Neos VR News

Redesigned the "maintain height" into a proper seated mode! A bunch of other changes and tweaks to the new dash as well as well as some other things. Designing the workspace system now in the background so your custom facet layouts can be saved!

[h2]New Features:[/h2]
- Redesigned and reworked the "Maintain height" into Seated Mode system and added Seated mode toggle facet to the "Home" screen of the dash
-- The old "maintain height" system has been fully removed. The new system computes compensation offset when it's initially toggled on and then keeps using it until it's turned off.
-- When turning the seated mode on, make sure you're in your normal seated position
-- This provides better behavior, by letting the user move vertically (e.g. leaning down) without them being constantly pushed upwards
- Added "UserTrackingSpaceSync" which syncs the configuration of the user tracking space with the input system (it will only work in Userspace)
-- Currently offers two properties "SeatedMode" and "UserHeight" (in meters)
- Added "ParentUnder" field to GrabbableParenter, which allows overriding where do grab-released objects get parented (based on feedback by @GearBell and @Shifty | Quality Control Lead)
- Added breakdown of online users to VR users, Screen users, Headless and mobile (mobile is separate stat and can include both VR and screen users) (based on feedback by @GearBell)
-- This data is now also exposed in the OnlineUsersCount component
-- Note, the stats will be a bit unprecise for a while, particularly because anonymous users count to the individual categories and the mobile builds of Neos haven't been updated yet and some people might be running on older versions
- Added LocalUserLiveStatus (under Utility) which provides whether the local user is currently live
-- You can use this to selectively hide some information when live (e.g. NCR status on the dash) or hiding things in world/items/avatars for users who are currently live
- Added "UI" audio type group (suggested by @ProbablePrime)
-- The interactive camera sound effects now use this audio group. Once UI sounds come, they will too
-- You can also set any audio output to this type group for your custom UI's
- Added 1D, 2D and 4D variants of the Wobbler component (implemented by @Coffee | Programmer)

[h2]Tweaks:[/h2]
- Tokens Facet will now hide information when the streamer camera is set to Live (either manually or by mirroring to screen) (based on feedback by @ProbablePrime)
- Removed the old height estimation system and replaced it with a default user height of 175 cm instead, when the user height isn't configured
-- This should provide better behaviors and avoid glitches, where things like playspace mover or uncalibrated VR setup ends up scaling avatars to enormous sizes and cause user confusion (based on many reports in the past and @Shifty | Quality Control Lead)
- Removed some outdated items from the Settings screen
- Changed "Use Head Direction for movement" setting to true by default (suggested by @Shifty | Quality Control Lead) (this only affects new users)

[h2]Bugfixes:[/h2]
- Fixed a corner case of Twitch Chat dialog not skipping parsing RTF tags in Twitch chat messages, when the Twitch message doesn't contain any defined emote sets (based on report by @Enverex)
- Fixed being able to import certain assets as Spectator when object spawning is enabled (reported by @Zyro1331 (ZyroDesign) and @Gutter)
- Fixed missing whisper sphere on the default avatar (reported by @Shifty | Quality Control Lead)
- Removed world switcher tutorial due to its glitchiness and the fact that it won't be necessary soon
- Facets now start out with IsStandalone as true when they're first created, fixing newly made assets not rendering correctly until they're placed

Reworked the voice system to decouple mute and make the whisper/normal/shout/broadcast setting be per-world, rather than global, while preserving mute as a global toggle. The voice facet on the dash now also lets you switch your voice setting (desktop users re-joice! x3). I'm keeping the original switcher on the right hand for quick access for now, until the facet can be placed there instead.

Also some more internal progress on placing facets, particularly in VR mode! You can press Ctrl+F2 if you want to experiment, but it's still unfinished! Some other tweaks and additions as well. Now I go sleep!

