One thing I love about this community is how openly information is shared. I’ve seen posts like mine before, but on a smaller scale. When I first started, I didn’t have a clue where to begin, was reading everything I thought could help answer my questions. It’s been a while now, and I’m still making changes and adjusting my setup. Below I break down the A-Z of my setup, which I hope helps those just starting out or anyone looking for how others do it. I invite you to critique my setup, challenge how and why I do things, and offer advice to improve any aspect. In some ways, I’m happy with where things are at, in others, I see the need for improvement.
Summary of my setup
Hardware
- The Handy (about 2 years old, still runs well, regular maintenance and has been disassembled twice for a deep clean and to explore the insides)
- Quest 2
- 1TB external HHD (needs an upgrade but working well enough)
Accessories:
- The Handy hands-free bundle (cup + arm + standard clamp as the original Handy one was stripped)
Software:
- Stash (flat videos + VR)
- Heresphere (sideloaded onto Quest 2 to view Stash library)
- Docker (runs StashVR to enable API in Heresphere)
- OpenFunScripter/OFS V3.2 and Motion Tracking Funscript Generator/MTFG V.4.2 – Recommend reading https://discuss.eroscripts.com/t/how-to-script-in-openfunscripter-video-tutorial/16637
- FunscriptDancer (generates funscripts based on audio - not regularly used)
Overview of my scripting process
I should preface by saying that I am a very casual scripter, and it takes a lot of energy for me to work up to completing a script and I am not an expert by any means. There are a variety of methods to use, for example, some people like simulating the action with their mouse and then modifying the actions to remove the hundreds of points it generated that wouldn’t translate well to certain toys, some use motion tracking, others prefer an entirely manual process. Everything I know is from this community, my own experience using other peoples scripts, and by analyzing scripts by other creators. There are so many techniques and tools that I do not yet know or use, and this is a point of this post, a way to improve my process. Scripting a video takes much more time than you may expect, with experience this becomes a little less awful. Below I outline the steps I usually take and comments for each, I find I need to bounce between steps 5-7 constantly to get the result I’m looking for.
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Step one is finding a video, for this, I usually first browse the script-requests section to see what is new.
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An important step for me, finding something that I actually want to script and experience. I have no issue starting a script, getting bored, and letting it go. To avoid this, I really pick and choose where I spend my time.
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Now I load the video into OFS and skim through to get a rough idea of what style I think I’d like + would feel right in the scene. Visualizing where the action is taking place on a scale from 0-100 is my starting point. This usually means asking myself if it’s a simple action mapped script, a video that could be enhanced with vibrations or spikes, or a PMV with beats that I should try to incorporate. The struggle I have in this step is adding in variety of patterns and looking for those opportunities to amplify the script.
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This is where the work begins, I use MTFG to motion track the unobstructed shots and lay the foundation for my work. That’s all for this step, I let that be the starting point and carry through the whole script. You could spend plenty of time editing these parts, and you’d be correct that it does need to be done, but I save this for later. By this point, you have a project that looks a little something like this:
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This is where a lot of your time is sunk into. It has some structure, but has gaps from where MTFG either wasn’t usable or the output wasn’t worth keeping or that I knew would have to be done manually. At this point, sometimes I modify and adjust the output from MTFG, in most cases, I turn my attention to the gaps/areas I know I want to add some special details. Don’t know what you should add? Look at other peoples scripts, try to imagine the effect you’re looking to feel and see where others have done something similar that might work well here.
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Right about now, I’m realizing how little I’ve done and how much more is needed. Luckily, MTFG usually gives pretty great results, with a little know-how you can improve those results by spending the time selecting the right configuration and point(s) to track. The time has come to skim through and work on accuracy. The two focuses I have here are on timing of strokes and positioning of the points. For me, the stroke isn’t always reflective of what is happening in the video. Sometimes a fuller stroke is a better fit, or a change in pattern to keep things interesting. The way I script is dependent on what I prefer, at the end of the day, I script for myself and release them to the community, those that enjoy it will, and those that don’t, won’t. Here is where the work begins to show. Bottom is the unedited version and the top is with adjustments/gaps filled.
