v1.6.0

exo-explore/exov1.6.0Sep 3, 2025by met4citizen

AI Summary

This update improves streaming stability and introduces an experimental avatar-only mode, along with new animation controls, memory management methods, and performance optimizations.

Key Highlights

Improved streaming stability and AudioWorklet reuse
New experimental avatar-only mode with 3D scene support
Added head.dispose method to prevent memory leaks
Exposed head.animations and head.userData for custom animations

New Features

Avatar-only mode
External animation loop update function
head.dispose method
Support for English decades and ordinal numbers
Automatic generation of additional blend shapes

Full Release Notes

- Improved streaming stability and AudioWorklet reuse (contributed by @ibrahoss).
- Added a new, experimental avatar-only mode that allows the app to use its own 3D scene and renderer + support for multiple avatars (see Appendix H in README for more information).
- Added support for an external animation loop update function via the new `update` option.
- Added `head.dispose` method to prevent memory leaks in cases when the app wants to dispose the TalkingHead instance.
- Exposed `head.animations` and `head.userData` to enable the app to play built-in PlayerZero animations #124 .
- Added support for correctly pronouncing English decades and ordinal numbers (h/t to @red-reddington ).
- Added automatic generation of the additional Ready Player Me blend shapes (mouthOpen, mouthSmile, eyesClosed, eyesLookUp, eyesLookDown), if  missing.
- Bumped Three.js version from r170 to r180 (tested; no changes to the TalkingHead class).
- Fixed Unicode handling.
- Minor fixes and improvements.

## What's Changed
* Fix streamStop() to properly interrupt audio playback by @ibrahoss in https://github.com/met4citizen/TalkingHead/pull/118
* Improve Streaming Stability and AudioWorklet Reuse + Add Performance Metrics by @ibrahoss in https://github.com/met4citizen/TalkingHead/pull/123


**Full Changelog**: https://github.com/met4citizen/TalkingHead/compare/v1.5.0...v1.6.0