[h2]New Features:[/h2]
- Reworked the voice mode system to decouple Mute from other voice options
-- Muting self is global - it will apply in all worlds
-- However voice status (Whisper, Normal, Broadcast) is now per-world. This fixes scenarios where having whisper or broadcast in one world will transfer to other worlds or will get automatically globally lowered due to permissions in a particular world
-- This also preserves the voice status when you mute and unmute yourself
- Added voice mode toggles to the VoiceFacetPreset, allowing the voice mode and mute to be switched from the top bar on the dash
-- The original voice switcher on the right hand is still present for now, at least until the voice facet can be placed on the hand in its place
- Added VoiceModeSync (under Utitlies), which provides the current GlobalMute state and the focused world voice mode and also allows them to be changed
-- This component will only work in the Userspace for security
-- It also provides FocusedWorldMaxAllowedVoiceMode, which is the maximum voice mode allowed to the local user in the focused world and individual bools for which voice modes can be used
- Added IsStandalone property to Facet, which indicates when the facet is standalone (currently not placed in a container)
-- Also added default background with Z-Write to a Facet, which is only visible when the facet is standalone
- Added "Clear Template" to ComponentCloneTip (requested by @SpearmintVR through @Blaze)
- Added "Clear Source" to RigTransferTip (requested by @Blaze)
- Added "MultiBoolConditionDriver" (under Transform/Drivers) which drives single bool field based on multiple source boolean fields
-- It supports 3 modes for when the driven field will be true - All (all conditions are true), Any (any of the conditions is true) and None (none of the conditions is true)
-- Each condition can also be inverted
- Added support for sprite tint to ValueOptionDescriptionDriver using per-option color override, multiplied with a SpriteTintBase color
- Added "Additive" color mode to InteractionElement (Buttons, Sliders...) which will addively blend the normal, highlight and press colors with the button's base color

[h2]Tweaks:[/h2]
- Changed the visuals for the online status switcher facet to be more easily distinguishable - the active option is now the only colored one, with others being black with inverted text (based on feedback by @ProbablePrime)
- Facets are automatically aligned and scaled to the hand that's grabbing them (e.g. when picking from the grid container)
- Replaced FlatLitToon preset in model importer with XiexeToon (based on feedback by @Blaze and others before)
- Removed old UserspaceDash
- Removed old Voice Indicator
- Removed old Online Status Panel

[h2]Bugfixes:[/h2]
- Potentially fixed race condition when updating UIX text, causing some canvases to break and stop updating (reported by @KierDran)
- Fixed facet grabbing from GridContainer having incorrect offset, causing the wrong facet to be grabbed

Transparency support for PBS Distance Lerp! Also some security improvements and a bunch of bugfixes for the new dash, some related things and some unrelated.

[h2]New Features:[/h2]
- Added Transparency and Culling support to PBS Distance Lerp (requested by @GearBell)
- Added SessionURL and SessionId outputs to the OpenWorld node, which will be filled with the values of the opened world when OnWorldReady impulse fires (requested by @Rue Shejn | Artist 3D)

[h2]Tweaks & Security:[/h2]
- Pruned unneeded .dll, .pdb and .xml files for the Headless client (including UnityEngine.dll, which is not necessary for it) (requested by @Earthmark)
- Blocked LogiX access to any permission-related components
- Various other security improvements
- Upgraded to Unity 2019.4.2f1 (from 2019.4.1f1)

[h2]Bugfixes:[/h2]
- Fixed being able to change parent of protected slots (Assets, Roles...) by setting the Parent reference in the inspector (reported by @art0007i)
- Fixed Asset cleanup and Autosave potentially breaking when changing system timezone or during daylight savings shift
- Fixed "GetExisting" being ignored for AttachTexture2D and AttachSprite nodes (reported by @Zyzyl)
- Fixed CharacterParenter, CharacterTeleporter, CharacterForceField and CharacterEventTrigger components working when they're disabled (reported by @Enverex and @Zyzyl)
- Added valid type filter when creating ValueEqualityDriver, to prevent crashes when using invalid types (reported by @A Monsoon of Babies)
- Fixed "Facing" particle Alignment mode not working correctly and rolling together with the user's head (reported by @Enverex)
- Fixed not being able to send equippable items as a message (reported by @Nexulan)
- Fixed Twitch chat dialog emotes being semi-broken after last update (discovered on @bobotron's stream)
- Fixed FriendLink not working for users who are not currently friends with the clicking user (reported by @H3BO3, @Conduit, @Ryuviand @Sykes)
- Fixed World browser listing worlds that weren't submitted to the Neos hub being listed (reported by @Alex from Alaska)

The first working version of the new Radiant UI dash is here! The new dash has now replaced the old belt menu dash and window system and as such it's an important milestone for the development of the Radiant UI. The overall UI overhaul is still far from finished, there are many more exciting features to come soon, now that we have this as a foundation to build on!

