Options - Advanced
There are many settings which can be manually configured by advanced users in the XML files settings.xml and media.xml. In the settings.xml you will find general information that is specific to the device or the user, such as the name to be displayed during a conference or network settings (proxy). The media.xml file stores information specific to the presentation, e.g. the paths to the 360° media used or the Location of the Hotspots.
Advanced settings are discussed in this chapter. For information on other settings, refer to Settings
Functions
Asynchronous Spacewarp (ASW)
Asynchronous Spacewarp (ASW) may help to optimize performance on slow PCs. However, this function is not very effective with VR-Suite. By default, VR-Suite deactivates ASW on launch and reactivates when VR-Suite is closed. If desired, this option can be changed by editing the settings.xml
file.
https://developer.oculus.com/blog/asynchronous-spacewarp/
<Parameters>
...
<DisableASW>true</DisableASW>
...
- DisableASW = true
Deactivates ASW when VR-Suite is launched
- DisableASW = false
ASW settings are not changed by VR-Suite (the default)
Warning
If you set DisableASW to true, maybe your antivirus program will block the VR-Suite because we’re simulating pressing the keyboard to turn off ASW.
Bug Report
If an error occurs and you need help from present4D support, please enable the debug mode and send us a bug report.
- Send a bug report:
Press F12 immediately after starting VR-Suite. This causes actions performed in the program to be saved in a log file.
Repeat the steps that will reproduce the error.
Press F12 to automatically send us the log report via Email.
Email or call present4D for more information.
- Without internet connection:
Please send the report manually. The log file is located here or, on Windows, press F11:
- Windows:
%userprofile%\appdata\locallow\present4D\present4D\output_log.txt
C:\Users\YOUR-WINDOWSUSER-NAME\AppData\LocalLow\present4D\present4D\output_log.txt
You can also find the log file by copying the entire path to the file and pasting it into the Windows search box, as follows:
Press the Windows key on the keyboard or click the Windows icon in the lower-right of the screen to open up the text search boxt.
Copy this full path and filename for the log file
%%userprofile%\appdata\locallow\present4D\present4D\output_log.txt
Paste it into the Windows search box to open the file.
- OSX:
myUserName/Library/Logs/Unity/Player.log
Global Background Sound
A global background sound plays during the whole presentation.
Edit in media.xml
<tourSettings>
...
<globalBackgroundSound url="ambient.wav" volume="1.0" />
...
- File path:
data/ambient.wav
- File format:
*.wav
Mirrored Oculus View
The newest Oculus driver turns the mirrored display off when the HMD is not used. Use this setting to turn the mirrored view always on which may improve the screen and smooth motion.
This setting is edited in settings.xml
There are three modes in XML:
- HQ
Always visible, highest quality image with optional smoothing
- Default
Standard behavior from the headset manufacturer (poorer quality, picture black if headset is not used)
- None
No mirroring, the headset view is not visible on the monitor (black window for privacy)
<CustomDeviceView>
<!-- Should High Quality Custom Device View be used ? Set to default on low end PCs, set to none if the headset view should not be visible on PC Monitor - HQ (recommended), default, none -->
<!-- Can temporarily be switched by pressing D on your keyboard -->
<mode>HQ</mode>
<!-- Should the Custom Device View be smoothed? (recommended when showing on a TV / presentation - false or true -->
<smoothing_enabled>true</smoothing_enabled>
<!-- Defines behavior of smoothing. lower is smoother. Recomended Range: 2 to 20; 0 = freeze, 8 = default, 50 = similar to smoothing disabled -->
<smoothing_factor>8</smoothing_factor>
</CustomDeviceView>
Note
These modes can be switched through temporarily (i.e. only for the current runtime) with the d key on the keyboard.
Overlay Media Display
With “Overlay Media” you can insert videos or images into a 360° media files in the correct perspective. This allows you to project a video onto a TV for example.
Supported Files
.mp4 preferred Format (using Windows 7 and 8 you need to install the included LAWFilter Codec)
.jpg
.png
How to embed an Overlay Media Display
In the 360° location, turn to the position where you want to insert the Overlay Media Display
Move the mouse to the position where the upper left corner of the Overlay Media file should be displayed
Press the j button to create a red colored edge marker
Continue clockwise to mark the remaining three corners
After marking the fourth corner the file browser opens automatically. Select the desired file.
