VaM2 August Progress Update (Patreon)

If you haven't read our previous VaM2 progress update, please read that 1st as it contains a lot of information that we don't want to re-post here. Most of this information is still relevant. Here is the link to the previous progress update:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/vam-2-x-progress-51840802

We are 3 months further along on VaM2 development since the last progress update at the end of May, and a lot has been accomplished, but the journey of VaM2 has just begun. Some things have taken more time than expected, but some things were easier due to our previous experience on VaM and the ability to have some reference code and models from that earlier project. Since the last progress update, we made several important decisions after careful evaluation of many options. We decided to take the time to carefully weigh options in various areas in order to avoid long term issues in VaM2 that could affect performance or usability. Improved performance and usability are 2 of our 4 main goals for VaM2. Some decisions in VaM were rushed which led to later issues in both these areas. We are trying to learn from that and avoid similar hasty decision making on VaM2. This does come at a cost of increased time to development.

This progress update does not include any new screenshots or videos due to time constraints. We were attempting to make it far enough along to provide a video demonstrating a physically rigged and poseable model showing the smooth skinning and joint bends using the now fully completed joint-controlled-morph (JCM) system. We did not quite get there in time for this progress update. It has been too long since the last progress report, so we decided to give a lengthy text-only update now to explain what we have been working on. A video demonstrating everything accomplished so far on VaM2 will be coming in the next few weeks once the final pieces have come together. And within a few weeks after that we expect to release the 1st playable alpha. This alpha will be released to all Patreon backers to try out. Thank you for your patience!

Summary of some of the work since the last update:

• Fixed a major issue with the skinning system on high resolution meshes that was causing rough distortions and inaccurate skinning in some areas.
• Evaluation and decisions on physics engines. This took an extensive amount of time.
• Evaluation and decisions on model importing and usage. This took an extensive amount of time.
• Fixed issue with bone import to allow joint controlled morphs (JCMs) to exactly match DAZ Studio implementation.
• Redid the morph system and partially completed bone movement morphs.
• Created initial person physics rig to allow person to be posed and react in a natural way.
• Project reorganization for better development efficiency and future setup for community creation of custom objects (atoms).

If you would like more details, including the updated alpha plans, please see the more extensively detailed post on the Hub here:

https://hub.virtamate.com/threads/vam-2-x-august-progress-update.11116/

Thank you everyone for your continued support through this long lapse in releases between VaM and VaM2, and the long time between official posts on VaM2 progress. Your confidence in us and your very generous backing has helped us continue towards an amazing future for this project.