LIV News

Avatar and first person stabilizer users - Whether you prefer activating the LIV circle menu on the floor or from the SteamVR dashboard, the power to choose is now yours.



Simply head over to the new General Settings tab of the LIV home menu, and under 'VR activation mode:' select either floor or SteamVR Dashboard activation. Note: If you'd like to swap these options you'll need to make sure the compositor is closed first in order to head back to this home screen.



[h3]In Game Floor Activation[/h3]
The traditional floor menu will be familiar to LIV veterans. With the LIV desktop app running (and avatars or first person stabilizer selected), head in headset and look down at the floor. When you see the LIV logo, take your cursor and hover it over the logo until it fills completely, then your menu will open. To exit the menu, simply go back to the LIV logo and hover over the circle until it fills and closes the menu.



[h3]SteamVR Menu Activation[/h3]
With the LIV desktop app running (and avatars or first person stabilizer selected) open your SteamVR dashboard and you should see a new button on the lower left side. Click that to open the LIV menu! To close the menu you can click the ‘x’ in the top left corner (or click on the 'close menu' button in your SteamVR dashboard).

]

This activation mode is perfect to avoid those accidental menu toggles while playing a round of golf or picking up virtual objects off the floor.




These updates have lived in the public_beta branch for a little while for testing, but they're ready to graduate and become available to all

.avatar eye and mouth tracking changes:

• .avatar now supports Microphone (lipsync).
  
• .avatar now supports eye tracking blendshapes and face tracking blendshapes using SRAnipal-styled blendshape names.Note: We also support ARKit blendshapes, but for .avatar we strongly suggest choosing one or the other, and never both. See VRM section below.
  
• 
  .avatar now supports eye gaze tracking through humanoid eye bone rotation. We will try to use the eye bones that are specified in the humanoid configuration of the avatar asset (this can be set in the import settings of your avatar asset, usually a FBX file).
  
• Use the new option "Use Experimental Eye Gaze" located in the VR LIV avatar selection menu to enable it (eye tracking is required).
  

.VRM eye and mouth tracking changes:

• .VRM now supports eye tracking blendshapes and face tracking blendshapes using ARKit-styled BlendShape Clip names.
  
• Added a new checkbox option "Use Experimental Eye Gaze" located in the VR LIV avatar selection menu (Eye tracking is required). When enabled for VRM avatars, it will attempt to rotate the eyes more strongly to match the eye gaze precisely.
  

It's Prisma Sinclair!

You can find full documentation and more details of these new avatar updates here (for .avatar formats) and here (for .VRM) respectively!



[h3]General Settings & the About Page[/h3]
We've created a new section on the LIV home menu labeled 'general settings' which contains functions pulled from the quiet 'about' page that frankly, just makes more sense.

Specifically:

• The new LIV menu activation options
  
• Languages
  
• LIV system reports
  
• Resetting LIV settings
  
• Restarting the tutorial
  
• Installing the LIV SteamVR driver
  

...have all been moved over into this new tab.



[h3]Beat Saber[/h3]
Also moving over from the public_beta branch, minor Beat Saber improvements with LIV!
Opaque objects are now actually opaque, the way they are meant to be!



Let us know what you think, we'd love to hear your feedback on our Discord!

LIV on creators!

We've got some quality of life updates we’d love for you to try out in the beta branch! (Right click LIV in your Steam library -> properties -> betas -> select public beta in the drop down options and let LIV update)



This one’s for those of you who use avatars and the first person stabilizer…the LIV UI circle menu (in headset) has moved!

No longer will it get be the way when playing golf or when trying to pick something up off the floor! We’re hoping this will help with a lot of those annoying ‘accidental’ toggles which can really be jarring if unexpected.

You can now access the in headset menu through the SteamVR dashboard. With the LIV desktop app running (and avatars or first person stabilizer selected) open the SteamVR dashboard and you should see a new button on the lower left side. Click that to open the LIV menu! To close it you can click the ‘x’ in the corner or the LIV circle on the ground.