The new dash currently provides all the functionality of the old dash with some new bits. Over the upcoming days and weeks, more features will be added: Finishing the Facet editing system so you can customize, UIX Styling support for changing the visuals, proper default visual style, avatar Facet anchors, workspaces and more!

The old UI that has been wrapped into the new dash will also be gradually reworked piece by piece, starting with the Voice Switcher, new Session/World joiner, Inventory, Friends, Streaming Camera and many more and proper system for bringing your custom facets into userspace be introduced.

If you need to know where some important buttons were moved in the new dash, check this quick guide: http://wiki.neosvr.com/subdom/wiki/index.php?title=New_RadiantUI_Dash_Transition_Guide

Special thanks to @Danger Tester's for providing bugreports and feedback on the initial release: @Turk, @ohzee, @Hayden (PolyLogiX - ZyroDesign), @Alex from Alaska, @PeterTheThinker, @Cyro, @Waiwu, @Abysmal, @Zyzyl, @Dante, @alex derpy avali 🐦, @CanadianGit, @A Monsoon of Babies, @bobotron, @Electronus, @KierDran, @H3BO3, @Zane, @Lewi-bean | Audio Designer, @JustlyDeclarable, @SmolCookie, @GalexY, @DeliriousJax, @Zevrim (Linkluky) and @ProbablePrime
NeosVR Wiki
Index.php

[h2]New Features:[/h2]
- Added new RadiantUI Dash Screen, replacing the old belt dash!
-- This dash uses screen based system, allowing to have multiple virtual screens that can be switched between using buttons at the bottom of the dash. Those screens use UIX based UI. Typically most of them will be facet containers, allowing fully customizable UI, currently only the Home screen is facet based as the rest of the UI is gradually reworked
-- Created a new Home screen, which contains the essentials in form of facets
-- Created new Exit Neos Screen
-- Wrapped Session, Settings, Friends, Inventory and File Browser dialogs into the new dash
-- This dash also has a top bar for placing small facets in, currently used for Time, FPS and Voice Meter

- Added facet preset system for procedurally constructed facets and implemented following presets
-- Core Worlds (Hub, MTC, Cloud Home)
-- Controller Diagram (shows controller controls and layout, graphics made by @Coffee | Programmer)
-- FPS Facet
-- Online Status Switch
-- Online User Count
-- Cloud Server Status
-- Simple Profile (allows logging in, out and changing profile picture)
-- Storage Indicator
-- Sync Status
-- Time
-- Tokens status (how much NCR, KFC and CDFT you have)
-- Common tools (Avatar Creator, Full Body Calibrator, New World creator, Streaming Camera, NCR Withdraw/Deposit, Debug dialog)
-- Neos Version number
-- Voice Indicator
-- World Close button
Additionally, following indicator/function components were added, which were used to build those facet presets and can be used to build your own versions (once the editing system is finished):

- Added "CurrentDateTimeTextDriver" component, which can drive a text field with the current date/time using a format string (same as .NET DateTime formatting strings)
- Added "CloudServerStatus" component which contains the current cloud server status data (under Cloud/Indicators)
- Added "OnlineUsersCount" component which indicates the current number of online users
- Added "RecordSyncStatus" component which provides basing record syncing information
- Added "StorageUsageStauts" component which provides information about the cloud storage usage
- Added "CreditsStatus" component which provides current value of owned credits (NCR, CDFT, KFC) and their approximate USD value
- Added "AudioDeviceVolume" component which measures the volume and normalized volume of any audio device registered with Neos
- Added "NeosVersion" component which contains current Neos version number/string (under Utility)
- Added "UserOnlineStatusSync" which indicates current online status (Online, Away, Busy, Invisible) and allows it to be changed by changing the value of the field
- Added "PerformanceMetrics" which provides some performance metrics for given user (right now FPS, ImmediateFPS, RenderTime, TotalEngineUpdateTime, more to come later)
- Added "FocusedWorldCloseAction" button event receiver, which will close the currently focused world when it receives button event. It has a few configurable actions, to automatically prompt save, force save, force save as or force discard changes
- Added "FocusedWorldStatus" which indicates if the currently focused world can and/or should be saved and gives its name (more info to come)
- Added AvatarCreatorSpawner which will spawn avatar creator on button press event (under Utility/Tools)
- Added FullBodyCalibratorSpawner which will spawn fully body calibrator on button press event
- Added MainAndMaskTexturePropertyBlock, which allows overriding both the main texture and mask texture efficiently on materials that support it (currently UI_Unlit)

