Menu assets and parameters

When to use it

A menu asset is a finished expressions menu that someone else built, with its own icons and controls. AvatarDoc installs it into the avatar's menu the way Modular Avatar's Menu Installer does, and never changes the asset itself. A declared parameter is a parameter name that you add to the avatar by hand, for the controls of a menu asset or the layers of a merged animator that no toggle of AvatarDoc provides.

• To build your own controls, use a toggle, a radial or a submenu.
• To turn a Modular Avatar prefab into AvatarDoc entries, use Convert. A prefab shaped like a menu asset, a parameter list and a merged animator can also be taken over whole, which is described on What Convert brings over.

Both need Advanced mode to add. To install a menu asset, press + Menu asset in the toolbar, or drag a menu asset from the Project window onto the tree. To declare a parameter, press + Parameter. On a narrow inspector, both sit under + More.

Menu assets

Installed menu assets sit in the Menu assets group of the tree, and a new one reads (no menu asset) until you pick its asset.

1. Menu asset.
2. Install path.
3. Place.
4. Name.
5. Platform.
6. The list of Parameters.
7. The note after the first parameter: nobody declares it.
8. Add declaration, beside that parameter.

Menu asset

Shown in: Simple and Advanced · Default: none · Choices: any expressions menu asset

The finished menu to install. Its controls, with the submenus inside it, are read the way the avatar's own menu is read and written into the build as copies. Nothing is saved back into the asset. An install with no asset installs nothing, and a warning says so.

Install path

Shown in: Simple and Advanced · Default: empty · Choices: a submenu path such as Outfits/Summer, a single slash, or empty

Where the menu goes, as a path of submenu names from the avatar's root menu. Empty installs it where this component installs its own entries. A single slash installs it into the avatar's root menu, whatever the component's own Install into is. A submenu on the path that the menu does not have yet is made, and a note says so.

Place

Shown in: Simple and Advanced · Default: As submenu · Choices: As submenu, Append items

As submenu wraps the whole asset in one new submenu at the install path. Append items puts the asset's own top level controls straight into the menu at that path. The appended controls count toward the eight places of that page, and any extra moves to a More page.

Name

Shown in: Simple and Advanced, while As submenu is picked · Default: empty, the asset's own name · Choices: any text

The name of the new submenu. It can hold the same rich text tags as any other name. The field goes away while Append items is picked, because there is no submenu to name.

Icon

Shown in: Simple and Advanced · Default: none · Choices: any texture

The picture on the new submenu's button. Used only with As submenu.

Platform

Shown in: Simple and Advanced · Default: Inherit · Choices: Inherit, Both, PC only, Quest only

Which build installs the menu. See Platform on the toggle page.

Parameters

Shown in: Simple and Advanced · Default: every parameter the asset's controls use · Choices: none, the list is read only

One row for each parameter that a control of the asset drives, a puppet's sub parameters and the controls of its submenus included. A note after each name says who provides it:

• The name of the AvatarDoc entry that plans it.
• declared here: a parameter declared in this component covers it.
• existing on the avatar: the avatar already has it in its expression parameters or its FX controller.
• VRChat: it is one of VRChat's own parameters.
• nobody declares it: nobody provides it. VRChat ignores a menu control whose parameter is not in the avatar's expression parameters, so the control does nothing. A warning says so.

Controls that a menu edit hides or removes, and controls left out on this platform, are not checked.

Add declaration

Shown in: Simple and Advanced

Shown beside every parameter that reads nobody declares it. Declares that parameter in this component, with the type its controls need: a Float for a puppet's sub parameter or for a toggle whose value is not a whole number, an Int for a toggle that sets a whole number other than 1, and a Bool otherwise. The row then reads declared here, and the parameter shows in the Parameters table.

The note under the list

Shown in: Simple and Advanced

The panel ends with the note The asset is read like the avatar's own menu and written as copies, so nothing is ever saved back into it.

Rows of the installed menu

Shown in: Simple and Advanced

The controls of an installed menu show in the tree like the avatar's own items, with an asset chip while the tree is at least 360 pixels wide. You can rename, re-icon, hide or move them with menu edits. See Change the avatar's existing menu.

Declared parameters

Declared parameters sit in one Parameters group of the tree, which appears with the first declaration, with one row for each parameter under it. Selecting the group or any of its rows shows the same table. The panel opens with the note Parameters this component declares itself, for merged animators and installed menu assets that no entry gives a parameter. They are planned after the entries, in this order, and identically on PC and Quest.

1. The name of the first parameter.
2. Its type: Bool, Int or Float.
3. Its default value.
4. Saved.
5. Synced.
6. The × that removes the parameter.
7. The total bits of the table.
8. + Parameter.

Parameters

Shown in: Simple and Advanced · Default: no parameters

One card for each declared parameter, with the bits it costs after its name, for example 9 bits in the total at the bottom of the table. Declared parameters are planned after the parameters of every entry, in the order of the table, and the same on PC and Quest. A name that is empty is skipped.

+ Parameter

Shown in: Advanced

Adds a card at the end of the table and selects the Parameters row. Give it the name that the controls or the layers read.

The name

Shown in: Simple and Advanced · Default: New parameter · Choices: any text

The parameter's name. Match a parameter the avatar has already to reuse it: then the avatar's own type, default, saved and synced settings apply, and the declaration costs no new bits. A declared name with another type than the avatar's expression parameter is an error. A name that an AvatarDoc entry already plans loses to that entry, with a warning.

Type

Shown in: Simple and Advanced · Default: Bool · Choices: Bool, Int, Float

The kind of value the parameter holds.

Default value

Shown in: Simple and Advanced · Default: 0 · Choices: a number

The value the parameter starts with when the avatar loads.

Saved

Shown in: Simple and Advanced · Default: On · Choices: On, Off

Remembers the value between avatar loads.

Synced

Shown in: Simple and Advanced · Default: On · Choices: On, Off

Lets other players see the value. A synced Bool costs 1 bit and a synced Int or Float costs 8. A parameter that is not synced costs 0 bits.

What AvatarDoc builds

A menu asset adds copies of its controls to the avatar's menu, at the install path, in a new submenu or in place. A declared parameter adds one entry to the avatar's expression parameters. Neither adds a layer. The summary lists every installed menu with its number of controls and every declared parameter with its type and bits.

Messages

• Nothing declares a parameter that an installed control drives.
• The install has no menu asset.
• A declared name is already planned by an entry.
• A declared parameter has another type than the avatar's.
• A submenu on the install path was made.
• The submenu has more controls than one page holds.
• Synced parameters need more bits than VRChat allows.

Related

• Bring your own animator or menu
• Fit in VRChat's parameter memory explains what declared parameters cost.
• Merged animators