Plugins + Scripts VAMStory

[hazmhox]

Hi, thanks.
No. ( for "does it have" and "can it have" ) This question has been asked and aswered more than I can count.
If you want a detailed answer on that aspect, you can find more details in that discussion. I think it was ask again on page 24 if I'm not mistaken.

 

[hazmhox]

hazmhox updated VAMStory with a new update entry:

UI QoL

VAMStoryDirector

• Revamped the UI completely with a custom trigger list instead of a dropdown
• Added the ability to duplicate the current active trigger
• Added a checkbox to remove deletion confirmation to be able to mass delete triggers quickly

Thanks a ton to @Spacedog and @VAMFantasy for the extensive testing for this big UI revamp.
Thanks to @14mhz for making the idea of custom components arise...

Read the rest of this update entry...

 

[Sanyi]

Hi hazmhox, I apologise in advance if you have already covered this earlier, but my question is this.
I wish to trigger a move from one scene to the next, where one character has moved nearer to another
and includes minor animations via plugins. The scene itself stays the same.
Can this be done using VamStory Director and if so, how?
Many thanks for your amazing work

 

[hazmhox]

Many thanks for your amazing work

Thank you! You're very welcome :3

Yup, what you wanna do is doable with Director. I can give you how I do this in general, all my scenes revolves around that method:

VAMStoryDirector ( for each "mini" scenes/poses )
- A trigger called "goto scene A" > It does a fade out and calls "changes scene A" trigger
- A trigger called "changes scene A" > doing the changes you need while faded out ( call a timeline animation with a pose, change lights, whatever you image ) then does a fade in.

VAMStoryActions ( or any other ways to trigger your scene scripting )
- A UI with "Change position" or "Play scene A" > triggers "goto scene A"


So to depict the flow and how it happens :

User clicks a button (or your scene triggers it) > "goto scene A" fades out > that trigger calls "changes scene A" then fades back in > scene A plays.
You can then duplicate that system as much as you want if you have a bunch of mini scenes/poses, so you would have something like this in Director's triggers :

• Goto scene A
• Changes scene A
• Goto scene B
• Changes scene B
• Goto scene C
• Changes scene C
• ...

One trick: if your fade out is always the same ( duration, style etc ), and your "goto scene A" does not change much ( depending on your needs ). Don't hesitate to mutualize the system:
- Create a "fade out Xsecs" trigger in director (which would be simply a fade out with Overlays of a duration of X seconds)
- In "Goto scene A/B/C", call that fade out instead of recreating it everytime, so that, if you wanna adjust the fade out duration or style, it does it globally on all your mini scenes

That's pretty much it ^^

Doing scripting on your scene this way, gives you a good flexibility and allows you to let the user control the scene at will if you want to.
Quite nice to do scene resets and all that sort of stuffs : )

Now imagine you can use VR/Desktop triggers, Gate triggers, or count triggers in Director. The possibilities are quite big

 

[Sanyi]

Many thanks hazmhox for your quick reply and extensive explanation
Unfortunately, I'm a complete novice in the use of triggers and although I've managed to create said triggers in VamS Dir I've been unable to go any further.
I've introduced Vamstory Actions but I'm unsure as to when I'm supposed to save the changed scene and what method to use and where.
I've become so confused, I've introduced a button to the scene and then tried to create a trigger that would replicate what you suggested and then ended up going down a rabbit hole.
Please point out what I'm doing wrong.

Many thanks once again.

 

[vamurai]

No problem at all haha... nice explaination demo ^^

Here is one thing I could do: I could ensure the UI is unhidden by clicking the show/hide panel when you are using it. So that by default, if it is hidden through the eye icon (which is only user interactable btw) it would reforce the toggled state.

Which btw, shows a bug that the state of the window is not preserved properly (we see you click twice to get the window back).

In your case specifically, I don't know why... but if your "UI hide toggle button" is enabled. Then it should NEVER be in a state where the window is hidden with that button (the double click bug), so technically if it was in a proper state... using the Show/hide panel button should immediately display it.

I... feel like this is now broken for me? Not sure if you've changed anything to that part specifically since May, but I feel like I used to be able to hide the UI and the little "eye" icon would stick around. I'm trying to start the scene and have it also hide the menu, but leave the eye so the user can get the menu back when they want the menu back. The fact that it disappears seemed like no big deal though, right? I figure I'd just have the button hide the UI, then show the eye icon again, NBD. Except I can't seem to figure out how to do that, haha. Any tricks I'm missing? It's one the last few things on my list to figure out before I release this scene.

Thanks in advance!

