Whirligig is now on Steam

Well just under a week ago I uploaded the first version of Whirligig to Steam. This is a big thing for me and is the first time I've ever put anything I've made up for sale. A one person project is a big task to take on especially as I've had to work on it part time. Well below is 'the announcement' that I've put all my cards on the table, hat into the ring or neck on the line.

Why are you selling a free player?

So I've been working on this player/maker thing for around 2 years now and I've spent a long long time trying to make it a useful tool for just watching films or working with media in a production environment. I've done this for the joy of working in VR and looking to the future of making my own interactive experiences. Well now I think it's at a stage to see if anyone else would like it. I was sent a Vive  by Valve which was coool and I started working on interaction with their controllers. They also gave me a steamworks account and a way to put Whirligig on the Steam Store. So as the first step was done for me I thought it would be a good idea to get it up and running on the Steam store and see if people wanted it. As far as I could work out I couldn't find any way to put it on for free (I'm sure there is I've seen other stuff for free). So I've put a reasonable price on it, I think $3.99, less than a pint of beer, at least here in the UK to see what happens.

I want to continue working on this player/tool and to do so I need time and hopefully feedback from the community to find out what people and want. I think that although there are other video players out there, that there is a place for Whirligig amongst them. It has some unique features and I am constantly updating it to try and make it even more useful. With your support I can carry on that development and make it an even better tool for everyone.

What about the free version?

I don't want to get rid of the free version. I think the free version is a good way to get people using VR as a video format and it has some good features that makes it stand out. So I'm going to continue to release free versions. What might happen is the free version might become a demo version on the Steam site. I don't intend to have a crippled unusable version. It will play the films in the same quality and with the same features. But the paid version will have some interesting inclusions. More of which, next.

What does the paid version offer over the free version.

The paid version has full VR control without the need of the keyboard. It should turn the Whirligig experience into a much nicer experience for all.

Example of the Vive controller interaction.

Better rooms for that living room effect

Better rooms for that living room effect

The above examples show some of the advances in the player for the paid for version, including a far nicer looking room.

I also intend to update the paid for version a bit more regularly. The great thing about steam is that I have an ecosystem for me to release the player in. It has forums, pushes out updates to users, beta options and much much more. An ecosystem such as this is a proper place to have a product to allow it to grow. With something like this I can communicate and work with the community to help make the player better. This is something that is quite difficult to achieve when you just have a website and dropbox account.

A little bit about the steam site

I've released it as Early Access. This is because at this stage although it been out for a while it still needs proper feedback from the platform it's being distributed on and also when I finally go to release it I want to know that it is at a stage where it is documented well and free from the bigger of the bugs. Although it has a homemade feel to it I want it to be useable and enjoyable. Once I'm happy that Whirligig is at a stage that can be released I'll then release it and have a stream of betas that will add more features for the most adventurous of us.

So what do you want from us then? Is it just our money, it's just our money isn't it.

No, dear god no. I've put it up for a small amount because I'm hoping to be able to continue to develop it. With sales comes the ability for me to make time (I'm currently in a full time job as well as making this player). I'll also be able to invest money into better video plugins, assets to make more rooms and work with others to make the experience better for everyone. It will give me a chance to be able to add much more advanced features such as watching 3d blurays, watching with friends from anywhere around the world, advanced production support such as Spout support, planetarium rooms for dome production and integration with other programs such as PlayblastVR (currently it has it but there is alway room for improvements) or even After effects.

If it is supported then it will be possible to add these features or many others that I haven't even thought of yet that can be suggested by you. I also want to continue my development of making Whirligig so customisable it can be used in promote other people's work, be used in demonstration environments and also my muse that is to make an adventure game in it :)

So if you do buy it you can help me by reviewing it on Steam (I would really much prefer positive reviews but if you have to, tell me what's wrong with it) get on the forum and report bugs, make suggestion, talk amongst yourselves. 

I think Whirligig can be far more than just a player and I hope to be able to make this happen.

And finally

I've just updated the Steam version of the player with bug fix updates and control updates to help people having problems with the d-pad. I will be updating the free version tomorrow with these updates so that everyone can benefit.

So if you buy Whirligig on Steam, thank you very much, I look forward to hearing what you think. If you are downloading it for free from here then also let me know what you think. Either way I hope you enjoy using Whirligig and I hope to be impressing you some great updates in the future.