Edit the Corners
The corners can be moved like HotSpots with the right mouse button, the space bar or the VR controller.
Change the Media File
Move the cursor over the Overlay Media Display
Hold down the left Mouse Button and press o to open the the file browser
Select the desired file
Delete an Overlay Media Display
Move the cursor over the Overlay Media Display
Hold down the left Mouse Button and press k to delete the Overlay Media Display
Overlay Media Options
It is possible to set some options in the media.xml.
<overlaymedia path="overlaymedia_3873e2fe-5830-438b-ae27-7654ceaa6488/my_image.jpg" enabledOnStart="true" p1="261.7545, 11.67486, 83.50603" p2="269.2223, 14.29388, 54.22221" p3="263.8835, -21.72184, 74.28768" p4="249.1546, -24.90129, -113.6966" videoEndBehavior="loop" videoVolume="0.7" spotID="79" />
- videoEndBehavior=”loop”
The video will be looped
- videoEndBehavior=”hide”
The Overlay Media Display will be hidden after the video has played once
- videoVolume=”0.7”
Control the volume of the video 0 = sound off; 1 = 100%
POI Real Time Content
Display content from a website in a POI.
Follow this example to set this up in media.xml
<hotspot pan="0.963562" tilt="2.84503174" text="" icon="poi" scaleH="0.3" distanceH="6" hideText="false">
<poi headline="Loading" subheadline="Population of India" websiteURL="http://www.livepopulation.com/country/india.html" refreshRate="1.0" pasteInSubheadline ="false" stringBeforeElement="class="current-population">" stringAfterElement="</b></p>" />
</hotspot>
Choose a website
Open the website code (right click in browser, “View Page Source”)
Choose a good identifiable string before the information you wish to display
Choose a good identifiable string after the information you wish to display
Convert the string’s xml to conform with the following tool: http://www.freeformatter.com/xml-escape.html#ad-output
Copy the strings to stringBeforeElement and stringAfterElement
- pasteInSubheadline = true
The information will be pasted into the subheadline
- pasteInSubheadline = false
The information will be pasted into the headline
Rotation in Non-VR Mode
Edit in media.xml
media.xml
–> toursettings<customCameraRotationValues speed=”” smoothing=”” />
Default ist
speed=”0.22” smoothing=”0.0001” (Wert muss zwischen 0 und 1 liegen, je größer der Wert desto länger das nachlaufen)
Video end Actions
At the end of 360° videos, it is possible to trigger an action, such as:
Pause the video
Loop the video
Jump to another 360° Location
Edit these settings in media.xml
Example for onPanoEnd="pause"
<Location id="1_7" title="stereo video" onPanoEnd="pause" category="" pan="0" tilt="0" backgroundMusic="" northCorrection="0" dateUpId="" dateDownId="" panoOnBackgroundEnd="" volume="0.6">
Example for onPanoEnd="loop"
<Location id="1_7" title="stereo video" onPanoEnd="loop" category="" pan="0" tilt="0" backgroundMusic="" northCorrection="0" dateUpId="" dateDownId="" panoOnBackgroundEnd="" volume="0.6">
Example for onPanoEnd="loadLocAfterVideo"
<Location id="1_6" title="Intro" onPanoEnd="loadLocAfterVideo" goToLoc="1_7" goalKeepCurrentRotation="false" goalFadeInstant="false" goalPan="60" goalTilt="5.5" category="" pan="266.823853" tilt="1.03375244" backgroundMusic="" northCorrection="0" dateUpId="" dateDownId="" panoOnBackgroundEnd="" volume="0.6" >
goToLoc="1_7"
goalPan="60"
goalTilt="5.5"
goalKeepCurrentRotation="false"
goalFadeInstant="false"
Screensaver
For information on how to add a screensaver, refer to this chapter: Screensaver
Sound Falloff Parameter
The falloff setting controls the angle at which the sound can still be heard.
Edit this setting in media.xml
<HotSpot>
...
<sound ...=... falloff="-1" ...=... >
...
falloff="-1"
Plays with no falling off
falloff="90"
Plays only when 45° to the right and left sides.
- Parameter can be
0 - 360°
Network
Web Sync Smoothing
The setting has an affect on performance and network latency when using conference laser pointer and Mirror via Network. The smaller the value, the smoother movements will appear but at the expense of the actuality of the position and rotation.
