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LIV News

LIV 2.12.1

Maintenance update


[h2]Bugfixes:[/h2]

  • The First Person Stabilizer can now capture ViveCraft without crashing either the game or LIV. This applies to both the standalone mod from the installer and the mod loaded via fabric or forge. Now you can show off your redstone contraptions
  • without the shaky cam*!
  • We fixed a bug where the First Person Stabilizer will only display a black window when capturing OpenGL application using versions older than 4.3
  • Discord Audio streaming would totally cut the sound of a few games like Pistol Whip. We have a tentative fix for it.
  • Woops ... We might have let a certificate expire, and LIV Connect would not ... Well, Connect with the app from your Quest. We fixed that in this release.


[h2]We've also done a few updates behind the scenes:[/h2]

  • Removal of a dependency issue between the SteamVR driver and the LIV bridge. LIV updates via steam may go smoother even if SteamVR is running.
  • We've fixed some issues with us not correctly detecting that you need to install our SteamVR driver.
  • We've done some fixes related to some internal parts of the LIV app that should help us detect if we have a mismatch of versions with some games that integrate the LIV SDK.

LIV Store Early Access!

While this update might not necessarily be app related, we wanted to let everyone know about something we’ve been working on behind the scenes, the LIV Store!



Our goal is to create a one stop shop that hosts content built and optimized for VR. We’re starting with fully rigged 3D avatars but have plans on expanding to other VR services such as file conversions, avatar optimizations and much more.

The avatars on our store are top notch, fully rigged, high quality, and will work with both LIV and other social apps that support the .VRM avatar format (all of the popular ones do). Simply purchase, download, and go! No need to fuss with Unity, Blender etc as our wonderful sellers have done all the heavy lifting for you.

We are also working with game developers to bring VR characters you know and love to avatar format - starting off with Magus and Iris from Ruins Magus! Keep an eye out on socials for even more listing updates as they come, because we have even more assets not publicly available yet. ;)





If you are interested in potentially selling on the LIV store, we also have an application you can fill out here.

Selling on the LIV store is non-exclusive, meaning it's one additional location to potentially earn extra revenue! Your avatar listing does not have to be new and you can use one that you are selling on other platforms as well. We’re offering a preferred revenue share and increased advertising/marketing for the first few artists interested in partnering, so apply now!

We’d love to hear your feedback or answer any questions about the store either here in the comments, or at feedback.liv.tv!

LIV 2.12

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.

LIV Menu Location Options


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.


Avatar Updates


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!

Misc Updates


[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!

Menu & Avatar Updates in Public Beta!

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)

New LIV Menu Location


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.



Another one for avatar users…

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!

Minor Beat Saber Improvements!


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!

LIV 2.10.0 - YouTube integration is here!

YouTube Support Is In!


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!

BONEWORKS LIV Mod


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

Spill all over your green screen?


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 💚