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What started out as a quick idea, in the end I'm kinda attached to it. It's a fun comparison of four years of tech changes and skill development.

So what are the changes?

Well, the most overarching is VRChat itself. The camera is completely different, now able to track you, with offsets, as well as having focus options. Then there's the physics - Dynamic Bones to Physbones - as well as me just learning better how to tweak the settings for more natural movement. While I know there were mods for this before, VRChat having options to tweak where the trackers should sit on an avatar after calibration is also a major change that affected how I could move the avatar.

Then, the computer I use. In the four years I moved to a new computer, and have since upgraded it. While it wasn't as big a deal sitting in a world solo, it definitely influenced the default settings I have on OBS. It also allows me to run more companion programs, one of which is very important in the context of this video - OVR-SmoothTracking, which smooths out a lot of tracking jitter that happens with fast movements and quick stops (like taking steps). Also important is OpenVR-SpaceCalibrator, which lets me make sure my feet are falling convincingly on the floor of the world. And finally, of course VRCFaceTracking, so I can have face tracking at all.

The stats of both computers is as follows:
Before: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X, AMD Radeon RX 5700 (8 GB VRAM), 32 GB RAM
Now: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X, NVIDIA Geforce RTX 3090 (24 GB VRAM), 64 GB RAM

Another thing is trackers, and their corresponding straps. I started with the Rebuff Reality Trackstrap Pluses for my feet and waist - a good enough solution, but the EOZ foot straps with their additional heel strap really help stabilize the trackers (which went from Vive 2.0 to 3.0), and the added Power Pucks only added to that stability. The biggest change tracker-wise was the addition of a chest tracker. My dancing has always been kind of bellydancing influenced - isolated movements, hip twists, body rolls - all things that only looked more natural with a chest tracker.

Funnily, the same Index controllers are used in both clips (and they definitely look like they've seen four years of use at this point). After four years I suppose I've managed to figure out how tight to have them strapped to my hands, where the finger tracking zones are, and just in general how to hold my hands to create the nicest hand movements.

I actually remember the night I filmed the 2021 video. Covid keeping me inside (more than I already did) and VRChat being my main hobby. Endlessly being impressed by every new world I visited. I wasn't really in the music/dancing scene yet, and would spend most of my time in worlds solo, filming. That's what the two world hop videos came out of, by being impressed by the creativity and technical skill a lot of these worlds had, and wanting to document them. And of course I would have music playing at the same time, so it was almost inevitable I'd end up recording myself dancing.

The whale appearing when it did at the start of the first chorus was a complete and beautiful happenstance, and I'd like to think that even without facetracking you can tell that I'm surprised. It's a scripted thing in the world, and I'm very sure I didn't even know it existed at that moment, much less that it was going to so perfectly fly over and behind me like it did. I have sat on the video this whole time, being reminded of its existence every now and then. I think I even posted a short part of it on Twitter forever ago. The whole video is longer than just that song, and has me futzing with OVR Toolkit and changing songs and the like. But beyond just another fun recording of myself I don't think I ever really intended on doing anything with it.

The new video came from a bit more intention. The night had just started, I wanted to do a bit of pregaming and warming up. I hadn't recorded myself dancing in a while, and I had made a conscious decision to do some before going to events for the night. I popped on a playlist and started recording. It's a bit funny, but the song (Now by Mothica) isn't like a heartfelt favorite of mine. I like it, the lyrics are fun and angsty, but it's not like it's in my daily rotation.

When it came on, I initially didn't notice what song it was. Then when I recognized it, I thought, "hm, I haven't heard this in a while". It was only like halfway through the song, dancing along, that I remembered the old video. How different would this version of me dancing to it be to the first time? If nothing else, I had facetracking now, and a chest tracker.

It's funny how it still gives me the same vibes as four years ago; it's surprising how similar I dance to certain parts of it, considering both were just fun freestyling.

Editing the two together was also a fun experience. Both videos are synced - it really shows how much better my pacing and intentionality is now. And, again, how similar I dance to certain parts of the song. Remember, the song never was a "repeat ad nauseum because I love it so much" song. Just a fun song that Spotify once recommended me and then was popped on a few large playlists.

In any case, that's the story behind this video. If you actually read through this whole thing, thanks!

I've been poking around with this project for a few months (the oldest footage is from 01/22). It started off as just me lip syncing in a world, blah blah, looking cute, you know the deal. Much like the 4 Year Difference video, apparently I do best when a song quietly worms its way into my brain and just sits there, regardless of how much I enjoyed the song previously.

I've been a fan of Phantogram for quite a while, have been lucky enough to see them in concert twice, but I'll be honest, this album was - at least initially - a bit slower than I'd prefer. None of the songs gave me that lightning strike inspiration, that burst of creative fire that comes with many of my favorite songs. Running Through Colors was the closest though, and had gone into my regular rotation so I could chew on it a bit more.

And I did. I didn't really pay deep attention to the lyrics to start, just enough to get the chorus, some of the more obvious lines in the verses. That's where I was when I first started recording myself singing it. Then it moved to wanting to actually know the lyrics, so that I didn't sort of waffle around the verses.