Edit this setting in settings.xml
<Parameters>
...
<NetworkInterpolation>0.04</NetworkInterpolation>
...
- NetworkInterpolation = 0.04
Preset - a good average for most networks
- NetworkInterpolation = 0.01
Very smooth movements but may have higher network latency
- NetworkInterpolation = 0.08
Jerky movements but less network latency
ProxyServer
Easy Proxy setup
Proxy handling is very easy: follow the screen instructions if no internet connection is available.
Proxy Handling in older Versions
PROXY HANDLING in old V1.4:
Please generate an additional file proxy.xml and place it beside the settings.xml
The proxy.xml should contain:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="no"?>
<Parameters>
<ProxyServer enabled="true">
<HTTPProxyURL>http://192.168.0.109</HTTPProxyURL>
<HTTPProxyPort>808</HTTPProxyPort>
<HTTPProxyUsername></HTTPProxyUsername>
<HTTPProxyPassword></HTTPProxyPassword>
</ProxyServer>
</Parameters>
Note
Please make sure you add the prefix http:// before the IP to create a valid url.
Proxy for GearVR and Cardboard in old V1.4:
Please generate an additional file proxy.xml (see above) and place it beside the settings.xml
.
Additionally the global proxy settings of your smartphone have to be configured with the same settings.
Note
If the file settings.xml
is missing on your smartphone, please copy the file proxy.xml into the folder named after your Portal Key in the folder path:
- On Android Cardboard
de.Present4D.VRSuiteCardboard/files/Present4D/VR-Suite/[:term:`Portal Key` xxx.xxx]/
- On Android GearVR
de.Present4D.VRSuiteGearVR/files/Present4D/VR-Suite/[:term:`Portal Key` xxx.xxx]/
If there is no existing Portal Key folder, please initialize your VR-Suite:
Use a less secured network
Upload a small non-confidential test project from your Windows computer to the cloud server.
Start the VR-Suite app on your smartphone and enter your Portal Key
Download the test project
Now the setup is ready. In future you can use proxy or copy the project via cable.
Skip Connection Check
In some cases while using a WLAN router without internet, the connection check takes more than 20 sec. If you need this setup you can skip the connection check!
Create a dummy file named connectionCheck.ignore
(an empty text file is OK.)
make sure not to create a connectionCheck.ignore.txt file.
The file extensions may be hidden by your operating system.
Copy the file into the following Location:
- On a PC
Place the file inside your Project Portal Folder
xxx-xxx
- On Android Cardboard
/Android/data/de.Present4D.VRSuiteCardboard/files/Present4D/[:term:`Portal Key` xxx-xxx]/connectionCheck.ignore
- On Android GearVR
/Android/data/de.Present4D.VRSuiteGearVR/files/Present4D/[:term:`Portal Key` xxx-xxx]/connectionCheck.ignore
Keyboard Layout / Shortcuts
Shortcut |
Function |
---|---|
Arrow up |
Switch to next 360-degree Location |
Arrow down |
Switch to previous 360-degree Location |
numeric keys |
|
1 |
loads the location 1_1 |
2556 |
loads the location 1_2556 |
Space |
|
a |
With a, you open the dialog to license single 360-degree Locations. Not available in all license models. |
l |
Toggles the laser pointer. |
x |
Restarts the walk through. |
f |
(follow) During conference mode, you switch to the 360-degree Location and the current view of the conference leader. |
m |
(master) * If in conference mode, you gain leader role. * All other conference participants jump to your 360°-Location and share your current view angle. |
j |
Create a red colored edge marker for an Overlay Media Display. |
o |
Move the cursor over the Overlay Media Display, hold down the left Mouse Button and press o to change the media file. |
k |
Move the cursor over the Overlay Media Display, hold down the left Mouse Button and press k to delete the Overlay Media Display. |
Page up |
Increases the HotSpot and infospot icon size |
Page down |
Decreases the HotSpot and infospot icon size |
p |
Change the distance of the HotSpot and infospot icons from the eyes |
o |
Change the distance of the HotSpot and infospot icons from the eyes |
Esc |
Ends the software (can be deactivated in the file settings.xml) |
Video Tutorials
Visit our Youtube Tutorial Video Channel