Until next time.

Over and out.

Phil

Head on over to Whirligig on Steam here:

http://store.steampowered.com/app/451650/

Or download the free version from here:

http://www.whirligig.xyz/player2-1-2/

 

Big update and with that comes a lot of waffle

This is the last big update for the free version of Whirligig before it makes its way onto Steam for sale. I also want to have it on the Oculus Store but the player is still "Under Review". Also as Valve were kind enough to send me a Vive for development and assist greatly in getting my player ready for Steam it seems only fitting it appears on there first.

Don't worry that Whirligig is going to become overly prices, I intend to sell it at a low cost of around 4 Eurosish. I would also like to have a free version available still with less features. If the player/publisher has any success then I will be able to continue to develop it adding new features and make it both a great place to watch films and also develop your own films. I've always wanted Whirligig to be more than just a player and many of the hidden features are used by artists to assist with their own film making. Being able to add more of these features is my long term goal.

So, what's actually new in this version? I hear you mutter impatiently under your breath. Well here we go.

3.2
This is going to be a difficult one to list as a lot has happened. 
I've basically going to do it from memory and will most likely miss stuff out.

Active in this build
---------------------
Oculus Runtime 1.3 support added.
SteamVR and Oculus now in the same build.
Unity 5.4.0b10 updated.
Menu redesign.
Dome changed to Fisheye
Fisheye OU added.
Rooms SBS added.
OU, SBS removed from menu.
Stereo options added so you can select the ou and sbs options.
Fixes to the Custom format.
Explorer now transparent.
Xbox incorrectly detecting controller fixed. Hopefully.
Moved the menu slightly back to improve VR viewing.
Moved it forward in desktop mode for the same reason.

Menu Changes in Detail
A couple of explanations about changes to the menu. The menu has been slightly redesigned. The design is mostly the same as before (Original design by Aaron Bradbury, check out his website. He's a very good artist http://www.luniere.com/ ). Firstly I've removed the 'Quit' option. It seems a bit pointless as you can just close it with the x and also in the SteamVR and I guess Oculus Home you can close it though the VR setup. Removed 'Play' option. This isn't strictly true. What I've actually done is move it to show it as if it's selecting the progress bar. In truth to play the film you only have to press fire/spacebar etc. What the play menu allowed though was an ability to skip forward and backward in the film. It made sense to just have it represent that. For this reason I've also increased the Progress bar height so it's easier to read.

WHATS HAPPENED TO THE STEREO OPTIONS!!!!!!!
Nothing. They are still there. I've just removed them from the format menu. As every format option had all three 3D options Mono, Over Under and Side by Side, it made sense to remove them from the format options and have a simple one key press on each option to go through the selection. This key press is both on the xbox controller and also the key 'y'.


So Whats going to be different in the Steam version
 

There are lots of additions to the player I haven't listed here. The reason being is that they currently disabled. This is due to the fact they aren't finished and also that they are going to be in the Steam version.

Things I will have (hopefully) in the Steam version. The list

Full Vive controller support.
I've worked hard on getting full Vive controller support so that you can use the controller like a laser pen and change the options simply by pointing at them. Also on one of the controller you will get a full selection of options you can point and choose from.

Oculus head mounted Control?
If you don't have a Vive controller the laser pen will be mounted to your head so you can simple point it and what you want and change it that way. The extra controls on the other Vive controller won't be present but they will be all acessable using the xbox controller anyway.

Improved documentation.
I'll be making a proper help file listing all the key presses, hidden options troubleshooting guide and anything else I can think off.

Better Rooms.
The two rooms in the current build. The drive in cinema and Living room will be a bit more that just a proof of concept. I also hope too but might not be able to depending on time, get an extra room in the in the form of a planetarium. If this isn't available on the 5th of April (intended early access release) it soon will be and will appear with standard updates.

Automatic updates
Releasing on Steam means that I can also provide automatic updates for the player. This is really useful as with new hardware there are constant updates coming out for Unity3D, SteamVR, Oculus runtime, the list goes on.

You get to support Whirligig
When you buy Whirligig you will be supporting me and giving me time to work and money to add additional options continue to improve the player. optionals I want to add and by buying this would directly support are.

