Release notes
# Live Background Removal Lite 3.6.0 Release Notes
Happy New Year, everyone! We’re excited to announce version **3.6.0** of LiveBackgroundRemovalLite—your high-performance, crash-resistant OBS plugin for real-time background removal. This release brings important upgrades focused on lifecycle handling, error logging, licensing clarity, coroutine utilities, improved file name handling, and general polish across the codebase. Here’s what’s new since **3.5.5**:
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## 🌟 Major Features & Improvements
### OBS Filter Lifecycle Event Support
- The plugin now responds to OBS filter lifecycle events, including **activate**, **deactivate**, **show**, and **hide**.
- These events are handled robustly, allowing for better resource management and instant frame refreshing whenever you toggle visibility or activation.
- **New lifecycle events were introduced to make the plugin more stable, especially when a filter or source is switched to be active or shown.** You should experience fewer glitches and more consistent plugin performance as you switch scenes or toggle sources.
- The rendering context forcibly processes frames on these events, improving filter responsiveness and reliability.
### Improved File Name Handling
- You can now use file and folder paths containing **non-ASCII characters** (such as Japanese, Chinese, emoji, or other "fancy" characters) without issues. This update ensures your backgrounds and sources load correctly, no matter how creative your path names are.
### Improved Logging with Structured Error Codes
- All logger error and warning messages have been standardized. Instead of verbose strings, you’ll now find concise error codes like `"MainPluginContextIsNullError"` or `"MemoryBlockAcquisitionError"` in the logs.
- This helps with diagnostics, parsing log files, and tracking down issues faster.
### License and Attribution Updates
- Source files now use SPDX license identifiers, improving clarity and compatibility with automated license checking tools.
- **LiveBackgroundRemovalLite** modules consistently reference GPL-3.0-or-later, and attribution wording has been updated.
- The **SelfieSegmenter** module has been relicensed from GPL to the more permissive MIT License.
- Module naming in license headers has been corrected and harmonized.
### Coroutine & Async Utilities Expanded
- The `KaitoTokyo::Async` library now includes a new **MPSC Channel** for high-performance, coroutine-friendly multi-threaded work, along with safe shutdown and exception handling.
- Added `JoinTask` and a `join()` function for synchronously waiting on coroutine completion.
- The core `Task` coroutine has been improved for robustness and documented for easier use.
### Miscellaneous
- Localization keys for the update checker were standardized—users across English, Japanese, and Korean locales benefit from clearer update messages.
- Project references, such as `BridgeUtils` → `ObsBridgeUtils`, are updated in build files and documentation for better consistency.
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## 🛠️ Developer Notes
- Exception handling and robust logging wire into all new lifecycle event callbacks.
- Multiple internal refactors make the codebase easier to read, safer, and more maintainable.
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## Upgrade Guidance
This version is a drop-in upgrade. The new lifecycle responsiveness means filters should behave better as you interact with OBS UI, especially when switching source visibility or reactivating filters rapidly. The improved file name handling will especially benefit users with non-English setups or personalized folder names.
We strongly recommend updating to **3.6.0** for improved reliability, Unicode path support, licensing transparency, and developer ergonomics!
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Thank you for your continued support and feedback—keep sending bug reports and suggestions on [GitHub](https://github.com/kaito-tokyo/live-backgroundremoval-lite)! 🎉
—
**Kaito Udagawa / LiveBackgroundRemovalLite Team**