Jan 18, 2023
DanceXR - alloystorm
New Tag System
Demo video: https://youtu.be/TWlidp0Htfk
* New tag selection UI that allows you to select multiple tags to narrow down your search.
* New auto tag suggestions, this will create a list of tags based on file and folder names of all the items in your library so you can quickly create tags for the entire library with only a few clicks.
* New tag categories: you can now put your tags under different categories for easier selection and it is also important functional-wise when you have multiple tags selected. Tags under the same category are applied with a "or" logic and tags across different categories are applied with a "and" logic.
For example if you have model A with tags "Marie" and "Bikini" and model B with tags "Leifang" and "Bikini". Without categories when you select all 3 tags there won't be any result because no model has all 3 tags ("Marie" and "Leifang" and "Bikini"). But if you put "Marie" and "Leifang" under "Character" category and "Bikini" under "Outfit" category, the selection logic will be (("Marie" or "Leifang") and "Bikini") so you will get both model A and B in the result.
* Automatic built-in tags for dance sets: A dance set can have 0 or one audio, and any number of dance motions and camera motions. Based on availability of each different elements, dance sets are automatically tagged with "Audio Only", "Motion Only", "Audio + Motion", "Multiple Motions" and "With Camera" tags. You can quickly find motions for your particular need. ("With Camera" can only be determined after the motion is loaded, so you'll need to load the dance set at least once before that tag is added to the dance set)
* "Props" tag is added to control whether a model should appear in the new "Load Props" menu.
Note: The tag categories are stored in the content cache, if you use old versions after switching to 1.4.0, the category information can be lost when the old program writes content cache. Please make sure you keep a copy of the cache.json file every time you switch versions.
Playlist enhancements
* Saved Playlists: Playlists can now be saved and you can find them in the load menu.
* Playlist editing: You can now change order of items in the playlist and remove items.
Load external files
* Both model and dance set menu allows loading content from files outside of your content library.
* External files are also added to your content library (without actually copied to your library) so you can access them later as usual and use the tagging and favourites functionalities as well.
New props functionality
* You can now add props to your scene from either the built-in models or models that are tagged with "Props" tag from your library.
* For built-in models there are simple phsyics setting to allow them to interact with each other and the actors in the scene. https://youtu.be/MCzx_vzNcQU
* For your library models, they can also be applied simple phsyics shapes in the settings. https://youtu.be/UEc7kLflt7o
* The previous Screen object is split into 2 different built-in props: Screen and Mirror. Screen now has additional settings to control reflection of the screen surface (e.g. a gloss TV screen vs a matt projector screen) and there is a camera model that is visible in the scene (can be turned off in settings). The actors will make eye contact with the cameras.
Google Drive Integration
https://youtu.be/N7o0CdbFvD4
* The program can now download content from a shared folder on Google Drive.
* This allows managing content on Google Drive without a PC and then have the content downloaded to your device automatically (particularly useful for Quest and Android).
* What's not shown in the video is that you can also use a URL shortener to shorten the URL and type that instead of the full URL from Google Drive.
* You can also use this to share content to a friend.
Please note that this is still considered experimental. We are using Google Drive APIs in a way that does not require authentication to simplify the user experience, but the downside of that is the Google Drive folder needs to be shared without restriction, as shown in the video. Google also has a limit on how much you can download from the same IP address within a given period of time. If you are suddenly unable to download, that usually means you've exceeded the download limit. You'll have to wait a few hours before you can download again.
Softbody physics
https://youtu.be/1SYw7Li-ffQ
* For XPS models we added "Softbody physics". You can use this to allow the butts and thigh movements and improve the simulation of "Boobs".
* For "Boobs" simulation you can use the added "Softbody" toggle to switch between the old method and the new "Softbody" simulation.
* For butts and thigh, you'll need to select the bones that controls the related body parts.
XPS Physics on PMX models
Previously this is a global setting but in the new version it has been moved to "Actor Physics Settings" and you can configure it individually for each model.
Please note that the XPS physics settings appear in PMX model settings but they won't function if you don't tick the "Disable PMX Physics" box in the actor physics settings. Sorry for the confusion.
Spectators
Actor models in the scene can be set as "Spectator" mode. You can find this option in the actor tools menu by clicking on the actor and then click on the "Tools" icon. In this mode they will no longer get light focus and they will be positioned surrounding the center at a distance if they are using the "idle" motion.
Other changes
There are also other changes and fixes in many places that we are not going to list here. Feel free to reach out to us if there are certain things you can't find or not working as expected in the new version.