Steaming Videos from URLs.
Many more Rooms.
Changing the Video plugin to improve performance.
Mac support.
IOS,Android support.
GearVR support.
Being able to sync with another person to watch a film together.
Bluray playback (God knows how I would do this but I'm sure theres a way).
Spout support.
Webcam support.
And loads more that I can't think off right now. I also intend to continue my drive to make Whirligig a proper Adventure game creator and release my game with it,.

Final Thoughts

With the addition of SteamVR support and Unity allowing Oculus and OVR to be in the same build this release is quite a big change to the way the program works. For this reason please let me know if you have problems with this version. I've tried my hardest it make this a stable release and I'm hoping that with the two VR headsets finally getting to or close to their Release dates that version incompatibility will become a thing of the past. I don't think we're there yet. So, as always, let me know what you think, suggestions from you are always good. If I can't add them now then I'll have my eye on them for the future.

So happy watching and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Phil

SteamVR Support and other updates

SteamVR

Well another update has emerged and in my eyes a big one, maybe.

I was recently sent a Vive by Valve  to aid the development of my player on that platform. It's really nice to get free stuff and in this case it has really helped me in getting my player compatible with the Vive using the SteamVR plugin for Unity. This hopefully should mean it's now compatible with other SteamVR compatible devices. So this includes support for OSVR. To be honest as far as I'm aware when it comes to public consumer VR headsets for computer systems there are really only three, the Oculus, Vive and OSVR. It's good to include support for all three devices with one plugin.

So currently the player has split in two with a separate streams for the SteamVR build. The two versions apart from the Steam support are identical so all features should be the same. you can download from here http://www.whirligig.xyz/player2-1-2/ I am hoping to condense these two versions down to one in the very near future.

There are other updates apart from the SteamVR support and here they are.

Other Updates

  • The Whirligig format has been born .wlg Why I hear you cry, Why WHY WHY!!!!! Well I wanted it and the use may well help development in the future. The first thing that the wlg format allows is to reference another video files and give it different settings but be it's own thing. I've added the ability to set a frame range for a video. What this means is that you can have several referenced wlg files that look at the same video and have different frame ranges. This can help if you want to say, make a game. The second thing which I haven't added yet is the ability to have files  which give different properties to Whirligig. I intend in the near future to add a Webcam.wlg and Spout.wlg options which will stream webcam and spout stuff to the player. Adding a file type will set me quite a way down that road.
  • Fixed hotspot sbs and mono not loading correctly.
  • Updated the Video plugin to the latest build.
  • Updated Unity version.
  • Andrew Hazelden has kindfully provided another custom format LatLong 360x90 visit his page at http://www.andrewhazelden.com/blog/

Submission to the Steam site

I've started the process of having my player on the Steam site. There are going to be several ways to distribute your VR applications, the Oculus Store and Steam being the two main ones. I've already started the process of getting my player on the Oculus site and now I've started the process of getting it on Steam. Now Whirligig has SteamVR support it seems only natural to distribute it there as well.

Pricing is a big question regarding getting your player out there through this route.  Up until now I've given it away for free and excluding the small number of greatfully received donations have made no money on it.  Now that I'm going to put it on the Oculus store and Steam I'm going to charge for it. Only a small amount probably around 3 euros. There are some really good advantages in this type of distribution. Firstly anyone who purchases it are supporting future development, that's good for me :) and secondly you will get all automatic updates and based on the popularity of it I will be adding new feature at a continuous rate. I don't intend to remove the ability to download it from here though. I'm considering having it free to download from here with less frequent updates. I'm hoping that people will purchase it just for the convenience of having it in there library.

Let me know what you think. There are lot's of players out there and most likely to be more coming soon. I've spent a lot of time making mine unique and hopefully it will stand out from the crowd.

Many updates including the exciting ROOMS!!!!!!

I've been working on a few improvements over the last few weeks in an atempt to get things ready for the release date. Simple fixes, updates to the player that work with the publisher, intergration of the gamepad setup and of course the biggest of all the intergration of ROOMS!!! :)

 

Firstly Gamepad control Integration

You have been able to change the controls of the player for a while. This has been done by opening the gamepad.exe and you would get something that looks like the picture below. This has now been integrated fully into the main player. This means there is no need to open up a separate program. Simple press the edit gamepad button or hit 'x' and on your monitor you will see this display. You won't see this on the Oulus Rift and will be able to continue to use it as normal as you setup your controls how you like them. I'm hoping that this will allow me to add more functions without having to have them integrated into the player as default.

