Client Difference Log
API Changes
Added Class ViewportFrame : GuiObject
Added Property Class<Camera> ViewportFrame.CurrentCamera
Added Property bool BasePart.Massless
Added Property int BasePart.RootPriority
Added Property int TextBox.CursorPosition
Added Function Class<Instance> LocalizationService:GetTranslatorForPlayerAsync(Class<Instance> player) [Yields]
Added EnumItem StudioStyleGuideColor.Midlight : 82
I have a quick question regarding this : will particles/trails render inside of viewport frames? E.g. if I was making a shop UI and wanted to have a 3D, animated preview of a particle, would the particle render/animate inside of the viewport frame?
both of these features are gonna be amazing
Surprised to see it on the release notes this early considering the current state.
With the version on GameTest2 (with a fast flag enabled) as a reference, the following aren’t implemented:
- Neon glow
- Shading (lighting or ambient occlusion)
- Anti-aliasing
- BillboardGui and SurfaceGui rendering
- Particles
- Beams? (I didn’t test this)
- Post processing effects? (I didn’t test this)
- Skyboxes? (I didn’t test this)
- Terrain? (I didn’t test this)
Do particles/trails render/animate? And are you able to modify the CFrame of the object to get it to rotate and whatnot?
Forgot to list that. Particles don’t render (yet?).
Yes. The current implementation uses the geometry parented to the frame and a CurrentCamera like Workspace. All properties of the Camera object are functional as well.
Hopefully they’ll add particle+trail support. If they do I can make my shop UI look 
My guess is they will come in time. I plan to release Module3D V6 when ViewportFrames are enabled.
I know developers will use it for features in their games, but it’s also useful for developer tools (e.g. preview your animation from first person while making it, or give a preview of a zombie when I select the zombie object in the explorer, so I know what it is). All of the features you mentioned aren’t really necessary for developer tools, so it will be tremendously useful as-is. I’m sure there are plans to expand upon it though.
I’m so glad that Roblox actually considered massless objects after all, I’m also excited for ViewportFrames but it still sounds fairly limited (in terms of visual quality) so it doesn’t seem much more preferable over current methods yet. To note, I’m referring mostly to games that display objects close to the camera, such as in inventory systems. I agree that it will open doors to exciting new game features regardless of how it currently appears.
A cool plugin idea that I could see someone trying is multiple viewports. You could modify a part of a city and see in real time how it appears from a far-off point. Obviously, it would be for higher-end systems and require a lot of the limitations to be addressed.
The main advantage I can see is performance. Existing methods require moving models for every frame and rendering it. With ViewportGuis, nothing needs to be actively moved, and I would assume some sort of caching of the rendering is done until there is a geometry update. No clue how they will compare in terms of GPU and Memory since I haven’t profiled them.
I can honestly see some really cool stuff being done with the ViewPortFrame, such as a DOOM clone where the “sprites” are image labels, and will also make developing Redshift Arena’s customization much easier in my opinion.
As for the weird errors such as lighting not showing or AA not showing, I believe those’ll be fixed when F.I.B. comes out.
Added a writable TextBox.CursorPosition property.
Lowest position 0 or 1?
If this feature ever reaches a point where it’s indistinguishable from the main default viewport, maybe it won’t be such a bad idea to convert the default viewport to one of these guis as well, allowing for more control.
ofc I have doubts about backwards-compatibility
The viewport frame is not only cool but will save me loads of time uploading pictures of all the models I need.
Is the ViewportFrame not enabled? I was really looking forward to using it :c
Rest in peace CloneTrooper1019’s 3D Module. Could this also be the fresh sight of Camera-in-Camera-esque APIs or something similar? I’d like to see that.
So can I stop setting my part densities to 0.01 and scream at a few other developers to use this?
Here are a few things I made with the ViewportFrame when I found it.
https://twitter.com/cloneteee1019/status/1055240194666967042
https://twitter.com/cloneteee1019/status/1055252775335006208
https://twitter.com/cloneteee1019/status/1055281591919038465
That tardis effect reminds me so much of this:
Now I’m hoping you’ll be able to walk through the viewportframe part, or have a seameless transition from one to another.
I also just realized this opens up the door to actual real-time reflections (as that’s pretty much all reflections are in video games.)
If only surface guis wrapped properly to geometry like Decals. 
((This could also potentially remove the problem FPS games have had for a log time where weapons would clip through other objects.