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By this point, I’m usually losing motivation to continue. How do I fix this? Try the script out, move your attention to where you’ve spent the most time refining. It helps to see if it actually gave the feeling you were looking to simulate, and it gives me some energy to see it through. I would be lying if I said I never give up. I’ve gotten to this point before, played the script, and realized either I’ve ruined the video for myself watching and replying various parts over and over. Most of the time, I push through and keep going to the next step.
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Now it’s time for a full review, all gaps should be filled and your script should be in a mostly finished state. Time for fine details and adjustments. This is where I’m really thinking where the position of sleeve should be. Another time to reinforce how scripting for myself is a must for me. You have to imagine that scale of 0-100% stroke on yourself. If you’re someone who wants to accurately script every single action inline with the video, go for it. If you’re someone who wants to finish the script and have a video that pleases you, go for it. Your style of scripting is entirely up to you.
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The end. Test and enjoy your script, adjust and remap as needed. When I get to this step, I’m posting to this community for free.
Comments, notes, questions
My VR experience
At first, I really enjoyed VR. A point came where it just fell off for me. What I discovered is I liked my VR setup, but the novelty of the VR scenes just was not as exciting as it used to be. Perhaps a full reset like no-fap would help. I still use VR for my flat 2d videos, Heresphere is an excellent software imo and the options built in are nice. For example, I have some actions mapped to my VR controller that I use every single time. Having full control with one hand and limited eyesight was the biggest upgrade for me. Start/stop playback of funscript only is essential, keeping the video playing while I have a moment to relax and collect myself without losing focus. Adjusting the threshold for strokes (i.e., limiting to 0-50% while warming up and switching to other positions as needed), not essential, but another great feature I use every time. I’ve just named the two that I most use, the best part is that everything is mappable to your controller, so no distractions or takeaways from what’s going on.
At this point, I really only consume 2d videos. I use the VR for the functionality I mentioned, but rarely view VR videos despite a variety of options.
My Stash/XBVR experience
A game changer. Previously, I used an open SMB network share through a windows media server. It worked, it worked fine. But the ability to organize, preview videos+funscripts, tag, all while removing the security concern of my previous setup completely changed my experience. I did setup stash VR, which I did struggle with, but eventually tinkered around until it worked.
XBVR was fine, but I preferred having one library and once I successfully implemented StashVR, I no longer had a need for XBVR, especially considering I wasn’t too interested in matching my videos to studios and my interest in VR was mostly gone.
Aspects of my setup I want to change
I really only have one item, which is removing the VR headset. Yes I know, I spoke highly of heresphere but the reality is that I do not live alone and using the handy is one thing, but being completely unaware of my surroundings is a huge issue for me. I use stash on my phone which is great, but I do not have the ability to pause the funscript while the video continues or easily adjust my stroke range without switching to the handy app which then takes a moment to connect and ruins the entire experience. The handy does have buttons on the back to adjust, I find them slightly annoying and again, takes me away from the whole ordeal while I try to get it just right.
I hope and pray that the Stash devs/other community members develop something for this
Improving how I script and the tools I use
Here is an area that I really am feeling behind. There are no doubt creators out there there could create exceptional scripts strictly by hand without tools/addons. Tools and addons are a timesaver. There are a few things I’ve not yet figured out/found the solutions I’m looking for:
- Adding Lua scripts to OFS that add in preconfigured snippets of strokes, last I saw the issue I had was there was not a compatible version with the version of OFS I was using - haven’t really bothered checking back in
- Multiple tools shown in this post: Scripting Timelapse - Dehya by Haruya
- Vibrations
- Really anything that is quality of life or improves speed in which I can produce scripts
- PMV related tools. I know creating good PMV scripts sometimes comes down to raw talent, but there surely are must-have tools that creators are using that I am unaware of.
This post is probably all over the place, maybe something here helps others, ultimately that is the goal. The other benefit would be ways that I can improve my setup, more specifically my scripting. I really am open to any and all suggestions, my goal is to update this post in a year with a much more polished and technical post.
Thanks for reading!
Big thank you to all those who helped me get to this stage, I read countless topics and spent countless hours figuring things out on my own. This community is truly great.
Disclaimer: Links added for convince, none of them are affiliated or benefit me in anyway.
