_beta. This beta is always updated with every version. If you just want to try this beta only select whirligig_early_access_v4.17. If you want to stop using the betas select 'none'.


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 :)


I hope you like these updates and I also hope to continue to update Whirligig in the future. If you have any problems let me know. Suggestions are always welcome as well as many of the updates you see above are because of suggestions from users.

Hope you all had a happy Christmas and a happy new year.

Phil