How to add a simple toggle to your VRChat avatar.

One of the most basic building blocks of avatar creation: the humble toggle!
Here is the Discord channel mentioned at the end of the video: / discord
Go here to contact me for commissions or tutoring, or to ask for help with simpler avatar problems and ventures!

[@lilirucachief8949]

IN 6 FUCKING MINUTES BRO, STOP MAKING 1 HOUR VIDEOS TO ADD A TOGGLE, THIS GUY IS A KING, Im subscribing just cause this is way too good

[@ToolboxMotley]

Almost gave me a heart attack, I thought you were angry with me. X)

[@lilirucachief8949]

@@ToolboxMotley Haha sorry about that, I'm just very aggressive while being happy, thx a lot for the tutorial

[@MrCrazyhand]

After trying like an idiot lot of videos this one finally showed that my problem was with the names of the things, I didn't knew that changing a single letter could destroy everything. You have my gratitude.

[@KeeneRaccoon]

Very easy to follow tutorial! I appreciate that you make these right to the point! =)

[@eavbn]

very nice !!

[@kermit942]

u have no idea how helpful this was theres 20-40m vids out there and u explain this in 6 min tysm. subbed! edit: i launch it in vrchat the toggle is there but the actual item doesnt show can u help? It says for example in my case a microphone, it says toggle but when I toggle on the item doesn’t appear

[@ToolboxMotley]

Yeah, they recently added a "Synced" option to menu parameters that has been confusing loads of people. X) Go to your Menu Parameters list (the one that appears at 4:45), and turn on the "Synced" box for the parameter you're using, the one on the far right. By default, parameters are non-synced now, which means that they won't send their on/off status to other players, so any animations using them only take effect for the person wearing the avatar. It's a great addition, but they really need to have it turned on by default instead of off. :x

[@kermit942]

@@ToolboxMotley i will try now and update you once iv done it thank you for the fast reply

[@kermit942]

@@ToolboxMotley it says for the synced option that every single parameter right now has a ticked box and iv tried in vrc yet nothing shows?

[@ilovenicol3]

Button is action menu

[@KalaamNozalys]

I must be missing something, tried it to had a sound button but doesn't seem to work.

[@Cute_Deth]

For 3:00, I don't see the Fx options, Im using a Vroid studio model if that helps in anyway. If I don't add the FX option, Does it mess up my avatar in anyway?

[@ToolboxMotley]

Adding an FX Controller will be essential for telling the avatar to trigger your toggle, so not adding it just means that the toggle won't work in the first place. It's not too hard to set one up, though. >In Unity's file explorer at the bottom, right click and create an Animation Controller. >In your avatar's VRC Avatar Descriptor, find the Playable Layers section and click the large button to show the eight custom Controller slots, then click the button to the right of "FX". >Drag the Animation Controller you made a moment ago into this field, and continue the tutorial at the point where it talks about modifying the FX Controller. Sorry for the lack of specific names on the buttons you need to press; I'm out of town right now and can't access my computer to double-check and fine-tune these instructions.

[@CaliforniaOutdoorsman]

Great tutorial! It toggles the prop on, in my case a music keyboard. But when I toggle it off the keyboard stays. I'm not sure if it's the keyboard fbx is super large in terms of size. I can just reset the avatar and goes away

[@ToolboxMotley]

Nah, size won't be a factor. Do you use Write Defaults Off? Check some pre-existing States in your Animator. If you click one to bring it up in the Inspector on the right, you'll see "Write Defaults" at the bottom of the first section (above the Transitions list), with a box next to it. If that box is unticked, you're using Write Defaults Off. If that's the case, you'll need to set up a second animation for the Off state for your toggle, which turns the object off.

[@digiz01]

I have a sword but it has an animation but I want to add the animation as a toggle I wanted to make a toggle for the sord then the aniomation the sword has

[@ToolboxMotley]

Do you happen to know how the animation works? Is it a Particle System? If so, you'd want to make one animation that turns on the sword object while turning off the Particle System's "Emission" module, and then another animation that turns on the sword object as well as turning on the Particle System's Emission. After that, just set them up in sequence in the Animator. Off goes to On when "Sword" Equals True, and On goes to Animated when "SwordAnimation" Equals True. If it's not animated via Particle System, you'll have to elaborate on how it's animated, exactly. :x

[@digiz01]

@@ToolboxMotley its not a particle, its a Sword that have switches and buttons, the Sword is called Ohger Calibur from King-Ohger, And I got it from Sketchfab

[@thecrash8258]

so i followed this exactly but and it works for turning to toggle on but when i click the expression in my menu again the toggle wont disappear it just stay out. any thing i might have done wrong?

[@ToolboxMotley]

Double-check your Transitions to make sure that it returns to the Off state when your Parameter is turned off, first. If that's not it, it may be that you have Write Defaults turned off for your avatar. You can check my Write Defaults video to see how to fix it; it's a somewhat involved process, but it basically involves making another Animation that specifically turns off the object you're toggling, rather than depending on that object's default state in the Hierarchy.

[@seanstacey6025]

Yea the parent constraint I’m having problems with, every time I add it the sdk wants to delete it, is there something I’m doing wrong?

