vn-os/netimgui

'Dear Imgui' remote access library and application

Contact

It seems that various gaming studios are making use of this code. I would enjoy hearing back from library users, for general comments and feedbacks. Always interested in learning of people usercase. I can be reached through my GitHub profile (email or twitter) or a opening a GitHub Issue.

Summary

NetImgui is a library to remotely display and control Dear ImGui menus with an associated NetImgui Server application. Designed to painlessly integrate into existing codebase with few changes required. It allows any program using Dear ImGui to receives input from a remote PC and then forwards its UI rendering to it (textures, vertices, indices, draw commands).

Purpose

Initially created to assist game developers in debugging their game running on a game console or smartphone, from a PC. However, its use extends to wider applications. The only requirements are that a program is using Dear ImGui using C++ and available TCP/IP communications.

1. UI access with applications without display or input.

Some applications lack display and inputs access, preventing feedbacks and easy control. It could be a program running on a Raspberry Pie device, or Unreal 4 running in server mode, etc. . Using NetImgui allows the display of a user interface with full control on your PC while the logic remains on the client application itself.

2. Ease of use

While inputs might be available on a particular device (keyboard, gamepad, ...), it might still not be convenient for certain aspect. For example, text input is still more comfortable on a physical keyboard than on a smartphone. Idem for gaming consoles with gamepads control or VR development.

3. Declutter display

Dear ImGui is often used to display relevant debug information during development, but UI elements can obscure the regular content. NetImgui sends the UI content to a remote window, leaving the original display clutter-free and with the freedom to use the entire screen for more elaborate content.

Before

With NetImgui

How it works

Here is a quick overview of the logic behind using the NetImgui Server and one (or more) program using the NetImgui Client code.

1. (NetImgui Server) Capture user's inputs with mouse/keyboard

2. (NetImgui Server) Send the Inputs to client and request a draw update

3. (NetImgui Client) Draw the Dear ImGui content normally (without need to display on client)

4. (NetImgui Client) Send the drawing results to server

5. (NetImgui Server) Receives the drawing result and display them

6. Repeat the process

Note

The NetImgui Server application currently compiles under Windows, but few changes are required to properly have it running under other Operating Systems.

Integration

1. Download the latest version of the NetImgui library.
2. Add the content of Code\Client to your codebase.
3. In your codebase:
   • [once]
     • Call NetImgui::Startup() (at program start).
     • Call NetImgui::ConnectToApp() or NetImgui::ConnectFromApp().
     • Call NetImgui::Shutdown() (at program exit).
   • [every redraw]
     • Draw your ImGui menu as usual.
     • If Dear ImGui 1.80 and lower (or want frameskip support).
       • Replace call to ImGui::NewFrame() with NetImgui::NewFrame().
       • Replace call to ImGui::Render() / ImGui::EndFrame() with NetImgui::EndFrame().
4. Start the NetImgui server application and connect your application to it.

• More integration details can be found on the Wiki.
• Multiple samples are also provided in the depot, providing additional insights.

Note

• Connection between NetImgui Server and a netImGui Client can be achieved in 4 different ways.

• Server waits for connection and :

  • (A) Client calls ConnectToApp() with the Server address.

• Client calls ConnectFromApp() then waits for connection and :

  • (B) Server configure the Client's address and connect to it.
  • (C) Server is launched with the Client's address in the commandline.
  • (D) Server receives a Client's address from another application, through Windows named pipe : \.\pipe\netImgui'.

• Advanced: Different Dear ImGui content can be displayed locally and remotely at the same time. Look at SampleDualUI for more information.

• NetImgui::IsConnected() and NetImgui::IsDrawingRemote() can be used during Dear ImGui drawing, helping to make selective decisions on the content to draw based on where it will be displayed.

Dear Imgui versions

• Tested against Dear ImGui versions: 1.74, 1.75, 1.76, 1.76 (docking), 1.77, 1.78, 1.79, 1.80, 1.80 (docking), 1.81, 1.82, 1.83, 1.84, 1.85, 1.86.
• Note: Should support other versions without too much difficulties.

Related

Related projects making use of NetImgui.

• Unreal NetImgui : Unreal 4 plugin adding access to Dear ImGui and NetImgui functionalities. Unlike the next plugin, it is a simple implementation with only remote access possible (no Dear ImGui drawing over the game).
• Unreal ImGui : Unreal 4 Plugin adding Dear ImGui drawing support over your game and editor display. The net_imgui branch of this repository contains an integration of this NetImgui library for remote access and is ready to go.
• For Unreal 4 developpers with their own Dear ImGui integration, Unreal NetImgui has support for an Imgui Unreal Commands window that can be of interest. The code can easily be imported in your own codebase, with no dependency to Unreal NetImgui proper.

Release notes

To do

• Support of additional texture formats
• Handle Linear/sRGB vertex color format
• Add logging information in netImgui server application
• Profile and optimize performances
• Add new Dear ImGui multi windows support (docking branch)
• Commands to assign custom backgrounds
• Add compression to data between Client and Server

Version 1.7.5

(2022/01/31)

• API Changes
  • None
• Bug fixes
  • NetImgui Server memory leak fix

Version 1.7.4

(2022/01/30)

• API Changes
  • Removed the bWait parameter from Shutdown()
    • Always wait for Shutdown completion before returning now
    • This prevents multithread data release issues
  • Added a NETIMGUI_API define prefix to functions exported in NetImgui_Api.h
    • Similar to IMGUI_API, allows library user to control dll import/export
    • Takes the same value as IMGUI_API by default
• Bug fixes
  • Compression feature causing some out of sync issue with NetImgui Server
  • 32bits index support crash

Version 1.7

(2022/01/10)

• API Changes
  • Added SetCompressionMode(...) / GetCompressionMode(), allow library user to manage the data compression feature
    • By default, Client relies on Server Setting
• Data Compressions Support
  • Drawing data generated by the Client can now be compressed before being sent to Server
    • Greatly reduce the bandwidth between Client/Server at a negligible cost on the Client
    • Using Delta Compression. The draw data usually vary little from previous frame. Sending only the changed bytes produce great results at low overhead
  • Highly dynamic UI content lower improvements
  • A new sample (SampleCompression) demonstrate the use of data compression and its metrics
    • At 30 Fps, data rate send from client goes from ~ 3400 KB/s to ~ 22 KB/s (~ 160x improvement !)
    • Since it depends on static content, moving around a Window reduce the benefits
• Other Changes
  • Added OpenGL3 support to NetImgui Server
    • Still DirectX11 by default
    • OpenGL3 support helps with the Server Application port to non Windows OS
    • To enable, set HAL_API_PLATFORM_GLFW_GL3 define to 1 and HAL_API_PLATFORM_WIN32_DX11 to 0
  • Added support for Visual Studio 2021
  • Support up to Dear ImGui 1.86 has been tested

Older

Release Notes

Credits

Sincere thanks to Omar Cornut for the incredible work on Dear ImGui.

Support of image formats via stb_image.h by Sean Barrett (public domain).

Support of Solutions generation via Sharpmake by Ubisoft (public domain).

Support of Posix sockets thanks to Aaron Lieberman.

Support of json save file via nlohmann json