2.X Update (Patreon)

This last week brought a lot of work on the 2.X platform. After each 1.X release some time will be spent on 2.X to make progress towards the future for VaM. Due to this parallel work, 1.X releases will not always come out on an exact monthly basis as has already happened with the last couple of releases where some time was spent working on 2.X. For those not already familiar with this, 2.X will bring many improvements to VaM. Just some of the planned features and improvements:

• New physics system, with the main goal of vastly improved performance. The primary performance bottleneck in VaM 1.X today is physics. 
• Improved soft-body physics. Both genders. More areas. More realistic movement.
• Improved skin collision. Both genders. More accuracy.
• New dynamic UI system that will be mod-able and perform better.
• Improved parameter system. Built-in filtering for both searching and saving. Improved UI integration.
• New animation system. This will be a hybrid of motion-capture and keyframe animation systems with full editing capability.
• New rendering system based on Unity's new HDRP (High-Definition Render Pipeline), including fully user-controllable post-process effects (depth-of-field, bloom,  etc.)

2.X is still a long ways out before initial release. Early alpha releases will be made available whenever possible as long as they bring a quality look at what the future holds. These early releases will offer very limited functionality compared to 1.X. No ETA yet on when the first of these 2.X alphas will be available.

This last week's work on 2.X work focused on 2 areas:

HDRP (High-Definition Render Pipeline) 

Continued evaluation of this new system from Unity. After more evaluation, it is clear this system can bring VaM visuals to next-gen status. The biggest hurdle with this system is performance. We're confident Unity will make a lot of improvements in this space by the time 2.X is launched, but worst case we can develop our own optimized version since the source code is available. In addition, the system is very scalable so advanced features can be easily toggled off to improve performance over a wide range of GPU hardware. Ray-tracing is planned in future version of HDRP from Unity, and support will be added to VaM 2.X as that support evolves.

Porting and/or rewriting of fundamental code. 

This work is not glamorous, but it is necessary. Refactoring of old code into newer streamlined code that is more modular and supportable. VaM 1.X had built up 5 years of clutter (work on VaM started well before the Patreon project). It was time to clean out the closet. This is ongoing and will take some time.

Param system: Improved to allow easier dynamic attachment of UI elements. Added tagging and filtering system utilizing a boolean logic system (this may be back-ported to 1.X)

Input system: Worked on new system that use's Unity's latest XR.InputDevices input platform as the basis. This will allow easy remapping of controls to user's preference. New controller types will be automatically supported as Unity adds support for them. Already supported are trackers and finger tracking controllers like the Index and Touch controllers. This work will allow consistent input usage across all of VaM and allow inputs to be more easily used in plugins.

Thanks again for your ongoing support! I'm so grateful to have this amazing backing to allow bringing VaM to the next level in 2.X. There is much to look forward too!

Meshed