ROOMS!!!!!!!

What are 'Rooms'?

Rooms are a preset location in which you can watch your films.

Currently there are only two rooms available, this includes a drive in cinema/3D and a living room/3D. This is currently in the proof of concept stage so the rooms are very much unpolished. especially the living room. Over time I hope to improve the 2 already available and also continue to add more. I quite like the idea of having themed rooms to watch your films, such as an old shack to watch Cabin in the Woods or a tent to watch The Blair Witch Project or even an xwing to watch star wars :) Anyway hopefully they will be improved on over time if people like them or at this stage at least the idea of them. Most of the work to get 'Rooms' into the player has been acheived so now it's just a case of the artistic element of creating the locations that people can be in. 

To get to 'Rooms' simply navigate the 'Format' menu until you get to 'Rooms' and then the 'FOV' menu to go through your room options. Currently the examples here have no changable options so you can't change the size rotation or anything like that. They are set to 16x9 mono and Over Under Stereo. Hope you like them.

 

The drive in cinema with menu.

The drive in cinema with menu.

The drive in Cinema

The drive in Cinema

A basic room

A basic room

Other Stuff that I've done

A few other things to mention including an addition of the 'Ricoh Theta S' in the Custom Format menu kindly created by Andrew Hazelden http://www.andrewhazelden.com/blog/

Updates to the publisher and player so that hotspots work better and are more accurate. Also when hitting 'f6' for the secret menu you get green blobs so you can see where the hotspots are.

The publisher has been updated so that it can now be full screen. This has been included so I can work on my game on a windows tablet without having to squint.

The left mouse button now plays and pause the film again. This may have to be locked to only the none windows version.

Loads of Fixes and probably the addition of loads of bugs as well :)

So I hope you like the new updates. I'm sure there will be more to come and hopefully I'll fix bugs during that time to. If you have any problems give me a shout and I'm always open to suggestion. Until next time, happy VR Cinemaing.

Domemaster3D by Andrew Hazelden Update

I've worked in 3D animation and 180/360 degree development for 8 years now. Dear god where did the time go. During this time there have been many developments in new technologies and one of the biggest has been Fulldome 3D. I can honestly say that good full 360 degree 3D wouldn't of been possible without Andrew's plugin for Max and Maya. 4 years ago 3D in this sort of environment was only possible is one of the few full 3D planetariums in the world. Now with the onset of VR this is all about to change.

If you are a CG Artist and are considering branching out into the realm of pre rendered full 3D worlds then the first place you should go is his site. Here is a link to his blog demonstrating his latest updates to Domemaster3D and from there you can access all of his other great tools.

http://www.andrewhazelden.com/blog/2016/02/domemaster3d-v1-9-3-adds-domeviewer-support-for-ricoh-theta-s-media/

And on a side note, his plugin also works with my player :)

TimeCodeServer Re-emerges

TimeCodeServer Re-emerges
The TimeCodeServer was a way for the player to push out information to a network port that would allow another program to read it. This can be useful for someone who wishes to link a haptic device to the video and have it effected but certain time points in the video. The information that is past to the port is the video name and location, the dometype of the video, the position in seconds of the video and whether the video is paused or playing. This is at the early stages and its use will be dictated by the people using it.

How to switch it on.
To do this you will have to edit the player.ini file located in the "Whirligig\production\menu" folder and the video you wish to send the information out to the ports ini in the "Whirligig\production\menu\inis".

Within there you will find a timecodeserver option which can be set like this:
 
 timecodeserver=off (Timecodeserver is off)
 timecodeserver=on (Timecodeserver is on and set to 2000)
 timecodeserver=2200 (Timecodeserver is on and set to 2200 or whatever number you put in there.)

Once the TimeCodeServer is on you can read the output from it, an example using NetCat is below.
----------------
D:\netcat-1.11>nc localhost 2000
C "D:\Media\videos\My Holiday.mp4"
dometype = 8
S
S
S
S
----------------

As I said it's currently in development and as I'm not using it for anything it requires people who want to use it to let me know what they need to make it useful for them. So if you any suggestions or questions let me know.