[@ToolboxMotley]

Sounds like you're working with a Quest avatar. You'll want to use the first method shown for adding objects, which is attaching the object directly to the armature. If you're not making a Quest avatar, you may have accidentally switch the Build Target to Android (which uploads a Quest avatar). If you go to the Builder tab in the SDK, you can click "Switch Build Target to Windows" to change it back to PC. If that's not your issue, lemme know and I'll try to think of what else might be causing it. X)

[@seanstacey6025]

Thanks I got it working

[@RegenStorm]

only works if you use write defaults on

[@ToolboxMotley]

That's correct. I'm working on a tutorial for Write Defaults as a whole, now, to hopefully explain how it works and how to modify one method's animations to the other.

[@WaterZerks]

2:43 when I hit record and then select the scythe in the hierarchy it stops the recording completely, any fix?

[@ToolboxMotley]

It sounds like the scythe might have an Animator component of its own. Try bringing up the animation window with your avatar selected, and click the lock icon at the top right. That will prevent the animation window from switching to other Animators.

[@TheFerruccio]

At 2:34, what is happening when you drag an animation onto a gameObject the way you did? There are enough fields and components on that gameObject that I am concerned that doing such a thing risks having it populate an undesired field. What's going on?

[@ToolboxMotley]

Dragging an animation onto a game object will add that animation to its Animation Controller file if it has one, or will create a Controller file and add an Animator component if it didn't already have one. You generally don't want Animators on any of your objects except for the avatar, unless you want that object to have an animation that constantly plays while it's turned on. You have to have the animation in the avatar's Animation Controller in order to be able to add new properties to the animation. You can edit existing animations without having them in the Animation Controller, and the animations don't have to be in the Controller attached to the avatar's Animator component for them to be usable in VRChat. Putting them in the Controller is just so that you can put together the animation in the first place. Hope that answers the question. If it doesn't, feel free to ask follow-ups; I imagine the repetition in my wording could easily cause confusion. X)

[@くーーーー]

when i record the keyframe thing it donest stay recording

[@ToolboxMotley]

That's an odd one. Try clicking the three dots at the top right of the Animation window and selecting "Lock", see if that keeps it recording properly.

[@TheMrHoxton]

when i go to upload it it says auto fix the parent constraint then removes it

[@ToolboxMotley]

Sounds like you're working with a Quest avatar. Instead of using a Parent Constraint, you'll have to put your desired object straight on the armature bone that you want it attached to.

[@Itachi_293]

it wont let me drag my object to a body part

[@ToolboxMotley]

It may be a filetype that Unity doesn't recognize as a 3D model. Can you tell what its file extension is? (For example, object.fbx or object.mdl)

[@thebluemasteryt3473]

Dose this work for quest?

[@ToolboxMotley]

It does! There are two methods shown in the video, one for PC only and one that works for Quest as well. In a nutshell, you'll have to take whatever object you're looking to toggle, and attach it straight to the avatar's armature.

[@thebluemasteryt3473]

@@ToolboxMotley it works but when i press the animation it dosent do anything

[@ToolboxMotley]

@@thebluemasteryt3473 Make sure the Parameter names between the Animator and the VRChat Parameters list are identical, that the menu option is affecting that Parameter as a Toggle, and that the Transition in the Animator is set up correctly.

[@navy3001]

When I select the toggle in game, nothing happens.

[@ToolboxMotley]

Make sure of the following: >The toggle in the menu points to the correct Bool parameter. >The Transition in the Animator calls for the correct Bool parameter. >The Parameter in your avatar Parameters list and the Animator Parameters list match *exactly*.

[@navy3001]

@@ToolboxMotley They are. I had an avatar creator look at it and he said everything is set up correctly, testing it out in Vrchat, i click to turn the toggle on, it makes the select sound but the toggle stays off

[@ToolboxMotley]

@@navy3001 Hm... You're just trying to toggle an object, right? Simple on/off, nothing with shaders or other functionality? If you're up for it, go ahead and toss me a message on Discord, and we can try having you stream your screen to me so I can take a look at it. Should be a pretty quick fix if it's just a toggle, won't charge for that. X)

[@navy3001]

@@ToolboxMotley i figured it out, i need an amathur thingy

[@amymorgan886]

hey uh its not toggling back

[@ToolboxMotley]

Probably has to do with Write Defaults. Are you using a premade avatar? Some creators will use Write Defaults Off in their projects, whereas my tutorials are focused on Write Defaults On (as that is Unity's default). Take a look at some of the pre-existing layers in your Animator. Click a State (one of the grey boxes), and look for the "Write Defaults" option in the Inspector. If the box besides it is unticked, that means the avatar is built around Write Defaults Off. Here are the steps to fixing the issue, if the avatar uses Write Defaults Off: >Bring up the Toggle layer in your Animator. >Click the "Off" state. >Set Write Defaults to Off. >Add your toggle animation into the Motion field. >Set the Speed to -1. >Click the "On" state. >Set Write Defaults to Off. >Open your Animation tab. >Select your toggle animation. >In the first frame (frame 0), turn the object off. >In the second frame (frame 1), turn the object on. (You can change the frame by either clicking 0:01 in the graph, or by changing the number in the field to the right of the Preview/Record/Play buttons.) >If the avatar went into Preview mode (typically a pose that drops its waist down to where its feet would normally be, and puts the avatar into a sort of motorcycle-riding pose), click the Preview button to get out of it. It should work at that point. Lemme know if it doesn't. :)