Improved microphone, eye tracking gaze, and eye and face tracking blendshapes for .avatar and .VRM!


It's Prisma Sinclair!

.avatar eye and mouth tracking changes:

• .avatar now supports Microphone (lipsync).
  
• .avatar now supports eye tracking blendshapes and face tracking blendshapes using SRAnipal-styled blendshape names.Note: We also support ARKit blendshapes, but for .avatar we strongly suggest choosing one or the other, and never both. See VRM section below.
  
• 
  .avatar now supports eye gaze tracking through humanoid eye bone rotation. We will try to use the eye bones that are specified in the humanoid configuration of the avatar asset (this can be set in the import settings of your avatar asset, usually a FBX file).
  
• Use the new option "Use Experimental Eye Gaze" located in the VR LIV avatar selection menu to enable it (eye tracking is required).
  

.VRM eye and mouth tracking changes:

• .VRM now supports eye tracking blendshapes and face tracking blendshapes using ARKit-styled BlendShape Clip names.
  
• Added a new checkbox option "Use Experimental Eye Gaze" located in the VR LIV avatar selection menu (Eye tracking is required). When enabled for VRM avatars, it will attempt to rotate the eyes more strongly to match the eye gaze precisely.
  

You can find full documentation and more details of these new avatar updates here (for .avatar formats) and here (for .VRM) respectively!



In Beat Saber, opaque objects are now actually opaque, the way they are meant to be!



Give all these new features a test drive in the beta branch and let us know what you think, we'd love to hear your feedback on our Discord!

YouTube support has finally come to LIV StreamerKit! 🥳
Head over to the YouTube tab in StreamerKit and sign in with your Google Account & YouTube Channel. Once logged in, you'll just need to go live and StreamerKit will faithfully ferry your fervous fan messages!
We've not yet added all the notifications, but basic messaging is in. Enjoy!



You can now get LIV captures in BONEWORKS with our official mod!



We've implemented a brand new de-spill algorithm for LIV's chroma key that (we think) does an excellent job mopping up all that extra green from your body. If you've been using a LUT for de-spill, give our built-in solution a try. It's really quite good 😏

[h2]Everything Else[/h2]

New:

• YouTube support for StreamerKit!
  
• You can now capture BONEWORKS to your heart's content, in the way you want to.
  
• Re-worked chroma key de-spill algorithm clears up your pallid, green skin in realtime, automatically 🪞
  
• First-person stabilizer now supports Revive apps!
  
• LIV now sets its own priority to match SteamVR, improving capture and gameplay smoothness in some cases. More to come.
  

Fixed:

• LIV capture no longer takes over your entire desktop if you've been using the first-person stabilizer in fullscreen.
  
• The first-person stabilizer doesn't crash VAIL anymore!
  
• Also, we found where the missing text in the first-person stabilizer's UI went, it's back.
  
• Also, the second, we've fixed an issue where some games would be upside-down in the stabilizer. Oops.
  
• Also, the third, both-eye support for all headsets now works correctly!
  
• Also, the last, I promise: The stabilizer won't crash games that don't use OpenVR. It'll gracefully just... not work.
  
• A potential GPU memory leak has been plugged.
  
• We're no longer showing these changelogs to new users - they haven't even got started yet! 😅
  
• Not sure if you noticed, but the chroma key would steal a border of pixels around your camera. Gentle encouragement has brought those precious extra pixels back home.
  
• All of LIV's manual capture effects have been reworked and tidied up. 🧹
  
• The avatar camera viewfinder no longer automatically changes "flippedness", it's just default to on.
  
• We moved the "AI Keying" feature... into the keying tab, and it correctly disables during calibration. 🤭
  
• Quest MRC & Watch mode has greater stability when changing games during a single session.
  
• Lastly, various crashes when starting Quest MRC or Watch mode have been fixed!
  

If you love what we do, please chuck us a Steam review 💚

Well hello there you beautiful people you. We've got a stonker of an update here!

