Hi everyone
So we have a new update with some exciting improvements. First a couple of images:
Thumbnails option added to Explorer
You can now choose a thumbnail view in the explorer. This is a relatively new update and I think it will struggle with folders with a large number of files. Give it a go though and let me know what you want improved on it.
Audio menu
With audio getting more complex I've given it it's own menu. This allows for more control and new features to be added.
Audio Tracks
With the new menu I've been able to provide a much easier way to select audio tracks and also give more details on what each track is. Simply click the track you want and it'll be selected, also which ever audio track selected will be remembered when the same media file is opened later.
Surround Sound
So this is the exciting one. Basically I've wanted to be able to have positional audio for multi track videos for a long time. Many videos come with 5.1 audio and all the programs you use to play them merges them down to a stereo output. This is generally OK for headphones but with VR you are missing the opportunity to place that audio in a 3D space. This also allows you to take advantage of spatial sound. With direct access to each channel I can now place them in 3D space and give volume options for all channels. If the dialog is too quite you can boost the centre channel for example.
Other options also include showing speakers so you can see where the audio is coming from and lock rotation so that is plays as stereo instead of being head tracked.
Subtitles
With the update to the audio track selection I've also worked on including this for subtitles. There is also support for muxed subtitles in Media Foundation (These will be displayed at their correct times but the time they disappear is based on the length of the subtitle, hopefully I'll be able to fix this soon).
Trying the beta
It's very easy to try the betas but if you've not done it before I've made a tutorial to help:
https://youtu.be/z9pv-cgn4IE
Thoughts
This is a big update and for this reason there is a good chance it'll still have bugs in some way. Please let me know if you run into any problems [email protected] or post on the Whirligig Steam forum. I'd also like to know what other options you would want regarding these new features. Are there some kick ass features I could include in the next update :)
Final Thoughts
Work on Whirligig still continues and will continue to continue. Whirligig is a long term project for me and I intend to support it as long as I can. In saying this I also have other jobs so I can't work on Whirligig full time so updates tend to come in spurts. Many have suggested new features and bug reports and I continue to fix and add these in subsequent updates. Not always straight away depending on complexity.
All suggestions are welcome, and I really appreciate feedback. Most of the features I add have been requested so it's worth suggesting something if there is a feature you'd really like.
I hope you like the updates and I look forward to your feedback.
Happy watching :)
Phil