Neos VR News

Hello! Another small build, but this one has an important improvement for both the desktop and VR modes, that took some internal redesign to work out - the developer tooltip now supports projection mode! This makes it much easier to interact with gizmos at bigger distances.

In desktop mode, this is always on by default (since you can't freely move your hand), which makes the gizmos behave as more traditional ones in tools like Unity or Blender, making the developer tooltip much easier to use! Once freeform camera & cursor are added, it'll really shine, but even now it should help quite a bit.

Also some important bugfixes that I didn't want held up, notably fixing a new issue with youtube-dl which would cause most videos to not load on some systems and fix for stability issues for users who use the lip tracker with eye tracking.

I've also done some tuning to the cloud API and increased the database throughput, since we were getting some throttling due to increasing load, this should solve some issues with messages not loading!

[h2]New Features:[/h2]
- Added new Projection interaction mode for the Developer Tooltip
-- This mode uses the origin and direction of the tooltip to interact with gizmos, instead of pure positional offset (e.g. for translation along a line, it will project the tooltip direction onto the line)
-- Using this moving objects along big distances or rotating/scaling from distance should be significantly easier
-- You can toggle to the previous "Tip" interaction mode for near/more precise interactions through the context menu
-- When the Desktop mode is active, this mode is always on, along with automatic freeform cursor whenever interacting, making gizmo interactions significantly easier to use in the desktop mode

- Added new expressions to the AvatarExpressionDriver for driving bi-directional movement
-- By default these map to 0...1 range, meaning the resting position is 0.5. Set the Min to -1 if you need resting position to be at 0 and go to negative for Left
-- Following expressions were added: TongueHorizontal, TongueVertical, LipMoveHorizontalUpper, LipMoveHorizontalLower, JawHorizontal

[h2]Tweaks:[/h2]
- Increased database throughput to better handle high load situations, preventing some behaviors from getting stuck indefinitely (based on report by @Medra)
- Tweaked the cloud API retry logic to improve chances of succeeding under load and to avoid throwing unecessary exceptions on failure, causing potential breakage

- Upgraded youtube-dl to 2021.04.01 from 2021.01.24.1

- Merged Japanese locale additions by @Aesc
- Merged Korean locale additions and tweaks by @LUA
- Merged Russian locale additions and tweaks by @Shadow Panther [RU/EN, UTC+3]
- Merged Czech locale additions by @rampa_3 (UTC +1, DST UTC +2)

[h2]Bugfixes:[/h2]
- Fixed youtube-dl output parsing errors in the NYoutubeDL library when the bitrate is specified as floating point number, rather than integer
-- This fixes new cases of YouTube (and potentially other) videos not loading
- Fixed Neos repeatedly trying to initialize eye tracking, when only the lip tracking module is present, causing instability issues (reported by @ProbablePrime, :cheese: and @Kal)
- Fixed notification sounds being very quiet after recent change to audio distance space (reported by @AshtonSparx and @Shifty | Quality Control Lead)
- Fixed user's nameplates becoming fruit baskets, resulting in too many vitamins
- Fixed corrupted branch in the tree of life, resulting in every user in Neos hatching from a gigantic egg
- Fixed excessive user loafing

Hello everyone, sorry for another small build, the weekly update took a bit today instead! ^^; Some more goodies though, the default Neos head and hands avatar has been updated! It's now all our custom design and the assets have been more optimized as well. We will probably do some more tweaks on them as it goes live and we find more issues, so let us know what you think!

The Motion Blur is now also configurable on the in-game Cameras! The Intractive Camera control now exposes both Screen Space Reflections and Motion Blur as settings too, so you can adjust them based on your liking/needs.

I've added some options for configuring how are motion vectors for objects generated as well. If you have rapidly moving objects in your worlds that shouldn't be blurred, you can now disable it specifically for those - do not apply it on everything though, otherwise you'll cause problems with antialiasing, eggs, AO and other things!

