Just started. Some quick questions.

[Aminator]

I didn't know this existed until a couple hours ago. It looks like a fairly easy program to learn.
I just have a few questions because I'm still not sure what I can do with it.

I currently only have an oculus Go. Can I make can I make games for it even with the limited tracking etc?

Does VAM make stereoscopic vr?

Can I render out a stereoscopic VR movie?

I'm mainly an iclone user is there a way to use iclone animations and or characters in VAM?

I just finished installing and watched a number of tutorials. It looks like fun.

 

[Jiraiya]

The GO just lacks positional tracking. You can still view VaM and move with the controller, which won't be as good but should work.
There are however tracking apps you could use to add positional tracking to your Go. I have never tried this but look at april tag VR tracking, which uses QR codes to track. You could possibly stick the tags on the Go and then use a "single fake vive tracker" to control your head movement in VR, getting you something similar to the Quest/Quest2. I would be very interested to hear how that worked out for you!
I also don't think that the Go does PCVR natively? I think you need an app to get the VR image from the PC. I don't know if the virtual Desktop app works with it but there are others. Do you already know how you are getting the image from VaM to the Go?

Yes, it's stereo3D in VR. I wouldn't consider it real VR if not, but that's rendered to a normal PCVR headset so I don't know how it would work with the Go.

Yes, you can render out a movie. You do need the new plugin that was recently released and it doesn't run realtime, but it works amazingly well.

Never heard of iclone. BVH can be used with a plugin again, so if you can convert to those, that's working.

 

[Aminator]

Thanks for the info. Iclone is good for animating. I can use Live face on my iPhone and animate the speech and face it can be used with unreal and metahuman. I'm not sure about VAM buy I think I can at least export bvh somehow. Probably not the facial animations though.
Hopefully VAM has an easy way of doing speech.

I'll probably just try to render out movies for now. Do you know if the new plugin actually renders full frames so the viewer can turn their head or is it just what the camera is looking at?

 

[Johninvr]

Aminator, welcome, You are in for a wild ride!

Imagine a VR simulator so immersive you could have any girl/girls/dudes you wanted in any environment you wanted doing literally anything you wanted. In FULL immersive VR. As in, you don’t just look at them, you can physically walk around them in real life and it will appear so in VR; you can physically lay down and have her ride on top of you; you can reach out with your real hands (no controller) and be feeling her breasts in VR. And so, so, SO much more.

After I learned what all this simulator can do (more than a game to me) I bought a brand new top of the line gaming system and a new Oculus Quest 2. Only regret was not doing it sooner. I can EASILY burn 8-10hours straight on VAM and it feels like 5 minutes.
It’s my boyhood dream come true. Welcome to the addiction.

 

[Aminator]

What's the best option if I upgrade? Aside from the tracking is there much of an improvement going from that to a quest 2? Or a PlayStation with the headset? I actually do have a PlayStation and could get the VR stuff for it.

 

[Jiraiya]

There is actually a live face plugin for VaM so you can do realtime facial animation of your character. I am unsure however how you would record that!
The movie renderer does indeed do full strereo3D 360 video output if that's what you want. I have done a few tests myself to see how it works with my VR camera. There is an option to input a VR photo as a background so your models are rendered over it, that's amazing.
There are lots of options on that new plugin and it's amazing.
It's here, https://hub.virtamate.com/resources...rer-for-3d-vr180-and-vr360-and-flat-2d.11994/
Thank Eosin for his hard work! Lots of updates have been done and it is an amazing plugin.
I don't think the Playstation VR would be any use as that only renders native Playstation content/games. I don't believe there is any way to use it as a headset for your PC.
The quest2 is currently one of the best value all in one solutions for VR. I have one and it was astounding how good the inside out position tracking works.
Once you experience being about to walk around a scene in VaM and look at things from different angles it will blow your mind.
Like I said though, If you stream the PC through your Go and get AprilTag tracking working you could probably make do with your existing hardware if money is an issue, or while deciding on any future purchase.
(Did I say amazing too many times? I obviously have a low bar set personally).
Also, here is the link for the QR code tag tracking,

GitHub - ju1ce/April-Tag-VR-FullBody-Tracker: Full-body tracking in VR using AprilTag markers.