Demo video: https://youtu.be/TWlidp0Htfk
* New tag selection UI that allows you to select multiple tags to narrow down your search.
* New auto tag suggestions, this will create a list of tags based on file and folder names of all the items in your library so you can quickly create tags for the entire library with only a few clicks.
* New tag categories: you can now put your tags under different categories for easier selection and it is also important functional-wise when you have multiple tags selected. Tags under the same category are applied with a "or" logic and tags across different categories are applied with a "and" logic.
For example if you have model A with tags "Marie" and "Bikini" and model B with tags "Leifang" and "Bikini". Without categories when you select all 3 tags there won't be any result because no model has all 3 tags ("Marie" and "Leifang" and "Bikini"). But if you put "Marie" and "Leifang" under "Character" category and "Bikini" under "Outfit" category, the selection logic will be (("Marie" or "Leifang") and "Bikini") so you will get both model A and B in the result.
* Automatic built-in tags for dance sets: A dance set can have 0 or one audio, and any number of dance motions and camera motions. Based on availability of each different elements, dance sets are automatically tagged with "Audio Only", "Motion Only", "Audio + Motion", "Multiple Motions" and "With Camera" tags. You can quickly find motions for your particular need. ("With Camera" can only be determined after the motion is loaded, so you'll need to load the dance set at least once before that tag is added to the dance set)
* "Props" tag is added to control whether a model should appear in the new "Load Props" menu.
Note: The tag categories are stored in the content cache, if you use old versions after switching to 1.4.0, the category information can be lost when the old program writes content cache. Please make sure you keep a copy of the cache.json file every time you switch versions.
Playlist enhancements
* Saved Playlists: Playlists can now be saved and you can find them in the load menu.
* Playlist editing: You can now change order of items in the playlist and remove items.
Load external files
* Both model and dance set menu allows loading content from files outside of your content library.
* External files are also added to your content library (without actually copied to your library) so you can access them later as usual and use the tagging and favourites functionalities as well.
New props functionality
* You can now add props to your scene from either the built-in models or models that are tagged with "Props" tag from your library.
* For built-in models there are simple phsyics setting to allow them to interact with each other and the actors in the scene. https://youtu.be/MCzx_vzNcQU
* For your library models, they can also be applied simple phsyics shapes in the settings. https://youtu.be/UEc7kLflt7o
* The previous Screen object is split into 2 different built-in props: Screen and Mirror. Screen now has additional settings to control reflection of the screen surface (e.g. a gloss TV screen vs a matt projector screen) and there is a camera model that is visible in the scene (can be turned off in settings). The actors will make eye contact with the cameras.
Google Drive Integration
https://youtu.be/N7o0CdbFvD4
* The program can now download content from a shared folder on Google Drive.
* This allows managing content on Google Drive without a PC and then have the content downloaded to your device automatically (particularly useful for Quest and Android).
* What's not shown in the video is that you can also use a URL shortener to shorten the URL and type that instead of the full URL from Google Drive.
* You can also use this to share content to a friend.
Please note that this is still considered experimental. We are using Google Drive APIs in a way that does not require authentication to simplify the user experience, but the downside of that is the Google Drive folder needs to be shared without restriction, as shown in the video. Google also has a limit on how much you can download from the same IP address within a given period of time. If you are suddenly unable to download, that usually means you've exceeded the download limit. You'll have to wait a few hours before you can download again.
Softbody physics
https://youtu.be/1SYw7Li-ffQ
* For XPS models we added "Softbody physics". You can use this to allow the butts and thigh movements and improve the simulation of "Boobs".
* For "Boobs" simulation you can use the added "Softbody" toggle to switch between the old method and the new "Softbody" simulation.
* For butts and thigh, you'll need to select the bones that controls the related body parts.
XPS Physics on PMX models
Previously this is a global setting but in the new version it has been moved to "Actor Physics Settings" and you can configure it individually for each model.
Please note that the XPS physics settings appear in PMX model settings but they won't function if you don't tick the "Disable PMX Physics" box in the actor physics settings. Sorry for the confusion.
Spectators
Actor models in the scene can be set as "Spectator" mode. You can find this option in the actor tools menu by clicking on the actor and then click on the "Tools" icon. In this mode they will no longer get light focus and they will be positioned surrounding the center at a distance if they are using the "idle" motion.
Other changes
There are also other changes and fixes in many places that we are not going to list here. Feel free to reach out to us if there are certain things you can't find or not working as expected in the new version.
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