There are some more tweaks and additions too, more to come soon!

[h2]New Features:[/h2]
- Added new custom default Neos VR headset head avatar (created by @Ryuvi | Technical Artist)
-- This is a more optimized model with custom design that displays user's profile picture on the front
- Updated default Neos hands (redesigned by @Ryuvi | Technical Artist)
-- These use more optimized geometry (previously requested by @H3BO3, @Turk and @Alex from Alaska)

- Added Motion Blur and Screen Space Reflections settings to the Camera component and the Interactive Camera control settings (based on feedback by @DAWKY, @Robyn (QueenHidi) and @Rukio)
- Added MotionVectorMode to MeshRenderer components, which allows controlling how are motion vectors generated (based on feedback by @Toxic_Cookie, @Snooper, @Shadow Panther [RU/EN, UTC+3], Helix-9 and others)
-- You can set it to following options:
--- Object - object's motion will generate blur)
--- Camera - only camera motion relative to object will generate blur
--- NoMotion - motion vectors are always zero
-- For rapidly moving objects that are causing excessive unwanted blurring, it's recommended to switch this to "Camera" mode
-- IMPORTANT: that this is only suitable to fine tune motion blur when it's active for problematic objects, it's STRONGLY not recommended to set this for everything to disable motion blur, as motion vectors are used for many other effects (antialiasing, AO and others) and you WILL cause graphical artifacts by doing so. If you want to disable motion blur completely use the on-camera option

- Added MaxRowSize property to AvatarBadgeManager, which allows controlling at how many badges a new row will be added (default is 12)

[h2]Tweaks:[/h2]
- "Save To Inventory" menu option will no longer appear when grip equipping tooltips (based on suggestion by @Beaned)
- Opening dash and other actions that block input will no longer interrupt crouching and other double-tap toggled actions (based on report by @Psychpsyo and @Zaravi)
- Default DistanceSpace for AudioOuput is now local (suggested by @Shifty | Quality Control Lead)
-- This will make the range of newly created audio sources scale with the object
-- Existing instances of AudioOutput are unaffected

- Merged Korean locale additions by @MirPASEC
- Merged Czech locale additions by @rampa_3 (UTC +1, DST UTC +2)
- Merged Japanese locale additions and tweaks by @Aesc
- Merged Russian locale addition and English locale fix by @Shadow Panther [RU/EN, UTC+3]

[h2]Optimizations:[/h2]
- Added memory pooling when updating name badges, to reduce GC pressure and CPU usage
- Optimized setting up user badges on spawned users, to run the setup process only once after all badges were registered, rather than rerunning it for every single badge added

[h2]Bugfixes:[/h2]
- Fixed MTC tutorial text mentioning "Ctrl+S" combination for the new desktop mode instead of the Context menu (fixed by @Rue Shejn | Artist 3D)

[h2]Known Issues:[/h2]
- Motion Blur of objects behind UI causes the UI itself to become blurry

Hello and welcome to our latest weekly update!

We have several very exciting news this week - the first phase of our new desktop mode has been finished and released to public! Simply launch Neos without a VR headset to use it! It has all the core interactions for casual use implemented - you can grab things, click, interact with in-world objects, use the context menu, switch locomotion, save items and play with in-game gadgets and tools!

It is by no means finished however. While you can use the building tools, they are still somewhat clunky in desktop. We are working on adding more mechanisms to significantly improve their usability and ease of use. There are more goodies coming soon as well, like 3rd person camera mode, freeform cursor and more!

A community group Mystic Forge has also released their narrative puzzle map "Cabin Of The Seasons". This incredibly detailed map is currently one of the best and most polished experiences on our platform and certainly worth your time to check out, whether you do it alone or with your friends.

We have also released the MTC Avatar Lobby as well, serving both as a tutorial on finding and setting up avatars in Neos and a cool hang out place for both old and new users.



