Configure the Cavrnus Spatial Connector (Unreal Engine)

Owned by bert
Last updated: May 06, 2024 by Kyle
7 min read

As with any Unreal plugin, adding the Cavrnus Spatial Connector is a simple 3 step process:

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 an authorized team member in your domain.

AuthenticationMethod.png

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).

  • Guests can only access a Space through a hyperlink that has been provided to them.

  • These “guest accounts” can be used by multiple people simultaneously, but they do 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.

 

Remember to delete login credentials from the CSC component when committing a project to a public Git repo! If you accidentally push your login password to a public Git, be sure to change your password immediately.

 

Space Join Method:

If you have not yet created a Space for your users to join, create one now.

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

The Cavrnus Spatial Connector gives you complete control to customize the UI, both while the Space is Loading and once it is ready. The CSC plugin files include several default widgets to get you started, either to use directly or as a template to create your own:

  • Loading Screen graphic

  • Users Menu

  • Voice/Video Controls Menu

 

Spawnable Objects

Blueprints can be spawned into the Scene at runtime to further customize the Cavrnus experience. These can be added to the Spawnable Objects list at the bottom of the CavrnusSpatialConnector instance.

The Unique Id is what is stored in the Journal as the thing being spawned. The use-case is that objects placed in the scene with this unique identifier can be swapped out with new, modified blueprints. The properties stored in the Journal would then be applied to this new blueprint as though it were the original.