I kind of left the project alone for a bit after, and at some point I got a walking pad and started fiddling around with recording myself using it in VR. The two opening shots were the result of that, and suddenly what was supposed to be just a fun zero thought thing evolved into a Project.

And while it was now a Project, at the same time I saw this as just a fun exercise following through with a spark of inspiration. Early on I promised myself that I would try to keep myself from trying to make this a Masterpiece - something that I had to make "properly" and that had to be "perfect" before it was allowed to be seen by others (all the better, because I only realized that the whole thing had been recorded at 720p when I was exporting the finished video. I ended up upscaling it - cleanly enough to satisfy me - but I know if I had been in the Masterpiece mindset I would have been devastated rather than kind of bummed out about this).

The whole thing was fun practice and an opportunity to learn some new things. While I did only use VRChat's camera (as opposed to something like VRCLens - the added complexity would have made it a more involved project and honestly probably would have kept me from completing it), I made a point of understanding how to get manual focusing to fit my vision, as well as (kind of haphazardly) learning how to use the Dolly system.

On the editing side, I was already more or less comfortable with Premier, even if I was using it like a glorified Windows Movie Maker (Clipchamp? Have I dated myself?). This project gave me the chance to use more of the software: I didn't do a lot but I did some color grading; the big new skill was masking and replacing. I love the Index controllers, but mine are showing their age and sometimes don't (or do too sensitively) move the individual fingers. There were a couple shots where one finger looks like it's missing, or is twitching around distractingly... that was my opportunity to learn how to mask them out. Hopefully the masking isn't grievously obvious, but either way it was satisfying to learn.

Finding suitable worlds was also another fun part of things, especially since I really enjoy trying to integrate myself and my poses to the world. One great asset in that respect was VRCBreeze, which let my avatar's hair/tail sway in the breeze. There is something really fun about seeing everything sway to wind in a world, and to have your avatar look like it's reacting to the same breeze. There is something so satisfying about completing the illusion that you are fully integrated into a world. In real life, though, it definitely got ridiculous at times, involving my trusty IKEA stool, as well as my desk chair, and a couple floor cushions. Holding wild poses and puppeteering my avatar.

Because that's kind of how I see my relation to my avatar: more of a cosplay/puppet/fursuit (I suppose) as opposed to just me, in VR. Until we get dot hack/SAO levels of VR, there is still a barrier between you and the virtual world. Your avatar does not move 1 to 1 in relation to your body, even with face tracking and varying levels of full body tracking. Add to that the fact that depending on your headset, the computing strength of your PC, you may just not see as much as others, and that includes subtler movements, which are already dulled by the levels of conversion from actual body movements, to tracker positions, finally translated to avatar position.

For me, that means making bigger, clearer motions as well as more purposeful facial expressions, and for lip syncing, cleaner, more obvious mouth movements to really get those blendshapes moving. It's really fun, but has the unintended consequence of me constantly worrying that it's too much... when does it become cringy overacting? That's probably the one greatest fear that I've had while making this. Too many times I was reviewing a part, oscillating between thinking it's great and meaningful before quickly changing my mind and thinking that it was the most melodramatic cringefest ever put to video. At this point I've mostly accepted that it is what it is. I still had fun making it, if people don't like it... okay? It doesn't negate the stuff I learned along the way either.

To the song and story: I hope it's clear that it's a tale of loss, of slowly forgetting someone you cared for. Of knowing that despite how much you cared about them, you are forgetting the details day by day.

It's something that's been quietly happening with a college friend of mine for a few years, though it took me a while to relate it to the song. Since then there have been more people that this could relate to, and it sucks. A lot. I'm really bad with public grief and maybe this is my way of processing. I guess it's just something that I'll just have to keep working through.

And that's my rambling on the creation of this video. It's got pretty colors and good music. Could it be better? Sure. The dolly shots could be tightened up a bit, and there a few shots I took early on that I know I could reshoot better once I had more of a clear vision of what I wanted out of the video. I also did an overhaul of my avatar while making this... sadly, which I couldn't use in the video if I didn't want to reshoot everything prior. But I really needed to be free of this project, and honestly, sometimes just reviewing it made me melancholy, and I wanted to be free of that too. I hoped you enjoyed it, and if you read all that, thanks!

Below are links to the worlds that I used, for those interested.

W h e a t 2․0 link
Endless hug ⁄ 永遠の抱擁 link
Inverse link
link
NOTHING link
impermanence link
夕焼けの帰り道ーOn my way home in the Sunset link
Electric Deep link
Heart and Mind link
UMHL HANABI link
1969 house pool link
Way to you ⁄ 君へ至る道 link
Neon Laundry link
Dreamswitch link
Neon Factory link
rchs_ link
Neon Territory link
Camera Test link
紫夢 link
サミシープ大聖堂~cathedral~ link
Floating Breath link
Light Aquarium link
Eventide link
Safe and sound link
Waves link
Heywood - Night City link