IMPORTANT: Any new components that indicate personal information will only work in userspace
Some other related and unrelated additions:

- Added new nodes for getting information from tooltips (based on request by @H3BO3):
-- IsToolTipEquipped (determines if the tooltip is currently equipped)
-- IsTooltipInUse (determines if the tooltip is currently actively being used)
-- TooltipEquippingSlot (gets the slot of the CommonTool equpping given tooltip)
-- TooltipEquippingNode (gets controller node that's equipping given tooltip)
- Added parameterized version of tag to text rendering system, which allows efficiently skipping parsing of a specific length of the string following the tag
-- Example: Bold and not so bold but now bold again
- Added Mask Texture support to Fresnel Material (requested by @Coffee | Programmer) as well as AlphaClip mode support
- Added GraphicChunkRoot component (under UIX/Layout), which will force a graphic chunk to be created at the point where it's addded
-- This can be used to optimize UIX when there's complex UI that's being translated within the canvas on the slow where the graphic chunk is placed
-- This has also been used to optimize any UI that slides left or right when swapping screens (e.g. Inventory, World Browser, Session and so on)
- Added ValueGradientDriver which can drive a target value field using a gradient defined by individual points (positions on the gradient with associated value) and position on the gradient (e.g. a color gradient)
- Added ProgressBar (under UIX/Interaction) which can drive a RectTransform anchors based a normalized progress (0..1)
- Added new Neos logo to the loading screen (logo design created by @Coffee | Programmer and @Karel)
- Added "pink" and "brown" color constants
- Neos will now try to dump the state of the world when it crashes unexpectedly on the host to a file and write the path in the log (this file can be imported into Neos, restoring any lost data)
- Added "MinScale" and "MaxScale" to Slider, which allows clamping the range of scaling when enabled
- Added "UseTransformScale" to Camera, which will compensate the OrtographicSize, NearClip and FarClip by the scale of the camera in the world
- Added "Direct" tint color mode to InteractionElement (buttons, sliders...), which will ignore the element's base color
- Removed old userspace toggles for Vive and WindowsMR controllers and replaced them with long-press of the App/Menu button (the button that opens context menu)

[h2]Tweaks:[/h2]
- Changed alpha channel blending to One One and Max BlendOp rather than using the same blending set for the RGB data
-- This fixes incorrect alpha behavior when rendering into an offscreen texture and then rendering this render texture with alpha blending (making an opaque region partly transparent when transparent material is rendered on top) or having incorrect transparent regions in captured in-game photos
-- In this build only the UI shaders were recompiled with this change, other shaders will be updated later on when all shaders are recompiled again
- Disabled rich text tag parsing for Twitch chat messages (based on recent livestream shenanigans xP)
- Some internal moderation tools improvements
- Removed redundant TransformMatrix nodes (they will autoconvert to instances of Compose TRS Matrix) (based on report by @orange and @Aetoriz#1794)
- Improved GridContainer Facet placement logic, to automatically use the preferred facet size fitted in the available space, rather than growing to the maximum possible size
- FacetContainer will no longer place facet when it's being custom sized and the cursor leaves the canvas
- Redesigned the facet container placement logic so containers can achieve better facet placement fit (this fixes unstable positioning (jumping around) when free-form placing the facets on the grid container)
- Tweaked grid container placement so facets can be freeform placed from all four corners, without skipping a row/column
- Save, Save As and Save Copy have been relocated to Session screen for the time being
- World Browser now contains "My Worlds" toggle
- Friends list now shows which version of Neos is someone using if it's different from the current one running

[h2]Optimizations:[/h2]
- Changed the friends list profile image to use the new material mask for the circle masking, instead of UIX masking mechanism, greatly improving the performance of the old Friends list
- Small optimizations when evaluating logix nodes
- Small optimizations when constructing UI procedurally