Full-body tracking in VR using AprilTag markers. Contribute to ju1ce/April-Tag-VR-FullBody-Tracker development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

 

[Hedgepig]

"Thanks for the info. Iclone is good for animating. I can use Live face on my iPhone and animate the speech and face it can be used with unreal and metahuman. I'm not sure about VAM buy I think I can at least export bvh somehow. Probably not the facial animations though.
Hopefully VAM has an easy way of doing speech. "

I think someone here is already doing this , Scenes - The Blaire Avery Experience - Thanks For Coming Over (Full Scene) - Dependencies | Virt-A-Mate Hub (virtamate.com) - that said when I played this scene I reconfigured the model's lipsync with the VAM adamant lipsync plugin to give greater realism.

There is a BVH player that you can use in conjunction with Acid Bubbles Timeline to save scene animations, edit and replay them.

VAM is quite a steep learning curve, but seriously, Realillusion can only do about 5% of what VAM is capable of. Recent plugins means the potential is limitless.

There is a way of doing speech, that's way better than anything else that I've ever tried, including the current benchmark, SALSA_Lipsync in Unity, if you use the right morphs and expressions in VAM.

Somewhere, there's a video about how to import you BVH files into VAM, but it's not something I'm interested in doing. If you search there's information about most questions you might have about how to use VAM.

 

[Johninvr]

What's the best option if I upgrade? Aside from the tracking is there much of an improvement going from that to a quest 2? Or a PlayStation with the headset? I actually do have a PlayStation and could get the VR stuff for it.

I would recommend staying away from anything console related in regards to VAM. VAM is very much a PC only game, it will not play natively on a PlayStation or even an Oculus itself; for instance my Quest 2 is only the headset and tracking hardware, all of the computing is still being done on my new desktop PC. Just to be clear, VAM cannot run on a headset alone.

Im not a tech whiz at all but did quite a bit of research. I ended up going with a prebuilt gaming PC from my local Microcenter, it runs VAM in silky smooth VR and if I have any tech issues I can physically bring it into the store and they will fix it on the spot. Fortunately I haven’t had to deal with that at all, I unboxed it, loaded VAM and my Quest 2 software and I’ve been in VAM heaven ever since.

 

[Aminator]

I was going to get a quest a year ago but I I was very put off by the whole Facebook integration.
My understanding was that you have to link it with a Facebook account just to use it and I'm sure everything you do is tracked.

Personally I like to keep wifi off at all times with my Go and haven't used Facebook in years.

I've read that there's now a hack to remove Facebook's grip on the Quest 2 but there are a number of drawbacks and you lose some functionality. I'm not sure if it would affect virt a mate.

Has anyone had any experience with this? How does it affect VAM?

Btw, I have a GTX 1660 ti. Should I be ok with that?

 

[HolySchmidt]

You can throw any hardware on VaM, you will never be okay with that
VaM 1.x, as you can read in many threads, is unoptimized. Sincle core CPU performance is important, good GPU is important. You can of course turn down the settings until it runs smoothly but no one knows what your demand is. Is that "okay" for you? Fine, 1660ti is okay! Your CPU should make a greater impact on how many fps you'll get, maybe not, depends on what is happening in-game.

You'll need a lot of physics calculation (CPU) and if you want it to look good, a lot of graphics calculation (GPU).

Here's a benchmark for simple comparison if you like to test your system: https://hub.virtamate.com/threads/benchmark-result-discussion.13131/

It looks like a fairly easy program to learn.

Right now you're just looking at the rabbit hole. You don't know how deep it goes yet.

 

[Jiraiya]

Indeed. This is a sandbox, with scripting.
You can pretty much do almost anything with it, including making full games. There is a fighting game scene on the hub and I released the start of a puzzle/horror game.
I believe Meta are changing the login requirements for the Quest headsets due to so many complaints about it (and Germany outright banning sales of the Quest2 because of it). You need an account to get local native apps/games and login but once you have the headset setup you can sideload a lot of stuff including things like ALVR (free PCVR Link software) to use it with VaM.

 

[Johninvr]

From my understanding the Quest 2’s Facebook login requirement is going away very soon, as others have mentioned. Beyond that what I’ve gathered is that Facebook is mostly tracking the Oculus native apps you are running, what length of time, what other people you are playing and interacting with, etc. When you first get one it makes you manually choose your security settings, which I have all of mine set to Private. So no, no one on my Facebook friends list will see what I’m doing.


