First and foremost, this plugin would not have been possible without the code snippet of VRStudy in this discussion. Thank you very much for that!
Purpose
VAMLock is a plugin that allows you to automatically lock elements from the preset manager on a person atom, or via script and triggers.
The main goal of that is that it allows swapping the appearance at the beginning. And every subsequent scene ( with a merge load ) will keep the choice you made at the beginning.
After the release of 2069, I started to think about my next story, and I immediately had in mind the possibility of swapping the female character from three different looks and in addition a custom one that every user could set to enjoy the story with his/her own favorite look.
I wanted to keep the feature a secret. But since the code that makes everything works is not from me, I think it is better to share it to the community and allow everyone of you to come up with new ideas.
How to use
Automatic lock :
Add the script on a character
Open the custom window UI of the plugin and check the elements you want to automatically lock when the scene loads
Setting up preset loads :
Create a button that has triggers :
Unlock all parameters or only the one you want to change then load a preset with Appearance Presets > Load Preset with path. Like this :
Lock and unlocks are made by referencing the script and selecting the lock / unlock parameter functions inside the action :
Finally, on your "Start story" button (or script maybe), lock all the parameters you want to keep, and trigger merge load :
If all of this seems like chinese to you... the best will be to checkout the demo available in the downloads.
Demo, how to use
Besides the obvious buttons, there is one that can confuse you : Custom
The script behind this button is made to load a specific appearance preset.
All you have to do is :
- Open your favorite scene, look, or story.
- Select your female character
- Click on the Appearance presets tab
- In the preset name field, type "vamlock-demo-custom" (without the quotes). If the field is not empty, clear it then type it.
- Click Create new preset and DON'T save the scene. Go back to the main menu or load VAMLock demo.
Now, if you click on Custom, you should see your custom appearance load on the character... you can start the story.
For creators, some insights...
This is not gender exclusive, you can use that on any Person atom... male, female, futa, whatever.
This is not a magic appearance loader. If you use this kind of trick for your next story, you will have to think in advance of your appearances.
Swapping hair presets, or skins is not a big problem. If you start to swap morphs and sizes, you're gonna have trouble with your animations and alignements in the story.
If you're allowing the user to select a custom preset, you should be clear upfront. What type of character the animation is "waiting for" ? slender, large, bbw ? Big boobz, ultra boobz, tiny boobz ?
The size is also really important, you should tell what size the character should be : 0.8, 1.0, 1.3 ? This is something you can check in the Control & Physics 1 tab > Scale.
This system opens up some cool possibilities. In my demo I'm swapping a whole appearance... but you could imagine having several buttons that would allow the player to swap hairs presets, clothing presets, skins presets etc...
I think that's all... hope you enjoy this.
