Exciting Updates in Layla: Introducing Eleonora and More!

A Fresh Animated Character

This version includes multiple exciting changes!

Introducing a new animated character, Eleonora: A vision of youthful elegance, Eleonora sits poised upon her family's ancestral throne. Her striking emerald eyes reveal an intelligence that belies her young age. Her platinum-blonde hair cascades in delicate waves beneath a finely crafted golden tiara, framing porcelain features set in an expression of dignified curiosity. Eleonora's slender frame is adorned in an elaborate white gown with intricate gold embroidery befitting her royal status. The ornate choker at her neck showcases her noble house's craftsmanship. Although not yet crowned, the graceful confidence in her posture and the thoughtful gaze she directs toward her future subjects hint at the potential she possesses as heir to her kingdom's throne.

She is animated with idle, talking, and thinking animations. These animations will update based on your input! You can learn more about initiating a voice chat with your characters here.

Duplicate Preset Characters

Additionally, this update adds the ability to duplicate the preset characters. You can use them as a base to create your own, including the animated ones! This flexibility allows you to utilize the animations to craft unique characters and explore your creativity.

Enhancements to Creativity: XTC Sampler

What Is the XTC Sampler?

Layla supports the XTC sampler (EXclude Top Choices). This sampler boosts model creativity by excluding the top choices based on predefined settings. As a result, characters or models can explore innovative ideas without sacrificing coherence.

User Feedback and Details

For more details on how it works and some feedback from users, see the discussion here. You can configure the settings by accessing the Advanced Settings screen in Layla.

Introducing Phi-4 Support

What Are Phi-4 Models?

This update of Layla also adds support for the newly released Phi-4 family models from Microsoft. According to Microsoft, Phi-4 models "excel at complex reasoning in areas such as math, in addition to conventional language processing."

More Information

For more details, check out the post on Microsoft’s blog here.

Full Changelog

New Features

• Added a new animated character, Eleonora.

• Added the ability to duplicate characters, including both preset and animated characters, allowing users to create unique animations for their characters.

• Integrated XTC samplers into Advanced Settings.

• Added support for Phi-4 family models.

  
  

Improvements

• Introduced the feature to generate image prompts using your selected LLM in the SD mini-app.

• Enhanced animated character lip movement; lips now start moving when sound plays, instead of syncing with LLM output.

  
  

Bug Fixes

• Resolved the issue where saving backup data directly to the file system failed for very large backups.

• Fixed the bug where character info was not updated after editing until a reload was performed.

• Corrected the problem where deleting a character did not refresh the character list.

• Addressed the TTS voice issue where voices did not play in silent mode on phones.

• Resolved the TTS voices bug that prevented playback after stopping it once.

• Fixed an image generation bug causing "workspace alignment" issues.

• Corrected the problem where character tags were not displaying in the character creator.

• Resolved the issue of deleted characters still sending proactive messages.

  
  

With these exciting updates, Layla continues to evolve, bringing richer experiences to users. Eleonora is just the beginning of what’s to come!