Notes on the Script written for this function

The TimeCodeServer was originally asked for by Lovely2 (lovely@crm114.net) for a project he was working on. He wrote the original code and I adapted it for the player. He is happy to release the code and for this reason I am happy to also. If you would like a copy of the script that allows this function please email me and I'll send you the a copy. Thanks again to Lovely2 for assisting with the implementation of this feature for the player.

Download the new version from the download page here :http://www.whirligig.xyz/player2-1-2/

 

Whirligig Updates 2016

Howdy. Well it's now 2016, the year of VR if you believe the hype. I've started back on the player and the first release of the year (actually there was an earlier release but it was small) is mostly a couple of bug fixes and Custom Format additions.

 

Firstly I'd like to thank Andrew Hazelden for his support. He have kindly created some custom formats that will help people with production and when downloading Facebook videos. I've included the update notes below which highlight his contribution. If you are interested in 360 Video production in any way check out his site. http://www.andrewhazelden.com/blog/ There are many great tools on there so check it out.

In other news I've not done anything on my game for a while but want to get back into it now that the madness of Christmas and the new year are behind us. This production should also promote more updates.

I've also submitted my player to the Oculus Store. It is currently under review but once I've got feeback I hope to be able to sell it there. My plan is to sell it on the Oculus store and maybe the Steam site while also maintaining a free version here. I'm not sure if there will be a difference in the versions yet. I've got 3 months to decided. 

Oh and another thing. A fan of the player recently emailed me regarding getting the player to work with Nvidia's  3DVision. He's put a lot of work into writing up his findings and helping others to get there 3DVision's working also. You can find a full explaination

here https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/908302/3d-vision/how-to-play-vr-images-and-videos-in-3dvision-using-the-whirligig-vr-player/

Thanks Brooke for letting me know that this was possible and leting others know how to do it themselves.

Here are the update Notes:

2.93
The dead zone of the joystick input has been increase. This hopefully will fix the issue of some machines constantly pushing left. If you experience this still, please get in touch. I need to establish why this happens and if I need to include a different type of fix.


Custom formats added. 

----
Cube Map Horizontal Tee
Cube Map Vertical Tee
Facebook Cube Map 3x2
GardenGnome Cube Map 3x2
----
Courtesy of Andrew Hazelden http://www.andrewhazelden.com/blog/
Andrew works on a great deal of tools that aid in 360 video production from Photoshop plugins to 3dsMax and Maya shaders.

Vray Cubemap
Vray Cubemap Inverted

Custom Format bug fix.

Rotation limit to 360 rotation as this isn't needed.
 

Happy new year. Let me know if you want new features and if you have any problems. Keep watching. Adios amigos :)

New Update, Anaglyph, OU for custom format and other stuff

2.9
I've added an anaglyph option for non Oculus use. To use this either start the player without the Oculus plugged in or press f10 while using the player. Once in the standard mode (non Oculus) press f7 to cycle through the 3D anaglyph options. This is the first ituration so it might have some issues. Let me know if you run into problems or if there is a feature that this doesn't have let me know.

Anaglyph Options
    GreyAnaglyph
    ColourAnaglyph
    HalfColorAnaglyph
    OptimizedAnaglyph
    TrueAnaglyph

Updated audio Oculus Audio SDK 1.0.1 for addition audio ogg files.
Unity3d version updated to 5.3.
Added Gamepad control to non Oculus looking around.
Add Over Under option to custom Format.


Custom Format Updates

I had a request for a custom format for the Kodeak PixPro SP360 so I've added it. I've also fixed some issues with the cubemaps where they weren't facing in the right direction. An explanation of the custom formats below

Cube Map Vertical

Cube Map Vertical

Cube Map Horizontal

Cube Map Horizontal

Octane

Octane


A bit more details on updates, well pictures anyway.

As I mentioned before I've updated the player and the publisher with a load of updates and hopefully I'll be producing some stuff with them as we go. Here are some images of the updates including the save feature in the player, the reorganisation of the publisher and the addition stuff in hotspots. for the save function press 's'. Also these options are in the gamepad setup as well so you can add a shortcut to the gamepad for the save if you want.

