Hello, and welcome back to the Neos Weekly Update!
We have quite a few exciting social features to talk about this week. You’ve likely seen them in Neos by now, but we officially have voice messages. We’ve also implemented a brand new file share feature where you can transfer files to people and save them through the Neos Inventory or export them to your computer!
The new audio system has received extra polish and bugfixes and some new features as well, like procedural audio clips or ability to easily make clips loopable.
[h2]Voice Messages[/h2]
You can send voice messages through the Contacts menu now! We all know how hard it can be to type in VR, so this feature aims to ease communication between Neos Users by providing a quick and simple way to send a message. Simply select a contact and hold the red Record button to the right of the text field.
The voice message system includes a voice blocking feature, where a user’s voice won’t be sent into the world as they’re recording a voice message. This means you don’t need to go into a whisper bubble to send a private message. There will be a visual indicator in the form of a smaller black whisper bubble around one’s head, and even if a user enters this bubble, they will not hear your message.
Voice messages are being saved and stored via one’s Cloud Storage, but we will implement a system where you choose how long they’re stored at a later date. There’s no need to worry, however, as the voice messages are quite tiny (compressed using OGG Vorbis) and take up hardly any space!
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[h2]File Share[/h2]
You can now easily drop in any file into the Neos and hand them over to someone, regardless of its format. The recipient may either import the file into the world if it’s a supported file format, save it to their inventory utilizing their cloud storage quickly export it to their computer through the context menu.
To bring in files as items into Neos, you can either drag&drop or copy & paste them to Neos' window while holding Shift or select "Raw File" on the import dialog when it shows up. Any files that Neos doesn't support will import as File Items automatically.
To save a file to your inventory, the process is exactly the same as saving any other item to your inventory. Simply grab the file and click the green plus button in the inventory window where you would like to store the file.
Saving the file to your computer is even easier, simply click on the file in Neos and choose Export. This will send the file from the sender’s computer directly over the internet to the receiving user. The file will download to the user’s Documents > Neos VR folder.
The file share is utilizing the exact same asset transfer system as everything else. Any file brought into the session will transfer over P2P connection, without touching Neos' cloud, unless you save the world or the File Item into your inventory.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Unlike other assets, Neos won't initiate the transfer to user until an action is performed (e.g. Import, Export or saving to their inventory), so you don't have to worry about costing other users bandwidth and filling their cache, however keep in mind that anyone within a session can access the file once it's brought in, so for any private data use either private sessions or send them as items through the in-game chat.
If the file is a supported media type, it can be imported directly into the world too as you would any files from your computer. This means 3D models, videos, music and images can be easily shared or viewed within Neos from a File Item.
We hope this new system will help improve various workflows, for example exchanging a Blend file for collaboration, sharing accompanying scripts for Websocket apps in-world or backing up some of your important data to your inventory.
[h2]Procedural Audio[/h2]
Thanks to the rework of the audio system last week, we now have the ability to generate audio clips procedurally, similarly to textures and meshes. Neos now has a few basic waveforms, like sine, triangle, sawtooth, square and two different noise audio clips that you can easily generate in-game.
There are some new audio processing options as well, particularly easily making a clip loopable. Simply open the inspector for the audio clip, set transition duration and click single button to smooth out the looping point.
We have also polished and fixed various bugs with the new audio system, causing issues like audible audio clicks or crashes, making the system more reliable. Thanks to these changes you can now combine them with the basic audio waves to generate 1 Hz signal and use the playback speed to play at any frequency, creating virtual instruments in-game. We’ve already seen some excellent audio-based creations with the new system and we can’t wait to see more!
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[h2]Community Highlights[/h2]
[h3]Spirit of Pittsburg Ballroom by Kulza[/h3]
Kulza has been showing his progress for this immensely detailed, yet quite optimized world which will be familiar to many convention goers! This convention center ballroom features a huge stage, a dancefloor, lasers and real time lighting as well as a spatialized audio system fit for any sort of dance party! Definitely a great venue for events, fun evenings and much more, so give this amazing world a visit!
[h3]Chaotic Halloween World by Neos East Japan[/h3]
Quite a spooky world! You’ll find monster heads floating around spewing candy, a few jumpscares, and lots of spooky environmental sounds in this detailed Halloween world! Some of the creatures are even avatars in case you’re looking to spook your friends!
[h3]Guitar by Orange[/h3]
Orange, the Neos East Japan team lead has created a guitar in Neos! Along with showing off the guitar’s chord capabilities, we’re gifted with a serenade by Orange to accompany the riff! Amazing guitar and vocals Orange!
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Thanks again for checking out the Neos Weekly Update! Check back again next week for more information about new features and fun community highlights we’ve found. If you find any community highlights, remember to send them to Veer for him to check out. As always, have a great week, be safe, and if you’re a US citizen, remember to vote!