[h2]Bugfixes:[/h2]
- Fixed asset variant system incorrectly requesting old variant alternatives when a new variant wasn't generated yet and the old variant uses older identifier format, causing some textures to not load (appear white) the first few times they're spawned
- Fixed an exception when unloading old cloud settings when logging out (found in a log from @Shifty | Quality Control Lead)
- Tweaked item shelf item rejection logic accepting objects that are too large and non-persistent (like full body calibrator, avatar creator and so on) (based on reports by @Zane, @Zyro1331 (ZyroDesign) and @Shifty | Quality Control Lead)
- Fixed various LogiX nodes breaking or even crashing the world when they're swapped to a different overload/version or deleted (reported by @Ardes, @Hayden (PolyLogiX - ZyroDesign), @Shifty | Quality Control Lead, @Earthmark, @art0007i, @guillefix and @I wont shut up about reflections)
- Fixed Demultiplexer not swapping to a correct overload when the DefaultValue is plugged in
- Tweaked the degenerate transform matrix threshold limits for CameraPortal, to prevent moderate scaling of the portal target (or the camera) from stopping the portal from rendering (reported by ) (it will still stop rendering at extreme scales, but the limit should be significantly higher @Turk)
- Fixed PBS Dual Sided materials not casting correct shadows in the alphaclip mode (reported by @Enverex)
- Fixed "Component" component being attachable component (reported by @Rue Shejn | Artist 3D)
- Fixed UI Circle Segment shader not respecting ColorMask and not properly working as a mask as a result
- Fixed AspectRatioFitter incorrectly offseting height when the fitted width is larger than the current width, causing the visual to be vertically displaced
- Fixed RTF tag changing the parent color to black and tag without alpha overriding the parent alpha
- Fixed GridLayout horizontal alignment not working correctly when the number of actual items is lower than the number of available columns
- Fixed rendering to texture asset (capturing photos) rendering objects under HiddenLayer (reported by @Hayden (PolyLogiX - ZyroDesign))
- Fixed Userspace objects/dialogs being grabbed when a world-space object is grabbed
- Fixed Camera UVToRay returning NaN origin/direction when its associated render texture isn't fully initialized yet or has zero dimensions, causing raycast portals to break/throw exceptions
- Fixed Facet placement breaking and causing incorrect positioning when placed before the associated UIX update cycle has fully completed (reported by @Electronus, @JustlyDeclarable and @Hayden (PolyLogiX - ZyroDesign))
Notes:
- You can still open the legacy inventory (which can be shared into the world) by using the shortcut or by pressing Ctrl+I in the screen mode. This is temporary and will be removed once the inventory is reworked under the Facet system
- Editing of the facets on the dash is disabled by default now, as saving mechanism isn't fully implemented yet and there are some bugs. If you want to play with it, press Ctrl+F2 on your keyboard to toggle editing on and off. THIS IS UNFINISHED FEATURE, please do not report bugs at this stage.
- If you need to use the old dash for the time being, there's a Steam branch called old-dash that you can switch to, which has the last build before switch to the new Radiant dash

Hello and welcome back to the Weekly Update!

This Friday we’re going to be streaming our 1000 follower stream celebration! We’ll be playing games with you in the chat and giving away Neos merch from our upcoming Merch store. Make sure to join us at 3PM PST on the 26th if you don’t want to miss it!

If you’d like to see what our streams are generally like, we also have a fun compilation from the one held a week ago. In other news, the RadiantUI dash is getting nearly ready for official release, check out the latest work in progress state below.

And last but not least, we have some amazing community creations to showcase as well! We’re always overwhelmed by the amazing things you create and we encourage everyone to join our official Discord or follow the #NeosVR hashtag on Twitter to see more, as there’s too many to cover.



[h2]1000 Follower Celebration Stream with free Neos merch this Friday![/h2]
Thanks to you guys, we’ll be celebrating the milestone of reaching 1000 followers on Twitch! The celebration stream will be held this Friday (June 26th) at our normal streaming time 3PM PST! We’ll be playing games and giving away some merchandise from our newly opened Merch store, items ranging from stickers, pins, bandanas and a T-Shirt!

