V-Panel/README.md

V Panel

A fancy status monitor built with the Godot Engine. V stands for the Roman numeral 5 — a nod to my online handle, Fifthdread.

Overview

V Panel is a visually rich, real-time status monitoring dashboard built entirely in Godot. Designed to be both functional and aesthetically polished, it serves as a showcase for Godot's UI capabilities outside of gaming — custom shaders, smooth animations, reactive layouts, and system integration.

Features

• Animated splash screen — Fullscreen splash with "V" and "Panel" text using Orbitron variable font. Font-size zoom animation via tween_method with overshoot (TRANS_BACK), then crossfades to dashboard with no black flash.
• Responsive grid dashboard — Fixed grid_columns/grid_rows (settable via @export). Square cells, centered layout. Drag-and-drop to rearrange.
• Variable-size modules — Modules can span multiple grid cells (1×1, 2×1, 2×2, etc.). Drag edges/corners to resize interactively.
• Shader-based vial fill — Each module uses a custom vial_fill.gdshader instead of progress bars. Features sum-of-sines water surface with edge-damped meniscus, wave distortion, ripple rings, swirl, HSV colour shifting, top-down lighting, sparkle effects, 3D subsurface scattering, gaussian surface foam, and wave-slope specular highlights.
• Shader preset system — Long-press (500ms) or double-click any module to open an action menu with 7 visual presets (Vivid Vial, Emerald Deep, Lava Flow, Neon Dream, Deep Purple, Rainbow Swirl, Frostbite).
• Plugin architecture — Tiles are defined as plugins under plugins/*/plugin.cfg. Each plugin declares metadata, tile definitions, and optional settings. Tile IDs scoped as {plugin_id}/{tile_id}.
• Plugin settings — Per-plugin configurable values stored in config/plugin_settings.cfg. Settings defined in manifest [settings] section (int/float/bool/string types with min/max constraints).
• Per-tile refresh intervals — Each tile has its own configurable refresh interval (default 1000ms). Base tick runs at 100ms, tiles refresh only when their interval elapses.
• Animation scaling — Tween durations dynamically clamp based on each tile's refresh interval to prevent animation from outlasting the update window.
• Layout persistence — Named layouts saved/restored as INI files in config/layouts/. Grid dimensions (columns/rows) stored per-layout. Auto-saves on drag/resize.
• Settings menu — Modal popup with General, Plugins, and About tabs. Plugin activation toggles, per-plugin settings popups with dynamic UI controls.
• Plugin activation — Plugins can be deactivated from Settings → Plugins tab. Deactivation saves layout, removes tiles. Reactivation places tiles at saved positions if cells are free.
• INI-based configuration — Uses Godot's built-in ConfigFile class for human-friendly .cfg files. config/default.cfg for shipped defaults, config/config.cfg for user overrides (gitignored).
• Live system monitoring — Reads CPU usage from /proc/stat and memory usage from /proc/meminfo on Linux. Extensible module system for adding new collectors.
• Smooth animations — All fill level transitions use tweens with cubic easing.

Modules

Module	Plugin	Data Source	Description
CPU	local_system_monitor	/proc/stat	Real-time CPU usage percentage
Memory	local_system_monitor	/proc/meminfo	Real-time memory usage percentage
Testing	test	N/A (cycles 0–100%)	Shader visual testing with stepped fill levels

Controls

• Drag module — Click and drag to rearrange modules on the grid
• Resize module — Click and drag any edge or corner to resize (snaps to cell grid)
• Action menu — Long-press (500ms hold) or double-click a module to open settings, info, remove, and theme presets
• Add tile — Long-press empty grid space to add new tiles
• Settings — Press ⚙ in action menu for settings menu with plugin management

Project Status

Version 0.1.0-alpha. Plugin architecture, settings framework, layout persistence, per-tile refresh intervals, and animation scaling are implemented. More system modules (disk, network) are planned.

License

TBD