vvvv gamma - The Road Ahead
Here we are now!
Getting vvvv gamma 2021.3 out, including the 3d engine VL.Stride, was the last big milestone to bring vvvv gamma up to par with (and far beyond) vvvv beta. One could think this would give us a bit of a break but far from. The next big mountain we're looking forward to climb is right in front of us and it is called: .NET5.
.NET is the framework that vvvv gamma is built on and version 5 was just released a few months ago. It comes with a lot of goodies but also a bit of work for us to adopt to it. So moving vvvv gamma to .NET5 is our next big priority which we plan to ship with 2021.5 towards the end of the year.
Before that, we're planning to release 2021.4 around the end of May in which we take a lot of preparational steps towards .NET5 but don't do the switch yet. Like this, we're hoping to not delay the next release for too long and already get some nice things out earlier.
So here is a first attempt at a public roadmap. Let's see how that goes...
Planned for vvvv gamma 2021.4
Library
Since we now have the most common things in place, we're going into a cleanup phase here with these priorities:
- Update to the latest NuGet API to allow you to use all the latest nugets
- Streamline VL.CoreLib by moving parts that are not really "Core" or "Windows only" into separate libraries and making them open source
- Get more of the most significant nugets stable, starting with Audio and Video
A big focus will also be on further improving VL.Stride:
- Improve Mouse, Keyboard, Touch nodes
- Rework Buffer and Texture nodes
- Allow for simple shader creation
- Add a clean set of TextureFX
- Add Entity Picking
UI/UX
We all have a lot of wishes in this area but tackling some of the bigger things here will still have to wait for the switch to .NET5. For now, we're concentrating on the following:
- Tackle the existing performance issues that you face when handling larger projects
- Improving the workflow for setting the data type of pads
- Providing a UI for the Settings
Language
While there are many ideas how to improve the language with new features, we will need to focus on a cleanup of an already shipped language feature: with this release, we'll fix some bits regarding generic type definitions.
Planning a release ahead is difficult and can be disappointing when you mostly see the things that again didn't make it to the shortlist. We've also already laid out 2021.5 and 2021.6 internally but don't yet feel comfortable publishing them yet. The move to .NET5 still has a few unknowns that we want to better understand before we talk more about it. Therefore in the meantime, we only offer a few general notes about our further agenda. To be reviewed after each major release.
Apart from the upcoming major releases, we're committed to regular smaller bug-fix releases to the current 2021.3.x branch.
As always, you can follow our development by test-driving the daily previews.
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why is going .net5 so important?
@tgd
the first reason is just pragmatic, .NET5 is the progression of the technology we're using. but there are several advantages that come with it:
and Stride will also move to .NET5 with the next version, so if we want to stay up to date with their developments, we also have to be on .NET5 soon.
Uff, please please let this come true! This is the feature I wish for since a long time!
i'd say it is less important to patch on macOS but release stuff for macOS or even more important for iOS. The multiplattform release feature made me use Unity in the first place. You won't be more productive by using vvvv on OSX, its the same thing in the end. Of course it might attract more people to vvvv. But that's a bet and not certain it makes a big impact.
Anyway, exciting news, thanks for the post.
You are certainly right that's the same thing in the end ... but also it depends on the perspective of the user. Me being a MacOs user and having my complete workflow centered around that platform, it is just a pain in the a** to solely start Windows for vvvv. Unfortunately I think this rings true for many Designers which are in a similar situation than me. When I was teaching vvvv at the UDK several years back I had a hard time finding students because most of them where on a Mac and not willing to install Windows :/ Looking around I guess this still hasn't changed that much.
But I absolutely get that (as small as the vvvv group is) it might be more important to focus on the general experience than getting tangled up in supporting patching on the Mac or other niche platforms (Linux looking at you :) But I have to second u7angel that exporting to iOs and Android should be high on this list as we get more and more (capable) mobile devices saturating the market.
Really looking forward what lies ahead!
this!
mobile devices (even for VR) are the platform with the widest userbase (potential customers). vvvv as a visual development environment would be far more attractive to many if was able to cover these areas. seeing what even web technologies capable of in a modern smartphone is quite impressive. (not to compare pears and apples here, but the ease of bringing stuff to a range of platforms in unity also deserves some respect).
but, i know... one step at a time :)