VaM: Basics

Welcome to Virt-a-Mate! Virt-a-Mate (or VaM) can be a little intimidating when getting started. This page should help you find your way around the basics. Getting Virt-a-Mate There are several ways to purchase Subscription Tiers for Virt-a-Mate, check out our Official Announcement - How To Get Virt-a-Mate for more information. It can be used for free but is very limited when used without a key. There are several tiers available: Virt-a-Mate Tiers Free = ability to load the specific demo files. Teaser Subscription = Access to posts and videos detailing development, Access to "Teaser" builds of Virt-a-Mate. "Teaser" builds unlock nearly all capabilities except the following limitations: 1. You cannot save scenes or packages 2...

As of version 1.21.0.4. A new first-time user startup opt-in/out panel presenting recommended settings and explanations of each option was added to the game. Welcome to Virt-a-Mate! As a new user, please review the settings below. Settings shown are what are recommended for the best in-game experience, but you must confirm you are comfortable with these settings by hovering over each “?” icon below before clicking Accept to continue. Each of the settings on this page have implications for application security and privacy, and by enabling any setting here, you are accepting all risk and liability for using that setting. These settings can be changed at any time on the Security panel in User Preferences area of the Main UI. Please...

Start Up Screen (Top Menu) The VaM Start Up Screen opens with a variety of choices presented to you: The “VaM Hub” quick link opens the in-game browser for the official Virt-a-Mate Hub. This is available to anyone with a Teaser or Higher subscription key. Opens the “Scenes Browser” dialog. For more information please see the Scene and Template page. This option is available to everyone. Opens the “Template Browser” dialog. For more information please see the Scene and Template page. You must be subscribed at the Creator level to use this option. Opens your current Default Json file. See the File Types page for more Info. This closes the Startup page and takes you to your currently open...

VaM UI Icons The following Icons are visible with in the scene when the specific atoms are present. Click on the icon in the scene to select the relevant Atom for editing. Person Root Person: Eye Target Control Prop Atoms and Custom Atoms Player Navigation Panel Window Camera Window Camera: Display Control Light Source Audio Source Rhythm Force Rhythm Audio Source Grab Point Sync Force, Cycle Force Animation Pattern Step Animation Pattern Various Triggers and Cloth Grab Web Browsers Simple Sign Torch Subscene Atom The color of the icon indicates it’s Control Status. The generic atom icon is displayed here for convenience. Click for more specific information on Atom Control...

Desktop UI Bar The Desktop UI Bar is unique to playing VaM on the desktop. It adds controls that are not needed in the VR experience. Desktop UI while VaM is in "Play" mode: Desktop UI while VaM is in "Edit" mode: “F1” Toggles the “Desktop UI Bar” On and Off when playing on the desktop. “Toggle Game UI” Keyboard Shortcut “U” - Opens VaM’s Base UI Panel. This panel is identical to the VR one. “Toggle Mouse Look” Keyboard shortcut “Tab” This can be clicked on with your mouse. To toggle off again you hit the “tab” key A green “Activated” tab will be shown while Mouse look is active. While in “Mouse look” mode, moving your mouse with no buttons pressed rotates your monitor camera around its own center point. “Right click”...

The Save and Load Windows. These windows are laid out very similarly and share the same file navigation and sorting options. “Select Scene to Load” or “Select Scene for Edit “Shortcuts'' Displays the default save location and all available addonpackages that contain scene files. This column gives clickable options for viewing available files or selecting specific AddonPackages. “Only Show Latest” Filters out older versions of available Addon Package files. “Saves\scene” Displays files and folders located in your VaM Saves\scene folder. “All Flattened” Displays all available .json scene files from your VaM Saves\scene folder and all installed AddonPackages. “AddonPackages Flattened” Displays all available...

The Scene Browser and The Template Browser These two windows are very similar and are both covered here for convenience. Scene Browser can be opened from the Start up Screen (Top Menu). Or from the “All Scenes Browser” shortcut in the Base UI. Template Browser can be opened from the Start up Screen (Top Menu). Or from the “All Templates Browser” shortcut in the Base UI. The Scene Browser The Template Browser The Scene Browser and the Template Browser scan your “Virt-a-Mate\Saves\scene”, and “Virt-a-Mate\AddonPackages” folder. Displaying all .json files that are available to load. The Scene browser will display all specified files flattened with no folders or sub folders displayed excluding...

VaM File Types .json The basic scene file for VaM is the .json file. Also used for Subscenes \Saves\scene \Custom\SubScene .vac Legacy compiled scene files. These are not commonly used anymore. Originally the scene file when packaged into a "vac" for sharing would compress the assets into one file that would be opened from the scene folder. When opened the file would unzip and create a tree folder within that location so that the assets could be accessed by VaM. After closing the scene those specific assets would not be accessible normally unless copied into the appropriate folder. \Saves\scene .assetbundle Unity compiled assets "How to create a Var File" Guide created by JoyBoy. \Custom\Assets...

File Options Clicking the Options Gear displays the tagging options available for a .json file. "Use As Template" will tag the file as a “Template” so it will show up specifically inside the Template Browser. "Hide" tags the file as hidden. Hiding the file from the Template and Scene browser unless the browser is set to “Show Hidden” This tags the file as a “Favorite”. Allowing the file to be listed when “Only Favorites” is set in the Scene or Template browsers. "Delete" removes the selected file. This option is not available to files packed inside var files or otherwise not read/writeable. "Rename..." opens a prompt for you to rename the selected file. This option is not available to files packed inside var files or...

Person Atom Basics The Person Atom is the heart and soul of Virt-a-mate. It’s safe to say it is exactly why everyone loves this program. The Male and Female models are Genesis 2 models available with the core install of Daz Studio. In fact many of the skins, Hair and clothing available for the Genesis 2 characters are either already integrated into VaM or easily imported using VaM's built in tools. Adding a Person Atom There are two ways to access the Add Atom Menu to add a Person Atom to your scene. The first is directly from the Base UI while in Edit mode. Clicking on the Icon “Open Add Atom Menu To Add Person Atom" will open the "Add Atom" menu with the "Person Atom add" option already selected. Clicking on the “Add Atom”...

Presets Presets are varied and have a long iterative history in Vam. An excellent guide is available on the Hub covering all aspects of presets compiled by JayJayWon. https://hub.virtamate.com/resources/preset-definitions.189/ https://hub.virtamate.com/resources/preset-definitions-non-person-atoms.3578/ https://hub.virtamate.com/members/jayjaywon.15/

Custom Unity Assets (CUA) Introduction & Creator Guides: The CustomUnityAsset atom is a powerful tool that allows importing assets (prefabs or scenes) from Unity. You can use a free version of Unity to make custom objects and full maps (scenes) for VaM. Loading a Custom Asset Create CustomUnityAsset atom using the standard add atom method (Misc -> CustomUnityAsset -> Add Object). Select the CustomUnityAsset and open the UI. You should see a panel like this Click the 'Select File...' button. Browse to the custom asset file. This will filter for *.assetbundle and *.scene files. Either can be used. Once file is selected, it could take some time to load the file. You may see a...