This month, HRtoVRChat_OSC had numerous QOL updates and improvements to not only the software, but the UI and Prefab!

Prefab v2

Prefab v2 brought numerous improvements to how the Heart Rate counter is set up on an avatar. As opposed to the previous method, where pre-made prefabs are merged into an avatar using Avatars 3.0 Manager by VRLabs (thank you for this btw).

The previous method restricted customizability greatly, allowing a user to only have the prefab be under one specific bone (without having to redo animations), and required the use of three integer parameters, which in all honesty, is a waste of storage.

Now, with the new prefab, dubbed Prefab v2, users control all of the customizability. Here's some of the things you can customize:

• Materials

  • Can be set for each individual number slot!

• Where the prefab should be at

  • The prefab can now be moved anywhere you want under the root avatar, without having to redo all the animations

On top of customizability, it also introduced numerous improvements, such as:

• One HR Parameter

  • Instead of the legacy three parameters, the new convention is now just using one integer; lots of more space!

• Optimized Animators

  • Animators now run way more optimized than previously. Animators will:

    1. No longer use Any State transitions

       • This saves tons of time since you don't need to check hundreds of if conditions before transitioning

    2. Write Defaults Off

       • Having Write Defaults Off is the recommendation by VRChat for all Animator Transitions, so now we're up to standards.

Finally, not only that, but setting up can be done in as little as 10-15 minutes (5 if you're speedrunning) thanks to the automated install process in the included Unity window.

SDK

The SDK enables users to use their own HeartRate devices in use with HRtoVRChat_OSC. This opens numerous options up to people who do not own any of the supported devices and do not wish to obtain one of those devices.

The SDK was designed to be incredibly lightweight and use with all-platforms (Windows, macOS, Linux) and for all software (.NET Framework 4.8 and .NET 6.0). The protocol used was TCP, with use of jchristn's SuperSimpleTcp, and messages being serialized and deserialized with protobuf-net, all messages will be small, compact, and are guaranteed to be delivered to the endpoint (no promises!) An SDK connection can be created (in a .NET environment) in as little as 30 lines of code (maybe even less).

The SDK is extensively documented here, and I am eager to see what other devices can be supported! If you'd like to submit an SDK to be featured, then reach out to me on discord!

Remember this guy? Yeah he handles a lot of the third-party HeartRate provider's data, haha!

Complete Rewrite

Because of how unstable our current C# implementation of HRProxy is, we've decided to switch over to using Node.JS instead. This has been slightly tested and seems to work fine, however, there are a couple of issues, especially pertaining to WebSocket clients not closing properly on the Server's end. For the most part, however, the server works completely fine, and will be transitioned soon.

To the lucky few who have documentation for this service: no documentation will be changed; you will need to make no updates to your software to support the rewrite.

Pulsoid?

Currently, the method for grabbing data from Pulsoid is really unreliable and has the potential to cause a lot of issues. We're looking into fixing that and officially supporting Pulsoid. As of writing this, we're waiting for the OAuth2 interface to release out of beta, and we will switch to that. This will provide more user-control for being able to prevent their HeartRate from being used for malicious reason by malicious third-parties and pertain support for any backend updates Pulsoid may have.

Open Source When?

Only tiny changes, for now...

Security Improvements

Grown quite a bit, huh?

Here's a cool photo I took, just wanted to share it

Everything's gotta come to an end at some point