[h2]Here're your headlines[/h2]

• First-person stabilizer gets wider FoV, resolution settings and a fix for games that are too dark! 🔦
  
• We've got you some estimated dynamic lighting and reflections for LIV avatars! ✨
  
• Support for Beat Saber Legacy in auto-capture!
  
• Segmentive background removal is back! Sorry about that. 😓
  

You'llve noticed we've updated our EULA. Along with that, we've also updated our privacy policy and terms of service. Please give it a thorough read through! It's for a good cause. We're working on getting YouTube integration ready for StreamerKit!

And to wrap things up - if you haven't heard already, we've created a Gorilla Tag mod that adds LIV support! Check it out via the home screen and become 🐒

[h2]New[/h2]

• Resolution & aspect ratio settings have been added to the first-person stabilizer. Whatever you set gets remembered, and you can double-click the window to go fullscreen!
  
• Along with that, both eyes are now composited and smoothed together, meaning more pixels for you to see!
• Game looks too dark in the first-person stabilizer? Enable the "Gamma Fix" checkbox and brighten it back up to normal.
  
• Dynamic lighting & reflections for LIV avatars! 🤯 This feature uses your HMD's output for creating a dynamic, live light and reflection map. If you're using metallic materials in your avatars, you'll see beautiful realtime reflections when the camera's up-close and personal. Enable it in LIV's avatar UI.
  
• We've updated how we render UI in the headset - meaning, a much sharper image and a wider field of view when you're working with LIV avatars. Enjoy your new prescription 👓
  
• Don't like the avatar camera that a game provides you out-of-the-box? Uncheck the "Use game camera" avatar option and use your own 😉
  

[h2]Fixed[/h2]

• Support for capturing SteamVR Home in the first-person stabilizer has been fixed.
  
• The LIV "Export to OBS" plugin no longer causes LIV to crash if OBS isn't open yet.
  
• Various LIV compositor crashes have been resolved!
  
• Quest capture tools no longer have a 10% chance to crash on load.
  
• We've added a link to the message that shows when SteamVR hasn't been installed or run yet, so you know we're talking about SteamVR, not just Steam.
  

If you love what we do, please chuck us a Steam review 💚

LIV v2.8.4

First things first - headlines!

- First-person stabilizer gets better smoothing, a blurry background option, and in-VR preview!
- LIV gets a mini-makeover with an updated start screen and tweaked window layout!
- Some crashes were fixed!
- We're testing out Quest Avatars and our OBS Plugin, more at 10.

New:
- Updated welcome screen, with easily-accessible changelog and feedback options. Help guide the direction LIV will go!
- We've added in that much-requested background blur to our shiny new first-person stabilizer.
- Oh! Speaking of, we also improved the settings UI quite a bit - now with an in-VR preview of your output!
- We've also tweaked our smoothing function, set new presets, and unlocked its framerate! Silky smooth footage for all 🤤
- Our OBS Plugin, available on the "latest" branch, allows you to "Export" any scene or source to be used as your LIV camera, without any CPU overhead!
- We're working hard to get Quest Avatars ready, testing in a small group now over on "latest" 👀

Fixed:
- We've added extra CPU & GPU usage monitors to our telemetry files, which we're hoping will give us a hand with tracking down lingering performance trouble you might be having.
- StreamerKit would sometimes crash when disconnecting from StreamElements, just some already-cleaned up stuff complaining about being fussed over!
- StreamerKit also would sometimes crash when SteamVR was being closed.
- Our tutorial got to be clingy for some of you... refusing to finish the tutorial right at the last possible moment. We've had a little chat about responsibilities.
- It didn't let us off easy though, the tutorial would crash LIV on close too. We're making progress, here!
- The first-person stabilizer now correctly matches the gamma setting of whatever it's capturing.
- ... sad to call this fixed but the Quest logo has been updated. 👋😭

If you love what we do, please chuck us a Steam review!