 

[hazmhox]

hey @vamurai ! glad to see you around ^^

I think you might "feel" wrong haha. The base UI structure never changed, I ensure I don't do that to avoid that sort of side effects. I could be wrong, but the toggle/show/hide systems were made for people to control the UI state themselves and be able to remove the "eye" button (to not have two different systems control the state which could create problems).

I can give you a trick for that :

- On your empty have your VAMSAction for your UI, disable the EYE
- On the same empty, add a VAMSActionCustom, and add only one button that you position properly that has a hide/show button to toggle the VAMSAction UI.

The thing you're showing with the "Hide UI toggle button" is an improvement I did a while back, 'coz some people complained that changing that state wasn't refreshing the UI behavior. So it's only re-enabling the UI visibility if you change the state. But that's technically not a setting you would really change at runtime.

I suggest you use the trick above if you want a custom state behavior of your own.

 

[hazmhox]

Many thanks hazmhox for your quick reply and extensive explanation
Unfortunately, I'm a complete novice in the use of triggers and although I've managed to create said triggers in VamS Dir I've been unable to go any further.
I've introduced Vamstory Actions but I'm unsure as to when I'm supposed to save the changed scene and what method to use and where.
I've become so confused, I've introduced a button to the scene and then tried to create a trigger that would replicate what you suggested and then ended up going down a rabbit hole.
Please point out what I'm doing wrong.

Many thanks once again.

I think you might not know how to manipulate "the scene" by itself, which is the biggest thing you need to understand first.

For instance: a "mini-scene/animation" is controlled by Timeline. You would need to control Timeline with whatever you want... which can be a VAMStory action or director or anything else.

Do you have enough knowledge on that end? What do you need to know?

 

[vamurai]

hey @vamurai ! glad to see you around ^^

I think you might "feel" wrong haha. The base UI structure never changed, I ensure I don't do that to avoid that sort of side effects. I could be wrong, but the toggle/show/hide systems were made for people to control the UI state themselves and be able to remove the "eye" button (to not have two different systems control the state which could create problems).

I can give you a trick for that :

- On your empty have your VAMSAction for your UI, disable the EYE
- On the same empty, add a VAMSActionCustom, and add only one button that you position properly that has a hide/show button to toggle the VAMSAction UI.

The thing you're showing with the "Hide UI toggle button" is an improvement I did a while back, 'coz some people complained that changing that state wasn't refreshing the UI behavior. So it's only re-enabling the UI visibility if you change the state. But that's technically not a setting you would really change at runtime.

I suggest you use the trick above if you want a custom state behavior of your own.

Perfect! I am no stranger to tricks that get the job done, and that's all I need here. Thank you for the tip, the quick reply, and the ever-awesome plugins.

 

[Sanyi]

Hi hazmhox, thanks for persevering with me.
I hadn't considered timeline as movements in scene A is nil and in scene B movements are created using plugins.
I am not familiar with using timeline as my manipulations are always via plugins.
Would I need to go down the timeline route?

Many thanks once again.

 

[hazmhox]

Hi hazmhox, thanks for persevering with me.
I hadn't considered timeline as movements in scene A is nil and in scene B movements are created using plugins.
I am not familiar with using timeline as my manipulations are always via plugins.
Would I need to go down the timeline route?

Many thanks once again.

No worries!

Your problem is understanding how to control your scene. If you prefer, VAMS Director is not gonna do anything for you if you lack the knowledge on what to do with it.
For instance, do you know my HZMDemos package? If yes, did you try Kitarah's Demo inside of it? If yes, does that simple scene "speaks to you" from a scripting point of view?
If not, grab HZMDemos, grab dependencies for Kitarah and try the scene, then answer to the last question ^^

 

[hazmhox]

Perfect! I am no stranger to tricks that get the job done, and that's all I need here. Thank you for the tip, the quick reply, and the ever-awesome plugins.

Np!
Last note: you could make a custom background for you show/hide custom button in VAMSACustom

 

[vamurai]

Np!
Last note: you could make a custom background for you show/hide custom button in VAMSACustom

Wait, really? Now THAT I have to try!

 

[hazmhox]

Wait, really? Now THAT I have to try!

If you need a reference there's a demo in HZMDemos to help you out understand the system ^^

 

[vamurai]

If you need a reference there's a demo in HZMDemos to help you out understand the system ^^

Right now, it's just menus that I use VAMStory for, so I have a pretty good grasp of how it works, but I LOVE HZMDemos. Such a useful scene!

I just had to drop back in and say that I owe you a drink! Such a simple implementation and exactly what I needed it to do. I even stole your same Hide UI icon because it's just so damned perfect for this purpose. I cannot thank you enough!