With regards to VAM, it is not an oculus app and the only thing that would really “show up” as being tracked would be Virtual Desktop or Air Link. Within those apps you are running VAM and I have seen nothing to suggest exactly what you are doing inside of those apps are being tracked; in fact I’m pretty sure I read Zuck making a public statement that they were NOT tracking things like that (whatever that’s worth I don’t trust him or Evil Inc. for anything). If anyone else knows better please speak up, I’m no expert at all, just recalling what I read when I was researching earlier.

In the end I really wanted to fight the machine and go with another alternative, but here’s the reality:

Anything even remotely close to the Quest 2s capability and performance is going to be around the $1,000 price range, arguably with much less tech support.

The Quest 2s true value as a system is likely somewhere in the $1,500 range (from R&D, branding, advertising, manufacturing etc) but Facebook is likely selling these things at less than cost for the ability to get their branded hardware in as many people’s hands as possible and build their virtual meta verse where we all interact in VR like Ready Player One.

well, IDGAF about social media or interacting, I just want to play VAM on good hardware for cheap. So all Zuck really sees is that I get on, go to virtual desktop and that’s it. No interacting with all the flashy oculus bullshit.

If I don’t bite on any of the advertised flashy oculus things and just use it as a PCVR rig then Zuck just subsidized my PCVR for about $1,200 with little in return.

Then again, I could be wrong.

 

[Aminator]

I might go pick up a quest 2 tonight. I was hoping to get a scene rendered first but I still have a bit to learn.
I downloaded the be rendering plugin be eosin but I'm not sure where to load it.
I figured you probably put it on the camera.

Ideally I'd like a camera attached to a characters head for pov and then render out VR.
The instructions say to "add the plugin to the object from which you want to render (such as an empty). "
What does that mean? I'm not sure what an empty is. Does this mean the object can be anything like a sphere I put in the scene etc?

 

[Jiraiya]

You literally create an "empty" object and put the plugin on that.
That empty object then becomes the VR camera, which is NOT the same as the 2D camera or the VR CameraRig. *sigh*.

I would advise against moving the VR camera rig at all if you can help it, this creates motion sickness if the person watching the video doesn't control the motion (they can't in a rendered video). Avoid this if possible.

 

[TommyTomahawk]

What's the best option if I upgrade? Aside from the tracking is there much of an improvement going from that to a quest 2? Or a PlayStation with the headset? I actually do have a PlayStation and could get the VR stuff for it.

My man, Oculus Go is a literal kid's toy compared to Quest 2. I still use the old CV1 Rift, but I can't imagine living without positional tracking. In a "game" where you'll be inspecting members of the opposite (or same, not judging) sex from really close up, this is a feature you're really going to want.

If you *really* have money to blow, I'd wait for Varjo's new headset, the Aero. Specs sound ridiculous.

 

[Aminator]

Ok thanks. There's quite a learning curve here. It would probably make more sense if I knew how to use unity or unreal.

I got my quest 2. It's charging now ( probably harvesting information on all my devices and sending it to headquarters )

I didn't buy a link cable because I read something about it being a bit of a rip off for the price and the people at Best Buy didn't seem to know anything.
I just read something about an update that will allow you to use any cable?

Anyway, I'll have to download some free scenes and figure out how to play them.
I guess I need virtual desktop too.

If I download some of the free scenes on here can I edit them? Like swap the character for another one etc?

Also do I have to hold those controllers or does this work just with my hand movement? I was watching some quest videos and didn't realize you can ditch the controllers for some things.

 

[Hedgepig]

Ok thanks. There's quite a learning curve here. It would probably make more sense if I knew how to use unity or unreal.

And then what, come back in a year? You're better off learning VAM by learning VAM. I spent eighteen months in Unity, f*cking about with paid assets and watching 1000+ videos of how to use those assets, because when you pay $100+ for say, a high end web browser, and then ask the dev a question, the dev won't even talk to you unless you speak code. You can get pretty much the same browser here for free, and it works out of the box. And that goes for so many things. You can do things in VAM quickly, intuitively and easily, things that I couldn't begin to do in Unity. Haven't even got it on my drive anymore.