 

And I thought I would uploaded some images from the game I'm working on here :)



Big update briefing :)

OK, so a big update to both the publisher and the player. Loads of updates to both, but mostly unless you are making a game you won't come across a lot of them. One you will be able to use is the savegame option which allows you to bookmark the media that you are watching and return to the media and position you left it. So to do this just press 's' and go from there.

I've also updated to the latest version of Unity which means that the player and publisher requires 0.8.0 Oculus runtime and above.

I'm going to do a proper update blog on this tomorrow but wanted to throw out a quick blog just to let people know. Here is some info of the updates from the readme file.

Publisher

Quite a few changes here.
projects menu
It now selects the project you just made once you've made it.

Menu Menu
Fixed the time and duration so that when imported it selects that button.
Added VR to bottom right corner which will load the player on that menu so you can check it.

Options Menu
Removed the change background colour.
Removed the menu representation on the right and replaced it with showing the media.
Removed a lot of the options that are now unavailable.
switched the position of the disable keys and options.
Added a when media finishes next option. This allow you to go to a different video or menu or the next video in line. New options will be added on request.
Added VR to bottom right corner which will load the player on that menu so you can check it.

Hotspots Menu
Removed the change background colour.
Added a key image. If you select key then you are required to add an image. That image will be the one reporcented in your inventory.
Added an ability to have sound on hotspots. They are positioned in the location of the hotspot and loop and aren't linked to the video sync. They are also reactive to the hide unhide on variable option.
Moved and updated media hotspot location.
Fixed. Stuff, and probably broke stuff, you tell me.
Added VR to bottom right corner which will load the player on that menu so you can check it.
Hotspots were half the size they should of been, or twice I can't remember, anyway it's fixed.

Publish menu
Added VR to bottom right corner and removed test in player.
Fixed an issue with the published file being saved out into the wrong folder.

Player

2.8
Ok so a load of stuff has gone on here. An updated version has happen which means the player is now only compatible in runtime 0.8.0. Unity version 5.2.2p3. You can download an older version from the website that should work with eariler versions of the runtime.

A save function has been added which you can use to save a bookmark to the media your looking at. When you load it will return to the media at the place you saved.

Adventure time :)
I've built in an Inventory and save system for game creation. This the first version and may or may not have bugs. There will be tutorials very soon on this, hopefully.

Fixes, probably a load of other stuff and as always I've probably added a load of bugs as well.

You can now scroll with the mouse wheel on options in the menu.

Looking to the future of adventure

Well although I haven't been posting much. I'm not a great poster person. I have been up to a great deal of stuff.

For starters I've continued to work on Whirligig improving and fixing where I can. A couple of things have changed including an ability to have an ini file with the video file with all the settings allowing people to give out there films with accompanying ini file and people can play without having to setup. I've also included a volume control while in the player with hot keys '-' and '='. This is only a temporary change and any new videos loaded will be set to full volume again. It does however give some control where before there was none.

So where has a large part of my effort been put into then. Well I've started working on making Whirligig double as an adventure game creator. "You're crazy" I hear you cry. "Down that way only madness lies". Well I am doing this for a couple of reasons. One I want to make an adventure game, I've been working on it for a while and this is a good opportunity to do so and two although people like Whirligig and find it useful it is a small fish in a big pond. Before long there will be better featured players with more options and that will also run faster. Whirligig will continue to be a player but one of the major elements I've created it for is customisability. I don't think any other player has or will have such an ability to customise and ease in which to do so (with the publisher). By making a game I will have an ability to extend all these options, add to the wide range of setting that are already available and also make something unique and entertaining. I also want to allow people to do the same and as I'm extending the publisher all these new features will become available to people.

So what's happened so far. Well I've been working on the different locations for the game, many of which are used in this website. I've added an inventory system so you can pick up objects and I've added a niffty if then system that allows you to interact these objects with other objects. The system I've come up with envolves the powerful "hotspot" with a none, key, lock, switch option. Once I've got it in there properly I'll be releasing it with some explanation videos. The next step is to add a 'save' option which I hope to do this week.

So the next version of Whirligig and publisher will include:

  • An inventory system.
  • A Save option.
  • An if,then, do system (I will explain this in full when I release).
  • A positional audio system. All hotspots will be able to have audio attached coming from the position they are set.
  • A next video option so that once one video finishes the next begins(great for cut scenes).
     