[h2]New Desktop mode ready for casual social use[/h2]
We have reached a very important milestone with our new desktop mode, finishing implementation of the core interactions and making it now the default desktop mode when you launch Neos, both with VR or without.

All the core interactions - grabbing, clicking things, using the context menu and using tools/gadgets are now implemented. These cover the majority of things you can do in Neos, particularly when socializing, using in-world interfaces, playing around with toys and gadgets and so on.

The interaction system is designed to utilize the same items and tools built for VR. Assuming they are properly setup, they will work in the new desktop mode without an issue, despite never being built for it.

This is an important part of our design philosophy - we don’t want creators to worry whether users are playing on desktop or in VR and focus more on what they’re creating, rather than optimizing for different ways of use. As a result, the majority of existing VR content works on the desktop out of the box!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Some new features were added as well. For example you can now save items to the inventory through the context menu, using the new “Save to inventory” option alongside Duplicate and Destroy. Right now the use is still a bit clunky, as you need to navigate to the right inventory folder first, but that will be addressed with the planned rework of the inventory UI.

You can also easily take in-game pictures now, similar to the finger photo gesture in VR! Simply press Shift+P to take a snapshot or Ctrl+P to start one with a timer for group photos. Those screenshots are fully native Neos screenshots, with full metadata and ability to quickly save them through the context menu.

Manipulating grabbed items is easier now as well. We have adopted the GMod style rotation for objects - simply hold the E key and move your mouse around to rotate around the two axes. Holding Shift+E will rotate around the vertical axis. Holding just Shift and using the scroll wheel will also scale the held object.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

MTC and intro tutorial has been updated as well to cover the new interactions and key binds. There might be still a few stragglers around as we transition, but the system should be ready enough to start getting some use.

Thanks to this, when you launch Neos without VR now, the new desktop mode will be in use instead of the old debugging one. If you need/want to use the old one, you can do so by choosing the “Legacy Screen” option in the menu, but please note that it will be removed at some point in the future.

[h2]What’s next for the desktop mode - building & improving interactions[/h2]
Desktop mode is still not finished by far. Our goal for the first phase was to cover the basics and make the core of Neos usable without VR. While you can technically use all the tools, including the building ones, certain ones are still quite clunky and difficult, notably the developer tooltip and LogiX.

To address this, we are working on some changes to general mechanisms in Neos to make them work well in both modes, particularly by adding projection interaction mode, so the tip of the tool doesn’t have to be brought physically to the item. Other tools like brushes will benefit from extra features as well, allowing to draw on virtual surfaces for example.

We are also working on a 3rd person camera mode as well, adding freeform cursor mode and UI-aligned camera mode, which will make interactions with complex UI’s easier to do. Polishing for the character head and hands posing is planned too, making the movements less robotic and more natural.

Another planned feature is adding more overlay UI (which will go with the freeform cursor), for showing some current information and making the toggle between VR and Desktop more discoverable rather than a hidden key.

More long term plans include the ability to partition your UI and pin some in-world UI’s to parts of your screen, like inspectors, or chat windows. Many of these changes will require more of our UI’s to be reworked as well, which is on the roadmap.

We hope that even with the current feature set has become more accessible to users without a VR headset and let VR users bring in their friends who couldn’t previously play and for the VR users give ability to stay in-world even after leaving the headset by dynamically switching, or perhaps to mix VR and desktop workflows.

[h2]MTC Avatar Lobby released to public[/h2]
As our ongoing work to rework the core Neos tutorials, we have released another reworked room to the public - the MTC Avatar Lobby! In this room, users can learn how to find and setup avatars in Neos, as well as easily make their first one with an easy to use UI to customize their own version of the Neos bot.





Since we often saw users hang out in the old avatar tutorial room, with other users helping them setup their own avatar, we have designed the new one to serve as a nice friendly hang out place as well.