 

[Aminator]

I tried unity a few years ago and gave up. I was only interested in making VR films and it was way to difficult just to figure out how to find tutorials that applied to films.
This seems much easier but the methods of animating are way different from what I'm used to.

I was looking at some scenes on here and trying to figure out what a going on.
This one for instance

Scenes - Naughty School Girl

Samantha doesn’t follow the rules and is constantly in trouble. She teases the male teachers and boys with her short skirt and attitude. Ms. Matthews has had enough. 3 scenes, 1 is an animation to watch the other 2 you possess Ms. Matthews...

hub.virtamate.com

I was just on the PC so I didn't play it but it seemed pretty complex to me.
What goes into a scene like this? The schoolgirl has various forces pinning her to the desk or thigh? Then some emotional response to certain cues?

 

[TToby]

Also do I have to hold those controllers

Fortunately, you can play VaM with only one controller, having one hand free for... drinking a cold beverage, for instance. IMHO, using the one controller is maybe not the most immersive, but still the most practical way for using VaM.

 

[Hedgepig]

There's usually a Timeline plugin in most scenes. Why don't you open up the Timeline and find out what's going on with the animations? Is the Timeline running the model's movements and (expression) morphs? Things might be a lot easier to understand than you first imagine. Just try working out one plugin at a time, or one element of VAM, not everything at once.

 

[TToby]

I don't want to discourage you, but this is starting at a very high level. Don't be disappointed, if you can't do a whole film right from the start, where others have difficulties to do a single scene.
No offense! I would suggest to start with some very simple and basic scenes first. That scene you have chosen would be hard to understand even for some advanced users.

 

[Jiraiya]

If you use Virtual Desktop and play with the Quest 2 over wireless you can use the mode on the Q2 that auto-swaps between controllers and hand tracking. You need the controllers sometimes for grabbing things to move the, buttons for menus etc. But just put them down upside down and hold you hands in front of you, auto-made swaps and suddenly your hands are working in VaM!
It's a bit janky because they have to remain in full view of the headset cameras and the gestures to do controls are odd, but it does work.

You can use any USB3 cable from the Quest2 to the PC, but get a good one. Or don't bother and use Airlink/ALVR/VirtualDesktop for wireless streaming which is much better. I spent loads trying different cables before I bought Virtual Desktop and never used a cable again.

 

[Johninvr]

Agree with Jiraiya above, I’d recommend Airlink first because it’s free and works very well ATM. I did buy Virtual Desktop so I could go controller free, I had to do some additional tweaking to get everything working smoothly but now I can reach out with my real hands (no controller) and grab virtual boob. Very worth it.

Ditch the cable, go wireless. The ability to physically walk around your models and grope them freely without cables is second to none. Also a simple USB rechargeable battery plugged into your headset from your pocket is a cheap way to get 8-10+ hoursstraight of gameplay without being anchored into anything.

I have a simple phone charger battery that I keep in my pocket so I didn’t have to buy an expensive headset/battery pack for the oculus to play past 2.5 hours.

 

[Aminator]

Thanks for the tips. I made a simple animation by keyframing a character's arm in the timeline plugin on the character.
I actually got it rendered out in VR.
Unfortunately the arm doesn't move in the video so I'm guessing I missed a step.
Did I only create an animation without inserting it into the overall scene?

The resolution was amazing. I'm not sure what the quest 2 can handle but I had to make the video in ffmpeg and then I scaled it down in DaVinci resolve to 4096 x 2048 at 60 fps. Resolve failed to render at the original resolution.
I think the oculus go could only play 4k at 60 fps if it was h265.

I need to figure out a way to get iclone motions into VAM. If I export an animation from iclone to 3dxchange and then export a bvh it doesn't work.
Being able to use liveface with VAM is a lucky break.

 

[Aminator]

I'm having some trouble getting into VR mode when I'm using the Quest.
I've never actually played any be game let alone with desktop streaming.

I downloaded virtual desktop on the quest and my PC. I Also have the streamer app. On the PC.
I've got VAM on my secondary drive.
If I go to the VAM folder and run VAM it starts up in a window. The same thing happens if I run the VAM VR mode file.