All new options will be available and editable in the publisher and compatible in the player. The player will also work in the same way as it always does as well and improvements will be made as time goes on.

I hope people are going to be interested in this. I'm going to do it anyway regardless. I might also do a kick starter to be able to work on it full time. If you're interested and have ideas that you might want to see, let me know. Other than that, watch this space :)

 

New version with added secret menu :)

OK I've added another menu. One of the things about creating your film is that you want to go through all of your media and set them up. You also want to block off menus so people can't access options like tilt, dome size etc. This is all much easier through the player so what I've added is a full menu. If you press f6 you get all the options available to you in the menu. So for example this reveals sound which isn't normally available in the standard player. I've also added an option to disable this key in the publisher.

Hopefully this will make the setup of your projects much easier.

License agreement added

I've added a license agreement to the publisher abd installer. I've wanted to do this for a while but not really know how to do it. Well I've worked it out and hopefully it makes sense. Just think of it as me trying to be professional.

Here they are:

Whirligig Publisher
-------------------
This software is provided 'as-is', without any express or implied warranty. In no event will the author be held liable for any damages arising from the use of this software.

Authors Note
-----------
The Whirligig Publisher has been made using the Unity3D engine and I have worked hard to make it safe to use. However as part of the package I have included other pieces of software such as NSIS (Nullsoft Scriptable Install System), the LAV Codec and CodecTweakTool. NSIS and LAV Codec come with there own installers as you would download from there website. If the LAV codec is installed CodecTweakTool is used to register the LAV codec as the default codec for your system allowing your system to play back a wide variety of formats without the need to install a codec pack such as klite.

All of these programs have been tested on a variety of systems by myself and I can confirm they are safe to use. However if you have any doubts you can either choose to not install the publisher or install just the publisher and not the LAV or NSIS programs during this installation. If you do not install NSIS you will not be able to publish your media into an exe package but you will still be able run and use it and package however you like to send to others.

If you wish to download the programs separately you can do so from these sites.

NSIS (Nullsoft Scriptable Install System)
http://www.codecguide.com/download_other.htm

LAV Codec
https://github.com/Nevcairiel/LAVFilters/releases

CodecTweakTool
http://www.codecguide.com/download_other.htm

I hope you like the Whirligig Player and please get in contact if you have any problems - phileday@yahoo.co.uk

Whirligig Player
-------------------
This software is provided 'as-is', without any express or implied warranty. In no event will the author be held liable for any damages arising from the use of this software.


Authors Note
------------
The Whirligig player has been made using the Unity3D engine and I have worked hard to make it safe to use. However as part of the package I have included other pieces of software such as the LAV Codec and CodecTweakTool. The LAV Codec comes with its own installer as you would download from their website. If the LAV codec is installed CodecTweakTool is used to register the LAV codec as the default codec for your system allowing your system to play back a wide variety of formats without the need to install a codec pack such as klite.

These programs have been tested on a variety of systems by myself and I can confirm they are safe to use. However if you have any doubts you can either choose to not install the player or install just the player and not the LAV codec. If you do not install the LAV Codec but want to play back formats not natively supported by the operating system then it is recommended you install the codec and register it as your default codec. This can be done in a variety of ways but I recommend a codec pack such as Klite.

If you wish to download the programs separately you can do so from these sites.

LAV Codec
https://github.com/Nevcairiel/LAVFilters/releases

CodecTweakTool
http://www.codecguide.com/download_other.htm

You can also download a zip version of the player which comes without an installer or the LAV codec from my website.
http://www.whirligig.xyz

I hope you like the Whirligig Player and please get in contact if you have any problems - phileday@yahoo.co.uk

 

Whirligig Publisher update

I've just updated the publisher so that it isn't required to export out two different version for either 32 or 64 bit windows. I can test this on 64 bit systems and it ll works fine. However I don't fully know if it works on 32 bit systems.

I just wanted the player to be one exe rather than two and now I've combined that into the publisher as well so you can publish just one file to your friends and family and whoever else who is interested.

I've also removed the test 64 bit 32 bit version. When you run the test it will just run the 32 bit version which will work on both systems. This means that you might find that the performance in test mode isn't as good as when published but it simplifies the who process so currently this is how it works. This may change in the future.

P.S. Hope you're liking the new site :)