Vive/Index Finger Tracking support, WebSockets, Twitch Channel Points & Rewards
Hello and welcome back to the Neos Weekly Update!
The new World UI has also received some more tweaks and updates to polish it up a bit more, but most of this week was devoted to a couple of new features: Websockets, Vive/Index Fingertracking and Twitch Channel Points support.
[h2]Vive Finger Tracking[/h2]
We’ve recently implemented Vive’s finger tracking system into Neos. In order for this to work, you would need to make sure your Vive/Index has the front facing cameras turned on in your steam settings, and you’ll need decent lighting in your room. After that, simply enable vive finger tracking in your Neos settings, and hold your (empty) hands in front of your face!
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Right now the Vive SDK’s tracking isn’t as high quality as say, Leap Motion, but as Vive releases newer versions of the software, we’ll implement them so we could see some improvements in the future. The tracking allows for pinch-grabbing of objects within Neos as well as finger splay, so give it a try!
Demonstration by June on Twitter
[h2]Twitch Channel Points support and other improvements[/h2]
We have updated the Twitch API library to the latest version from source, merging our performance improvements and other tweaks. Thanks to the new version we were able to fully integrate the channel points system with Neos.
Not only will the in-game Twitch chat dialog show users claiming rewards with the channel points, but you can receive it as an event with LogiX as well, triggering arbitrary actions in the world or on your avatar in response.
The integration has received various other improvements as well, like support for highlighted messages, removing messages in the in-game chat dialog when they’re removed by moderator and fixing various issues, like incorrect formatting or broken follower messages and events.
It’s always great to see our streamers enhance their experiences with the interactivity and we hope the rewards support will enable new cool possibilities.
[h2]Websocket Support for LogiX[/h2]
Based on many requests from the community and researcher group in Neos, we have finally added WebSocket support, extending the networking capabilities of Neos and enabling easier integration with custom services and local apps.
Unlike the HTTP GET/POST string nodes which only allow polling, WebSocket connection is bidirectional, allowing to both send and receive messages from the server and is significantly more efficient. This way you can send messages to Neos from your own apps and servers.
WebSocket connections follow the same security model as the HTTP nodes, requiring the user to manually approve each host that you want to connect to. You can use the same nodes for requesting host approval.
Currently only text messages are supported, with raw binary messages requiring the collections support to iterate over raw bytes. Once this is implemented, you’ll be able to send those messages as well.
If you’d like to get started with WebSockets, we have published a world called “WebSocket Example”, which uses a public echo service to test the functionality, which simply sends back the same text message you send to the server.
We can’t wait to see what kind of applications you’ll build with WebSockets! If you run into any issues or concerns, you can post them on our official GitHub or Discord.
[h2]Community Highlights[/h2]
[h3]Saturday Night DJ Party by Ark Gullwing[/h3]
Ark hosted a lively party last Saturday evening with a live DJ in QueenHidi’s dance world! He’s hoping to make this a weekly event so check the Neos discord for more information!
[h3]Hidden Grotto by Sykes[/h3]
A lovely little world for hanging out with friends! The atmosphere is calm and easy on the eyes, so this world is great for watching movies! Nice job, Sykes!
[h3]The Grid by BIOHAZRED[/h3]
Check out this very shiny futuristic world! With mirrored surfaces and shining buildings piercing the sky, this world is great for taking pictures and roleplay!
[h2]What’s Next?[/h2]
With the World UI now working and tweaked and some of the smaller requests out of the way, we’re considering a few smaller, but significant additions. One of them will be the ability to translate the UI into different languages, which will improve accessibility and pave the way for a global translation system in Neos later in the future. We have been looking into the Unicode/ICU libraries and standards and plan to incorporate those.
Another of the additions would be introducing an in-game workshop, utilizing the same subsystems for submitting worlds, because they were designed to handle any types of objects, so adapting them wouldn’t take too much time, while providing a big benefit to the community, making it easier to share, update and find items, tools, avatars and other objects.
Following those additions, we are considering switching the major focus to major optimizations and optimization features, to improve performance with multiple people in the world and make it easier to build more complex environments.
Let us know what you think! We’re always looking for the best direction that will make the biggest impact on both new and existing users and your feedback plays a big role in this decision. Without your support we wouldn’t be able to keep devoting our time to building out Neos and improving it every day.