We would have never gotten to this level of support if it weren’t for you, our community! Having the community with us every Friday allows us to show you all of the things we’re working on, and it’s always fun for us on the team to participate and answer questions. We’re also always asking ourselves what new commands we could give you guys to further add to the fun mayhem the streams always bring.

This week’s stream is going to have no less mayhem, so please come join us and win some stickers and things! We’ll all be looking forward to seeing you, and Nex will say Thank You at least another 30+ times throughout the stream. And Sykes will likely get Zeused another 100+ times!

See you there!

Bandana's are coming and more! Note that this is just a preview, the designs aren't 100 % final yet.

[h2]Funny Stream moment compilations[/h2]
Our video producer and editor, Theofilus, is planning to frequently bring us new compilations of funny stream moments, and has done so with our latest stream.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

In the video, we see our chat frequently Zeusing and Exploding our guests and team members in the stream world. Also we get a compilation of Nexulan saying “Thank you” way too many times. It’s quite funny, but don’t take my word for it, go check it out!

[h2]Last Friday's Q&A livestream at Sakura[/h2]
If you missed our last stream, here you can watch the complete recording of it. We've gotten lots of great questions on Neos and its development and lots of fun with the chat in the beautiful Sakura world by PolylogiX

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h2]RadiantUI dash is getting nearly ready for release[/h2]
The upcoming new dash and its related systems are now in nearly usable state. The old UI dialogs have been wrapped into this new form, instead of popping out as separate windows and we’re currently working on an initial set of facets to provide the replace the remaining functionality and test out the new subsystems that we’ve been building for a while.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

The dash will serve as the core of the new RadiantUI, where all the essential functionality will be located by default. After its official release, we’ll redesign and reimplement all of the old UI pieces one by one, making them look much better, easier to use and giving them more flexibility and functionality.

All the UI is also being redesigned under the Facet system, making each piece fully modular and customizable, as it can be moved to any UI container - e.g. from dash on your avatar’s hand. The container system has received more work and polish as well, as you can see in this video:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

As a nice side bonus, part of UIX, our custom high-performance UI framework has been redesigned as well to fix certain sorting issues, which caused some parts of UI to render on top of others. This should make UIX more robust and easier to use if you’ve encountered this bug before.

[h2]Community Highlights[/h2]
[h3]Animated Chalkboard, by A Monsoon of Babies[/h3]

This user has created an amazing looking chalkboard, with both normal stationary chalk and animated chalk which would make any digital classroom more interesting!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]Neos Animation, by @tekerets on Twitter[/h3]
Animation in Neos is something we’ve hoped users would use Neos for even in the far future, so we would never have imagined users creating animations at this point in Neos’s development! Tekerets has made a couple amazing animations so far, so check them out!



[h3]3D Blockchain viewer by Sirkitree[/h3]
Sirkitree has created a really interesting way to visualize block-chain information and transactions using Neos’s built in LogiX system! Looks like a great idea for how people would want to visualize stocks and other forms of information!



[h3]Sakura, by PolyLogiX[/h3]
From every angle, this world looks like a precious painting. Featuring Japanese-inspired scenery and music as well as an intricate attention to detail. It’s another world designed for rest, relaxing and sleep, so bring a pillow!



[h3]Storage Scroll, by N-JELLY (@NJELLY1 on Twitter)[/h3]
This has to be the most amazing storage solution I’ve seen yet in Neos. You can put anything in this scroll, from tooltips, weapons, accessories, and even other scrolls! N-JELLY has released this in their shared folder, so check it out! Thank you N-JELLY!



[h2]What’s Next?[/h2]
This upcoming week we’ll be very likely swapping to the new RadiantUI dash, so enjoy your last moments with the old one and keep an eye out on the #testing channel on our official Discord! Since this is a major change, we’ll release the build in the danger-nightly channel first, so we can ensure there’s no major breakage before it goes live.

Thank you for reading this week’s Community Highlights! As always, we wouldn’t be here without you guys, so thank you for tuning in and supporting us in all the ways you do! And a special thanks to the big streamers Snow SOS, Roflgator and Sodapoppin for giving Neos a try, and for showing us off to your awesome viewers!

Make sure to tune in again next week for the Weekly Update! Have a good week everyone!