Flipside Update #23 - Desktop mirror, looping 360 videos, many fixes

March 6, 2019 - 5:00pm - by Rachael Hosein

Please note: This update is only available for those who are part of our multiplayer beta.  If you're looking to collaborate on a show or just want some of the other goodies, sign up for the multiplayer beta here.

See your desktop in Flipside (experimental)

We've had a lot of requests for this and although it's still in experimental/we're-still-working-out-the-kinks mode, we wanted to get it into your hands as soon as possible. You can now view your desktop in Flipside - that means you can stream whatever is on your desktop (local videos, whatever you have pulled up on the internet, etc.) in your Flipside show.

Follow these steps if you want to try out this feature:

1. On the 2D switcher, click on the Settings icon, select the General tab, then for the Desktop Mirror in Show Tools option, choose "Desktop Mirror Enabled".  
2. In Flipside, go to the Set Builder palette, select the Show Tools category and pull the desktop viewer from page two of the show tools into your set.

Important notes:

• If the app crashes when you load the Show Tools menu, restart Flipside and disable the Desktop Mirror.
• The desktop mirror will not mirror your desktop over multiplayer. Others will see their desktop mirrored instead of yours.

Learn more about the Desktop Mirror in our Show Tools documentation.

Looping 360º video skyboxes

If you didn't know, Flipside supports 360º video skyboxes...and now they loop!  So don't worry if your skybox video isn't long enough. We've got your covered :)

Example set added to our Creator Tools

In the Featured category of the Sets palette, you'll notice a new Creator Tools Example Set. This set walks you through the different functionality you can add to your Flipside set through the Flipside Creator Tools.

You can also download a version of the Creator Tools that contains the example set so you can reference how we set things up. If you're a Creator Tools pro already, don't worry, you can also download a slimmed-down version that doesn't include the examples.

Important note: Unity has issued a security notice, so our Creator Tools users should upgrade to Unity version 2017.4.22f1.

A new way to file a bug report and access support

Everyone in the Flipside community has been so great with helping us iron out issues and bugs. Thank you! To make things a little easier, when you encounter something a little wonky and need support, you can click on the Settings icon on the 2D camera switcher, then go to the Support tab to file a bug record that includes everything we need to help solve the problem.

Important notes: 

• Make sure to report the problem before you restart the app so we can get the output log associated with the issue (restarting the app will wipe the output log).
• The camera switcher in VR needs to be closed for the 2D camera switcher to be visible on your computer monitor.

Bug fixes and improvements

• You can now receive multiplayer invites without being in Flipside. Just hop in and you'll get a notice with the invite in your Notifications panel when Flipside loads up!
• Audio sync on playback fixes.
• When your first slideshow slide is a video, the back button on the slideshow controller now takes you back to the start of the video.
• Issues with prop scaling during a multiplayer collaboration have been resolved.
• Fix to objects that could become ungrabbable in a multiplayer collaboration.
• Improvements to character neck movements.
• Improved positioning and movement of feet and legs.
• Fixed issues with booting all collaborators when only one collaborator was disconnected.
• Added an OBS settings tab to set your connection info, and added authentication support so you can keep your Flipside connection to OBS secure.