Our next goal is to get the Streaming & Recording room ready for the public as well, since it’s the most commonly visited room after the avatar one, by users who are interested in streaming and recording videos in Neos. We have some nice features coming in this as well, like a customizable green screen area, so stay tuned!

[h2]Community Highlights[/h2]

[h3]Cabin of The Seasons[/h3]

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

You come upon a hallway brimming with iridescent purple energy. The energy draws you towards a pedestal that hovers gently at the end of the shimmering hallway. As you approach you notice a book as the centerpiece. After flipping through some of the pages, you find yourself at a cabin in the woods. How did you get here? Why can’t you escape? Who is Gerb? Where'd the cabin come from? - A memoir from a Traveler

A new map brimming with charm and anticipation, brought to you by Mystic Forge, "Cabin of The Seasons!" A narrative puzzle map that makes a mark on Neos history, showcasing of what a polished experience within the Metaverse is like. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did!



Thanks Mystic Forge Team!

[h3]Infinite Hallway CJ 95[/h3]
Last week at CJ the theme they explore is “The Infinite Hallway”, where folks come and go making their own room in a seemingly infinite hallway for many to create or make complete worlds of their own. It’s quite an experience and I don’t want to spoil! So go on and check out all the doors!



[h3]The Backrooms[/h3]
The smell of the carpet fills your nose. The walls start to blend as you notice the faint smell of cigarettes and leftover deodorizer in the air. I hope if you end up here, you at least know your way out because finding your way out is Tricky. Thanks QueenHidi AnythingDoesn’tReallyMatter and Jeana for this really neat map! If I ever need to feel lost or escape this place is wonderful for that.



[h3]Hangout Room[/h3]
A Chill lofi world created by the user by the name of Grost. You can hop into the room and instantly feel the beats of the music permeate the walls of the room as you can go outside to the little dance area to just groove to the music.Feeling tired from all the events or just want somewhere to relax and recharge? This place definitely fits the bill.



[h3]The Hard Boiled Jam[/h3]
This week on Creator Jam this weeks theme was Film Noir. You enter the map and are greeted with the smell of booze and smoke, and everything is grey and dull. In this map creators explore the possibilities of the theme and make some interesting things from Cement Shoes, dimly lit alleyways, and the ever expanding city and how it fills up the night.



[h3]Noisy Studio by Hai~[/h3]
This is a really neat clip that shows the power of Neos! Hai a newcomer to the community has made a really neat Studio to swing in on, but then she magically appears somewhere else.Stuff like this really shows the power and versatility of Neos! Not only is it a platform, it’s also a tool for creators altogether! Thanks Hai for the showcase! Keep on spinning!


https://twitter.com/i/status/1373785683173769218

[h3]neoDMX by PRISM Team[/h3]
Folks in Neos have been cooking up some interesting things! Here we have a DMX System built for managing and maintaining your light setups to give people an easy setup for shows, or even performances, I for one can NOT wait to see this in action at some performances. This upcoming year is so exciting! Thanks for adding to the fire Prism folks!


https://prismteam.tk/neodmx/neodmx-demo-lightshow.webm

-----------------------------------

Anyway that's all for this week! We hope you had a great one and we can't wait to bring you more improvements for the desktop mode over the next one! We'll also likely start mixing things up a bit more and working on some other features as well. You can always keep an eye on our official Discord to check out the latest developments!

Hello! Sorry for small build again, had a busy day, but I want to push out some more tweaks and bugfixes for the new screen mode before we push out the weekly update. The MTC strings were updated with new bindings and some other bugs fixed. You can now also toggle crouch with C!

Oh I also fixed the reporting of current mode, everyone showed as VR user in the last build! ^^; Now the reported mode will dynamically change as you toggle between VR and desktop.

I'll have more substantial stuff soon, but hopefully this helps alievate a few problems in the meanwhile!

