With the CSC plugin enabled, there are two ways to setup your scene.
Insert the CavrnusSpatialConnector actor in the level.
Manually implement calls to the Cavrnus API Functions.
CavrnusSpatialConnector class
The CavrnusSpatialConnector is a specialized actor class that collects all of the required configuration elements into one convenient location.
Add an instance of the CavrnusSpatialConnector to your level by selecting it from the Cavrnus menu at the top of the Unreal Editor interface.
Select the CavrnusSpatialConnector instance in the level Outliner.
From the Details panel, configure all of your connection settings for this project:
CSC Configuration
My Server:
This is the domain you registered with Cavrnus when you configured your account. Enter your company’s URL in this field. (e.g. “CompanyName.cavrn.us” )
Authentication Method:
Specify whether Guests can join a space anonymously using a hyperlink, or if a login is required by a an authorized team member in your domain.
Guests can join automatically with no authentication. This is recommended for delivering an experience to a wide audience, without the need for creating and managing a large number of temporary accounts.
Guests can only join spaces which have been configured to allow guests to join. (See Creating and Managing Spaces). They can only access them through a hyperlink that has been provided to them. These accounts have a limited lifespan and will be deleted after the duration expires.
Guest Login Method: Select a method to identify the Guest user with a name while in the Space.
By selecting “Enter Name Below”, you can specify a name directly that will apply to all guests in the Space.
Select “Prompt to Enter Name” to trigger a prompt when the Guest first enters the space. Note that this requires a Blueprint Widget to be selected as the prompt that will display. A default widget is provided with the Cavrnus Plugin files, but you can also create your own custom design.
Guest Logic is only available on the Cavrnus Dev Servers at the moment. It is coming to production shortly as described above.
Members are authorized users who have login credential on your domain. This method is recommended for controlling access to private or sensitive information.
Member accounts are persistent, and can either be given access to all Spaces, or to specific Spaces individually. When selecting “Join as Member”, there are two options for entering login credentials.
Member Login Method: Select a method to identify the user as a Member with login credentials to verify access permissions to a Space.
Select “Prompt Member to Login” to trigger a prompt when the team member first enters the space. Note that this requires a Blueprint Widget to be selected as the prompt that will display. A default widget is provided with the Cavrnus Plugin files, but you can also create your own custom design.
This method is useful for automated testing and for delivering bespoke applications to specific individuals. However, be mindful as this involves adding your password in plain text to your project.
Be mindful when committing project with login credentials to a public Git repo!
Space Join Method:
If you have not yet created a Space for your users to join, you can find the steps to do so here: /wiki/spaces/IKB/pages/815269529
Once a User is authenticated, you can immediately place them inside a pre-defined Space. To do this, select Automatic as your Space Join Method. You must then get the ID of the Space you wish them to join. This ID can be copied by clicking on the Join ID at the bottom of the Space thumbnail in the Spaces section of the Cavrnus Management Console.
You can then Paste the Join ID into the given field.
Alternatively you can simply present Users with a list of all the spaces they are currently allowed to join and let them pick one. Select “Spaces List” to trigger a prompt when the team member first enters the space. Note that this requires a Blueprint Widget to be selected as the prompt that will display. A default widget is provided with the Cavrnus Plugin files, but you can also create your own custom design.
Note: A Cavrnus Space will often be filled with Properties pointing to specific paths within your application. Therefore, allowing users to just open any Space could result in them bringing down a Journal that is meant to be for a different application.
Example: One of your users has access to a Car Configurator Application which connects to the “Car Config” Space. They also have access to a Conference Room Application. Allowing them to join the “Car Config” Space from the Conference Room Application would give them a bunch of car-related Properties which their Application wouldn’t know what to do with.
Avatars and Co-Presence:
Avatar properties are synchronized the same way in a Cavrnus Space as any other asset. Therefor a pawn or character must, at a minimum, have a SyncTransform component on it to synchronize the User’s movement. The Unique Container Name can be left blank because it will be automatically filled in by the Cavrnus system for each individual user when spawned. In addition to position, avatars can also send & receive other custom properties:
User Color
Left Elbow Transform
Right hand socket
Laser state/color
and more …
Default Pawn Class
Just as any Unreal Engine project, you can define different pawns for the local and remote users. The local avatar is defined in the standard location in Unreal Editor, the Default Pawn Class in the GameMode.
To synchronize a user’s local position to display in other team member’s views, the local player pawn must have a SyncTransform_Character component to post it’s transform matrix to the Journal.
In the image above, the default BP_CavrnusPawn blueprint has been derived to create a custom character pawn. The SyncTransform_Character component is inherited from the parent and can be uniquely configured. Other Cavrnus components include the SyncLaserComponent, SyncPawnColor, and the NameTagWidget components, which appears above the character in the viewport. Each of these are necessary for synchronizing specific properties in the character, and are available in the Cavrnus Spatial Connector plugin folder.
Remote Avatar Class
The Remote Avatar Class is assigned in the CavrnusSpatialConnector instance placed in the level. This can use the same Character blueprint as the local user, or use a custom pawn.
Space UI
Once your users connect to a Space they may want to see some menus appear. The Cavrnus Spatial Connector allows you to specify which UI to show both while the Space is Loading and once it is ready. We provide a few defaults (a Loading graphic, a Users Menu, and a Voice/Video Menu). You can modify/replace these and add your own at will. Loading Menus will, of course, be destroyed once the Space is connected.
Spawnable Objects
If you want to spawn prefabs into your Scene at runtime, you will need to add them to the Spawnable Objects list at the bottom of the Cavrnus Spatial Connector. We offer a shortcut for this where you can right-click on the Prefab and select Cavrnus->Make Selection Spawnable.
The Unique Id is what is stored in the Journal as the thing being spawned. In theory, this means you could make changes to a prefab that already has Journal entries spawning its ID. This would mean anyone running with the new version of the application would see the new prefab get spawned in place of the old one.
Next Steps
At this point, hitting Play in Unity should Authenticate the user and place them in a Space, with all of the relevant UI being spawned in with them!
Now you can start synchronizing the various things inside your project!
You can do this by adding our No-Code Collaboration Components to automatically synchronize an object's Properties.
Alternatively, you can read up on more advanced techniques in our Developer Guide, or make calls directly using our API Reference.