Test without Play mode, and preview in the scene

When to use this

Entering Play mode for every change takes time. The scene preview shows what an entry does on the avatar right away, and the wheel's Test mode lets you press your menu the way you do in VRChat. Neither one changes your avatar or your files: the preview draws on temporary copies of the meshes.

The preview cannot show everything. To test animations, layers and other tools together, use Play mode with Gesture Manager, as in Your first toggle, or upload.

This needs Advanced mode, the default.

Steps

Turn the preview on

1. In Unity's menu bar, select Tools > NDM Framework > Enable Previews.

2. Select Tools > NDM Framework > Configure Previews and turn on the AvatarDoc entry.

   While the preview is off, the AvatarDoc inspector's header says so.

Preview one entry

1. In the tree, select a toggle.

2. In its Scene preview row, press On or Off.

   You should now see the toggle's effects on the avatar in the Scene view. Default stops the preview of that entry.

3. To stop every preview at once, press Reset preview in the header. It shows while anything is previewed, and it stops the previews of every avatar, not only this one.

Other kinds of entry preview in their own way:

• A radial has a slider from 0 to 1 and a Default button.
• A preset's On applies every row once. Off sets every listed control to off.
• A blend shape trigger always follows its shape in the scene, so its row only says which shape it follows.
• A contact or PhysBone trigger that flips a toggle has Simulate touch, which flips that toggle.
• A contact trigger also has Test with a hand, a hand you drag in the Scene view to touch its sphere. See Try it with a test hand.
• An override is always part of the preview, so its row is greyed out.
• A requirement the scene cannot know, such as a parameter or a contact, counts as met. A note under the row says so. The test hand measures a contact requirement.

The preview does not show custom animations or merged animators. Their panels say so.

Test with the wheel

1. On the inspector's toolbar, press Wheel. On a narrow inspector the button shows as an icon.

   You should now see the wheel under the tree. It shows the selected submenu the way VRChat draws it.

2. At the top of the wheel, press Test.

3. Press a wedge.

   A toggle switches on or off, and a group member switches the other members off. A preset applies. A radial opens a slider under the wheel. A submenu opens. Items of the avatar's own menu or of other tools do nothing.

   In the picture, 1 is the Wheel button, 2 the Select and Test switch, 3 the ring with the Hat toggle on, 4 the Triggers strip, and 5 Reset.

4. Under the wheel, press a button of the Triggers strip to make that trigger fire. Press it again to stop it.

   The strip lists every trigger that follows a parameter, a contact or a PhysBone. A trigger that flips a toggle flips it instead.

A wedge that is on shows in the accent colour, and a radial wedge shows its value as a thin arc. Toggles that are not in the menu get buttons of their own, under Not in the menu.

Reset stops every preview. Select goes back to selecting rows with a click, and keeps the previews. The inspector and the AvatarDoc window each remember their own choice.

The AvatarDoc window

Select Tools > DocMe > AvatarDoc for a window with the same tree, panels and wheel, side by side. It follows your selection: the AvatarDoc component of the selected object, or else the first one on the selected avatar.

Previews last for the editor session. Copies of one avatar, such as its PC and Quest versions, share them, and Unity clears them when it reloads scripts.

Check it worked

• With a toggle previewed On, the Scene view shows its effects.
• In Test mode, the wedge of a toggle you pressed shows in the accent colour.

If it does not work

• Nothing changes in the Scene view: NDMF's previews are off, or the AvatarDoc entry under Configure Previews is off. The header says so while they are off.
• A custom animation or a merged animator does not show: the preview cannot play them. Test them in Play mode.
• A button of the Triggers strip is greyed out: the trigger works only while a menu toggle is on, and that toggle is off in the preview. Turn the toggle on first.

Related

• Scene preview and The AvatarDoc window and the wheel describe every control.
• Your first toggle shows how to test in Play mode with Gesture Manager.