[h2]New Features:[/h2]
- Added "On Saving" node (under Flow/Events) which fires before the saving process occurs (requested by @3x1t_5tyl3)
- You can now double-tap C/LeftBumper to toggle crouch (holding C without double tapping it quickly will still crouch only for the duration of holding it)

[h2]Tweaks:[/h2]
- Impulse Timeout node is now called "Local Impulse Timeout" to avoid some confusion over its function (based on report by @Toxic_Cookie)
- Small optimizations when searching in the Contacts list
- OrderOffset property is now public in the API (requested by @Toxic_Cookie)

- Merged new English locale strings for the MTC badges and updated desktop control strings by @Rue Shejn | Artist 3D

- Merged Spanish locale additions and tweaks (including MTC Avatar Lobby) by @Ruzert
- Merged Russian locale additions and tweaks by @Shadow Panther [RU/EN, UTC+3]

[h2]Bugfixes:[/h2]
- Scaling grabbed objects in desktop mode (or more generally through direct scaling input) now respects the Scalable property (reported by @epicEaston197 and @Shifty | Quality Control Lead)
- Fixed Tween not validating generic type arguments, allowing creation of invalid versions, resulting in a world crash (reported by @dfgHiatus)
- Fixed reporting of VR/Screen user online status reporting VR for users who are currently in the screen mode (based on report by @Aegis_Wolf | Art Director)
-- The reporting is now realtime, meaning even when running in VR and switching to Screen mode will report that user as using screen mode
- Fixed TextEditor inserting control characters into the target string in some cases, causing issues
-- This fixes ESC ASCII character being inserted when Esc key is pressed, which would cause contacts to disappear in the Contacts list among other things (reported by @Rue Shejn | Artist 3D)
- Fixed full body tracking being active when toggled to the Desktop mode and affecting desktop hand positioning (reported by @AshtonSparx)
-- This is done by extending the internal system to track whether given devices should be active. Tracker devices can now be mapped to track in VR, Screen or both (full body trackers are currently mapped only for VR at the moment)
- Switching to another tool in desktop mode with the alphanumeric keys will now preserve assets when destroying any previous equipped tooltip (reported by @ohzee)

Hello everyone! Sorry for the very small build, I was planning to do more today, but things unfortunatelly got in the way. I'm pushing at least a bunch of tweaks and fixes for the new desktop mode and few other things so they don't wait too long. I'll have more soon!

[h2]Tweaks:[/h2]
- Updated the new Desktop Controls graphic on the dash (it's now automatically activated when user toggles from VR to Desktop mode as well) (graphic by @Coffee)
- AvatarExpressionDriver now resets all the expressions to default state when the data source is removed
-- This fixes avatar's face becoming stuck in the last known state on dequip (reported by @3x1t_5tyl3, @Reactant, @Epicgames1, @Beaned)
- Camera Dialog is now accessible on the desktop mode
-- Note that you still can't use the camera mirroring right now, the UI needs to be reworked for this first

- Merged Korean locale tweaks by @MirPASEC

[h2]Bugfixes:[/h2]
- Fixed touchable search not filtering raycasts properly when the interaction laser is maintaining distance (e.g. holding an object)
-- This fixes not being able to assign texture, material and other references from held items in the desktop mode (reported by @Turk)
-- This will also fix any odd interactions in VR - not being able to assign held references in some cases due to tooltip not being filtered properly, or assigning/clicking through raycast portals
- Fixed tooltip quickswitching working while the keyboard inputs are blocked (e.g. by active text field) (reported by @ChrisWarner103 (DelVR), @AnythingItDoesn'tReallyMatter and @Turk)
- Fixed Camera rendering to user's screen when the postprocessing is disabled (reported by @Sox, @Gourry, @Turk, @Epsilion, @Hayden)
- Fixed Draggables (Slider, Joint...) and other grabbables that don't parent the object not being able to be freeform rotated (reported by @Blaze and @H3BO3)