The new World UI has also received some more tweaks and updates to polish it up a bit more, but most of this week was devoted to a couple of new features: Websockets, Vive/Index Fingertracking and Twitch Channel Points support.
[h2]Vive Finger Tracking[/h2]
We’ve recently implemented Vive’s finger tracking system into Neos. In order for this to work, you would need to make sure your Vive/Index has the front facing cameras turned on in your steam settings, and you’ll need decent lighting in your room. After that, simply enable vive finger tracking in your Neos settings, and hold your (empty) hands in front of your face!
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Right now the Vive SDK’s tracking isn’t as high quality as say, Leap Motion, but as Vive releases newer versions of the software, we’ll implement them so we could see some improvements in the future. The tracking allows for pinch-grabbing of objects within Neos as well as finger splay, so give it a try!
Demonstration by June on Twitter[h2]Twitch Channel Points support and other improvements[/h2]
We have updated the Twitch API library to the latest version from source, merging our performance improvements and other tweaks. Thanks to the new version we were able to fully integrate the channel points system with Neos.
Not only will the in-game Twitch chat dialog show users claiming rewards with the channel points, but you can receive it as an event with LogiX as well, triggering arbitrary actions in the world or on your avatar in response.
The integration has received various other improvements as well, like support for highlighted messages, removing messages in the in-game chat dialog when they’re removed by moderator and fixing various issues, like incorrect formatting or broken follower messages and events.
It’s always great to see our streamers enhance their experiences with the interactivity and we hope the rewards support will enable new cool possibilities.
[h2]Websocket Support for LogiX[/h2]
Based on many requests from the community and researcher group in Neos, we have finally added WebSocket support, extending the networking capabilities of Neos and enabling easier integration with custom services and local apps.
Unlike the HTTP GET/POST string nodes which only allow polling, WebSocket connection is bidirectional, allowing to both send and receive messages from the server and is significantly more efficient. This way you can send messages to Neos from your own apps and servers.
WebSocket connections follow the same security model as the HTTP nodes, requiring the user to manually approve each host that you want to connect to. You can use the same nodes for requesting host approval.
Currently only text messages are supported, with raw binary messages requiring the collections support to iterate over raw bytes. Once this is implemented, you’ll be able to send those messages as well.
If you’d like to get started with WebSockets, we have published a world called “WebSocket Example”, which uses a public echo service to test the functionality, which simply sends back the same text message you send to the server.
We can’t wait to see what kind of applications you’ll build with WebSockets! If you run into any issues or concerns, you can post them on our official GitHub or Discord.
[h2]Community Highlights[/h2]
[h3]Saturday Night DJ Party by Ark Gullwing[/h3]
Ark hosted a lively party last Saturday evening with a live DJ in QueenHidi’s dance world! He’s hoping to make this a weekly event so check the Neos discord for more information!
[h3]Hidden Grotto by Sykes[/h3]
A lovely little world for hanging out with friends! The atmosphere is calm and easy on the eyes, so this world is great for watching movies! Nice job, Sykes!
[h3]The Grid by BIOHAZRED[/h3]
Check out this very shiny futuristic world! With mirrored surfaces and shining buildings piercing the sky, this world is great for taking pictures and roleplay!
[h2]What’s Next?[/h2]
With the World UI now working and tweaked and some of the smaller requests out of the way, we’re considering a few smaller, but significant additions. One of them will be the ability to translate the UI into different languages, which will improve accessibility and pave the way for a global translation system in Neos later in the future. We have been looking into the Unicode/ICU libraries and standards and plan to incorporate those.
Another of the additions would be introducing an in-game workshop, utilizing the same subsystems for submitting worlds, because they were designed to handle any types of objects, so adapting them wouldn’t take too much time, while providing a big benefit to the community, making it easier to share, update and find items, tools, avatars and other objects.
Following those additions, we are considering switching the major focus to major optimizations and optimization features, to improve performance with multiple people in the world and make it easier to build more complex environments.
Let us know what you think! We’re always looking for the best direction that will make the biggest impact on both new and existing users and your feedback plays a big role in this decision. Without your support we wouldn’t be able to keep devoting our time to building out Neos and improving it every day.